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Post by peggs on May 9, 2019 17:55:40 GMT
Have looked but think only globe thread is in general and isn't so much about the plays and I need somewhere to voice 'how mad is Pericles?!' Probably first Shakespeare I've gone into completely cold knowing nothing which meant I was doing rather a lot of 'what?!, did they just say what I think they said?' Somewhat exacerbated by the fact that it's a touring company so everyone is playing multiple parts. The concentration required may have successfully distracted me some what from the cold and pain of standing plus they were a jolly smiley bunch.
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Post by argon on May 9, 2019 19:33:02 GMT
'how mad is Pericles?!' Somewhat exacerbated by the fact that it's a touring company so everyone is playing multiple parts. They needed community help like the recent National theatre production to spread out the work load. This production I felt was very flat & laboured, it just never took off.
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Post by londonpostie on May 13, 2019 13:18:39 GMT
I'm thinking of standing, as well. Bit riiiiidiculous paying a £2.50 online booking fee for a £5 ticket. Just a question of plucking up the courage to dial the number and actually speak those words ..
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Post by londonpostie on May 13, 2019 17:18:28 GMT
Just finished speaking with the box office now! £2.50 fee only applies online and they were so helpful. I will now spend a fair part of the summer shuffling between the wonders of Borough Market's food stalls and the Globe's Pit.
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Post by peggs on May 13, 2019 20:35:49 GMT
Just finished speaking with the box office now! £2.50 fee only applies online and they were so helpful. I will now spend a fair part of the summer shuffling between the wonders of Borough Market's food stalls and the Globe's Pit. Oh not on the phone? Worth knowing, I tend to buy when the season opens so the fee pain is somewhat lessened by booking multiples but have been known to book an odd standing afterwards and fumed at the fee, didn't realise could avoid if I rang up.
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Post by lynette on Jun 9, 2019 13:45:48 GMT
Henry IV part one Very good. I’d read some poor reviews. I really don’t know why. Part two after fish and chips x
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Post by lynette on Jun 9, 2019 14:47:00 GMT
Following on before part two begins I just want to ask you guys if I am so out of date I don’t get current restaurant prices. Fish and chips in the Swan bar ok,not too expensive, what you might expect. But they also have on the menu a whole roast chicken to share for £45. Is this not a bit over the top? I mean how many to share? Even a mighty clucker has only two legs. So fight that one out with Auntie and Uncle. If you come round to mine I’ll do you one of the best roast chickens you’ve ever had for £13 ( 20% discount for badge holders) and the conversation course will be very erudite and a bit smutty if we get on to the third bottle.
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Post by TallPaul on Jun 9, 2019 14:59:11 GMT
How do we book, lynette? I hope there's a dress code!
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Post by NeilVHughes on Jun 9, 2019 15:23:19 GMT
lynette is the wine included? count me in. Not eaten in the Swan a bit too formal for my liking, have had a drink after a show, if you get a window seat the view is quite special.
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Post by lynette on Jun 9, 2019 17:54:26 GMT
Meanwhile back on topic. The second show v good too. The doubling and tripling make for one or two off beat combinations but once you’ve adjusted it all goes well. Overall excellent speaking of the words. I know sounds obvious but not always so. More later. I know you don’t need to stay up. 🤪💤
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Post by learfan on Jun 9, 2019 18:25:50 GMT
Slightly off topic i know but isnt the SWP winter season announced around now?
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Post by peggs on Jun 9, 2019 18:28:34 GMT
Count me in lynette I love roast chicken. Glad to hear you liked the Henries as reviews weren't brilliant and due to see them in a few weeks.
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Post by lynette on Jun 10, 2019 11:13:33 GMT
Yep, getting quite a few round the chicken table... I will be interested to hear what you think of the Henries?Henrys, peggs because I thought that Henry V was the weakest. She did a lot fo shouting and lost the character a bit. And Agincourt was a bit of a let down....plus one odd cast choice ....
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Post by NeilVHughes on Jun 10, 2019 12:00:51 GMT
Saw the trilogy a few weeks ago along with the the First night of Wives in my annual Groundling binge, also saw the touring Productions of Twelfth Night, The Comedy of Errors and Pericles.
Henry IV Pt1 Strongest of the trilogy, Michelle really brought the part to life.
Henry IV Pt2 The characterisation of Falstaff didn’t work for me and was a bit too energetic and couldn’t hold the piece together in the way Michelle could in Pt1, also found Shallow difficult differentiate from the actor, think It would work OK with an older woman playing the role but couldn’t stretch to it being played by a young woman for me. (Could also be that for the Oliver Ford Davies Shallow from a few years ago was so good)
Henry V Everything was there but didn’t gel for me, not sure why.
In all maybe the ensemble was a few actors short as the constant character changes could be distracting, seeing all three again in August seated on an all dayer and interested to see how they have bedded in.
