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Post by popcultureboy on Jan 8, 2017 19:09:38 GMT
I saw it at the Film Festival in November. It has some differences to the play, of course, but I find it's lingered in my brain since seeing it, which is presumably the point.
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Post by popcultureboy on Dec 29, 2016 8:33:23 GMT
Is this likely to transfer does anyone know? Juliet Stevenson is going into Hamlet, so an immediate transfer was never on the cards.
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Post by popcultureboy on Dec 24, 2016 8:17:20 GMT
If a transfer happens, it's clear from the article it won't be immediate. It could take 6-8 months for all their diaries to align again.
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Post by popcultureboy on Dec 8, 2016 23:56:23 GMT
Frankenstein had two consecutive press nights, one for each pairing, and reviews were embargoed until after night two. But that whole run was scheduled, there was no coin toss element to it. Who knows what they'll do for the press performances here.
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Post by popcultureboy on Dec 3, 2016 0:05:46 GMT
I was there tonight too, for the 1st of my 4 trips to see this. I agree with most of the above (though I have seen a line called for before, Tim Piggot-Smith in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf at Bath). It's ironic that the second half is 40 minutes shorter, but feels infinitely longer. Suspect that's where most of the tightening will be. Juliet Stevenson was nearly pushed off stage during a fight with Lia Williams, which made a LOT of people in the audience gasp. Everyone around the two leads is also in pretty strong shape, though I never really care for Rhudi Dharmalingham. His odd leaping about towards the end of the first half just made him look like Rumplestiltskin and for having such a pivotal role, it's an underpowered take on it. But as a first preview for something this ambitious, it was in pretty good shape.
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Post by popcultureboy on Nov 26, 2016 23:57:26 GMT
Is The Tempest 105 or 120mins? What is the running time for Julius Caesar? Julius Caesar - 120 mins Henry IV - 135 mins Tempest - 105 mins
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Post by popcultureboy on Nov 23, 2016 19:54:41 GMT
Quite. I am by no means a fan of the cast recording (a few songs aside) but there is no denying that it's quite a spectacular piece of work, whether you like it or not. Dismissing it as a high school student project is a bit much.
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Post by popcultureboy on Nov 23, 2016 19:46:29 GMT
I think the 2nd break is shorter, actually. Henry IV runs 2 hours 15 minutes. Not the 2 hours as stated in the email.
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Post by popcultureboy on Nov 23, 2016 12:44:29 GMT
And the evening too.
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Post by popcultureboy on Nov 23, 2016 10:56:33 GMT
Having the trilogy in a purpose built space meant they could go full tilt with the prison feel of it all, that's for sure. I went to the trilogy day on Saturday and I felt wrung out by the end of it. Heaven knows how the cast do it.
I was less enamoured of The Tempest though. Whether it was because it was the last one of a long day, whether it was because I was less familiar with the text so the radical paring down of it meant I had no idea what the foo was happening, or whether some of the staging elements directly contradicted the prison setting they've strived so hard to achieve, something about the final offering in the trilogy left me a little meh. It didn't help that my favourite performer from both of the other plays, Clare Dunne, was absent from The Tempest as well.
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Post by popcultureboy on Nov 20, 2016 9:37:52 GMT
God Awful Left after 30 mins this evening Have had more fun taking a sh*t You like so little of what you see and are so unpleasant in your vitriol, it makes your opinion pretty worthless.
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Post by popcultureboy on Oct 30, 2016 8:27:58 GMT
Uh oh. I'm going this week, though mostly for Caflalalala Dunne than anything else. I will see her in anything. She's glorious.
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Post by popcultureboy on Oct 30, 2016 8:24:30 GMT
I saw Weisz in The Shape of Things and Streetcar and thought she was fabulous in both. A friend of mine saw her in Betrayal and basically said the same about her performance as Brantley does here. Maybe if I don't win the lottery when I'm there, I won't cry too hard over missing it.
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Post by popcultureboy on Oct 30, 2016 8:22:37 GMT
All 4 of the actors in the 2005 Broadway revival were nominated for Tony Awards as well (with Bill Irwin emerging triumphant). I suspect that will be repeated for this production in the 2018 Oliviers, even though it will close MONTHS before the nominations.
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Post by popcultureboy on Oct 27, 2016 22:36:37 GMT
5 stars from Libby Purves too. Just a handful of people here who didn't like it in preview, it seems.
