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Post by Deleted on Mar 16, 2016 18:54:26 GMT
Inpired by similar threads on musicals...what are the plays that just don't 'click' for you? either you found them dull, not funny when they should be, or you just wondered what the hell was going on on that stage...
I'll start...
One Man Two Guvners-I just didn't find it funny. And nothing feels worse in the theatre than everyone else in utter hysterics and you're the one either unmoved or cringing.
One I just didn't get in another way was Conor McPherson's 'The Veil' now normally I love him, but it had been a really long journey to London and an even longer work day...and to this day I couldn't tell you what that play was about other than there was some smoke at the end and a slightly scary child.
EDIT: as the title was clearly causing issue, I've changed to match the musicals one...
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Post by Deleted on Mar 16, 2016 19:07:28 GMT
After Miss Julie. Saw it at the Donmar where it was getting great reviews - didn't hate it, just couldn't see much in it.
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Post by mallardo on Mar 16, 2016 19:09:28 GMT
I'm with you on One Man Two Guv'ners, Emi, as I have a low threshold for silliness. Along the same lines I absolutely hated The 39 Steps - it just seemed so juvenile.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 16, 2016 19:28:45 GMT
Indeed! I knew really it wasn't "my" sense of humour going in...but everyone else was making such a fuss I felt I should try. The same reason so many 'classic' comedy films just pass me by...
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Post by Boob on Mar 16, 2016 19:31:14 GMT
I don't think there was anything to get about The Veil. It just wasn't a very good play. Poor Jim Norton couldn't even remember his lines. Says it all.
I also didn't think 1M2G was all that great, but I'm really not a lover of farce. Which leads me to... Noises Off. Seen two productions. Laughed twice between them both.
And while I'm Michael Frayn bashing, I REALLY don't get the fuss about Copenhagen.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 16, 2016 19:48:25 GMT
I didn't get My Night With Reg first time round at all, and didn't feel inspired to go and see it again at the Donmar, even for a peep of the Lovely Julian!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 16, 2016 19:50:19 GMT
Well that's good to know...I thought I really was missing some sort of point there...
I laughed slightly more at Noises off... but then that wasn't a really high bar.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 16, 2016 19:51:27 GMT
Virtually anything by George Bernard Shaw and much Ibsen; I prefer ambiguity and character over messages and plot.
I do like cleverly constructed farce so Noises Off and 1M2G are both fine, I know others who will never be able to appreciate them though.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 16, 2016 20:04:53 GMT
I loved the two farces mentioned above, but in terms of plays I don't 'get' - on the evidence so far, King Lear. Sorry, Shakespeare.
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Post by couldileaveyou on Mar 16, 2016 20:23:41 GMT
It's not like I don't get "War Horse", it's just that there is nothing to get.
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Post by Phantom of London on Mar 16, 2016 20:27:54 GMT
She Stoops to Conquer
John
Or anything by Tom Stoppard.
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Post by duncan on Mar 16, 2016 20:49:15 GMT
The Weir - its a group of not very likable people in the pub telling terrible stories to each other. Couldnt understand any of the rave reviews.
Jerusalem - take Rylance out of it and its a very long and very very dull evening.
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Post by Snciole on Mar 16, 2016 21:04:00 GMT
I am only in the interval but I am struggling to get why people have got so excited over People, Places and Things. Denise Gough is giving an interesting performance-though I am not blown awah in an otherwise weak, quite self-indulgent play.
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Post by kathryn on Mar 16, 2016 21:07:54 GMT
The Cherry Orchard - honestly, every time I've seen it I've been bored silly.
Macbeth - I chalk this up to doing it for GCSE English.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 16, 2016 21:28:05 GMT
If we're on Shakespeare then 'Antony & Cleopatra' and 'Othello'.
But, but, but, this sort of list diminishes as the years pass by as the text is interrogated by someone who seeks to make it work for them and it ends up doing so for me. So Ostermeier's Enemy of the People? Suddenly I like the play. Van Hove's View From a Bridge? Same. Suddenly the ambiguity is there that appeared to have been shunned by other directors.
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Post by Laineee on Mar 16, 2016 21:37:09 GMT
After many attempts to convince myself otherwise, I have accepted that Ibsen and I just don't get along. So much so that the Lyceum's Hedda Gabler saw my first interval escape last year - it just did absolutely nothing for me and I couldn't bear another minute of it.
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Post by littlesally on Mar 16, 2016 21:39:21 GMT
The Cut. Dimetos. Berenice. All Donmar. In fact, much of Josie Rourke's era.
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Post by theatreliker on Mar 16, 2016 22:09:26 GMT
I've been enjoying Ibsen much more lately, but as much as the programme notes of the Old Vic programme told me, I didn't really see how Hedda Gabler was that relevant.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 16, 2016 22:09:49 GMT
The Cut. Dimetos. Berenice. All Donmar. In fact, much of Josie Rourke's era. Ooh, yes! The Cut. Dire... (Didn't get it at all. Got more of a thrill seeing Helen Worth in the bar, no doubt there to support fellow Corrie actor at the time, Ian McKellan.) While talking of the Donmar, can I also throw in Polar Bears? Another play not got. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 16, 2016 22:55:10 GMT
Surely to 'not get' something it has to be widely popular, one where you have a minority opinion?
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Post by crabtree on Mar 16, 2016 23:00:48 GMT
Dare I mention Beckett and Pinter.....I sat through Godot the other day for probably about the sixth time, which is five and a half times too many.
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Post by crabtree on Mar 16, 2016 23:01:58 GMT
Mind you the first play I directed was 'The Bald Prima Donna' and I was giddy with directing and even though I didn't get it, I was still giddy.
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Post by d'James on Mar 16, 2016 23:06:37 GMT
Mind you the first play I directed was 'The Bald Prima Donna' and I was giddy with directing and even though I didn't get it, I was still giddy. Haha. I played Mary in that in French at Uni. |
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Post by joem on Mar 16, 2016 23:09:59 GMT
After many attempts to convince myself otherwise, I have accepted that Ibsen and I just don't get along. So much so that the Lyceum's Hedda Gabler saw my first interval escape last year - it just did absolutely nothing for me and I couldn't bear another minute of it. For me Shakespeare, Ibsen and Pinter are the holy trinity. |
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Post by Steve on Mar 17, 2016 0:11:15 GMT
War Horse. It's a horse. Millions upon millions of people are dying, and I'm supposed to care about the horse!?
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