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Post by lynette on Jul 29, 2019 21:22:07 GMT
Are you suggesting a little skulduggery, dear doctor?
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Post by Fleance on Jul 29, 2019 21:55:49 GMT
Why has this sold so well? Are Duncan and Jennings really a big draw? Yes, i think they are plus they have been away for a little while. I thought Duncan gave a fine -- and unusual portrayal of Judith Bliss in Hay Fever (2012). She was not as OTT as that character gives license to be. Great cast, including Freddie Fox, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Jeremy Northam, and Olivia Colman. Appropriately at the Noel Coward Theatre.
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Post by londonpostie on Jul 29, 2019 22:20:35 GMT
I'm intrigued about first-time writer Simon Woods - quite a coup for the old Etonian and Magdalen College actor. It is odd isn’t it, his debut play on at the NT. How does that work ? We have been told here several times that the NT will only stage plays they have commissioned, so they commissioned a play from someone who’d never written one before ? Why ? I doubt Sir David Hare will be all that happy, thought he had cornered the market for Guardianista political plays at the NT. I presume there is a process; perhaps it starts with submitting an outline, that is then taken forward and a detailed treatment produced, eventually it's workshopped ... it must have gone through many hands and many hoops. Three months in the Lyttleton is a serious investment by the NT; reputations risk being at least bruised.
Looking at the trailer, I notice there has been some funding for this from the Arts Council, and no less than five associated talks are listed. The plot thickens ...
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Post by theoracle on Jul 29, 2019 22:59:16 GMT
£15 preview seats have now also been released including seats in the front stalls
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Post by Jan on Jul 30, 2019 2:34:28 GMT
Are you suggesting a little skulduggery, dear doctor? Not really, I’m just curious. In my naive way I thought if you wrote a play and sent it in to them they’d read it and if it was any good they’d put it on, but we’ve been told here several times by someone with inside knowledge this isn’t how it works at all. I start from a position of goodwill towards the author because he was in Cranford. I remember once someone’s debut (and final) play was put on in the West End, that was pure skulduggery as I learned decades later, involving one of our greatest stars. Actually in the debut=final category there was also that Imogen Stubbs thing that transferred to the West End when she was co-incidentally married to Trevor Nunn - they got Juliet Stevenson in that one.
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349 posts
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Post by lichtie on Jul 30, 2019 7:46:12 GMT
Could this be one of the early outputs from the new works department they set up a few years ago?? It's their job after all to take forward unsolicited as well as solicited projects.
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5,571 posts
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Post by lynette on Jul 30, 2019 10:17:25 GMT
The proof of the pudding will be in the eating. If it is a good play, then well spotted NT. If not, then we shall know........though I suppose good plays which would otherwise sink can get a helping hand from ‘friends’ .
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Post by random on Jul 30, 2019 11:45:15 GMT
Looking at the trailer, I notice there has been some funding for this from the Arts Council, and no less than five associated talks are listed. The plot thickens ...
Everything at the National has Arts Council funding. They receive £17m a year.
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Post by theoracle on Jul 30, 2019 20:47:46 GMT
It is interesting though that even though no one has seen the show yet, National Theatre Live have already announced that they’re filming it so they seem pretty confident that people are going to warm towards it. I doubt it will get the same sort of response When We Have Sufficiently Tortured Each Other did earlier this year but who knows?
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Post by theoracle on Aug 9, 2019 7:58:29 GMT
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81 posts
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Post by addictedtotheatre on Aug 13, 2019 10:50:36 GMT
Am I going crazy, but is this a picture of the understudies rather than Alex Jennings and Lyndsay Duncan??
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Post by theoracle on Aug 13, 2019 11:40:13 GMT
Pretty sure the understudies look a bit different... or am I missing a joke?
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Post by londonpostie on Aug 13, 2019 13:13:06 GMT
I'd also be surprised if that was taken in the National Theatre building.
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1,008 posts
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Post by andrew on Aug 14, 2019 21:35:32 GMT
I'd also be surprised if that was taken in the National Theatre building. Pretty sure that's one of their rehearsal rooms. You can see the entrances to them from the public high level walkway round at the Dorfman side.
