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Post by cavocado on May 11, 2023 15:36:43 GMT
Interesting new season at the Orange Tree orangetreetheatre.co.uk/whats-onThat Face starring Niamh Cusack; She Stoops to Conquer; Red Speedo by Lucas Hnath; Uncle Vanya directed by Trevor Nunn; Northanger Abbey by Zoe Cooper; Meetings by Mustapha Matura...and more. It's a bit of a trek for me, but worth going for some of these. |
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Post by Jan on May 11, 2023 15:42:44 GMT
Plus 3x Noel Coward plays. Looks like a season which will appeal to the OT core audience.
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Post by cavocado on May 11, 2023 15:52:03 GMT
Plus 3x Noel Coward plays. Looks like a season which will appeal to the OT core audience. Maybe one or two struggling theatres could learn from that: know your core audience and throw them a few treats once in a while. |
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Post by alessia on May 11, 2023 15:58:44 GMT
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Post by cavocado on May 11, 2023 16:14:08 GMT
Zoe Cooper had a play cancelled during rehearsals at Chichester a couple of years ago and never mentioned again, so I hope the omens are better for this one. I'm most looking forward to She Stoops to Conquer 'relocated to a 1930s country house world of Jeeves and Wooster'. |
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Post by Jan on May 11, 2023 16:36:03 GMT
Zoe Cooper had a play cancelled during rehearsals at Chichester a couple of years ago and never mentioned again, so I hope the omens are better for this one. I'm most looking forward to She Stoops to Conquer 'relocated to a 1930s country house world of Jeeves and Wooster'. Tom Littler directed "She Stoops" at Guildford in 2021 in a 1930's setting so I assume this production is really a revival of that. |
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Post by showgirl on May 11, 2023 17:55:00 GMT
Certainly looking like the OT of old under Sam Walters' sound stewardship.
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Post by Dawnstar on May 11, 2023 19:14:05 GMT
I'm most looking forward to She Stoops to Conquer 'relocated to a 1930s country house world of Jeeves and Wooster'. That sounds a bit like the production of The Kissing Dance (musical adaptation of She Stoops To Conquer) at Jermyn Street in 2011, which IIRC had 1920s costuming. I really enjoyed that. |
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Post by londonpostie on May 11, 2023 21:16:08 GMT
Loving this.
Trains from Waterloo (Misery Line) or Vauxhall (Victoria) always best, I find (rather than the temptation of tube/overground); regular and 15-20 mins. tops.
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Post by bordeaux on May 12, 2023 5:56:05 GMT
Extremely interesting. Trevor Nunn directing Uncle Vanya next spring! Wonder who he'll get.
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Post by Jan on May 12, 2023 6:37:21 GMT
Extremely interesting. Trevor Nunn directing Uncle Vanya next spring! Wonder who he'll get. Almost impossible to guess - David Threlfall ? One benefit of Tom Littler moving to the OT is that he can programme plays with larger casts - I know he wanted to stage Three Sisters at Jermyn Street but the economics of that were difficult given the cast size. |
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Post by Jan on May 12, 2023 17:06:13 GMT
Interesting they are doing the Noel Coward "Suite in Three Keys" plays which will include one full length play in one performance and two one-act plays in another. There are lots of interesting one-act/short plays by all sorts of authors that never get produced these days, even quite famous ones like The Critic.
I've seen one of the Coward one-acters but only in an amateur production.
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Post by clarefh on May 13, 2023 8:45:11 GMT
This is nearly local theatre so very pleased with this new season!
I also studied She Stoops to Conquer at GCSE many moons ago. Have to say wasn’t particularly a play that grabbed the attention of a load of 15 year olds …
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Post by Jan on May 13, 2023 9:19:28 GMT
I also studied She Stoops to Conquer at GCSE many moons ago. Have to say wasn’t particularly a play that grabbed the attention of a load of 15 year olds … It needs a good cast and a good director. There was an NT production in the 1980s with Tom Baker and Dora Bryan that was very funny, the more recent Jamie Lloyd NT version less so. |
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Post by foxa on May 13, 2023 13:16:45 GMT
Quite a few plays I would like to see in that mix - and interesting that they are keeping On Demand going as well.
