Kristin Scott Thomas has quit the silver screen for the stage. As a fan of her French films - I've Loved You So Long and Leaving (not to mention earlier blockbusters like Four Weddings and The English Patient), I'm not sure how I feel about that. But Hollywood's loss is London's gain, and I have been fortunate enough to see one of my favourite actresses several times at the theatre. Most recently on Friday night in Electra at the Old Vic. Scott Thomas plays Electra with such an intense passion from the offset, that after an hour and a half of rolling around in the dirt you'd think she'd be completely exhausted. But, no. The 54-year-old actress seemed to be genuinely energized and uplifted by the audience's response. A standing ovation, of course.
And Mr That's Not My Age would never forgive me if I didn't give a shout out to the actor Peter Wight who plays a servant in Electra and is one of the hilariously hapless policemen in the Blog Widower's favourite comedy series Early Doors. Crime won't crack itself...
There's a great profile of Kristin Scott Thomas in the Guardian here. I was interested to read a comment she made last year on older women in film:
'I'm still asked to do leading roles in France, never in the UK. Never, ever. People ask me why, and I don't really know apart from the idea that in France people are less afraid of older women, or getting old. Why is it in the Anglo-Saxon culture that age is taboo?'
