Lloyd, Phyllida

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    Review: ‘Grenfell’ Sees Tower Fire Through Residents’ Eyes

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    At St. Ann’s Warehouse, this documentary play about a London fire is blood-boiling and aggrieved.The notion of creating a safe space for an audience to experience a work of theater tends to provoke the tough-guy purists, because it sounds like coddling. Shouldn’t the stage be a place of daring, unhampered by any content revelations that might spoil the surprise?Presumably, anyone who arrives at St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn to see “Grenfell: in the words of survivors,” a tense and enthralling documentary play about a 2017 residential fire in West London that killed 72 people, is aware of the potentially upsetting subject matter. But before the storytelling even starts, the actors in this National Theater production set about making a safe space with a preamble whose clear language and kind tone are not the least bit soppy.“We do want to reassure you that we will not be showing any images of fire,” one cast member says from the stage, which is surrounded on all sides by the audience. “If you need to leave even for a short break, our front of house staff will show you out, and if there’s an actor in the way when you want to leave, don’t worry, we will move.”Another adds: “If you do leave, you’re welcome to come back.”Our humanity tended to, the characters begin their recollections — nothing traumatic, not yet, just simple, sun-dappled memories. Because before Grenfell Tower, a 24-story public housing block, became a cautionary tale about the dangers of government penny-pinching and corporate corner-cutting, it was people’s home.Thinking back on the apartments that had been their sanctuaries, they miss the freedom of life above the tree line, the view of the fireworks on New Year’s Eve, the quiet when they’d shut their door and leave the noise of the city outside. They miss the community of good neighbors.“When I got my flat in Grenfell Tower,” Edward Daffarn (Michael Shaeffer) recalls, “my heart told me it was going to be OK. I was really, really happy.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      ‘Herself’ Review: She Does It All

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Best of 2020Best ComedyBest TV ShowsBest BooksBest MoviesBest AlbumsAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main story‘Herself’ Review: She Does It AllAfter fleeing her abusive husband, a woman figures out how to build a new home for herself and her daughters.Clare Dunne in “Herself.”Credit…Pat Redmond/Amazon StudiosDec. 29, 2020, 7:00 a.m. ETHerselfDirected by Phyllida LloydDramaR1h 37mFind TicketsWhen you purchase a ticket for an independently reviewed film through our site, we earn an affiliate commission.When a housing authority can’t provide the residence you need, why not build one yourself? The option obviously isn’t widely available. But a concatenation of circumstances, and the kindness of an old family friend, gives Sandra, a mom fleeing an abusive husband, the chance to do just that in “Herself.”Clare Dunne, who co-wrote the screenplay with Malcolm Campbell, plays Sandra, who leaves her monstrously violent spouse, Gary (Ian Lloyd Anderson), taking her two young girls. Early on, the movie, set in Ireland, has a bit of a Ken Loach vibe, as the hard-working Sandra negotiates various unhelpful bureaucracies trying to set up a new domestic situation.The idea of building her own home is born out of some sessions with the computer search engine. The land and some moral support come from an aged woman Sandra looks after.A trip to the hardware store proves that the internet doesn’t give you all the instructions you need for such an ambitious undertaking as house-building. And an interaction with a rude clerk introduces her to an initially reluctant ally, a construction man, Aido (Conleth Hill), who’s acquainted with Gary. Not in a pleasant way. His sympathy for Sandra compels the overworked fellow to lend her a hand.Then it’s “It Takes a Village” time as Sandra’s friends and neighbors pitch in. Mini-montages of concrete-pouring and beam-raising ensue, accompanied by pop songs like Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings’ “New Shoes” and the David Guetta/Sia collaboration “Titanium.” The director, Phyllida Lloyd, who primarily works in theater, did oversee both the stage and film versions of “Mamma Mia!” after all.The presence of the resentful Gary looms, and Anderson’s performance makes the looming register. Even when he crouches down by Sandra’s car window to tell her he’s getting counseling, Gary exudes menace. He’s clearly poised to strike, and when he senses an opportunity, he does. And as the bad dominoes start to fall, Sandra starts coming apart.As a character, Sandra hasn’t a huge amount of depth — she’s mostly defined by traits, like anger and resilience. But that’s part of the movie’s point; her state is something to which the world has ground her down. And after a while the movie itself, for all its sporadically sunny moments, looks like it’s not going to let up on her. This is a feminist movie with a Sisyphean dimension that’s disquietingly universal.HerselfRated R for language and violence. Running time: 1 hour 37 minutes. In theaters. Please consult the guidelines outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention before watching movies inside theaters.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More