902 posts
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Post by bordeaux on Dec 20, 2022 11:44:31 GMT
I must say I'm most looking forward to the new Complicité show (Drive Your Plow over the Bones of the Dead) and the new Cheek by Jowl (Calderon's Life is a Dream/La Vida es Sueno in Spanish) - a sentence I could have written in anticipation of 1993 too. I admit the last Cheek by Jowl show, Pericles in French, was a disappointment but hopefully that was a one-off. I was looking forward to the Hytner Guys and Dolls too but was underwhelmed by the casting - can anyone fill me with enthusiasm for them?
I'm hoping that with Dominic Cooke's Medea the Soho place continues to establish itself as a venue producing high-quality revivals of great plays from the repertoire - I am hoping to see the As You Like It early in the new year; I haven't seen any Shakespeare since the pandemic. I'd like to see Robert Icke directing something new in London.
I've seen a lot of new writing in the past 18 months, but many of the US plays are intriguing but rarely more than three-star-worthy. The three UK plays I most enjoyed this year were all based on true stories, two US one Russian - I'd like to see playwrights inventing characters again. My dream would be for Jez Butterworth to produce something new. He is the most reliably great writer of his generation, it seems to me.
Plays I've never seen I'd love to see staged: The Persians, The Critic, Danton's Death, Pravda, Serious Money, Seven Guitars. Plays I'd love to see revived in great productions: Titus Andronicus, Cymbeline.
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4,806 posts
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Post by Mark on Dec 20, 2022 11:54:52 GMT
For musicals, Secret Life of Bees and the UK premiere of Next to Normal I'm very excited for. Also looking forward to catching Crazy For You, Ain't too Proud, Mrs Doubtfire and Great British Bake off on their transfers.
For plays, looking forward to seeing The Unfriend and The Pillowman in the West End.
For old favourites, I can't wait for the return of Groundhog Day. Throw in We Will Rock You and La Cage aux Folles its a great year for revivals.
Across the pond, I'm really excited for Once Upon a One More Time, White Girl in Danger, New York New York and Jessica Chastain in A Doll's House.
I'd agree with you a new Jez Butterworth would be exciting. I would really love to see Clyde's and Slave Play come across the pond, both plays I recently missed in New York.
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4,993 posts
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Post by Someone in a tree on Dec 20, 2022 12:34:26 GMT
Opera
Candide - WNO
Rusalka - ROH
Ariadne - ON
Tote Stadt -ENO
Itch - Holland Park
Musicals
Cabaret - Paris
La Cage
Plays
Othello - Hammersmith
Orlando
As you like it
Drive your plough
Wishes
I hope Southwark programme some really interesting musicals again.
ACE backtracks over ENO
Square One is produced - I'm allowed to dream aren't I?
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3,321 posts
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Post by david on Dec 20, 2022 12:38:45 GMT
Currently, more of a dream for the train strikes to end so I can actually book stuff with the confidence of being able to actually get to the theatre!
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2,340 posts
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Post by theglenbucklaird on Dec 20, 2022 12:41:27 GMT
Boys From the Blackstuff - Liverpool Royal Court
Not too many tv programmes become a social commentary of the age. George's Last Ride remains one of the greatest hours of tv ever
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1,127 posts
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Dec 20, 2022 13:11:03 GMT
My hope is that all the action over Hampstead Theatre is effective and they’re not forced to become purely a receiving house.
Also that the new RSC ADs start to programme interesting and high quality plays and not all this gimmicky community stuff.
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Post by cavocado on Dec 20, 2022 14:52:45 GMT
The thing I'm most looking forward to is the RSC's Hamnet, because I love the novel, Lolita Chakrabarti is a good choice of playwright, and I have missed the Swan Theatre. I hope the RSC, Globe and others will remember that Shakespeare wasn't the only Jacobethan playwright. And I agree with samuelwhiskers about the RSC and Hampstead. |
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Post by Jan on Dec 20, 2022 15:31:51 GMT
The Simon Stone Phaedra at NT looks like a potential highlight. Also looking forward to Medea @sohoplace. Hoping that the pre-pandemic plans for Antigone at the Lyric Hammersmith get revived, similarly the Robert Icke Oedipus. It is sad that the mediocre old boy's network that runs the subsidised theatre sector can't find (or don't want to find) a way to accommodate Icke who, despite his faults, is the best director we currently have - let's hope the NT and RSC at least use him as a freelance next year.
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346 posts
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Post by Figaro on Dec 20, 2022 16:16:25 GMT
We Will Rock You and Mrs Doubtfire!
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8,162 posts
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Post by alece10 on Dec 20, 2022 17:33:12 GMT
Several things booked for next year and looking forward to them all but mostly Peter Kay and Crazy For You.
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Post by londonpostie on Dec 20, 2022 17:59:26 GMT
This idea encouraged me to whip out the excel sheet, and to discover I have 23 bookings for 2023, and that's before binging on the Orange Tree.
