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Post by zahidf on Sept 29, 2017 11:03:53 GMT
Sounds interesting but I'm still thinking lots of plays about maleness, male environments (Lehman bros, kings, gay Soho, a prison unit), by men, directed by men. The one production that looks like featuring lots of women - written by a man - portrays them as loathsome predators to be destroyed. Well, not the whole season yet. I won't judge it just yet... |
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Post by crowblack on Sept 29, 2017 11:15:21 GMT
I won't judge it just yet... The only other thing I heard was Macbeth, a play about masculinity... maybe we'll hear about some other stuff later: women as an afterthought... it's the National Theatre and it's disappointing. |
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Post by wiggymess on Sept 29, 2017 11:25:39 GMT
Sounds interesting but I'm still thinking lots of plays about maleness, male environments (Lehman bros, kings, gay Soho, a prison unit), by men, directed by men. The one production that looks like featuring lots of women - written by a man - portrays them as loathsome predators to be destroyed. It is disappointing in that regard. And that reminds me, when are they going to announce the new Annie Baker??!! |
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Post by rumbledoll on Sept 29, 2017 11:56:55 GMT
Some of it sounds very exciting, thanks! When is the official press-release coming out?
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Post by MrBunbury on Sept 29, 2017 12:16:55 GMT
- a new play by Bruce Norris directed by Dominic Cooke in a co-production with Steppenwolf. 'Norris’s new piece (whose name I’ve yet to discover) might prove controversial. It is about a group of paedophiles who reside in a special unit.
When one victim demands an apology, his abuser refuses to accept he has done anything wrong. The play will be a joint production between the National and Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre. (Steppenwolf did not want to do it in Chicago until it had been performed elsewhere first.)
Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-4931734/Rhys-Ifans-nabs-lead-Exit-King-Christmas-Carol.html#ixzz4u417mvx8'
That could be interesting....
This sounds very interesting and incendiary. |
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Post by TallPaul on Sept 29, 2017 12:21:33 GMT
Oh I adore Translations but I've never seen it performed that's exciting. I'm still bloody terrifed of 'The Witches' so may give that one a wide berth though. That makes you wiccaphobic. Good job you live in Cardiff, rather than Pendle! |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 29, 2017 12:35:10 GMT
Where are the women writers and directors? One director, and that's it in the line up, and she's directing a musical based on a very misogynistic children's book? I thought (especially after Hytner's apology and recent comments) we were going to see more? Instead, dead white men getting revivals. With the NT's current track record, I wouldn't be at all surprised if The Witches with its female director and largely female cast got shunted off round the back to the Dorfman. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 29, 2017 12:36:22 GMT
Interesting stuff but, as mentioned, looking very male and pale.
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Post by oxfordsimon on Sept 29, 2017 13:00:07 GMT
Absolute Hell is a cracking play - amazing central female role (Judi Dench last time it was done at the National) - if they cast it right, I will be very tempted.
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Post by showgirl on Sept 29, 2017 17:09:38 GMT
Absolute Hell is a cracking play - amazing central female role (Judi Dench last time it was done at the National) - if they cast it right, I will be very tempted. Indeed both a cracking play and central female role, and I saw the previous NT production, so would be quite wary of another lest it not match up. Wonder who will get the part this time? |
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Post by MrBunbury on Sept 29, 2017 17:13:55 GMT
Where are the women writers and directors? One director, and that's it in the line up, and she's directing a musical based on a very misogynistic children's book? I thought (especially after Hytner's apology and recent comments) we were going to see more? Instead, dead white men getting revivals. It is not much in that sense, but they had announced that Indhu Rubasingham would direct The great wave at the Dorfman. And there will be Annie Barker's John there as well. |
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Post by oxfordsimon on Sept 29, 2017 17:19:08 GMT
Absolute Hell is a cracking play - amazing central female role (Judi Dench last time it was done at the National) - if they cast it right, I will be very tempted. Indeed both a cracking play and central female role, and I saw the previous NT production, so would be quite wary of another lest it not match up. Wonder who will get the part this time? The BBC did a version with Dame Judi - which is still available on YouTube - so there is a way of remembering her performance. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 29, 2017 17:47:31 GMT
The BBC did a version with Dame Judi - which is still available on YouTube - so there is a way of remembering her performance. Yes, Anthony Page directed that BBCtv studio video production starring Judi Dench. Broadcast on Sat 5 Oct 1991 and repeated on Sat 19 Dec 1992 in tribute to Rodney Ackland who'd recently died. genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/c3eed9f99e4c42c38ae84774c95ab0f9 Then, Anthony Page later recreated his tv studio production, again with Judi Dench, as an NT stage production in the Lyttelton, running from May 1995. The opposite way round to the more common pattern of recording a successful stage show. |
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Post by crowblack on Sept 29, 2017 17:48:45 GMT
The great wave at the Dorfman. And there will be Annie Barker's John there as well. The Dorfman? See Baemax's comment above! I prefer small studio-type theatres but it does look rather crap if that's where women's work repeatedly ends up. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 29, 2017 17:58:59 GMT
The Dorfman? See Baemax's comment above! I prefer small studio-type theatres but it does look rather crap if that's where women's work repeatedly ends up. Olivier: Salome (Yael Farber) Saint George and the Dragon (Lyndsey Turner) Lyttelton: Ugly Lies the Bone (Lindsey Ferrentino / Indhu Rubasingham) Angels in America Part 1 (Marianne Elliott) Angels in America Part 2 (Marianne Elliott) Jane Eyre (Sally Cookson) |
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Post by crowblack on Sept 29, 2017 18:06:59 GMT
And what about the rest of the time, and next year? We're half the population and (if my university was anything to go by) the majority doing English degrees etc.. A Room of One's Own was 90 years ago but in theatreland there hasn't been much progress.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 29, 2017 18:20:59 GMT
Just pointing out that you're misrepresenting the facts when you claim that women's work at the NT repeatedly ends up in the Dorfman. It is possible to argue without twisting the truth, and your argument is more likely to be engaged with.
