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Post by talkingheads on Jan 11, 2020 21:24:13 GMT
Thought I'd give this its own thread. So if the rumours are to be believed, Suzy Cooper, Martin Barrass, David Leonard and AJ Powell have not been asked back next year. The outrage has begun on Facebook and Twitter, petitions have been set up. On the one hand I see the Theatre Royal have something of a lose lose situation. They have to plan long term which means a shake up of the show. On the other hand, the way this is all happening, with rumours and half truths not to mention the alienation of a decades long serving cast and the most loyal audience possibly of anything in the world, strikes me as very poor business sense from Theatre Royal. I have only been going to the show for two years so I'm very much a babby and a bairn compared to most but I do know that cast are the very best at what they do and I would not hesitate to follow them if they went to another theatre. www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/18154154.york-panto-cast-member-claims-will-new-writers-directors/ |
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Post by MrBraithwaite on Jan 13, 2020 11:58:14 GMT
Sounds like fans making a lot of noise about something that no one knows anything about yet and the cast, as usual, stoke the fire, while they also know nothing about it really. Weird.
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Post by talkingheads on Jan 13, 2020 12:06:56 GMT
Sounds like fans making a lot of noise about something that no one knows anything about yet and the cast, as usual, stoke the fire, while they also know nothing about it really. Weird. Yeah I think there's an element of truth in that. But it does seem that the cast really were only told in a meeting a few days ago they aren't being asked back next year, and whichever way you look at it that screams bad management not to mention morally repugnant given how many years the cast have been there! |
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Post by MrBraithwaite on Jan 13, 2020 14:29:20 GMT
True, but making a statement after the show though you do not really know what is happening...kinda unprofessionel imo. If they really change the creative team they may not know yet what roles to cast and if the current cast will be used for the next show. Not asking them back yet doesn't mean firing them (as they stated). Let's see what the big announcement next month is...
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Post by talkingheads on Jan 13, 2020 14:56:06 GMT
True, but making a statement after the show though you do not really know what is happening...kinda unprofessionel imo. If they really change the creative team they may not know yet what roles to cast and if the current cast will be used for the next show. Not asking them back yet doesn't mean firing them (as they stated). Let's see what the big announcement next month is... Having just listened to Tom Bird on the radio, I do see where he's coming from re: ticket sales. It's more the way the cast and audience have been treated in not giving any notice of this being a final show. |
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Post by TallPaul on Jan 13, 2020 15:02:28 GMT
As I understand it, York Theatre Royal does not currently have an artistic director, with programming decisions being made by Tom Bird, who is essentially the chief executive, albeit with a different title.
Tom Bird was previously the Executive Producer at Shakespeare's Globe, including the (short) period when Emma Rice was the AD. Do she have any panto experience?
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Post by talkingheads on Jan 30, 2020 16:44:10 GMT
In very, very surprising news today, Berwick Kaler is donning his wig and frock and going back to being Dame as his panto transfers to the Grand Opera House York. Berwick stars alongside usual cohorts Suzy Cooper, David Leonard, Martin Barrass and AJ Powell in Dick Turpin Returns. It;s an ATG Venue so very glad I got my card over Christmas so I can sort my tickets in the presale instead of the usual madness when they used to go onsale at the Theatre Royal. www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/18198853.berwick-kaler---four-fellow-stars---set-return-panto-grand-opera-house/ |
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Post by partytentdown on Jan 31, 2020 9:05:05 GMT
This Berwick fella sounds like a right egotistical pain in the arse.
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Post by MrBraithwaite on Jan 31, 2020 9:46:33 GMT
Just realized I saw David Leonard as my favourite Trunchbull in Matilda.
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Post by hulmeman on Jan 31, 2020 10:51:49 GMT
Indeed, Mr Kaller does (to the outsider) seem like a bit of a pain. HE decided to retire from performing but still maintained a presence directing and appearing in a video as part of the show. Then, apparently, quite out of the blue, he joins in the curtain call last week and gave the TR bosses 3 days to change their mind....or else. Well clearly the "or else" was his deal with QDOS to move bag and baggage to the Opera House. Now don't tell me that deal was cobbled together overnight! He knew what he was orchestrating from the start.
The TR bosses don't come out of this at all well. They have cited falling audience numbers since 2008 as a reason for the change. Why didn't they do it when Mr Kaller retired last year and have a clean sweep. They also allowed the cast to make disparaging speeches from the stage at curtain call. They should have put a stop to that pdq! They are indeed now in a loose/loose situation.
I went to see Mr Kaller's final season, just to say I had. Clearly the man is a "god" to the audience, and I had been warned that I might not know what was going on at times. Not only did I not know what day of the week it was, I felt I'd stumbled in on a private party. Yes, I'm glad I went. Yes Mr Kaller is so very inventive and so refreshingly different, but the chaos which he conducts around him takes away so much of the enjoyment.
Me babbies me bairns indeed!
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Post by hulmeman on Feb 4, 2020 11:08:52 GMT
Award winning Evolution Productions are producing this years Theatre Royal panto. "Cinderella". They'll need a few big names to make any headway against the Opera House.
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Post by partytentdown on Feb 4, 2020 12:28:48 GMT
So just to summarise, the guy voluntarily retires, gets cold feet and decides he wants to be back in the panto, in the meantime the theatre have sensibly already moved on with plans to do something different, so he gets cross and basically kicks off a campaign to destroy the theatre and its finances, blaming everyone but himself? Wow.
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Post by hulmeman on Feb 4, 2020 14:09:30 GMT
So just to summarise, the guy voluntarily retires, gets cold feet and decides he wants to be back in the panto, in the meantime the theatre have sensibly already moved on with plans to do something different, so he gets cross and basically kicks off a campaign to destroy the theatre and its finances, blaming everyone but himself? Wow. In a nutshell, yes! |
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Post by talkingheads on Feb 4, 2020 14:32:03 GMT
So just to summarise, the guy voluntarily retires, gets cold feet and decides he wants to be back in the panto, in the meantime the theatre have sensibly already moved on with plans to do something different, so he gets cross and basically kicks off a campaign to destroy the theatre and its finances, blaming everyone but himself? Wow. I would argue too though that the ensemble cast around Kaler, most of whom had done twenty to thirty years of service, being unceremoniously dumped without any warning doesn't reflect particularly well on the Theatre Royal either though |
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