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Post by bordeaux on Mar 14, 2024 12:59:20 GMT
It feels a bit like a very nice school theatre, to be frank, but it seems to be going from strength to strength. I saw The White Factory there last autumn, a contemporary Russian play about the Lodz ghetto, which was a very powerful evening.
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Post by bordeaux on Mar 13, 2024 14:13:28 GMT
NT have sent a link. Stage seats look good but apart from that prices seem very high indeed. There are 30 rows of seats in stalls and circle, only 5 of which have seats at less than £60.00 (including booking fee). And theatre people constantly tell us they want to widen access....
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Post by bordeaux on Mar 10, 2024 10:09:11 GMT
Lovely to see raves in the Guardian and Telegraph for Death in Venice. The company needs a hit.
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Post by bordeaux on Mar 9, 2024 12:36:07 GMT
I saw Red Island last weekend, French film about a boy growing up on a military base in Madagascar in the early 70s. I enjoyed it but I felt it was a classic case of where a five-star review (Peter Bradshaw in the Guardian) gives you such high expectations that mere goodness or even excellence feels slightly disappointing. Off to see Perfect Days tonight - it's been decades since I saw anything by Wim Wenders.
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Post by bordeaux on Mar 9, 2024 8:40:08 GMT
Fascinating to read these contrasting views, as with the Player Kings. I've got a Vanya-Falstaff day booked in a couple of weeks and am looking forward to making up my own mind!
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Post by bordeaux on Mar 8, 2024 13:43:24 GMT
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Post by bordeaux on Mar 7, 2024 13:36:06 GMT
I don't think anyone is suggesting bringing food to eat during the performance. This is food to eat during the interval, surely? It doesn't seem unreasonable to me, if you don't have time to eat before a 7.30 performance and you don't want to eat after a 10.30 finish, to bring a sandwich in to eat in the interval, to avoid paying for the over-priced stuff some theatres sell.
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Post by bordeaux on Mar 7, 2024 12:25:21 GMT
Four from the FT and Telegraph, three from the Evening Standard, Time Out and Whatsonstage.
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Post by bordeaux on Mar 7, 2024 6:56:06 GMT
The usual three stars from the Arifa Akbar in the Guardian - and reading the review, that sounds generous, as if she wanted to like the play more than she did because of who Bevan was.
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Post by bordeaux on Mar 3, 2024 21:58:18 GMT
You've been made artistic director of the Donmar and you're planning your first season. What's it going to be? Something new, something old, a modern classic, a rarity, the first major revival of a recent play? Timothy Sheader will be announcing his first season soon. What would yours be?
I'd copy Mendes and start with Sondheim's Here We Are, which would cover the new writing base and the musical one. And the Donmar is a great place for Sondheim musicals. For my modern classic/first revival I'd go for Intimate Apparel or Ruined by Lynn Nottage as I'd like to see some of her pre-Sweat work and didn't see these when they were originally on. For my rarity I'd like to see Arthur Schnitzler's Undiscovered Country, in Tom Stoppard's translation, which may need updating as, for reasons I don't fully understand, translations date more quickly than the original writing. I love Schnitzler's work and, from reading about it, Stoppard turned it into something witty and wise. For my more well-known classic I'd like to see Titus Andronicus in that intimate space. The only time I've seen it was Deborah Warner's superb production in the Pit with Brian Cox in the late 80s.
Over to you....
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Post by bordeaux on Feb 27, 2024 10:13:31 GMT
There is going to be a History Boys at Bath Theatre Royal, late August, directed by Sean Linnen. Sorry, I now see someone has already mentioned that!
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Post by bordeaux on Feb 27, 2024 8:19:45 GMT
In the printed version of Stoppard's Leopoldstadt the word is used - some joke about marrying a Hottentot - but in the version on stage the word was replaced by Eskimo - softer, old-fashioned, but less likely to make an audience uncomfortable. I think that jokes whose butt is black people, even in the mouths of those who might have made them in the past, do make audiences feel uncomfortable.
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Post by bordeaux on Feb 26, 2024 21:04:53 GMT
Some interesting things planned for here. In the tiny Ustinov Richard Jones will be directing Pinter's The Birthday Party following his success with Machinal. That takes up the whole of August. Deborah Warner will be directing Ian Bostridge in Schubert's Die Winterreise with dates in June and September. Countertenor Iestyn Davies will be performing with a lute-player for a couple of nights in September.
