THIS IS LONDON SEPTEMBER EDITION 2025 copy - Flipbook - Page 32
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charismatic and restrained. Stevenson,
too, gives an affecting rendition of a
woman trying to squash her own feelings
in favour of fairness and clear-sighted
professionalism, although we have no
need to see her holding her side
periodically, as though heart sick.
Both actors are knocked off the stage by
Young Thomas (on the opening night this
was Artie Wilkinson-Hunt.) The child
seems to be a natural and his stagecraft is
breathtaking. He has few lines (his
character struggles with apparently
forgotten languages) but his
uncomprehending rage is played out in the
smashing of tin plates; running away to the
woods; spitting at nurse maids and then,
occasionally, subsiding into Ruth’s lap with
a little boy’s helplessness. Wilkinson-Hunt
received a standing ovation.
Stephen Daldry directs and, as usual at
the NT, the production values are
marvellous. Still, you will probably not be
shocked by the events depicted in ‘The
Land of the Living’. In our times of horrific
slaughter across the globe, Lan’s play is
more of a moral maze than a visceral
catharsis.
Sue Webster
THIS
THIS
IS
LONDON
MAGAZINE
•
THE 69TH BFI LONDON FILM
FESTIVAL
The 69th BFI London Film Festival
(LFF), in partnership with American
Express, returns from 8–19 October with
a line-up of 247 features, shorts, series
and immersive works from 79 countries,
showcased across London’s flagship
venues – including BFI Southbank, the
Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall,
and BFI IMAX – in addition to 11 partner
cinemas nationwide.
This year’s film slate is brimming with
major premieres and star power. Rian
Johnson will open the festival with Wake
Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery,
while Julia Jackman closes with her
fantastical 100 Nights of Hero. Bradley
Cooper debuts his third directorial
feature Is This Thing On?, Noah
Baumbach unveils the ensemble comedydrama Jay Kelly, and Hikari presents
Brendan Fraser in Japanese drama Rental
Family. For 12 days each October, LFF
transforms London into a global hub for
cinema lovers. This year’s edition is no
exception – bold, diverse and brimming
with stories that speak to our times.
George Clooney as Jay Kelly. Photo: Peter Mountain/Netflix © 2025
THE LAND OF THE LIVING National
Miriam Buether’s handsome set for this
new play about the aftermath of the
Second World War is a raised dais on
shelves stuffed with cardboard files. At
one end is a towering bookcase, at the
other a cheap, late 20th Century kitchen.
Where are we? Not in a place of learning,
as it turns out – although the characters
certainly do learn the truth about their past
in David Lan’s drama. It is, first and
foremost, the contemporary London home
of Ruth, where Thomas, a mysterious
figure who has been absent from Ruth’s
life for a decade or more, bursts in to
confront her about his childhood.
Most of us have probably forgotten (if
we ever knew) that 11 million people were
displaced by the war across Europe in
1945. Many were children. Juliet
Stevenson’s Ruth is a bright, tireless,
bossy beacon of compassion in that
scenario. She works for an early form of
international aid and soon requisitions a
German castle to house the homeless
children. It is exhausting fun. If this were a
Hollywood movie, perhaps she would
have magic powers, but she does not.
Instead, she frets over the exact origins
of each child. There is a lot of talk of
‘moral responsibility’, and the
complicating factor of all these good
works is that some children – young
Thomas, for example – have been
adopted by childless locals. They speak
German and seem to have no real idea of
where they came from or who their
families were. Was Ruth wrong to tear
those children away in order to repatriate
them to the correct nation or village?
In the central roles, Tom Wlaschiha
plays adult Thomas as a tormented artist
– half furious, half confused about his
feelings for a woman whom he regards as
his surrogate mother. His performance is
IS
LONDON
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