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Brexit
Mar 14, 2019 21:16:33 GMT
Post by nobunaga on Mar 14, 2019 21:16:33 GMT
Personally I would go for "Brexit - The opera" .. Anybody remember the series on TV called combat opera? Perhaps something along those lines.
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Post by nobunaga on Nov 14, 2018 14:34:51 GMT
Last year I wrote about a Noh production at the National Noh Theatre in Tokyo: this year there was nothing on there during the time I would be in Tokyo so I had to look somewhere else. I have a few videos of performances from the kanze Noh school so I thought I would give them a try.The trickiest thing was buying a ticket on their web site-they use some kind of automated translation which does not quite work.. Best thing is to use the Japanese option and get the help of a native speaker if necessary. Once the purchase has gone through you will get sent a email which you will have to print off and take to a 7-11 in Japan
and they will print out your ticket for you-be careful as the ticket is very flimsy and can be easily lost.. The Theatre is in the basement of the Ginza 6 building-Ginza is the Japanese equivalent of Bond street so the setup has the feel
of having Shakespeare's Globe in the basement of Selfridges -the Ginza 6 building is quite a building and the two floors I visited were full of high class stores and food shops.
The Theatre opens about half an hour before the performance starts and quite a queue forms-your ticket is checked on entry. There is a small stall selling books and other stuff-the lady who was working speaks quite good English which came in handy when I found a ticket lying on the floor.
The staff whom got involved where very helpful and went out of their way to find the owner. The performance was in two parts-the first part was a talk lasting about 30 minutes ,a Noh chant ,a Kyogen performance, and ending with a Noh dance.
This was the first Kyogen I have seen and as most of the humour was physical it was fairlyeasy to follow. There was a 15 minute interval and a mad rush for the toilets-seeming only one for the entire audience so it may be best to "go before you noh"..
The second half was the Noh play lasting about an hour-I can't really comment on how good/bad the performance as I am still a Noh neophyte but I enjoyed it. One quick point-the national had subtitles and some printed information in English, the Kanze did not.
In short-not as foreigner friendly as the National, the ticket system is a bit poorer especially in English, but I would still heartily recommend it and will visit it again.
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Post by nobunaga on Nov 18, 2017 20:59:47 GMT
:-) Tokyo is an amazing place however if you live in London you can sometimes get to see Kabuki at sadlers wells.. Have to admit a visit to the kabuki-za in Ginza is on my bucket list although the National theatre in Tokyo also does Kabuki.. There is also a Noh stage at Royal Holloway university of London-not sure if they do public performances-maybe somebody on the board may know?
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Post by nobunaga on Nov 18, 2017 12:44:28 GMT
I visited this theatre a couple of weeks ago while on my annual Japan trip and though I would
do a quick write up-hopefully this might be of some use to somebody else who may be thinking of visiting.
So first the practicalities
Buying a ticket-this can be done over the internet via the theatre's web site.
You will need to create an account first which is
Straightforward Tickets generally go on sale a month before the performance and sell out fast-I went
to a Saturday afternoon performance and the prices (Oct 2017) were
front stage seat 4900 yen (£ 37)
side stage seat 3200 yen (£ 24)
Middle stage seat 2700 yen (£20)
I had a side stage seat the view from which was fine.
When you purchase a ticket over the internet you will be E mailed a E-ticket which you will need to print out-the ticket has a QR code-on the day of the performance you will need to go to the box office in the corner of which is a machine. You scan the QR code on this machine and it spits out a ticket and receipt.
Getting to the theater..
The nearest underground station is Sendagaya Station-on exiting the station turn right and head past what is a large car park on your right. On the first road crossing cross the road and the theatre is directly ahead.
The theatre..
The theatre has the usual amenities-on entering the theatre there is a room for coin-lockers on the left. Further in there is a counter for programmes (cost about 700 yen and are well produced).This counter also sells the English language Noh guides of which there are six volumes at about 3000 yen each. I did not buy any this visit (would have to post them back to the UK I guess) but maybe next visit.