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Post by peelee on Sept 29, 2017 18:27:30 GMT
The Dorfman?
Typical that even that Dorfman was named after a man.
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Post by crowblack on Sept 29, 2017 18:41:01 GMT
It is possible to argue without twisting the truth I don't want to start hurling ugly insults around even if others do (I aim to be polite when engaging with other posters and discuss plays, rather than insulting or patronising other people on the site). Jane Eyre is a touring co-production and the novel writer has been dead 150 years, St George has a living male writer and a male star headlining, Angels in America has a living male writer, male stars and is about men (and I like the way you eke out your list by making the two parts separate, like the Oxford museum with its tiny bits of Dodo!). Mosquitoes was at the Dorfman and weirdly didn't get the NT Live treatment (other theatre in the round stuff from other theatres has been broadcast so why not that?). And the line up for next year looks, thus far, largely male and pale. It's not exactly great. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 29, 2017 19:36:52 GMT
Sounds interesting but I'm still thinking lots of plays about maleness, male environments (Lehman bros, kings, gay Soho, a prison unit), by men, directed by men. The one production that looks like featuring lots of women - written by a man - portrays them as loathsome predators to be destroyed. I don't let myself get upset about this kind of thing, although- as a member of not just one but several groups that could be termed 'a minority'- I could. Life is just too short, and there are so many other things to get upset about as I get older, I have found. I just enjoy what I am offered now. I find it's the best way. Anyway, just to be clear (because I'm not 100% sure) would the 'gay Soho' play be Rodney Ackland's masterpiece, Absolute Hell? If so, it's more 'bohemian soho' than 'gay', and there is large cast of all sorts, too many to mention really, and the gays that are featured are both male and female. One of the main characters is a woman. (Straight.) The whole play revolves around her. I'm really excited at the thought of seeing it again, having seen it at the NT with Judi Dench back in 1995. (If you were referring to another play altogether, I apologise. But I wouldn't want this play to be passed over without due consideration of its merit.) |
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Post by crowblack on Sept 29, 2017 20:06:03 GMT
I wouldn't want this play to be passed over without due consideration of its merit. It's the play I thought 'oh, good!' when I saw it was coming on, and of all yesterday's list is the one I'll definitely see. When I applied to art college as a postgrad many many years ago they asked 'why this one?' and I said well, this and that, and it's in Soho... downside was we probably spent most of our time there in pubs or the Prince Charles cheapo cinema. The college is now luxury flats... |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 29, 2017 21:08:34 GMT
And...?
I'm not following.
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Post by crowblack on Sept 29, 2017 23:15:57 GMT
I presume the fact that Soho is being gutted (along with London's other once-bohemian areas) is one of the reasons behind the revival. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 30, 2017 10:16:47 GMT
It is possible to argue without twisting the truth I don't want to start hurling ugly insults around even if others do (I aim to be polite when engaging with other posters and discuss plays, rather than insulting or patronising other people on the site). Jane Eyre is a touring co-production and the novel writer has been dead 150 years, St George has a living male writer and a male star headlining, Angels in America has a living male writer, male stars and is about men (and I like the way you eke out your list by making the two parts separate, like the Oxford museum with its tiny bits of Dodo!). Mosquitoes was at the Dorfman and weirdly didn't get the NT Live treatment (other theatre in the round stuff from other theatres has been broadcast so why not that?). And the line up for next year looks, thus far, largely male and pale. It's not exactly great. Your point is 100% sound but I defiantly giggled at the Oxford Museum Dodo comparison. Might steal that  But yes, since we are dealing in pedantic details, they are considered one play. By the writer and director. And yes, there will be a pednatic response that Part 1 was originally performed separately at the NT but that's because Part 2 wasn't written. So anyway, one play, by a man, mostly male cast. Points clawed back for direction by a woman. I'm also voting for not counting Jane Eyre on the grounds of 'author dead for 150 years' and co-production. Points deducted for that. |
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Post by lynette on Sept 30, 2017 10:39:00 GMT
The Dorfman?Typical that even that Dorfman was named after a man. Well to be fair, it was 10 million of his dosh that paid for the refurb. If I were him I would want my dosh back but there you are, chacon as son etc. I suppose he could have asked for the theatre to be named after his wife or had the Mr and Mrs whoever thing painted up on the wall as is all over American cultural venues. In the book....the Rosenthal bible of NT history....it says that Mr D asked his family if it would be ok to have their name used as they would be associated with it and they were ok with that but I met someone who knows....and she gave me a slightly different version of that. |
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