The Incomplete Guide to Hadestown, Wicked Little Letters, and remakes
In which greek mythology commands loyalty, a community swears loyalty to no-one, and we have no loyalty to the originals.
Hadestown (Lyric Theatre, seen Wednesday 14 February 2024)
An American look at a Greek tragedy. — Vanessa Burke
“HADESTOWN takes you on an unforgettable journey to the underworld and back, intertwining two mythic love stories – that of young dreamers Orpheus and Eurydice, and that of King Hades and his wife Persephone.“A deeply resonant and defiantly hopeful theatrical experience, HADESTOWN invites you to imagine how the world could be.”
Hadestown sets to music the ancient Greek legend of Orpheus and Eurydice. It is one of the most popular legends to depict, as operas, paintings or statues. The story of Hadestown has long been brewing: Anaïs Mitchell put together the original musical in 2006, then turned it into a concept album in 2010 - which had luminaries like Bon Iver taking on parts. By 2016, the story had turned back into a musical, and in 2018, it came to London for the first time, to the National Theatre.
It is now 2024, and Hadestown is finally on the West End. I don’t know what its previous forms looked like, but it is a tight performance, put on in an even more tight theatre. It’s unfortunate, but the Lyric Theatre has put a spin on my perception of the story, thanks to its deep inverted dome ceiling that blocked the partial view of most folks sitting in the circle.
In the photo above, the stage does not look obscured, but there is a balcony on which important characters sit - it is visually possible to spot as underneath the light rig. In some ways, not seeing what happened there gave the characters an air of mystery which worked with their characters. However, that was not the choice of the directors. I’m afraid that skimping on tickets will change your experience, unlike for other shows.
If Greek mythology is not your strongest subject, the story of Orpheus and Eurydice echoes that of Hades and Persephone, as the advertising copy suggests. The thing about echoes is that they aren’t exact copies, and as a consequence, the story of Orpheus and Eurydice, two mortals caught in a similar premise, cannot be the same. WhatsOnStage.com pans the ending, and while it was emotionally unsatisfying for me too, it wasn’t like the audience wasn’t warned with the opening number.
It’s possible this let-down is the result of a tentative wider criticism: this musical is on the cusp of social critique. It portrays a capitalist, exploitative system, and heroes willing to disrupt it, but then loses this thread to the personal story. On the other hand, maybe the moral of the story is that without leaders slavishly devoted to the cause, overturning the socio-economic order is harder work: this world often finds those folks’ lives cut short, like MLK, JFK, Patrice Lumumba et al.
What makes you accept, even embrace it all as part of the story, is the stellar cast. In some ways, the regionality of it all felt like it underlined the class critique, but there’s also something purely melodic about Dónal Finn’s Irish lilt, that’s not written into the score. Contrasting him with the American intonation of Zachary James’ Hades gives this a David-versus-Goliath type contrast. The gender-blind casting of Melanie la Barrie as narrator Hermes with a Caribbean accent adds warmth to the story-telling.
It would be remiss of us not to mention the live band as well. Music is inherent to the story that is being told, so to have them set within the stage feels organic, especially with the layer of an Americanised point of view. Including the Fates and Orpheus in the production in that regard is also an inspired choice.
Hadestown is hoping to entice you to return beyond your first time seeing it, for instance with punch cards that reward you with limited edition merchandise. But as you sit in the audience, surrounded by seeming returning guests, who shower the cast with applause as they enter for the first time (not a convention we were aware of), you realise that this will either make a fervent fan out of you, or someone who appreciates it for one night only. It seems there’s no in-between.
An Incomplete Guide to Wicked Little Letters
There’s enough swearing in the film for me to try and go fowl-language-free for this little strange delight.
It’s a good time to be a comedy film, especially British ones, (I’m thinking of Wonka, Polite Society, Rye Lane). This weekend saw the release of the reasonably well-trailed and well-marketed Wicked Little Letters. It features a delightful cast undergoing the turmoil and farce of a strange scandal involving sweary abusive letters in inter-war Britain.
