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Post by Dr Tom on Jan 13, 2024 18:37:37 GMT
I was there on the front row for the final matinee today. A few empty seats around me, but not sure if this was because people had asked to move or if they’d taken the seats off sale. I still think this is an excellent view.
The cast were having a lot of fun. I think there were a few muckup changes but I can’t remember this well enough to say for sure. Even some interaction with me. A polite audience too.
I hope the current cast all get to go to Broadway. It may be a difficult sell over there and I suspect jokes about Dudley will go over the heads of many, but football does have a worldwide following. Let’s not forget this replaced a big money Broadway jukebox musical transfer, has sold very well, and is in one of London’s largest theatres. I’m sure there will be another London run in the future.
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Post by greatauntedna on Jan 13, 2024 22:46:55 GMT
Saw the last performance tonight in row M, after seeing it front row in July. Very good.
Did they cut a scene towards the end, a heart to heart between Gareth and Pippa? I thought so and a woman on the way out was asking an usher if they’d changed the ending.
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Post by lynette on Jan 13, 2024 23:12:13 GMT
Saw the last performance tonight in row M, after seeing it front row in July. Very good. Did they cut a scene towards the end, a heart to heart between Gareth and Pippa? I thought so and a woman on the way out was asking an usher if they’d changed the ending. Was that the conversation a little earlier in the play? I was at the matinee today. My question is, did they give the women winning a few more seconds? Seemed she was onstage longer than I recall from NT.
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Post by lynette on Jan 13, 2024 23:13:30 GMT
I was there on the front row for the final matinee today. A few empty seats around me, but not sure if this was because people had asked to move or if they’d taken the seats off sale. I still think this is an excellent view. The cast were having a lot of fun. I think there were a few muckup changes but I can’t remember this well enough to say for sure. Even some interaction with me. A polite audience too. I hope the current cast all get to go to Broadway. It may be a difficult sell over there and I suspect jokes about Dudley will go over the heads of many, but football does have a worldwide following. Let’s not forget this replaced a big money Broadway jukebox musical transfer, has sold very well, and is in one of London’s largest theatres. I’m sure there will be another London run in the future. Was there too! We were a quiet audience, weren’t we?
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Post by greatauntedna on Jan 13, 2024 23:16:38 GMT
Saw the last performance tonight in row M, after seeing it front row in July. Very good. Did they cut a scene towards the end, a heart to heart between Gareth and Pippa? I thought so and a woman on the way out was asking an usher if they’d changed the ending. Was that the conversation a little earlier in the play? I was at the matinee today. My question is, did they give the women winning a few more seconds? Seemed she was onstage longer than I recall from NT. I’m not sure. I feel like at the NT, there was a conversation with them sat near the front of the stage, shortly before the final scene. I could be totally misremembering. I did think they gave the women’s win more time!
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Post by Stephen on Jan 14, 2024 11:25:08 GMT
Was at the final matinee. I hadn't seen a play for a while so found it all a big heightened at first but settled in and really enjoyed it! I was impressed by how well timed the kicks and sound effects were. To the extent I wondered if there are cue lights for the cast or something.
Still, not my favourite James Graham play and comes behind Ink and Labour of Love for me.
Would be interested in the Broadway response because it feels so 'British' but then they will probably think that's sweet and love how 'British' it all is.
I overhead a lady from the US ask an Usher if she had to pay for a programme. LOL.
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Post by Rory on Jan 14, 2024 14:41:23 GMT
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Post by amyja89 on Jan 14, 2024 17:58:13 GMT
Anyone else feel like this is destined for a film adaptation at some point? Even better if England can actually do something in Germany this year to give Southgate his full circle moment!
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Post by Stephen on Jan 15, 2024 0:17:53 GMT
Can anyone who has seen this remind me of the quote which appears on the light ring above the stage towards the end of act 2. I liked it but have since forgotten it. Is it in the play text? About strength in fear or similar?
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Post by harrietcraig on Jan 15, 2024 18:12:20 GMT
I was somewhat surprised to see that there will be NT Live screenings of Dear England in New York in March. Leopoldstadt never got an NT Live screening in New York (in fact, I don’t thank it was screened anywhere in the US), and I always assumed that was because they didn’t want to cut into the audiences for live performances of the Broadway production, which opened not long after the NT Live screenings were shown in the UK.
If Dear England is indeed going to transfer to Broadway, I wonder why there wasn’t the same concern about allowing NT Live screenings in New York. I just bought a ticket for a screening on March 29, which means I’m most likely one less potential ticket-buyer for the live production when it comes to Broadway.
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Post by aspieandy on Jan 15, 2024 20:37:55 GMT
Neil Diamond is a hometown boy, isn't he. I can see him being wheeled out for the promo ...what price a stage appearance?
