294 posts
|
Post by dani on Feb 18, 2019 14:54:05 GMT
Why did he basically stop writing for the theatre in the late 1970s? TV?
|
|
294 posts
|
Post by dani on Feb 16, 2019 11:02:20 GMT
Could we change the thread title from Edward 11 to Edward II? Maybe I am alone in being bugged by this.
|
|
294 posts
|
Post by dani on Feb 16, 2019 11:01:01 GMT
I saw the Lindsay Posner production at the Old Vic in 2011, and I didn't think it was funny at all. Judging by the reactions of people around me, I was in a minority. It's the only time I have seen the play, and I wondered if the problem was the production or the material itself.
|
|
294 posts
|
Post by dani on Feb 15, 2019 10:44:27 GMT
Ashley Zhangazha is much too nice to play Ike Turner. He's a good actor, but the idea of him as a violent coke and crack addict is hard to process. I look forward to seeing what he makes of it; it is definitely outside his usual range, but maybe he will be a revelation.
|
|
294 posts
|
Post by dani on Feb 15, 2019 10:39:19 GMT
I think the idea is that you don't follow the Italian, not that you sit there thinking "This is just like being at my place in San Gimignano".
Personally I don't speak a word of Italian beyond buon giorno, grazie and prego - and I suppose pizza and cappuccino! I didn't find this hard to follow, thought the sound design was amazing, was thrilled to see Tom Brooke back in action and found it creepy as hell.
|
|
294 posts
|
Post by dani on Feb 13, 2019 11:03:28 GMT
Ecstatic about the thread title being amended. It was really bothering me!
|
|
294 posts
|
Post by dani on Feb 13, 2019 9:46:36 GMT
The newspaper reviewers' consensus seems to be around the 3* mark. 4* from Time Out, the Daily Mail and Whatsonstage, though the WOS one contains a lot of caveats, and 2* from The Times. A jaded 3* in the Daily Telegraph, and also 3* in the Guardian, The Stage and ES.
|
|
294 posts
|
Post by dani on Feb 11, 2019 18:00:06 GMT
I think it's the first preview of this tonight. I'll be interested to hear reports, not least about how long it is!
|
|
294 posts
|
Post by dani on Dec 31, 2018 12:54:08 GMT
Citymapper is very useful when you're trying to negotiate the public transport network, especially in a city where you're unfamiliar with the geography.
|
|
294 posts
|
Post by dani on Dec 31, 2018 12:51:21 GMT
Off topic, but this on Simon Paisley Day's Wikipedia page demonstrates how inane some Wikipedia contributors are:
"Simon also was the leading and only character to appear in the very successful adverts for Honda, featuring Honda vehicles from different eras, with the Rhydian version of the song Rhydian."
|
|
294 posts
|
Post by dani on Dec 27, 2018 22:30:59 GMT
1. Private Life 2. Loveless 3. Cold War 4. Shirkers 5. Black Panther
Close: Sorry To Bother You, A Fantastic Woman, Filmworker, The Happy Prince, Leave No Trace.
|
|
294 posts
|
Post by dani on Dec 22, 2018 19:02:18 GMT
My worst shows of the year are:
5. Macbeth at the National 4. Chess at the Coliseum 3. Julie at the National 2. Tartuffe at the Haymarket 1 (the worst). A Very Very Very Dark Matter
|
|
294 posts
|
Post by dani on Dec 21, 2018 20:34:03 GMT
It's been a while since Mamet wrote anything even half as good as Oleanna. I have to say I thought this play was called Bitter Harvest, but apparently not. It was called Bitter Harvest in some early press reports. Thanks. It's a much better name than Bitter Wheat.
|
|
294 posts
|
Post by dani on Dec 21, 2018 18:27:50 GMT
It's been a while since Mamet wrote anything even half as good as Oleanna. I have to say I thought this play was called Bitter Harvest, but apparently not.
