My Master Builder

There has been a note of enigma to the promotion of this new West End drama by largely unknown US playwright Lila Raicek. The official line is that it's a response to Ibsen's The Master Builder but not a rewrite, but there has been a pointed refusal - in cast interviews and other publicity - to say any more about the specifics of the play.
Having now seen My Master Builder I'm not sure I'm any the wiser as to what the big secret was. Perhaps it's simply that a full plot summary felt like it was virtually begging interviewers to ask star Ewan McGregor about the end of his first marriage.
Or if we're going for the idea that there was a more poetic mystery, I guess the big revelation is that the play is somewhat autobiographical. It's * My* Master Builder because Raicek has incorporated her own life into it, or at least one experience (that she owns up to, anyway). She was invited to a posh dinner party and realised upon arrival that she'd been cast as a pawn in a weird psychosexual drama between her hosts, a married couple. First world problems and all that, but it gave her a route into updating Ibsen's odd late play about a tortured architect haunted by a past encounter.
Henry Solness (McGregor) is a starchitect who lives in the Hamptons with his publisher wife Elena (Kate Fleetwood). They are throwing a party for the completion of a local arts centre he's designed, that is intimately connected to the sad early death of their son. It doesn't take long to determine their marriage isn't going well: Elena lets slip to her long-suffering assistant Kaia (Mirren Mack) that she has divorce papers ready to serve Henry, but isn't sure if she actually will.
Following the opening of the centre a more intimate dinner party is planned, and on the guestlist is Mathilde (Elizabeth Debicki), innocuously billed as a journalist friend of Kaia's. In fact she turns out to be a former student of Henry's who he had a passionate affair with a decade ago, when she went by the name Hilda.
The original Master Builder is a weird, stodgy play, and Raicek's version does a lot to address its issues: there are much better female characters and none of the old stultifying symbolism. And Raicek's drama isn't simply about how Henry has taken advantage of Mathilde, even though that's how performative girl boss Elena contemplates spinning it. The playwright scrutinises the concept of power imbalance in a relationship and refuses to come up with an easy answer over whether it's appropriate for Henry and Mathilda to have been involved.
The main trouble is that there is a power imbalance within Michael Grandage's production: Debicki and Fleetwood are hardly nobodies, but McGregor is the big name in this female-centric rewriting of Ibsen. Which might not be an issue if Henry was a really great role, but it feels like McGregor hogs the lines and the stage time, while the women hog the bits where Raicek actually has something interesting to say.
The best thing about Ibsen's original is his protagonist Halvard, a distant, difficult genius gradually brought to earth over the story's duration. Speaking in his own accent, McGregor's Henry is basically a nice enough regular bloke – flawed of course, but probably considerably more down to earth than the average middle-aged architectural giant. It feels like Raicek and Grandage have gone out of their way not to make him seem toxic or overly complicated - it's stressed that Henry and Mathilda's affair wasn't even consummated.
I sort of get it: if Henry's actions were clearly abusive or creepy the play's internal debate would never get started. Younger women do have relationships with more powerful older men and clearly many of them work out fine. But taking pains to make Henry broadly inoffensive leaves him as a fairly boring character. He's the biggest role, and we hear lots from him: about his grief, about his guilt, about his desires, about architecture. But pare away the words and there's nothing much happening, just a nice guy blundering through a genteel midlife crisis.
Debicki is solid: her Mathilda is somewhat inscrutable, but largely – one senses – because she's paralysed by ambivalence. She goes to the party unsure about how she feels towards Henry; although it's not really a ta-da role, it's the engine of the play, as she processes her feelings and resentments - ultimately she gets to have the casting vote in what happens to this marriage. As with Henry, the character feels a bit tidy and undamaged, all things considered, but certainly she's more thoughtfully written than her Ibsen equivalent. (Maybe this is a terrible thing to say, but it's hard to escape the fact Debicki is incredibly tall - the fact she looms over McGregor further disrupts the idea of power imbalance).
Raicek has gone so far to make Henry and Mathilda seem reasonable that they're ultimately dull, and the fireworks are delegated to the supporting cast. More entertaining than both her co-leads put together is Fleetwood. Essentially a scheming panto villain, she's enormous fun but only makes Henry look even more sympathetic - she gets humanised a bit more later, but her outrageous behaviour lets Henry further off the hook.
And David Ajala is a hoot as Ragnar, an unbearable hipster former protege of Henry's who Elena is desperately trying to shag – he's too self-interested to own up to the fact that he's in a relationship with her PA.
Ultimately Raicek has created as many problems as she's solved in trying to 'fix' the original story. Which is no reason not to do it, but her generally thoughtful look at power imbalance and the nature of infidelity lacks fireworks beyond the famous faces. It retains Ibsen's wild ending, but when it comes it all feels a bit unearned.

