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Post by jek on Oct 13, 2023 14:02:11 GMT
I very much enjoyed this production of Peter Grimes - I was at the final performance. I thought that moving it to the immediate postwar period worked really well. I also thought the quality of the writing in the programme was very good. Still a relatively expensive night out for those of us who aren't young, but nice to see quite a few youngsters there presumably taking advantage of the cheap deals.
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Post by jek on Oct 3, 2023 12:07:05 GMT
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Post by jek on Oct 3, 2023 11:46:24 GMT
I too got tickets. My chosen date (mid week in December) had fairly limited seats available. Presumably the pedigree of the people involved plus love for the film is selling tickets at something of a lick.
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Post by jek on Sept 24, 2023 8:54:28 GMT
Like @pixelhysteria I went to see Tokyo Story for the first time. It is doing the rounds as part of the Sight and Sound top ten. I hadn't seen it before but it really is beautiful. Seventy years on its themes of negotiating new relationships with adult children hasn't got old (I have three children in their 20s and so know the territory!) Only about a dozen people in the screening I attended - I always wonder if the Picturehouse even covers the cost of the electricity bill with the cinema so empty. My daughter went to see The Lesson at the same cinema on Friday night and there were eight people there.
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Post by jek on Sept 24, 2023 8:46:53 GMT
The actor Robin Askwith who has had quite the career (including working for Pasolini) sometimes tweets photos of visits to see Richard O'Sullivan. Another 1970s fixture, George Layton often goes on the visits too.
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Post by jek on Sept 20, 2023 9:35:09 GMT
My daughter always jokes that this film got her good grades in her A Levels both in History and Music as it covered the some of the ground in the relevant syllabuses. The music in the film is by the Polish jazz musician Marcin Mazecki and is quite beautiful. I've seen Mazecki in concert in London a couple of times - once at a church in Leytonstone and once at the historic Leighton House in Holland Park. On the latter occasion the director of the film, Pawel Pawlikowski, was in the audience. I can't imagine how the Almeida are going to transfer the atmosphere of the film to the stage, but I hope to get to see it to find out.
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Post by jek on Sept 13, 2023 7:57:58 GMT
The Transylvanian set movie F.M.N turned out to be a less gloomy watch than I had feared from the trailers/reviews. The scenery is stunning, and it is fascinating about a community in which old rituals live alongside EU funded high tech industry. Even which language to use is contested - it made me very aware of how different it is for us living on an island, rather than surrounded by borders which have shifted over decades. Completely baffled by the ending but that just gave us a lot to talk about as we walked back from our local picturehouse.
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Post by jek on Sept 12, 2023 13:08:36 GMT
Thank you ceebee. I saw it with Stephen Tompkinson and then with Paterson Joseph but haven't seen the more recent incarnations. So it will be a real family treat.
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Post by jek on Sept 12, 2023 12:28:06 GMT
I got some. I wanted four together and initially couldn't find that but suddenly some popped up in the stalls - I guess someone found some better ones and released these from their basket. I then had an extended period of time where I kept trying to add them to my basket but repeatedly got the message that there was a problem connecting to the box office. Was close to giving up but suddenly it worked. I'm usually a bit of a stickler for nothing Christmassy before December but for this I will make an exception!
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Post by jek on Sept 11, 2023 7:59:27 GMT
I am a member and I got this survey. The 6 pm thing is quite interesting. The London Symphony Orchestra have had some success with what they call their Half Six Fix which is where they programme a short 6.30 pm concert. It's usually about an hour long and takes one element of whatever they have programmed for a full length concert in the same week. Now, of course, you can't show half a play but with a shorter play I can see the attraction of something starting at 6 pm and ending at 8.30 pm especially given how much more flexibly many people are working now. I got quite bamboozled by the options offered for membership but stressed that, for me, it is priority booking - especially as I have mobility problems which dictate seat choice - which is the clincher. Having been to a members' Christmas party and separately a Christmas quiz I can categorically say that social events for members are not an attraction to me! I did suggest a discount on programmes for members - I can't kick the programme habit (and NT ones have good background information) but do recycle them pretty quickly after the event.