Merry Wives of Windsor First night and was definitely a work in progress so will not give my definite thoughts until I see it again in a few weeks, initial impression, you will never see a drier Falstaff.
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Post by londonpostie on Jun 10, 2019 12:45:34 GMT
I saw the Merry Wives on Saturday - families, tourists, tourist families and me all lapped it up. Mostly silly, sometimes bonkers, the set-up might have dragged slightly, occasional shades of Brian Rix. I doubt anyone in the building knew what was going on. Most agreeable, esp. for a fiver.
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Post by lynette on Jun 10, 2019 17:02:47 GMT
I agree, Neil, I think a couple of extra actors would have helped espesh in Henry V. I thought someone different needed for the Lord Chief Justice to give full weight to this important part.
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Post by peggs on Jun 10, 2019 17:05:22 GMT
Yep, getting quite a few round the chicken table... I will be interested to hear what you think of the Henries?Henrys, peggs because I thought that Henry V was the weakest. She did a lot fo shouting and lost the character a bit. And Agincourt was a bit of a let down....plus one odd cast choice .... Interesting, the impression I'd picked up was that Henry v was the strongest of the lot. Will report back assuming my legs hold up.
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Post by peggs on Jun 10, 2019 17:07:41 GMT
I saw the Merry Wives on Saturday - families, tourists, tourist families and me all lapped it up. Mostly silly, sometimes bonkers, the set-up might have dragged slightly, occasional shades of Brian Rix. I doubt anyone in the building knew what was going on. Most agreeable, esp. for a fiver. Oh good, am seeing this on a two play day so does help if my brain can have a let off at some point.
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Post by lynette on Jun 23, 2019 21:51:21 GMT
I saw the Merry Wives on Saturday - families, tourists, tourist families and me all lapped it up. Mostly silly, sometimes bonkers, the set-up might have dragged slightly, occasional shades of Brian Rix. I doubt anyone in the building knew what was going on. Most agreeable, esp. for a fiver. Oh good, am seeing this on a two play day so does help if my brain can have a let off at some point. Agree, impossible to know what was going on with the Ann Page plot if you didn’t already know. I don’t know if because they didn’t adjust the pace or style for these sections or because you couldn’t understand most of what the Doctor or Mistress Quickly were saying. Sorry. Not being racist here, possible positioning as I was behind them as it were but I could understand the Welsh cleric tho to be honest what he says isn’t funny. Why always omit the funny scene when he questions his young pupils and it is outrageously vulgar? Falstaff sections better, clear and funny. This , the buck basket scene, or rather two scenes, possibly the funniest farcical joke in the whole of the canon so pretty difficult to mess up and they gave it plenty of welly. But Falstaff himself, such a good actor, but not my Falstaff. Falstaff is posh and using his position in society to live off others. He is also much fatter than this one, spherical and not just pot bellied. Here we had a kind of snide Cockney - what was that accent actually?- nasty sort of man who I wouldn’t forgive in a hurry. And no idea why Ann Page fell for the Felton they gave us here, nothing to shout about. The forties setting not a bad stab at it but it was the dancing wasn’t it that made it worthwhile. Otherwise why bother to change the original? A pleasant evening and better than some I’ve had at The Globe.
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Post by David J on Jun 26, 2019 18:50:25 GMT
Finally at the Minack Theatre to see the touring company
Pericles is being performed on all evenings so we risked the audience vote show this afternoon and am waiting to see Pericles in 25 minutes. I knew that it was going to be either Twelfth Night of Errors and sure enough the former was chosen (though Pericles seemed to come a close second)
Anyway Twelfth Night was a good. Met my expectations of a small touring production. Nice to have an Aussie Malvolio for once and he was certainly the highlight. The gender swapping didn’t add anything to the production though
Glad to be finally at the Minack Theatre with an inspiring story about the woman who created it. Bit of a faff queuing up for an hour and getting down and up the auditorium before and after the show though
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Post by Fleance on Jun 26, 2019 22:20:54 GMT
Pericles is being performed on all evenings so we risked the audience vote show this afternoon and am waiting to see Pericles in 25 minutes. Please report on Pericles. I try not to miss a production of the play, if I can get to it, unless it's edited. I was deeply moved by Dromgoole's swan song production a few years ago.
