#bbc news has been doom and gloom and 'it's too close to call. or it could be trump' all day

[sportsthoughts]

hmmm do I stay up and watch hockey and election coverage or go to sleep

[astrovian]

Richard Armitage interview on BBC Radio Kent for Uncle Vanya (26/10/20)

Full transcript under cut

Now the multi-Olivier award nominated play Uncle Vanya filmed at the Harold Pinter Theatre will be shown in cinemas from tomorrow. It stars Richard Armitage from The Hobbit as the local doctor, Astrov, in a production which was halfway through a sold-out run when the Coronavirus pandemic forced theatres to close. The cast have come back together again with strict Covid-19 protocols to perform the Chekov story.

[Clip from Uncle Vanya trailer]

Watching this, I just thought ‘Huh, you couldn’t make this even more prescient for the times’, there’s a real feeling of it. Even just the opening of the – the filming, with the cast coming back into that theatre.

Interestingly, I wasn’t able to be part of because I’d just flown in from America, so I was in two weeks of quarantine. So I had to join the rehearsal at the end of the week via. a Zoom, where they set up the computer on a little stool on the stage-

*Laugh*

-*Laugh* and we had a read through with the cast. I – I, I mean it was awful to sort of not be there, but weirdly kind of appropriate for the doctor, who would’ve been elsewhere at the beginning of the play. But um, I sort of had to come back in cold and sort of reignite the play, but it was uh, certainly an unusual experience.

And the – the performance itself, if – if we think of that Chekov play, that idea of the opening up of a house, and all that. That really does have a feeling, I think we watch it with different eyes, don’t we?

Yeah, and even y’know, in the last week of performing, when Broadway had closed down and y’know, it was this – this thing was coming towards us and we were still playing to full houses, they were all in masks, and y’know, one of the doctor’s first speeches in the play is talking about, um, he’s been away in the North, dealing with an epidemic and losing patients, and him being traumatised by it. And I was thinking about all of the NHS staff that were-

Hmm.

-dealing with it. And you could feel the play take on a completely different resonance to the audience in front of them, y’know, they were sort of gasping with disbelief that, y’know this was written over a hundred years ago, and there are – there’s, there’s huge sections of it which are kinda about preserving the environment, in order that these things don’t happen. And you – it, it just was uncanny that, that y’know, the subject that Chekov was discussing. So y’know I – I hope audiences aren’t still too traumatised by the events to – to not enjoy this. But I think they’ll – they’ll understand it.

[Clip from Uncle Vanya trailer]

Astrov makes a – a really key point, doesn’t he, about that. Early – early on in the play about the environment and how he’s understanding his place within it, and – and that says something very much wider.

Yeah, and he’s also trying to on it, y’know trying to do something about it, y’know as a single person that could – that gets out and plants some trees because he’s seen this sort of re-, reduction in the natural habitat and he – there really was a movement at the time which understood what happened when deforestation occurred. Y’know, that – that, uh, the environment was softer or y’know, became harder and – and became more difficult to live in, which I think is what, y’know, we’re experiencing. It was interesting that people thought these views had been crowbarred into the play, um in our – in our retelling of it, but it – it was there absolutely in its entirety at that time.

That’s what I think is interesting about the – the language of the play. I think the feeling of the – the characters too, y’know, you – you have this ideas of families being in one place and, and those uh, associated members, the extended group of friends. And just the personalities as well, I think it’s wonderful in this how y’know, there– it really does tap into that kind of like ‘Oh, that person’s a bit like that, okay, we’re gonna have to look after that person a bit more than the other.’

Yeah, I mean the play starts in the heat of summer, and these people are all kind of in this house right the way through the autumn and into the winter, and – and they are going out of their heads with boredom and frustration with each other, and y’know at the end of the play, and – and really the sort of nucleus of the play is about a man who’s about to lose his entire livelihood because it’s gonna be snatched away from him. And I feel like with – y’know, there are quite a few people that maybe are – are sort of in that situation right now that are feeling the fear of it. But actually, y’know the final words of Chekov through the voice of Sonya is this idea of, um, of hope and of work, and y’know once we’re given something to work on we can kind of retain our sanity, and I think I – I, I’ve used that idea so many times, y’know actors are very, very frequently out of work and we feel like we’re – we’re sort of not valid without something to do, and so we’re quite good at finding something to do. And that tool has been quite useful in this – this period. Certainly for myself.

