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Post by nash16 on Dec 12, 2018 0:35:05 GMT
Thank you nash16 for that. Well, I’ll be seeing this with some friends in January. They are gonna hate it. I’m gonna hate it I expect but I love SRB so will take my medicine dutifully. Gonna eat beforehand so sounds like nothing too rich or sickly... Starting at the end? A trend? They done it at the NT Ant & Cleo to no great effect. SRB is still allowed to do his great thing, and because there is no set the words come crisply, so the SRB lovers will still be happy with him, if not the production. And he does pitiful like no other, so when he's fully covered in water and soil it's like PEAK SRB. |
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Post by lynette on Dec 12, 2018 17:14:19 GMT
❤️
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Post by theatrefan77 on Dec 13, 2018 8:34:37 GMT
Booked for January 1st. Even if the production is not that great, SRB is always reliable and my Stalls ticket is only a tenner
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Post by crowblack on Dec 18, 2018 12:55:16 GMT
Any info on the running time for this? It's not on the website yet, though I saw someone tweet 100 minutes.
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Post by n1david on Dec 18, 2018 12:56:41 GMT
People were leaving the theatre at about 9.10-9.15 last night, so it looks like it's running about 100-105 minutes at the moment.
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Post by crowblack on Dec 18, 2018 13:31:22 GMT
Great - thanks! I might be able to dash round the Klimt / Schiele exhibition before my train. |
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Post by raiseitup on Dec 19, 2018 11:10:06 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Dec 19, 2018 11:31:30 GMT
Usual perceptive review from Lukowski in Time Out, especially on how the production works on its own terms, yet Billington remains all at sea in his prejudices again, wanting it to be on his terms instead.
Strangely, the ultra conservative Treneman and (maybe demob happy) Letts both appreciating it. Maybe they see the country and their role in its future looming like the fever dream fhat it has become.
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Post by peggs on Dec 19, 2018 20:03:32 GMT
So since at least one review is describing this as gore fest just how bloody is it? Are these buckets much utilised? Can I pretend it's paint?
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Post by zahidf on Dec 19, 2018 22:09:47 GMT
Usual perceptive review from Lukowski in Time Out, especially on how the production works on its own terms, yet Billington remains all at sea in his prejudices again, wanting it to be on his terms instead. Strangely, the ultra conservative Treneman and (maybe demob happy) Letts both appreciating it. Maybe they see the country and their role in its future looming like the fever dream fhat it has become. After his wild duck review, I've realised billington is a bit of a traditionalist dinosaur |
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Post by lonlad on Dec 19, 2018 23:48:47 GMT
The gore is a red (forgive word choice) herring -- nothing here to shock your maiden aunt except the rather brilliant insights supplied by a really superb cast, with one glaring exception whom it would not be polite to name. SRB is wondrous.
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Post by jgblunners on Dec 20, 2018 0:04:09 GMT
I was there on Monday - my first Richard II and my first trip to the Almeida, and I was impressed on both counts. It’s a lovely little theatre and SRB (pretty much the only reason I booked) is sublime. He delivers Shakespeare unlike any other actor I’ve seen and it’s a privilege to watch. In fact, the whole cast were pretty damn good, despite clearly being directed to race through the script at a rate of knots. Having not seen the play before I can’t comment on whether the cuts were a good idea, but I didn’t struggle to follow the plot. My only comment would be that I wanted a bit more emotional heft - which may well come from giving us more time to watch Richard’s descent and loss of power. The stripped-back nature of the production was carried out effectively, and I do love it when actors have to get messy. A very enjoyable production, with SRB the obvious stand-out. Worth it just to see him, I’d say.
