A Trump card’s not necessary
The Old Vic, until April 14 Tickets: 0844 871 7628
SWEDISH film director Ingmar Bergman’s least miserable movie runs to more than five hours in its original TV version. Thankfully Stephen Beresford’s adaptation is distilled down to a more palatable three-and-a-half hours.
Fanny And Alexander is the story of an extended theatrical family in the early 20th century, headed by Helena Ekdahl (Penelope Wilton).
When her widowed daughter-in-law Emilie marries the Bishop, Emilie’s children Fanny and Alexander find themselves in a world of repression and violence from which they must make their escape.
Told from the point of young Alexander (the excellent Misha Handley on press night) and his sister Fanny (Katie Simons, ditto), this sprawling, richly woven work encompasses the repressive Calvinism of Bishop Vergérus (Kevin Doyle), the gleeful infidelity of wicked Uncle Gustav (Jonathan Slinger, profanely funny) and the magic of storytelling through Jewish neighbour Isaak Jakobi (the superb Michael Pennington).
It explores the quest for happiness in an imperfect world, offering an almost Dickensian contrast between the collective joy of festive gatherings and the harsh reality of an unsuitable marriage.
Director Max Webster errs on the side of caution in his staging and borrows shamelessly from Japanese horror movies for the ghosts of two drowned girls, long black hair obscuring their faces.
There are some banal and even boring scenes which prevent the production from achieving greatness. But beautiful performances compensate for the occasional lacklustre sequences.