5,571 posts
|
Post by lynette on Dec 23, 2017 22:33:41 GMT
Barbican I suppose. It has illusions of grandeur.
|
|
92 posts
|
Post by chameleon on Dec 23, 2017 22:54:41 GMT
Why would they not do it at the Bridge Theatre? That can work as a thrust stage, I believe. And, it's a new play.. The Bridge is a producing house and not a receiving house Most producing houses act as receiving houses (or at least as co-producers) some of the time..
|
|
5,571 posts
|
Post by lynette on Dec 24, 2017 17:26:19 GMT
The RSC set at The Swan has an up/down feature which they use a lot. Can be reset of course as otherwise not much of a set. The steps of the Senate essential of course. A biggish cast so some room required. I don’t think The Bridge would be quite right but you never know. I think if anywhere, the Barbican. As usual.
|
|
9 posts
|
Post by paul79 on Dec 26, 2017 10:52:41 GMT
It's an amazing production and deserves to tour! How do people know that they've signed contracts for a London run?!
|
|
998 posts
|
Post by David J on Dec 30, 2017 14:17:09 GMT
Well I like Part 1 so far except for one thing. They practically skip the first book and start from the second, only briefly going back to look at Cicero bringing justice to the corrupt governor of Sicily (which I must say was an inticing story in the first book)
|
|
998 posts
|
Post by David J on Dec 30, 2017 15:27:29 GMT
This is certainly pacy and well acted production but having listened to the audiobooks of at least the first two (I’ve listened to some of Dictator but the change of narrator is a big drawback) I’d say as an adaptation falls short
I know adaptations come with cuts from the story, but I would have preferred this to be a trilogy of plays just so you can see the great lengths and compromises Cicero goes to in the first book to become consul. His work that is cut down in books 2 and 3.
This adaptation does well to establish who’s who but you are kind of dropped in the middle of it and left to get a gist of the relationships Cicero has created between these characters in the first book
|
|
1,845 posts
|
Post by NeilVHughes on Dec 30, 2017 17:41:17 GMT
Been a while since I left a Theatre after 3 ½ hours with such anticipation, PtII this evening can’t come soon enough.
|
|
1,175 posts
|
Post by joem on Jan 2, 2018 18:45:34 GMT
This was enjoyable even if it felt like a decent shot rather than a roaring success. It is good for theatres to be ambitious and be demanding with audiences at times. In this case the demands are solely due to the length of the plays, these plays are easy on the eye - strong on narrative and easy to follow and understand.
Very much in the RSC style - low on scenery/staging and heavy on vast numbers - I can't comment on the faithfulness of the adaptation from the novels but there are two important points to make from the outset. First, the casting of the leading couple - no way Richard McCabe and Siobhan Redmond look anywhere near 40, which kind of jars with there they are meant to be in their lives. The other negative is the stretched (and pointless) attempts to link events in Cicero's time to current affairs. Giving Pompey the Great a Trump wig is not just not really funny, but it is also totally irrelevant and some of the jokes about our politics and so on get cheap laughs but will not help the plays to stand the test of time.
This aside the acting was, as you would expect from the RSC, good as was the pace and delivery.
I wonder how long before someone spots the potential for TV these novels have. Done with a good budget they could be an "I Claudius" for our times.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 13, 2018 17:23:58 GMT
I saw these last night and the night before, and really enjoyed them. We were in the front row, which was really exciting. We had Nicholas Boulton understudying Cataline and Anthony, and I really liked him - he was full of energy and enthusiasm. Richard McCabe was excellent, obviously, and I loved Joseph Kloska. I didn't know anything about the books, and only a rough idea of the general plot (mostly what I knew from Shakespeare) so I wasn't bothered about people not being the right age or whether things followed the books.
I went to the talk back thing with the cast on Thursday night too, that was good. They had Richard McCabe and Joseph Kloska, the guy who played Julius Caesar and a couple of the others.
The sandals though, oh god the sandals! They're ugly at the best of times, but those were some particularly ugly sandals!
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 13, 2018 17:28:56 GMT
Not all the cast are transferring. Not a happy company! Is it transferring? And who isn't going with them? What's the source for this?
|
|
959 posts
|
Post by nash16 on Jan 13, 2018 23:08:48 GMT
Not all the cast are transferring. Not a happy company! Is it transferring? And who isn't going with them? What's the source for this? Yep, the plays are transferring, but a lot of roles are being re cast unfortunately.
|
|
5,571 posts
|
Post by lynette on Jan 14, 2018 13:48:14 GMT
I’m sorry if cast members are not being given the chance to perform in London but for the most part, it won’t 'show' as McCabe is the main attraction.
|
|
3,019 posts
Member is Online
|
Post by Rory on Jan 14, 2018 14:50:51 GMT
Does anyone know yet if it's going to the Barbican or the West End?
