587 posts
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Post by Polly1 on Jul 12, 2016 12:05:53 GMT
Oh dear - I booked on the strength of the mainly favourable reviews, but maybe Parsley's approval bodes ill for me? I've just booked on the strength of raves on here! Thought reviews were a bit mixed. My agreement or otherwise with Parsley is also mixed but the play does sound interesting so hoping for the best.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 12, 2016 17:10:51 GMT
Oh dear - I booked on the strength of the mainly favourable reviews, but maybe Parsley's approval bodes ill for me? I've just booked on the strength of raves on here! Thought reviews were a bit mixed. My agreement or otherwise with Parsley is also mixed but the play does sound interesting so hoping for the best. OH MY GOD! I went expecting nothing And funniest thing I have seen in ages ENTIRE cast amazing and give wonderful performances I mean on award worthy levels- ALL of them- the delivery is impeccable LOVED Matt Smith and I am not usually a fan of his at all Jonjo O'Neill also hysterical and Amanda Drew has a lovely skirt she wears at one point- so elegantly flared The material has weaknesses and the second half is certainly less sure of itself But goodness it is a terrific evenings entertainment I cannot recommend it highly enough There is still some corpsing and the fact there is no script means you are never quite sure what is improvised and/or was added that day during rehearsals I think amongst the best plays on at the moment Audience in fits of laughter throughout and also cannot recall last time I had such fun at the theatre
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Post by Deleted on Jul 12, 2016 17:58:16 GMT
It's rare Parsley and I have the same taste but I have to say I 100% agree with everything you've said there!
I laughed more than I've laughed at anything theatre or otherwise in a long time. So much fun, but also so interesting. And excellent performances all round.
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3,478 posts
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Post by showgirl on Jul 12, 2016 18:52:21 GMT
Oo-er, how can the real thing ever live up to this hype?!
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Post by Deleted on Jul 12, 2016 18:57:08 GMT
Oo-er, how can the real thing ever live up to this hype?! I mean take it with a pinch of salt, it's only a few personal opinions. Having read a few mixed comments, and knowing the writer's er eccentric nature in terms of previous plays, I was sceptical going in and it was nothing like I was expecting/anticipating which is partly why I think I loved it.
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Post by Honoured Guest on Jul 13, 2016 2:29:05 GMT
Yes.. the end. It was pretty. Maybe,, though, they ended up spending a lot of money on something that didn't fit so well with the play they've come up with (so far, at least) - but given how much they've spent, they feel obliged to use it? {Spoiler - click to view} Is the epilogue an echo of the prologue?
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642 posts
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Post by Stasia on Jul 13, 2016 13:10:01 GMT
Does anyone here know the Royal court principles better than me? Is there any chance for this to extend for a couple of weeks? I tried to find if they have anything scheduled after but I couldn't (or maybe I just don't know where to look?) I don't want to be the "when do you think Sheridan will return@ type of poster but I have never been o Royal Court before so I don't know if they do extensions or not. Wish me luck if they do. I really need to see the play that has Anastasia and Maxim as characters and Matt Smith as a performer. Ages ago I had a crush on a Russian MT actor I worked with, he is very much Matt Smith look alike and guess what his name is
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Post by Deleted on Jul 13, 2016 13:29:51 GMT
I mean, Unreachable is scheduled to finish on 6th August and the next show in that auditorium is kicking off on 22nd September, so there's the time for an extension, but they don't appear to have sold out any performances, so it doesn't look like they'd have any particular need to extend. Also it looks like both auditoria are going dark for a month once Unreachable and Open Court shut up shop on the 6th, so I wonder if they've got some sort of maintenance or something planned during that period. Not beyond the realms of possibility, but I don't think it looks at all likely tbh.
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642 posts
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Post by Stasia on Jul 13, 2016 13:31:48 GMT
Thanks, Baemax!
