1,093 posts
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Aug 11, 2017 14:45:07 GMT
It's a shame, because the NT Studio is doing great work and writers are falling over themselves to be there. At any time the Studio has something like 60+ plays in development. The problem is so few of them make it to one of the main spaces, and almost everyone wants to be in the Dorfman.
The Olivier and to a lesser extent the Lyttleton are fiendish spaces to write for, and one major problem is the lack of training and development opportunities for emerging or early-mid career writers to write for such large spaces. Emerging writers are under pressure to write to the two-person studio model. And yet the industry expects them to be able to make the leap from writing for the Dorfman or Court Upstairs, to writing for the Olivier, by themselves. Most writers struggle do it because all of the training and development has been within the black box hegemony, and when they're given the chance and fail, they fail so publicly and are criticised so harshly it puts others off. So we've ended up with two of the main auditoriums in London actively scaring off writers, which means they end up being programmed with an endless cycle of classics and revivals.
The tide is starting to turn. There is more of a push to encourage emerging writers to write big. But things won't change until there is more investment and more willingness to take risks.
On the other hand the NT are planning a big push to tour more and do more with regional partners and hopefully open up the NT to regional talent.
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Post by Honoured Guest on Aug 11, 2017 15:04:39 GMT
On the other hand the NT are planning a big push to tour more and do more with regional partners and hopefully open up the NT to regional talent. Interesting. Are you referring to the programme to work with six areas of low arts engagement, with funding from ACE's strategic touring fund, announced on 12 July? Or is this more general touring, still to be programmed and announced?
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5,571 posts
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Post by lynette on Aug 11, 2017 15:11:30 GMT
Yes HG and samw I 'get' all that. How did we get here? So stick to new stuff in Dorfman with small casts, old stuff in Lyttleton and big stuff, like the odd musical and Shakespeare in the Olivier. Simples
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Post by Honoured Guest on Aug 11, 2017 15:14:31 GMT
^NOT LIKE!
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Post by Jan on Aug 11, 2017 17:11:25 GMT
Yes HG and samw I 'get' all that. How did we get here? So stick to new stuff in Dorfman with small casts, old stuff in Lyttleton and big stuff, like the odd musical and Shakespeare in the Olivier. Simples That won't work because then you only get the most bland and familiar old stuff and Shakespeares because interesting and unfamiliar old stuff can only fill the Dorfmann. Hence we get Macbeth again instead of Henry VIII.
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5,571 posts
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Post by lynette on Aug 11, 2017 21:15:00 GMT
I don't think so. Why not put Henry VIII on in the Olivier? Can't be worse than some of the stuff they have put on. Come on, Jan. What I suggest suits the type of play available for each stage. You can fill all three venues if you put on good productions. End of. Probably not. 😱
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3,458 posts
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Post by showgirl on Aug 14, 2017 4:03:34 GMT
As I've said before, surely the NT could house successful regional productions, many of which are already co-productions by theatres quite distant from each other geographically? (Eg Lancaster/Stoke/Watford). This includes both revivals and new work. I know some of those well-received productions might work better in smaller spaces and from comments above, the Dorfman is already over-subscribed (shame it's the worst of the 3 NT spaces for many audience members), but some of them must surely be suitable for the Lyttelton and Olivier?
I've lost count of all the brilliant plays or shows I've read about, even in the last year, in places like Bath, Birmingham, Manchester, Sheffield etc, which I had no hope of seeing at the original venue but would have loved to catch if only they toured or transferred. Why cannot the NT step in here?
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2,706 posts
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Post by Cardinal Pirelli on Aug 14, 2017 11:08:28 GMT
I wish we had the same as Germany's Theatertreffen, where ten productions voted for by a panel, taken from across all Germany, Austria and Switzerland, are presented over a couple of weeks, they also include productions originating from other countries, as long as they were performed there. Alongside it is the Stuckmarkt which focuses on new writing talent. Tickets sell out in hours but it's a great showcase. To be honest, though it has become more like half a festival as demand totally overwhelms supply for the smaller scale productions.
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Post by Honoured Guest on Aug 14, 2017 11:28:55 GMT
I've lost count of all the brilliant plays or shows I've read about, even in the last year, in places like Bath, Birmingham, Manchester, Sheffield etc, which I had no hope of seeing at the original venue but would have loved to catch if only they toured or transferred. Why cannot the NT step in here? The NT SouthBank has programmed Jane Eyre and Peter Pan from Bristol Old Vic, the Young Chekhov trilogy from Chichester Festival Theatre, wonder.land from Manchester International Festival, Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour from National Theatre of Scotland and Live Theatre, and numerous smaller scale shows coming into the Temporary Theatre. And it has also co-produced Husbands & Sons with the Royal Exchange, LOVE with Birmingham Repertory Theatre and Barber Shop Chronicles with West Yorkshire Playhouse.