Also nearby was a stall selling Noh videos and books ( some in English) . There is also a restaurant next to which is a seating area which was full of people eating bento lunch boxes! This was a good idea as I was starting to get hungry despite been jet lagged. will remember tip for the next visit... There is also a large closed circuit TV where you could watch the performance if you were late.
Near the doors of the auditorium is a large seating plan so finding your seat is easy. The seats resemble airplane seats in that there is a small LCD screen which displays notes for the performance and both Japanese and English subtitles for the Noh performance .The screen also lets you know when it is the interval (there is also a counter on the Auditorium wall displaying a countdown of the number of minutes left for the interval).There was also a mad rush for the toilets during the interval with long queues.
There is also an exhibition area (which you can access on non-performance days via its own separate entrance).
I will not say too much about the performance I saw-instead of the usual Kyogen there was a Bugaku Performance followed after an interval by a Noh play so it was not a typical performance-but I enjoyed both.
Well, I hope this has been of some use-if you are in Tokyo and fancy an afternoon with a difference I hope you will consider a visit!
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Post by nobunaga on Jul 15, 2017 10:09:02 GMT
According to "the stage" AEA Consulting is/has carried out such a review for the Globe management.. The only dysfunction I can see is that the Globe choose somebody who was a bad fit-only directing one shakespeare play is perhaps not enough and she had never directed at the Globe before.At least the Globe managment realised that Rice's vision would not work in the long term and they moved to resolve it-hardly the action of a dysfunctional managment. Seeing Rice at the Globe I always got the impression that she was fighting against the Theatre and trying to impose her vision on it:which would not work in the long term.In short Rice is a conventional conservative director and the Globe is too radical a Theatre for her-faced directoring without the light/sound toolset she relies on she changed the theatre when a more flexable director might have changed/evolved their vision. I suspect in any case she will be a lot happier in her new role..
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Post by nobunaga on Jun 16, 2017 21:57:21 GMT
Tamburlaine the Great parts one and two uncut by Kit M The Spanish Tragedy, or Hieronimo is Mad Again by Kyd
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Post by nobunaga on Jun 11, 2017 9:31:41 GMT
I usually avoid the lower gallery-I found staring over peoples heads distracting plus groundlings can be noisy :-) I usually go for the middile gallery bay H,as have been said with the last row you have a wooden wall to lean against.I tend to being an thin custion to use in addition to the globe one just for a bit of extra padding.
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Post by nobunaga on May 16, 2017 19:10:15 GMT
Take a look at some of the prices- 35 pounds for a standing ticket for Nitin Sawhney..!
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Post by nobunaga on May 1, 2017 11:13:41 GMT
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Post by nobunaga on Apr 26, 2017 19:43:39 GMT
In some way I can understand why the Globe should think itself diffrent-and I agree with them.The Globe has always had an academic element which most theatres do not and this is in addition to it's education work.How much that Academic element feeds what goes on stage is an intresting question-I got the impression that Rylance was the most influenced and dromgoole less so:others may have a diffent impression.
I found the press coverage fasinating-it seemed to split down fairly political lines with the left wing supporting Rice and the more Right wing supporting the Board.I am curious if future coverage will split down the same lines:intresting times lie ahead.
