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Post by Deleted on Sept 28, 2017 13:17:18 GMT
It's James Macdonald directing, so I wouldn't necessarily expect anything too immediately radical. (It turns out I've seen quite a few things he's directed but none of them are particularly memorable for their directing.) It's the one I'm least keen on, Restoration comedy not being quite my bag, but the whole season looks intriguing enough to book now and decide later, for me at least.  |
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Post by alexandra on Sept 28, 2017 13:24:31 GMT
It's James Macdonald directing, so I wouldn't necessarily expect anything too immediately radical. (It turns out I've seen quite a few things he's directed but none of them are particularly memorable for their directing.) It's the one I'm least keen on, Restoration comedy not being quite my bag, but the whole season looks intriguing enough to book now and decide later, for me at least. Oooh, I disagree. He isn't in the director's theatre mould but I find him a really detailed and interesting director. Off the top of my head: Escaped Alone, Cock, The Father, Judgment Day, Exiles, A Delicate Balance - all superbly directed. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 28, 2017 13:33:07 GMT
(I think we possibly have the same opinion but I phrased it really clumsily and ended up sounding like I was saying something else entirely. Either way, I'm not worried he'll do something wacky just for the sake of it, but rather will focus on doing a good job.  ) |
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Post by Jan on Sept 28, 2017 13:33:09 GMT
It's James Macdonald directing, so I wouldn't necessarily expect anything too immediately radical. (It turns out I've seen quite a few things he's directed but none of them are particularly memorable for their directing.) It's the one I'm least keen on, Restoration comedy not being quite my bag, but the whole season looks intriguing enough to book now and decide later, for me at least. Oooh, I disagree. He isn't in the director's theatre mould but I find him a really detailed and interesting director. Off the top of my head: Escaped Alone, Cock, The Father, Judgment Day, Exiles, A Delicate Balance - all superbly directed. Also: Glengarry Glen Ross (Adequate), Dido Queen of Carthage (Quite Good), The Bacchai (Awful, ears still ringing from that terrible singing). Nothing there makes me confident he'll be able to wring any laughs out of a restoration comedy, it is a fearsomely difficult task, that's why I was musing on whether it would be presented conventionally, or in the manner (say) of Deborah Warner's grim School for Scandal. The latter was in the fashion pioneered by William Gaskill in the 1970s and 80s of treating these plays in a Brechtian way - it never really worked and the best ones I've seen treated them simply as entertainments with top-grade comedy actors (Michael Horden, Donald Sinden, Geraldine McEwan, Dora Bryan etc.) |
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Post by dave72 on Sept 28, 2017 14:53:48 GMT
The production at the National in 1995 directed by Phyllida Lloyd was superb AND what some on this thread might call radical: I still remember the vision of Geraldine McEwan distraught and sprawled in a towering heap of binbags. The cast was great, including McEwan, Fiona Shaw, Roger Allam, Richard McCabe, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Sian Thomas--and three younger actors playing servants whom most people at that point had never heard of: Amanda Drew, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, and Catherine Tate...
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Post by Jan on Sept 28, 2017 16:31:44 GMT
The production at the National in 1995 directed by Phyllida Lloyd was superb AND what some on this thread might call radical: I still remember the vision of Geraldine McEwan distraught and sprawled in a towering heap of binbags. The cast was great, including McEwan, Fiona Shaw, Roger Allam, Richard McCabe, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Sian Thomas--and three younger actors playing servants whom most people at that point had never heard of: Amanda Drew, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, and Catherine Tate... Yes, I think the key point is these plays have to be very strongly cast with actors with a flair for comedy, the only redeeming feature of Warner's effort was Harry Melling. |
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Post by martin1965 on Sept 28, 2017 19:28:52 GMT
"Way of the World" is a bit of a rarity these days, don't think I've ever seen it and it's therefore welcome. It's unclear at the moment if they will be inflicting a "radical new version" of it on us or if it will be done conventionally. I saw the NT production in the 90s, good cast: Roger Allam Fiona Shaw Richard McCabe Sian Thomas and Geraldine McEwan. Recall it being cool and quite funny. Will prob book for this. |
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Post by martin1965 on Sept 28, 2017 19:31:07 GMT
Soz! Hadnt noticed earlier post on same subject.
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Post by lynette on Sept 28, 2017 20:53:06 GMT
"Way of the World" is a bit of a rarity these days, don't think I've ever seen it and it's therefore welcome. It's unclear at the moment if they will be inflicting a "radical new version" of it on us or if it will be done conventionally. I saw the NT production in the 90s, good cast: Roger Allam Fiona Shaw Richard McCabe Sian Thomas and Geraldine McEwan. Recall it being cool and quite funny. Will prob book for this. Not too radical I hope. It is radical enough in its 'message' about men and women. I also saw Geraldine MCEwan, one of my favourite memories of a performance. |
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Post by popcultureboy on Sept 28, 2017 22:52:20 GMT
This is the strongest season they've had in a little while, isn't it? Poots and Norton in a play that sounds AMAZING, a revival of a play I adored at the Court with Richard Coyle and Lloyd Owen, and then LINDA BASSETT! Sign me up! I'm in for all 3.