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Post by Dr Tom on Jan 15, 2024 20:57:49 GMT
Neil Diamond is a hometown boy, isn't he. I can see him being wheeled out for the promo ...what price a stage appearance? Sadly, I don’t believe he’s able to make public appearances any more.
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Post by theatremiss on Jan 16, 2024 18:28:40 GMT
Is this a Broadway Act III?
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Post by aspieandy on Jan 16, 2024 20:08:39 GMT
Is this a Broadway Act III?
It would be pretty natural for it to return to the NT for a second run during the tournament.
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Post by theatremiss on Jan 17, 2024 13:44:48 GMT
Is this a Broadway Act III?
It would be pretty natural for it to return to the NT for a second run during the tournament.
Hope it isn’t a limited run as I’m hoping to be at the Euros
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Post by carriesparkle on Jan 28, 2024 8:52:24 GMT
I saw this at the NT Live screening this week and had been looking forward to it for ages. I liked it a lot, and recognised that there were some staging choices that would really hit home in the room rather than on the screen. I enjoyed the move from caricature to fully-drawn character for eg Harry Kane, but really felt there were some missed opportunities. I thought Act 1 was a bit leaden in places with Act 2 much the more engaging but also with SO much packed into it there were things that were touched on (because they had to be, like the racism post-Euro 2020/1) but never unpacked.
I would have loved that scene with Southgate and Sarina Wiegman to have been developed - that little aside from a player about the "low expectations" for the women balanced against the pressure for men, Southgate's position as player from Euro 96 and Wiegman's epic success as a coach in other countries and coming in as an outsider, really bolsters what Graham wants to do with this play.
I didn't like some of the clunky exposition (particularly the dressing-room chat between players).
I should say I'm coming at all of this as someone who works in football so appreciate that others may not feel the same!
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Post by Rory on Jan 28, 2024 9:09:19 GMT
I saw this in the Olivier in August on one of the days on which it was being filmed. I absolutely loved it and the atmosphere in the auditorium was electrifying. However, on seeing it again at the cinema, for me it really highlighted the limitations of cinema relay. Whilst it's better to have NT Live than not, for me the magic didn't translate on this occasion. It's such a theatrical piece.
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Post by aspieandy on Jan 28, 2024 17:02:38 GMT
.. with SO much packed into it there were things that were touched on (because they had to be, like the racism post-Euro 2020/1) but never unpacked. This unpacks it a bit. As of the July following the winter tournament: Overwhelmingly, these comment come via bot farms in Eastern Europe, keen for England/UK to eat itself up with self-loathing (Elon Musk has since done a great deal of housekeeping in this respect). As the article says, 34 racist comments didn't come from England but rather the whole of the UK.
That's pretty close to one racist comment per two million people (ratio of drunk/stupid unknown).
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Post by adrianics on Jan 29, 2024 9:49:44 GMT
I saw a screening in my local cinema yesterday. This is the first time I've been to an NT Live screening and certainly won't be the last; I greatly enjoyed it, felt I didn't miss an awful lot from watching on screen rather than going to the enormous inconvenience and expense of travelling down to London and especially appreciated the interval! It's a shame that the quick-change makeup (particularly the bald caps) didn't stand up to scrutiny when on-screen, but that's obviously understandable.
I'm a huge football fan who has followed the Southgate England team very closely having become entirely disillusioned with them during the Eriksson/Capello/Hodgson years, so was very much looking forward to experiencing this.
To me it's a fascinating example of a creative project simultaneously trying to cover far too much ground but also being far too long; the significance of Southgate's England team in the wider context of the country's political and social direction, the amount of scrutiny and pressure international footballers face against their personal feelings, the lack of mental health provisions for top athletes, the "shut up and play" controversies that have come with cultural figures becoming more and more outspoken on social media, everything the play touches on is ripe for artistic analysis but ultimately Dear England tries to cover all of it with various levels of success. To me it would have been a lot better to cover a single tournament, probably the 2021 Euros, rather than Southgate's entire tenure to date. I would also just remove the various references to real-life political figures if you're going to chicken out of doing anything more dangerous than just having an ensemble member put on a bad wig and do a Boris Johnson impression.
The staging of the production and performances from the ensemble were spectacular. The stand-outs amongst the players for me were Pickford, Sterling and especially Harry Kane; the running motif of the pressure that comes with taking penalties, tied up with one of the world's most dependable penalty takers missing the most important penalty of his career, bordered on genius and was very effective. I absolutely *loved* the players reciting their numbers in the order of England players across time before taking their penalties, which was a beautiful way of portraying the effect Southgate had on changing the perception of playing for England.
