#Gethin Alderman

[milliondollarbaby87]

Ammonite (2020) Review

In England in the 1840s Mary Anning a rather reclusive fossil hunter is about to have her world turned upside when Charlotte Murchison arrives to recover a trauma, with an intense and passionate relationship developing between the pair. ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Continue reading

[popentertainment-moviereviews]

AMMONITE (2020)

Starring Kate Winslet, Saoirse Ronan, Gemma Jones, James McArdle, Alec Secăreanu, Fiona Shaw, Claire Rushbrook, Mladen Petrov, Wendy Nottingham, Victoria Elliott, Nick Pearse, Beatrice Curnew, Sarah White, Liam Thomas, Sam Parks, Susie Baxter, Gethin Alderman, Robert J Purdy, Max Dowler, Paul Doods and John Mackay.

Screenplay by Francis Lee.

Directed by Francis Lee.

Distributed by Neon. 120 minutes. Rated R.

Fossils and lesbianism. Those are two words you rarely hear used together in a sentence, much less in a movie description. Yet here we are, and Ammonite, despite a slightly obscure concept, is actually a pretty good film about love and loss and science in Victorian England.

Loosely based on a true story – or at least a true character, Mary Anning (played by Kate Winslet) – an early paleontologist, as well as fossil collector and dealer. Of course, being a woman in what was literally a man’s world, she rarely got the credit she deserved for her works and discoveries.

Because of this, she has to do somewhat demeaning jobs like taking money from Roderick Murchison (James McArdle) to show him her technique of going to the cliffs of the English Channel and searching for artifacts. Murchison enjoys the experience so much that he pays Anning to teach the skill to his invalid wife Charlotte for a couple of weeks. Like Anning, the Murchisons are loosely based on real people and this storyline is based on a real event.

Soon after Charlotte starts learning she takes ill. Mary nurses her back to health and eventually can teach her the art and science of paleontology.

And according to Ammonite, they eventually became lovers. The love story aspects are apparently mostly fictional, although Mary and Charlotte did become life-long friends.

This is writer/director Lee’s first time since the terrific and mostly unheralded film God’s Own Country, which is also about a same-sex relationship in a world where they were looked down upon. (God’s Own Country had more of a British Brokeback Mountain vibe.)

Honestly, it is a bit hard to see these two characters as a couple. Mary is very repressed and button-down, never acknowledging their true feelings – which I suppose you’d have to be as a lesbian in the Victorian era. Charlotte is a bit more girlish and naïve, but until she gets to know someone, she seems to be nearly silent. As her health improves, she does become more outgoing and social, though.

Is it fair to tell the story of two real people – even slightly obscure ones like these – and give them a romantic and sexual backstory which did not seem to have been there?

Honestly, I don’t know. They are not here anymore to speak for themselves. It obscures the true passion of Anning’s life – the fossils – as she shows even here, she is all about the science. I don’t know if they have ancestors who will feel the story is poorly told. No one truly believes that biopics are always true to reality. Many people seeing Ammonite won’t even realize these were real people.

Yet, I have a feeling that given a choice, Mary Anning would have preferred the movie about her life to be about her work, not her love life. That may make for a less interesting movie, but it would be a more honest one.

Jay S. Jacobs

Copyright ©2020 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved. Posted: November 13, 2020.

[snicole5087]

Incident at Vinchy, Finborough Theatre

#review of @IncidentatVichy @finborough Arthur Miller's revival feels timely yet very unique

Arthur Miller’s ‘forgotten’ play is timely revived by Phil Willmott. Set in a detention room in 1942 Miller’s 1964 play is the story of hope, rumour and sheer disbelief that anyone can be a victim because of their race. Willmott’s decision to stage the production in an all white room seems ludricous at first but with its large cast and symbolism it feels like we are in a heavenly waiting room,…

[pubtheatres1]

