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Post by inthenose on Jun 30, 2022 6:33:52 GMT
Anyone else slightly cynical about this before seeing a show or play? I'll elaborate. alessia posts in their review of The Seagull; The actors stay on the stage all along, moving chairs as needed when they are speaking. There are no other props, which I understand is another of the J Lloyd Company's trademarks. It's all stripped back and everybody on stage is barefoot. Nail. On. Head. I can't think of many (any?) Jamie Lloyd productions which don't look and feel exactly the same. But this happens a lot with many directors whose "trademark style" dominates the piece, rather than facilitates it. Take Ivo Van Hove's use of cameras as a more literal and specific example. I find it incredibly distracting every time and wait for reviews to come out, which always confirm their use, and therefore give it a miss. I feel some directors shoehorn in what they feel is effective or artistically pleasing, without regard for the actual piece they are presenting. What might work in one piece isn't guaranteed to work in another, but you just *know* it'll pop up somewhere regardless. Note, I am not knocking theatre companies who specifically present a style under an artistic director; obviously a puppet company will always use puppets. I am talking more about freelance directors brought in to create works, where you already know in advance that XYZ will be in the staging. Any more examples? |
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Jun 30, 2022 6:43:41 GMT
Could have named the thread One Trick Ponies 🐎
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Post by viserys on Jun 30, 2022 7:02:02 GMT
At least it means you know you can avoid certain directors when you don't like their trademark style. I'm not a fan of Jamie Lloyd's stagings but I've booked for Seagull for Emilia Clarke and Indira Varma as belated additions to "seeing as many Game of Thrones actors live on stage as I can" (yea, I was a fan as you can tell by my name), so I'll sit through it.
Ivo van Hove I've boycotted since before he developed his international style because I will never ever forgive him for the way he ruined the first Dutch production of Rent many years ago by not understanding it at all.
That said, I still think, you Brits are fairly well off when it comes to drama with just a few oddball directors here and there and not wall to wall Regietheater like we have here in Germany and which made me gave up on live theatre 30 years ago.
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Post by couldileaveyou on Jun 30, 2022 7:44:46 GMT
Well Yael Farber is the mistress of gimmicks. Some of the most noticeable are the character who walks around the stage for the entire play and the women singing/wailing at random moments
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Post by distantcousin on Jun 30, 2022 9:47:27 GMT
Oh, THIS is going to be a fun topic!
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Post by couldileaveyou on Jun 30, 2022 10:05:48 GMT
Laurence Connor's trademark is being derivative and creating low budget versions of the work of better directors
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Post by mkb on Jun 30, 2022 10:31:29 GMT
I was surprised by how much of Punchdrunk's The Burnt City was stylistically stolen from the The Drowned Man and Sleep No More. They seem to have run out of ideas.
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Post by inthenose on Jun 30, 2022 11:34:49 GMT
Laurence Connor's trademark is being derivative and creating low budget versions of the work of better directors Rock and a hard place a bit for Larry I think. He's Cameron and Andy's "boy", over whom they would appear to leverage absolute control. I think it's definitely true that some of the blocking and pacing problems in Cinderella would've been squashed by a better director, but the piece was too far gone to cure with shuffling bodies on stage around. It needed a whole new book and some new songs before even looking at how the story got told. Not even Grandage or Prince could've made a hit of that mess - the state of it. School of Rock was okay if unspectacular - certainly competent. Miss Saigon was excellent until the cast change, which I doubt he helped cast or put into the show (and killed the run). Everything else has been copy-pasted, budget trash. |
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Post by Dawnstar on Jun 30, 2022 12:25:38 GMT
At least it means you know you can avoid certain directors when you don't like their trademark style. It starts getting problematic when there are so many directors whose trademarks one dislikes that there's hardly anything one's prepared to see! I've really found this with opera at the ROH & ENO over the last few years. Opera director trademarks: Calixo Bieto considerable violence, sex & nudity; Richard Jones wallpaper; Christof Loy modern & fairly minimalist; Robert Carsen static & very minimalist. I could go on but it's too depressing. There are so few visually beautiful opera productions nowadays & even fewer that are not only visually attractive but also set in the right period & keep entirely to the libretto. I should have lived about a hundred years earlier.
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Jun 30, 2022 12:27:10 GMT
Wallpaper??
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Post by Dawnstar on Jun 30, 2022 12:35:14 GMT
The sets for his productions often feature lurid wallpaper designs, to the extent that it's become a joke among opera critics & fans. For instance when a new Jones production is set to open there are often comments on Twitter jokingly wondering what wallpaper designs he's chosen this time. |
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Post by inthenose on Jun 30, 2022 12:48:14 GMT
Another couple - Michael Grandage loves boxes and rearranging of said boxes by cast in "live" scene changes. David Thacker up at the Bolton Octagon seemed obsessed with practical props - this one did make some sense, as the smallish venue is in the round and you're rather close. It did seem limited however to mundane home appliances... Irons, microwaves, kettles...