I have very mixed feelings on Fienne's performance as Southgate. He's clearly put an enormous amount of time, work and effort into capturing the mannerisms but at times it bordered on the ridiculous and I wondered whether it was supposed to be venerating Southgate or mocking him. His monologue about his trauma of missing the penalty was absolutely sublime in writing and acting, and the final moment between him and Kane was perfect.
All in all I think I'd give this 4/5. I agree with the comments that it would make a good movie!
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Post by Jon on Feb 21, 2024 20:28:30 GMT
Dear England is going to turn into a TV series by the BBC. James Graham and Rupert Goold are back to write and direct with Joseph Fiennes as Gareth Southgate.
I assume they're going to add more material but also have to reimagine it.
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Post by theatrelover97 on Feb 21, 2024 20:30:13 GMT
The BBC have announced they adapting it into a four part drama with Joseph Fiennes reprising his role and Rupert Gould directing it again
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Post by theatrelover97 on Feb 21, 2024 20:31:33 GMT
Dear England is going to turn into a TV series by the BBC. James Graham and Rupert Goold are back to write and direct with Joseph Fiennes as Gareth Southgate. I assume they're going to add more material but also have to reimagine it. They really should save the at least the filming of the ending until after July. His entire legacy could change one way or another at the Euros. It clearly won't air until after. The 2022 world cup is not a dramatic enough ending point if viewers know what happened next
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Post by aspieandy on Feb 21, 2024 21:31:18 GMT
Presumably 4 x 60-minutes. James Graham clearly confident he has the material for that already, or will have the material after June ..
#ItsComingHome
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Post by n1david on Feb 21, 2024 23:14:35 GMT
One of the joys of this was its theatricality, and the creativity of the staging. They're going to have to work some to make it a non-conventional drama.
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Post by Jon on Feb 21, 2024 23:17:30 GMT
One of the joys of this was its theatricality, and the creativity of the staging. They're going to have to work some to make it a non-conventional drama. TBF Quiz worked as a TV series so I trust James Graham can rework his play into a series.
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Post by n1david on Feb 21, 2024 23:40:59 GMT
One of the joys of this was its theatricality, and the creativity of the staging. They're going to have to work some to make it a non-conventional drama. TBF Quiz worked as a TV series so I trust James Graham can rework his play into a series. True, but given that the original theatre production of Quiz was, essentially, a TV show on stage, the conversion back to TV was rather more straightforward than a football match...
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Post by amyja89 on Feb 22, 2024 8:56:59 GMT
'Fake' football historically has looked awful on screen, even in the biggest budget movies. They have the advantage of only having to really focus on the penalties, but to me the success of the play was not really having that pressure to make things look realistic. Will be interested to see if/how some of the performances are toned down too, I just can't imagine Jordan Pickford and even Harry Kane being played in as broad a way as they are on stage at points.
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Post by max on Mar 3, 2024 17:43:42 GMT
I was hugely looking forward to this NT screening, but came close to leaving at the interval. Very one dimensional, and having seen 'Quiz' I think I've seen James Graham's box of tricks already. Perhaps I'd feel it the other way round if I'd seen 'Dear England' before 'Quiz' - but mini-histories within the show, with a cartoonish fashion parade to tell it, was better done in 'Quiz'. In 'Dear England' every music choice was painfully obvious, and chucking in a cartoon of a cartoon - Boris Johnson - seemed to have no point to it other than an easy laugh. It smacked of desperation - but I must be the one desperately out of the current taste as it's a cast iron acclaimed hit play.
What really got me - and made me wish I'd bailed on Act 2 - was the need to find a concluding shape to the story arc, in place of the England team actually winning anything. That's fine - concoct what you like, as long as it's not offensively opportunist, flying in the face of the evidence in the rest of the play. The conclusion of the arc is the idea that a lack of rioting after Harry Kane's missed penalty meant that the English nation itself had grown up during the course of the England football team's psychological reset on what winning/losing means. Perhaps even, that by conductivity the team's learning had spread to wider society. Really? It feels an insult to the players/actors who detail the experience of being one of the 3 black penalty takers (all missing at the Euros) that sparked violent reaction. Had England really grown up? - or was Harry Kane's miss (in a World Cup!) less incendiary because he's white. The play could have it's cake and eat it. Put forward its theory, and then have another player saying...."really?" After all, James Graham is no stranger to offering alternative conclusions to an audience: see 'Quiz'.
Apart from all this I found it boring - and I like football, and the themes the play covers.
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Post by tmesis on Mar 11, 2024 8:58:34 GMT
James was really interesting on Desert Island Discs (r4) yesterday. Recommended.
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Post by Jan on Mar 11, 2024 9:44:16 GMT
Apart from all this I found it boring - and I like football Maybe that's the problem. Genuine England football fans who are fans of Gareth Southgate are very thin on the ground these days.
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