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Post by bordeaux on Jul 26, 2016 12:55:52 GMT
Hampstead theatre, I think too. Actors Touring Company.
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Post by bordeaux on Jul 24, 2016 20:24:59 GMT
Well, this was a pleasant surprise after the large number of negative reviews on here. I thought it and Fiennes were excellent. It made a fascinating contrast to the Spacey version, and on balance I preferred it. For me Spacey was trying too hard to be winning and used some rather cheap tricks to gain easy laughter. Downplaying the comedy here worked very well: Fiennes' Richard was thoroughly vile with no redeeming features. It was almost as if he were comic on occasion despite himself, someone who had no idea someone might find his evil attractive. Very good supporting cast with no weak links. I'm not a fan of Redgrave but she was very good and suitably pathetic in her madness.
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Post by bordeaux on Jul 2, 2016 21:35:10 GMT
Went to this after the praise on the last forum, and can only concur The jokes concerning French language went over my head, but the drama between the two men over Diana is so funny, with a few gasps here and there The two men are absolute doofuses and I can't wait for Diana to get her comeuppance Thanks for the heads-up. I hadn't realised this was touring. I saw a BBC TV version in the mid-70s (with Anthony Andrews, if memory serves) and thought it was hilarious. Have always wondered if it would as funny forty years on.
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Post by bordeaux on Jun 30, 2016 11:05:28 GMT
Probably worth getting the programme to read up on the stuff alluded to, though. Programmes at the Menier Chocolate Factory only ever give c.v.s. They never have any context essays or articles. Thanks; useful to know. Ten minutes on Wikipedia, then. Dada, Lenin, Ulysses, The Importance of Being Earnest. It is a very allusive play - if you get annoyed by jokes others get and you don't (cos you don't get the reference to that Wordsworth line about the French Revolution, say), you might not like it.
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Post by bordeaux on Jun 30, 2016 8:12:12 GMT
Is this one of Tom Stoppard's better plays? Not pretentious tosh he normally does. It depends on what you mean pretentious. I think it is his funniest play. It probably exemplifies his early work better than anything else - the mix of intellectual fireworks and great jokes. It doesn't require much outside knowledge - just that Ulysses is a difficult, modern novel, that Dada was a revolutionary art movement that arose in Switzerland in WW1, who Lenin was and that The Importance of Being Earnest is a play by Oscar Wilde. A lot of it is a clever pastiche of/series of allusions to Wildean epigrams and dialogue, alongside a debate on the role of the artist and of art. It starts with a series of limericks that may irritate or baffle, then a longish monologue before moving onto the dialogue.
Probably worth getting the programme to read up on the stuff alluded to, though.
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851 posts
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Post by bordeaux on Jun 7, 2016 19:53:04 GMT
Forgive me if it has been answered before, but what exactly is different about this Bristol Old Vic version of Peter Pan? Not asking in a skeptical way but purely because of the many versions that have been done before i.e. the RSC's Wendy and Peter Pan. It's a devised show in the usual Sally Cookson way, i.e. they've taken the story and done their own thing with it, though it is fairly close to the one readers may know and has all the big scenes and big moments. It's fairly physical and very funny and has great songs. I remember something with pulleys too - so when they fly you can see the other actors pulling the ropes; it works really well. Lots of people both act and play instruments; several actors play two or three roles. Quite dark at times - I wouldn't take anyone under 6. I thoroughly recommend it, though it's a shame Tristram Sturrock is not coming back as Peter. And like Jane Eyre it has a fabulous human canine performance.
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Post by bordeaux on May 26, 2016 19:26:08 GMT
Incidentally they don't seem to be sending out tickets for this; you have to pick them up at the box office. Which is a pain if, like me, you bought a couple for your sister and partner's 50th birthday present on a different day to the one you're going on. Presumably my sister can just show my card and pick up tickets?
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Post by bordeaux on May 15, 2016 10:12:09 GMT
Saw last night's performance in Bath. The funniest thing I've seen in quite a while; I watched the first half hour with a permanent smile on my face and after that it gets funnier and the laughs bigger. Don't want to give too much away, but it is very clever and brilliantly plotted. But, yes, it's not Pinter - it's more lightweight than that, and it bears similarities with the work of Yasmina Reza. I will be very keen to see The Lie when it is produced.
In an earlier post I mentioned that Zeller had translated or adapted Simon Gray's Otherwise Engaged as Une Heure de Tranquilité. The Truth programme suggests that Jeremy Sams will be translating that back into English some time!
