The Railway Man

Last cultural event before my holiday was to go and see a film, the Railway Man, starring Colin Firth and Nicole Kidman. I liked this a lot, even though it is not exactly a jolly watch. Firth plays a man in late middle-age who cannot escape from the memories of being tortured by the Japanese in the War while being forced to work on the railway in Burma.

Its skillfully portrayed in the flashbacks to the War. You get a half-decent feel the awfulness without too much that is graphic (its only a 15 certificate) so you could survive this even if moderately squeamish. The main point of it is the battle between reconciliation/forgiveness and desire for revenge. Firth's character really wants the revenge, until he actually has the opportunity. The story works within two time frames as we are led through the man meeting and marrying Nicole Kidman in 1980 and coming to terms with his demons, and through the flashbacks the story is revealed of the fall of Singapore and the events that lead him to be tortured so badly. The latter was in part from building a radio (he being a radio engineer) but also because he had drawn a map of the railway. He couldn't convince his captors that this wasn't in order to provide information to the enemies of the Japanese, but just because he was a railway enthusiast. So British, so endearingly geeky. (You could tell he was a geek because he wore specs.)

The acting was very good, particularly I thought the young Lomas in the camp. What impressed was his bravery - effectively volunteering for what he knew would be brutal treatment rather than it falling on his comrades too - but why it was so convincing was that he was also so scared. Not an easy thing to convey in a film. This wasn't gung-ho fortitude, this was trembling fear, but perservering nonetheless.

It was all based on a true story. The slightly difficult bit for me at the end, and this says much for us as consumers, is that when you saw the photos of the real people they looked so disappointing compared to those in the film. Firth and Kidman are too young and attractive. Similarly the Japanese interrogator who turns up as a tour guide at the camp where once he had assisted in the torture of the young soldiers. All the other old soldiers seem genuinely old, but Firth alone just middle-aged. We want our heroes to be handsome/pretty. Old and ordinary are just not traits we will put up with on the Big Screen.

Paul Tonkinson and the Wildlife Photography Exhibition.

This was a very enjoyable and varied day. Each year I take a friend and her youngest son to the Natural History Museum to see the Annual Wildlife Photography Exhibition. This is always a brilliant thing to see - there are always just utterly stunning photos on display. Its also great to be able to compare how young Tom grows up each year just in terms of the maturity of his comments.

Only catch is that at holidays the museum is full of young kids. Although getting there at opening time helps. And a beautiful morning it was too.




Then onto the V & A next door for a potter around especially the 20th century gallery, and the rather interesting Chinese art display in the courtyard. Its based on Chinese landscapes. (I had also visited here a couple of days earlier to catch two closing exhibitions - Chinese Painting and Pearls, plus a further one on 80s club fashion (nothing like anything I ever wore at the time!)

 The V & A also has a very fine, if very red, Christmas tree

We finished up with lunch and just a good old chat. I love catching up with folk. And I have to say there is something particularly satisfying at seeing how a youngster is growing up. And Tom is a terrific kid - just like his older brother with whom I went out in the evening along with my ex-trainee who is about to join my department as a qualified solicitor, much to my delight.

This evening outing was a great joy as they are both really intelligent young men, but in no way when we go out is it like University Challenge. Its nothing other than a great laugh start to finish. Nothing serious is said for a few hours - totally frivolous banter. It helps in this that our evening was centred on my local comedy club.

The way this works is that there are three acts - a good one to open, a novice and then the headline act.

The first, Gordon Southern was pretty good and we definitely enjoyed his act. The second, one Benny Boot, was really pretty dire. My two companions were far more amusing. By a country mile. But Paul Tonkinson was a very accomplished headline act. I had never seen him before doing stand-up. He is better known from presenting breakfast TV many years ago. A lot of nice observational stuff based on his family. Well worth catching him if you get the chance.

