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Post by oxfordsimon on Sept 22, 2019 22:23:22 GMT
How many Royal Court plays have lives beyond their initial run? Would be interesting to see the percentages
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Post by Jan on Sept 23, 2019 8:13:52 GMT
How many Royal Court plays have lives beyond their initial run? Would be interesting to see the percentages Well there was that production of The Seagull with Kristin Scott Thomas that transferred to New York, that was one of their biggest hits. I wonder when the idea gained currency that the Royal Court should do exclusively new plays ? It was never the case up until about the past decade or so. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 23, 2019 8:37:24 GMT
How many Royal Court plays have lives beyond their initial run? Would be interesting to see the percentages Well there was that production of The Seagull with Kristin Scott Thomas that transferred to New York, that was one of their biggest hits. I wonder when the idea gained currency that the Royal Court should do exclusively new plays ? It was never the case up until about the past decade or so. Jerusalem. Enron. Ferrymen. Hangmen. Posh. The Weir. Shopping and F**king. My Night With Reg. |
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Post by crowblack on Sept 23, 2019 8:47:58 GMT
How many Royal Court plays have lives beyond their initial run? Would be interesting to see the percentages Well there was that production of The Seagull with Kristin Scott Thomas that transferred to New York, that was one of their biggest hits. I wonder when the idea gained currency that the Royal Court should do exclusively new plays ? It was never the case up until about the past decade or so. My favourite, Wish List, has already had several new productions since its debut 3 years ago. Another Bruntwood winner, Yen, went to the US, and My Mum's A Tw*t has just had a new run in Edinburgh. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 23, 2019 10:37:14 GMT
Well there was that production of The Seagull with Kristin Scott Thomas that transferred to New York, that was one of their biggest hits. I wonder when the idea gained currency that the Royal Court should do exclusively new plays ? It was never the case up until about the past decade or so. Jerusalem. Enron. Ferrymen. Hangmen. Posh. The Weir. Shopping and F**king. My Night With Reg. Girls and Boys, Cyprus Avenue, The Children, Rita Sue and Bob Too, Road, Escaped Alone, Enron, Rock and Roll, Faith Healer, Look Back in Anger, Serious Money, Top Girls, We Anchor in Hope, Adler and Gibb, Constellations, Jumpy, The Nether, Let The Right One In, The Pass, That Face, The River, Love and Information, The Rocky Horror Show, The Pride ... But apart from that, what has new writing at the Royal Court ever done for us? (disclaimer - some of the above may not have actually originated at the Royal Court, but most did. And some ended up as films rather than transferring as plays). |
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Post by oxfordsimon on Sept 23, 2019 10:46:51 GMT
I am not saying that the new writing at the Royal Court is in any way a bad strategy for them or anything less than laudable.
I am genuinely interesting to know what percentage of their new writing has a life beyond the initial run. Yes, there are some stand out hits and some that do go on to find a home in the professional and amateur realms - but what is the 'success rate'? (Which does assume that success means entering the repertoire to a certain extent - so that new writing becomes established writing - which may not be everyone's view of what makes a successful new play)
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Post by Deleted on Sept 23, 2019 10:54:30 GMT
My very rough estimate when putting together the above list by going through the last few years of productions is that about 20 to 25% of productions have a future life (that I can remember - there may be more than that of course, and many more probably get done as amateur productions). Then add to that the number of early career playwrights who go on to other stuff after getting a production at the RC and you're probably up to 50%.
Which feels about right given they should be experimenting and taking risks.
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Post by zahidf on Sept 23, 2019 11:00:41 GMT
My very rough estimate when putting together the above list by going through the last few years of productions is that about 20 to 25% of productions have a future life (that I can remember - there may be more than that of course, and many more probably get done as amateur productions). Then add to that the number of early career playwrights who go on to other stuff after getting a production at the RC and you're probably up to 50%. Yeah, that seems reasonable. Id add stuff like Cyrpus avenue being on BBC iplayer is great! |
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Post by Jon on Sept 23, 2019 11:08:16 GMT
My very rough estimate when putting together the above list by going through the last few years of productions is that about 20 to 25% of productions have a future life (that I can remember - there may be more than that of course, and many more probably get done as amateur productions). Then add to that the number of early career playwrights who go on to other stuff after getting a production at the RC and you're probably up to 50%. Which feels about right given they should be experimenting and taking risks. Having a future life should be a bonus rather than the main goal otherwise you’re just setting yourself up for failure and it’s also very restrictive creative wise. |
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Post by Jan on Sept 23, 2019 13:02:47 GMT
Jerusalem. Enron. Ferrymen. Hangmen. Posh. The Weir. Shopping and F**king. My Night With Reg. Girls and Boys, Cyprus Avenue, The Children, Rita Sue and Bob Too, Road, Escaped Alone, Enron, Rock and Roll, Faith Healer, Look Back in Anger, Serious Money, Top Girls, We Anchor in Hope, Adler and Gibb, Constellations, Jumpy, The Nether, Let The Right One In, The Pass, That Face, The River, Love and Information, The Rocky Horror Show, The Pride ... But apart from that, what has new writing at the Royal Court ever done for us? (disclaimer - some of the above may not have actually originated at the Royal Court, but most did. And some ended up as films rather than transferring as plays). Why so defensive ? All I’m asking is when they changed their policy to do exclusively new plays because it never used to be that. Even in their heyday Paul Scofield did Uncle Vanya there. |
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Post by bordeaux on Sept 23, 2019 20:10:03 GMT
My very rough estimate when putting together the above list by going through the last few years of productions is that about 20 to 25% of productions have a future life (that I can remember - there may be more than that of course, and many more probably get done as amateur productions). Then add to that the number of early career playwrights who go on to other stuff after getting a production at the RC and you're probably up to 50%. Which feels about right given they should be experimenting and taking risks. And many of their plays will be performed abroad, of course, in Germany in particular. |
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Post by theatremad on Sept 23, 2019 20:44:50 GMT
Thank you all for your help.
