213 posts
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Post by frankubelik on Nov 22, 2023 5:57:02 GMT
From the middle of the stalls, I had a hard time hearing much of the dialogue and have to wonder if less experienced stage actors simply cannot enunciate efficiently. I thought the set did not serve the piece at all well and had none of the claustrophobic atmosphere which should drive the piece. Overall bland performances - nobody stood out for me and sadly Ms Walter was very disappointing with little of the martinet on display. A rather muted response from the audience too.
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Post by mrnutz on Nov 22, 2023 9:58:42 GMT
A rather muted response from the audience too. Yes! I forgot to mention the same thing happened on Friday night, too.
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Post by shakeel on Nov 25, 2023 0:56:43 GMT
Agreed with 3.5. It's fine, but the pacing's off and it doesn't build in the way it needs to. The ending's a bit of an anticlimax too. Sad, as I really enjoyed Frecknall's R&J (and Cabaret).
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Post by coco on Nov 25, 2023 10:21:16 GMT
I saw this on Wednesday but left at interval so I will not rate this. It’s my first time seeing Rebecca’s play and also first time seeing this play so I’m also not sure how the script really is. The main problem for me is Harriet’s Bernarda is not formidable at all to me, so while I could see the point of the play, it was giving me such a hard time as I always had to fill in the blanks of logic to make sense of the plot. And that’s why I didn’t want to see the second half. I know things wouldn’t get better for me.
But I would like to see more works of Rebecca as the pace of the play actually is fine for me, and I could see some interesting ways of doing theatre in it.
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Post by dr on Nov 25, 2023 18:03:31 GMT
Saw the matinee and wow - absolutely astonishing. As I said earlier in this thread, I'm a big fan of both Birch and Frecknall, so was prepared to be disappointed, but from the moment the set was revealed, I was in awe. I understand the criticisms about Harriet Walter, but it isn't her play, at least not in this rendering - as Adela, Isis Hainsworth is full of fire and resistance, and the supporting performances from Eileen Nicholas, Lizzie Annis and Pearl Chanda are extremely powerful, plus at times surprisingly witty. Frecknall's signature physicality and symbolism are haunting, invoking her Streetcar and Romeo and Juliet, while Birch employs the layered and rhythmic style of Anatomy of a Suicide and the latter section of Revolt, all to great, great effect. I felt it in my body - the repression, the simmering desire, the ambition to escape. "Intense" cannot cover it, and I will be thinking about this play for a long time. An enthusiastic response from today's audience - I do wonder if the "muted" reaction described above is due to shock at the force of the ending. 5 stars from me - and I doubt I will be the only one.
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Post by nash16 on Nov 25, 2023 18:22:11 GMT
If it evokes her Romeo & Juliet, I’m definitely out. That was appalling. Saw the matinee and wow - absolutely astonishing. As I said earlier in this thread, I'm a big fan of both Birch and Frecknall, so was prepared to be disappointed, but from the moment the set was revealed, I was in awe. I understand the criticisms about Harriet Walter, but it isn't her play, at least not in this rendering - as Adela, Isis Hainsworth is full of fire and resistance, and the supporting performances from Eileen Nicholas, Lizzie Annis and Pearl Chanda are extremely powerful, plus at times surprisingly witty. Frecknall's signature physicality and symbolism are haunting, invoking her Streetcar and Romeo and Juliet, while Birch employs the layered and rhythmic style of Anatomy of a Suicide and the latter section of Revolt, all to great, great effect. I felt it in my body - the repression, the simmering desire, the ambition to escape. "Intense" cannot cover it, and I will be thinking about this play for a long time. An enthusiastic response from today's audience - I do wonder if the "muted" reaction described above is due to shock at the force of the ending. 5 stars from me - and I doubt I will be the only one.
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185 posts
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Post by harry on Nov 27, 2023 20:50:00 GMT
Boring question but could someone who’s seen it tell me in an dm or spoiler tags about the gunshots mentioned on the NT website? Is it just at the point it happens in the original Lorca or are there more in this adaptation? Thanks!
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Post by couldileaveyou on Nov 27, 2023 20:53:42 GMT
Boring question but could someone who’s seen it tell me in an dm or spoiler tags about the gunshots mentioned on the NT website? Is it just at the point it happens in the original Lorca or are there more in this adaptation? Thanks! Just Lorca's
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885 posts
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Post by lonlad on Nov 28, 2023 23:40:10 GMT
Starriest press night tonight that I've seen at the National Theatre in ages -- the audience rapt throughout and enthusiastic at the curtain call, and rightly so: the production is a triumph and is going to be another hit for Rufus Norris's final stretch at the helm of the National. Commercial producers attached suggest a transfer in the offing. The playtext by the way is invaluable and worth buying in this instance to really understand how Alice Birch has filleted and layered Lorca's original.
