The Londoner: Backstage bust-up at the National

AWARD-winning playwright Sir David Hare has attacked the National Theatre for being over-staffed and becoming too concerned with “sociological” issues rather than the creation of good drama. Hare says that the National was once “a place for specialism, skill, knowledge and, of course, what would now be called elitism”, but is now a “sociological project, rather than an artistic project”, with too many staff in offices and the bar.

Artistic director Rufus Norris hit back, saying: “He doesn’t understand the degree to which the Understudy [the theatre’s bar] contributes to us being able to pay for the set for Peter Gynt. I don’t have time to explain that to him. The Understudy takes a certain amount of staff; he can write about human rights, but when it comes down... to the welfare of staff, that is human rights,” he went on.

Norris was responding to Hare’s criticism with “barely repressed exasperation”, according to journalist Helen Lewis, who spoke to both men for The Atlantic. The National, which has 4,000 staff, clarified Norris’s comments, saying that there were now more people working in fundraising at the theatre due to budget cuts. Hare is one of the National’s most prolific writers, premiering 17 plays at the venue. It comes at a time of battles over direction at the theatre, which is subsidised via Arts Council England.

The National has faced a real-terms cut of 30 per cent since 2010 to £16.7 million a year until 2022. Last April, Arts Council chief Simon Mellor signalled a shift towards “relevance” over “excellence in funding”, leading to budget changes. Meanwhile, dramatist and co-director of community arts project Fun Palaces Stella Duffy attacked the National in the same piece for being too reliant on “the canon” by “white men”, even suggesting that the South Bank venue should be sold off for “lovely flats” and actors should be sent on tour.There has been speculation that Norris will not renew his five-year contract at the theatre, which is up in March. Norris says in the piece that he “probably” will go on. Politics at the National Theatre could be as turbulent as on the national stage.

Bruiser Ed Balls finds sensitive side

Is there work for Ed Balls as a therapist? Today programme presenter Nick Robinson reminded the former shadow chancellor how he’d advised him to stop apologising for a weak voice following cancer treatment in 2017. “I was constantly tempted to go, ‘I’m sorry, no, it sounds a bit funny,’” Robinson told Balls for a BBC radio documentary. “You said: ‘This is you. It doesn’t matter if this is you that’s different from the old you... stop’... As a result I stopped saying it,” Robinson concludes. Beats Tom Watson as a gym instructor.

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V&A director Tristram Hunt says Donald Trump’s “threat to destroy important cultural sites in Iran must be condemned”. He tweets: “Just as the bulldozing of Palmyra & significant heritage sites by ISIS was abhorrent,” so is Trump’s threat, and adds: “This is a worrying step towards the normalisation of cultural destruction as a war aim.”

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A new children’s book on Walthamstow’s famous locals has arrived. Author Eleanor Levenson picks out Stuart Freeborn, the make-up artist behind Yoda: “If kids at school are studying people from their area, they can often seem quite stuffy, but not Yoda”. Even today, Yoda has wise words “wars not make one great.” We agree.

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David Bowie once asked to be hypnotised by Paul McKenna, who was almost too nervous to do it. “It felt like I’d walked into a movie. He was sitting there smoking, he couldn’t help but look cool and I went, ‘Oh my God, that’s David Bowie,’” McKenna says on his podcast. “There was something a bit other worldly about him,” McKenna adds, but he duly put the singer under. “Then he sprung out and he went, ‘Hang on a minute’ and said to me, ‘I had the strangest thought just now. Think pink. What does that mean?’ “I said: ‘I have absolutely no idea.’”

Hector Bellerin kicks off Men's fashion gala

One way through the January Blues is... to party and London Fashion Week Men’s shows delivered the goods. Game of Thrones star Maisie Williams and her boyfriend Reuben Selby bagged front-row seats as Charles Jeffrey presented his Fall 2020 Loverboy collection. The lovers eyed up tartan trousers, puffed-shouldered jackets and flower-sprigged prints while sporting matching Loverboy jumpers. Cute. Fashion-forward footballer Hector Bellerin, presenter Cora Delaney, artist Shaquille Aaron-Keith and model Munroe Bergdorf also checked out the show. Meanwhile, in the Ned’s Club lounge, His Dark Materials actor Ariyon Bakare showed up for the launch of E.Tautz’s collection, which channelled a “make do and mend” message with conspicuous stitching and oversized coats. The chief executive of the British Fashion Council, Caroline Rush, also partied at Ned’s Club on Saturday night for a Fiorucci launch along with models Viscountess Weymouth, Betty Bachz and Jack Guinness.​

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Stella Creasy MP, who gave birth to baby girl Hettie in November, is finding someone is competing for her attention. “When the baby is away,” she tweeted, “the cat will play...someone’s discovered a new bed to sleep in.” Or, she wonders, perhaps the cat was “trying to say she’s the baby of the house”. It’s tough being a mum of two.​