\nBy Lured back to London: Tracey Ullman will tread the boards at the Almeida Theatre\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Tracey Ullman has been persuaded to return to the London stage for the first time in more than 20 years.<\/p>\n The actress has lived in California for two decades, but yesterday said she was \u2018thrilled\u2019 to have been offered the chance to work with Stephen Poliakoff on his new play My City, which begins rehearsing in August at the Almeida Theatre. <\/p>\n Tracey, 51, will play a former primary school headmistress in the drama, which Poliakoff described as \u2018high octane\u2019.<\/p>\n The pair got together to discuss the project recently. \u2018We met in London because we both had to approve of each other,\u2019 Poliakoff joked.<\/p>\n Once upon a time, London was Tracey\u2019s city. She appeared in musicals, but her name was made at the Royal Court in a comic show called Four In A Million and later on in Andrea Dunbar\u2019s Rita, Sue And Bob Too, in a cast that included Lesley Manville and Joanne Whalley. Her TV career included Three Of A Kind with Lenny Henry and David Copperfield.<\/p>\n Poliakoff told me Tracey will be part of an ensemble when My City begins performances at the Almeida from September 8.<\/p>\n The playwright added: \u2018It\u2019s not the Tracey Ullman Show. It\u2019ll surprise people. <\/p>\n Everyone\u2019s on stage for most of the time.\u2019 He said he knew Tracey\u2019s early work at the Royal Court and had kept an eye on her progress in America, mostly on television (The Simpsons began life in 1987 as short clips on her show) and sometimes on stage with her one-woman shows, although she did appear in Taming Of The Shrew opposite Morgan Freeman back in 1991.<\/p>\n Poliakoff explained the headmistress encounters two former pupils whom she helped when they were young.<\/p>\n \u2018The character is a very proficient story teller and that plays very strongly to Tracey\u2019s talent for buttonholing us,\u2019 he said, adding the part is a straight role, although there would be \u2018one or two mercurial, edgy, hopefully funny moments in it\u2019. He stressed that it\u2019s not a drama about schools, rather it\u2019s about London, modern life and a collision between two generations.<\/p>\n Funny lady: The actress, seen here in Dirty Shame, will star in a play about London life<\/p>\n<\/div>\n However, he noted that it\u2019s also about people who have worked in public service all their lives which, he observed, \u2018is political at the moment\u2019.<\/p>\n Poliakoff began his career writing for the stage, but then made several TV dramas and films including Hidden City, The Lost Prince, Caught On A Train and last year\u2019s Glorious 39.<\/p>\n While preparing to direct My City, Poliakoff is also working on a five-part drama for the BBC called Dancing On The Edge, about a black jazz band playing at a five-star hotel in London between 1931-33. <\/p>\n And he\u2019s also writing a movie for Ruby Films, the company behind Toast (with Helena Bonham Carter) and the forthcoming Jane Eyre film.<\/p>\n Last week, the Almeida had more than 30 per cent of its Arts Council funding chopped, with the assumption being that because it attracts high-profile actors and writers and has a strong fund-raising arm, it can do without public subsidy. <\/p>\n \u2018It\u2019s being punished for its success, but it\u2019s going to be hard for the Almeida in this climate,\u2019 Poliakoff said sadly.<\/p>\n Tracey has also just signed to comment on the Royal wedding for Canadian television. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Rising star: Jack O’Connell shines in the TV film<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Jack O\u2019Connell emerges as a real star-in-the-making when he plays football legend Bobby Charlton in United, a BBC TV film that explores the Munich air crash of 1958 that claimed so many of the footballers known as The Busby Babes \u2014 the young men who played for Manchester United.<\/p>\n The film also stars David Tennant, giving one of his best performances as Jimmy Murphy, United\u2019s coach; Dougray Scott as legendary United manager Matt Busby; and Ben Peel as United goalkeeper Harry Gregg.<\/p>\n The film, which will be shown over Easter, shows young Charlton earning his place on the first team, the crash, and how Murphy and Busby built up the club again. <\/p>\n I liked Busby\u2019s line about being \u2018men of grass, boots and beauty\u2019. Watching the film for a couple of hours I believed that statement \u2014 although I\u2019m not sure if it\u2019s true of today\u2019s footballers.<\/p>\n Absolute farce: Kenneth Branagh will team up with Rob Bryon for the ‘silly’ play<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Kenneth Branagh, who has been given a series of physical exercises to help him prepare for his role in a French farce with Rob Brydon at the Lyric Theatre in Belfast in the autumn.<\/p>\n The Painkiller, adapted and directed by Sean Foley, is about two men in adjoining hotel rooms. \u2018One is trying to kill himself, one is trying to kill somebody else. There\u2019s an adjoining door, a toilet that won\u2019t work, a dodgy porter and only 90 minutes to sort out both their fates,\u2019 said Branagh, who was speaking as he was putting the final touches to his much-anticipated blockbuster Thor, which opens here on April 27.\u00a0 <\/p>\n Branagh calls The Painkiller the perfect antidote to working on Thor. \u2018This is pure silly comedy \u2014 not one special effect or visual effect.<\/p>\n \u2018The thing is, though, Sean\u2019s a master of physical comedy and he\u2019s got us doing all sorts of stretching exercises. He wants us doing yoga and he\u2019s pushing us hard, so Rob and I have our work cut out,\u2019 Branagh told me.<\/p>\n The Painkiller opens on September 23 for a limited season. Branagh and his colleagues want to get it right in Belfast before they discuss taking it anywhere else. The actor will also film more episodes of Wallander for the BBC later this year, and will be seen in the film My Week With Marilyn, opposite Michelle Williams and Eddie Redmayne.<\/p>\n Vivid: The film about racing driver Ayrton Senna gripped Baz<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Ayrton Senna the Brazilian three-time Formula 1 world champion, who died at the wheel of his Williams car after crashing at the San Marino Grand Prix in 1994. Actually, that was about as much as I knew before watching director Asif Kapadia\u2019s stunning documentary, which is simply titled Senna. <\/p>\n Kapadia\u2019s film gives us a vivid portrait of Senna\u2019s life, detailing how important religion was to him, his competitive zeal (there was not much point going out there to come fifth or sixth, he said), and his feud with fellow Formula\u2009\u20091 legend Alain Prost. There\u2019s also an insight into the politics of F1 racing. <\/p>\n I was gripped from opening to closing credits.<\/p>\n The director uses found footage \u2014 that is, film from family and friends \u2014 and official footage from various Grand Prix. And he skilfully edits it into something that holds you as if it were a dramatic movie. It\u2019s the best time I\u2019ve had at the pictures so far this year. \n<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n
\nBaz Bamigboye<\/a>
Last updated at 1:35 AM on 8th April 2011<\/p>\n![\"Lured](\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/831b8813188_233x423.jpg.jpg\")
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Senna opens here on June 3 and it\u2019s a\u00a0 treat and a privilege to watch the life of a real sporting hero.<\/p>\nExplore more:<\/h3>\n
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