The cast is superlative, Lizzie Annis and Isis Hainsworth first amongst equals: huzzahs all round.
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Post by couldileaveyou on Nov 29, 2023 10:26:51 GMT
Positive if not enthusiastic reception so far, 3* from the Times, Independent and The Stage, 4* from the Evening Standard and WhatsOnStage
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Post by prefab on Nov 29, 2023 12:06:03 GMT
This was one of the dullest plays I've seen at the NT in a long time, so I'm surprised that it's getting relatively good reviews. Admittedly I saw it early in its run (last Wednesday) from cheap seats way up in the circle. But still for me, almost the only parts of the play that worked were the modern dance bits added by Frecknall, which actually conveyed some of the emotions of longing and sexual repression, central themes that the actors struggled to convey in their dialogue.
It just all felt too monotonous, with the actresses constantly shouting at each other, and I didn't find them believable one bit as early 20th century Spanish villagers. Given that they took so many liberties with Lorca's original play, to the point that it's credited to Alice Birch "after Lorca," I wonder why they didn't just change the location to something the actors could handle better. (Rural Ireland in the early 20th century, perhaps?)
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Post by jr on Nov 29, 2023 12:30:13 GMT
I've returned my ticket for next month. Reading comments here have helped me to make up my mind. I've seen a few different productions in Spain, the (terrible) previous NT production and film and TV adaptations. This doesn't sound like a good version at all. I understand that you might to try and understand Bernarda as a victim of a system, this wouldn't make her less of a monster to her daughters. m.imdb.com/title/tt0092729/?ref_=ext_shr_lnkThat's a very good adaptation of probably the most successful theatre production in Spain. There were a few cast changes and a different director but they followed the original production. I think it is on DVD with English subtitles.
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Post by couldileaveyou on Nov 29, 2023 12:50:26 GMT
Positive if not enthusiastic reception so far, 3* from the Times, Independent and The Stage, 4* from the Evening Standard and WhatsOnStage Another 3*** from BroadwayWorld and 4**** from Telegraph, iNews and LondonTheatre
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1,199 posts
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Post by Steve on Nov 29, 2023 14:17:41 GMT
I LOVED this! A surveillance society version of the play that felt thrilling and immediate. The set is a character, it's see-through gauze walls making it resemble a prison or psychiatric hospital. I thought the whole ensemble wonderful, with Lizzie Annis exceptional. Some spoilers follow. . . For fans of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," think of this as "One Flew Over the Spinsters' Nest," with Harriet Walter as Nurse Ratched. The striking set allows Walter's Ratched/Bernarda Alba to be forever hovering behind doors and walls, or patrolling the grounds outside, penning her girls into their little see-through box cages, where the play usually has her character absent. Since you see everyone everywhere all at once, and since Alice Birch creates additional and overlapping dialogue for everyone everywhere, there is so much more to watch and listen to than usual, so many resonances in the machinations of every scheming inmate. Annis's limping Martirio is the most complex character, a kind of Stockholm Syndrome inmate of the asylum, a nascent Richard III, who has completely imbibed Nurse Walter's watchful cruelty, while at the same time still aching with empathy, love and a yearning for freedom. By depicting freedom visually, a gold lit shimmering Pape El Romano (James McHugh is the master of lingering lithe movement), watched by awestruck imprisoned girls from their individual cells, ballet dancing his way backwards and forwards, wherever he pleases, Rebecca Frecknall makes all the desperation so palpable. As Nurse Ratched, Walter is stern, uncompromising, terrifying; as the character best approximating the mischievous lead character of Cuckoo's Nest, stirring up all the other inmates, Thusitha Jayasundera is impish fun as Poncia, and Eileen Nicholas is superb as Bernarda's Mum, still infused with a free spirit despite a lifetime of incarceration. Usually with this play, for example the Almeida's one, set in Iran, I can watch from a distance, nodding and thinking, yes, that's terrible, that place far far away. But this one hits harder, for me, cos I can more easily imagine being sectioned into the merciless hands of a Nurse Ratched in a mental health facility lol. 4 and a half stars, as for me, Rebecca Frecknall does it again!