There’s a richness in it too, there’s a – there’s a, ah, the human emotion side, but there’s also comedy, isn’t it? That kind of quick, sharp-witted bite-back from characters.

Yeah, I mean I – I don’t know how you term it; I suppose there’s a sense of black comedy, or – or gallows humour, but it’s these – y’know, the Russians, and I think Chekov certainly uh, was, was very good at um, finding the – the quips and foibles of human behaviour and so we – y’know, even in the depths of tragedy these people do find time to uh, enjoy each other in a way. And so, that uh, that’s always a surprise in Chekov, ‘cause you think it’s gonna be doom and gloom but it’s not; it’s – and I, I understand why the, the Brits are very good at kind of tapping into that aspect of Chekov, ‘cause even in the darkest of times we’ll still find something to kind of have a chuckle about.

I’ve seen the NT Live productions, many of us have during lockdown and since, but this is nothing like that – this, this really does feel filmic, it – it’s done really well, the soundscape of it too just really hits you the moment you start watching.

Yeah, I mean I guess it’s – we’d call it a hybrid ‘cause we, we worked with six cameras in the audience that were shooting at different angles and extreme close-up, and then the crew were able to come on stage with hand-held cameras and really get inside the play, which is not possible when you’re working with an audience. So even though we didn’t have a live audience watching, we gained something else because y’know, the – the, the viewer can come into the – into the play with us, which I think even people that, that saw the play live will - will get something extra from seeing it on film.

And knowing that, y’know, it did close, cut short by the lockdown, to give it another life now, for all of you, it must be - it’s not just about y’know, uh, being paid, it’s also presumably about just thinking ‘Oh, you know it’s such a shame that we had to cut’.

Yeah. I mean, in a way uh, the payment was sort of the last thing on everyone’s mind, I think it was just that ability to be able to go back to work, y’know, to have somewhere to go and um, you could see it, it was – it was amazing to re-gather and sort of see the crew again, see all of the people that work in that building, the stage door guy, the – the dressers, and realising that they’d all been sat at home as well. And there was this energy uh, in the building of ‘I can’t believe we’re getting the opportunity to do this’.

People are starting to go back into theatres to do things like this, but also film-work and sets are, with Covid-friendly uh, measures, are happening. What’s it like for you, Richard? What’s happening with you?

Well, I mean on a social level, I’m – I’m now back in New York, but when I was in London I – I went to the theatre, and I went to the cinema, and it’s, y’know, if you take the right precautions and y’know, play by the rules, it’s a – it’s a perfectly normal, comfortable experience and I would encourage people to, to do it. But um, for me personally, I’m – I’m still beavering away recording audiobooks, um, I’m starting a new Netflix show next year, and I’m also developing material, um, for screenplay, and uh – y’know, stepping one foot towards producing.

It’s been really good catching up with you, thank you so much for being with us and uh, thank you for bringing us this play with an – with an amazing cast. They’re ��� they’re all fantastic. You are brilliant in this. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Nice to talk to you, Dom.

[gyrlversion]

PETER OBORNE:A broken cabinet behaving like they’re in House Of Cards

 After last night’s marathon in the Commons, today comes the showdown as Cabinet ministers are summoned to a five-hour meeting during which anything could happen – and probably will.

Mature consensus is the one option that will be off the table, if the disloyal and indiscreet actions of several ministers in recent weeks and months are anything to go by.

Cabinet walkouts, mass resignations and a general disintegration of a once great party are among the many doom and gloom predictions being made today and for the days ahead. Quite simply the Tory Party appears to be falling apart and the rot has set in at the very top. 

Prime Minister Theresa May leaving the House of Commons today after MPs fail to back proposals on alternatives to her EU withdrawal deal

Theresa May’s Cabinet has descended into open warfare between Brexiteer and Remainer ministers and is a complete and utter shambles.

For once, the Prime Minister’s blabbermouth Chief Whip Julian Smith was right when he described the Cabinet – of which he is a member – as ‘the most ill-disciplined in British political history’.

