Globe summer season Henries, Midsummers, Merry etc

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 ..

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.

Following on before part two begins I just want to ask you guys if I am so out of date I don’t get current restaurant prices.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.

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.

Slightly off topic i know but isnt the SWP winter season announced around now?

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 ....

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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.