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Post by Jan on May 17, 2023 16:21:32 GMT
For those interested Bronze Membership (£48) enables you to book the 2024 season including Trevor Nunn "Uncle Vanya" (Mar-Apr) and Tom Littler directed Noel Coward plays (May-July) already with assorted member's discounts. I think public booking for those doesn't open till October. There is currently good availability.
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Post by mrbluesky on May 17, 2023 20:47:14 GMT
Have just caught up on the announcement of the new season - looks like a lot of my money will be going to the Orange Tree!
Really pleased to see That Face being revived since I've read the script about 100 times, and loved A Doll's House Part 2, so hoping Red Speedo will also be a good one!
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Post by Dave B on May 18, 2023 7:27:34 GMT
Booked the entire lot with my new membership. The site had suggested that the 2024 season wasn't going on sale until October, even for members and I had noted that date down in my calendar to book but when they appeared, happily snaffled the lot.
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Post by londonpostie on May 19, 2023 7:56:22 GMT
Took the trip down last night for this (60-mins door-to-door from halfway up the Northern Line).
The programme quoted Billington from a previous production: "A waspish portrait of upper-class manners". Makes it sound dated (it is; 102 years) though, in its own terms, a thoroughly entertaining, crafted piece, presented to its best advantage by an excellent cast.
As above, great fun, time flew. One of the key's with Tom Littler seems to be how he finds the very right casting, and that feeling didn't diminish after last night. Btw, he was there at the end, at the top of the stairs, shiny and effectively the host ensuring everyone had a pleasant evening. Only 180 seats here.
For anyone travelling, we were out the door by 9.45 and at Waterloo by 10.15.
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Post by Jan on May 19, 2023 10:02:36 GMT
Btw, he was there at the end, at the top of the stairs, shiny and effectively the host ensuring everyone had a pleasant evening. Only 180 seats here. It was the same at Jermyn Street, he was always very visible and approachable and frequently in the audience, I’ve spoken to him several times. It is unusual - for example I’ve never seen Rupert Goold once all the times I’ve been to the Almeida. |
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Post by alicechallice on May 19, 2023 11:23:23 GMT
I met him once at Jermyn Street because a friend I was with had gone to Uni with him, thoroughly nice chap.
We were talking about another production we'd seen of a musical that could be difficult to achieve the right tone for performance and he said something like "ah, well with that, you need to make sure you direct the sh*t out of it!!". Which makes me think he's the right man for the job in grappling with a text that might be a bit too unfocused or pedestrian in the wrong hands.
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Post by Jan on May 20, 2023 11:53:50 GMT
I met him once at Jermyn Street because a friend I was with had gone to Uni with him, thoroughly nice chap. We were talking about another production we'd seen of a musical that could be difficult to achieve the right tone for performance and he said something like "ah, well with that, you need to make sure you direct the sh*t out of it!!". Which makes me think he's the right man for the job in grappling with a text that might be a bit too unfocused or pedestrian in the wrong hands. Billington always used to moan that Trevor Nunn was an editor in addition to a director because of the work he did to clarify the text which often involved extensive cuts and self-penned additions and added bits of staging to clarify and fill in obscure elements. Personally I’m all for it. I think Tom Littler’s first job in theatre was with Nunn. |
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Post by londonpostie on May 23, 2023 14:32:17 GMT
Public booking now open for Autumn 2023 (into January). I'm in for a couple (expensive week) though will keep tabs on others. Isley Lynn seems an interesting writer to watch (new work debut's here: The Swell): orangetreetheatre.co.uk/whats-on |
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Post by cavocado on May 23, 2023 18:46:35 GMT
I succumbed to bronze membership yesterday and booked 4 things, but it wouldn't let me book Uncle Vanya until October. Must have been a glitch in the booking system for those of you who got to book it.
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Post by foxa on May 23, 2023 19:53:02 GMT
I booked for That Face and She Stoops to Conquer - like londonpostie, I'll keep an eye on a couple of others which look possibly interesting. |
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