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In 1995, Kenneth Branagh directed "In the Bleak Midwinter", a low-budget comedy about a group of actors putting on a production of Shakespeare's "Hamlet". Despite many trials and tribulations, everything comes together on the first night in a triumphant vindication of company spirit.
A far more realistic vision of the actor's lot emerges in "Beginner's Luck", a madcap farce based on writer-directors Nicholas Cohen and James Callis' personal experiences of fringe theatre. Callis also appears as young wannabe Mark, whose ambitious plan to stage "The Tempest" in direct competition with a famous actor-manager (Cazenove) comes a cropper at every conceivable turn.
Having assembled a ragbag troupe of no-hopers every bit as clueless as he is, Mark's first brainstorm is to premiere his show in a Soho lap dancing club run by a sleazy Steven Berkoff. His second masterstroke is to take the cast to the Edinburgh Festival, where they have to perform in the corner of a bustling Chinese restaurant. From there it's off to Paris, where they find themselves squatting in an empty mansion and presenting avant garde street theatre in order to survive.
Having faced many of the same financial problems as their struggling protagonists, it's a wonder Cohen and Callis ever managed to bring a film to the screen, let alone one so enjoyable. Some will find the luvvie antics insufferable but at least they're true to life, while Julie Delpy is beguiling as the enigmatic French actress who becomes Mark's Ariel, muse, and eventual saviour.
The photography looks like the star's nan was trying out a digital camera for the first time
