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Post by Jan on Mar 12, 2017 15:13:41 GMT
I saw the Howard Davies/Richard Griffiths Henry VIII done as a Brechtian production. Very good. Also the Doran one which wasn't as good. Billington says the church one is the best he's seen. Church one was by far the best. Deffo helped by being so close to the action. Remember being passed evidence in the trial of Wolsey and then having the baby Elizabeth right in front of us. Stunning show and acting was top notch Wolsey being played by David Weston of Covering McKellen fame of course, his last major Shakespeare part before the ill-fated King Lear tour. He'd been in it once before in a production that re-used costumes from Carry On Henry. |
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Post by profquatermass on Mar 12, 2017 18:42:04 GMT
Re rare Sondheims - Saturday Night had its first professional production at the Bridewell in 1997 so it hasn't been impossible to see. I susect a lot of people will be completing their Sondheim musical canon with The Frogs though. Personally I don't count the reviews but there's the question of Evening Primrose and Getting Away with Murder..
The Bridewell also did Henry VIII a few years ago so with the Globe one it hasn't been *that* hard to see. I can't offhand remember any London Two Gents in the last few years (except for the Globe to Globe one)
Chekhov would be fairly easy to complete I think - there have been a couple of productions recently of a bunch of the one-act plays and you could certainly see the full-length ones without too mich hassle
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Post by Deleted on Mar 12, 2017 19:46:58 GMT
I love Martin McDonagh's stuff but fear I've missed my chance of seeing the two Leenane plays that live in The Beauty Queen's shadow. The latter I've seen several times. A masterpiece! I've seen everything else with the exception of A Behanding in Spokane, which I don't think has been done here, at least not in London. Why do we not see more revivals? He always seems a bit of a hot ticket when he's on...
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Post by joem on Mar 12, 2017 19:56:37 GMT
Is anyone trying to complete Ayckbourn?
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Post by Jan on Mar 12, 2017 20:10:06 GMT
Is anyone trying to complete Ayckbourn? I think he's withdrawn performing rights for a handful of them. |
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Post by joem on Mar 12, 2017 20:14:42 GMT
Is anyone trying to complete Ayckbourn? I think he's withdrawn performing rights for a handful of them. Really? That's an end to that then, Sisyphean task though it would have been anyway. |
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Post by profquatermass on Mar 12, 2017 20:44:56 GMT
I think he's withdrawn performing rights for a handful of them. Really? That's an end to that then, Sisyphean task though it would have been anyway. He wrote some one act children's plays - I saw a couple a drama festival once - so you'd have to see a lot of youth productions to complete the set of available ones |
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Post by martin1965 on Mar 13, 2017 5:47:20 GMT
I've only achieved one writer's complete canon, and 'that's Shakespeare's, however living 3 miles from Stratford helps. Therefore I've done Thomas More, Cardenio, Edward III, Two Noble Kinsmen. Deffo hardest is Henry VIII but I've managed 3 in the last 19 years. I'm even sadder and seen the main canon at least twice now. Yes Henry VIII is tricky. I've seen 2 and failed to get tickets for that one they did in a church. If I see 2 productions of it then I complete 4 cycles of the main canon. For Marlowe I'm waiting for Massacre at Paris. Ooh saw that at the Rose bankside in 2011, it was amazing! So will complete Marlowe at sua in the autumn. |
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Post by martin1965 on Mar 13, 2017 5:49:05 GMT
How do we feel about Arden of Faversham? Is it now definitely in the Shakspear canon? It's Out. But I've seen it anyway. Likewise Yorkshire Tragedy, also Out but I've seen it just in case. Agreed but i need to see it anyway, frankly ridiculous the rsc have never done it! |
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Post by martin1965 on Mar 13, 2017 5:53:36 GMT
Church one was by far the best. Deffo helped by being so close to the action. Remember being passed evidence in the trial of Wolsey and then having the baby Elizabeth right in front of us. Stunning show and acting was top notch Wolsey being played by David Weston of Covering McKellen fame of course, his last major Shakespeare part before the ill-fated King Lear tour. He'd been in it once before in a production that re-used costumes from Carry On Henry. Anthony O'Donnell was Wolsey. It was a brilliant production in a wonderful setting. |
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Post by Jan on Mar 13, 2017 6:55:33 GMT
Wolsey being played by David Weston of Covering McKellen fame of course, his last major Shakespeare part before the ill-fated King Lear tour. He'd been in it once before in a production that re-used costumes from Carry On Henry. Anthony O'Donnell was Wolsey. It was a brilliant production in a wonderful setting. Ah my mistake, Weston was Chorus in that one wasn't he, he had previously played Wolsey in a different production. |
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Post by Jan on Mar 13, 2017 6:58:58 GMT
Chekhov would be fairly easy to complete I think - there have been a couple of productions recently of a bunch of the one-act plays and you could certainly see the full-length ones without too mich hassle Never seen a production of The Wood Demon. |
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Post by Mr Snow on Mar 13, 2017 8:06:13 GMT
MMMM.