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The Herald Scotland

4 hours ago

• The Herald Scotland

Ford determined to tap into Livingston's Detroit mentality

On the streets of the Motor City defiance has become a state of mind. Tommey Walker, a local designer, launched a 'Detroit vs Everybody' fashion brand in 2012. Two years later rapper Eminem produced a song by the same name on his Slim Shady XV album. The phrase is a symbol of the underdog spirit which helped Michigan's industrial capital survive a government bail out of an ailing automobile industry in 2008. Located 15 miles west of Edinburgh, Livingston has no history of producing cars. Outwith a bewildering number of roundabouts, there is no real history of building anything at all. Yet, when the great great grandson of Henry Ford began casting around for a football club to buy, he looked at the east of Scotland and found a scaled-down version of Detroit. Livingston FC were punching above their weight. Their support base was low, their artificial pitch was unpopular, their style of football was unloved, they'd been embroiled in expensive legal disputes with shareholders, cash was short and their only government bail-out came during Covid. Calvin Ford studied all of this and, the more he looked, the more he liked it. Here was a club which could have slotted straight in to his native city and fitted in perfectly. (Image: SNS Group)'We have taken a lot of heat in Detroit for being this nasty place,' Ford tells Herald Sport in his first lengthy interview since taking charge. 'The reality is that Detroit is an incredible place. A phoenix continuing the rise from the ashes and I am an incredibly proud Detroiter. 'I love this city and when I look at Livingston I see the exact same mentality. 'I see it as Livingston vs Scottish football. It kind of all plugs into us being the bad-boy team. 'This gritty, hard-working blue collar club led by a team like Davie Martindale and, you know what? That's what attracts me most. I love it.' The Livingston vs Everybody spirit helped Martindale's team to fight back from two goals down and overcome Ross County to secure promotion to the SPFL Premiership via the play-offs. After a season in the Scottish Championship there were no flags or banners or fireworks to celebrate their return to the top flight. When other teams speak of Livingston they do so through gritted teeth and Ford, for one, hopes they never change. 'We are gonna come in and we are going to have this blue-collar mentality and I think we are going to surprise a lot of people back in the Premiership,' predicts the new owner. 'I love the grit, I love the hard nose. We are going to be that team that's going to come and track some mud on your nice white carpet and leave some nasty stains.' His great great grandfather Henry introduced the first Ford assembly line in 1914, revolutionising automotive production and paving the way to mass production. While Detroit never claimed to be part of the wild west, Calvin – son of Edsel Ford II, Henry's great grandson – paints a picture of Lee Van Cleef chewing on a cigar to extend his vision of the New Livingston. 'It's like when you find yourself in this old western saloon. 'Somebody comes through the swing doors and makes everybody stop and look and think. 'And they're going, 'who the hell is that?' 'I kind of see Livingston being that guy at the doors and I like that. 'I like being the disruptor and whether it's social media or wherever there is this phrase that goes around saying that Livingston are not liked, not wanted, not bothered. 'I love that. That's what we represent and I want us to embrace that.' Calvin Ford with Livingston CEO Dave Black (Image: Alan Harvey - SNS Group) When fans of Celtic, Rangers, Hearts or Hibs think of Livi it tends to be in unflattering terms. An awkward, hard-working, physical nuisance with a worn-out pitch, bigger clubs with more money and trophies walk through the doors of the Set Fare Arena and hold their nose. Snapping up a majority shareholding from Baycup Ltd – some shareholders still contend that it wasn't Baycup's to sell in the first place – Ford has agreed to replace the old, outdated artificial surface in time for the new season. This time next year he could be forced to rip that out as well, rendering this summer's outlay an expensive waste of money. Premiership clubs have voted to ban plastic pitches and show no sign of relenting, despite talk of a challenge. Undeterred, brimming with enthusiasm, Ford could really use more hours in the day. A father of three – the youngest is just 20 months – his day job is heading up Pentastar Aviation, the aircraft charter and maintenance operation purchased by his father from Daimler-Chrysler. He also serves on the board of the CATCH charity, working with two local children's hospitals and is a director of Henry Ford Health, a notfor-profit healthcare organisation in Michigan. With all this going on it comes as a surprise to learn that he ever found the time to watch Succession, HBO's saga revolving around Scots expat media magnate Logan Roy and his squabbling offspring. 