Arthur Miller’s INCIDENT AT VICHY Review, at Finborough Theatre until 22 April 2017 Presented by Anita Creed Productions for The Phil Willmott Company Pitch-perfect production ★★★★★ Rather like the Finborough itself, ‘Incident At Vichy’ is small but perfectly formed and never less than ambitious. One of Arthur Miller’s lesser known plays, it centres around the capture and questioning of a group of men during the Second World War. It’s late enough in the war that the free men of France have tasted life under Nazi rule but not so late that the full extent of the atrocities has emerged. Miller drip feeds the gossip throughout the play creating a state of panic: they burn Jews; there are camps that people never return from; they want to eliminate an entire people. It’s inconceivable to these men that such horrors might exist and from our position in the future the play is all the more heart-breaking as we fully understand exactly how far the Nazi regime went in its attempt to wipe out great swathes of people. Dressed in beautifully detailed period costume by Penn O’Gara, the men wait in a stark white set designed by Georgia de Grey. This contrast works beautifully to remind us that although these round-ups did happen, this is also a fable. It’s a perfect group of old and young, rich and poor, artisan and professional. Lawrence Boothman as twitchy little artist Lebeau is garrulous and nervy, always on the edge of hysteria and sets the tone for the piece. To begin with, he’s proud that the police came and measured his nose. Fancy that! One by one the others reveal their stories. There’s passionate communist Bayard played by Brendan O’Rourke (with a similar intensity he gave us in Kafka’s ‘The Trail’ at Jack Studio last year), the patient waiter (Michael Skellern) who knows the Nazis can’t be that bad- they order coffee and croissants and laugh in his café. Gypsy (Andro Crespo) hugs his battered old pot and struggles to understand what is happening to him as even his fellow questionees make disparaging remarks. Boy (Daniel Dowling) hugs his knees and Old Jew (Jeremy Gagan) stares into middle distance. These two characters have the fewest lines but their acting is powerful and moving. First to be questioned is smug businessman Marchand (Will Bryant) and when he sails through the interrogation there’s a whisper of hop among the group. PK Taylor as Monceau is peevish as the actor who just can’t conceive of anyone who loves art being a ‘monster’ and Edward Killingback as gentle Austrian nobleman Von Berg is incredibly affecting. He just wants to live a cultured and quiet life but his world shatters when his beloved Jewish musicians are slaughtered in front of him. As Leduc, the educated leader of the pack who is desperate to fight back, Gethin Alderman brings a quiet authority. It’s chilling as he points out that though they outnumber their captors, just as in the outside world, nobody dare lift a finger. All are complicit. It’s every man for himself but there may be some redemption in the end. The French are joined by a mean-spirited police officer (James Boyd), a chillingly antiseptic Nazi doctor (Timothy Harker) and-perhaps a glimmer of humanity- a cultured major (Henry Wyrley-Birch). Underneath the conflicted exterior, however, lurks a true Nazi heart. He is not to be played. At 90 minutes with no internal, the play is perfectly paced. We learn enough about the characters but are also left with questions. This is a pitch–perfect production under Phil Willmott’s expert direction. Miller wrote this play barely twenty years after the end of the war and it offers the audience a chilling insight into how easily the Nazis preyed on fear and paranoia with their anti-Jewish rhetoric. It remains to be seen how history will judge us. Photos by Scott Rylander Tickets: £18/ £16 Box Office: 0844 847 1652 http://www.finboroughtheatre.co.uk/productions/2017/incident-at-vichy.php Reviewer Sian Rowland Siân’s plays have been shown at various venues around London and her play Gazing At A Distant Star has recently finished a sell-out run at Greenwich Theatre Studio. As well as being a playwright she is an adviser, trainer and writer of award-winning education resources. @Sian_Rowland

[londontheatre]

Timothy Harker and Jeremy Gagan – Photo Credit Scott Rylander

Written by Arthur Miller, Incident at Vichy is one of his lesser performed productions. This play premiered in 1964, the same year that he and his third wife visited the Mauthausen death camps, and has been performed very few times since then.

The relationship between Jews and the Nazi Party was one that held personal significance to Miller, (he himself an American Jew and his third wife’s family being members of the Nazi Party) it’s no wonder that Miller wrote about what it meant to be a Jew under Nazi occupation.