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Post by nobunaga on Apr 25, 2017 20:09:41 GMT
I have only ever booed once-that was a production of Wagner's parisval at the royal opera which was pure bilge..And then it was only aimed at the director. As to Emma Rice been **needed**-in a way I agree:she should have been given a production to direct where she could try her ideas out-ideally there should be one such production each year.The problem I have with Rice's approach was every production had to have loud lights,loud music-which I really hate so last year was not a pleasant experience..Also remember that the Globe was never a conservative place-only 17 "Orginal practices" type plays have been performed (and 7 of those were either all Female or has a mixed cast so perhaps don't really count as OP.So a grand total of 10 plays in twenty years-thats hardly an excessive amount. So Rice I think is useful-but needed? No. I want to see a mix of plays both modern and OP and that mix is not possible in Rices vision. As to the Globes reputation-well,we will see.I suspect that many visit to experience the theatre-who is artistic director and who is the director of the play is secondary so perfomances will still sell out on the experience of the theatre itself. What will be intresting will be if any other companies will want to perform on stage after Rice has left.. BTW info on OP at the Globe can be found here www.shakespearesglobe.com/uploads/files/2016/06/original_practice.pdf
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Post by nobunaga on Apr 25, 2017 17:15:29 GMT
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Post by nobunaga on Apr 13, 2017 20:23:21 GMT
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Post by nobunaga on Jan 12, 2017 21:11:43 GMT
Was going to book for R & J as have never seen it, Much Ado as intrigued to see what Matthew Dunster will do and T & Y as feel should now actually see an Emma Rice show however the weekend schedule does not work in my favour, was hoping to be able to do two on one day to reduce travel costs but most weekends seem to be double performances of the same show so now not so sure. What have you heard about T & Y nobunaga? Review from the Guardian of a previous production... www.theguardian.com/stage/2013/jun/24/tristan-and-yseult-kneehigh-review
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Post by nobunaga on Jan 9, 2017 18:45:56 GMT
And what are people booking? I have booked to see Tristan & Yseult twice and 12th night three times (its my favorite play)-to avoid last years aggro with the lights they are (mostly) Matinees.. Heard some intresting things about Tristan & Yseult-what do people think?
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Post by nobunaga on Oct 13, 2016 20:19:42 GMT
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Post by nobunaga on Sept 18, 2016 14:03:05 GMT
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Post by nobunaga on Sept 11, 2016 21:58:42 GMT
Dream is getting great response.Of course,this must return in a future season....if not next year.The festival atmosphere amongst huge audiences is a thing of wonder.This is theatre that everyone can love ...rock the ground.
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Post by nobunaga on Sept 11, 2016 14:23:54 GMT
NO-Thats the one thing I definaly don't want to see:in any case the Globe has a rather good sprinkler system.. In any case why would want to see something I am quite fond of destroyed? That would be like "cutting off my nose to spite my face"-just as stupid as a Boycott. What I am keen to do is to try to understand what Rice's (and her management) aims are-what was she trying to do with this sound and light system:dispite various attemps all I (and other people) have heard is silence.
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Post by nobunaga on Sept 10, 2016 14:53:53 GMT
If people don't like what Emma Rice is doing and choose to stay away from the Globe because of it, then fair play, there are things I won't go and see either because life's too short and finances too finite to spend time seeing something that experience has taught me I'm not going to enjoy. But the Globe has never been truly authentic, and to announce a boycott on authenticity grounds, rather than just not liking it right now, reminds me of when I was a child and wanted to stop going to Brownies, so I told my parents some really convoluted excuse about how the Brownie pledge said we were meant to learn about God and I just felt the whole thing was too secular. Boycotts are often counterprodutive-personally as much as I dispise what has been done to the Globe I will still go next year:I usually buy 25 or so tickets a year and would expect to see (subject to being on call ) about 95%.Next year I will go to the matinees (to avoid the lights) and subject to wifely approvial (she gets grumpy if I go to many times) will book 8 ie each play twice.I still want to see the Globe to be sucessful-there will be a time when Rice leaves and I want to see the Globe as sucessful then as now. One point about authenticty-part of the problem is in the name-"shakespeares globe" seems to have a implict assumtion that (say) "Wannamakers Globe" or "London Globe" does not have-so when somebody buys a ticket they may expect to see a play as shakespeare wrote/performed it-which is not always the case. I had a quick look at the Globe Website and there appears in the "about" section no claims to be authentic which given the current light and sound system is probably to avoid been prosecuted unter the trades desciption act :-) One bit of good news-I was in the Globe shop yesterday-the DVD for the pryce merchant of venice,the Edwards Richard II and the measure for Measure are now on sale.