Cheating a bit in my own thread, because it was when he's acting, but I've seen Branagh spit on the floor in three separate plays to show fury/desperation (Ivanov, Richard III, The Entertainer). I'd add Kerry Ellis tucking her hair behind her ears, Jérôme Pradon sticking his chin out when holding a long note and Biggins mugging like the genie from Extras in absolutely everything.
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Post by viserys on Jun 30, 2022 12:48:57 GMT
There are so few visually beautiful opera productions nowadays & even fewer that are not only visually attractive but also set in the right period & keep entirely to the libretto. I know how you feel! It's been like that here in Germany for ages, so while I have a decent opera house basically at my doorstep, I just can't be bothered with their productions. Instead we drive two hours to Liege in Belgium, where the Opèra Royal de Wallonie has been doing really lovely classical stagings (and even the odd modernized outlier has been done so well, I couldn't help loving it, like when Belgian movie director Jaco van Dormael did a modern-day Don Giovanni set on Wall Street which was just great and did feel like a movie indeed). Sadly their Musical Director fell over dead unexpectedly last year and it seems the new guy is bringing in more little known works and less authentic stagings. I'll see how the season goes (we booked three operas) and I do hope they will stick with their classic stagings. |
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Jun 30, 2022 12:53:39 GMT
Cheating a bit in my own thread, because it was when he's acting, but I've seen Branagh spit on the floor in three separate plays to show fury/desperation (Ivanov, Richard III, The Entertainer). I'd add Kerry Ellis tucking her hair behind her ears, Jérôme Pradon sticking his chin out when holding a long note and Biggins mugging like the genie from Extras in absolutely everything. If we’re going there I’m throwing in Alexandra Burke sticking her finger in her ear when she needs to hit a difficult note! 😄 |
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Post by marob on Jun 30, 2022 12:54:16 GMT
Always find Marianne Elliott a bit samey. She seems almost as obsessed with ‘empty box’ sets as Jamie Lloyd is, only instead of his microphones she’s got neon lights and ‘movement.’
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Post by Dawnstar on Jun 30, 2022 13:04:46 GMT
Sadly their Musical Director fell over dead unexpectedly last year and it seems the new guy is bringing in more little known works and less authentic stagings. I'll see how the season goes (we booked three operas) and I do hope they will stick with their classic stagings. Good luck! I had something similar with Welsh National Opera. I started seeing them in 2004 when I went to university in Bristol, one of their tour venues, and even after I finished uni in 2007 I went back twice a year for several years to see their productions, most of which were fairly traditional. Then in 2012 there was a change in artistic director & the general production style likewise changed to something much less traditional. Since then I've only seen a couple of their productions, & those were ones dating from before the AD change that were being revived. |
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Post by inthenose on Jun 30, 2022 13:07:05 GMT
At least it means you know you can avoid certain directors when you don't like their trademark style. It starts getting problematic when there are so many directors whose trademarks one dislikes that there's hardly anything one's prepared to see! I've really found this with opera at the ROH & ENO over the last few years. Opera director trademarks: Calixo Bieto considerable violence, sex & nudity; Richard Jones wallpaper; Christof Loy modern & fairly minimalist; Robert Carsen static & very minimalist. I could go on but it's too depressing. There are so few visually beautiful opera productions nowadays & even fewer that are not only visually attractive but also set in the right period & keep entirely to the libretto. I should have lived about a hundred years earlier.
This is my number one bugbear (which is different from a BurlyBear) presently in musical theatre, if I'm completely honest. I know many Shakespeare purists feel this way about his plays, but I'm ambivalent on that. Yes, I know theatre evolves and has to change with the times blah blah blah - it just seems to me most are billed as "reimaginings" but are actually downgrades in terms of set, orchestra and cast size/quality. I've been disappointed in Carousel, Oklahoma!, Legally Blonde and The Phantom of the Opera in the last 6 months alone. I know not to expect AAA budgets from fringe venues, but something close to the original is more my cup of tea. I know we still have the occasional My Fair Lady, Anything Goes or 42nd Street, but I really can't seem to connect to these budget "updated versions"... Oh and Craig Revel Horwood loves (has only ever done?) the John Doyle style staging of his actor-musician productions, and also loves a camp comic relief character (The Arbiter in Chess, the store owner in Sunset Boulevard, and a regional one I can't quite remember at the moment!). |
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Post by oxfordsimon on Jun 30, 2022 13:16:39 GMT
A number of things frustrate me about certain contemporary directors:
1 - They don't trust the source material
If you don't fully love a play or musical for what the authors intended then don't direct it.
Don't seek to 'improve' or 'reimagine' so that you can tell your own story.
If you want to tell that story, find a writer, commission a script and then stage it.
