WW2, Tap dancing and Morris men

Farewell Mr Haffman

 A WW2 drama with a strange twist and quite a lot of sometimes uncomfortable laughs. It's 1942 in Paris, and Joseph Haffman (Alex Waldmann), a Jewish owner of a jewellery shop proposes that Pierre (Michael Fox), his French catholic employee takes over the business while Joseph hides in the cellar.  Meanwhile Pierre has a counterproposal of his own which turns this wartime drama into a somewhat fraught relationship triangle drama with the two men and Pierre's wife Isabelle (Jennifer Kirby). Giving us a different slant on the Nazi persecution of Jewish people, this had a lot packed in, but after the first hour I was wondering if it had been written into a corner.   However, the last half hour throws in a new twist which moved things along considerably.   Pierre agrees to host a dinner with Otto (Nigel Harman), the Nazi ambassador to Paris and his wife Suzanne (Jemima Rooper), putting the cat amongst the pigeons as Mr Haffman decides to come out of his cellar to join them for dinner.  Things kick off in a big way, both funny and tense, ensuring that all of the threads are pulled together.  Rooper is a force of nature in the dinner scene and was worth the price of the ticket alone. 

This was always entertaining and with great performances throughout, the emotional and moral quandaries everyone finds themselves in certainly kept the audience leaning forward in their seats. This French play has themes of collaboration, persecution, racism, venality and the general messiness of human behaviour and they are all given a good stir in this particular pot with a good seasoning of wit and double entendres.  It also uses tap dancing to represent jealousy, frustration and angst as well as pretending that all is fine - and that was a bit different!!  So although the ending didn’t quite hit the spot for me, this was still an action packed and engaging 95 minutes. 

Brasil! Brasil! The Birth of Modernism. 

Earlier in the day we had been to see this exhibition at the Royal Academy.  This is a big and pretty comprehensive show. covering the development of modernism in Brazil over the 20th century.  There were lots of unexpected pieces on top of the colourful imagery I had expected, and a couple of pieces stood out for me.

Firstly this overtly political piece 'Migrants' by Carulida Portinari which feels very topical now

This one which looks for all the world like morris dancers, but showing a traditional Marrapaia dance (by Djanira da Motto e Silva).  I imagine colonialism is somehow responsible for the similarities, but apparently this version has Angolan roots.