I haven't seen it yet. But Msamati is one of our greatest actors, IMHO. Agreed. He's been wonderful in everything I've seen him in, so was taken aback at the negative responses here. Obviously shaping it in previews I think (which is what they are for). Can't wait now. I went to the final preview and, as mentioned in my earlier post, that his outbursts of grief aside, I found his performance VERY one note, completely lacking in any kind of charisma or charm (devious or otherwise). Not surprised by the reviews. More and more lately I find my opinion is very out of step with the critics and I figured that would be the case here.
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Post by popcultureboy on Oct 26, 2016 9:25:58 GMT
So I saw this last night. Missing the Sheen & Suchet revival at the Old Vic years back is one of my big theatre regrets and so I was hopeful this revival would do something to ease my regret. But nope. It was....a disappointing evening. I lay the majority of the blame on Michael Longhurst, whose direction manages to be fussy, elaborate, clumsy, uncertain and intrusive all at the same time.
So, Salieri. Was it an Italian accent? He went super Italian whenever he said the name Mozart or was actually speaking Italian, but the rest of the time, no. His performance was mostly very one note, there was no charm, charisma, slyness, nothing. He got a little grief stricken in two overlong scenes at the end of each act, but other than that, his performance was the same flat line throughout. Unlike Gillen's take on the title character. Here, I can only imagine Longhurst's direction was "imagine you're Su Pollard dressed by Vivienne Westwood". I know he's meant to be childish and annoying, but ONLY to the people ON the stage, not the 1000 or so people sitting looking AT the stage. Tellingly, when he's conducting the orchestra, I really enjoyed watching him, he has a great physicality in those scenes. But every time he opened his mouth, I pretty much wanted to stab myself in the ear. In a surprise to nobody who's seen him in anything before ever, Tom Edden quietly steals every scene he is in.
And then there's the play. Criminally, I am going to say I don't think it has aged well. There are whole chunks of poorly shoehorned in exposition (and those two narrators were both VERY bad at delivering it) at the expense of any depth of character. A few times I thought "I'd rather read a book about Mozart than sit through this". And to give a play which clunks as often as this a staging which, well, clunks quite often, it doesn't make for the most enjoyable of times. The odd opening, with the pointed use of iPhones and half hearted modern touches like Krispy Kremes, and the seemingly endless repeating of "Salieri, Salieri", the bizarre dance versions of Mozart's music, the orchestra constantly milling about the place, wandering off and on, sometimes laying down for no reason at all, it made for a confusing, incoherent evening that was mostly dull.
Undoubtedly, it'll get 5 star raves tomorrow.
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Post by popcultureboy on Oct 25, 2016 8:38:07 GMT
And even then, the re-selling at mental prices only started after Bowie died. The reviews and initial word of mouth were mixed. Still, I love Michael C Hall, so I'm up for seeing this.
And we can all calm down. Row A is still the front row, TodayTix do not have an extra row being built for them, my other guess was the right one.
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Post by popcultureboy on Oct 25, 2016 8:35:16 GMT
Cavernous, I think you mean, and so it has! That's pretty impressive but then this is a VERY Chichester play and production I think. Be interesting to see what happens when this comes into town.
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Post by popcultureboy on Oct 25, 2016 8:21:15 GMT
Wait, the twins are pinned together? I thought they just stood next to each other which gives the illusion of them being conjoined. In the OBC that was the case, but not in the revival (I guess the tradition carries on!). It's probably velcro and not pins, but whatever. Yes, Ripley and Skinner started on opposite sides of the stage, walked into the middle, stood next to each other, held hands, and that was it. The revival they were joined with magnets in their costumes, I think. They pulled apart during "I Will Never Leave You" and then re-joined at the end of the number. The use of safety pins to do that here means that a) it must look cheap and awful and b) they can't re-create that same moment without ripping a lot of fabric.
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Post by popcultureboy on Oct 25, 2016 8:16:15 GMT
I don't QUITE agree that virtually everything else is sold out. The matinee tomorrow looks half empty! It's always a terrible idea to have a midweek matinee so early in the run, but I suppose I thought it's half term, so they should try and capitalise.
I just checked, I have row A tickets, the seating plan on the website still shows row A as the front row. So either they're not bothering to build the row of seats in front of A as it's always going to be via TodayTix, or they decided on the front row lottery after we'd all bought them and swept up what was left for TodayTix.
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Post by popcultureboy on Oct 25, 2016 8:05:02 GMT
Odd review, which bangs on about how terrible the set is, but then sums it up in a way which nails EXACTLY what the play is saying about England and most of the characters Susan meets in the post war scenes "it whirls on, dignified and unconcerned". Nails it for me, anyway. I saw the Cate Blanchett led revival in 1999 and from what I recall of that, it fits in with what I took from it.
