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Post by Jan on Nov 2, 2017 16:17:15 GMT
Were there full houses for the Roman plays in Stratford ? I received lots of cheap offers for them. I’m assuming they won’t have sold well at the Barbican so I can pick up cheap tickets. It seems like a bit of a chore to see them based on lacklustre reviews but Coriolanus and Titus are produced infrequently enough to make it worthwhile.
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Post by martin1965 on Nov 2, 2017 18:18:31 GMT
Were there full houses for the Roman plays in Stratford ? I received lots of cheap offers for them. I’m assuming they won’t have sold well at the Barbican so I can pick up cheap tickets. It seems like a bit of a chore to see them based on lacklustre reviews but Coriolanus and Titus are produced infrequently enough to make it worthwhile. Titus was good Professor, might raise you from your slumber☺ |
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Post by Jan on Nov 2, 2017 20:19:49 GMT
Were there full houses for the Roman plays in Stratford ? I received lots of cheap offers for them. I’m assuming they won’t have sold well at the Barbican so I can pick up cheap tickets. It seems like a bit of a chore to see them based on lacklustre reviews but Coriolanus and Titus are produced infrequently enough to make it worthwhile. Titus was good Professor, might raise you from your slumber☺ Did you see the Deborah Warner/Brian Cox one ? Hasn’t been surpassed since. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 2, 2017 21:13:22 GMT
TodayTix are doing £10 daily rush tickets for this. (or free if you use one of the many codes such as SEZCE in the todaytix thread)
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Post by bee on Nov 2, 2017 21:39:49 GMT
Were there full houses for the Roman plays in Stratford ? I received lots of cheap offers for them. I’m assuming they won’t have sold well at the Barbican so I can pick up cheap tickets. It seems like a bit of a chore to see them based on lacklustre reviews but Coriolanus and Titus are produced infrequently enough to make it worthwhile. I saw Titus and Coriolanus, both on Saturdays evenings, and would say they were both about three-quarters full. |
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Post by martin1965 on Nov 2, 2017 21:43:27 GMT
Titus was good Professor, might raise you from your slumber☺ Did you see the Deborah Warner/Brian Cox one ? Hasn’t been surpassed since. I did in the Barbican Pit, wont surprise you to know i liked Sher at the NT in the mid 90s. Ninagawa's production at the RSC ten years was v good as well. |
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Post by Jan on Nov 10, 2017 16:36:19 GMT
This isn’t selling that well. If you go to the box office on the day they sell the best seats they have left as £10 day tickets, a saving of £47.50 per ticket.
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Post by Jan on Nov 10, 2017 22:45:55 GMT
This is quite dull I’m afraid. Unimaginative bland direction and a mis-cast lead. Nice to see Paul Jesson still in good form though.
There is a hint of a good idea in this production - Sope Dirisu played Cassius Clay/Muhammad Ali in "One Night in Miami" at the Donmar last year and it is exactly right to draw parallels between that character and Coriolanus. Unfortunately the director here (Angus Jackson) has chosen (or been told) to stage an entirely conservative conventional production which ignores that entirely - you could imagine a radical "high concept" production which would use that as its starting point and make the parallels explicit. I assume that's why they cast Dirisu initially - he has little stage experience and Coriolanus is a difficult part in which only a few high-profile actors have really succeeded (McKellen, Alan Howard, Greg Hicks etc.).
