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Post by orchidman on Dec 15, 2022 19:47:03 GMT
Jerusalem was the only 5 star play in London this year which is depressing.
Cabaret is now better without Eddie Redmayne.
The Piano Lesson on Broadway the best new production of the year even if it's still a revival.
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Post by orchidman on Dec 15, 2022 19:39:41 GMT
Give me a proven classic with an actor of presence over the current standard of new plays any day
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Post by orchidman on Nov 23, 2022 15:32:24 GMT
Not sure audiences are going to be as fascinated as to how Hamlet was staged on Broadway in 1964 as the luvvies think they will 'Luvvies'? I'm always amazed when people who seem to like theatre, and presumably feel a large amount of gratitude for all the pleasure theatre people have given them over the years, reveal their contempt for them - which is what the word 'luvvies' suggests to me. Writers, directors, actors - why the need to mock them? We've just seen a fantasist called Liz Truss destroyed in 44 days as PM. Most of the luvvies would have put a fantasist called Jeremy Corbyn into that job. That's why they get mocked. Because they talk about truth when they have a very tenuous relationship with reality.
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Post by orchidman on Nov 23, 2022 14:03:41 GMT
Not sure audiences are going to be as fascinated as to how Hamlet was staged on Broadway in 1964 as the luvvies think they will
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Post by orchidman on Nov 8, 2022 14:35:26 GMT
Unbelievably lame . Some truly terrible ‘panto-style’ performances - over-pitched played directly to the audience with EVERY WORD stressed. One actor almost completely incomprehensible. Low production values - panto back-cloths flown in and out to suggest a change of scene . Couple of drab bay-trees for the Malvolio scene . When ticket prices are this high , you at least expect a production to look decent . This looked like a budget of £80 had been splashed on it . Elton’s script had its moments - but actors had been directed to overplay almost everything -and chucking huge chunks of King Lear in not only exposed a Mitchell as a second -rate Shakespearean actor but also reeked of padding . This director has a history of mauling productions with over-blown physical comedy and end-of-the-pier naffness. When a non-speaking dancing bear gets the biggest laughs of the evening , you know that something isn’t right . There’s a really funny play to be written about Shakespeare and his efforts to write for the theatre . This wasn’t it . Save your money . Watch the Box Set. Yes, everyone coming out of last night's entertaining performance seemed bereft to have discovered that David Mitchell is, in fact, not Laurence Olivier.
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Post by orchidman on Nov 5, 2022 1:27:56 GMT
If it forces Hampstead and the Donmar to be less self indulgent and to put on stuff that actually deserves to sell tickets then good.
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Post by orchidman on Nov 5, 2022 0:08:59 GMT
Have absolutely no idea why Robert Icke added a dementia subplot to this: a topic that is depressing, boring and overdone. Very weak ending for that reason. Cut that subplot and we could have all got home half an hour earlier without subtracting anything. But then Mr. Icke would have had to actualloy write a proper ending. The idea that a world-class dementia researcher would be attending to a girl who has botched an abortion is hilariously stupid.
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Post by orchidman on Oct 25, 2022 12:02:46 GMT
Going to be very hard to take Lynn Nottage seriously again after her hand in this
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Post by orchidman on Oct 13, 2022 13:23:59 GMT
It's not a good enough play to pay top prices, especially because doing the play with 3 actors and a tedious amount of doubling (and then compounding that irritation by unveiling 7 more actors in the last scene) means I can't imagine it playing to cheap(er) seats at the back of the theatre.
Typical example of a minor writer trying to write a major play about momentous events and falling short because they are a minor writer. There's no more real depth to this than in Cabaret and at least there you get a proper West End show for your money.
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Post by orchidman on Oct 8, 2022 12:20:34 GMT
Worth seeing if you can bear more talk of vaccines and herd immunity although nowhere near as incisive as Admissions by Joshua Harmon which is a similar US comedy/drama. But this is a well made play which is good to see.
Thankless role for Helen Hunt.