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1,868 posts
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Post by Marwood on Jul 13, 2016 14:20:24 GMT
Don't know how well tickets have been selling, but I would have thought it would be more likely to transfer somewhere in the West End rather than extend (a la Hangmen).
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Post by Deleted on Jul 13, 2016 15:03:22 GMT
Yes I think the Court tend to transfer rather than extend, but usually because they're booked up back to back so the dark month suggests some kind of maintence/renovation reason that the theatre/building isn't in use.
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Post by Honoured Guest on Jul 13, 2016 15:07:50 GMT
I really need to see the play that has Anastasia and Maxim as characters Well spotted! This play seems to have a huge dialogue with Chekhov's plays, and in fact there are so many rich aspects to it that I realised it was mostly passing me by, even whilst I very much enjoyed what I did notice. As the second half got underway, it hit me that this play is a perfect example of the ideal Royal Shakespeare Company new play, with its strong relationship to the classical theatre traditions, and of course Anthony Neilson was the RSC Literary Associate for many years. The RSC must be kicking themselves that they have effectively nurtured this seminal play but never got the chance to produce it themselves. The Royal Court usually shuts down its public face during August, even closing the bar and kitchen, and I agree with Baemax that it's very unlikely to spontaneously extend, although I suppose there's a very remote possibility that they have always planned a possible, very limited, extension. But I really wouldn't expect it because it would mean staffing the building when everyone's expecting an enforced holiday.
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186 posts
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Post by argon on Jul 14, 2016 14:59:29 GMT
Some hilarious laughs but the numerous scenes/changes interrupts the continuity of the production on last night's outing may just be ready by the time the last performance is due.
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2,706 posts
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Post by Cardinal Pirelli on Jul 16, 2016 17:06:27 GMT
This was absolutely fascinating. It is, I believe, also deeper than its hilarious (at times) surface suggests. What we have is a reflection on acting and truth, overtly through the lack of empathy that the lead actress feels yet further refracted in the performance and direction whereby performers are able to switch from being in and dropping out of character. Film being the realistic medium is subverted by theatre, the medium of the imagination,. Props are labelled as such, set is minimal, scenes are announced (so far so Brechtian) but beyond this the cast are free to have a dialogue with the performance as it takes place, able to laugh, glance at the audience and appreciate each other and the audience response.
So a story about a fixed, tightly controlled medium is told to us through the incomplete, blueprint that is the theatre. Film can only fail to be perfect because it has to be finished. Theatre never is, every performance is a new attempt and, even at the end of the run, there is the spectre of the next production and its new attempt.
The actors corpse, not because they are going wrong, but because they are attempting to be better than last time, even funnier, even more truthful. Yet where does that truth come from? Not through Stanislavskian (and by extension Chekhovian, hence the use of Russian names) soul searching but because it's their job. Our job is to pay and to watch them do their job. In our doing that we, ourselves, join them as partners in the quest for unattainable perfection.
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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 Jul 16, 2016 22:31:31 GMT
Loved this and tempted to see it again
Steve is spot on with the Kinski / Herzog comparison
Smith had a finger in a splitlnt tonight, apparently as a result of something O'Neill did last night
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Post by Deleted on Jul 21, 2016 10:05:00 GMT
Do they have a playtext for this yet? I'm assuming not if being written in rehersal
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Post by Deleted on Jul 21, 2016 10:42:57 GMT
It took a really long time for Anthony Neilson's previous RC play, Narrative, to be published, so while I'd hope it'll be on the way eventually, I really wouldn't recommend anyone holding their breath.
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Post by Honoured Guest on Jul 21, 2016 10:50:13 GMT
It took a really long time for Anthony Neilson's previous RC play, Narrative, to be published, so while I'd hope it'll be on the way eventually, I really wouldn't recommend anyone holding their breath. Do you remember approximately how long with Narrative?
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Post by Deleted on Jul 21, 2016 11:42:52 GMT
It was published in an anthology of Scottish plays in September 2014, so nearly 18 months in the end. Wonder if it's worth everyone writing to Nick Hern Books to let them know we'll definitely buy Unreachable even though the play will be long closed by the time they'd be in a position to publish?
