Most of my recent viewings will be television as things have been rather wearying of late, but Bertie was kind enough to get tickets for Death of a Salesman with Laurie Metcalf and Nathan Lane. Rounding out the central cast was Christopher Abbott as Biff (quite impressive) and Ben Ahlers as Hap (whom I knew only from CAOS). I haven’t read it in years but it does retain the power of its attack on the illusion of the American Dream if so much has shifted under it–in times when most people have been priced out living anywhere in the country as wages compress. An impressive cast and terrific staging; AI cannot replace live performance and the incredible imagination it takes to put on a play.
On PBS you can see the latest adaptation of The Count of Monte Cristo: I am always excited about a Dumas adaptation and this one had a strong cast headed by Sam Claflin who was also executive producer so literally invested in it. A series has more time to explore the complicated story, so often given short shrift in films. Yes, there are changes. Yes, there is digital youthenising in the first episode that put me off at first until I realised what it was. I suppose sea adventures are very expensive to film but I would have loved more. Fabulous cast including Ana Girardot, Blake Ritson, Michele Riondino, Mikkel Boe Følsgaard, Harry Taurasi and more. Karla-Simone Spence’s Haydée has a much abbreviated role, especially in how the end plays out, but I’ll let you see that for yourself. I think the changes do not harm the pleasure of the narrative and do speak to contemporary attitudes about romantic relationships.
Did you enjoy Lisa McGee’s Derry Girls? Then don’t wait around: clear some time, and watch this series right through. Absolute cracker. Everything about it was fun (including a callback to Derry Girls). I want more.
We also watched Bard parent Rachel Weisz in Vladimir with Leo Woodall. Bertie helped her into her regalia at a recent graduation ceremony. I was a little dubious at first because the characters are academics who tut at their students’ ‘wokeness’ but that turns out to be the point: they have a lot to learn both Weisz’s M and her husband John Slattery, who very one-sided ‘open’ marriage doesn’t seem to suit either of them much anymore. It’s about desire, it’s about being trapped in the compromises you make along the way and choosing to use that creative spark in positive ways. I think like many I roll my eyes at writers writing books (and films) about writer’s block, but there was enough humour and skewering of the intellectual complaisance that killed my institution to make it bearable. I’m still on the fence about it and not enough to want to read the book, though I hear the ending was changed.