Edith Swan (Olivia Colman), a spinster who has memorised the Bible and lives to serve various local Christian committees and organisations, has been receiving abusive, vulgar, and quite frankly batshit letters of abuse. All of the fingers are pointing at her boisterous working class Irish neighbour, Rose Gooding (Jessie Buckley).
This is the second time that Jessie Buckley has played an outlandish rough and ready woman, fighting to provide for her children, called Rose, but unlike 2018’s Wild Rose, there’s no singing here. The evidence against Rose is scant; purely that the letters have foul language, and Rose’s lexical choices would make for a good battle with Malcolm Tucker, but the community starts to turn against her, until Police Officer Gladys Moss (Ajana Vasan) starts to connect dots and suggest that there are other possibilities.
Vasan will be best known to many for her role in Black Mirror’s finale last year, Demon 79, in which she was astounding, and also for her Bafta-nominated role in We Are Lady Parts. The cast also features Timothy Spall as Edith’s oppressive, insecure father – very much the patriarchy in human form; Joanna Scanlan; Gemma Jones; Lolly Adefope; Eileen Atkins; Hugh Skinner; Jason Watkins and Matilda herself, Alisha Weir.
There’s some inspired colour-blind casting here; many sexist jokes are made at the expense of Gladys as a Woman Police Officer, required to always introduce herself in that way, and with no remarks or acknowledgment of skin colour. A mere four years later, the legacy of Armando Iannucci’s The Personal History of David Copperfield is being felt.
You might have noticed that I’ve not spoken much about the film. That’s kind of the problem. It is funny, but the swearing, vulgar imagery, and chaotic language that feeds the central scandal and true crime at the core of the plot really is not as interesting as director Thea Sharrock thinks it is. Compared to the artistry of swearing in The Thick of It, where the foul language is the way the characters do battle with one another to survive a day of work, there’s something so full of malice here.
There’s only so many times we can see the women limited and lacking freedom, and so many times we can watch competitive swearing before asking for a bit more substance. It’s a comedy, and there are a few harrowing scenes, but it lacks the courage of its convictions. Towards the end, as the villain is revealed and the community rallies, there’s a slight Aardman tone, and it’s tricky to switch to wholesome when the bulk of your story has been sold on grotesque disgustingness and breaking taboo.
It is nice to see Olivia Colman return to her comedy roots. It’s a performance of madness and joy and fear, reminiscent of Flowers and The Favourite, if either were set in a more grounded and less stylised world. The world feels like a sitcom at times, with the community getting into and out of scrapes.
Jessie Buckley continues to enchant any camera that looks at her, and I would watch her read the phone book (I tolerated Alex Garland’s Men last year because of Jessie Buckley’s stunning performance in an otherwise middling and below-par nonsense-horror).
However, the heart of the film and the most winning performance comes from Anjana Vasan. She lights up the world, brings a unique energy, and is going to be one to watch.
So what you end up with is a mixed bag. It feels a bit like a superhero movie where they were so pleased to confirm the cast’s availability, they started shooting before finalising the third act. There are influences from everywhere, from Iannucci to Sherlock and Edgar Wright, with a bit of Mischief Theatre as well. Too many. It’s a bit on the nose, but it is funny. Not because of the derogatory sweary chaos, but because of the real characters, with depth, reacting to a concrete and grounded example of the importance of truth, justice, and listening to each other.
Maybe sometimes good cinema is just cinema that you can switch off to.
3 f***ing stars.
Wicked Little Letters is in cinemas now.
An Incomplete List Of Remakes that Might Be Better Than The Originals
To celebrate DUNE PART TWO’s release this weekend, let’s reflect on the fact that sometimes a remake, remaster, or cover is better than the original. The first of an epic series spent decades decried as unfilmable, but now has three screen adaptations, as well as a strange speculative existence thanks to Jodorowsky's Dune.
Dino Laurentis notoriously wanted to make the novel into a 10-hour film, and David Lynch’s original cut was apparently just over three hours, but forced into a conventional two-hour runtime and also forced into incomprehensibility. We should be grateful that Dennis Villeneuve’s two films managed the story into two films that total around five and a half hours with a lot of awards speculation for the sequel too.
Here’s a short guide to remakes worth considering.
