22/06/2012 The Review Show

This programme contains some strong I have stepped into the President's

shoes this evening and who knew he wore kitten heels? A celebration of

Yoko Ono's work at the Serpentine Gallery.

Julie Walters remembers the Sixties outrageously in the Last Of The

Haussmans at London's National Theatre.

And in The Last Projectionist has the digital revolution canned the

romance of cinema? All this and a light cappella from the key to a

head. Hague to discuss all of this are

novelist Alex Preston. Journalist Rosie Boycott and film critic and

writer, Karen Krizanovich. Do not forget to tweet us. We enjoy

reading them, well most of them. He may have accepted recently the

order of the British Empire, but Armando Iannucci's latest comedy is

set in the good old US of A, which kicked that out in 1793. After the

transatlantic success of In The Loop, Veep centres on the all but

redundant role of the vice- president in this latest satire

from HBO. A screwball West Wing, Veep brings

the atmosphere of The Thick Of It to the American establishment.

you then? Glasses on for the intellectual look? Focused? I like

your glasses. Glasses make me look weak. I have been a political geek

and particularly about American politics. There was this massive

biography of Lyndon Johnson and that gave me the idea. Lyndon

Johnson was a very powerful figure. He then became Kennedy's vice-

president and I found myself sitting in an empty room waiting

for the telephone to go. There is that great thing about being so

near and yet so far, thinking he was so far, and suddenly he becomes

the most powerful person in the world.

There has never been a female vice- president, but FIFA's Lady in

Waiting is Selina Meyer, played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus. She is

perennially hopeful of stepping into the President's shoes, but her

ambitions are constantly frustrated. We have asked you to stand down,

the President is fine. That is terrific news. People are saying,

is it Sarah Palin or Hillary Clinton? That is when who performs

that role becomes important. Julia makes Zilina mayor, Zilina Meyer.

Politics is about people. It is about people. The vice-president's

advisers are a far cry from Malcolm Tucker, the aggressive spin doctor

in The Thick Of It, and In The Loop. Bollocks, they have announced it

already. You two, far cough. Stay here, I want to kill you. Malcolm

Tucker can come in and Hector and poorly a subservient minister

because that minister does not have that much influence. If someone

like Malcolm came into the vice- president's office and started

shouting and swearing, he would be removed by five Secret Service

agents and arrested and rendered somewhere unimaginable. They have

that respect for the office, if not for the present, the office.

Scorn of the British establishment was at the heart of The Thick Of It.

Across the Atlantic, does Veep have the same bike? Did the President

called? Note. I know you are a big fan of The Thick Of It. It is that

you straight away? I do not think it grabs me quite by the throat,

but I really liked it. It is quite light and it does not tax you very

much. But she is a very good actress and it has got a lot of

good sub-plots and it is fast dialogue, it rips along and there

are lots of neat, little sub-plots. There is a quarrel, let's get a dog,

No the first lady does not want a dog. It gives you the sense of the

stupidity of the politics. people wonder where it is going to

go? This is what he has done throughout his career, he does the

comedy of impotence. Alan Partridge of cause and the MP in in The Thick

Of It. This is a humiliating office for a six -- successful politician

to act. The first vice-president described it as the most

insignificant of his contrived by man's imagination. This is like

Alan Partridge on Radio Norwich. an American, what do you think of

it? I loved it. And it seemed like a badge of comedy writers

pretending to be politicians. But I loved this because of the reasons

that you said it was not as good. It is light and fluffy and fun and

Julia Louis-Dreyfus is amazing. you think that holds it back, from

being a bit more gutsy? No, I do not. I do not know if it needs to

be gutsy in that way. As it is really like a speed bag. I think

that... If you are never going to get to be able to press that

nuclear button, she keeps getting pulled back. What you show is the

insanity of politics. Armando Iannucci has said it, the left and

the right are merging together and this thing about being good to

people. I think he gets the self serving as of politics. When she

talks about the green jobs task force, it will put me on the map.

There is nothing in there about wanting to be in politics to do

anything good. The reason we buy all this is because that is what we

believe and what we seek. Do you think there is a problem because of

the Liberal Democrats? I thought it was probably a Republican

presidents it. I do not know why. The expectations of the oil lobby

and the female senator she runs up against who could not be a democrat.