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5,571 posts
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Post by lynette on Aug 14, 2019 22:37:03 GMT
So the set will be posh country kitchen with an Aga.
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Post by Jan on Aug 15, 2019 7:50:10 GMT
So the set will be posh country kitchen with an Aga. That’s the advice they always give to authors isn’t it: “Write what you know”
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Post by theoracle on Aug 22, 2019 17:25:12 GMT
Anyone going to the first preview tonight?
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3,458 posts
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Post by showgirl on Aug 22, 2019 19:15:01 GMT
I've been waiting for the running time to appear on the NT site and it now says 1 hour 20 with no interval, meaning I'd not only be OK with an evening performance but would prefer it. If only I'd known when a few affordable evening tix became available for later in the run, but I'm sure there'll be more.
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Post by londonpostie on Aug 22, 2019 19:56:37 GMT
I'll be interested to see what's caught the National's eye with this one. Presumably not the usual Tory gubbins of sexual deviance, dodgy business dealings and the loyal wife done wrong.
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Post by theoracle on Aug 22, 2019 21:11:52 GMT
1hr 20mins?? Thats it?
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Post by londonpostie on Aug 22, 2019 21:19:35 GMT
Austerity. We're all in it together, remember.
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1,274 posts
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Post by Dave B on Aug 22, 2019 21:20:08 GMT
We saw it tonight (hi!) 90 minutes - no interval. Quite funny turning quite dark with a strong cast. We were in the third row, tickets were 15 and thought it well worth it. It turns into a lot more than the blurb might indicate.
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Post by theoracle on Aug 22, 2019 21:59:19 GMT
Thats good to hear Dave B Im not seeing it till the day after press night and have been hotly anticipating this production. Was there much going on with the sets at all?
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5,571 posts
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Post by lynette on Aug 22, 2019 22:12:43 GMT
We saw it tonight (hi!) 90 minutes - no interval. Quite funny turning quite dark with a strong cast. We were in the third row, tickets were 15 and thought it well worth it. It turns into a lot more than the blurb might indicate. Welcome to the Board, altdaveb This sounds an interesting 90 minutes.
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1,274 posts
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Post by Dave B on Aug 22, 2019 22:30:01 GMT
Was there much going on with the sets at all?
Nope. A large English country house kitchen. It's a fairly static set, really just a backdrop to the discussions.
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Post by theatre241 on Aug 22, 2019 23:32:28 GMT
The National is liking the static sets at the moment! Rutherford and Son, Anna
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1,114 posts
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Post by Stephen on Aug 23, 2019 0:43:27 GMT
I've come to appreciate a simple static set. I thought the set for The End of History complimented the action perfectly. It makes the smallest changes interesting too.
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Post by theatre241 on Aug 23, 2019 10:57:27 GMT
The National is liking the static sets at the moment! Rutherford and Son I don't call what it did at the end static... more like "self indulgent"... Oh yeh it turned lol! Also Anna was a really realistic and very static set
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Post by andrew on Aug 23, 2019 17:04:35 GMT
The National is liking the static sets at the moment! Rutherford and Son I don't call what it did at the end static... more like "self indulgent"... Can we get some ice over here Polly Findlay has just been dealt an absolute burn! Anna was a bit of a special case to be fair, but it's true that the Lyttelton has an enormous amount of space to the rear and to stage left, you can do whatever you like with scenery, why be boring?
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1,008 posts
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Post by andrew on Aug 24, 2019 13:36:10 GMT
Well I can confirm that Hansard doesn't splash any money around, a very simple set, once scene, two hander, no crazy lighting moves, no effects other than a projector. I like it, it's funny and then finds emotional heft. An argument between a middle aged couple that goes on for an entire play. It doesn't outstay it's welcome. Alex Jennings was really great.
It's a shame because you can't really discuss what the play ends up being about without saying a bit too much for those yet to see it. Maybe as the run wears on we can get into that.
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