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Post by Deleted on Jul 21, 2016 11:51:46 GMT
Each time they make revisions to the script they should auction off all the old scripts with all the scribbles on and raise some money for charity.
Or to keep them in lightbulbs for the signage outside.
Or Vicky Featherstone's holiday.
Whichever is the most needy.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 25, 2016 22:04:40 GMT
Can someone do a spoiler thingy or pm me and tell me what happens in act 2? My bruv really didn't like this and I was a bit too stoned so we left in the interval.
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3,478 posts
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Post by showgirl on Jul 31, 2016 13:19:19 GMT
I was fascinated to see this and then to re-read all the posts here. For me it was a Curate's Egg; plus I may have nodded off briefly during the second half, so I couldn't tell whether some events really were as abrupt as they seemed or whether there had been any preamble. On the whole I enjoyed it and I did laugh out loud a couple of times, but nothing like as often as some people did, and I agree with the comment about Jonjo O'Neill's character belonging in an altogether different play (I found much of his behaviour/many of his lines silly rather than amusing) and about the ending seeming inconsistent with all that had preceded it. Overall I'm really glad I saw the play and would recommend it not just as entertainment but as an unusual theatrical experience.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 1, 2016 22:31:44 GMT
This really didn't do much for me at all.
I liked the characters (especially nice to see female characters fully fleshed out!) and it was fun to see the actors continually corpsing at Ivan ("I will lick chocolate from the anus of a hedgehog" memorably flooring poor Matt Smith).
But the audience seemed rather indulgent from the off, laughing hard at things that seemed mildly amusing at best.
And what was with that ending?! Again, the audience seemed desperate to applaud it before the curtain came down. Whereas I was sitting there thinking, "Er, okaaay..."
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Post by Honoured Guest on Nov 4, 2016 14:29:26 GMT
Did anyone else go to the Bash at the Royal Court this week to celebrate the first sixty years? I posted in this thread because of Jonjo O'Neill reprising his character from Unreachable. Every other performance was taken directly from the plays of the last sixty years, but Jonjo O'Neill was memorably present at the actual event in character, humorously commenting on the occasion and slagging off the other Irish actors. Jonjo O'Neill reappeared later as Frank N Furter and he seemed to enjoy both his contributions to the event, as did we.
All the extracts made their mark, especially where the play was already familiar to me. I thought the strongest scene came from Top Girls. It was weirdly affecting and slightly stomach-churning to see Paul Copley, Lesley Manville and Joanne Whalley in a car recreating their original roles of 34 years ago from Rita, Sue and Bob Too. The two Primetime plays, from writers aged 10 and 11, were both gloriously funny. I saw my first Primetime show this summer and heartily recommend it for a hilarious and direct insight into the imagination and outlook of the primary school age writer.
My neighbour was unimpressed with their immediate company on the night, making a dramatic 360 degree survey of the room and turning to their plus-one with: "There's no one here."
Next sixty years now, please. Can't wait.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 4, 2016 14:57:36 GMT
Oh wow that sounds like it was something! I confess watching Jonjo in The Fall I kept waiting for him to announce 'There is only Ivan!"
The Gala as a whole sounded amazing, wish I'd been there!
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433 posts
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Post by DuchessConstance on Nov 4, 2016 15:06:12 GMT
Yes, Jonjo definitely stole the show (and I like to pretend it was the Jonjo playing the Beast playing Frank'N'Furter, somehow).
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2,536 posts
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Post by n1david on Nov 5, 2016 10:45:08 GMT
Matt Smith was on Graham Norton's TV show this week. In the midst of some banter about how much he'd worked since Doctor Who, Graham joked "oh yes that fringe play" and Matt responded "I was in a Fringe play!" He then adds something which sounds awfully like "It was a travesty"...
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