Something to look forward to: Laura Linney on stage in My Name is Lucy Barton
Our Christmas gift to each other was a smart TV – we’ve joined the 21st century, people. Many an evening is spent scrolling through Netflix on the settee – and we do actually watch stuff, too. While revisiting The Squid and the Whale recently, I concluded that Laura Linney is one of those actors who has appeared in a lot more films than you realise/can remember the names of. There’s the one with Mark Ruffalo (You Can Count On Me), the one with Sean Penn (Mystic River), plus Tom Ford’s second film (Nocturnal Animals). She was equally brilliant in The Big C, on TV. And from June, Linney will be making her stage debut in London playing the lead in Elizabeth Strout’s My Name is Lucy Barton. Double good. My mouth’s watering just typing in that dream combination.
My Name is Lucy Barton is Elizabeth Strout’s powerful story of the relationship between a mother and daughter; estranged for many years and reunited over a five-day hospital visit. The daughter has moved from small town to big city, gone from humble beginnings to a more middle class way of life as a writer. Ooh, maybe that’s why it resonated…
I really like her, she has a rather still quality and a calm, luminous face.
This has been on my ridiculously long ‘to read’ list. I have finally got round to The Outrun by Amy Liptrot, which also might be of interest to anyone undergoing a change in their life, whether by choice or necessity. Really life affirming and beautiful, loving all these amazing women writers.