|
|
294 posts
|
Post by dani on Dec 18, 2018 11:41:42 GMT
And finally, there was something just a little bit mean spirited about the production - a middle-class theatre company inviting us to be amused by their social inferiors, inviting us to laugh AT people rather than with them - Two workers who have to take the rubbish out ? Let's make then Polish - everyone will laugh at that. That is the tiredest of tired tropes, as recently written about by Natasha Tripney in the Stage. www.thestage.co.uk/opinion/2018/natasha-tripney-theatre-stop-stereotyping-eastern-europeans/
|
|
294 posts
|
Post by dani on Dec 17, 2018 10:34:41 GMT
|
|
294 posts
|
Post by dani on Dec 17, 2018 9:28:53 GMT
God left this at the second interval I bet he had a good seat and all.
|
|
294 posts
|
Post by dani on Dec 13, 2018 12:15:04 GMT
Funniest thing is seeing the inept YV ushers Having a meltdown and acopia twice I had to look up "acopia". So I have learned something here.
|
|
294 posts
|
Post by dani on Dec 10, 2018 16:28:20 GMT
I'm starting a separate thread for this, as I think it's going to generate some interest. It seems to have had three previews already, so I am guessing there will be some discussion here soon. Lynn Nottage is a brilliant writer, and Lynette Linton's appointment to run the Bush perhaps adds to the interest focused on this production.
|
|
294 posts
|
Post by dani on Dec 8, 2018 19:41:14 GMT
Is this any good? I am thinking about going, but am deterred by the preposterous ticket prices.
|
|
294 posts
|
Post by dani on Dec 8, 2018 19:34:59 GMT
It's amusing that Sir David "Dyed" Hare wants to pick a fight with people who, he says, could not grasp "the idea that a political play is also a psychological play". However feeble the play was politically, it was even more feeble psychologically.
|
|
294 posts
|
Post by dani on Dec 7, 2018 11:37:15 GMT
Maybe I'm a philistine, but I think there is something really arrogant and thoughtless about the whole "My working method is to present things to a paying audience that are still in a very obvious state of flux".
|
|
294 posts
|
Post by dani on Dec 6, 2018 10:27:02 GMT
If I'd typed a little faster, it wouldn't look as though I ignored stevejohnson678's post!
|
|
294 posts
|
Post by dani on Dec 6, 2018 10:25:52 GMT
With the 5* reviews out this morning can we assume that this will try have a run in the west end. I've only seen one 5* review (WOS). Are there others? The consensus seems respectful rather than ecstatic. Time Out (3*) calls it dour!
|
|
294 posts
|
Post by dani on Dec 5, 2018 9:31:10 GMT
I was just going to drop in here to comment on the weird reviews, some of which say it's terribly acted and tourist catnip, but some of which say it's a high-voltage production, as Steve does on this thread. It's 1* from WOS, 2* from Daily Mail and The Upcoming, 3* from Guardian, Times, Telegraph, and 4* from ES, Stage, Radio Times.
|
|
294 posts
|
Post by dani on Nov 21, 2018 11:07:14 GMT
Tom Hooper should have been the reason everyone got "out" as soon as it was announced he was directing it. He's vile. As a film-maker or personally? I thought The Damned United was good, although I've been indifferent to his films since then. It's hard to believe he once directed some episodes of Byker Grove.
|
|
294 posts
|
Post by dani on Nov 20, 2018 10:27:59 GMT
Thanks. That wasn't that long ago, I think, which goes against my impression she'd not done theatre in ages.
|
|
294 posts
|
Post by dani on Nov 20, 2018 10:14:30 GMT
When was the last time Phyllis Logan was in a play? I can't think of anything she has done since she was in Kenneth Branagh's Richard III.
|
|
294 posts
|
Post by dani on Nov 20, 2018 10:05:32 GMT
Finally, an unanswerable reason why the UK should not follow the USA in decriminalising marijuana for recreational use. They're an Australian act, and the song is from nearly 20 years ago!
|
|
294 posts
|
Post by dani on Nov 20, 2018 9:57:20 GMT
Anyone there last night? Must have been very up, after its two wins at the ES Awards the night before (where Jonny sang his big number)! Wasn't there a risk of their being hungover?!
|
|