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Post by Deleted on Dec 11, 2016 14:43:09 GMT
I was also there last night
I would say 3 stars and my friend rated it as 4
The issue for me was that acting was only good rather than outstanding
The minimal staging requires fireworks on stage in order to keep the viewers attention and there were too many slack passages where the mind wandered
I also thought the lighting was disappointing and failed to evoke and differentiate even inside from outdoors!
It is an okay evening and solid enough but the leads are not a patch on Harriet Walter and Janet McTeer
That Donmar version was the gold standard for me
The meeting scene of the 2 Queens should be thrilling and in the Almeida version it was merely tense
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Post by bellboard27 on Dec 15, 2016 11:47:12 GMT
Saw this last night and would give it 4 stars, although I don't disagree with any of Parsley's comments. Lia was Mary Stuart. In this performance I thought John Light came over quite well as Leicester. Some pruning would indeed help.
Like foxa I was struck by the likeness of the French ambassador to Michael Gove. But, foxa, "a younger, better looking Michael Gove"? How is that even possible?!
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Post by Baemax on Dec 15, 2016 13:09:37 GMT
Saw this last night and would give it 4 stars, although I don't disagree with any of Parsley's comments. Lia was Mary Stuart. In this performance I thought John Light came over quite well as Leicester. Some pruning would indeed help. Like foxa I was struck by the likeness of the French ambassador to Michael Gove. But, foxa, "a younger, better looking Michael Gove"? How is that even possible?! Are you... are you implying that Michael Gove as he stands is the very pinnacle of youth and beauty?
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Post by bellboard27 on Dec 15, 2016 13:38:35 GMT
Like foxa I was struck by the likeness of the French ambassador to Michael Gove. But, foxa, "a younger, better looking Michael Gove"? How is that even possible?! Are you... are you implying that Michael Gove as he stands is the very pinnacle of youth and beauty? Meditate on the words of Keats "A thing of beauty is a joy forever: its loveliness increases; it will never pass into nothingness" and let the image of Michael Gove emerge in your mind. Serenity and beauty will be yours.
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Post by foxa on Dec 15, 2016 20:15:11 GMT
Saw this last night and would give it 4 stars, although I don't disagree with any of Parsley's comments. Lia was Mary Stuart. In this performance I thought John Light came over quite well as Leicester. Some pruning would indeed help. Like foxa I was struck by the likeness of the French ambassador to Michael Gove. But, foxa, "a younger, better looking Michael Gove"? How is that even possible?! Yeah - I know. I thought about putting something snarky like 'if that isn't an oxymoron' but then I decided I'd just let that image sit there. (A young female European journalist I follow on twitter had someone tell her that she looked like Michael Gove. I shared that over 20 years ago someone in a butcher shop told me I looked like David Mellor. All these years later I haven't forgotten.)
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Post by nash16 on Dec 17, 2016 0:38:51 GMT
Saw this tonight.
Rob Icke really needs to go and direct films for the cinema. He seems to have little interest in making theatre for the theatre, instead theatre as film.
Williams was slightly OTT but Stephenson was much more engaging and restrained. The "soundtrack" drove us nuts. Stolen from van Hove. Now feel this. Now feel this. What on earth was he doing with that folk song at the end from Laura Marling? Mortimer joined the OTT camp, and Jon Light who is normally brilliant was seriously underwhelming.
I'd say go for the performances on the leading ladies. The rest, not so sure.
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Post by n1david on Dec 20, 2016 18:29:57 GMT
Last night, Williams called "heads." It landed on heads, and everyone bowed to her as Elizabeth. However, according to my friend, STEVENSON called "heads" tonight, the coin landed on heads, but Williams was still Elizabeth. If there is no consistency between who calls heads and what "heads" even means for the outcome, they can easily decide beforehand who plays which role, and in the moment, they bow to the pre-determined Elizabeth regardless of the coin toss result. They can easily get away with this because the audience has no idea beforehand which coin result yields which pairing. A couple of nibbles from Robert Icke's talk tonight - the actor who spins the coin decides at random whether to look at Stevenson or Williams, they call Heads (because, as you spotted, of the significance of heads in the show), and then the actor who wins plays Elizabeth - sounds like they may have played around with this in Preview. He did say that Lia had recently had a whole run of Marys, about five in a row. On matinee days, they do a 'real spin' for the matinee and then flip the casting for the evening show, so if you're seeing an evening show on a matinee day, the actors do already know who they're playing.
