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Post by Deleted on Jun 29, 2018 9:34:25 GMT
I mean You have to wonder These pig sh*t thick producers Transferring what is really a niche show With no major names as far as your average theatre goer is concerned Lasting over 7 hours From a theatre of well under 500 seats To one with a capacity of nearly 1000 With many seats which will be uncomfortable It is any surprise Yet again producers bastardise pollute and ruin wonderful shows By removing them from Their context and forcing them into theatres which are totally not designed for the show Whilst we are on the subject I predict the same fate for: Caroline or change Don Quixote Nine Night The Inheritance And (if it transfers) Fun Home None Of these will be anything near a hot ticket We already saw it with Quiz Where the stalls were half full with the upper two levels closed Red is another example Doesn’t belong in a main WE house It’s amazing These shows which are “sell outs” Move to the west end And suddenly no one wants to see them They seem a lot less glamorous and desirable And it’s not as if people don’t notice the half empty theatre It’s glaring obvious Bizarre choices I think there are too many theatres in the west end by far The fact that most of the shows in them are half empty And that these are “transfers of sell out shows” Is telling What goes through the mind of a producer When making these decisions Are they so stupid Or are they that greedy Or just so arrogant? Why don’t they realise Context is half the key to success Just see Leave Taking Rave reviews Less than half full the day I went This is due to the venue If it was staged at Dorfman It would have sold out The choice of venue is so key to the success of almost shows I don’t understand why producers keep ignoring it Leave Taking was sold out for the last weeks of its run. Audiences often put off going till the last minute - then they miss out. And sometimes it takes a while to build an audience. These days it isn’t as easy as people think to sell a show. Theatre attendance requires quite a financial outlay. In these days of austerity some people have to consider the choice between three weeks’ groceries or a theatre ticket. I do agree with you aboutnproducers, though. |
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Post by Jan on Jun 29, 2018 9:34:30 GMT
The RSC themselves should know. I’ve paid £10 for top-price stalls seats for all their Barbican transfers for the past 5 years- they just aren’t much of a draw in London any more.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 29, 2018 9:38:44 GMT
Yes you are right
About the lag between
Reviews and people booking
But I went to Leave Taking in the middle of the run
And it wasn’t even half full
People are right about how hard it is to sell a show
You can easily get it wrong
Even with good reviews
And a recipe which on paper looks good
See Quiz
Compared to Labour Of Love
Same playwright
Same theatre!
Drastically different box office
But with Imperium
This was predictable
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Post by Deleted on Jun 29, 2018 9:39:33 GMT
The RSC themselves should know. I’ve paid £10 for top-price stalls seats for all their Barbican transfers for the past 5 years- they just aren’t much of a draw in London any more. Yet the ongoing need to transfer shows For no reason Arrogance? |
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Post by Jan on Jun 29, 2018 9:41:54 GMT
The RSC themselves should know. I’ve paid £10 for top-price stalls seats for all their Barbican transfers for the past 5 years- they just aren’t much of a draw in London any more. Yet the ongoing need to transfer shows For no reason Arrogance? The RSC have to pretend they have some sort of a commitment to London otherwise the Arts Council would take a hard look at their subsidy. |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 29, 2018 9:44:56 GMT
Yet the ongoing need to transfer shows For no reason Arrogance? The RSC have to pretend they have some sort of a commitment to London otherwise the Arts Council would take a hard look at their subsidy. Yes you are right |
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Post by kathryn on Jun 29, 2018 10:14:29 GMT
The RSC themselves should know. I’ve paid £10 for top-price stalls seats for all their Barbican transfers for the past 5 years- they just aren’t much of a draw in London any more. I was regretting paying £39 for row v stalls, but then I went and checked the dates I booked and they are now £52 each - even though the stalls only seem to be half-sold. Don't quite know how the dynamic pricing worked that one out, but I hope on the day if the stalls are still sparsely filled they will move us forward. |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 29, 2018 10:21:48 GMT
Yes you are right About the lag between Reviews and people booking But I went to Leave Taking in the middle of the run And it wasn’t even half full People are right about how hard it is to sell a show You can easily get it wrong Even with good reviews And a recipe which on paper looks good See Quiz Compared to Labour Of Love Same playwright Same theatre! Drastically different box office But with Imperium This was predictable The performance piece Misty at the Bush also sold out and is transferring to Trafalgar Studios in the Autumn. |
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Post by joem on Jun 29, 2018 10:23:37 GMT
The RSC were pretty successful in London when they had their base at the Barbican. It was a crass error by Adrian Noble to pull them out and I am not sure they've ever recovered.
If they have no commitment to London - the biggest city for theatre in Europe, I would say the world and where Shakespeare lived and worked for most of his career - they fail in their duty to maintain the profile of Shakespeare in the greatest theatre market. I am sure there are a few people who would be delighted for Stratford to have "exclusivity" over RSC productions but this would be pointless. Anyone can put on a Shakespeare play and with the number of theatres in London there will always be Shakespeare in London, not least since the advent of the Globe Theatre. So the choice for the RSC is always to be either a theatre company with worldwide reach piggybacking on Shakespeare's name and work or to be a respected regional theatre company in Warwickshire which attracts an inordinate amount of tourists due to the Shakespeare heritage trail.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 29, 2018 10:26:50 GMT
Arinze Kene’s Misty also sold out at The Bush and is transferring to Trafalgar Studios in the Autumn. Strange that Parsley says LeaveTaking was half full in the middle of its run when it sold out two weeks ago (in the middle of its run). I saw it in preview and it was packed.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 29, 2018 10:28:26 GMT
Arinze Kene’s Misty also sold out at The Bush and is transferring to Trafalgar Studios in the Autumn. Strange that Parsley says LeaveTaking was half full in the middle of its run when it sold out two weeks ago (in the middle of its run). I saw it in preview and it was packed. I attended the matinee On 13th June With a friend It wasn’t even 40 % full And I booked on the day |
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Post by oxfordsimon on Jun 29, 2018 10:29:29 GMT
The RSC's commitment to doing Shakespeare anywhere is not what it once was (or indeed should be)
Doran's ever-extending plan to do all the plays in the RST has faltered and the number of Shakespeare productions that the RSC mount in a year has dropped as well.