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Post by David J on Jun 28, 2019 7:36:34 GMT
Pericles is being performed on all evenings so we risked the audience vote show this afternoon and am waiting to see Pericles in 25 minutes. Please report on Pericles. I try not to miss a production of the play, if I can get to it, unless it's edited. I was deeply moved by Dromgoole's swan song production a few years ago. It was better than Twelfth Night. No gender swapping. Just your standard touring production with small cast playing multiple roles. I certainly had to take a moment to recognise that the man playing Pericles came on as another guy right after Pericles looses it Didn’t feel laboured as mentioned above so I assume they’ve improved. Can take some concentration on the doubling, especially the aforementioned Malvolio chap playing most of the rulers of the nations pericles visits. At least he had different costumes, and he used his Aussie accent again for one of them Reunion scene wasn’t as heartfelt as the Sam Wanamaker production. I felt the actors playing Pericles and Marina lacked range in their delivery, focusing more on projection than mining the text for real emotion of the scene
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Post by peggs on Jul 2, 2019 20:03:51 GMT
Did the trilogy day on sunday and found it something of a mixed bag. As a starting point the sheer volume of text learnt and roles played by this ensemble was very impressive and seeing them one after another really highlighted this. Everyone seemed to throw everything they had into it and they looked delighted by the reception they received at each curtain call. Henry IV part one was my favourite by a clear mile. Michelle Terry's Hotspur was just a delight, from her first entrance in THAT get up you knew you were in for a treat, she brought her customary nuanced, beautifully spoken, impeccable sense of timing and place to this portrayal, it was funny and quick witted and firey and just a joy. The down side to this was it did rather show up weaknesses else where. Falstaff didn't quite work for me, too much emphasis on the funny, which I acknowledge you'd expect at the Globe and not enough depth and complexity. Hal I thought was not bad, nicely spoken, much of the humour and feeling played by her eyes and had the regal feel, a clearly controlled and doing everything for a reason Hal but the pairing didn't really ever take off for me so it was somewhat lacking. For this reason part two felt a bit tough to get through, granted by then my feet were not happy and I rather got through it on the basis that by the time I hit Henry V i'd get a last play roll of new energy. Scenes like chimes of moonlight or Northumberland's scene with Kate Percy after Hotspur's death seemed wasted when I thought of other productions i'd seen. Henry V I thought second best, I do like an explosion and I thought there were some nice scenes, yes lynette I too thought Hal got a bit too shouty, i'd have preferred quieter intensity in the little harry in the night scene. I'm guessing i'm thinking of the same casting choice as you when I say I thought the actor did well in it but I did know in advance to expect it so lessened my surprise. Over all I found the gender neutral casting worked very well, I think it does show at times new elements that I've not previously seen but I admit a small section of the standing audience it seemed to too much for them. By play three I don't know if there was a largely new crowd in but a section behind me found it hilarious every time an actor would take off one jacket and put on another as they swapped characters. One women seemed determined to laugh every 30 seconds in spite of what was happening on stage, it's the first time I've found someone find the harfleur threat speech funny?! This was pretty tiresome and did install thoughts of imaginary violence in me as it was very distracting. The wooing scene was a particular problem, the tittering minority treated every bit as hysterical and missed any ambiguity that i'm pretty sure was being played. It did feel that on occasion the casting led to some members of the audience almost treating it as panto. I think the ensemble approach does rather rest on the quality of the actors and the direction, there were a few weak links for me, one actor seemed pretty determined to play every part in the same way and the more experienced Globe actors had a very feel for the place and how to play the audience. Enjoyed the singing, nice touch, liked the flag decked interior and the stripped back approach. Good groundling queue chats passed the time well and went home pleased. Goodness my feet hated me though.
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Post by theatremad on Jul 27, 2019 22:12:06 GMT
A question for those that have done the Henrys Trilogy Day. How does it work out timings wise approx?
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Post by peggs on Jul 27, 2019 22:48:51 GMT
I can't remember exactly, I think they ranged from 2 hours 20ish to 2 hours 30ish but the timings are on their website for each play.
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Post by zahidf on Jul 28, 2019 7:51:15 GMT
What are they doing regarding bags btw? Are they stopping rucksack coming in?
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Post by peggs on Jul 28, 2019 9:04:02 GMT
Currently not if they are day sized rucksack, a kind friend asked security at the start of the season and he said they wouldn't let in bags on wheels are large rucksacks but would allow ones the size that you would take to school/work and he didn't think it would impact many. I've been a couple of times and taken my standard work bag and not had a problem and not seen anyone else having one though has always been something of a relief when they do the bag checks and it's ok. Hopefully it will continue like this. This was outside, inside I went smaller.
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Post by zahidf on Jul 28, 2019 9:12:58 GMT
Currently not if they are day sized rucksack, a kind friend asked security at the start of the season and he said they wouldn't let in bags on wheels are large rucksacks but would allow ones the size that you would take to school/work and he didn't think it would impact many. I've been a couple of times and taken my standard work bag and not had a problem and not seen anyone else having one though has always been something of a relief when they do the bag checks and it's ok. Hopefully it will continue like this. This was outside, inside I went smaller. Cool Thanks.
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Post by partytentdown on Aug 30, 2019 11:35:50 GMT
Something I've never understood about the Globe. Why is there a fee to book online but none to book by phone or in person? Surely it costs them more to have a real life person take the booking than it does for a customer to do it themselves online?
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