Really looking forward to the ENB's Swan Lake in early January, even at their lunatic prices. Frantic Assembly's Othello is coming to the Lyric, Hammersmith - the only thing I've seen cast for this is a pool table though I'm optimistic that can change. A mime mini-season at The Barbican has lured me to book the interestingly looking Triptych / Peeping Tom; Belgian-types are putting this on where, it seems, mime is big. Philip Glass's Akhnaten returns to the ENO, as does Dancing at Lughnasa to the NT, as also does both Woolf Works and a very modern Aida to the ROH. The Pillowmen returns up west. All just lovely. For no good reason other than my much admired joie de vivre, I am probably most looking forward to Ballets Jazz Montréal at Sadler's Wells who are bringing Dance Me, a production based on Leonard Cohen's music. I may invest in a beret, tuck the bike chain-side trouser leg in the appropriate sock, and dance 'til the end of love. |
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Post by londonpostie on Dec 20, 2022 18:14:35 GMT
The Simon Stone Phaedra at NT looks like a potential highlight. Also looking forward to Medea @sohoplace. Hoping that the pre-pandemic plans for Antigone at the Lyric Hammersmith get revived, similarly the Robert Icke Oedipus. It is sad that the mediocre old boy's network that runs the subsidised theatre sector can't find (or don't want to find) a way to accommodate Icke who, despite his faults, is the best director we currently have - let's hope the NT and RSC at least use him as a freelance next year.
I thought he had the hump still over Brexit and after a brief sojourn in Germany has been producing in Amsterdam. tbh, that is all quite old info now.
Like you, I hope he will take a gig somewhere soon. Can't waste a talent like that.
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Post by Jan on Dec 20, 2022 18:20:28 GMT
The Simon Stone Phaedra at NT looks like a potential highlight. Also looking forward to Medea @sohoplace. Hoping that the pre-pandemic plans for Antigone at the Lyric Hammersmith get revived, similarly the Robert Icke Oedipus. It is sad that the mediocre old boy's network that runs the subsidised theatre sector can't find (or don't want to find) a way to accommodate Icke who, despite his faults, is the best director we currently have - let's hope the NT and RSC at least use him as a freelance next year.
I thought he had the hump still over Brexit and after a brief sojourn in Germany has been producing in Amsterdam.
Yes, but of course if it's a commercial production he's quite happy to work in UK (the planned Oedipus) and in USA (transfers of Hamlet and Oresteia) so his principles - should that be an issue - seem flexible. I think in reality there are other reasons he hasn't got a subsidised sector berth here. |
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Post by cirque on Dec 20, 2022 18:51:57 GMT
A dream of an RSC that once more thrills……no more awful community theatre and peacemaking ….no more lived experienced essentials for work…simply staging great work.
Restoration of repertoire at RSC and NT
Globe to celebrate the Folio year with groundbreaking work and not be the butt of all humour with their odd casting and even odder education thrust
In short a theatre in U.K. that wants all audiences not just special cases.
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4,029 posts
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Post by Dawnstar on Dec 20, 2022 21:19:19 GMT
Opera Candide - WNO Ariadne - ON I wish I could look forward to these two but the complete lack of matinees for either rules them out for me, as I'm not quite desparate enough to see them to fork out for an overnight stay. As for OHP, I'm afraid the only one of their offerings for next year that really appeals to me is Ruddigore. (I'm still hacked off that after their Eugene Onegin was cancelled in 2020 I ended up still not seeing it this year due to train strikes so I really wish they were repeating that but their revivals are few & far between.) Really looking forward to the ENB's Swan Lake in early January, even at their lunatic prices.
Have you seen the OLT offer for the mid-week dates? I've just snapped up a row B stalls side block ticket for £50 rather than £85, which I'm very pleased about, not having been able to book months in advance because they only announced casting a few days ago. |
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Post by londonpostie on Dec 20, 2022 21:40:17 GMT
Have you seen the OLT offer for the mid-week dates? I've just snapped up a row B stalls side block ticket for £50 rather than £85, which I'm very pleased about, not having been able to book months in advance because they only announced casting a few days ago.
Well done you! I think I'm in the same area though further back (not through OLT though). Quite keen to show support early in the post-Roja era  It has been a long wait for casting. I had wondered if they were waiting to see how injury recoveries were progressing ..
Anyway, not long to go now!
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4,029 posts
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Post by Dawnstar on Dec 20, 2022 22:03:59 GMT
It has been a long wait for casting. I had wondered if they were waiting to see how injury recoveries were progressing ..
Anyway, not long to go now!
Could be. I gather Shiori Kase is off injured, which presumably is why they've done a bit of partnership-rearranging from the autumn & borrowed Iana Salenko. who I'll be seeing as she's partnering Frola & he's my favourite ENB male dancer. No, not long, though I have an ENB Nutcracker to see first. Guess that's off-topic for this thread though as it's on 30th December rather than in 2023! |
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Post by marob on Dec 20, 2022 23:03:05 GMT
I have about a dozen shows booked so far, nothing hugely exciting yet though. A Streetcar Named Desire, My Neighbor Totoro, Newsies, and Crazy for You are on the wish-list, but am hesitant to book anything in London as a trip around new year that I had a half-baked plan for is looking less likely by the day.