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Post by jek on Sept 9, 2023 13:50:36 GMT
Used lottery theatre tokens earlier in the year to book this. There are different programmes on offer during their 5th to 16th September residency but by researching/looking at videos I selected the programme '21st Century Creations'. The first disappointment was when an email arrived in August to say that the programme had changed and two short pieces were to replace one of the advertised ones. Then just before curtain up last night there was an announcement that the final piece of the night - 'Are You in Your Feelings?' (created 2022) was being replaced by an older piece, 'Dancing Spirit'. It wasn't that the evening was unenjoyable but from the audience reaction around us we clearly weren't the only people who had particularly been looking forward to 'Feelings'. There was no explanation of whether this was due to cast sickness or some other incident. I'd still recommend going to see this excellent company but you may not get what was advertised. Bonus of the evening was that the audience was full of stylish and well dressed people - worth the trip for the people watching alone!
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Post by jek on Sept 9, 2023 11:49:17 GMT
What surprised me is that he was only 82. Yes, I can't believe that when I was watching him as a ten year old he was only 32. I suppose that is, in part, due to him impersonating older people but I would never have guessed him to be only 22 years older than me.
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Post by jek on Sept 5, 2023 21:20:13 GMT
Enjoyed the free preview of Past Lives at our (unusually packed) local Picturehouse tonight. A nice gentle film with very good central performances.
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Post by jek on Sept 1, 2023 10:57:30 GMT
We're late to this but loving Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories and its predecessor Midnight Diner on Netflix. 5 series in total of 10 episodes, each 25 minutes long. We watched the more recent two series first - I don't think the order really matters. It's a gentle drama set in a diner in Tokyo which is open during the night, run by a benevolent character called the master. His clientele are the sorts of people who are up in those hours - nightclub workers, strippers, gangsters, insomniacs. It's just lovely. I was alerted to its existence by a restaurant review in the Financial Times where the reviewer wished for a properly egalitarian place to eat good food like the Tokyo Diner. It's in Japanese with English subtitles.
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Post by jek on Aug 29, 2023 20:59:20 GMT
I enjoyed Passages more than I expected but some of that was to do with the audience which, at the free preview at my local Picturehouse, was very much at the older end of the age scale. I'm 60 and I certainly wasn't the oldest viewer. In fact my 22 year old daughter was probably the youngest by some decades. So the very graphic sex scenes were greeted with an air of 'I couldn't possibly get into that position with my arthritis' rather than shock. The audience were quite verbal at various moments as befits a film where the central character is an almost comic book villain. The real porn in the film is of the French lifestyle variety. Beautiful flats and houses filled with art. And Ben Whishart works in the most gorgeous stone lithography workshop. There is the most beautiful blue palette used by the art director. As we were leaving two of the other customers were commenting on the very nice knitwear which was telling, I thought. I think the 4 star Guardian review from when it was on the festival circuit is quite fair. Hope that is helpful showgirl
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Post by jek on Aug 29, 2023 8:00:12 GMT
I'm going to see a preview of Passages tonight which I hadn't planned on seeing but it's free and my daughter is keen to go. One of my friends went to see The Innocent and said it was very enjoyable so I'm going to see if I can find a convenient screening of that.
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Post by jek on Aug 26, 2023 15:56:44 GMT
I enjoyed this. It's not the best thing ever but it does have some laugh out loud moments. Nice too to see Caroline Aaron from Mrs Maisel and David Rasche from Succession.
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Post by jek on Aug 15, 2023 7:15:36 GMT
We did discuss this on the slim pickings thread as showgirl has mentioned. The preview at Picturehouse Central tonight is sold out but it is only ten days until general release.
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Post by jek on Aug 12, 2023 12:05:33 GMT
Went last night and have to say it wasn't for me. I think the problem is that it considers matters - the origins of depression, big pharma, drug trial ethics - which, if you are older (I am sixty), you've probably spent quite a bit of time thinking about. You will probably have also seen them explored by various art forms. What I did think was good was that the presence of black actors inevitably served to remind of the particularly nasty history of medical experiments on black people - the Tuskegee syphilis trial and the Henrietta Lacks cell line spring to mind. If you are younger I think this is a fine introduction to those topics and I have certainly recommended it to my 22 year old daughter. It was really good to see a young and diverse audience at the theatre. The only disappointment was that there were lots of empty seats on the stage (we were in the circle and so had a good view of that) and, in fact, the ushers moved people down to fill up the gaps at the front just before the play started. Must be disappointing for a Friday night and when the reviews were so good.