The sooner a complete new artistic leadership is brought into the RSC, the better. It needs fresh thinking, not the pedestrian work that has been coming out since Doran took over.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 29, 2018 10:34:23 GMT
Arinze Kene’s Misty also sold out at The Bush and is transferring to Trafalgar Studios in the Autumn. Strange that Parsley says LeaveTaking was half full in the middle of its run when it sold out two weeks ago (in the middle of its run). I saw it in preview and it was packed. I attended the matinee On 13th June With a friend It wasn’t even 40 % full And I booked on the day Oh, a mid-week matinee in Shepherd’s Bush...those are usually packed to the rafters. |
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Post by Jan on Jun 29, 2018 10:51:10 GMT
Doran's ever-extending plan to do all the plays in the RST has faltered and the number of Shakespeare productions that the RSC mount in a year has dropped as well. The sooner a complete new artistic leadership is brought into the RSC, the better. It needs fresh thinking, not the pedestrian work that has been coming out since Doran took over. Agree. Putting "Timon" in the Swan instead of the main house (as originally promised) shows Doran is aware his plan is faltering - he must be looking at the looming Henry VI 1,2 & 3 and wondering what on earth he can do with them |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 29, 2018 10:55:06 GMT
Put John Heffernan in them. Admittedly I haven't thought any further ahead than that, but it would be a great start.
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Post by oxfordsimon on Jun 29, 2018 11:04:23 GMT
Doran's ever-extending plan to do all the plays in the RST has faltered and the number of Shakespeare productions that the RSC mount in a year has dropped as well. The sooner a complete new artistic leadership is brought into the RSC, the better. It needs fresh thinking, not the pedestrian work that has been coming out since Doran took over. Agree. Putting "Timon" in the Swan instead of the main house (as originally promised) shows Doran is aware his plan is faltering - he must be looking at the looming Henry VI 1,2 & 3 and wondering what on earth he can do with them It is perfectly possible to make the H6 plays work - if you have the right director with the right vision. Doran doesn't have vision. |
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Post by Jan on Jun 29, 2018 11:05:09 GMT
Put John Heffernan in them. Admittedly I haven't thought any further ahead than that, but it would be a great start. Why would he want to be in it ? I suppose the real answer is David Tennant. |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 29, 2018 11:08:08 GMT
He's already played Richard II and Edward II, maybe he'd want to complete the set of deposed kings. He certainly wouldn't be the first actor to try working through a certain type of character, just look at Matthew Needham's recent efforts to play all the mad emperors.
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Post by joem on Jun 29, 2018 11:28:34 GMT
The Michael Boyd RSC productions of Henry VI were awesome. Like an action movie to start off with, the use of humour during the Jack Cade (a harlequin-like figure) rebellion, the symbolism and pathos at the outbreak of the Wars of the Roses and the final bloody scene with Edward IV walking away with his white cloak drenched in the dead Henry's blood.... brilliant.
Too many great performances to mention them all but David Oyelowo was astonishingly good as Henry.
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Post by Jan on Jun 29, 2018 13:03:00 GMT
The Michael Boyd RSC productions of Henry VI were awesome. Like an action movie to start off with, the use of humour during the Jack Cade (a harlequin-like figure) rebellion, the symbolism and pathos at the outbreak of the Wars of the Roses and the final bloody scene with Edward IV walking away with his white cloak drenched in the dead Henry's blood.... brilliant. Too many great performances to mention them all but David Oyelowo was astonishingly good as Henry. Yes that’s right, but look at the contrast with Doran’s history plays to date which have been literal, static, stodgy and dull even with better plays in the cycle. The thought of him directing Henry VI is hardly marketable. |
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Post by Someone in a tree on Jun 29, 2018 13:27:11 GMT
Even the excellent front row seats for 10 🦑 can’t make me book for the RSC as it’s such a snooze fest. Reminds me of the NT Travelex seasons which only sold out if it was a Shakespeare* or had Kenneth Branagh getting his cock out
* but yes the NT does sell out with Shakespeare
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Post by kathryn on Jun 29, 2018 13:40:24 GMT
or had Kenneth Branagh getting his cock out When did Kenny get his cock out at the NT?? Presumably it was before my theatre-going time - I'm sure I would have remembered that.... |
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Post by TallPaul on Jun 29, 2018 13:43:21 GMT
@caiaphas, can you expand on this?
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Post by oldstager on Jun 29, 2018 13:49:02 GMT
or had Kenneth Branagh getting his cock out When did Kenny get his cock out at the NT?? Presumably it was before my theatre-going time - I'm sure I would have remembered that.... That would be EDMOND in 2003 I seem to remember
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Post by MrsCondomine on Jun 29, 2018 14:04:45 GMT
Put John Heffernan in them. Admittedly I haven't thought any further ahead than that, but it would be a great start. Why would he want to be in it ? I suppose the real answer is David Tennant. You're on to something there. Tennant's fanbase would crash the website. I'm not averse to his sexy lanky R-rolling Scots charm by any means but he can be stuck in literally any role in any play and it would sell out. Bums on (damp?) seats  |
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