It would have been more interesting and would have been a clearer

differentiation from the west wing if it had been clearly stated as a

Republican incumbency. That is why everybody walks around with donkey

or elephants stickers. There is a lot more bleed because you will be

marginalised unless you work with these groups. What about the other

characters? There is that guy from the White House who is always

trying to trip her up. Yes, and what you see amongst them is raw

competitiveness. The deals when they go down to the yoghurt shop to

meet normals, which is a good expression, they meet the people in

the pasty Shop. It all goes spectacularly wrong. You can see

them all vying to tell the journalists, to give them the scoop.

You can see it is building up. was In The Loop and she is

brilliant in this. She is spiky and vulnerable at the same time, she is

the press secretary, and I think she is honourable. It does not miss

that acid Markham Tucker? There is nobody who is so compulsive to

watch as Malcolm Tucker. I did find myself longing for eight Hopi from

the west wing. I think it is an interesting comparison and it does

do things interestingly that the West Wing does not. It offers work

well, but there was an attempt at The Thick Of It before. Armando

Iannucci plasters over this. He was the executive producer of The Thick

Of It, USA. The pilots in 2007 was abysmal by all accounts. Here the

he is much more hands-on and has come up with something special.

he has got an OBE. And somehow an this week reading Alastair

Campbell's diaries, and the wonderful bit about that lunatic,

bonkers man next door and you could not get it better. Life imitates

art. Armando works incredibly hard and we are about to have another

Alan Partridge and another in The Thick Of It. The Alan Partridge

will be based on the Leveson Inquiry. It is a wonderful time to

be a satirist. Barack Obama begins on Monday at 10pm on Sky Atlantic.

She has had songs written for her and about her and been blamed for

the Beatles' split. But through it all Yoko owner continued to make

avant-garde art. Now she has a show on at the Serpentine Gallery in

London and it spans the past 50 years. -- Yoko Ono.

Long before Yoko Ono met John Lennon she was at the forefront of

conceptual art, challenging the established art world at its ideas

about the relationship between the artwork and the viewer. The

exhibition is called To The Light and many of the works played to the

airiness and optimism the title suggests. In the past, she has been

derided for her apparent naivety. Some of the early pieces shown here,

and the performance work, in which she invited members of her audience

to snip the clothes of her body, continued to resonate. I was

thinking of expressing how women are treated, as well as how we can

survive it by allowing people to do things that they want to do.

original performance is shown alongside a second version from

2003, and many of them are recent works and comments on her pass,

which incorporate echoes of her life with John Lennon. The central

to the exhibition is a perspex labyrinth of visitors are invited

to walk through. Its transparency can be strangely misleading,

perhaps like Yoko owner herself. Her current project is A smile. The

earlier work has centred on a slow moving portrait of John's phase.

thought of that as a portrait on the wall and I would see his face.