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2,389 posts
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Post by peggs on Aug 14, 2017 11:50:53 GMT
Bit of a leap surely Jan? I had to google Mr Stone☺ You ought to get out more Marty. Years ago the NT staged The Wild Duck with an actual duck in it and they had to abandon one performance when it wouldn't stop quacking. Despite that Stone cast an actual duck in his production too. That's the sort of brave convention-defying direction we need. I want a play with a real life duck now! How loud was it's quacking that it derailed a whole performance?
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Post by Jan on Aug 14, 2017 12:25:28 GMT
You ought to get out more Marty. Years ago the NT staged The Wild Duck with an actual duck in it and they had to abandon one performance when it wouldn't stop quacking. Despite that Stone cast an actual duck in his production too. That's the sort of brave convention-defying direction we need. I want a play with a real life duck now! How loud was it's quacking that it derailed a whole performance?
In the old NT production it wasn't so much the volume as the duration, it just wouldn't stop. In the Simon Stone production there was a clear perspex box on stage filled with water - at one point they put the duck in this thing and it went absolutely mad, you could see its little legs paddling away beneath the surface - I don't remember anything about the actual play.
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5,571 posts
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Post by lynette on Aug 14, 2017 13:24:21 GMT
Shall we add Duck to the list? Macaroons, dogs, and ducks?
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2,389 posts
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Post by peggs on Aug 14, 2017 15:33:49 GMT
I want a play with a real life duck now! How loud was it's quacking that it derailed a whole performance?
In the old NT production it wasn't so much the volume as the duration, it just wouldn't stop. In the Simon Stone production there was a clear perspex box on stage filled with water - at one point they put the duck in this thing and it went absolutely mad, you could see its little legs paddling away beneath the surface - I don't remember anything about the actual play. I am quite envious but agree that would have made all human interaction redundant.
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Post by Jan on Aug 23, 2017 19:45:23 GMT
So Angels departs the NT with a Broadway not a West End transfer. My friend who read it for an audition tells me the Rory Mullarkey play isn't ready and will be painfully exposed in the Olivier. He also tells me next year Vanessa Kirby is doing Miss Julie in the Lyttelton with Natalie Abrahami directing. A 3 handed in that space? Oh dear. The National Disaster continues. And also, of the near 100 Strindberg plays available they're doing the same one that we've seen a dozen times before. This is Billington's complaint, they're not exploring the classical repertoire.
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Post by Honoured Guest on Aug 23, 2017 20:07:39 GMT
Miss Julie in the Lyttelton with Natalie Abrahami directing. A 3 handed in that space? Oh dear. The National Disaster continues. No need to fret. Ingmar Bergman's production of Miss Julie played marvellously in the Lyttelton, if memory serves. And there've been two-handers there, such as The Island. And didn't Vanessa Redgrave perform there in a monologue?
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945 posts
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Post by alicechallice on Aug 24, 2017 0:50:17 GMT
Please say her other half is playing her other half! Them there will be absolute proof that the place has gone to the dogs (not my opinion btw). Has Tom Cruise ever done theatre?
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Post by Deleted on Aug 24, 2017 8:24:04 GMT
Miss Julie in the Lyttelton with Natalie Abrahami directing. A 3 handed in that space? Oh dear. The National Disaster continues. No need to fret. Ingmar Bergman's production of Miss Julie played marvellously in the Lyttelton, if memory serves. And there've been two-handers there, such as The Island. And didn't Vanessa Redgrave perform there in a monologue? God, well remembered - yes, that was really powerful. Yes, there's no reason why small productions can't work in that space or to assume disaster before it happens. But agree about the lack of imagination in putting such a well-worn piece on.
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945 posts
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Post by alicechallice on Aug 24, 2017 8:52:02 GMT
No need to fret. Ingmar Bergman's production of Miss Julie played marvellously in the Lyttelton, if memory serves. And there've been two-handers there, such as The Island. And didn't Vanessa Redgrave perform there in a monologue? God, well remembered - yes, that was really powerful. Yes, there's no reason why small productions can't work in that space or to assume disaster before it happens. But agree about the lack of imagination in putting such a well-worn piece on. That was my first trip to the National. Front row for £10, so worth it.
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