1. Escape from / Conquest Of / Battle for The Planet Of The Apes Vs Rise of / Dawn of / War For The Planet Of The Apes
As will be discussed in more detail in a future issue when Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes hits cinemas and continues to diminish the available options for future titles of the Planet of the Apes movies, this is a strange series. It’s fair to say that people are aware of the original movie from 1968, the fact that there were some other ones, and new ones feature Andy Serkis’ groundbreaking motion-capture performance as Caesar, the chimpanzee.
The new ones, broadly speaking, retread and replace the story of the sequels/prequels from 1971-74; Escape from, Conquest of, and Battle for the Planet of the Apes; regaling us with the potential way that the apes could rise up and humanity could fall. They do so with a much more realistic, grounded story. They’re big budget and adventurous whereas the originals, although admirable, muddle their confused message and look cheap, even for the time.
2. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory versus Wonka
Tim Burton’s 2005 version is a mess and it’s time that we stopped trying to justify it. Johnny Depp is doing an impression of Michael Jackson but absolutely everyone else is so forgettable. Apart from the chocolate river sequence looking a bit bigger, the only notable addition to the storytelling in this one is a lot of interest in Wonka’s backstory, giving us extensive flashbacks and a climax involving his dentist father, played by Christopher Lee. It doesn’t really work emotionally.
Paul King’s 2023 prequel and new origin story for Willy Wonka, Wonka, gives a different take on how this madman went about making chocolates: a musical with a cast of British comedy national treasures and cult stars. Whilst, a bit like Solo: A Star Wars Story, it fails to show us just how the title character got their edge, it gives us a story about a loveable young rogue doing whatever it takes to make his dreams come true. Timotheé Chalamet oozes much more charisma and lovability, and takes the edge off Wonka’s slave labour relationship with the Oompa Loompas with a slight change to the dynamic. A total uncynical joy (that has done amazing box office business, now on $619m WW).
3. Clueless versus Emma (2020)
Anya Taylor-Joy is on everyone’s mind, not just because of her mysterious appearance in Dune Part Two. But while her portrayal of Emma brings a modern touch to a Regency dramedy, Cher Horowitz still reigns supreme. Maybe it’s not a contemporary modern approach, but it’s timeless in its own way.
Besides Amy Heckerling’s sharp script that didn’t just imitate teenagers but truly quoted them (and in turn was quoted by them), bringing an Austen adaptation into the modern day allows a critique of our own times through a literary lens. The lessons of digging deeper than superficial impressions, sharing kindness judgement-free, or minding one’s business never age. But it’s a lot easier when they’re delivered by a total babe like Alicia Silverstone.
4. Mr & Mrs Smith (2024) versus Mr & Mrs Smith (2005)
Some films lend themselves better to TV shows - without a doubt Mr & Mrs Smith would have been similarly blessed. But what improves the Amazon outing even more, is that the story is essentially changed wholesale. The showmance of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie undoubtedly lifted the perception of the mediocre spy action film beyond its merit, so we’re lucky this even got a second shot.
Executive producer and co-lead Donald Glover wisely retools this story, in a similar fashion to the comparable True Lies film/TV show adaptation. Instead of living separate lives to conceal their murderous main occupations, this show begins with two spies recruited into a fake relationship as a cover. Given the acclaim The Americans got for a similar conceit, Mr & Mrs Smith on the streamer should be a more-than-adequate update to the title.
5. Common People by Pulp vs Common People by William Shatner
Pulp’s 1995 single is one of the great songs. Jarvis Cocker has remarked that if it was all Pulp were remembered for, then they could do a lot worse. It’s a beautiful, pumping, bassy track with biting satire about the romanticisation of poverty, gentrification, and the lies the rich mythologise the working class with. It’s an anthem.
And yet, whenever I hear it on the radio, I follow it up by listening to William Shatner’s spoken word version. It’s hilarious, it’s confusing, it’s stilted, it’s downright weird, but somehow has even more emotion. It has Joe Jackson singing whilst Shatner speaks and announces, with the lyrics throbbing with even more passion duetted alongside Shatner’s direct voice. It’s wonderful.
What remakes, covers or remasters do you think outshine their original counterparts?