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Post by Coated on Dec 24, 2019 16:07:01 GMT
Opera and ballet seem to be fond of large beasts, apart from the already mentioned I've also seen 2 horses in Katya Kabanova and a horse and donkey in a Russian Don Q version.
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Post by Coated on May 19, 2019 9:20:21 GMT
But there was a loud breather sitting behind me again... I seem to attract those... 🙈 Now, I'm all for clamping down on mobile phones etc. but when breathing becomes bad behaviour it's going a bit far...….LOL Having once retrained a heavy breather to become a delightfully quiet theatre buddy, I know that their darth vader act can be moderated and there is no excuse for ruining other people's enjoyment with exaggerated breathing exercises.
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Post by Coated on Apr 12, 2019 3:33:01 GMT
if you cancelled article 50, there would be mass rioting on the streets This is often threatened and I think there'd be unrest but not mass rioting. There'll be at least 80 angry blokes in yellow vests and with those weird poundland flags.
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Post by Coated on Jan 29, 2019 0:03:32 GMT
The Leopard bar in the Montague hotel near the British museum can be delightfully chilled and not over run by hoi polloi (thought they let me in, that ought to count against them). More of a cocktail bar, but champagne/cava should be on the menu. We had the bar more or less to ourselves between 4-6pm, probably fills up later and has live music from 7pm. Worth visiting for the safari theme on its own (even extends to bar staff) and pretty nice cocktails. www.montaguehotel.com/food-and-drink/the-leopard-bar
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Post by Coated on Oct 8, 2018 9:56:33 GMT
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Post by Coated on Sept 16, 2018 21:25:18 GMT
I had the seat swap request on a train the overground the other day by someone who didn't want to bother folding up their folding bike (fair enough) and decided they want my aisle seat. There was something about the way she asked (demanded) that made me say no, and oh my - she stared at me for 2 minutes (literally bending down to stare extra hard) whilst breathing heavily and then made sure she shoved me with her bike a couple of times before sitting down in a free seat. Grade A idiot.
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Post by Coated on Jul 21, 2018 23:05:56 GMT
Women who give their partners cutesy nicknames that are basically slightly more whimsical male alternatives to "the wife". If you're not a lifestyle blogger preserving his anonymity, PLEASE just use his name. (And if you *are* a lifestyle blogger preserving his anonymity, then for heaven's sake give him a fake real name, like the Bloggess's husband "Victor".) I read that as livestock bloggers and assumed that animal now have their own GDPR.
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Post by Coated on Apr 12, 2018 0:27:05 GMT
I tried to watch Falstaff from the slips at a Friends rehearsal and it was impossible. You weren't allowed to lean forward at all, so I could see about a quarter of the stage. At an early break, I decided to cut my losses and slip out. I love the upper slips AA or CC for opera at the ROH, and if anyone tries to tell you you can't lean, you can tell them where to go (as long as you don't hang over the edge that is). Anything above seat 21 will give you 3/4 to nearly full (seats 1-4) view of the stage and the sound and price are lovely. obviously some opera directors might choose to stage everything in the left or right most part of the stage so you might still miss out, but that doesn't happen to often.
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Post by Coated on Feb 27, 2018 1:36:32 GMT
Ivo van Hove's Obsession. Hands DOWN. I'm delighted to hear that (though obv not delighted that you had to sit through it) since I plain forgot to go and came across my ticket a few weeks after the date had passed, thinking I might have missed something interesting. My my most embarrassing theatre moment was probably giving the stink eye to a guy who kept creeping past my seat throughout the show to get to the sound booth further down the row. He didn't take that as encouragement to stay either in or out of the booth for the rest of the act. I might have mumbled something slightly rude at some point. Only to to have him pop up to talk to me in the intermission, sweet as pie, apologising for disturbing me but there were issues with the sound levels in parts of the stalls. Of course he was the well-known choreographer of the show and I just managed a strangled 'Ah, ok then' before legging it into the safety of the foyer.
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Post by Coated on Feb 27, 2018 0:57:48 GMT
North London about 30m Tube from West End ditto. Ditto ditto. Though I usually take the bus home...a little longer but nearly door to door. Being spoilt for choice living in London, I don't travel a lot for theatre. I occasionally go to Stratford or Glyndebourne and try to sneak in a play/opera (or three) when visiting a friend in Vienna. For reasons that now escape me I once saw the Blue Man Group in Boston. I might go wild this year and venture to Milton Keynes for the Glyndebourne Tour.
