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Post by ceebee on Aug 23, 2022 18:48:22 GMT
As somebody who thinks the RSC has lost its way somewhat, I often find myself thinking about some of their glorious productions from the past (and let's face it, the RSC's past is infinitely more interesting than the present)... Who would be interested in a "reimagining" of some of the RSC's greatest productions with updated staging, lighting and direction for a new generation of theatregoers.
If you could see the RSC bring back to life a production from the past, what would be on your list? I'll kick off with four: King Lear (Robert Stephens), A Midsummer Nights Dream (John Carlisle, Richard McCabe), Loves Labours Lost (Jeremy Northam, Owen Teale), The Beggar Opera (David Burt, Elizabeth Renihan).
The RSC has an extensive and exciting "back catalogue" - would anybody else find it interesting to see them devote one production per season to a "reimagined" version of a former glory?
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Post by oxfordsimon on Aug 23, 2022 20:14:23 GMT
The McKellen/Dench Macbeth is rightly a classic
The Brook Dream
The famous Richard II with Ian Richardson and Richard Pascoe
And a full revival of Nicholas Nickleby just for a bit of variety
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Post by Jan on Aug 24, 2022 5:06:43 GMT
The McKellen/Dench Macbeth is rightly a classic The Brook Dream The famous Richard II with Ian Richardson and Richard Pascoe And a full revival of Nicholas Nickleby just for a bit of variety Yes those are the great Shakespeares I didn’t see (I saw Nicholas Nickleby) along with the Brook/Scofield King Lear. I’d like to have seen the Trevor Nunn musical Comedy of Errors too. The best Shakespeare I’ve ever seen from them was the Trevor Nunn “All’s Well” that was so good it transferred to Broadway. Imagine that. |
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Post by David J on Aug 24, 2022 12:33:27 GMT
The one's I'd bring back would be:
Michael Boyd's Henry VI trilogy. Throw in Richard II as well.
Maria Aberg's As You Like It
Trevor Nunn/Ian McKellan King Lear
Gregory Doran's African Julius Caesar, Midsummer Night's Dream and Love's Labours Lost. Throw in Hamlet except with Andrew Scott, Juliet Stevenson and Jessica Brown Findlay. (Note these these are all shows he did before taking over)
David Farr's Winter's Tale
Rupert Goold's Merchant of Venice and Romeo and Juliet
I've seen an archive recording of Deborah Warner's Titus Andronicus and that would be something I'd go and see live.
Otherwise the 2016 production of The Rover, David Farr's The Homecoming, the Wolf Hall plays, The Orphan of Zhao (with an all asian cast)
Maybe even the Wooster Group's Troilus and Cressida
*ducks*
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Post by oxfordsimon on Aug 24, 2022 12:38:14 GMT
The one's I'd bring back would be: Michael Boyd's Henry VI trilogy. Throw in Richard II as well. Maria Aberg's As You Like It Trevor Nunn/Ian McKellan King Lear Gregory Doran's African Julius Caesar, Midsummer Night's Dream and Love's Labours Lost. Throw in Hamlet except with Andrew Scott, Juliet Stevenson and Jessica Brown Findlay. (Note these these are all shows before he took over) David Farr's Winter's Tale Rupert Goold's Merchant of Venice and Romeo and Juliet I've seen an archive recording of Deborah Warner's Titus Andronicus and that would be something I'd go and see live. Otherwise the 2016 production of The Rover, David Farr's The Homecoming, the Wolf Hall plays, The Orphan of Zhao (with an all asian cast) Maybe even the Wooster Group's Troilus and Cressida *ducks* I have seen most of those. The only one I would see again is the Merchant. That T&C deserves to be preserved only to show people what not to do with Shakespeare. It is a continuing source of pride that my damning review of that production is cited in academic papers! I would like to see the Waldmann/Nixon King John again. But I don't think it is quite as historically important |
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Post by Jan on Aug 24, 2022 13:20:40 GMT
Terry Hands/Alan Howard Coriolanus.
Adrian Noble/Kenneth Branagh Henry V was very good, the subsequent film drew on it heavily.
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Post by oxfordsimon on Aug 24, 2022 13:46:28 GMT
The Sinden/Dench Much Ado is one I think I would have enjoyed.
I am surprised that the Sher R3 isn't on my list considering I have read Year of the King many times. But I think it lives in my imagination better than it would do live now.
I would, however, love to see the McKellen R3 again. I know it wasn't a RSC show so outside the scope of this thread.
I know next to nothing about the production but I would have loved to have see Ian Richardson play Richard III. He is so right for the role.