Another quick question, and probably a dumb one but hey ho. I have a theatre voucher, can the box office add this as a credit to the account so I then have it to pay with on thursday over the phone? In readiness for me then using on thursday morning.
I'm thinking probably not but thought I'd ask the theatrical equivalent of Delphi in case.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 23, 2019 21:13:56 GMT
Presume you mean you have theatre tokens? If so you MIGHT be able to phone the box office and buy a National Theatre gift voucher with them, which you could then use to book online. No harm in asking!
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Post by theatremad on Sept 23, 2019 21:16:52 GMT
Presume you mean you have theatre tokens? If so you MIGHT be able to phone the box office and buy a National Theatre gift voucher with them, which you could then use to book online. No harm in asking! Doh, yes meant to say theatre tokens. Sounds like a good plan, thank you! |
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Post by theatremad on Sept 24, 2019 11:22:39 GMT
Presume you mean you have theatre tokens? If so you MIGHT be able to phone the box office and buy a National Theatre gift voucher with them, which you could then use to book online. No harm in asking! Thank you Xanderl that worked absolutely fine, they added it to the existing credit. Doesnt mean Ill get the tickets I want but at least means I've got the credit to do it online |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 24, 2019 11:24:41 GMT
Excellent! Glad it worked out - had no idea if they would do it or not but I guess from their point of view they've locked you in to using the tokens at the National so why not!
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Post by londonpostie on Sept 24, 2019 14:11:33 GMT
I am not saying that the new writing at the Royal Court is in any way a bad strategy for them or anything less than laudable. I am genuinely interesting to know what percentage of their new writing has a life beyond the initial run. Yes, there are some stand out hits and some that do go on to find a home in the professional and amateur realms - but what is the 'success rate'? (Which does assume that success means entering the repertoire to a certain extent - so that new writing becomes established writing - which may not be everyone's view of what makes a successful new play) I suspect the Royal Court would be about as interested in adopting your criteria as I am.
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Post by oxfordsimon on Sept 24, 2019 15:05:13 GMT
Well after that delightful riposte, all I would say was that the vast majority of authors would want to see their plays have a life beyond an initial production. Sure there are some pieces that are very much 'of the moment' but seeing your work performed by different casts, interpreted by different directors, designers, creatives is surely something worth striving for. It does not mean that one-off plays are bad or that success is only measured in purely financial or repeat performance terms.
I raised the issue simply because I had no real sense of how many RC plays did go on to have life beyond the first production.
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Post by Jon on Sept 24, 2019 15:20:44 GMT
Well after that delightful riposte, all I would say was that the vast majority of authors would want to see their plays have a life beyond an initial production. Sure there are some pieces that are very much 'of the moment' but seeing your work performed by different casts, interpreted by different directors, designers, creatives is surely something worth striving for. It does not mean that one-off plays are bad or that success is only measured in purely financial or repeat performance terms. I raised the issue simply because I had no real sense of how many RC plays did go on to have life beyond the first production. I'm sure a playwright would hope a play would have a future life but it's probably just as great to get it performed and commissioned in the first place! |
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Post by NeilVHughes on Sept 26, 2019 7:50:51 GMT
Relatively painless this morning, a low queue number, plenty of cheap seats available, managed to get all four on my preferred dates and seats and all for a similar price as one mid-range ticket for the West End shows which went on sale over the last week.
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Post by cartoonman on Sept 26, 2019 8:01:44 GMT
me too, only about 20 mins in the queue and have got cheap seats for The Visit and The Welkin. The latter reminds me of 12 Angry Men, I saw that as a play some years back and its a really good film as well so I'm keen to see what its like.
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Post by sf on Sept 26, 2019 8:16:31 GMT
That was disturbingly easy. Two browsers open, 1500+ people ahead of me in the queue in Firefox, just 12 people ahead of me in the queue in Edge, got exactly what I wanted for The Visit and The Seven Streams of the River Ota and the whole process took under ten minutes.
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Post by crowblack on Sept 26, 2019 8:18:26 GMT
Oh darn, which booking tier is this for? I'm in a queue now but I didn't think it was for my type of membership till next week.
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Post by sf on Sept 26, 2019 8:36:04 GMT
Oh darn, which booking tier is this for? I'm in a queue now but I didn't think it was for my type of membership till next week.
This morning, priority members.
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Post by crowblack on Sept 26, 2019 8:43:01 GMT
Thanks - when I got through the queue I couldn't book so I must be just 'advanced'! |
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