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Post by Coated on Feb 21, 2018 13:33:32 GMT
People would not want to hand coats in if it was mandatory. How could you get 1,500 coats back at larger venues, people have transport to catch, parking booked for only certain amounts. What about parties of older people who may not be able to stand to wait for coats, school parties. If you had any exceptions then I'd just argue it was discrimination if I wasn't allowed an exception. Quasi mandatory cloakrooms (you'll be glared to death by other patrons if you sit down in your fur or nylon crinkley coat, some might actually be mandatory) work just fine in concert halls in Vienna, but then they were build with large foyers and industrial cloak room provisions. Can't see how they could squish something like that into tiny west end theatres.
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Post by Coated on Dec 27, 2017 3:55:43 GMT
And it looks even worse from the cheap seats up in the Gods - unless you enjoy watching characters through beams or mostly/entirely hidden by the roof.
The previous production was old and I was ready to see something new, but didn't expect to get something so devoid of charm and whimsy. One of the worst things for me apart from the problems Tony has already listed was the children's chorus lined up like little soldiers, delivering a static orderly scene.
Didn't think much of the cast when I saw it either, competent, but in no way exciting.
I'll only book another Jones Boheme if the world's most amazing cast is scheduled to appear. Other than that I'll wait until they either start showing something like the Parisian Boheme in space or they revive the Copley version.
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Post by Coated on Dec 18, 2017 20:24:03 GMT
Thanks to the enthusiastic reviews on this thread I am now zipping up to Stratford before Christmas to see this I loved Wolf Hall so much more in the Swan than in London that I decided it's worth blowing a fair chunk of my 2018 theatre budget and potentially getting stuck in Stratford over the holidays if there are any freak snowstorms. And of course losing the feeling in my derrière on a 2 play day.
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Post by Coated on Nov 11, 2017 21:23:12 GMT
They were convicted and rehabilitated. Should they be prevented from having public careers?
I think there is a huge difference between someone who has (hopefully) atoned for their sins and someone who was never held accountable such as Saville.
The BBC might be a bit quick to the mark holding back the Agatha Christie adaptation, but let's be realistic - if they screened it without definitive answers regarding the allegations, they'd be accused of pandering by part of the media. It's a lose/lose situation.
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Post by Coated on Nov 8, 2017 2:34:33 GMT
Last year was 220, mainly ballet and opera. If I kept exact track of money, I'd probably never go out again. I have everything in a google calendar with a coding system for theatres / companies which works pretty well both for figuring out where I'm meant to be, and what I've seen previously.
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Post by Coated on Jul 26, 2017 13:14:19 GMT
Michelle Terry has directed three short films, King John, Richard III and As You Like It for the complete walk project according to the telegraph. That might have been enough to indicate to the hiring panel what kind of director she would be, even if it's not stage directing
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Post by Coated on Jun 1, 2017 8:31:53 GMT
I did leave at the intermission, mainly because the first half used up all my patience. It was way way way way too long and needs some fierce cutting and tightening up.
I'm seeing it again with a friend later in the run, and clearly didn't feel the need to know how the play ends on the day.
There's some rather good acting, a nice stage design (though perhaps that adds to the feeling of repetitiveness through its largely brown colour scheme) and a story that could be extremely topical. What happened with the commons then is happening in the modern job market now. Instead of giving way to sheep and being imported as factory fodder to the cities, people now are making way for automation and end up in service industry jobs if they're lucky.
I'm optimistic and hope that they really cut incisively to remove the bloat. If not, I don't think I'll manage the 2nd half at a later viewing. It's bad enough to sit 1hr 40 min for an entire play, it zaps my will to live if it's just for the first half.
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Post by Coated on Apr 24, 2017 22:13:31 GMT
Ah, Tyra in full flow, always a delightful treat
Still quite detached from this series, feels like there is some ingredient missing
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Post by Coated on Apr 17, 2017 22:23:47 GMT
D'oh. Realised 10 minutes before curtains up that I had a nice ticket for Twelfth Night today. Seeing that I was in my kitchen at that time and about 55 minutes away from the NT, I decided to open a bottle of wine instead...
