Off to London’s Bridge Theatre, and a new production of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s Into The Woods, directed by Jordan Fein and designed by Tom Scutt. It’s an endearing, energetic production: the puppetwork of Milky White the cow is particularly delightful, and Gracie McGonigal’s Little Red Ridinghood has a fierce, real vulnerability.
I saw the original production on Broadway when I was a teenager – and, full confession, didn’t think it was up to much. I know, I know! Now, of course, I understand that this complex, tragic reworking of classic fairy tales is a show about loss and longing – and that it works so much better when you are, yes, middle aged. When I was 19, “happy ever after” sung in a minor key seemed just a bit off to me. Now it makes me cry. In a good way, I promise.
A brand, too, is a story: and this week we have the thrilling news that the Department for Transport has unveiled the train livery and logo of what is to be called – wait for it – “Great British Railways”. Now, I do love a train. When I first came to Britain, I revelled in the InterCity 125, and it was then I first encountered the BR “double arrow” logo, designed by a chap called Gerry Barney in 1964. (NB: in 2021, when the then-transport secretary Grant Shapps unveiled a “green” makeover of the classic logo, Barney opined that it was “a load of old bollocks”. We love a man who speaks his mind.)
But what’s with this “Great” British Railways business? I know it’s called Great Britain. Doh, as one of our most esteemed thinkers has said. But somehow the g-word a) speaks to the worst, most jingoistic instincts abroad in the land and b) will not, in the end, fool people believing late and overcrowded trains are, you know, great.
Stories, as Sondheim knew better than most, are deeply connected to survival. We all have stories that keep the lights on for us when the world seems dark: so yeah, when news broke that Friends was coming off Netflix the wailing echoed off the walls – but such was the noise of lamentation that I missed that Star Trek, resident on the streamer since 2016, will be leaving too.
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I am, quite literally, preparing for sleepless nights. I’m not a Trek completist by any means, but the Next Generation holds my heart. On the bridge of the Enterprise-D I am at home with my friends Riker and Troi, Worf and Data – and I know that with Jean-Luc Picard in the big chair all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.
In the wee insomniac hours I fire up the impulse engines of my phone, lay the screen face down, and embark on my continuing mission to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilisations, and boldly go where I often struggle to go – the galaxy of slumber. Is it wrong to treat creative work as a treasured soporific? Maybe. Or maybe it’s the greatest compliment you can pay.
Photograph by Johan Persson