One day you look and he just smiles. I thought that would be very

interesting. In the new project everyone in the world is invited to

up load pictures of themselves smiling. For you co-owner it is a

statement of love, but does its simplicity play into the hands of

her critics? Karen, do you think what is at the Serpentine finally

proves she was and is a real artist? Does this bring her out of

John Lennon's shadow? I do not think she will ever become out of

his shadow. I think she is quite happy with that. I do not think she

lives in an illusion and she was the start and he came along. She

sees herself as an amalgam with him and his memory and that has brought

her art to a larger audience. I am quite a fan, but I am not a lover

of big, serious art. I do not find her art serious. What do you think

about the trajectory? It looks back at different points in her life and

different episodes she was trying to portray. Does it give the sense

of her moving on a journey until now, she is 80? Yes, I think she is

more this iconic goddess from the Sixties, this exotic person who

fused together the art world and the music world. I think that is

Did you like it? I found it biennial. I thought it was trite

and obvious. The ready-mades the apple on a percent pecks plinth. It

was being done ten years before Ono was born. The only member of the

flux group who did anything interesting in the visual arts. I

thought it was appalling. Were you in the same exhibition? I was. I

was struck by it. She has been so part of life. All my life growing

up. I really didn't know that much about her art until I went to look

at this and actually then listening to her give a talk. I was very

moved. That may be just because I was around then by the ladder that

John Lennon went up and saw the "yes" on the ceiling. I wanted to

climb? Health and safety. For God's sake. Later when she was being

interviewed, Sean came over at the end and nuned her and said, "Mum,

say this bit" after he climbed up the ladder and been blown aawie --

away by this Japanese woman. He invited what she thought was a

party, when she got there she was the only person. He said, "Would

you build a light tower in my building" she said I'm only a

conceptual artist, I can't do it. You interviewed her? She was the

first interview I did when I was 19. I got this job on an under ground

paper. Its with a bad week. Everyone was either drunk or

falling apart. Someone gave me a tape recorder and said will you

interview John and Yoko. I went. I never interviewed anyone. Most of

the time I was very paralysed because I was very worried that the

tape recorder was going to fail. I did get this interview. Such a cool

story. Three weeks after it was published I got a letter from Mr

and Mrs John Lennon from the QEII thanking me. Have you still have

it? I was many broke and I sold it at Sotherby's for �850. The moral

is, don't ever sell anything. What struck me about her this time, lots

of things did, I never twiged to what a such feminist she was.

cut piece was the thing that did it for me much I was upset watching.

It obviously, the '60s one which is mesmerising. The 2003, her son had

gone to France and said, please don't do this again, the

vulnerability of that piece in the '60s. What it said. It was so

unusual. Astonishing seeing them face each other as well. I think,

to me, that was the only piece in the exhibition that worked. It

engaged more fully with the problems thrown up by the myth of

Yoko. You have these creepy members of the public approaching her with

a pair of tailor sheers. They are quite big. She is tiny. It's

totally unerotic. Seeing the blank stare of the 34-year-old in 1963,

looking at the 70-year-old in 2003, it is a very, very moving moment.

Also, the thing about that is, she might have done it all those years

ago it is just as powerful seeing her do it in old age. She said

there was a different interpretations of tsm when she did

it in the '60s it was about women have to put up with. When she did

it in London, which is not on the film. 0 blokes cut her clothes off

quickly we Brits were the most aggressive. She did it in various

countries. When she did it in 200314 was saying in this

untrustworthy world we live, we must learn to trust. She changed

and moved the Met for along, which I thought was interesting. In 2003,

there was this idea that people were to be searched in their way in

so they weren't carrying weapons. She said, no, it is about trust.

What do you think about the Maze about the percent pect maze you

walk into. I loved it Another artist helped me along a bit. I

took a sheet of paper in so I could see where I was going. I cheated.

The whole point of themaze. Is to mess you up. I hate to say, it

metaphor for life am you walk, you don't know where you are going. You

bump into things. Everybody can watch you. That was the fun of it.

You were allowed to make mistakes until you got... Did you feel

embarrassed? I was hurt several times walking through tsm I found

it embarrassing. This idea you go on a confusing journey at the end

there is a pool of water... It used to be a lavatory? It was much

funnier and a nod to The Fountain. It has become obvious and trite and

sixth-form. The wonderful portrait of John Lennon smiling so slowly.

That was one thing. Also the validation of her in the

partnership. Yes. I think that is one thing we are overlooking. It's

easy to make fun of her. I don't know anybody who own as piece of

her work, for example. I had something in my kitchen once. She

is a feminist. She's independent artist. Also, she doesn't ignore

this strong relationship. It is as if she is one of these women who

managed to have it all. She hasn't been back to England since then..

They said that when she and John got together they felt she was

popular in her field and she was popular in his. They became the

most unpopular couple. She got letters saying, what are you doing

this with this weird white man. The fact that they, sort of, strayed

together is amazing. For her to come backened be fated I suspect is

unbelievibly wonderful for her. try and catch it.

The show at the Serpentine Gallery until the 9th September.

The legacy of the Summer of Love generation is the topic of The Last

of the Haussmans which premiered this week at the National Theatre.