'I loved that scene in season two,' he laughs. 'Logan's son Roman buys Hearts and of course Logan Roy was a Hibs fan, so that was a terrible mistake by Roman. 'But, you know, I don't think I'm another American making a terrible mistake at all. 'One of the things that was most attractive to me about Livingston is that you have this club west of Edinburgh sandwiched in between behemoths like Hearts and Hibernian and Celtic and Rangers. 'Livingston are right there kind of in the middle and all I ask myself is, 'what can this become? 'How do we disrupt Scottish football in a really cool way? 'What do we need to do to stay in the Premier League and really be a disruptor? 'Historically speaking that's challenging because you have these traditional classic big Scottish clubs on either side. 'But why can't we disrupt? Why can't we be a club that does something and I think there is a real opportunity there for us to do that.' Consolidation in the top division is the first target, Europe the next. He texts David Martindale day and night and Livi have been busier than any other Premiership club in the opening days of the transfer market, snapping up Stevie May, Graham Carey, Cammy Kerr, Connor McLennan, Zak Rudden and Shane Blaney. 'I think the Europa Conference League is something that we can do and I think becoming a top-five team is something that we can do. 'I have said that to Davie and he understands that and believes it too. 'Year one I want to be competitive in the Premiership. I want to make sure that we are back there next year and I think we are putting together a team right now that can absolutely do that.' Read more: He has a vision of a sust ainable club, standing on its own two feet and that's easier said than done when the average attendance can be less than 4000. Plans to draw sell out crowds to a small town where fans leave for Edinburgh and Glasgow on a fleet of buses every week pose the kind of challenge his great great grandfather might have baulked at. 'There is this enclosed stadium and I immediately thought, 'what's this going to look like when we fill this place with 9000 Livingston supporters?' 'I think we can get there. I really do. 'It's about giving the Livingston community a football club that they can be a proud of. 'A team that can combat the Hearts and Hibs bits of Edinburgh and Rangers and Celtic in Glasgow. 'I'm a realist. I understand that it's going to take a while to build that back but we have the foundations in place.' The battle for hearts and minds is already underway. His father Edsel is close friends with a legendary Formula One champion who is now the proud owner of a Livingston home shirt. 'Sir Jackie Stewart is obviously a very famous Scot and I think he has a history of being a Rangers fan. I want to convert him into being a Livingston fan. 'I don't think it will ever happen. But I did send him a Livingston jersey as a birthday present...' The family firm's blue oval is one of the most readily recognisable corporate emblems on the planet and, as a younger man Ford admits to taking his background for granted. His 11-year-old son has woken up to the fact that being a Ford in Detroit is a little like being a royal in Windsor. The name comes with expectations and responsibilities and scrutiny he once wore with a casual indifference. Older and wiser, he now cares too much about the family reputation to start throwing silly money at Livingston. 'Back in the day I thought my surname was neat and said, 'that's wonderful.' And probably didn't give it much of a second thought. We all grow up, we all mature, we all evolve. 'I understand now that when you grow up in Detroit and you are a Ford that does that comes with some subjective expectations. I guess it does. 'I was an employee of the motor company for a while but now I find myself an advocate of the company and the family and I am very proud of what Ford does and what we stand for. 'And, when I look at what we want to do at Livingston, I keep Ford Motor Company in mind. 'This is an evolution. I'm not going to come in and pump billions of dollars into it, but I do think that we can create and build and sustain something at Livingston much like Ford has done for the 123 years it has been around.'