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Post by couldileaveyou on Nov 29, 2023 14:57:17 GMT
Positive if not enthusiastic reception so far, 3* from the Times, Independent and The Stage, 4* from the Evening Standard and WhatsOnStage Another 3*** from BroadwayWorld and 4**** from Telegraph, iNews and LondonTheatre FT **** Guardian ***
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Post by Rory on Nov 29, 2023 16:09:48 GMT
Yet another 3 star review from Arifa Akbar 😏
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Post by minion on Nov 29, 2023 16:40:15 GMT
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Post by couldileaveyou on Nov 29, 2023 16:54:27 GMT
She's doing Miss Julie in Amsterdam from February
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Post by minion on Nov 29, 2023 17:06:25 GMT
She's doing Miss Julie in Amsterdam from February Oh right. And also doing the adaptation herself. Just looked, and some else (Zinnie Harris) had done the adaptation for her when she'd first staged it.
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Post by parsley1 on Nov 29, 2023 22:23:09 GMT
This felt like it lasted about 29 hours
Tedious
And a good lesson that Rebecca needs a rest
She has one directorial style
And it ain’t all that great
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885 posts
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Post by lonlad on Nov 30, 2023 10:47:59 GMT
Interesting. The one thing it certainly isn't is tedious given how charged every single moment (and corner of the stage) is. Her style in some ways works better here than on shows like ROMEO AND JULIET, to which BERNARDA is infinitely superior.
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1,197 posts
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Post by theatrefan77 on Nov 30, 2023 11:16:22 GMT
I don't think this production deserves 3 stars, maybe 2 and that's being generous.
Frecknall's style over substance approach didn't work for me at all.
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Post by parsley1 on Nov 30, 2023 16:17:04 GMT
I found as she is so taken with style and her own way
The text comes secondary to this
In this play it means there is a lack of explosive sexual tension
Other than some gyrating against a gate
I actually enjoyed the first half
After the interval despite it being only about 40 mins
It dragged and I found and tension had evaporated
The set was also distracting and did not evoke the presence of outside space or heat whatsoever
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Post by parsley1 on Nov 30, 2023 16:47:44 GMT
I found as she is so taken with style and her own way The text comes secondary to this In this play it means there is a lack of explosive sexual tension Other than some gyrating against a gate I actually enjoyed the first half After the interval despite it being only about 40 mins It dragged and I found and tension had evaporated The set was also distracting and did not evoke the presence of outside space or heat whatsoever The issue I find is that her “takes” on plays or musicals Detract from the source material in a negative way
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Post by Being Alive on Nov 30, 2023 18:03:38 GMT
Interesting you say this, as I thought her productions of Cabaret, R&J and Streetcar were all brilliantly coherent and arguably the best productions of all of those shows I've seen for a long while...
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Post by solotheatregoer on Nov 30, 2023 23:38:40 GMT
Just back from this and not quite sure what to make of it. It is a bit of a mess and I found the frequent shouting and multiple conversations a bit migraine inducing at times, at least in the first 30 minutes or so whilst I tried to piece everything together. The pacing is slow but it does pick up in the second half of the first act.
There are some good performances here though and it was great to see Lizzie Annis back on stage (she was great in The Glass Menagerie last year too). It’s just a bit all over the place and needed to be a bit more cohesive when it came to the dialog.
Two stars.
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Post by cartoonman on Dec 1, 2023 10:22:21 GMT
Saw this on Monday, so I've had a time to thick about it. Basically it's another play about a dysfunctional family. Lots of swearing, & violence. Harriet Walter dominated the stage as the controlling matriarch but for me the actress playing the grandmother was outstanding. She was so like my own demented mother. I don't think I have given too much away. I liked the set but there were times when things were happening at several places at once. I went to see it as my girlfriend had it in her Spanish classes. I think it scores 3 stars with me. I can't remember any music. The NT does great music so I thought that some Spanish music might be there.
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Post by alessia on Dec 1, 2023 11:40:59 GMT
I dont know what to do about this, I have a ticket but now I'm considering returning it.
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Post by amyja89 on Dec 1, 2023 11:51:02 GMT
I dont know what to do about this, I have a ticket but now I'm considering returning it. Something like this that seems to be spanning the range of opinion is always worth seeing for oneself, I think. It's not like it is being universally slated or anything even close.
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Post by mrnutz on Dec 1, 2023 13:27:39 GMT
I dont know what to do about this, I have a ticket but now I'm considering returning it. Something like this that seems to be spanning the range of opinion is always worth seeing for oneself, I think. It's not like it is being universally slated or anything even close. Agreed. You may find something to love. You may find something to hate. But you will find... something.
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