2 - Their work needs explanation
If, as a theatregoer, you need to read an article in the programme to understand what the director is trying to achieve, then the director has failed.
The work must be comprehensible from the auditorium without further explanation or clarification.
3 - They think they are more important than the actors or the writer(s).
The director is there to serve the audience and the text by collaborating with the actors and the creatives to deliver a satisfying piece of theatre.
Directors are not there to show off or make it all about them. That is just arrogance.
A good director can have tropes or gimmicks as much as they like as long as they are deployed to serve the piece they are directing.
What I want from a director is someone who has clearly thought about and researched the script. Someone who approaches things with an open mind and not closed ideas. Someone who allows the actors and the script to shine. Someone who doesn't impose themselves on the text or the audience.
The best direction is probably where the audience doesn't even notice the hand of the director. The piece just works seamlessly from start to finish. Only later do you appreciate the work that went into creating it.
One show that exemplifies that for me is the original run of Jerusalem. At no point were you taken out of the world of the play. Everything flowed from page to stage. And the audiences reacted with huge enthusiasm.
The work that Ian Rickson did was not 'in your face' directing. He brought together the talents in the cast and crew and clearly created working relationships that delivered excellence. I haven't seen the current revival but I imagine that they have built on that original work to achieve new insights.
Not showy. Just great.
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Post by inthenose on Jun 30, 2022 13:21:56 GMT
The best direction is probably where the audience doesn't even notice the hand of the director. The piece just works seamlessly from start to finish. Only later do you appreciate the work that went into creating it. One show that exemplifies that for me is the original run of Jerusalem. At no point were you taken out of the world of the play. Everything flowed from page to stage. This is an excellent point - I'd add Trevor Nunn, Hal Prince and Matthew Warchus to that list too personally. Warchus is just about our best director presently, in my opinion. He can do the lot. |
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Post by partytentdown on Jun 30, 2022 14:34:43 GMT
Emma Rice loves a neon sign
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Post by viserys on Jun 30, 2022 14:38:01 GMT
I've been disappointed in Carousel, Oklahoma!, Legally Blonde and The Phantom of the Opera in the last 6 months alone. I think it depends on WHERE it is. I admittedly loved the new Oklahoma! when I saw it in New York (can't speak for the Young Vic version), but I think this one went from a very small "fringe experiment" to something bigger by public demand - although it wasn't even selling well on Broadway after the transfer. I'm here for this kind of experiment because it's pretty easy to avoid if you don't care for it and there are also still traditional stagings around (like the current South Pacific, if you want an old-fashioned Rodgers/Hammerstein). I'm less keen when it's a special venue like the Open Air Theatre, that does one musical per year in a very special setting and probably has many repeat visitors. I think that setting should be used to the best possible advantage like they did with Into the Woods. I'd love to see Secret Garden done there or possibly an Oklahoma with actual horses, stuff like that, which is for everyone to enjoy in this special theatre. It doesn't need bizarre experiments like this year's Legally Blonde (last year's Carousel was just about okay, though in retrospect I really didn't like the changed ending that denied Billy redemption and I'm saying this as a feminist female) - that kind of stuff really does belong on the fringe IMHO. |
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Post by nottobe on Jun 30, 2022 15:05:22 GMT
Rebecca Frecknall loves wooden chairs.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 30, 2022 15:07:00 GMT
I used to know an actor/director who loved the idea of "pure" theatre: no sets, and little in the way of costumes. Everything represented by acting alone. If you're thinking "that sounds interesting" you would be wrong. "Interesting" is not the word.
There were still props and sets, but they were made out of actors who weren't currently playing characters required for the scene, still in the costumes they would be wearing when they were playing characters. The audiences was just expected to know when a performer was a character and when they weren't. You spent most so much of your time trying to figure out what people were doing that you couldn't concentrate on the story. "Confusing" is the word that would have occurred to most of the audience. "Sleeping" is another.
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Post by Dawnstar on Jun 30, 2022 15:35:28 GMT
Rebecca Frecknall loves wooden chairs. Lots of directors share this love, especially when said chairs can be knocked over to indicate moderate emotion & thrown across the stage to indicate strong emotion! There were still props and sets, but they were made out of actors who weren't currently playing characters required for the scene, still in the costumes they would be wearing when they were playing characters. Sounds rather like improv! |
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Post by oxfordsimon on Jun 30, 2022 16:45:37 GMT
If you look back to the original performance practices that the Globe was (in part) set up to explore, there was little by way of set other than furniture, costumes were largely contemporary and there wasn't what would now be termed a director. And that sort of minimalist approach can still work as long as your storytelling and characterization is strong.
But it needs that clarity of vision which is so often lacking.
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The actors stay on the stage all along, moving chairs as needed when they are speaking. There are no other props, which I understand is another of the J Lloyd Company's trademarks. It's all stripped back and everybody on stage is barefoot.