Starring Julie Walters, best known for her eclectic roles from

Educating Rita and Mo Mowlam to Mrs Overall in Acorn Antiques, she

returns to the stage to play Judy, an ageing hippy whose lifestyle

choices have had a dramatic effect on her children. Julie Haussmans is

surrounded by relics of bygone days. Her pursuit of free love and her

helpy ideals have led to strained family relations. The play begins

in the wake of a health scare as her two way ward children return

home. Oh, I had to go to Plymouth to have a big chunk cut out of my

leg. Guess what that meant? An Indian doctor. I told him all about

Puna and the Ashram. He was beautiful, wasn't he, Libby?

really don't know. When he put his hand on my thigh. Will you

understand this, Nicky, I felt such a jolt go through me. I said, karma

wakens me with his arrow. Which I think was rather smart. Don't you.

He just went quiet. I thought the script was... I thought it was

wonderful. I thought it was really funny. It reminded me of Checof. I

thought it was moving and touching and worked on lots of different

levels. Something I like. It had everything going for it. Nick and

his sister Libby have developed very different personal problems

through their upbringing at the hands of an unconventional mother.

When the family home, which you niets them is threatened, they

become more desperate. They are, savage to each other. They are very

strong characters. They are at war all the time. I think all families,

on whatever level, even if it's a tiny level, the smallest domestic

level, all familys -- families contain the ingredients. With the

Haussmans's it's at an explosive level. It's a welcome return for

Julie Walters. Has she established herself here as a hippie, trippy

hero wine? -- her wine. --heroine. Did this offer something new?

I think it did. I thought it was strikingly good. I thought what it

did, it had a fascinating premise. Not only this idea of tracing the

emotional and the financial and economic repercussions of that baby

boom generation and all the hippie guff they spouted... Hippie chuff

they spouted? I thought it was touching and interesting. I read in

a review. I thought it was spot on, Libby and Nicky, the two children

are a much more accurate recipation of what the children of that, we

will wear flowers in our hair generation will be like, rather

than Saffy in Ab Fab. In this play is that nothing that Lucy did or

achieved or stood formatered, or was it anything other than stupid?

She didn't do anything. I think she... She's quite a cliche of a

hippie. She's an OK cliche. I kind of liked her despite it. There are

very, very few people who completely remain frozen in time

like that. I enjoyed it hugely. I thought the plot got creeky around

the doctor. He was in there... Comes to see them. I think it's

fascinating that we are in the middle of this wrath of these plays

like Love, Love Love were the baby boomer's incredibly -- incredible

luck is stabbing the knife in the next generation. The symbol of the

house. Property. We want it and we want to get it from you. You

haven't had to work for. It there are lots of different levels. In

Love, Love, Love the idea is that the mother worked and neglected the

kids. In this the mother was hippie Dieppe and flegt neglected the kids

but managed to get rich. Far for me to praise a Tory. What did you make

of their relationship? It seemed as if, I thought there was a strange

incestuous thing going on. It was like from Acorn Antiques it was

forgotten and nothing happened. I thought he is gai because he has

red in his hair much I didn't get. It I like the point you made about

stabbing the future, taking the house away. I hadn't really seen

that. I saw the press night. I didn't feel they had settled in to

the script. I didn't feel they really gelled on it well. I thought

the set was fantastic. I was wafpbg the set. For me, I really did feel

they were ciphers of what they were supposed to be. Interesting. They

seem to be playing individually and also Helen is a brilliant actress

but it was anger all the time. thought she was good. I thought

maybe the problem was the dynamic between them and the mother. Also,

the character of Daniel, this young boy who comes swimming in their

pool. At the end of the play, you realise that the play is about his

sentimental education. About his... They wouldn't say what happened?

won't give it away much you needed to know more of. That you needed to

understand how important this wonderful house and its inhabitants

were to this young man. If you look at Rock and Roll it looks at the

political consequences and generational consequences of what

happened in the '60s. It was a much more muscular play? Contingency was

a much more muscular play and these weren't. Tom Stoppard wrote it

about something that was contemporary to him. These plays

are written by the generation is that suffering the angst of it.

