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Post by floorshow on Jan 30, 2019 22:37:38 GMT
It's exactly what you expect it to be, thoroughly enjoyable with a fringey vibe. Glad I saw him do it in a fairly small room Both him and Kwame were out in the foyer after, shaking hands and a charity bucket for a new producton at YV.
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Post by catcat100 on Jan 30, 2019 23:23:01 GMT
I got lucky today and was on twitter at just the right time for those day tickets at YV to be announced. What with the price of some of the tickets and the website queues, I had already resigned myself to not seeing.
What an absolute treat this was, full of his playful humour (little Ian! and Ivor Novello), there are lots of stories, poetry, readings and of course lots of excerpts from plays, particularly Shakespeare, all impeccably performed his way and a lovely little encore. Think we got a good 25 minutes longer than advertised.
The intimacy was great, not certain how it would be in some of the bigger venues but if there's some cheap tickets going I'll certainly go again.
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Post by floorshow on Jan 31, 2019 0:06:08 GMT
Think we got a good 25 minutes longer than advertised. And we were spared the acting with audience members
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Post by catcat100 on Jan 31, 2019 0:30:36 GMT
Yep, the bit of audience participation at the start was nice but enough.
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Post by altamont on Jan 31, 2019 9:24:57 GMT
Is he still doing the bit where he invites the audience up on stage to enact the "who dies at Agincourt" speech from Henry V?
It may look a bit odd for the remaining audience but it was great fun to be a participant!
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Xanderl
Member
Not always very high value in terms of ticket yield or donations
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Post by Xanderl on Jan 31, 2019 9:32:14 GMT
Appreciate it will vary but what's the rough running time of this please?
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Post by kathryn on Jan 31, 2019 9:44:29 GMT
Is he still doing the bit where he invites the audience up on stage to enact the "who dies at Agincourt" speech from Henry V?
It may look a bit odd for the remaining audience but it was great fun to be a participant! He didn't at the Nash monday night - he got an audience member on stage to hold Glamdring and took a selfie with him. Was very sweet! It was a lovely experience - I can honestly say he gave the most compelling Juliet I've ever heard. I did think some of the Shakespeare stuff in the second half dragged a bit though, as good as he is at it. Some of the monologues just went on a little too long.
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Post by floorshow on Jan 31, 2019 9:57:16 GMT
Appreciate it will vary but what's the rough running time of this please? YV finished at about 22.15.
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Post by floorshow on Jan 31, 2019 10:04:07 GMT
Is he still doing the bit where he invites the audience up on stage to enact the "who dies at Agincourt" speech from Henry V?
It may look a bit odd for the remaining audience but it was great fun to be a participant! Didn't do that at YV - sounds like a lot of admin to get them up and then down again!
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Post by theatrefan77 on Feb 1, 2019 7:47:29 GMT
Plenty of availability at the Piccadilly theatre for February 15th. Just got my ticket having failed to get one at the National, Young Vic and Old Vic.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 1, 2019 10:21:05 GMT
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Post by TallPaul on Feb 1, 2019 10:29:28 GMT
15 February is a Friday, so it will be Curious at night, won't it?
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Post by Deleted on Feb 1, 2019 10:36:23 GMT
YES. Excellent point, disregard my dumb question!
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Post by Deleted on Feb 2, 2019 11:40:39 GMT
Plenty of availability at the Piccadilly theatre for February 15th. Just got my ticket having failed to get one at the National, Young Vic and Old Vic. Me too! Thank you so much for sharing.
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Post by n1david on Feb 2, 2019 15:32:42 GMT
I can only thank the posters in this thread for mentioning that the tour has started, which prompted me to look in my diary to see when I was going, and to see that it wasn't in my calendar, and then a search of my emails told me that my booking at Above The Stag is coming up on Weds 6th. For some reason I hand't put it in my diary and with no physical ticket to remind me I'd double booked myself. Would have been gutted if I'd only realised after the event! Second show now rescheduled...
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Post by Marwood on Feb 2, 2019 18:06:07 GMT
Plenty of availability at the Piccadilly theatre for February 15th. Just got my ticket having failed to get one at the National, Young Vic and Old Vic. Thanks for sharing, just booked (still pondering going sick that day or just taking half a days holiday, going to something like this is on a Friday afternoon is not as good if you can’t tag the hell out of it on social media)
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Post by Jon on Feb 4, 2019 23:25:01 GMT
Saw the show at Richmond Theatre tonight and have to say it was a joy to see Sir Ian in his element and his stories and monologues were wonderful to hear although I do agree the Shakespeare bits do go on a bit. I enjoyed his Widow Twanky and Maggie Smith impression
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Post by vdcni on Feb 7, 2019 0:29:59 GMT
Really enjoyed this tonight at Above The Stag. Some great stories and readings. Particularly enjoyed the Shakespeare focused second act. I wonder if he mentions his first erection at other venues!
Lovely nibbles and drinks as part of the price as well. Even the noise from the trains added drama to the occasion!
Shame about the arsehole who shoved past me at the bar to get served first.
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Post by Jon on Feb 7, 2019 1:05:20 GMT
Really enjoyed this tonight at Above The Stag. Some great stories and readings. Particularly enjoyed the Shakespeare focused second act. I wonder if he mentions his first erection at other venues! Lovely nibbles and drinks as part of the price as well. Even the noise from the trains added drama to the occasion! Shame about the arsehole who shoved past me at the bar to get served first. The erection got a mention at Richmond! Did he do the sticker bit at the beginning? I imagine in a venue like Above the Stag, it's really intimate compared to a bigger venue like the Bridge or Richmond Theatre. I wonder if he tailors bits of the show depending on the venue.
