The Standard of Living

Maybe strangely, I was really excited by the idea of Rory Kinnear as economist John Maynard Keynes.  This new play at The Theatre Royal, Haymarket, written by James Graham and directed by Nicholas Hytner is a biography which aims to weave together the threads of art, culture, politics and economics, and it was, in the end, I thought, largely successful.   

I know of Keynes and his economic philosophy, but had no idea about the man and his financial and emotional entanglement with the Bloomsbury set.  It made for a fascinating story though, and something of an explanation of what drove him to his views on the way that the transformative power of money can help to bring the ‘good life’ to all.  

As for the play itself, the writing and the staging felt a little dry and fragmented in the first half, despite the gorgeous art, dance and music which was interleaved with the dialogue heavy scenes. However, I thoroughly enjoyed the performances, particularly that of Kinnear as Keynes.  The rest of the cast all delivered and although I sometimes had trouble understanding her accent, Natalia Osipova (a real ballerina) was a warm and effective Lydia Lopokova, a somewhat surprising wife to Keynes, particularly given his previous history of relationships with men.  The Bloomsbury bunch were nicely snipey with each other and Keynes, despite their closeness and maybe even because of the complicated nature of their relationships with each other, and it did make me think about how they influenced him in all sorts of ways, even as he was supporting them financially.

If the first half felt less than the sum of its parts, I felt it all came together in the second half, ending with a rousing declaration on the value of art and culture in the good life.  One that this particular audience was bound to agree with.  There was nice little speech on how 'lassez faire' economics led to political extremism and populism both left and right, and the audience clearly got the message and concurred. We could have done without the phone alarm going off in the middle of the final rousing speech  though; who sets an alarm for 10 o’clock at night, and fails to silence it before going into a theatre? 

I am going again in a few weeks so it will be interesting to see if I like it more or less at the second watch.

Beforehand, Ihad popped into 'The 90's: Art and Fashion' exhibition at Tate Britain.  I spent much of the 90's knee deep in children so a lot of it had passed me by, but there were some really thought provoking exhibits, particularly thinking about this decade's influence on race, gender and sexual politics.  It was also striking to see the push back to the fake glossiness of the 80's laid out so clearly.  Alongside all the stuff about dance and rave culture, there was loads to think about and where it was possible to see that things that seemed shocking then are now commonplace. There was a fair bit of Kate Moss of course, and a bit of Damien Hirst et al, along with works from some great women artists such as Rachel Whiteread and Sarah Lucas.  I didn't take a lot of photos but I was very entertained with the decor.  Particularly this one by Abigail Lane 'Bottom Wallpaper' 

And I loved this flooring by Jim Lambie "Zobop'.

Worth a look, whether you loved this decade, or it passed you by.