It's like us writing plays about being the children of Look Back in

Anger. What we used to write about as young feminists about the fact

that our mothers stayed at home. This new thing is fascinating for

me to say that to see it coming through. I think, what is slightly

sad is that nothing that the '60s achieved, I think there were a lot

of things that were not political at all, huge cultural things

happened. Women could work after that. You could be gay. And hang

legacies are not preeshed in -- appreciated in this play or in Love,

Love, love but seen as the detriment to the children.

whole point is that Libby's daughter suffers now. Hanging over

the house and the family is the shadow of the grandfather, Judy's,

the mother's father, this play is about companion piece to Phillip

Larkin's play. They say it's incred ibly difficult to be a parent. I

heard that and thought, this is what it's about as well. It's

really hard to be a parent. mentioned the set. The set is

related to to the fact this could be in this neck of the woods, the

idea this crumbling Art Deco house that is worth a fortune. The set

was brilliant the way it revolved? Extraordinary. I thought little

touches the fact they had the old car seat. Who had an old car seat

for a long time. They don't fall to pieces any more. They did come out.

The set brings you back to property, brings you back to inherit ans and

check off. It's about how much a family sense of itself is linked to

where they are and the property. When you are going to lose it how

Julie Walters was clearly enjoying herself and relishing this role. It

was amazing. You can see it kind of suits her. You can let it all hang

out, and she does. I thought her timing was beautiful and she read

the characters so well. Yes, absolutely. It could have gone too

far in that direction of comedy, but it was very moving,

particularly at the end, it was incredibly poignant, I was moved.

The Last Of The Haussmans is on at the National Theatre. The romance

of the local cinema is well-trodden territory Proms Cinema Paradiso com

-- to the Purple Rose of Cairo. The Last Projectionist charged the

history of the Electric Cinema in Birmingham.

It takes a nostalgic look at the new technology which brought cinema

to millions in the 20th century, space story told through the eyes

and testimony of its first practitioners. We did a lot more

above and beyond the call of duty. But we loved the job we were in.

The Electric Cinema witnessed the technological changes and was

battered by the fluctuating fortunes of the cinema industry.

The standard bearers by the craft of 35 mm projection decried the

loss of a unique skill. The Prince of avatar, they were about 98 reels.

The cost was 60,000 US dollars. What happened when you finis to

using that pen? We have still got hours at the moment, but at

Bradford it has been scrapped. story of cinema technology is told

alongside the evolution of the building Excel, which over 100

years has been forced to adapt to changing tastes and markets,

through the Torquay's of the early years too soft porn. Did they make

much money? This place was doing �3,000 a week. Just on adult films?

Yes. Now after a costly renovation, the Electric has moved into the

21st century. This is a hard drive for a digital screen. Basically

they come in this big, yellow box. As technology changes, cannot

locally run, independent cinemas, match the infinitely resourced

multiplexes, or is The Electric in Birmingham an exception to the role.

This was an attempt to capture the ecology of the cinema, focusing on

the projectionists. Did you find them engaging? You had me on the

show because I am at X usherette. Yes, actually. It is very much like

a family, that is what they are saying, all the small, independent

cinemas. They are about this obsession with not so much the

films themselves, but with the camera, the venue, the Architecture

and about preserving this magical moment when a cinema had the event

state as it no longer has. Did you find it absorbing? You have got

films like the Purple Rose of Cairo, do is tell a different story?

was small and I do not think it was hugely ambitious, but I enjoyed it.

They could not have done it without digital. There are many ironies

going on here. There is an interesting interplay between form

and content. This is a labour of love. They did everything for this

thing and they are making a tell about the labour of love. So and he

earned the cinema. And he earns the Senate, but in the end I enjoyed

the film and I remember going to the cinema in Worthing in my youth,

which is a beautiful art-deco cinema, and there is something

worth preserving. Of course there are ironies Enders. There is even a

clear-sighted recognition that they are talking about a dying way of

life and it is not bad that it is dying. Digital is better than 35 mm

Tums. Did it hang together for you? It was totally boring, I am afraid.

I really struggled to stay awake. A critic told me once that the killer

about watching things you do not like is you have to stay until the

end because it might get good. in your case you were reviewing it.

I had to stay awake. It didn't give you any films, it did not have

moustache or or any feeling. What about the model of the theatres?

That was very nice, but that was 30 seconds. Let's have a look at it.

How many seats are there? 2600. They are all modelled individually.

