BBC Radio 4, 7 January 2014
This biographical piece focused
on the unlikely relationship that developed between the theatre director Joan Littlewood (Eleanor Bron) and Baron Philippe
de Rothschild (Michael Jayston). Both of them had suffered the experience of bereavement: Littlewood had lost her lifelong
partner Gerry Raffles, while the Baron had lost his second wife. When the two of them came together, they formed a friendship
which was tentative at first, but gathered strength, once Joan discovered that the Baron's intentions were entirely honourable.
After a lifetime in the theatre, she understood that there were alternative ways to spend one's life - for example, engaging
in different aspects of viticulture.
Bron's performance as Joan Littlewood was particularly convincing - one understood how she
had devoted her life to the theatre, not as a form of entertainment, but as a social and political force. She staged
plays that commented on the world; whether new plays or revivals, they had to speak to particular audiences.
Sometimes the need for biographical
information got in the way of character-development: Burgess' insertion of flashback scenes, showing Littlewood's company
at work on Oh What a Lovely War! (1963) seemed incidental to the development of the main action. Perhaps greater
use could have been made of the Baron as narrator, recording his reactions to Joan at any particular moment.
Sometimes Jayston's Baron resorted
to the kind of franglais reminiscent of comedy series such as 'Allo 'Allo, but in general he remained a sympathetic
character who understood the insecurities of his illustrious companion, despite her achievements within the theatre.
The director of this elegiac piece was David Blount.