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Post by orchidman on Oct 2, 2022 20:19:34 GMT
McDonagh interviewed in the Observer today:
The writer-director is 52 now, and recently made the decision that he’s going to spend what creative time he has left – he reckons “around 25 years” – making films rather than plays. His reasoning? Films are quicker.
“I always used to think they took longer than plays, but with this one we were filming it a year ago, and now it’s out,” he says. “But if you’re lucky enough to have successful plays, which I have been, then they start off-West End, like at the Royal Court, then you go to the West End, then to off-Broadway, and then to on Broadway. And to get that right with each move, to cast it and take care of it, go to rehearsals, that’s five years of your life.”
He's talking absolute rubbish but good decision based on his last play.
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Post by orchidman on Oct 2, 2022 14:22:17 GMT
As a general rule don't go to see any Tennessee Williams play written after 1959
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Post by orchidman on Sept 30, 2022 22:47:04 GMT
It's a superior melodrama and that makes it significantly better than most of the rubbish the National has put on in recent times. Entertaining but far too derivative of Tennessee Williams to be considered an artistic achievement, and unnecessarily long.
The naivety of the gentleman caller from Alabama strains credulity and feels contrived to heighten the drama. Are we supposed to believe he doesn't know what kind of woman Angel is? Come on.
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Post by orchidman on Sept 27, 2022 11:11:35 GMT
How the times have changed as what defines as a key worker. Just two years ago it was supermarket and transport workers. Now it’s educational psychologists and traffic officers. goodtheplay.com/10-key-worker-tickets/This working for anyone? Not for me
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Post by orchidman on Sept 12, 2022 21:11:48 GMT
Levelling up the theatre won't work any better than levelling up as a wider policy. In the past 100 years the most able people in the country have moved to the big cities (i.e. mainly London) because of the great opportunities for social mobility created in the 20th century.
There has been a brain drain from the towns and the most able people don't want to live there anymore, if they ever did. Look at the schedules for provincial theatre to see what the people who live there actually want to see. It isn't Shakespeare, Ibsen or Stoppard. Even a city as big as Birmingham struggles to sell tickets for serious plays. The audience would rather stay at home and watch the latest Netflix pablum.
It's a much better investment to invest in the places that are already successful to keep them successful than to try to buck the market. It won't work and a lot of money will be blown in denial of the realities.
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Post by orchidman on Aug 6, 2022 21:23:58 GMT
The standard of new plays since the re-opening has been dreadful. The poor audiences are largely deserved.
Cabaret is a top quality show now Eddie Redmayne isn't in it but what else has there been? Disappointing plays from James Graham, Peter Morgan and Florian Zeller who are top tier on track record. It's not a good sign that the best production of a play has been Jerusalem which is an unfrozen production from over a decade ago.
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Post by orchidman on Jul 9, 2022 22:53:58 GMT
I have absolutely no idea why Peter Morgan would take time out from his lucrative job on The Crown to do this. It's not a patch on Frost/Nixon and who is it for? If you have any interest in Russian politics you will learn nothing, nor gain perspective or insight; if you have none why would you buy a ticket?
Feels like a first draft in every respect, the dialogue never sparkles, the staging choices are uninventive, the storytelling is plodding.
They might be able to tighten it up a bit before press night but fundamentally Berezovsky's story does not work as a dramatic narrative. Would be very disappointing to see it transfer to the West End on its current merit.
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Post by orchidman on Jul 6, 2022 22:47:03 GMT
It's worth seeing for Peter Forbes' turn but shouldn't be compared to One Man Two Guvnors which was more of a physical comedy, this relies on wordplay, too much of which is rather tired
Would be better if it ran to the advertised running time of 2 hrs 30 rather than 2 hrs 50. Or indeed 1 hr 30.
The ending is spectacularly ill judged and should be changed
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Elvis
Jun 30, 2022 18:31:38 GMT
Post by orchidman on Jun 30, 2022 18:31:38 GMT
Typical Luhrmann style over substance, like his Great Gatsby the first 45 minutes are wonderful and then it falls apart because he's not a storyteller with any depth
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Post by orchidman on Jun 30, 2022 18:21:42 GMT
Very average play, don't even think about paying premium prices to see this
The characters are far too one-note and two-dimensional, just generally unambitious fare. Mildly amusing in places. Repetitive with a weak ending
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Post by orchidman on Jun 23, 2022 22:21:37 GMT
It's a solid production of a solid play.