In the words of Director Phil Willmott “In the season of two plays and a musical I’ve presented this winter I’ve attempted to programme work in which great writers have reflected on similar issues to those we face today.” He goes on to say, “Finally, at the Finborough Theatre, as some Europeans lurch alarmingly to the right politically and Trump’s supporters still clamour for his promised compulsory registration of Muslims, we have Arthur Miller’s Incident at Vichy.”

In this respect Incident at Vichy is a hugely relevant production.

The set for Incident at Vichy is a white cube with a bench, all the action takes place in one place in one act. The use of the set is really interesting as it removes a sense of naturalism from the piece and puts the characters in a framed space that is both timeless and placeless – once again nodding to the current political landscape. It gives a feeling of purgatory. They could be queuing at the gates of Saint Peter, a doctor’s surgery or, as is indeed the case, a facility run by the German SS conducting identity tests to identify Jews.

The play is a true ensemble piece, with thirteen characters each with their own trajectories and tragic stories that have led them to be in this waiting room/facility, yet all the actors work together seamlessly. They present their own inner fears, thoughts and emotions beautifully without pulling focus from the main dialogue. This is a testament to their craft and the direction of the piece.

I hugely commend Lawrence Boothman, Andro Crespo, Michael Skellern, PK Taylor, Daniel Dowling, Brendan O’Rourke and Will Bryant for the opening scene. Their performance levels are very high and it perfectly sets the framework for the rest of the production. When the waiting few are joined by the characters portrayed by Jeremy Gagan, Gethin Alderman and Edward Killingback the play again moves up a notch and the action of the piece becomes more intense.

The performance is reminiscent of the great plays of the ancient Greeks by having a lot of action offstage, which is continually referred to yet not seen by the audience. The play accentuates this by using chilling sound effects, heightening the dramatic effect.

The play runs for 90 minutes and is really pacey, there aren’t any moments when you aren’t fully engaged. The script is superbly written so the actors can have great fun in delivering their lines knowing that they will pack a punch. The direction is slick and tight enabling each actor to have their moment in the limelight.

A special mention must go out to Jeremy Gagan as the Old Jew. He does not speak one word in the piece, yet is totally fascinating to watch. When he is finally called to the offstage room, his exit is superb. 

The final scene between the prince and the Doctor, although only minutes long, is executed flawlessly, with both actors working together to bring a dramatic climax to the production. Edward Killingback is a perfect prince, guilt-ridden, aristocratic and charming.

This piece is utterly watchable, incredibly powerful and sadly awakens the fear that history may repeat itself. I would happily watch any of the performers again and I am keen to see more collaborations between Willmott (Director) and Creed (Producer). I would definitely watch the production a second time, there is so much action (although subtlely performed) that I’m sure I would notice new things.

This show HAS to transfer, the run has pretty much sold out, and more people NEED to watch this show.

Review by Faye Stockley

In the detention room of a Vichy police station in 1942, eight men have been picked up for questioning but none are told why they are held, or when they can leave. At first, their hopeful guess is that only their identity papers will be checked – but as each man is removed for interrogation, some are set free, some are never seen again, and the stakes rise for those who remain…

A haunting examination of the cold, bureaucratic efficiency of evil – and the shared humanity that might overcome it.

INCIDENT AT VICHY by Arthur Miller.

Directed by Phil Willmott. Designed by Georgia de Grey. Lighting by Robbie Butler. Sound Design and Music by Theo Holloway. Costume Design by Penn O’Gara. Produced by Anita Creed Productions for The Phil Willmott Company and The Steam Industry. Cast: Gethin Alderman, Lawrence Boothman, Will Bryant, James Boyd, Andro Crespo, Daniel Dowling, Jeremy Gagan, Timothy Harker, Edward Killingback. Brendan O’Rourke. Michael Skellern. PK Taylor. Henry Wyrley-Birch.

Tuesday, 28 March – Saturday, 22 April 2017 http://ift.tt/NsSQwL

http://ift.tt/2onQz1V LondonTheatre1.com