And what better example than Mr Smith himself. Last night, he was flashing his toothy grin at BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg as he launched into an unprecedented attack on his boss, Mrs May, for not having made it plain that she would ‘inevitably’ accept a softer Brexit after losing her majority in the 2017 election.

It is fair to say that Mr Smith’s own behaviour marks him out as the most ill-disciplined chief whip in modern political history – surrendering control over the parliamentary party, losing countless key votes, and breaking parliamentary convention.

Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond (left) and Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May listen as Britain’s Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Brexit Minister) Stephen Barclay speaks in the House of Commons today following the outcome of the second round of indicative votes on the alternative options for Brexit

And if Mrs May had an iota of authority left, she’d sack the wretched man for gross misconduct and disloyalty.

Unfortunately, she is impotent and her Cabinet is the most indiscreet Britain has ever had.

Ordinary conventions have broken down completely. Normally, Cabinet ministers who defy the government whip would as a matter of course resign their posts, according to the doctrine of ministerial responsibility which has operated for centuries in British government.

Yet the so-called gang of four – Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd, Business Secretary Greg Clark, Justice Secretary David Gauke and Scotland Secretary David Mundell – defied the Tory whip on a vote on No Deal Brexit two weeks ago.

British MPs tried again to chart a new Brexit path today after rejecting Prime Minister Theresa May’s deal for a third time, but the EU warned its patience was wearing thin. A video grab from footage broadcast by the UK Parliament 

It was the crucial vote which opened the way to an extension of Article 50. If any of them had had an ounce of honour they would have resigned and the fact that not one of them did says it all.

    More from Peter Oborne For The Daily Mail…

Overall, this has led to a devastating collapse of trust in and among the Cabinet that took hold last year and deteriorated further after Mrs May foolishly announced in December that she was going to step down before the next general election.

The Prime Minister’s utterance set in motion a beauty contest between those who saw themselves as her replacement, which is now reaching fever pitch. What little was left of collective Cabinet responsibility has all but evaporated.

The preening behaviour of several candidates has forced Number 10’s director of communications, Robbie Gibb, to issue a furious warning to three rival Tory leadership contenders – Miss Rudd, Home Secretary Sajid Javid, and Chief Secretary to the Treasury Liz Truss, who frequently seems to be under the impression that she is taking part in a fashion shoot.

All three were rightly slammed for attempting to upstage Mrs May earlier this year by their briefings to newspapers and articles promoting their own initiatives when the Prime Minister was unveiling a £20billion boost to the NHS.

As for Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson, he’s taken to having himself photographed between the Union Jack and a portrait of the great wartime leader Sir Winston Churchill.

Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond (left), Brexit Minister Stephen Barclay and Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May watch on as Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn speaks in the House of Commons today after MPs fail to back proposals on alternatives to Theresa May’s EU withdrawal deal

Of course, it could be a complete coincidence that the ministers whose colourful Cabinet contributions get leaked – usually via media briefings by their special advisers – are those known to particularly covet Theresa May’s job and to be astute at cultivating the media.

Step forward Liz Truss, Sajid Javid and Gavin Williamson, closely followed by Environment Secretary Michael Gove and Leader of the House Andrea Leadsom. But there are some who buck the trend. I have yet to notice any major indiscretions from Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt. And while Chancellor Philip Hammond has not put himself forward as a candidate for the Tory Party leadership, he appears to be conducting himself with genuine discretion and honour.

But these are exceptions, not the rule. Generally, the conduct of Mrs May’s self-serving Cabinet is beneath contempt.

The idea of public interest is beyond them. They are only interested in promoting their own careers, furthering their own causes and ideology and to hell with the rest of us.

We are living through extraordinary circumstances. There has never been anything like Brexit, and hopefully there never will be again.

For now, we are forced to endure a never-ending tragi-farce. In the 1990s political TV thriller House of Cards, Machiavellian Tory Chief Whip Francis Urquhart’s famous stock reply to questions from the Press was: ‘You might think that, I couldn’t possibly comment.’

In the case of Julian Smith and many of his Cabinet colleagues it appears to be: ‘I couldn’t possibly resist commenting.’

The Cabinet is broken and with it this Government, too.

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