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Post by lolli on Dec 21, 2016 23:04:31 GMT
Lia Williams a stunning Elizabeth I tonight.
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Post by johng on Dec 27, 2016 21:12:35 GMT
Just noticed this on the Almeida website:
27/12/2016: Unfortunately we are cancelling tonight's performance of Mary Stuart due to cast illness. We apologise for the disappointment this will cause
Supposed to be travelling up for the matinee tomorrow so I hope they make a decision about it before I have to leave Chichester in the morning (and with Southern the way they are that will be quite early!)
Otherwise I could end up hunting for a matinee to see.
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Post by foxa on Dec 28, 2016 11:54:18 GMT
Just saw on twitter that unfortunately both performances today are cancelled due to cast illness. Sorry JohnG - I suspect you are already on a train? - or maybe they got a message to you in time?
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Post by johng on Dec 28, 2016 11:55:00 GMT
Both today's performances are cancelled.
Apparently due to Juliet Stevenson illness.
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Xanderl
Member
Not always very high value in terms of ticket yield or donations
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Post by Xanderl on Dec 28, 2016 11:56:56 GMT
Yes, just saw that too. I'm booked for Friday, hope they are back on by then. Johng - there are quite a few matinees on today, see Theatremonkey's Xmas schedule guide here - www.theatremonkey.com/daybydayindex.htm
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Post by johng on Dec 28, 2016 11:58:25 GMT
Luckily, I spoke to them earlier and although they couldn't confirm definitely the cancellation at that time I decided to take a chance and stay home. Disappointed to miss this if I can't reschedule, but not as disappointed as I would have been if I'd submitted myself to the vagaries of Southern railway and only found out when I arrived in London!
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Post by johng on Dec 28, 2016 12:18:30 GMT
Thanks to Xanderl for the link. I hadn't seen that on theatremonkey's site before (although I'm always on there for the seating plans), and it will be useful in future.
I had checked the TKTS site earlier but I saw This House in Chichester and I've got the Dresser booked at the CFT in January, and nothing else really appealed. I thoroughly enjoyed Nice Fish but not enough for a second visit.
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Post by foxa on Dec 28, 2016 12:27:46 GMT
Yes, I was going to recommend some galleries if you got stuck in London (the Abstract Expressionism exhibition at the Royal Academy is worth seeing and the Picasso Portraits at the NPG) but much better not to be faffing around with trains if you don't have to.
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Post by argon on Dec 28, 2016 13:41:05 GMT
Is this likely to transfer does anyone know?
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Post by Honoured Guest on Dec 28, 2016 18:18:01 GMT
Perhaps someone tosses a coin each morning to determine whether each actor is well enough to perform later that day?
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Post by Honoured Guest on Dec 28, 2016 18:19:46 GMT
Is this likely to transfer does anyone know? Heads: Yes. Tails: No. Coin gets lost: Maybe.
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Post by popcultureboy on Dec 29, 2016 8:33:23 GMT
Is this likely to transfer does anyone know? Juliet Stevenson is going into Hamlet, so an immediate transfer was never on the cards.
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Xanderl
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Not always very high value in terms of ticket yield or donations
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Post by Xanderl on Dec 29, 2016 15:30:46 GMT
Tonight's performance is going ahead
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Post by PalelyLaura on Jan 4, 2017 11:18:50 GMT
Loved this last night. Lia Williams was Elizabeth and she was fabulous. Juliet Stevenson was Mary and she was excellent too. No complaints about any of the other actors. Loved the dialogue and the language too - I don't know how much was Schiller and how much the English translation but there was a lovely rhythm to it.
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Post by kathryn on Jan 4, 2017 17:48:19 GMT
Saw the matinee today. Lia Williams was Mary, and absolutely fantastic - I can't imagine the alternate casting. I really enjoyed the play, which I've not seen before - or indeed any other Schiller- so I don't know how much of my enjoyment is Icke's translation. I shall have to look out for future productions.
