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Post by dani on May 16, 2018 16:01:30 GMT
Over the 30 years Mark Thomas was benefitting from that closed shop I don't remember him once commenting on it or doing anything positive to remedy it - he just collected the money until he was rich enough to start lecturing the rest of us on the topic. He should check his privilege. I doubt that Mark Thomas is rich. He's not that kind of comedian.
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Post by dani on May 12, 2018 16:42:12 GMT
There was a Ray Cooney play a few years ago at the Menier. It was dreadful.
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Post by dani on May 8, 2018 12:27:35 GMT
Um, not true. There are 108 comments on their review (by Lyn Gardner) of Othello at Liverpool Everyman, 31 on Michael Billington's review of a recent show at Park Theatre, 49 on Lyn's review of Chess, 80 on Michael's review of Tina and 65 on his review of Chicago. Some reviews do only attract a handful of comments, but many gain a lot of traction.
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Post by dani on May 8, 2018 10:10:45 GMT
I doubt that the Guardian is going to stop covering theatre. Lyn Gardner's expertise in fringe and experimental theatre will certainly be missed, and I doubt that whoever is the future of the Guardian's criticism will know anything like as much about it.
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Post by dani on May 7, 2018 17:27:23 GMT
He was sacked from the dreadful Exposure the Musical at the then St James' Surely he has to pay at the Finborough? It's a shame he keeps working. The St James disaster you rightly point out should have warned others. Was it his fault? My understanding is that the material was beyond redemption.
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Post by dani on May 5, 2018 18:00:06 GMT
I was struck by what a genuinely nice, modest guy he seems to be. I was also unfortunately struck by how uneloquent and pedestrian he came across That is in my opinion a perfect summary of the man, his personal qualities and his weaknesses as a cultural leader.
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Post by dani on May 5, 2018 16:52:45 GMT
I hope it's as good as his play about Saddam Hussein at the Menier a couple of years ago.
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Post by dani on May 4, 2018 21:58:39 GMT
2 stars. Was decently acted but it a little dull and WAY too long at 3 hours 20 minutes. Oh, yippee.
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Post by dani on May 4, 2018 14:50:28 GMT
Anyone going to this? I'm going on Thursday. Is down for 3 hours 20 minutes with two intervals. How was it? I am going the week after next.
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Post by dani on May 3, 2018 17:20:03 GMT
The spread of opinion here is from 3* (Time Out, ES, Whatsonstage) to 5* (FT), with a cluster in the middle (e.g. Guardian, Stage). Personally I'd say it's worth 3*, and I'm surprised to see it described as electrifying or profound, as it seemed contrived and pretty shallow to me, but with some very good lines and a couple of enjoyable performances.
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Chess
May 2, 2018 9:47:53 GMT
Post by dani on May 2, 2018 9:47:53 GMT
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Post by dani on May 1, 2018 12:06:47 GMT
It seems to be 5* from The Stage.
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Post by dani on May 1, 2018 9:21:01 GMT
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Post by dani on Apr 29, 2018 13:03:35 GMT
20th to 30th of June.
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Post by dani on Apr 29, 2018 12:58:34 GMT
Did anyone see 'Caught' by Christopher Chen at the Almeida a couple of years back - used a similar technique of rug-pulling to look at issues of race... Wasn't it at the Arcola rather than the Almeida? I didn't see it, but I remember it being on, I think as part of a short festival of international new writing.
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Post by dani on Apr 27, 2018 11:08:45 GMT
Quite. White's play is The Nine Night. Would I on the principle mentioned above be barred from writing a play called Homecoming or Crucible?
