2019 culture preview part 2: David Copperfield, Peaky Blinders, Endgame

THE CHEVIOT, THE STAG AND THE BLACK, BLACK OIL

IT may just be a happy accident but one of Scottish theatre’s most explosive plays is about to go on tour in the year that many expect/hope that a second Scottish independence referendum will be announced.

The revival of the legendary The Cheviot, The Stag and The Black, Black Oil, which outlines the despoliation and exploitation of Scotland over the centuries, is particularly apt in the current political climate, given that the influential production has lost none of its relevance since it was first staged by the revolutionary 7:84 company in the 1970s.

Echoing the play’s original tour, which stirred up theatre goers all over Scotland, the revival from the National Theatre of Scotland, in association with Dundee Rep, will see it visiting community spaces and art centres across Scotland before it ventures into England for a two-week run at Newcastle’s Live Theatre.

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Written by John McGrath, the political play covers everything from the ruthless evictions of Highland crofters to make way for Cheviot sheep in the 18th century, to the development of stag hunts in game parks in the 19th century and finally the exploitation of resources during the North Sea oil boom.

The highly acclaimed production tells the history and the tragedy of Scotland, performed as a Highland ceilidh, with song, humour and drama intermixed, creating a unique theatrical event.

The play is the most well-known production of the 7:84 company, set up in 1971 by John McGrath alongside his wife Elizabeth MacLennan and her brother David. Determinedly socialist in outlook, the aim was to take popular, political theatre to the working classes and they staged their work in alternative venues throughout Scotland, Wales and England. The company’s name comes from a 1966 statistic that showed 7% of the population of the UK owned 84% of the wealth.

When it was first performed, The Cheviot, The Stag and The Black, Black Oil brought theatre to a whole new public and has had considerable influence on generations of playwrights and directors in Scotland and beyond. More than 300,000 people saw the original production, which starred the then unknown actors Bill Paterson, Alex Norton and John Bett. Its success led to a BBC adaptation in 1974 on Play for Today.

The Dundee rep revivival attracted glowing reviews and happy audiences in 2016.

The new tour will cover Dundee, Inverness, Lerwick, Ullapool, Dornie, Skye, Aberdeen, Perth and Stirling starting in mid-May and finishing in Newcastle in June.

DAVID COPPERFIELD

AS one of the foremost satirists working today, it will be intriguing to see Scot Armando Ianucci’s upcoming version of David Copperfield, which stars fellow Scot Peter Capaldi as Mr Micawber. Some critics have already said the movie, which also stars Tilda Swinton, could change film forever as Ianucci has opted for “colour blind” casting on his adaptation of the Charles Dickens novel. First published in 1850, the novel has been turned into TV and film productions many times but each version has seen Copperfield portrayed as pale and posh.

Ianucci has created a stir by casting British-Indian Oscar nominee Dev Patel in the lead role. Not only that, British-Chinese actor Benedict Wong is Mr Wickfield, Nigerian-born Brit Nikki Amuka-Bird is Mrs Steerforth and Rosalind Eleazar plays saintly Agnes, Copperfield’s true love.

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The creator of The Thick Of It, Veep and the Oscar-nominated screenwriter of In the Loop, Ianucci said he wanted to feel that it was a fresh story.

“I want to make a film that doesn’t feel hidebound by the conventions of a costume drama or a period drama,” he said.

“I want to start again. I want it to feel real and present, even though it’s set in 1840 in London. I want it to feel immediate and current. And therefore I want the cast to be much more representative of what London looks like now, and I want a lot of the behaviour in the film to feel current and contemporary.”

He added: “I want the audience to feel that this is a fresh story and a new story, rather than us telling something that’s been told for centuries.”

Producer Kevin Loader has pointed out that in any case, London in the 19th century was more diverse than usually depicted in costume dramas.

“London was the centre of a huge global empire and was full of everybody just as it’s a global city now,” he said. “Traditionally, Dickens adaptations haven’t reflected that.”

For Capaldi, the role as Mr Micawber is a welcome return to working with Ianucci after starring as Malcolm Tucker in The Thick of It and In the Loop. Since he finished playing Dr Who, he has returned to films and voiced the role of Rabbit in Disney’s Christopher Robin. Micawber is a key figure, initially befriending Copperfield as his landlord before helping to bring down the scheming Uriah Heep.