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Post by jek on Aug 9, 2023 10:35:41 GMT
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Post by jek on Aug 9, 2023 8:36:06 GMT
We have tickets for the circle to see this later this week. Is the circle configured as it normally is? I'm finding it hard to get my head around the way the theatre has been changed for this production.
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Post by jek on Aug 6, 2023 7:27:56 GMT
There is a Spanish 2012 version of Snow White 'Blancanieves'. Black and white, silent and featuring sumptuously dressed matadors. I haven't seen it for years but I remember it was stunning.
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Post by jek on Aug 4, 2023 21:33:22 GMT
I am Stepney born and bred and no-one would mistake my accent for anything other than cockney. I have just listened to Ashford's version of 'By The Sea' and it is the best laugh I have had in some time! What on earth is that accent? It's even worse than Lin Manuel Miranda's attempt in Mary Poppins. It's a shame because the orchestra sounds very good indeed.
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Post by jek on Aug 1, 2023 11:53:29 GMT
showgirl Theater Camp looks fun. Previewing at Picturehouse Central on the 15th August, general release ten days later. But I know what you mean - everything looks a bit intense. Much as I love Ben Whishaw I feel like I've seen him looking sad - as he clearly does in Passages - once too often. Of the trailers I've been seeing in the cinema Past Lives is probably the one that appeals most.
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Post by jek on Jul 30, 2023 20:11:03 GMT
I was at the Barbican cinema this morning and one of the adverts they showed before the film was for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. I go to the Barbican cinema a lot and can't remember seeing an advert for a theatre production before - only for screenings of theatre shows.
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Post by jek on Jul 19, 2023 8:30:13 GMT
A few years back I went to the National Theatre Christmas quiz hosted by Emma Freud with Carey Mulligan as guest scorer. Richard Curtis and the rest of the family were sitting near us. Now I'm sure some would say that they have a lot to congratulate themselves for, but I remember the whole evening as being smug and self indulgent. I hope that this new event is a little more self aware - just because you and your famous mates onstage are having a good time that doesn't necessarily mean that the audience is.
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Post by jek on Jul 10, 2023 12:01:49 GMT
I wonder if anyone on here had any success at the ENO Yard Sale at Charlton on Friday/Saturday. We went on Friday, by tube and bus, and queued for half an hour in boiling heat and no shade. We were then told that it was likely to be two hours before we got in so we gave up and went home. At 60 and with a gammy leg that wasn't feasible for me. I'm seeing lots of photos on social media of people who bought costumes and props. I bet the ENO were surprised at the crowds that turned up - from the queue I'd say it was a mix of people who run am dram companies/ cosplayers and vintage wearers/sellers. There were some complaints on social media that once you did get in there was only one till and so people were queueing another hour to pay for their items!
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Post by jek on Jul 9, 2023 17:54:42 GMT
The Australian version of The Traitors starts on BBC3 tonight at 8pm. From the Radio Times description it sounds a hoot with one of the contestants someone who 'claims to be a clairvoyant who manifested Pablo Escobar in her bedroom after she watched Narcos'. Further episodes are on tomorrow and Tuesday but, for the binge watchers among you, the whole series is on iPlayer from today.
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Post by jek on Jul 9, 2023 14:17:04 GMT
I have very happy memories of Luke Thallon and Lucie Fletcher performing in this at the Guildhall five years ago. Too busy being carried away by the joy of the performance (and the proud parents in the audience) to worry about the plot.
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Post by jek on Jul 8, 2023 16:11:53 GMT
thistimetomorrow I'm afraid that I am defeated by the convoluted way that is required to post a picture on this board (though I understand why that is necessary.) Cast members were as follows (cast A followed by Cast Z): Billy Bigelow: Ari Olafsson/ Job Greuter Julie Jordan: Reka Jonas/Joanna Adaran Carrie: Emily Botnen/ Chloe Saracco Enoch Snow: Thomas O'Kelly/Edward Conroy Mrs Mullins: Shamael Guy Nettie Fowler: Sarah Von Egypt Starkeeper etc.: Jack Lark Jigger Craigin: Patrick D'Arcy/ Joe Kelly Louise Bigelow: Rachel Chan/ Aiofe Dardis Carnival boy: El Haq Latief/ James Lim Enoch Snow Jr: Joao Almeida/ Adam Norton Millworker: Tamara Tare Fisherman/sailor: Niklas Brunner MD: Niall Casserly/ Jemma Starling Hope that helps.
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