A revival of Emlyn Williams' Accolade coming over from the Theatre Royal, Windsor, may hit the spot for those of us interested in early 20th century rarities. Set in a very different world to that of The Corn is Green, it focuses on a successful writer as he is about to be awarded a major prize, the blurb says. It's directed by Sean Mathias. Tom Littler's production of Coward's Suite in Three Keys will be coming over from The Orange Tree.
Rather exciting in my view - and I think there'll be more in the Deborah Warner season.
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Post by bordeaux on Feb 20, 2024 18:33:06 GMT
Ha ha. Telegraph and Guardian in permanent counter idealogical orbits. Makes sense; both readerships only want to be entertained by versions of their blinkered world. Except that last week they both gave King Lear four stars, they both gave the Picture of Dorian Gray five stars, Dear Octopus four stars. Sometimes their critics agree, sometimes they don't. It usually has nothing to do with what you call ideology, simply on how the critic assesses the quality of the play.
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Post by bordeaux on Feb 18, 2024 19:31:08 GMT
It's not Susannah though. It's Kate Kellaway, and this is highly predictable from her. I don't think there's a world where Susannah would rate this anything below a 3. You're right; my mistake.
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Post by bordeaux on Feb 18, 2024 12:03:59 GMT
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Post by bordeaux on Feb 16, 2024 12:50:04 GMT
Their last Peter Grimes was directed by the great Peter Stein in 1999. He also did a magnificent Falstaff and Pelléas and Mélisande with them in the 90s. Great days!
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Post by bordeaux on Feb 16, 2024 12:43:31 GMT
Easy booking for me half an hour ago. Went for £75.00, more than I'd usually pay, but it sounds so original and brilliant. And the main thing I regret missing in the past two or three years is another one-woman show, Jodie Comer, so I don't want to miss another one.
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Post by bordeaux on Feb 15, 2024 18:57:11 GMT
Lovely photos. Made me feel lucky to have been around watching these great actors over the years. It seems like a long time since SRB was on the stage. Would be nice to hear news of his return. Meanwhile fans of his and Rylance's may enjoy The Outfit on Netflix - US crime thing with a twisty plot and both of them in.
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Post by bordeaux on Feb 14, 2024 15:23:42 GMT
This is as fabulous as everyone says it is. Very funny, real, full of believable characters and situations, moving too and with the politics under the surface rather than dominating. More important than a transfer, it should tour - it would be great to see how it was received in areas around where it is set.
Enjoyed the 6.30 start - out by 9.00 and back in Bristol by 11.03 rather than the usual 1.30 a.m. I'd like to see that as a regular option.
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Post by bordeaux on Feb 14, 2024 12:24:32 GMT
wno.org.uk/news/our-2024-2025-season#:~:text=Featuring%20new%20faces%2C%20old%20favourites,self%2Dproclaimed%20favourite%2C%20Rigoletto. This looks like quite a scaled-back programme. There is a new production of Rigoletto in the autumn directed by Adele Thomas. There is also Il Trittico but it is only a concert performance. Plus there's an Opera Favourites concert. In the Spring there is a revival of The Marriage of Figaro and a new production of Peter Grimes, though it doesn't seem to have a director yet. There used to be a separate summer season of two operas which tended just to be in Wales and Birmingham but there isn't this year. All a bit underwhelming in my view. Money the issue no doubt.
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Post by bordeaux on Feb 14, 2024 10:29:14 GMT
ITA website says opening night for Miss Julie is Sunday 25th February. I'd be amazed if she wasn't there now. First public performance is an open dress rehearsal on 21st then what they call try-outs. Any theatre fan wanting to go to Amsterdam should know that every Thursday in the main run of the show they do performances with English surtitles.
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Post by bordeaux on Feb 14, 2024 10:17:53 GMT
This is from the ITA website - gives more information in English about the original production of The Years and has a one-minute video which will give you a good idea of what it looks and feels like. ita.nl/en/shows/de-jaren/3505599/
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Post by bordeaux on Feb 13, 2024 13:15:51 GMT
The sheer dullness of the choice of revivals leads me to suspect they must be intending to do something else with them? I’d be interested to learn what they do with the self-pitying misogynist nastiness of Jimmy Porter. Learn as in read about rather than go and see.
When you think of all the wonders of works drama there are, why would you go for these? I’m sure both these playwrights too have other plays more worthy of revival.
