I have had fun revisiting two theatrical delights this weekend.

First was Vanessa Redgrave in an hour-long conversation with Al Senter at the National Theatre.

Now Vanessa has had about 50 years to perfect her interview style but whenever I have seen her being interviewed it always seems as if she's been doing it 50 minutes!

She is unable to toss off a few well-honed crowd-pleasing anecdotes at the drop of a hat and the questions put to her are answered with an honesty that can border sometimes on a simple yes or no without elaboration. It is always a peculiar experience when one is used to so many other soundbite-friendly performers.

I suspect most of it must come down to her being deliberately misquoted so often in interviews about her political views that have then been used against her that she is naturally cautious when it comes to answering any. At least she didn't bring her own tape recorder with her as she has been known to do with print interviews!

Anytime spent in Vanessa's presence is beneficial however and she spoke with a direct eloquence of her latest great stage role in Joan Didion's THE YEAR OF MAGICAL THINKING. It was also good to hear that the film role which most satisfied her was as ISADORA. Now if Universal would only release it on dvd...

On Saturday night Owen and I went to the Playhouse to see the transfer of THE HARDER THEY COME seen earlier this year at the Barbican Theatre.
Happily the show has transferred well to the auditorium and hopefully can settle down to a long run. The hard-working cast fully deserved the standing ovation at the end of the show which also served as a good skanking opportunity for a reprise of the title song.

The cast is still headed by the charismatic Rolan Bell as Ivan, the countryboi who seeks fame and fortune as a reggae singer in early 70s Kingston but finds corruption and hypocrisy blocking his way. Attempting to finance his own recordings by turning to exporting herb he runs up against the corrupt police chief Ray Pierre (Chris Tummings) and realises that you can indeed "Get It If You Really Want" but at the price of becoming Kingston's most wanted outlaw.

What makes this so great is that yes, there are still a couple of over-stated performances and yes, it still feels rough around the edges but that does not detract from a wonderfully vibrant production which engages you with it's energy, it's committed central performances and of course the fantastic songs of Jimmy Cliff, Toots Hibbert etc. Go deh!