PEAKY BLINDERS

WITH the far-right playing an ugly part in Western politics at the moment, the much-anticipated return of Peaky Blinders could be particularly relevant as it’s set to deal with the rise of fascism in the 1930s.

The show’s increasing popularity means it is to move from BBC2 to BBC1 and a host of new actors, including Scot Kate Dickie, have been signed up for the fifth series.

Cillian Murphy will be back as the deadly Tommy Shelby, who was elected MP of Birmingham South at the end of series four, cementing his clan’s position of power.

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However, his worsening mental health may signal the beginning of the clan’s demise.

Already finished is Alfie Solomons, who was played by Tom Hardy, as he was shot dead by Selby in the last series.

Helen McCrory as Polly Gray will be returning, as well as Sophie Rundle (Ada Thorne), Finn Cole (Michael Gray) and Paul Anderson (Arthur Shelby) along with Aidan Gillen, (Little Finger in Game of Thrones) as Aberama Gold.

New cast members include Hunger Games star Sam Claflin and former Hollyoaks actor Emmett J Scanlan, together with The Handmaid’s Tale’s Anya Taylor-Joy, The Bisexual’s Brian Gleeson, No Offence’s Neil Maskell, Lady Macbeth’s Cosmo Jarvis, Krypton’s Elliot Cowan, Ripper Street’s Charlene McKenna, The Innocence’s Andrew Koji and A Very English Scandal’s Daryl McCormack.

Creator Steven Knight has revealed the subject matter of the latest series, set in the pre-Second World War era.

“There is so much stuff happening as we are going into the 30s,” he said. “The depression and the rise of fascism form part of the storyline.”

It was initially believed that the fifth season would mark the end of the series, but fans will be pleased to hear there should be at least a further three – something Knight confirmed after Peaky Blinders won a Bafta for best drama series.

“My ambition is to make it a story of a family between two wars so I’ve wanted to end it with the first air raid siren in Birmingham in 1939,” he said. “It’ll take three more series to reach that point.”

A movie version of the series is also being discussed following Peaky Blinders’ success on the US edition of Netflix.

“There are many people in America that love Peaky Blinders and plenty of movie stars that want to be in the movie,” said executive producer Caryn Mandabach. “We heard Julia Roberts wants to do it – but this is hearsay. I don’t really know for sure.”

THE PANOPTICON

A STAGE adaptation of best-selling novel, The Panopticon by Scot Jenni Fagan, is being eagerly awaited this year. A gritty and gripping coming-of-age tale turned on its head, the National Theatre of Scotland production will be directed by Debbie Hannan and staged initially at the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh and Platform, Glasgow.

The book has received widespread critical acclaim in the UK and abroad and was included in the Edinburgh International Book Festival’s First Book Award. It has been published in nine languages and is being adapted for film, for which Fagan has written the screenplay.

In 2013 she was the only Scottish writer to be on Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists list, a once-in-a-decade accolade. She is a prize-winning poet and has twice been nominated for The Pushcart Prize and has been on lists for the Sunday Times Short Story Award, the Dublin Impac Prize, the James Tait Black Prize, the Desmond Elliott Prize and her novel was named by Waterstones as one of the 11 best worldwide debuts in 2012.

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The Sunday Herald Culture Awards selected Fagan, who has been a writer in residence at the University of Edinburgh, as the Scottish Author of the Year in 2016.

Her debut book tells the story of 15-year old smart, funny and fierce Anais Hendricks, who has been let down by every adult ever given responsibility for her.

She has gone through 38 social workers, numerous foster parents, and has been in and out of care homes while often engaged in running battles with the police which culminate in Anais being accused of putting a police woman in a coma. This results in her incarceration in The Panopticon, based on 18th century English philosopher Jeremy Bentham’s idea of a prison where inmates are constantly watched by a hidden authority ensconced in an observation tower.