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Post by dani on Apr 25, 2018 10:11:37 GMT
Some of the reviews say basically nothing about Will Young's performance, which seems a little strange to me, given that it is his presence that will shift about half the tickets. As Steve says above, it's not a reviewer's job- nor should it be- to think 'what will shift tickets' and focus on that. Perhaps some of them chose to adopt the 'if you can' say anything nice don't say anything at all' stance on Young, perhaps he made little impact despite being the centre of things? perhaps they had other things to say that filled a word count? Perhaps in fact they decided not to buy into the marketing machine that has for some reason made it the Will Young show and ignore him...who knows. But it is a most odd manipulation of what once sounded like a fun musical. If he's at the centre of things, his performance needs some analysis or comment. Surely the show wouldn't be happening without him being in it, so if he's anonymous - or bad - that needs talking about.
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Post by dani on Apr 25, 2018 9:30:58 GMT
Some of the reviews say basically nothing about Will Young's performance, which seems a little strange to me, given that it is his presence that will shift about half the tickets.
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Post by dani on Apr 25, 2018 9:25:15 GMT
From the ES review by Fiona Mountford, "I do hope that the Almeida is planning a special performance of The Writer for all the male artistic directors and producers in this country. Wouldn’t that be something?"
I don't think this is likely to happen!
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Post by dani on Apr 24, 2018 14:55:38 GMT
I always feel someone else has put a load of money in the machine, programmed all the songs I loathe and then walked out of the pub. This morning it was Wild Thing by Tone Loc, the sort of sexist rubbish I hate. I wondered who'd had the kindness to add it to the playlist.
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Post by dani on Apr 23, 2018 15:31:19 GMT
I suppose the reference to the MeToo work is the town hall meeting Vicky Featherstone put on.
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Post by dani on Apr 23, 2018 15:29:25 GMT
There are some favourable reviews for this today, e.g. Independent and FT (both 4*).
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Post by dani on Apr 22, 2018 18:40:22 GMT
Oh dear. This isn't very good at all. Not sure what made the TRH management people would flock to this. The TRH management have an unerring ability to pick a dud.
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Post by dani on Apr 22, 2018 18:36:56 GMT
I like Katherine Kingsley. Rufus Hound isn't my cup of tea, and neither is Lucy Briggs Owen. With Hound I'm at a loss to believe there are many true fans. I have to admit that when I try to picture him I keep thinking of Keith Lemon.
In any case I am allergic to tacked-on song and dance numbers, which always feel like an attempt to bully the audience into imagining they have had a good time.
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Post by dani on Apr 22, 2018 16:36:57 GMT
Brian Blessed is good at shouting.
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Post by dani on Apr 22, 2018 9:41:09 GMT
Laura Wade would surely win an award for being one of the least prolific playwrights. Quality is sometimes more important than quantity. Perhaps more writers should hone their work the way that she does instead of swiftly bringing out one play after another. I'm not suggesting that she should write ten plays a year, but it's eight years since Posh, and as far as I am aware the only play she's written since then is her adaptation of Tipping the Velvet. She has had children, I think, which is of course a massive commitment, but it seems to me that she is somewhat unproven as a playwright, with a body of work too small for it to be possible to say "This is what a Laura Wade play is like." Maybe this new play will be brilliant, but it's not like with, let's say, Lucy Kirkwood or James Graham where I feel I know what they're capable of.
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Post by dani on Apr 21, 2018 16:57:32 GMT
Laura Wade would surely win an award for being one of the least prolific playwrights.
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Post by dani on Apr 19, 2018 22:23:26 GMT
Every time Rupert Goold says he's got a really explosive show on his hands, it's a misfire. That's my opinion, anyway. There have been some great shows on his watch, but the ones that have been best seem to be the ones that have excited him least. I haven't seen this yet, and maybe it's a masterpiece, but I've noticed an inverse relationship between how much noise Goold makes about something's excellence and how good it turns out.
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Post by dani on Apr 13, 2018 9:38:10 GMT
Black Sabbath meets Chaucer. What could possibly go wrong?
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Post by dani on Apr 13, 2018 7:40:21 GMT
Ann Treneman in today's Times makes the obvious joke and says it is "a moderate success".
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