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Post by bordeaux on Feb 12, 2024 13:23:35 GMT
Not sure why he's doing an 'old man shouts at cloud' about it They are available for people who want them. Some themes are traumatic for people, nothing wrong with some consideration Hope no one asks him about intimacy co-ordinators next But they're not clouds. They are there as a result of decisions made by organisations. How many people who might be traumatised by violence on stage are going to see Macbeth or King Lear unaware of what it involves? Can't people who have had traumatic experiences be expected to know what they are going to see at the theatre? Can't the rest of us be left to discover what the play involves (murder, incest, suicide, blinding) as it happens rather than as we enter the theatre?
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Post by bordeaux on Feb 12, 2024 8:37:23 GMT
Anyone else has seen it? Torn between this and the Almeida's King Lear. There will be another King Lear along very soon no doubt...
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Post by bordeaux on Feb 10, 2024 10:08:35 GMT
Stoppard's plays always seem to be a triumph of the playwright showing off some semi-intellectual arguments of his own rather than writing real and believable characters. That's particularly true here. Despite some excellent performances, I couldn't say I particularly cared for any of them. They never have voices of their own; only Stoppard's. Those operating under threat of internment or worse appear remarkably unfazed in their white, seemingly middle-class environs. Whether musical agitprop was as important as implied -- it's elevated, albeit perhaps metaphorically, to the title -- I don't know, but the evidence here remains unconvincing. Two stars. Act 1: 14:32-15:46 Act 2: 16:08-17:11 (Saturday 13 January) I'm not sure what their being white has to do with anything. They're in Czechoslovakia in 1968 - what else would you expect them to be? Their remarkable unfazedness could of course be their resignation - they've been living in a dictatorship for over 20 years - or their extraordinary courage. Your point about the Stoppard voice often comes up and is often true - even the African dictator in 1978's Night and Day makes witty, Stoppardian jokes: 'I believe in a relatively free press. Do you know what I mean by a relatively free press.... it's a free press run by one of my relatives.' And why 'semi-intellectual'? People often use the phrase 'pseudo-intellectual' but it's never clear to me whether they mean that the person they are criticising isn't really intellectual or whether all intellectual debate is pseudy. Stoppard's characters are sometimes intellectuals and do deal in intellectual ideas. What is wrong with that? At his best Stoppard has created enormously appealing characters and situations where the play of ideas and wit complements perfectly the human drama: Arcadia is the greatest example of that but I think that The Real Thing, Leopoldstadt, Professional Foul, Shakespeare in Love are also wonderful. Travesties and Jumpers are brilliant but certainly they are more plays of ideas than character pieces. But that is fine for me, if the ideas are interesting and the jokes funny and thought-provoking. For me there was a lot to enjoy in Rock 'n' Roll (I haven't seen this revival), but it isn't up there with his best.
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Post by bordeaux on Feb 8, 2024 12:17:36 GMT
I was going to say, didn't the Donmar do this quite recently, but I see it was 2001... I've enjoyed some of Lillian Hellman's plays but nothing she wrote is as good as Mary McCarthy's put down of her: "Everything she wrote was a lie, including 'and' and 'the'".
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Post by bordeaux on Feb 1, 2024 23:52:11 GMT
The idea that Richard III is a study in realism and psychological truth is just misunderstanding the play. It is not a representation of Elizabethan attitudes towards disability. It is a piece of populist propaganda. I don't understand what the cry for authenticity in casting leads anyone to think that this character can only be played by someone with any physical disability. True authenticity would suggest only actors with an serious but not massively impairing form of scoliosis may apply. There are some productions that will wish to place a focus on disability and others that won't. Both are legitimate routes to take. But we cannot start accepting casting limits being imposed by vocal lobby groups. Propaganda for what, though? If it's for the Tudors then it isn't very successful. Richard III is one of the most compelling characters in stage history. I've seen Anton Lesser, Ian McKellen, Ciaran Hinds, Kevin Spacey, Ralph Fiennes and the Propeller and Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory versions and I can remember something about each Richard. But Henry VII - I can't even remember any of their faces. Henry VII belongs to the boring characters who are left on the stage at the end when the exciting characters are dead. That's not propaganda - Shakespeare is showing us that we are rather thrilled by dangerous unpredictable leaders, that our feelings are more complicated than simply wanting good governance. Read Emma Smith's brilliant essay on the play in her book on Shakespeare.
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Post by bordeaux on Feb 1, 2024 23:42:47 GMT
Lots of seats still available. I've just bought two for Feb 13th. Loads more there for £45.00.
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