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Post by bordeaux on May 7, 2016 22:22:29 GMT
I imagine the REP is pretty close to doing an Autumn/Winter season announcement, it must be a bit late this year. It usually opens with something good in September, I.e. Alan Bennett's People, Lenny Henry in Rudy's Rare Records and King Charles III. Obviously next years is the NT's Jane Eyre. The Bristol Old Vic's Jane Eyre really, of course!
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Post by bordeaux on May 7, 2016 19:49:20 GMT
I'm not sure these have remained unrevived, but I do hope to see:
Hugh Whitemore's Pack of Lies C. P. Taylor's Good Tom Stoppard's The Real Inspector Hound Peter Shaffer's Black Comedy
Oh, and if bringing back whole productions were possible, I'd be delighted to be able to see Thea Sharrock's After the Dance, and Michael Longhurst's Constellations. I just can't believe I missed them. Michael Grandage revived Good with Charles Dance a few years back - 1999. It didn't seem as good to me as its reputation warranted.
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Post by bordeaux on May 7, 2016 19:45:58 GMT
There was a double bill of Black Comedy/Real Inspector Hound about 15 years ago at the Comedy Theatre. It starred David Tennant and Desmond Barrit Wonderful it was too, directed by the much-maligned Greg Doran, if memory serves.
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Post by bordeaux on May 7, 2016 19:44:47 GMT
Pravda was written by Howard Brenton and David Hare. My hunch is that most of the plays listed above seem not to lend themselves to a fresh directorial approach and so they're unlikely to be revived in today's theatre climate until they are much older and may become discoveries to a new generation. For now, they might be seen as a bit too stale and predictable. Which plays of the last fifty years might interest Robert Icke or Ivo van Hove or Blanche McIntyre? Writers like Martin Crimp, Simon Stephens, Edward Bond and David Harrower seem to appeal to a lot of big European directors. Pinter always, of course.
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Post by bordeaux on May 6, 2016 19:52:37 GMT
A fair number of plays by the greats get revived: most of Pinter, Ayckbourn and Bennett, lots of Stoppard, Friel and Hare, some Churchill, Hampton, Frayn, Shaffer and others, but do other posters have any favourite plays they saw once and would dearly love to get a major revival, or plays they've read about but never seen and would like to? I must admit the ones I'd most like to see are by familiar names: I've never seen Stoppard's Night and Day, Hare's Pravda, Hampton's Savages, Churchill's Serious Money, and would love to see the National or Donmar or Almeida revive them. And I'd be fascinated to see what Albee's Three Tall Women would look like now, without Maggie Smith in it. What about playwrights who were once fêted but seem to have dropped out of the conversation? Would David Edgar's work stand up? What about Howard Brenton's early plays?
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Post by bordeaux on May 2, 2016 19:53:10 GMT
Thank you, bordeaux - interesting news and I've not known a production go to Bath after London before, though the reverse is often the case. Great if a tour followed but I'm sure any such thing would have been well publicised by now. Here's hoping, however... I imagine it's some sort of reward for the Bath Ustinov's having put on the first two productions of his work in the country - The Father and the Mother. The Ustinov is at the back of the Theatre Royal, where the new one will be playing. I'm hoping the Ustinov has a cut of the West End production of The Father, as it's a small theatre which has discovered some great things - European classics and contemporary American plays.
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Post by bordeaux on May 2, 2016 12:36:56 GMT
I see the Menier are doing their usual thing and inviting those interested to register for news of a West End transfer. I didn't book to see this at the MCF because of the ticket prices and would still like to see it, so hope it does get a further run somewhere soon - but as the run ends this week, it's obviously not going anywhere else immediately, if at all. It's in Bath next week - till May 14th.
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851 posts
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Post by bordeaux on May 2, 2016 12:10:43 GMT
Fans of Zeller might be interested to know that his latest work is a translation of Simon Gray's Otherwise Engaged called Une Heure de Tranquilité, though he has replaced Gray's Parsifal with an rare jazz album.
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Post by bordeaux on Apr 24, 2016 19:28:06 GMT
How was Irons' American accent? In a post above, Oleanna mentioned it as being pretty awful and that's certainly my experience with him in an American role. Let's just say his accent was the strongest part of his performance. I don't think it would work in the US for that reason. But a London transfer would -though given there was what sounds like such a good one (Suchet) two or three years ago, it might be a risky prospect - though given the reviews I'd have thought it likely to succeed financially.