My most Geeky fanboy stuff might be for Verdi. A quick count reveals by next week I’ll have seen 18 of about 25 ‘major’ works. (Some Operas have minor revisions when performed in French or Italian and some are radically reworked or expanded. Don Carlo/Carlos). I’ve been to his birthplace and home but am annoyed that on my one visit to Milan we failed to go to the retirement home he built for Opera singers.
BUT I’ve seen the best of his work and won’t go out of my way to see the rest.
I think about his when I visit Art Galleries. Does everything Picasso ever touched bear merit? Was he never ill, hungover or simply uninspired? I’ve seen some very average pictures on display simply because of who they are attributed to. They have no merit at all to me and I wish I’d spent the time looking at other pictures.
You can take this further when you get to the ‘attributed to’ label. If the authorship of something attributed to Shakespeare is in doubt well the play has hardly gained its place in the cannon and why revive it if it has no merit? If scholars want to study it then they shouldn’t rely on one cheap production. It’s even worse in the art world. Getting something attributed adds considerably to the financial value but doesn’t change the picture. Yet several pictures which were once in storage suddenly go on show once a new artists name is attached. We know from his brother Theo’s records how many ‘Sunflower’ paintings Van Gogh did. (From Memory) it’s about 12 yet there are about 17 on display in major Galleries around the world. A couple of decade ago a Japanese insurance firm blew the market apart with how much it paid for one that came on the market (I think it was the first $100m+ sale). It has never been sent to the Rijsmuseum for authentication as the downside is too large and in the art market no one wants to expose chicanery. So if you are looking at a Sunflower picture, what are you really looking at? Isn't the same true for the 'attributed to Shakespeare' plays?
The reasons for MMMM.
I also have 10 bootlegs by Van Morison recorded between 69 and 74. I have no interest in anything live produced before or after that period and will buy any more that fit. Sometimes the sound is execrable and on one you can hear a couple of drunks urging him to play “Freebird”. It’s just I find his musical development very interesting in that period. Its online where he performed but there’s no way of knowing if bootlegs exist. So it remains an open challenge.
A guy I know who travels a lot spotted that the two earliest Wagner Operas were being given very rare performances in Eastern Europe this spring. He got excited and set himself the challenge of working out how he could see all 12(?memory again) of his Operas in one year. Sadly, other commitments killed his chance to see the second Opera and the idea remains alive in his mind, but dormant for now.
I’m sitting on the fence with this one. I think it’s a worthless task aiming to be a completest, BUT I can see the appeal.
So, tell me is it a male thing? Setting oneself a (completely arbitrary) challenge?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 13, 2017 9:30:11 GMT
I've seen all of the standard Shakespeare canon + Cardenio, need to tick off the remnants.
Sondheim - will have seen everything other than the revues and the unperformed stuff after seeing The Frogs and Follies
Wagner - like Mr Snow's friend, I've seen the works Wagner regarded as canonical, was very tempted to see Die Feen and Das Liebesverbot which were on in Germany last year but dates didn't work out. Would love to see "Männerlist größer als Frauenlist oder Die glückliche Bärenfamilie" just because I love the fact that Wagner actually did write something called "The Happy Bear Family".
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Post by Deleted on Mar 13, 2017 11:20:23 GMT
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Post by schuttep on Mar 16, 2017 9:47:11 GMT
I've got the Shakespeare canon (all the attributed ones) but I want to get them performed by the RSC (I have only Pericles to go) as I think the RSC are the best (followed by the NT, with whom I have about half).
I also have all the available Sondheims except You're Gonna Love Tomorrow and Sondheim on Sondheim (although I believe this was based on Moving' On which I saw at The Bridewell). The Frogs was previously done as a concert performance at the Barbican Cinema 1 on 9 August 1998. Stephanie Beacham narrated. I'm seeing the Jermyn St one on 23 March.
I am also collecting the Agatha Christie plays but this has slowed down since Mr Kenwright abandoned his attempt to do them. Love From a Stranger is my next one next year at the Royal and Derngate, Northampton.
I'm also going for Ibsen, Chekhov and Brecht but they are taking ages to collect as the most popular ones are done mostly (surprise, surprise!)
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Post by PalelyLaura on Mar 16, 2017 11:52:33 GMT
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