1,061 posts
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Post by David J on Feb 6, 2016 15:35:29 GMT
I'm sorry what was the point of An Englishman Abroad?
I get this is based on a real story where Nicholas Farrell plays a spy who lived in Moscow till his dying day, who met this Australian actress played by Belinda Lang
But it was more or less meaningless chit chat, whilst Farrell asked her for a few items from England. A few moments where we saw other people's thoughts on him, but nothing else
Only a few smatterings of titters from the elderly audience
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752 posts
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Post by Latecomer on Feb 6, 2016 18:07:49 GMT
Thanks David...was wondering whether to book at Oxford, as it tours there! Will hold fire!  |
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1,061 posts
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Post by David J on Feb 6, 2016 18:31:18 GMT
A Question of Attribution is better. More laughs and it's nice to draw parallels between Anthony Blunts interrogations to see if he know some suspected spies, and his talks on whether paintings are fake or not. Truth or deception and so forth
And there's an appearance from her majesty herself, with a good impersonation from Belinda Bang
Otherwise there's nothing else to it, and that's my problem with the two plays here
They feel like 10-15 short pieces extended to just short of 1 hour, with little to says
My view on Alan Bennet is mixed really. I like it when he's just writing about people, the lady in the van and talking heads for one. When he writes topical plays like the history boys, people, and this, they don't hang together for me
I want to be generous and say this is an average play, but in the end I feel like I've wasted my time. An Englishman abroad even made me consider leaving at the interval for the first time
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274 posts
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Post by emsworthian on Feb 6, 2016 21:31:43 GMT
I saw both of the plays on TV ages ago and although they were enjoyable enough to watch at home while swigging a glass of wine, there wasn't enough in them to make me want to venture out on a cold, rainy and windy night to see them in the theatre.
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3,575 posts
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Post by showgirl on Feb 7, 2016 5:20:56 GMT
I vaguely recall the original NT production from 1988 and was wondering about this but so far it doesn't sound as though I'll bother booking. In any case I have reservations about pairings, or groupings of one-act plays regardless of author, as they never seem as satisfying as a longer piece. Even if the eventual reviews are more favourable than early reports here, this might be a hard sell for theatres on the tour itinerary and there are lots of them...
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Post by Deleted on Feb 7, 2016 10:32:43 GMT
Have booked this for a Birmingham matinee with my family, under the usual conditions that they only have to pay me back for the tickets if they don't hate it. Are you telling me I'm going to be out of pocket on this one??
Oh well, it kills a couple of hours and gives me the chance to have an afternoon glass of wine...
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Post by Jan on Feb 7, 2016 13:43:20 GMT
If you want to see An Englishman Abroad see the original TV version with Alan Bates and Coral Browne (playing herself) directed by John Schlesinger, it is very good.
I saw the NT production of these years ago and really hated A Question of Attribution - the posturing Hampstead left-winger Alan Bennett at his Daily Mail worst toadying up to and fawning over Her Majesty by suggesting improbably that she's an all-knowing genius. Awful. Like the sort of propagandist rubbish they used to churn out about Elizabeth I and not even done ironically.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 7, 2016 14:05:00 GMT
Perhaps the whole Burgess, Philby and Maclean story is less familiar to people now? When this was first staged the whole story was still a big deal, even to people (like me) born after their defections.
"Question of Attribution" was very controversial when first produced - it was the first "substantial portrayal" of a living British monarch on stage, the National's board of directors tried to block it being staged and Richard Eyre threatened to resign as a result. Which seems totally bizarre now given (as Jan points out) the fawning portrayal of Her Maj and subsequent shows like The Audience and King Charles III.
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Post by Nicholas on Jun 25, 2016 0:20:33 GMT
“I can say I love London. I can say I love England. But I can’t say I love my country. I don’t know what that means.”
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848 posts
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Post by duncan on Jun 25, 2016 3:39:07 GMT
At least he'll still be able to have a cheeky Nandos whilst abroad  |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 9, 2016 18:21:01 GMT
Sorry to bump an old thread, but I'm new and am looking for threads on plays I saw!
I was really disappointed with this. I thought it was all very *clever* in an overly knowing way, as if it was all showing off how terribly *clever* it was. I preferred the first one, although it was all a bit pointless. They had run out of programmes when I went, so I googled at the interval, and I'm glad I did, because if I hadn't, I wouldn't have had any idea what was going on in the second half. I had no idea beforehand that it was two separate plays.
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Post by d'James on Aug 9, 2016 19:26:27 GMT
Where did you see it? I saw it in Oxford and they'd run out of programmes there too. I didn't like it much either. Good performances, just not the show for me.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 9, 2016 20:01:53 GMT
I saw it in Sheffield.
Weirdly, my friend works in Canterbury, and they ran out of programmes there too!
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Post by Deleted on Aug 9, 2016 20:24:54 GMT
It's rumoured that the missing programmes are all hidden under Thora's settee, right by a cream cracker.
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