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Post by Coated on Apr 13, 2017 18:00:10 GMT
It's so they can be seen from the stage as extra enthusiastic? Doesn't explain the guy who was doing it in the dark up in the gods though...
I notice those clappers most frequently in the front row. Someone needs to explain to the the. That clapping in itself is audible and no one enjoys their sweaty armpits.
Other Bad behaviour: rubber necking to see what's happening with a collapsed punter currently being taken care of by doctors / ushers. The woman in front of me last night kept trying to get a glimpse of someone who had fainted and hurt herself. What's wrong with allowing a fellow theatre goer to retain a sliver of dignity?
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Post by Coated on Apr 13, 2017 17:46:57 GMT
Our IT department had all fevked off home by 3pm today for the long weekend and sure enough 5 minutes later we lost our network connection. .... Eventually finding out that one of the plums in the office had stood on the on/off switch for the Hub and switched all the power off. Sometimes I despair of the people I work with. Maybe your IT department actually loves you and was just trying to provide a lovely excuse for everyone to join the 3pm exodus
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Post by Coated on Apr 9, 2017 11:34:47 GMT
Deep breath, Parsley. Parents can reduce anyone to an apologetic child.
First night in ages that I slept really well. I shall ignore the world for today, so off to the cafe to read the Sunday papers and then nip to the park with a schlocky novel. Perfect Sunday,
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Post by Coated on Apr 3, 2017 0:16:39 GMT
My neighbour claims that Benedict Cumberbatch has moved into the house opposite. Either my neighbour has been at the vodka or fame doesn't buy you a nice private mansion anymore....
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Post by Coated on Mar 26, 2017 22:57:18 GMT
There was constant squeaking of leather shoes all through the start of act 3 until I had to get up and ask the usher to stop wiggling his super squeaky shoes during Meistersingers at the ROH. Not another squeak from him afterwards, but still, don't they learn how to sit quietly at usher school?
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Post by Coated on Mar 17, 2017 0:56:18 GMT
Weird, wonderful, packing a huge emotional punch. It's fairly surreal at times, and perhaps not for people who object to not entirely linear storytelling. I thought it was one of the best things I've seen last year, and promptly booked again to drag a friend along in April.
It's not a very typical dance piece and I don't think you need to know anything about dance to enjoy this.
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Post by Coated on Mar 14, 2017 23:48:03 GMT
The last one clearly says Turtle Drawer Underpants, which I'm sure I saw in Stratford back in 1955
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Post by Coated on Feb 18, 2017 22:28:08 GMT
First day without winter coat and I didn't freeze to death. Lovely. I also decided to buy some lottery tickets, so for all I know I could be rich right now.
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Post by Coated on Feb 11, 2017 0:56:27 GMT
I spent the first 10 min of this grumbling since they've raised the stage by half a meter for no good reason and I got to watch performers mostly from the knee / waist upwards from row A. Some niftily placed table and chairs made sure that I didn't see too much of people at the front of the stage either....
Within 15 minutes I had forgotten about those niggles and was engrossed in the play. I thought the narration worked really well and the story unfolded deftly and surprisingly unsentimentally. The play left a lingering melancholy with me, and I'm not sure whether I should read the novel immediately or avoid it in perpetuity.
The 2 hours flew by for me, though I suspect speaking German made it easier to get completely absorbed.
It was definitely worth seeing, and I say that after a 60min cycle ride home through horizontal sleet
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Post by Coated on Feb 7, 2017 22:34:14 GMT
I learned that I lose all navigatory faculties when confronted with the one way labyrinth in the City. A 40 min cycle ride turned into a nearly two hour expedition - both ways. I ended up way to late for a work meeting, and was utterly thrilled when I finally made it back home.
On the plus side, St Paul's was pretty (completely out of my way) and I managed to find the cycle path on Regent's canal on my way down. I also saw a large number of delicious looking street food stalls, which I'm unlikely to ever find back.
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Post by Coated on Feb 7, 2017 0:59:57 GMT
Not bothered by spoilers at all. Would happily read a synopsis of a play before watching it for the first time.
Not so keen on knowing about clever effects or staging choices, it's nice to get the odd surprise.
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