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Post by popcultureboy on Oct 25, 2016 7:57:20 GMT
They might be canny and wait for the Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf reviews to drop before they open Follies booking.
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Post by popcultureboy on Oct 25, 2016 7:53:49 GMT
That is understandable, I suppose, as they don't really have any seats to exchange to and if they offered refunds, then they'd be playing to an empty house. In the DMT terms and conditions it states:
"If there is a material change to the content of the performance or the performance is cancelled, You may exchange Your Ticket for an alternative performance up to the value of Your Ticket (subject to availability) or refund Your Ticket and booking fee.".
No mention of understudies NOT constituting a material change, so I would be tempted to argue it out with the box office.
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Post by popcultureboy on Oct 23, 2016 7:44:41 GMT
I think the last big West End appearance of Glass Menagerie was the Jessica Lange, Ed Stoppard, Amanda Hale & Mark Umbers starrer which ran at the Apollo in 2007.
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Post by popcultureboy on Oct 20, 2016 8:26:43 GMT
For it to have ANY luck across the pond, the whole USA section would need re-writing to remove the hideous negative stereotyping Penhall has done.
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Post by popcultureboy on Oct 20, 2016 8:12:47 GMT
Just discovered that Today Tix are doing $20 lottery tickets for this, so will be entering every day and hoping for the best!
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Post by popcultureboy on Oct 17, 2016 22:11:19 GMT
The opening scene: she sees everything. Hence the ending. I found it hugely enjoyable. Extremely stylish, smart, definitely tense (thanks partly to superb sound), great theatre noir. Completely forgot Mark Strong was in it and only realised it was him really quite near the end. Chilly, but highly entertaining. But again, they REALLY labour the point in later scenes about how Hope Davis's character never misses anything, so do we really need an entirely ludicrous opening scene in an optician's office? We do not. Similarly, do we need a ridiculous A Level mime acting exercise of them trying to get through the storm? The play could and should have started with the first scene in the farmhouse living room. Lord knows there is ENOUGH EXPOSITION then thrown at us after that. Stylish, I'll agree with. Superb sound, yes, absolutely. Tense? No. I can't agree. There just is nothing to be tense about. To market this as a thriller and then bang on about how the tense atmosphere means you can't come back if you leave the auditorium is madness. It is, at best, a massively flawed drama about the lives of some not very interesting people. At worst, it's a laughably bad load of tosh, so poorly plotted and characterised that when the ending comes hurtling in OUT OF NOWHERE APPARENTLY, it's only going to cause bafflement or mirth.
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Post by popcultureboy on Oct 16, 2016 21:42:43 GMT
Another night for Forum badges, I was there too. And I really didn't enjoy it. I'm not a Hare dissenter, I am actually a big fan of the Icke and with that cast, how can we possibly go wrong?
Well, let's start with the terrible Marcel Marceau acting during the storm sequence. My heart sank during that moment and it didn't really un-sink for the next 2 hours. You don't even need that scene, since in the following scene, they talk the audience through what happened in the storm. It should have been cut.
Speaking of cuts, they'd be well advised to remove the word "tense" from the signs outside the Lyttleton. The play is anything BUT tense. If you take the signs at face value and go in expecting something Hitchcock-esque, you'll be so very disappointed. It's adapted from a French novel and it sure sounds like the dialogue has been badly translated into English. It's awkward, it's stilted, it's mannered. People don't speak like this, and none of the poor people on the stage made me believe otherwise. And yes, the sets are impressive, but when the lengthy scene changes leave the audience staring at nothing and listening to some pre-recorded dialogue? No. I don't really understand why they did this as a play, when it's been staged and directed as if it's a film.
I was really looking forward to this. But for me, this was a big old dud.
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Post by popcultureboy on Oct 15, 2016 8:06:14 GMT
The Wyndhams? I know March isn't really early 2017, but it's the likeliest candidate, I think. The Menier have transferred 3 shows there in recent years.
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Post by popcultureboy on Oct 15, 2016 7:59:50 GMT
Couldn't they have found a better Albee play to revive? I HATED this when I saw the original production, after it had transferred into town from the Almeida. A large part of my dislike did stem from Kate Fahy's terrible terrible terrible performance. I remember sitting there the whole time thinking "man, I bet Mercedes Ruehl was incredible in this". It's not a play I care to revisit, and certainly NOT at those prices.
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