'Les Liaisons Dangereuses' at the Donmar Warehouse

The final theatre trip of the year was to see the new production of 'Les Liaisons Dangereuses' at the Donmar - you've probably seen the film but have you seen the play that started it all? No, neither had I so this was a first for me. The cast for this production are led by Janet McTeer and Dominic West and add in Una Stubbs and you know you're in for a treat. I've seen all of them on stage before (and on telly and in films) and enjoyed them every time.

It's set shortly before the French Revolution and demonstrates the morals of the time, with gossip and intrigue being king, sex a devalued commodity unless it is with the un-reachable and nothing matters more than winning at any cost. It's terribly cynical and the mores of the time destroys lives as innocents fall foul of the seducers who treat the encounters as meaningless. Until they discover it's not meaningless after all and that's when the consequences start mounting up.

The Marquise de Merteuil (McTeer) and Vicomte de Valmont (West) are fomer lovers who challenge each other in their sexual conquests. Merteuil wants him to seduce the young Cecile (Morfydd Clark) before her marriage to an enemy but Valmont wants the bigger challenge of the virtuous Madame de Tourvel (Elaine Cassidy) who is staying with his aunt (played by Una Stubbs). Valmont ends up pursuing both - and gaining both - while Merteuil seduces Cecile's chaste young lover. While the intrigues are fun and the suggestion is that everyone is part of the same game, it's actually pretty unpleasant and that is what the play exposes. But it's the innocents that pay the price.

I enjoyed the play with it's sparse sets and constant movement keeping it fully energised throughout. There are some laugh out loud moments and some more thoughtful sections. The audience collapsed towards the end of the first half when Cecile naively asks Valmont if her husband-to-be would appreciate that she's been learning all the sex-tricks Valmont can teach her when someone in the front row broke out in raucous laughter at the absurdity of it and everyone joined in, including Dominic West! It's good fun with a darker underbelly.

The cast were excellent and I particularly liked Janet McTeer as the butter-wouldn't-melt Marquise who could out-cruel Cruella DeVille any day of the week. She was great fun with her tongue stuck firmly in her cheek for most of the play until it becomes deadly towards the end. Dominic West was also great fun as our debonaire seducer who always gets his woman but doesn't judge the consequences too well. I also liked Adjoa Andoh as Cecile's mother who came across as very realistic rather than a cartoon. Una Stubbs was lovely as the elderly, rich aunt who acts as a catalyst for her nephew's seduction of Madame de Tourvel. It's always a pleasure to see Una on stage.

The Donmar often sells out before the shows begin so I don't know if there are any tickets left for this production but, if you can, go and see it - it's well worth it!

'Pride' at the National Film Theatre

I saw an advance screening of 'Pride' at the National Film Theatre (or British Film Institute if you must) courtesy of my personal artistic adviser. The film isn't released generally until next week and this screening was followed by a short Q&A with the producer and some of the actors, which was nice.

Do you remember the '80s? I mean, really remember the '80s like they really were rather than how we're meant to remember them? The early '80s being all Duran Duran and 'Rio' and the late '80s being City whiz kids with bricks for mobile phones. No, that's not my '80s at all and that's what this film captures - the real '80s. My '80s. The attention to detail was superb throughout and, at one point, I swear I had the same jumper as one of the miners!

The film tells the tale of a gay group that sets out to support a Welsh village in the miners strike over 1984-85. But that's only one level in the story. There's so much more about bigotry, about solidarity and about love. There are the simple stories of the characters and the reality behind them all since it actually happened (or largely happened).

There are the painful and deeply uncomfortable scenes of the lead activist standing on a stage in front of a hall of miners saying, yes, us gays have raised this money for you and seeing some of the miners get up and walk out. There are the more life-affirming moments when the ladies of the village say that their men never dance and Dominic West (who plays one of the more flamboyant characters) then does a masterclass in disco dancing that makes some of the younger miners realise that dancing attracts the lasses. One of the early scenes is set in the Royal Vauxhall Tavern and there's an incredible section set in the Electric Ballroom in Camden when Bronski Beat headline a benefit gig the group organises.

There were some great laugh out loud moments and some tears and the audience erupted into clapping at the end of the screening. I loved the moment when Bill Nighy and Imelda Staunton sit quietly buttering bread for sandwiches and Bill says 'I'm gay' and Imelda's character replies 'I think I've known that since 1968'. It's a great moment and helps fill in some of the character's background, with Bill playing so tight and controlled because that's how he's felt he had live all those years when his real friends would have accepted him as he was. There are lots of levels to this film.

Another moment that brought tears of pride to my eyes was when the miners turned up to march in Pride '85 in London and they're getting out of the coaches that bring them to Hyde Park and then we get shots of the miners' banners. Each colliery has (or had) it own colourful banner that the community embraced and endowed with so much meaning it's difficult to explain. I remember seeing the Durham Miners Gala on TV in the '70s and the proud banners flying in the breeze. And it was these banners the miners bought to march behind at London Pride to show solidarity with 'the gays'.

There were so many moments that struck me as 'real', as believable, as 'yes, that happened', even down to the style of jeans. I have my own memories of the miners strike, of course. Back then I worked for the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) in St James's Square and, back then, the junior staff did overtime by servicing the overnight conciliation meetings. I did one night during the miners strike, serving tea and sandwiches to both the National Coal Board and the National Union of Miners. At the end of those talks Arthur Scargill brought in a big bag of sweets for the staff that stayed up most of the night to keep them fed and watered but we got nothing from the NCB. Says it all really. I know books will continue to be written about that woman and that strike but that's my memory.

The Q&A at the end was fun too, with some of the questioners knowing the people in the film or having attended the events shown. We had David Livingstone (producer) and Andrew Scott, Ben Schnetzer and Faye Marsay on stage for questions. Faye made an important point about where was activism these days? A 30 second tweet isn't the same as putting your health on the line by going out and actually doing something to change the world. And, she is, of course, right. Where are our activists today? This motley crew changed the NUM policy towards gays and they helped changed Labour Party policy. It can be done.

If it hasn't already come though strongly enough, I *loved* this film. If you're reading this blog then I suspect you will too so please go and see it. You'll love it. Honest!