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Post by nash16 on Dec 20, 2018 0:41:38 GMT
The gore is a red (forgive word choice) herring -- nothing here to shock your maiden aunt except the rather brilliant insights supplied by a really superb cast, with one glaring exception whom it would not be polite to name. SRB is wondrous. That cast member was hideous. How did she get the job when everyone else seemed to be doing "not acting"? Surely the memo got round in rehearsals? |
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Post by nash16 on Dec 20, 2018 0:43:14 GMT
So since at least one review is describing this as gore fest just how bloody is it? Are these buckets much utilised? Can I pretend it's paint? As I said in my review earlier, it's more I'm A Celebrity: the "blood" is just dyed water, the soil is soul, the water...water. It's weirdly as obvious as the production is. Makes for great production photos. But nothing to scare (or excite...) |
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Post by Backdrifter on Dec 20, 2018 5:45:58 GMT
So since at least one review is describing this as gore fest just how bloody is it? Are these buckets much utilised? Can I pretend it's paint? the soil is soul That's crying out to be the title of something. A book about the psychology/spirituality of gardening? |
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Post by peggs on Dec 20, 2018 10:34:08 GMT
Thank you nash16 and lonlad for gore feedback, less enthused to realise that I could in fact be accurately described as a maiden aunt though I tend to faint rather than have the vapours. |
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Post by theatrefan77 on Dec 20, 2018 10:40:58 GMT
I'll be there on January 1st. Looking forward to it
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Post by foxa on Dec 20, 2018 11:02:11 GMT
Great review, Nash16 (just read it aloud to Mr Foxa), I'm, erm, looking forward to seeing this in January.
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Post by nash16 on Dec 20, 2018 18:55:22 GMT
Great review, Nash16 (just read it aloud to Mr Foxa), I'm, erm, looking forward to seeing this in January. A lot of reviewers seem to have loved it, despite their reviews not reading particularly 4*, so my experience could be completely out of touch with others. Looking forward to Team Foxa's feedback though. |
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Post by crowblack on Dec 24, 2018 0:56:18 GMT
Billington remains all at sea in his prejudices again I actually agree with him on this one. |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 24, 2018 1:56:52 GMT
Billington remains all at sea in his prejudices again I actually agree with him on this one. A more interesting reviewer starts from a position of looking at what the production is doing, Billington, as time has gone on, starts from a position of what he thinks it should be doing instead. This is especially the case with plays where he wants a particular political slant to be highlighted. In comparison, Lukowski's review was an example of someone thinking about what the director was aiming for.
They could have put across completely opposite opinions and I would still find the way that Billington reviews far less interesting. It's the style, not the opinion.
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Post by crowblack on Dec 24, 2018 10:35:59 GMT
thinking about what the director was aiming for. I get what the director was aiming for, but if Bolingbroke was supposed to be Theresa May it didn't work. She did have a degree of gravitas a couple of years ago: the character here was absurd from the start and power-wise the production felt top-heavy. |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 24, 2018 11:01:08 GMT
thinking about what the director was aiming for. I get what the director was aiming for, but if Bolingbroke was supposed to be Theresa May it didn't work. She did have a degree of gravitas a couple of years ago: the character here was absurd from the start and power-wise the production felt top-heavy. Which suggests that such a personification isn’t his intent. It’s common to think that a director is responding to events of the last few months but the likelihood is that the idea came long before and that there is a much less specific analogy imagined. The recent rise of expressionistic rethinkings of plays leads to any central character being elevated with others seen through that characters eyes so realism in terms of character and relationships would not remain the aim. |
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Post by crowblack on Dec 24, 2018 11:49:48 GMT
Which suggests that such a personification isn’t his intent. I didn't go to it with anything in mind and deliberately avoided reviews. I thought the power dynamics didn't work with the way it was cast, and when I came home read the reviews. Positive reviewers saw it as a Brexit/Tory infighting analogy. If so, for me it didn't fit. But I can't work out why they cast such a slight, grey figure as Bolingbroke if that wasn't the reading: he didn't feel like a character who would reach out to the public, or who the public would flock to or a convincing counterweight to SRB's RII. Stylistically it reminded me of Hytner's Edward II at the Royal Exchange but I didn't get the same sense of loss and humanity from this production as a whole that I got there. Btw, the noisy American teenager kicking our seats, talking and unzipping various pockets through the big speeches didn't help. |
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Post by Backdrifter on Dec 29, 2018 22:35:30 GMT
Which suggests that such a personification isn’t his intent. Btw, the noisy American teenager kicking our seats, talking and unzipping various pockets through the big speeches didn't help. The ushers should've tasered them, at the very least. |
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