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 14, 2018 17:44:47 GMT
Is it transferring? And who isn't going with them? What's the source for this? Yep, the plays are transferring, but a lot of roles are being re cast unfortunately. Can we have the details?
|
|
9 posts
|
Post by paul79 on Jan 14, 2018 20:06:39 GMT
I'm not sure how you know this?
|
|
959 posts
|
Post by nash16 on Jan 14, 2018 20:25:46 GMT
I'm not sure how you know this? Ah, you'll get used the mysterious knowledge we theatreboarders have about our beloved passion, paul79.
|
|
9 posts
|
Post by paul79 on Jan 16, 2018 13:23:16 GMT
Gossip or fact though?!
|
|
5,495 posts
|
Post by Baemax on Jan 16, 2018 13:49:09 GMT
My buddy went to a post-show talkback, and reported that it was really easy to figure out how much the director liked a person by whether he referred to them by their first name (turns out "Richard McCabe" is a professional name, he's really a Will), full name, or character name. Depending on when Imperium is proposed to transfer - but based on some of the casting for the forthcoming summer season and my buddy's report - there is at least one younger cast member who I would be willing to place money on not making the transfer.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 16, 2018 18:07:56 GMT
^Hope this is not referring to the actor playing Octavian, I thought he was excellent and it'd be a shame not to see him transfer.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 16, 2018 19:38:44 GMT
My buddy went to a post-show talkback, and reported that it was really easy to figure out how much the director liked a person by whether he referred to them by their first name (turns out "Richard McCabe" is a professional name, he's really a Will), full name, or character name. Depending on when Imperium is proposed to transfer - but based on some of the casting for the forthcoming summer season and my buddy's report - there is at least one younger cast member who I would be willing to place money on not making the transfer. Was there more than one post show talk? I went to the one on Thursday, and the director was not there, just 5 (or 6?) of the cast. They called Richard McCabe Bill, and everyone was using first names. Trina: Octavian is Oliver Johnstone who's also in the Lear, which is in Stratford in the summer and I think going to New York? So he may well not be able to transfer anyway.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 16, 2018 19:40:23 GMT
I'm not sure how you know this? Ah, you'll get used the mysterious knowledge we theatreboarders have about our beloved passion, paul79. Paul, I think he means "we" as a special sacred inner circle with insider knowledge that the rest of us theatreboarders aren't allowed to have yet.
|
|
959 posts
|
Post by nash16 on Jan 16, 2018 22:35:19 GMT
Ah, you'll get used the mysterious knowledge we theatreboarders have about our beloved passion, paul79. Paul, I think he means "we" as a special sacred inner circle with insider knowledge that the rest of us theatreboarders aren't allowed to have yet. Elanor, your initiation ceremony is Thursday at 2pm, don't forget. (Keep any Uber receipts. Don't tell Paul!!)
|
|
9 posts
|
Post by paul79 on Jan 16, 2018 23:01:33 GMT
Lol you may well be underestimating my knowledge here...
|
|
3,019 posts
Member is Online
|
Post by Rory on Jan 16, 2018 23:09:05 GMT
Where's mrbarnaby when you need him?! He'd give us a decent hint about a transfer!😉 It's been a while since we've had a good scoop from someone on here!
|
|
3,019 posts
Member is Online
|
Post by Rory on Jan 23, 2018 10:44:21 GMT
Is the transfer still happening, horton and nash16? No mention of it in the RSC announcement today and I notice they tweeted on 15th Jan that there were no plans to transfer it.
|
|
2,502 posts
|
Post by n1david on Jan 23, 2018 11:01:53 GMT
I saw Part 1 last night (thoughts to follow after Part 2 tonight) - I asked at the RSC about plans for a transfer and they said it wasn’t happening. Obviously discussions could still be going on, but the box office isn’t planning for an imminent announcement.
|
|
3,019 posts
Member is Online
|
Post by Rory on Jan 23, 2018 11:16:14 GMT
Robert Harris also tweeted on 15th Jan and didn't seem overly optimistic about a London run for these plays.
|
|
2,339 posts
|
Post by zahidf on Jan 23, 2018 12:21:11 GMT
If the transfer is off, I'm glad I made the effort to go up to Stratford to watch them!
|
|
|
Post by Jan on Jan 23, 2018 16:03:29 GMT
Odd. I thought the transfer for this was already arranged. Maybe it will take Chichester to revive this production in a couple of years time as they did for the Much Ado/Loves Labours productions that the RSC failed to transfer on their own.
Once before they announced a London transfer for a play and it never happened and I contacted them to find out why and the PR person said “We tried to transfer it but it didn’t land”. A bit of theatre-jargon there that you can drop into the conversation.
|
|
|
Post by Honoured Guest on Jan 23, 2018 17:43:16 GMT
Does this just mean that the RSC couldn't find commercial co-producers on the right terms for the transfer?
|
|