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The Observer | 01. 1 0. 17 | THE NEW REVIEW 3

On my radar

Born in 1966 and brought up in

Stockport, Marianne Elliott studied

drama at Hull University. After

working at the Manchester Royal

Exchange and the Royal Court, in

2005 she joined the National Theatre.

There, she co-directed War Horse

(2007) and directed The Curious

Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

(2012), for which she won the 2013

Olivier award for best director. More

recently, she directed Husbands &

Sons (2015) and Angels in America

(2017). This year, Elliott co-founded

Harper & Elliott Productions with

producer Chris Harper. Its fi rst show,

Heisenberg: The Uncertainty Principle ,

starring Anne-Marie Duff , opens on

3 October at Wyndham’s theatre,

London. Kathryn Bromwich

Marianne Elliott

DIRECTOR, 50

1 | Th eatre

Girl from the North Country, Old Vic,

London

Th is was the story of a family in 1930s

America and their community and how it

survives. Th e music is all Bob Dylan – I’m

not a great fan , but the rearranging of the

songs was breathtaking. Th e actors go

into great depth in their characterisations

• they’re not musical-theatre
  performers and yet sing beautifully. Th e
  story is relatively thin because it weaves
  from one song to another, but it works
  as theatre: it becomes a very emotive
  evening. Sheila Atim’s version of Tight
  Connection to My Heart (Has Anyone
  Seen My Love) was extraordinary.

2 | Film

Stories We Tell (Sarah Polley, 2012)

I’m a fan of Polley’s work – there’s a

sensuality to the way she uses a camera

and the stories she tells are always

surprising. Th is is a documentary about

her family: she goes on this exploration to

fi nd who her true father is, but her mother

died when she was quite young, so she has

to rely on the diff erent stories her family

members have. She mixes documentary

fi lming with her own poetic versions of

reality, getting actors to act some bits,

but all interlaced cleverly and subtly. It’s

arresting because it makes you realise how

everybody has their own interpretation of

the truth, especially within a family.

3 | Art

Gill Rocca

She does massive beautiful oil paintings:

they’re sometimes a view across a misty

lake, street lamps in the distance or a

park in London at night with that sort

of sodium haze around it. Th ere’s a big

picture she did called Th e Hare’s Corner ,

which is light coming through a clearing in

a wood. Th ere’s something very mystical

about her work; it’s beautifully detailed

and there’s something mysterious about

it. So a relatively mundane image turns

into a kind of fairytale – the feel of it, the

tone, the atmosphere, is like something

extraordinary is about to happen.

4 | Book

Th e North by Paul Morley

Paul Morley was brought up in Stockport,

as I was, and he comes at the book from

two angles – from his birth date, 1957 ,

talking about his autobiographical journey,

but at the same time he interlaces those

chapters with the history of the north

going back to the 1700s. So you read his

story and then you put it in the context of

that bigger picture. As you get older you

realise that your identity becomes more

important – the environment in which you

have grown is actually part of who you are

just as much as your family or your school.

5 | Music

Nils Frahm

We’re listening to a lot of Nils Frahm

in rehearsals, because we’re putting

the whole of our show to his music;

we’re looking at his Spaces and Screws

albums particularly. He’s a neoclassical

composer, in that he’s got a classic

background and yet he’s got a very

contemporary edge to what he does; he

can be quite idiosyncratic. He has a huge

range of sounds, textures and feelings –

he can be orchestral in one moment and

techno in the next. Th ere’s something

about his work that is quite physically

relaxing but allows the brain to absolutely

soar.

6 | Restaurant

Alchemilla, Glasgow

I went here at the weekend with a

friend who lives in Glasgow. It’s a little

restaurant, very modern, unpretentious.

Everything was just extraordinary; there

was one particular dish of sea bass

ceviche – I mean, sea bass, I can take it or

leave it, it always feels like it’s doing you

good – but every mouthful of this was

so tasty. Th en we had a globe artichoke,

which reminded me of my parents

because it was something we used to eat

when I was growing up. And the hazelnut

meringue pudding – red berry sauce

really sour against the sugary sweet

meringue – was totally transporting.

7 | TV

Friends

I’ve been watching box sets with my

daughter, who’s 13; we’ve just started

Stranger Th ings. Last year, we ended up

watching every single episode of Friends

in chronological order, which felt like a

perfect antidote to working really hard

and lots of homework. We’d sit down

together at the end of the day in front of

an episode , then barter as to whether

we should watch another episode before

bed. Friends is easy to dismiss, but it’s

really good television – the art with

which those actors play with comedy

shouldn’t be denigrated. And they also

know how to play irony, which I think a lot

of English actors might fi nd quite diffi cult.

AgendaAgenda

CULTURE | PEOPLE | POLITICS | IDEAS

Q&A

Young Labour

activist Lauren

Stocks

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2012), for which she won the 2013 London. Kathryn

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