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Post by vdcni on Feb 7, 2019 8:37:22 GMT
The description for Above The Stag did imply the material would be slightly different with more commentary around his sexuality and his work in plays like Bent which we did get but I can't imagine he doesn't talk about his coming out at other venues. Michael Cashman was there so he got referenced a few times.
And yes he did do the sticker bit.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 7, 2019 9:20:06 GMT
He did an individualised blurb for every venue on the tour, I would be amazed if he didn't offer up at least a *little* tailor-made content on the night too.
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Post by floorshow on Feb 7, 2019 9:42:23 GMT
The description for Above The Stag did imply the material would be slightly different with more commentary around his sexuality and his work in plays like Bent which we did get but I can't imagine he doesn't talk about his coming out at other venues. Michael Cashman was there so he got referenced a few times. And yes he did do the sticker bit. Blanchett and Fiennes were mentioned at YV (bit of hobnobbing around their current things), there was a nice moment for John Hurt too. He talked about the move of the NT from the Old Vic and creation of Young Vic. He did talk a fair bit about coming out.
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Post by n1david on Feb 7, 2019 13:03:30 GMT
Shout out to Fiennes last night for A&C and also to Simon Russell Beale - provoked by my suggestion of Timon of Athens, and that I'd seen SRB in it at the NT *I bet he was good" (eyeroll)
Also delighted to be able to collar Lord Cashman in the interval to thank him for the last time I collared him in a theatre interval, at the Theatre Royal Stratford East, 30 years ago, when he became the first person I ever told i was gay. He was lovely then and he was lovely again last night.
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Post by Polly1 on Feb 8, 2019 14:05:45 GMT
Shout out to Fiennes last night for A&C and also to Simon Russell Beale - provoked by my suggestion of Timon of Athens, and that I'd seen SRB in it at the NT *I bet he was good" (eyeroll) Are you implying that Sir Ian is not a fan of the Blessèd SRB?
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Post by n1david on Feb 8, 2019 14:29:09 GMT
Are you implying that Sir Ian is not a fan of the Blessèd SRB? No, I think the context was that he and SRB might be up for similar parts and Sir Ian might have wanted to do Timon at the NT instead...
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Post by kathryn on Feb 8, 2019 14:41:40 GMT
Shout out to Fiennes last night for A&C and also to Simon Russell Beale - provoked by my suggestion of Timon of Athens, and that I'd seen SRB in it at the NT *I bet he was good" (eyeroll) Are you implying that Sir Ian is not a fan of the Blessèd SRB? How could anyone not be a fan of Dame Sir Lord Simon Russell Beale?! It's all meant to be taken in good fun, I'm sure. He was joshing about Rufus Norris when I saw it at the NT - 'the less said the better'. Then when someone in the audience shouted Pericles he said 'has *anyone* actually seen Pericles?' and when half a dozen people in the front stalls immediately said yes, 'where?!', and they shouted 'here!', he said something or other about Rufus being ok after all.
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Post by mindy0monster on Feb 14, 2019 11:20:08 GMT
The Belgrade Theatre in Coventry have just added a matinee performance for 20 April, if that helps anyone still looking for tickets.
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Post by Marwood on Feb 15, 2019 17:00:21 GMT
The first half of this afternoons show at the Piccadilly Theatre was a joy (how lucky was that man who got to get up on stage with Ian and get a selfie with him wearing a Gandalf hat and a signed programme (although more than a bit cheeky of him to then tell Ian the photo wasn’t all that 😂)): the second half I thought was a bit of a slog to be honest but that’s probably because I saw him do his Shakespeare one man show at the BFI a few years ago and this was pretty much the same thing (it’s on the Blu-Ray/dvd of Richard III and you can spot me in the audience, looking a bit erm, ‘discombobulated’ but I’m willing to autograph any copies people may have for a very reasonable fee)
I got to meet Ian on the way out and shake his hand but as he was collecting for the National Youth Theatre and there were hordes of selfie hunters behind me, this historic encounter was notably brief...
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Post by Deleted on Feb 15, 2019 17:06:41 GMT
I agree with Marwood that the first act was a joy. I got a lot out of the second act too, I loved him doing both Romeo and Juliet. Butterstumps! I could have done without the audience shouting out the names of the plays, but that’s just my debilitating Britishness and I imagine it keeps him fresh for that section.
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Post by Marwood on Feb 16, 2019 15:36:02 GMT
I did shout out 'THE SCOTTISH PLAY!' just so I could say I got into the spirit of things but I could have done without the French couple sat next to me, her translating to him (not so quietly), but thankfully during the second half there wasn't as much of this, probably because her skills didn't stretch to Shakespearean English, but this then caused much 'tssking' and Gallic kissing of teeth on his part because he didn't know what the hell was going on.
I did mumble a few 'shut ups' but this then caused other people to think I was aiming these at them (or Ian, I don't know) so rather than start a ruckus I decided to keep quiet: but honestly, this sort of show, OK so if you're on holiday on London its nice to say you saw a movie/theatre star but why bother if you won't have a clue what they're saying?
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