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Post by jr on Jul 29, 2024 6:59:12 GMT
I saw this a few days ago, still on previews, I think.
I found the writing quite plain and full of clichés. The plot could be told in five minutes but it is stretched to a hundred. I was quite bored and uninterested. I am surprised it got so much praise when it was at the National.
I had only seen Paapa Essiedu once, in The effect, and did not like him: superficial acting with lots of twitching and ticks, one of these actors that cannot be doing nothing. He starts a bit like that here but then his performance grows and he really gets into character. I am glad I have changed my mind about him.
He tripped a couple of times with the text. Another time he took a long time reentering (he tried the wrong door, probably). Once he shouted "line" and embarrassingly the person in charge of giving it to him took a bit too long while he waited for it. Then he went on smoothly.
I don't think I will see the two other plays. Just not good enough writing.
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Post by Being Alive on Jul 29, 2024 9:50:48 GMT
His Hamlet at the RSC was spectacular.
But I didn't like the first Death of England enough to want to watch the other two...
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Post by aspieandy on Jul 29, 2024 9:51:00 GMT
jr Indeed. And dated. Clint Dyer and Roy Williams are a couple of decades out of touch with what they think they are writing about. There is a whole world out there to write about. Leave this stuff to people still in touch.
The NT has tried to promote this way out of proportion to its quality.
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Post by marob on Jul 29, 2024 12:18:50 GMT
I saw the first one just before lockdown. Rafe Spall was great, the script wasn’t. Didn’t get what it was trying to say, so am not sure why it’s had so much attention with sequels, TV version and now this transfer.
Just the involvement of Erin Doherty and Sharon Duncan-Brewster should have got me excited, but it’s just… meh 🤷♂️
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Post by alessia on Jul 29, 2024 19:49:21 GMT
I also saw Rafe Spall, I remember really liking it but not sure if I liked it because of his acting more than for the actual play- now I'd be curious to see it again but @soho place is too expensive - for something I have already seen. I was thinking of going for part 2 Delroy as I only saw the the live recording due to Covid. And I missed part 3 as it got cancelled the evening I went.
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Post by prefab on Jul 29, 2024 21:55:59 GMT
I still haven't seen Delroy, but on Thursday, I got last-minute £20 tickets to see Thomas Coombes in Death of England: Michael, and I was surprised by how much I liked it. Yes, parts of the script were a little superficial and too reliant on stereotypes, but Coombes turned in a magnetic performance that made great use of the Soho Place space (much better than the other play I saw there, the semi-musical Brokeback Mountain).
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Post by lynette on Jul 30, 2024 19:25:50 GMT
I saw the first one just before lockdown. Rafe Spall was great, the script wasn’t. Didn’t get what it was trying to say, so am not sure why it’s had so much attention with sequels, TV version and now this transfer. Just the involvement of Erin Doherty and Sharon Duncan-Brewster should have got me excited, but it’s just… meh 🤷♂️ Same here, last before the lockdown. It was fine but I’m surprised to see it back.
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Post by joem on Aug 9, 2024 22:34:54 GMT
First visit to this theatre, looks great and feels like every seat will have good views. Not dissimilar to the Bridge, I guess that's what modern theatres look like?
Although it was a strong committed performance I find some of this problematic, not least in the current climate. Whilst the writer comes to some sort of synthesis or compromise I fear it is the anger and bile which precedes it - some if it totally justified, some less so - that will be remembered. I think society and the arts have lost the ability to find what is acceptable to say and do in a cultural environment rather than who is allowed to say and do it.
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Post by wiggymess on Aug 15, 2024 11:43:32 GMT
Presumably if I can only make it to Closing Time, I could watch the other 2 on NT At Home? They're the same play as opposed to reworked versions?
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Post by n1david on Aug 15, 2024 12:56:28 GMT
I understand the ones showing at Sohoplace have been slightly reworked and updated to take place closer to the current day, but I understand the basic storylines are the same so I doubt you'd miss much.
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Post by joem on Aug 15, 2024 15:13:53 GMT
Found this even more ranty and with a thinner level of content than Delroy. Again, a very good performance but the material just doesn't seem to be there to take it to another level.
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