Likened to a female version of Irvine Welsh’s Trainspotting character Mark Renton, Anais shares his love of music although her heroes are Nirvana and Joy Division rather than Lou Reed. Her thoughts on the nature of life, the universe and everything are interspersed with plenty of swearing and references to Frida Kahlo and the Pre-Raphaelites.

The NTS production of The Panopticon is expected later in the year.

ROCKETMAN

HE is one of the best-selling music artists in the world, with a career spanning five decades. But Elton John has never had a movie made about him – until now.

Due for release at the end of May, Rocketman follows the success of the Queen biopic, Bohemian Rhapsody, although Welsh actor Taron Egerton, who plays Elton, says it is not so much a biopic as a “fantasy musical”.

“Everyone thinks it’s a biopic. It isn’t,” he said. “It’s a fantasy musical so it’s actually his songs used to express important beats in his life at emotional moments. He’s not the only character that sings. It’s going to be fun.”

Scot Richard Madden was snapped up for the film after starring in BBC drama Bodyguard and will play Sir Elton’s former lover and first manager, John Reid.

Billy Elliot star Jamie Bell will be the young Bernie Taupin, who became Sir Elton’s long-standing song-writing partner after a chance meeting in the late-60s when they were both rejected for a job at a record company.

Bryce Dallas Howard will play Elton’s mum Sheila Eileen and the director is Dexter Fletcher, who stepped in at the last minute to take over the Bohemian Rhapsody production.

Written by Lee Hall, the man behind Billy Elliot, the movie is expected to focus on Elton’s early career, beginning with his emergence as a prodigy at the Royal Academy of Music and his partnership with Taupin which transformed him into a pop superstar.

Elton’s husband, David Furnish, who is acting as producer, said the singer had been impressed by Egerton’s performance of his songs. Egerton sang the hit I’m Still Standing for the 2016 animated movie Sing.

“Elton has told Taron, ‘Don’t copy me’,” said Furnish. “'Don’t think you have to sing it exactly the way that I sang it. Don’t think you have to perform it the way I performed it’.

“I think it’s the challenge for the actor to embody the spirit and not get into thinking they have to do an impersonation.”

Filmed in the UK, Rocketman, named after Elton’s 1972 hit, is to be released in June.

AVENGERS: ENDGAME

THIS year film fans will witness an event rarely seen in cinemas – a finale to a superhero series. At least, that’s the pledge from Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige about Endgame, the much anticipated follow-up to 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War.

There is certainly no doubt the movie is going to be very, very dark.

“Part of the journey is the end,” said Robert Downey Jr, who plays Tony Stark/Ironman.

Scot Karen Gillan, who plays big baddie Thanos’s “daughter” Nebula, has also hinted that she will take revenge on her father after he killed off half the universe in the last movie, which was partly filmed in Scotland.

“Nebula has some unfinished business with Daddio,” she announced on Instagram.

At the end of the last movie, Thanos (Josh Brolin) managed to collect all six infinity stones and complete his master plan which was to end the existence of half the universe’s population.

This act saw superheroes such as Spider-Man turned to dust but, despite their so-called demise, most are expected to feature in some form in the new film. How? Time travel, possibly through the magical powers of Dr Strange, and multiple realities have been hinted at.

It has also been suggested that some characters could actually die, never to feature again.

In the trailer Stark’s spaceship looks like a swallow as it drifts through space, prompting some fans to make the connection with an old sailors’ belief that seeing a swallow means a journey is at an end.

Film goers can also look forward to a scene where all the main characters appear together.

“There was one scene, I think, we had where everybody was there,” said Sebastian Stan, who plays Bucky Barnes. “I know it took them three months in planning this scene to have everyone there. You look around and you just saw everyone from Samuel L Jackson to Michael Douglas to Michelle Pfeiffer.”

And Captain Marvel will definitely be back playing a major role after making her debut in her own movie earlier in the year, also featuring Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson).

“She is more powerful than any character we’ve introduced thus far,” said Feige. “So that alone tells you that there’s a reason Nick hits that button at the end, when he realised that they were up against something far bigger than they had ever been up against before.

“And having her on your side is hopefully going to change the balance of power in a way that they desperately need.”

The film will be released on April 26 in the UK and ends the Marvel cinematic universe’s third phase.