Graham Swift (2020) Here We Are.

Here We Are or Here We Are again. Graham Swift won the Booker Prize for (I think) Last Orders. I checked to see if I’d reviewed it. I haven’t. But I have read it. But what sticks in my mind is the film version. Michael Caine, Bob Hoskins and Helen Mirren as the wife of the Caine character. Why am I going on about this? Well, Here We Are has much the same plot and tagline.

Brighton, 1959. Punters are sick of war and rationing. They demand entertainment. Jack Robinson although 27 is a veteran of the end-of-pier show. He’s compere, a kind of bygone Bob Monkhouse that can do pretty much anything from croon to tell jokes to keep the audience lapping it up and demanding more. He’s the star boy and star buy, the audience love him. He hooks up with some girl from the chorus line to entertain himself from year to year until the season ends.

But this year it’s different. He’s brought in fresh blood to the show. An army mate (in the way Caine and Hoskins were) who forged a bond over paperwork, which was the Army’s way of playing a joke on their theatrical ambitions. He tells Ronnie to get a stage name (Pablo) and to get himself an assistant that will dazzle.

Evie is top of the bill in anybody’s language (as Pablo is a magician, it had me thinking not of Helen Mirren, who’s obviously gorgeous, but Paul Daniel’s wife). All eyes are on Evie, including Jack’s. This allows Pablo to work his magic. And it really is magic. Nobody can really explain how good he is. Punters that come to watch the show only want one thing, to see Pablo and Evie. Jack has to joke and horse around to keep his end of the show up. What makes it more magical or believable, Pablo and Evie are engaged. She wears his ring. Many of us will know how that’ll end, but it’s a trick of the write. Read on.   

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