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Post by alexandra on Sept 29, 2017 9:37:16 GMT
The production at the National in 1995 directed by Phyllida Lloyd was superb AND what some on this thread might call radical: I still remember the vision of Geraldine McEwan distraught and sprawled in a towering heap of binbags. The cast was great, including McEwan, Fiona Shaw, Roger Allam, Richard McCabe, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Sian Thomas--and three younger actors playing servants whom most people at that point had never heard of: Amanda Drew, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, and Catherine Tate... Yes, I think the key point is these plays have to be very strongly cast with actors with a flair for comedy, the only redeeming feature of Warner's effort was Harry Melling. Agreed. Linda Bassett is a very good start. Congratulations on your doctorate btw. |
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Post by Jan on Sept 29, 2017 11:40:09 GMT
Yes, I think the key point is these plays have to be very strongly cast with actors with a flair for comedy, the only redeeming feature of Warner's effort was Harry Melling. Agreed. Linda Bassett is a very good start. Congratulations on your doctorate btw. 35 years late but thanks anyway. I’ve never heard of Linda Bassett, I’ll take your word for it though. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 29, 2017 11:50:54 GMT
I’ve never heard of Linda Bassett, I’ll take your word for it though. You may have forgotten. She played Mistress Quickly in Adrian Noble's 1991 RSC production of Henry IV Parts 1 and 2. She's brilliant, a pillar of theatre for the last four decades, and hopefully the next four too. |
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Post by Jan on Sept 29, 2017 11:55:17 GMT
I’ve never heard of Linda Bassett, I’ll take your word for it though. You may have forgotten. She played Mistress Quickly in Adrian Noble's 1991 RSC production of Henry IV Parts 1 and 2. She's brilliant, a pillar of theatre for the last four decades, and hopefully the next four too. Yes I saw that of course but don’t remember her. I haven’t seen any of her more recent TV work. Anyway I’ll book for this. |
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Post by Polly1 on Sept 29, 2017 11:57:27 GMT
Agreed. Linda Bassett is a very good start. I’ve never heard of Linda Bassett, I’ll take your word for it though. Terrible Rage |
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Post by Jan on Sept 29, 2017 12:07:51 GMT
Missed her in that. Was she in the original production of Caryl Churchill’s “Serious Money” in 1987 ? I saw that. |
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Post by Polly1 on Sept 29, 2017 12:56:54 GMT
Missed her in that. Was she in the original production of Caryl Churchill’s “Serious Money” in 1987 ? I saw that. Play is called Escaped Alone, of course, just thought those two words might trigger a memory! In Basildon (can't remember where you stand on Eldridge) Wasn't she in the Mike Leigh thing at the Nash a few years ago? Love Polly1 (grade 8 tenor horn, merit) |
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Post by bordeaux on Sept 29, 2017 13:00:00 GMT
One of her best roles was as the wife in East is East.
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Post by Jan on Sept 29, 2017 13:28:15 GMT
One of her best roles was as the wife in East is East. Yes I saw that. It is odd how I have managed to avoid her career since then, no doubt when I see her the memories will come flooding back. Deborah Findlay is another (very good) actor I saw a lot in the 80s and then not again for decades. |
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Post by Jan on Sept 29, 2017 13:38:45 GMT
Play is called Escaped Alone, of course, just thought those two words might trigger a memory! In Basildon (can't remember where you stand on Eldridge) Wasn't she in the Mike Leigh thing at the Nash a few years ago? Love Polly1 (grade 8 tenor horn, merit) Years ago Eldridge posted a few times on this forum - at least we all thought it really was him. I complimented him on his version of The Wild Duck used in the quite brilliant Grandage production of it. Sadly as I stopped seeing new plays in around 1990 I haven’t seen anything else by him. |
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Post by TallPaul on Sept 30, 2017 13:32:02 GMT
Non-London members may be interested to know that The York Realist is a co-production with Sheffield Theatres, and will transfer to one of the Crucible spaces (presumably the Studio) between 27 March and 7 April, just before the snooker rolls into town.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 30, 2017 16:33:25 GMT
One of her best roles was as the wife in East is East. And she steals 'Call The Midwife' too. |
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Post by lynette on Oct 12, 2017 12:20:39 GMT
I used the phone! Luddite that I am. Waited about 20 mins but booked all three for Sat nights , seats I like. Sorted. Like they say on the tube now. Weird.
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Post by addictedtotheatre on Oct 17, 2017 9:54:44 GMT
Went on the site to book this morning at 10am. Site broke a few times but had no problem getting tickets for 'Belleville' and 'Way of the World'. Then had another look at my calendar and decided to try for a midweek trip to see 'The York Realist' - went back on the site and am now 1427 in the queue. Weird.
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Post by princeton on Oct 17, 2017 10:32:18 GMT
I'm about to give up. Logged on at 10am was 874 in the queue. Now - nearly 90 minutes later - still only 503. Can't wait around all day. It seems that almost every London theatre uses a booking system which simply cannot cope with a new booking period. The National, the Almeida, the Donmar, the Young Vic all seem to have the same problem. The cynic in me would say that it's simply a ploy to get people to join up for membership schemes - but my experience as a member of three of the above suggests that that doesn't actually help matters either - just gives you the same problems a few days earlier.
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