Sounds like the understudy has been on for Booster for awhile and he's the weak point, to a large extent just because he's too young but the ending doesn't land with the weight it should because he lacks the presence amongst the men for it to seem significant.
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Post by orchidman on Jun 14, 2022 21:39:45 GMT
It's a polemic and like most polemics completely lacking in nuance or depth of thought. If you prefer to do your political thinking in hashtag form you will like this play.
Shame to see such a good performance not better utilised.
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Post by orchidman on May 26, 2022 16:56:41 GMT
The kind of tedious play we have come to expect from the National. Godse is not an interesting enough character to be the protagonist of a play and the portrayal of Indian politics is perfunctory and without insight. The quality of the dialogue was amateurish. There are plenty of potentially compelling stories covered in the scope of this work but not the one they actually tried to tell.
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Post by orchidman on Apr 22, 2022 23:13:36 GMT
Like The Forest before it the set is a lot better than the script.
Comparing it to Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams in the publicity is misguided and only highlights its shortcomings. They have a world view to express that finds poetic expression in their signature plays. This is palpably the product of a second rate mind with no real insight to express. 2 hours 40 minutes including an interval of no real insight, topped with an inauthentic ending. The characters are believable, the dialogue is good enough, but really I don't know why this play exists. We seem to have a glut of playwrights who have learnt solid technique without developing an understanding of what makes stories worth telling.
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Post by orchidman on Apr 14, 2022 17:05:10 GMT
Ticket gone!
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Post by orchidman on Apr 11, 2022 22:25:06 GMT
totally out of touch with the zeitgeist which has been assuming for some time now that neither Trump nor Harris will be the next set of presidential nominees, which looks a lot more likely to be some Trumpster like de Santis up against god knows who, but not Harris who has eroded much of the good will that came with her VP appointment. Not true, Trump is the clear 11/8 betting favourite to be the Republican nominee and his odds have shortened over the past 18 months, DeSantis is 5/1 second favourite. Harris has indeed weakened yet still second favourite for the Dems with Biden the favourite. But I do think I'm safe to assume you are right that the play is mediocre given it's written by Mike Bartlett.
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Post by orchidman on Mar 27, 2022 13:03:43 GMT
I have no idea how this mediocre play has made it to the West End now when it didn't originally.
We are given no reason to care about the characters, particularly the main character. He is highly irritating and played in an irritating performance by Bailey.
The play is naturalistic enough that it needed to be more believable, while there is no clear justification for the expressionistic touches.
Some amusing moments but stops short of genuine wit.
It is testament to the power of hype, star casting and directorial gimmickry that the audience lapped it up. People are almost being generous when they call the play dated, I don't see how it would have been any good a decade ago.
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Post by orchidman on Feb 25, 2022 22:51:10 GMT
An Insextor Calls, n'est-ce pas?
A promising beginning and great uses of theatrical technique but it goes round and round again without going anywhere, which is well-suited to a story about dementia but not enough to be truly satisfying here. The Truth on similar themes had the benefit of being funny, this is overwrought and underpowered.
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Post by orchidman on Feb 9, 2022 1:20:23 GMT
It's absolutely hilarious to nominate Branagh for the mediocre Belfast and Anderson for the outright insipid Licorice Pizza and not Villeneuve for Dune. The Oscars will become even more irrelevant if they ignore film-makers who actually manage to sell tickets, and Dune, while flawed, is a serious achievement in immersive cinema.
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Post by orchidman on Jan 19, 2022 23:15:58 GMT
The reality is that very little writing stands the test of time of 100 years, let alone 400, let alone 400 in translation from verse.
For the Guardian to publish an article calling it shameful that we are indifferent to Moliere is absolutely laughable and embarrassing. But par for the course.
Particularly so given Billington comes close to admitting that the work only stands up when heavily adapted.
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