The model is built from the original 1937 plans. It is the

Odeon, New Street, Birmingham. When I first started on it, you just had

the auditorium in mind, but as I got into it, it rolled on.

Absolutely wonderful. He could have done with an editor. He could have

done with a few films. I did not learn anything. To watch something

for 82 minutes and feel you did not learnt anything, I would have loved

to have learnt about how the news got there. I knew nothing about the

pornography that was shown. Bertie did not tell you who was making it.

A in order to make money. Or who was going to see it? They think I

like was the old projectionist with the wonderful faces, like that

dilemmas. They her extraordinary facial hair. These were a very

British type of eccentric. They know more about the models and the

machines than they do about women. It would have been nice to have

brought things like avatar in. But the most interesting was at the

last eight minutes when we got the tour of the British independent

cinemas and fell unless who did not say very much, turned out to have

the youngest minds with the most progressive thinking. People were

making the distinction between Pathe and Movietone and the kind of

committee they gave you and the projectionists had to run between

two cinemas to swap their news bulletins because they only had

half of the bulletins in each cinema. And they would be delivered

a day later. The archive footage was great. And then having his Tory

grandee adjust his monocle as he lectured on the benefits of cinema.

Also the story of the British censor who closed his eyes during

the scary bits of Texas chainsaw Massacre. As far as craft goes

there are a few things. The music could have been better and there is

a shot of a full Louw that I never want to see again. That was taken

from the centre of yoga owner's maze. Our I thought the opening

titles were Berlin and a promised so much, and then they went on too

long. But it needed to be a film because it is now being shown.

wanted to see some films end there. It cost them 80 ground to make it.

The Last Projectionist is on general release today. The

Edinburgh International Film Festival launched on Wednesday

night with Killer Joe. The festival has come in for criticism for

favouring geek over glamour, but with the new head at the helm,

Chris Fujiwara, the buzz about the festival is growing. I see that

Festival today as our version of the original documentary Festival,

our version of a festival that is committed to an idea of art of

cinema that is in touch with the real world. It is a truly

international programme, we have films from 52 countries. We have a

retrospective of the Japanese director and an American director

of Italian descent. I see our programme as a way of affirming our

support to the imaginative film of today and to creating a dialogue

between the audience in Edinburgh and that some making world as a

whole. The centre is the Michael Powell Award which is given every

year to the best British film. This year, we are including documentary

films. Killer Joe, with which we open, is a fantastic film by the

director of the French Connection and the Exorcist. We are closing

the festival with A brave, set in Scotland with a Scottish voice cast.

We are very excited about it. It will be a massive events and it is

positive for the festival. Careful what you wish for. What is the

worst that could happen? Edinburgh's seems to be getting its

atmosphere back. It has been a tough time. It competes against a

lot. It is the longest, continuous film festival and what is important

is the egalitarian nature of it for the artists and it is coming back.

It runs until 11th July. We look forward to reading your tweets in

the Green Room. Urge you to Rosie Boycott, Alex Preston and Karen

Chris Samba ditch. Next week, we will be looking at killer Joe. We

will also be investigating the Shakespeare season on the BBC. Here

to play as out are The Futureheads. I was 19 when I came to town and

they called it the summer of love. They were burning babies and they

were burning flags. I took a job down on cauldron straight, fell in

love with a laundry girl who was working next to make. She was fine

like Abbey's win, so buying a breath of wind might have blown her

awake. She was a lost child. She said, as long as there is no prize

on lard, I will stay. I would not want it any other way. -- as long

as there is no price on love. Like a fox caught in the headlights,

there was animal in her eyes. She said, if you do not take me out of

here, I will surely lose my mind. She was a rare thing, fine as

Abbey's wing. So fine, a breath of wind might have blown her away. She

was a lost child, she said, as long as there is no price on laugh, I

will stay. I would not want it any We were camping on the Gower one

time and the work was pretty good. We were drinking more in those days

and the tempo reached a pitch. The last I heard she was sleeping rough

down on the Derby beach. They say she even married once, a man named

Romania Brown, but even a gypsy caravan was too much to hold her

down. They say her flower has faded now, but maybe that is the price

you pay. She was a rare thing, fine as a bee's wing. So fine a breath