I can only assume that Fiona Shaw HATES me.
Sure, we’ve never met – though I have (literally) dreamed that we have – but I can find no other explanation for her cold and unkind treatment of me.
The thing is, I was expecting Deborah Warner’s production of “Mother Courage” to enter The National’s repertoire in January – NOW I am hearing some sort of gobbledegook about “March”! Does she want me to KILL MYSELF? That means (almost exactly) no Fiona Shaw on stage (and let’s be honest, it is only on stage that she is transcendentally magnificent, slaying all comers – good as she can be in film) for almost exactly a year!
She has got a LOT to get through, let’s be honest – because here is a short list (not a shortlist) of the roles that I MUST see her play – and at this rate, she ain’t going to crack it:-
- Volumnia – clearly essential. No one has nailed it since Irene Worth – and that’s 20 years ago.
- Mrs. Alving – because I can’t think how she’d do it, but I know it would be brilliant.
- Prospero- not because of Richard II, but because of her intelligence – and Prospero’s gender is ENTIRELY irrelevant.
- Martha in “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”. Why say more? It’s kind of predictable, but she’d be riveting.
- Cleopatra- because there is more to that part than has been played to date, even including Judi Dench’s magnificent performance.
- The Princess in “Sweet Bird of Youth”
- More Greek Tragedy. I don’t care what – no-one else can go there like she can: Clare Higgins, Zoe Wanamaker, Vanessa Redgrave: magnificent actresses, every one of them – but they don’t approach the reality that Shaw found in Electra and Medea.
- On reflection: almost anything else – apart from “The Powerbook”.
I am getting really quite concerned about how things are looking in terms of this working out – and I’d like SOME kind of reassurance from Ms. Shaw that she’s prepared to commit to this.