The National

a day ago

• The National

Why regime change is required at Club 1872 not just Rangers

Popping down to his local Esso garage and picking up a box of Milk Tray and a bunch of flowers out of the bucket in the forecourt was never going to cut it. No, it took an arduous trek across the Alps in a blizzard and then three days of kneeling outside a castle in northern Italy in the snow wearing nothing more than a sackcloth for the medieval ruler, who had been excommunicated for his sacrilegious act, to be welcomed back in to the bosom of the Catholic church by his old nemesis. Henry's penitential 'Walk to Canossa' in 1077 is regarded by historians today as being the ultimate apology, the mummy and daddy of mea culpas, the gold standard of contrition. It is fair to say the amende honorable offered up by Club 1872, the Rangers supporters' group who at one point in the not-too-distant past were the second largest shareholders in the Ibrox club with a stake of 10.71 per cent, earlier this week fell some way short of it. Read more: 'We sincerely apologise to contributors for our relative silence,' read a statement on the group's official website which revealed they had held a 'very positive meeting' with new chairman Andrew Cavenagh, chief executive Patrick Stewart and other senior executives. Director Euan Macfarlane echoed that sentiment in a series of posts which he put up on the social networking website X (formerly Twitter) which gushed about Cavenagh being a 'supremely impressive individual' and stated 'we're confident in our new custodians more than ever'. He wrote, 'I would reiterate our apology for a long period of silence.' The reasons given for the complete lack of contact with their members during the past six months were 'regular changes to senior decision makers' and 'confidentiality considerations and sensitivities' while a 'live takeover' was in play. That sounded fair enough. Best not to interfere and muddy the waters during a complex and delicate process. Right? Wrong. Brassed off Bears were, unlike Pope Gregory VII when Henry IV came, quite literally, crawling a millennium ago, unwilling to forgive and forget. This is a quality family newspaper which is read by nice little old ladies and impressionable children alike. So it would be wrong to publish most of the online responses to the long overdue missive. Here, though, are a handful of replies which are printable. (Image: Ross MacDonald - SNS Group) What a waste of time for our chairman and chief executive. A new leadership team needs to take over. I am ready to pull my contribution. Hopefully you will get chased. Resign from your positions and let others take charge. Nobody trusts you. Absolute jokers. Only in it for yourselves. Crawl back under your stone. A complete reboot is required. Club 1872 was launched back in 2016 when separate fan ownership groups Rangers First and the Rangers Supporters Trust merged. Dave King and his associates had seized control of the Govan institution from a despised and distrusted regime the year before and optimism abounded. Membership and contributions steadily increased early on along with their shareholding. Their ultimate goal – to own 25 per cent plus one share and so have the power to veto any major decisions – seemed an eminently achievable objective during those heady days. It did not take long, however, for things to unravel in spectacular fashion. Complaints about communication, transparency, governance and independence have been rife since. The number of members has nosedived as the unhappiness with the group's stewardship has risen. An acrimonious attempt to oust the board four years ago resulted in the police being called in. Those who currently hold sway undoubtedly, regardless of the frequent accusations which have been levelled against them, want Club 1872 to play a key role at Rangers moving forward and the Ibrox club to flourish on and off the park. But there is no future for the organisation with its current custodians in place due to the distrust which, rightly or wrongly, exists among the support. Regime change is required. Read more: The Fan Advisory Board (FAB) have shown they are an independent body and are far from toothless since coming into being two years ago. Their actions during the Graeme Souness tifo row last season, to give just one example, underlined that. They let directors know in no uncertain terms what they thought of their condemnatory statement and swiftly made that public. Some supporters would be happy to continue with just FAB representing their interests and feel it would be for the best if Club 1872 sold up and closed down. But far too much money has been spent by far too many people for far too long for that to happen. Plus, being a significant shareholder gives them, even with a new owners snapping up a 51 per cent stake, a different kind of influence. Rangers fans are positively ebullient just now about what lies ahead under the 'supremely impressive individuals' who will take control at an EGM in Glasgow on Monday morning. With good reason. The new hierarchy seem to have the ambition, the means and the smarts to make a real difference. That said, there was mass euphoria when Craig Whyte came in, when Charles Green took over and when King rode to the rescue. It remains important for supporters to wield some power going forward. This honeymoon period won't last forever. But a Papal pardon wouldn't absolve the current Club 1872 directors from their sins, real or imagined, of the past.