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Post by nobunaga on Aug 7, 2016 12:43:42 GMT
I went to the Globe for the first time yesterday to see The Taming of The Shrew. I was hit by a car five years ago and so standing for a production isn't an option for me. We had front row upper gallery seats which had a great view but I can't remember ever having been in such uncomfortable seating at a play before. Even the Unicorn (where I saw the fantastic Hamilton Complex last week) where it feels like you're sitting on boards isn't that bad. My 6ft 2" 16 yr old son was with me at the Globe and had pretty much lost all circulation by the end of the play. While I enjoyed the play (and that is saying something as my dad was Irish and I am pretty allergic to anything involving Uillean pipes) I would have to really want to see a particular production to book at the Globe again. Is the seating arrangement all about authenticity? And are there any seats at the Globe that aren't quite such hard work to sit in? I normally stand but if I take wifey I have a get a couiple of seats as she will not stand-I normally get seats in the middle gallery (box F or H I think)-the trick is to get seats in the back row as you have the wooden wall to lean your back against.Hire a cushion as well! When I go to the indoor theatre I always bring a thin cushion with me as well..
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Post by nobunaga on Aug 7, 2016 12:30:21 GMT
Some comments on this board have expressed bafflement over why the Globes new production of a midsummer’s night dream has provoked quite a hostile reaction: let me proffer a couple of points to help clarify the situation.
First is what Emma Rice has physically done to the theatre and the implications of those changes- what Rice has done is taken an Elizabethan Theatre and effectively tried to modernise it-thus removing in one stoke its purpose: to produce plays in as authentic an environment as possible( also to be honest the new lights around the upper gallery give the theatre a feel of being in a film set rather than a theatre). I always enjoyed seeing how a director would rise to the challenge of setting a play in the Globe without the use of lights etc. (take a look at Titus Andronicus I loved the use of the black sheets) and some of the plays have been ingenious-but now what particular challenge has been removed which is a shame. By removing the challenges of the Globe stage you end up with plays which are less interesting to watch-the creative tension between the old and the new is removed (or at least reduced). I like seeing directors push the limits of what the Elizabethan stage physically and emotionally can do- but within the physical limits of the Elizabethan stage: once you change those physical boundaries it ceases to be a Elizabethan stage. There is also a potential danger to the Globe-why come to the Globe when you can see the same production in a modern theatre with more comfortable seats? You will be trying to complete with more modern theatres which have better technical facilities than something bolted on ad hoc. The lights themselves I found physically uncomfortable –I saw shrew three times:the first two I had to leave in the interval as the lights gave me a headache and in the third I waited until the interval to enter the theatre to watch the second half. I happen to be Dyslexic so my eyes can be a bit sensitive-but this is the first time in a theatre that this has happened to me.
The sound system is also a bit of a disaster-apart from the odd jet and Chinook helicopters I have never had too much trouble hearing-even when sat in the back of the middle Gallery (normally I stand).The new sound system I found affected the clarity of the lines so it is rather harder to hear rather than clearer.
Second the changes made have at best reduced, at worse, destroyed the unique connection between audience and players- the Globe is now just another theatre with the actors in the light and the audience in the dark: the point of the Globe which was to create the Elizabethan stage and experiment within those limits-in essence not to move forward but to move back and rediscover the maqic of the first proper theatre. Sadly the changes made have destroyed that magic. Now let me make it clear that I am not a “purist” :I liked the mix of traditional and modern plays that have been on previously, ideally they should have a 50-50 split each season so everybody is at least equally unhappy.. I normally have tickets to about 25 shows over the season and will see (depending on on-call rotas etc) about 20-22:I always try so see the non-Shakespeare plays so I don’t think that A) I am closed minded B) A Snob
It is also my sixteen season so I hope that I try to be as broadminded as I can be. To be honest I was so shocked with what Emma Rice had done I left at the interval but in a week or two I will see MSND for a second time: count these as first impressions. I went during the first week of the run.
I have seen Dromgoole’s production and the previous one before that (which was also a modern style) both highly enjoyable-this time however the play felt overladen with spurious gags which broke the flow of the action. Meow-meow is outstanding-the other actors seemed esp. oberon underpowered and at times inaudible. I have no real problems with directors changing texts but some of the changes made no sense to me- I still have no idea what a hoxton hipster is/was/may be. In short-put this play on in small/medium size indoor theatre and it will be blast and call it an adaptation (because that it really what it is) for honesties sake. One final point regarding Emma Rice herself-I don’t blame her for what she has done- she was probably given a brief to shake things up and try to attract a new younger audience and to be fair she has done the first very well-the second remains to be seen..
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