COLLABORATORS
National Theatre/Cottesloe
1938 was not a good time to be living in Russia. It was the time of the Great Purge. Ten million people were killed. It concentrated the mind. Nobody was safe.
When Mikhail Bulgakov was commissioned by the NKVD to write a play about Stalin he wanted to refuse; but with a pistol at his head, he dare not refuse. And he had to think about his wife. The NKVD would have killed her, too. He decided to write about the young Stalin. John Lodge’s black comedy has a basis in fact.
He was rewarded handsomely. Suddenly his apartment had heat and they could all have hot baths. There was good expensive food. There was a car. There was a driver. Things were looking up.
Bulgakov was Stalin’s favourite playwright; he had liked his play, The White Guard, so much that he had seen it 15 times. A curious empathy developed between the two men; but it is dangerous to have a relationship with a monster.
I remember seeing many years ago another good black comedy (David Pownall’s Master Class) in which Stalin threatening to shoot Prokofiev and Shostakovich if they did not write music worthy of Russia.
Stalin, in John Lodge’s surreal fantasy, offers to write the play himself, if Bulgakov will run the country whilst he is doing so. Bulgakov finds that all the good things he tries to do politically end with more and more people being put to death.
The play has its flaws but it is still very enjoyable, thanks to good casting and a witty production by Nicholas Hytner, who sets the action on a serpentine stage in a strangely refigured expressionistic auditorium, which makes everything feel out of kilter.
Alex Jennings is the playwright. Simon Russell Beale is Stalin, a caricature, but not any the less chilling for that. Mark Addy is a jolly dangerous NKVD officer who has ambitions to be a stage director.
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Campaigns & Issues
Lobby for libraries
The NPC officers have given their backing to a lobby being organised by UNISON, the National Federation of Women’s Institutes (NFWI), Voices for the Library, The Library Campaign, Campaign for the Book and the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) which will call on politicians to protect vital library services.
News
WRVS response to Health Committee report on social care

WRVS calls for a decisive leap towards joining up health and social care responding to the Health Select Committee inquiry report.
David McCullough, Chief Executive of WRVS said: “Delivering 21st-century health services will hinge on us switching considerable resources into keeping older people in their own homes and breaking the cycle of isolation that faces many people from their seventies onwards.
Competitions & Fun
Win a signed copy of Citizen James on DVD
CARRY ON’S inimitable Sid James is Citizen James in the hilarious 1960s BBC comedy, which finally comes to DVD for the first time. This long-lost classic comedy series makes its DVD debut, featuring the only known surviving episodes, the complete series one, and two episodes each from series two and three. They will be released as a two-disc set on 6 February 2012 courtesy of Acorn Media.
In series one written by Alan Simpson and Ray Galton (Hancock, Steptoe & Son), Sid (Sid James) is a hard-working layabout, gambler and con-artist, hanging out on the streets of Soho with his sidekick Bill (Bill Kerr), in Charlie’s Nosh Bar and occasionally paying a visit to his long-suffering fiancée Liz (Liz Fraser), to borrow money to pay off his gambling debts and cons gone wrong.
Advertorial
February is travel love month with Silver Travel Advisor
WIN £1,000 CRUISE VOUCHERS WITH VIKING RIVER CRUISES AND MANY OTHER PRIZES
Silver Travel Advisor is a friendly website packed with advice, tips, information and honest reviews written by and for silver travellers (aged over 50). A team of advisors are on hand to answer queries (for free), and you can share your own experiences too.
February is Travel Love month at Silver Travel Advisor, and there is a whole range of prizes to be found including the star prize:
Viking River Cruises – win £1,000 cruise vouchers
Health & Wellbeing
Scrap the government's health bill, say BMJ readers
More than 90% of British Medical Journal readers responding to a poll published today think the government's health reforms should be scrapped.
The poll asked: "Should the Health and Social Care Bill for England now be withdrawn?"
Property & Finance
Did you miss the Self Assessment deadline?
If you have missed the deadline for submitting a Self Assessment (SA) tax return and you can show that you should not have been in the SA regime in the first place, then you may be able to avoid any penalties.
Lifestyle
Paula's Wines of the Week starting 6 February 2012

If you really like a certain wine, rather than buying it in single cork-stoppered bottles why not get larger four bottle-sized amounts available in boxes? But if stepping along to the supermarket seems like too much of a chilly effort then try the online winebox retailer InspiredWine.co.uk because they’re offering free delivery during February.
There are advantages to buying wine in a winebox. As the wine is dispensed through a plastic tap all the annoyance of the cork is removed: no more tainted 'corked' wine (this spoils at least one in ten traditionally bottled wines due to improperly sterilised corks) and no more chasing around bits of broken cork that always sink when the index finger sent in to oik them out gets anywhere near them.
Travel & Leisure
£15m boost for sustainable travel
Transport Minister Norman Baker today announced £15m of new funding for sustainable travel projects across the country that will promote economic growth and cut carbon.
The investment is in addition to the £560m Local Sustainable Transport Fund announced in January 2011. This additional funding, heavily geared towards cycling, will support jobs, enhance access to employment and encourage greater use of more environmentally friendly transport.

I’m so pleased you actually listen to our comments!