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Post by bordeaux on Apr 24, 2016 10:20:59 GMT
Last night of this in Bristol yesterday; it was superb. The whole cast was tremendous (Irons in complete control of his lines, incidentally, one little fluff quickly corrected). It really deserves a further run somewhere. Third time I've seen it (previously Howard Davies at NT in 1991 with Timothy West and Prunella Scales and Young Vic a few years later with Richard Johnson and Penelope Wilton) and whilst I loved those productions, this was the best - and Irons the most convincing lead (in the other shows the Mary has outshone the James). Three young actors to look out for in future too.
Makes one long to see more of Irons on stage. I've been going to the theatre for 28 years and never seen him - can't help but wish we'd had his Vanya or Solness etc. I'd love to see him as Lear or John Gabriel Borkman - a shame Eyre has directed them both as they're obviously a great combination.
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851 posts
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Post by bordeaux on Apr 22, 2016 20:06:17 GMT
Still a handful of seats for many performances (mainly front row, surprisingly cheap). Just bagged one this morning.
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Post by bordeaux on Apr 21, 2016 12:45:38 GMT
It's been done many times before. Maybe, but can you think of any successful examples? As I recall in the old RSC London days, some Swan shows would transfer to the Pit or a different theatre such as the Mermaid. Terry Hands' production of The Seagull with SRB as Konstantin. 1991, though....
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Post by bordeaux on Apr 20, 2016 19:13:22 GMT
Sounds fantastic. It'll have to transfer with reviews like this, won't it? I'm desperate for the Royal Court's Cyprus Avenue to transfer too.
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Post by bordeaux on Mar 17, 2016 19:57:38 GMT
I've never seen a Pirandello play that convinced me he was a great writer. I live in hope. I am sure the fault lies with me (or the productions I've seen) and that one day there will be one that comes along and shows me he is as good as Brecht or Beckett or Pinter. I've seen Mountain Giants and something else at the National, Henry IV a couple of times, Naked with Binoche at the Almeida and Six Characters at the Young Vic. All came across as intriguing ideas for plays but none of the productions hit home. I'd like to see Simon McBurney have a go - what he did with The Caucasian Chalk Circle and Dürrenmatt's The Visit was amazing.
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Post by bordeaux on Mar 7, 2016 18:56:26 GMT
My advice would be to listen to the piece (or highlights if you don't have time for the whole thing) a few times before you go. It really does make a difference to your enjoyment; either buy or borrow them from the library. Or presumably they're free on Spotify.
Someone suggested you live in Gloucester. In which case look out for English Touring Opera visiting Cheltenham in April. I'd recommend Don Giovanni by Mozart as a great introduction to opera - some great tunes and an unimprovable mixture of comedy and darkness. Their production of Gluck's Iphigenie en Tauride has just had some great reviews too if Greek stuff appeals - probably not many jokes in that one, though.
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Post by bordeaux on Mar 7, 2016 18:44:46 GMT
Very exciting news. Not often a major opera puts on two operas I've never heard of in the space of one year. Puts some other companies to shame. I could have done without Kiss Me Kate perhaps - for which I would have substituted Walton's Troilus and Cressida to make it three rarities in a year - but it's a great show in the right hands.
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Post by bordeaux on Feb 25, 2016 21:19:27 GMT
Am I correct in thinking that The Tempest is a family show with no reductions for children? Can't see how to get any when I try to book o the website.
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Post by bordeaux on Feb 16, 2016 18:01:54 GMT
If the revivals of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead and 'Art' go ahead too at the Old Vic this year, it would an impressive year for the theatre. I've not heard about them. I'd have thought every actor one wanted to see in it had already been in Art - I'd be amazed if they could get a cast to sell out the Old Vic with it (I enjoyed it very much with Finney, Courtney and Stott). As for R and G, it's had a recent Nunn production in the West End and I got the impression that it didn't do too well. Does it need another revival; it's the sort of thing that would need top-name casting to succeed, i.e. an ex-Potter actor or two...
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Post by bordeaux on Feb 12, 2016 21:58:36 GMT
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Post by bordeaux on Feb 3, 2016 19:57:33 GMT
Some good things here, a great improvement, as others have said, on this year. The Peter Pan is wonderful, incidentally - though Sally Cookson's 101 Dalmatians is even better. Good to hear young writers being pushed. Excited about Ivo van Hove and Antony and Cleopatra with Ralph - and I wonder who as Cleopatra - and the Chekhovs. Yes Angels in America is great. The only oddity in my view is Amadeus which is relatively undemanding fare...he said, trying to stir up some controversy.
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