Bit O/T but since it’s mentioned above, why do people think the RSC will stop community work? Under Tamara Harvey, Theatr Clwyd does quite a lot of it. I knew they had am-dram groups for various ages, groups working with dementia sufferers, and I believe they stepped in when the council cut school music lessons, but looking at the website they have loads of other groups besides. They’ve also used amateurs in a couple of their productions, most notably a promenade piece through the town centre reenacting the Mold riots of 150 years ago (didn’t see it myself.) So I wouldn’t be writing off the RSC’s community just yet.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Dec 21, 2022 0:41:04 GMT
Oh I have no doubt they’ll continue doing community work, and I have no issue with community work, just not this gimmick of shoving amateur actors into professional productions. The Bush Theatre is a wonderful example of community theatre done well and with proper care. The Young Vic has woven community engagement into some of their professional shows but most of their community work is devised plays with specific groups (they did one with sex workers on the history of the world’s oldest profession,, and one with people from both the Irish Traveller and Romany Traveller communities). That’s so much more enjoyable and effective to both audiences and participants than getting some random am-dram members to deliver a bit of Shakespeare.
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594 posts
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Post by og on Dec 21, 2022 13:01:34 GMT
A functional Government.
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5,189 posts
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Post by Being Alive on Dec 21, 2022 13:08:03 GMT
Provided Regents Park don't try to reinvent the wheel and make them 'edgy' both Once On This Island and La Cage could be highlights of the year - both exceptional matieral, so let the material speak for itself and don't try and make a point....
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Post by dontdreamit on Dec 22, 2022 22:57:38 GMT
Having spent the last 15 months going to various venues to watch the BOOH tour, I’m really looking forward to having it back in town for 6 weeks, and a door to door journey of about 40 mins!
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Post by alessia on Dec 23, 2022 8:22:57 GMT
I must say I'm most looking forward to the new Complicité show (Drive Your Plow over the Bones of the Dead) and the new Cheek by Jowl (Calderon's Life is a Dream/La Vida es Sueno in Spanish) - a sentence I could have written in anticipation of 1993 too. I admit the last Cheek by Jowl show, Pericles in French, was a disappointment but hopefully that was a one-off. I was looking forward to the Hytner Guys and Dolls too but was underwhelmed by the casting - can anyone fill me with enthusiasm for them? I'm hoping that with Dominic Cooke's Medea the Soho place continues to establish itself as a venue producing high-quality revivals of great plays from the repertoire - I am hoping to see the As You Like It early in the new year; I haven't seen any Shakespeare since the pandemic. I'd like to see Robert Icke directing something new in London. I've seen a lot of new writing in the past 18 months, but many of the US plays are intriguing but rarely more than three-star-worthy. The three UK plays I most enjoyed this year were all based on true stories, two US one Russian - I'd like to see playwrights inventing characters again. My dream would be for Jez Butterworth to produce something new. He is the most reliably great writer of his generation, it seems to me. Plays I've never seen I'd love to see staged: The Persians, The Critic, Danton's Death, Pravda, Serious Money, Seven Guitars. Plays I'd love to see revived in great productions: Titus Andronicus, Cymbeline. I have tickets for both the Complicite and Cheek by Jowl shows, the second was recommended to me by a Spanish friend who will come along with me, he said he did it for his A Levels at school and it is a must see play. So really looking forward to this and Drive your Plow... Agree re Jez Butterworth. Considering his latest tv venture got such bad reviews, I really hope he returns to focus on theatre as it seems it works much better for him! I am dreaming of another play as good or at least close to as good as Jerusalem. I also look forward to Dancing at Lughnasa, as I've never seen it staged, nor have I ever seen the film. Lastly, I wish for a more interesting and radical next season at the Royal Court. I have tickets for all their current shows but none of them is really that exciting. |
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Post by Jan on Dec 23, 2022 10:24:46 GMT
Plays I've never seen I'd love to see staged: The Persians, The Critic, Danton's Death, Pravda, Serious Money, Seven Guitars. Plays I'd love to see revived in great productions: Titus Andronicus, Cymbeline. Danton's Death is a real clunker. I saw the Michael Grandage/Toby Stephens production and it was really tedious. It is a "big" play that needs a big stage and I don't think any of our major companies under their current ADs would touch it. I saw McKellen in The Critic - it was only OK - it is 100% a star vehicle and not much of a play (but mercifully short) - my vote would be for Harry Melling to do it but he seems to have abandoned theatre in recent years and I assume the likes of the RSC haven't offered him any leading roles (although they should have done). I'm still waiting for a production of Marlowe's The Massacre at Paris which even the RSC have missed out of their slow-moving Marlowe cycle (30 years and counting). |
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Dec 23, 2022 11:38:03 GMT
NT maybe possibly doing a football play from a very popular playwright who it’s surprising hasn’t had a play on at the NT in a very long time.
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