North Wales Chronicle

2 days ago

• North Wales Chronicle

Tributes paid to Slane Castle's Lord Henry Mount Charles, who has died aged 74

He died late on Wednesday after 'a long and valiant' battle with cancer, his family said. Since 1981, the flamboyant rock fan has hosted a series of open-air concerts at his ancestral home of Slane Castle in Co Meath. 'It is with profound sadness that the family of Lord Henry Mount Charles, the Marquess Conyngham, announce his peaceful passing in the late hours of June 18 following a long and valiant battle with cancer,' his family said in a statement. 'A beloved husband, father, grandfather, and custodian of Slane Castle, Lord Henry's courage and unwavering spirit inspired all who knew him.' The Slane estate, which acts as a huge natural amphitheatre due to its sloping lands, has played host to several top acts including The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Queen, U2 and Madonna. The last Slane Festival was in June 2023, when Harry Styles performed for 80,000 fans. His family said Lord Henry Mount Charles had left behind 'an extraordinary legacy as a passionate steward of Ireland's heritage, dedicating his life to preserving Slane Castle and transforming it into a beacon of culture, music and community'. 'His visionary leadership and generosity touched countless lives, while his warmth, humour and resilience endeared him to friends, colleagues and admirers across generations. 'Lord Henry's light will continue to shine through the lives he enriched and the enduring contributions he made to Ireland's cultural landscape. He will be profoundly missed, but never forgotten.' His family thanked the 'exceptional' staff at St James's Hospital and the many caregivers who treated him with 'compassion' over the last decade. They also said they were 'deeply moved' by the 'outpouring of public kindness' during his illness. The family have asked for privacy and said the funeral arrangements will be private. President Michael D Higgins has led tributes and expressed condolences to his wife Lady Iona, to his children Alexander, Henrietta, Wolfe and Tamara. 'Lord Henry's contribution was quite unique and a very important turning point in live music in Ireland when he decided to begin using the natural amphitheatre at Slane Castle as a venue at which public performances could be held by some of the most contemporary makers of music,' Mr Higgins said. 'It wasn't just in relation to very well-known events that Henry was involved, he had a deep interest in promotion of music including new and young talent. 'I have been saddened over recent years to hear of his struggles with cancer, about which he spoken personally and helpfully of his experiences.' Ireland's deputy premier Simon Harris said he would be remembered for his 'unrivalled wit, his ability to light up a room, and his incredible sense of warmth and generosity'. 'For so many, Lord Henry will be remembered as the man who brought rock-and-roll to the iconic music venue that is Slane Castle. 'I want to pay tribute to him for the incredible contribution he made to arts, culture and of course his beloved county Meath. 'My deepest sympathies are today with his family and friends.'