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Post by bordeaux on Aug 24, 2022 15:51:58 GMT
I'd go for the Trevor Nunn/Ian McKellen/Willard White Othello, the John Caird Midsummer Night's Dream (the Rude Mechanicals' play being the funniest thing I've ever seen on a stage), Adrian Noble's Winter's Tale, Deborah Warner's Titus Andronicus. If I had to leaven my choice with a non-Shakespeare I'd go for Deborah Warner's Electra with Fiona Shaw. But next week it might be different - the Adrian Noble/Branagh Hamlet, the Sam Mendes Troilus and Cressida (with SRB as Thersites), Les Liaisons Dangereuses, the Nick Hytner Measure for Measure (Josette Simon, Roger Allam, John Shrapnel)....
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Post by oxfordsimon on Aug 24, 2022 16:12:01 GMT
I'd go for the Trevor Nunn/Ian McKellen/Willard White Othello, the John Caird Midsummer Night's Dream (the Rude Mechanicals' play being the funniest thing I've ever seen on a stage), Adrian Noble's Winter's Tale, Deborah Warner's Titus Andronicus. If I had to leaven my choice with a non-Shakespeare I'd go for Deborah Warner's Electra with Fiona Shaw. But next week it might be different - the Adrian Noble/Branagh Hamlet, the Sam Mendes Troilus and Cressida (with SRB as Thersites), Les Liaisons Dangereuses, the Nick Hytner Measure for Measure (Josette Simon, Roger Allam, John Shrapnel).... That M4M was great. The final moments where Isabella slapped the Duke and walked off was exactly the right reaction to his proposal. Brilliant |
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Post by Jan on Aug 24, 2022 16:32:34 GMT
the Nick Hytner Measure for Measure (Josette Simon, Roger Allam, John Shrapnel).... That M4M was great. The final moments where Isabella slapped the Duke and walked off was exactly the right reaction to his proposal. Brilliant Alex Jennings and Phil Daniels were in it too. I remember it being set in some sort of entirely imaginary realm, all the costumes were consistent and of a similar style but didn't match any actual historical period. |
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Post by oxfordsimon on Aug 24, 2022 16:38:32 GMT
It was certainly a modernish dress production. Suits and overcoats a plenty. But not rooted in any particular period or location.
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Post by Jan on Aug 24, 2022 17:01:23 GMT
It was certainly a modernish dress production. Suits and overcoats a plenty. But not rooted in any particular period or location. All the men were in knickerbockers, mostly striped. "Mark Thompson places the action beneath twin pillars, whose imposing gold bases rotate amid the inevitable smoke to reveal cables, chutes and other functional innards, or to form the towers of a seething jail, complete with medical inspections and slopping out. The stiff, tail-coated court gives way to grinning low-lifes, with the postures of inter-war Berlin, braided knickerbockers, caps from Carnaby Street, and modishly utilitarian footware." Jim Hiley, Listener (19 November 1987). |
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Post by ceebee on Aug 24, 2022 19:37:49 GMT
These are all great suggestions, some of which i know and many that I don't. I wonder if the RSC would be so bold as to consider doing a revival homage production every season. A great way to build loyalty, further longevity, and attract new audiences to old favourites (and reinvigorate the Company at the same time).
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Post by Jan on Aug 25, 2022 17:24:46 GMT
These are all great suggestions, some of which i know and many that I don't. I wonder if the RSC would be so bold as to consider doing a revival homage production every season. A great way to build loyalty, further longevity, and attract new audiences to old favourites (and reinvigorate the Company at the same time). Easy to answer that: no they wouldn’t. Reviving past productions like that a long time after their opening has never really been part of the UK theatre scene. I can only think of a few examples, notably the NT Mysteries. It is very much part of theatre elsewhere in Europe - Amsterdam, Berlin - and of course standard practice in opera including ROH and ENO. Interestingly the only director I’ve heard ever advocating this was Greg Doran who said he wanted productions to stay in the repertoire for years - of course as soon as he was in a position to make this happen he promptly did the exact opposite, abandoning it like all his other promises. |
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Post by lynette on Aug 26, 2022 16:42:36 GMT
A lot of stuff mentioned here that I have seen ( including the Brook Dream ) and would be interested in some revivals but on the whole I am for moving on. Although not fan of the ‘relevant’ production as this is so often a director’s bee in a bonnet and they don’t let the play or actors do their job, I have enjoyed the sensibilities of new productions recently. Looking back I think that having the likes of a young Judi Dench in a cast will heighten a show and make it memorable.
Please nothing directed by Maria Aberg. No sticks, no balloons. Thank you.
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