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Arguments with England
By Michael Blakemore
404 pages
Published by Faber and Faber at £20 (hardback)
Publication date in hard- and paperback mid-September 2004
Dateline: 8th August, 2004
Leading theatre director Michael Blakemore is one of a generation inspired
into a stage or film career by Laurence Olivier. As these memoirs (not
autobiography) show, his early life and career were both blessed by
the inspiration of the dashing theatrical Lord.
It was Robert Morley rather than Olivier, who helped the young, failed
Australian medical student to cross the world. Like his compatriot Clive
James, he proves to be a good raconteur, which ensures that the book
keeps up a fast pace.
Arguments with England covers a largely forgotten time in Blakemore's
life before he reached 40. Over this period, he made his way in England
as an actor and would-be writer hankering after the chance to become
a director for stage and screen.
London life commenced with two years at RADA with the "awesomely
desirable" Joan Collins, not to mention Diane Cilento and Rosemary
Harris. He characterises three directing lecturers as the martinet,
the guru and the politician, templates for directors that would always
be recognisable amongst peers in his later career.
The life of a jobbing actor wasn't much fun, certainly judging from
recollections of the horrors of weekly rep in the fifties, mainly in
Yorkshire. During this time, he encountered, inter alia, John
Osborne, Proust and backstreet abortion. A mixed bag!
His early acting career reached a zenith playing in Paris alongside
his hero, Olivier, and the volatile Vivien Leigh in Peter Brook's Titus
Andronicus. Their tour continued with various dramas on both sides
of the Iron Curtain.
He also appeared in the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre Centenary Season
at Stratford, which gave him the chance to work under the instantly
impressive Tyrone Guthrie and the young star-struck Peter Hall, with
whom he had little empathy. The former also gave Blakemore a first,
indirect taste of direction.
Our hero's love life is clearly laid out with its joys and confusions,
none more so than when the 22-year-old Vanessa Redgrave became his third
lover on the go at practically the same time. Even after marriage, the
stream of affairs does not abate, although odd twinges of guilt make
an appearance.
His directing career began in the company of Peter (Joe Egg) Nichols,
a close friend with whom he regularly collaborated in later life, and
John Boorman. This was on the set of Catch Me if You Can, a sub-Beatles
style star vehicle for the Dave Clark Five.
Blakemore is a very particular type of Australian, the exile who has
the country in his soul but rebels against it on any return. This is
exemplified by his trip there in 1965 that also gives him the oppportunity
to provide a detailed political history of the iconic Sydney Opera House.
This will fascinate anyone who was not previously aware of the sad story.
For most of this book, the author is not so much arguing with England
as with himself. It seems to have been written as much from a need to
gain self-understanding, as to entertain the public.
Presumably, there will be a further volume detailing the second half
of his life and the years of success, of which there is just a taste
in the final, most thrilling, chapter. With Michael Blakemore's gift
for telling a good story, that will be eagerly awaited.
You
can buy Arguments
with England from our Bookshop for £14.00
Articles Indices:
Articles from 2004
Articles from 2003
Articles from 2002
Articles from 2001
Articles from 2000
Articles from 1999
Articles from 1998
Articles from 1997
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