Fault Lines

There is more to theatre in London than the West End. This play was in the tiny downstairs theatre at Hampstead - I guess the capacity is only a hundred. It was very justly, sold out. Fault Lines is a new comedy set in a the office of a fund-raising charity the day after the office Christmas party, with an earthquake in Pakistan sending them into a frenzy, not just to help, but to beat every other charity to help. The upshot is that in their haste they find they have directed their cash to a member of the Taliban rather than a supplier of emergency tents. It is very funny, but it also makes the more serious points about how hubris can lead to unintended consequences, and how tempting it is to cover things up when they go wrong, but that only makes it worse. Political correctness also gets a fair battering. Like the exchange where the senior worker warns the intern against his language by referring to an ex-worker who had used the C-word. "What, c-u-n-t?" asks the young lad. "No, worse, "Coloured."" Was he sacked?" "No, worse. You don't want to be sent on training day...."

This was an excellent start to my New theatre Year - 2nd January and seen a stonking play for very little money. Result.

Richard II

Pleasingly, the RSC has returned, at least temporarily to the Barbican. This is of course pleasing just for my personal convenience - it means I can see a play across the road from work.

This version of Richard II had sold out for its whole run. The star turn was of course David Tennant in the lead role. While he has managed great fame through all his TV work, he does do Shakespeare ever so well. This is probably due to him being a truly excellent actor. Here he was playing the king as a sort of Christ role, being martyred in the end in being forced to abdicate.

Facing the Modern and Trafalgar Square at Christmas

An exhibition of Viennese portraiture might sound a little specialized, but this show at the National Gallery was really rather good. Would have been nice to see some more works by what one might term the headline act of the period, Gustav Klimt, but it was a satisfying exhibition, with, as is often the case, some new artists to me that I most enjoyed. I suppose what lifts it is that it covers a period of portraiture starting from where it was just a type of formal photograph and so a bit samey, to a lot of experimentation in portraying people.

 Its also nice just to see Trafalgar Square at Christmas, with the annual tree from Norway taking centre stage

Kim Wilde's Christmas Party

I am not really into Eighties Revival stuff. But a mate of mine expressed an interest in seeing Nik Kershaw, and he was supporting Kim Wilde in a pre-Christmas show on Shepherds Bush, so off we went. My mate now works in Leeds so he was coming down to stay with me overnight for this gig. Spending a day with him did make me wish I had spent more time with him when he was working down in London, and indeed just down the corridor from me. We had a very pleasant day, collecting him from Kings Cross (which can look quite smart at Christmas)

going to the British Museum to see the Colombian gold exhibition,

 then onto a Polish restaurant for dinner and finally the Kim Wilde gig.

Unsurprisingly, this was a gig for the more mature audience. James was one of the youngest members of the crowd. Nik Kershaw's set was ridiculously short, but did include his biggest hit, the memorable "Wouldn't it be good?" and also something he wrote but didn't perform - one of the all-time great one-hit wonders, "The One and Only" "by" Chesney Hawkes.

Nik Kershaw now

And then

Kim Wilde is, I would have to remark, a very handsome woman for her age. My mate had wondered whether the attractive backing singer, who didn't seem to add much to the whole performance apart from look attractive, might be her daughter. He looked very smug when it turned out she was her niece. Pretty close guess. Kim also had he dad on stage for a couple of numbers - Marty Wilde - who also looked in pretty good nick for a man in his Seventies, although thankfully he didn't sing "Teenager in Love" which would have been weird from a senior citizen whose heyday was in the late Fifties. Kim herself is in her Fifties but as I say looked and sounded very good. Still her encore of "Kids in America" sounded a bit odd from a middle-aged woman, however glamorous.

Kim and her dad Marty

Another guest performer, wasted even more than Nik Kershaw, was Rick Astley. This guy also looks pretty good for his age. Maybe dropping out of the music scene almost as soon as one becomes a success is a good life move.

But having said that, and waving a few very cheesy Christmas songs (although one of these was a very decent cover of Slade's "Merry Christmas"), it was a perfectly enjoyable gig. A bit more drinking rounded off a good night.

A young Kim Wilde