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Post by Deleted on Nov 18, 2017 14:13:28 GMT
Today’s matinee ground to a halt 20 minutes in due to a set malfunction. Currently hanging around in the foyer while they try and fix it
My suspicion is the gate at the back of the set is stuck
Edited to add - yep, it’s the metal gates at the back
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Post by Jan on Nov 18, 2017 14:19:47 GMT
Today’s matinee ground to a halt 20 minutes in due to a set malfunction. Currently hanging around in the foyer while they try and fix it My suspicion is the gate at the back of the set is stuck Bad luck. It is a long 3hrs as it is. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 18, 2017 14:21:37 GMT
They’ve announced its restarting but still blokes on stage staring at gate with “you’ve had some right cowboys in here mate” looks on their faces
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Post by Jan on Nov 18, 2017 18:30:51 GMT
They’ve announced its restarting but still blokes on stage staring at gate with “you’ve had some right cowboys in here mate” looks on their faces The gate was a bit clunky when I was there - at one point Coriolanus threw himself on the floor and rolled under the slowly descending gate when he could simply have ducked his head and walked under it. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 18, 2017 19:12:40 GMT
In the end they got them all open and left them that way. Took nearly an hour though
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Post by Someone in a tree on Nov 18, 2017 22:21:01 GMT
It’s not exactly an exciting set which makes the delay even more tedious ...
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Post by Deleted on Nov 19, 2017 8:57:32 GMT
So eventually we escaped from the nearly 4 hour marathon!
Agree with Jan this is a very conservative production which does nothing with the modern setting. If only there were some contemporary resonances you could explore with a story about an angry mob of the public being manipulated into a vote by those in power.
Sope Dirisu was fine. While I'm all for colourblind casting, I thought having Haydn Gwynn as his mother was a lost opportunity to cast an older black female actor in a strong lead role.
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Post by Jan on Nov 19, 2017 9:34:01 GMT
So eventually we escaped from the nearly 4 hour marathon! Agree with Jan this is a very conservative production which does nothing with the modern setting. If only there were some contemporary resonances you could explore with a story about an angry mob of the public being manipulated into a vote by those in power. Sope Dirisu was fine. While I'm all for colourblind casting, I thought having Haydn Gwynn as his mother was a lost opportunity to cast an older black female actor in a strong lead role. Either that or have the Volscis all cast with black actors to make Coriolanus’ conflict of loyalties more interesting. |
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Post by lynette on Nov 19, 2017 13:27:11 GMT
They adopted a lot in Ancient Rome so even if you didn’t think it was logical for C to have a while mum it was def possible. And his dad, we never see but I think is referred to, no? A black/ white casting of Coriolanus would be too simple for these days. And problematic. The real problem with this production is that the lovely chap they cast isn’t yet 'there'. It isn’t such a simple play, it doesn’t just require a big physique and it needs a really experienced actor to get all the nuances. So often, this is seen as a straightforward play. T'aint.
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Post by skullion on Nov 19, 2017 13:38:17 GMT
That was my feeling as well, I'm not sure I've ever found myself in a theatre where I've found myself rooting for the actor rather than the character as in this version. Unfortunately I think he came up a bit short, he's not someone I've seen on stage before, maybe the role just came at the wrong time for him.
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Post by Jan on Nov 19, 2017 17:51:17 GMT
That was my feeling as well, I'm not sure I've ever found myself in a theatre where I've found myself rooting for the actor rather than the character as in this version. Unfortunately I think he came up a bit short, he's not someone I've seen on stage before, maybe the role just came at the wrong time for him. You need an actor who can play totally unsympathetic, no hint of getting the audience on his side, if you are rooting for the actor he has failed. One of the best at that is Greg Hicks, totally austere and uncompromising, no hint of a sense of humour. He was very good in the role. McKellen was good too, channelling (according to McKellen himself) John McEnroe who was Wimbledon champion at the time, spoilt brat genius. That’s why I think playing him explicitly as Muhammad Ali would work, working in the white establishment vs Nation of Islam divided loyalty stuff. The RSC must have vaguely had that idea when they cast him but they failed to engage Rupert Goold to direct it. |
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Post by skullion on Nov 19, 2017 19:29:39 GMT
I should clarify, when I say I was rooting for the actor I mean in the sense I was wanting him to deliver the type of performance you are describing, not sure if that makes sense. This was my stage Coriolanus though so it's interesting to hear how others have approached the role.
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