Maggie Smith clutches a pair of glasses throughout her 100-minute monologue in A German Life. She holds them in her right hand mostly, but never puts them on: they’re more decoy than accessory. As Brunhilde Pomsel – who worked as a secretary to Goebbels during the war, and whose reminiscences are the basis of this play by Christopher Hampton – Smith feints and dithers, quavers around remorse and … [Read more...]
Propwatch: the drip in Allelujah!
You may think you know what it feels like to be patronised. Well, become an elderly person – or someone who cares for them – and prepare to have the crap condescended out of you. As soon as you’re in a vulnerable position, people who would otherwise talk to you as a relatively competent adult breeze into your home, and tell you how bad you are at making the bed, or a cup of tea. They make … [Read more...]
Would you vote for Julius Caesar?
Be honest – would you vote for any of these dodgy, blundering political contenders? The talking point around Nicholas Hytner’s production of Julius Caesar has been that many of us get to swarm around the action, gawping at the Roman elite, swayed by their rhetoric and shoved by security. First of all we’re whooping at Caesar’s rally (there’s beer! I bought a badge!), then eavesdrop as Cassius … [Read more...]