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Post by Polly1 on Jan 4, 2017 17:58:47 GMT
Saw the matinee today. Lia Williams was Mary, and absolutely fantastic - I can't imagine the alternate casting. I really enjoyed the play, which I've not seen before - or indeed any other Schiller- so I don't know how much of my enjoyment is Icke's translation. I shall have to look out for future productions. Kathryn,I was there too! Whereabouts were you sitting. I was kind of hoping to see it this way round and agree that it's difficult to imagine it the other way. Stephenson was obviously still struggling with her cold but covered it well. I saw the Donmar version with Harriet Walter (Liz) and Janet McTeer (Mary) which was also great. Wouldn't like to say how different the translations were but this one seemed more sympathetic to Mary, which I don't remember from that one. I love S chiller, the Don Carlos a few years ago with Jacobi will always be a high point. Also, I love John Light...
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Post by kathryn on Jan 4, 2017 18:23:29 GMT
Polly, I was in J18 in the stalls.
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Post by Polly1 on Jan 4, 2017 18:27:53 GMT
Polly, I was in J18 in the stalls. Ah, I was upstairs, first time ever I've sat up there. Next time!
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Post by Polly1 on Jan 4, 2017 22:58:06 GMT
Some more random thoughts: The coin took aaages to land! I didn't even notice it was projected on the screens as I was watching it so intently. It's nowhere near the 3 and a half hours the Almeida email tells you - less than 3 hours 10. Almeida seriously need to invest in some WD40 - after the noisy revolve in Uncle Vanya, this had creaking floorboards and a squeaky bench I thought the sound design was great although the song at the end seemed a bit unnecessary. I loved how starkly they differentiated the two queens at the end. I actually think Robert Icke is a genius director.
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Post by johng on Jan 5, 2017 0:03:57 GMT
Also there for the matinee today, now feeling really glad they were able to find me a seat (B8 in the stalls) after last week's cancellation (and they gave me a £10 refund as well!)
I thought the casting was so perfect with Lia Williams as Mary that I find it hard to imagine the other way around. Shame they are not doing any performances with the casting "preset" as I would really like to see how it works the other way.
And remarkably the Southern Rail "reduced" service from Chichester got me to London on time and home only ten minutes late, so that's a real bonus on any London theatre trip these days!
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Post by sondheimhats on Jan 5, 2017 0:04:34 GMT
I can't imagine the alternate casting. So funny how this tends to be the case in situations like this. I saw the reverse pair, and yet I have trouble imagining the pair you saw! (I would like to see it though)
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Post by kathryn on Jan 5, 2017 10:10:02 GMT
Almeida seriously need to invest in some WD40 - after the noisy revolve in Uncle Vanya, this had creaking floorboards and a squeaky bench . Oh, god, that bench!! That squeaking was driving me spare! During the interval the older lady sitting next to me asked if I could hear ok - which I could, every word perfectly clearly. She then said it must be her hearing but went on to grumble that she wished some people would remember they were in a theatre and not on a film set. But at least she missed the squeaking....
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Post by andrew on Jan 6, 2017 10:53:21 GMT
Haven't had a chance to post much lately but needed to log on especially for this. Sometimes I hit a bad run of plays where none of them particularly impress, and I start to wonder if it's really worth it, spending all this money booking things that haven't opened, or that aren't obviously my cup of tea. And then just in the nick of time you see something that reminds you why you bother.
From the first minute the play got going (and I'd probably exclude the strange ensemble staring introduction from that phrase) I was hooked. The coin spin is both a great dramatic moment to watch and then as a dramatic device has had thoughts about monarchy, class, fortune, birthrights, echoing around my head since I left the theatre. From there I thought every part of the creative team and cast were firing on all cylinders, apart perhaps from the squeaking benches, and I just sat enjoying every minute.
It's a testament to the actors involved how everyone on this board seems to say exactly what I thought too - that you can't imagine anyone playing the roles in the opposite direction. Williams as Liz starts off seductively powerful, strutting around, clicking her fingers with just a wobble of insecurity which grows and develops throughout. Stevenson is instantly likable and vulnerable, and plays the lost queen so well. Overall I was really impressed at how in the second act our allegiances and sympathies were kept more balanced than you might imagine - it's hard to make Elizabeth out to have a sympathetic position, and right before her final "decision" it was nice to not be inwardly screaming at her to make an obvious choice. The last scene was a strange turn but I liked it, Elizabeth's garb and all.
Those two leads. Ugh. So good. Long live the queen.
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