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Post by duncan on Mar 15, 2017 14:37:53 GMT
Edinburgh International Festival announcement of the programme today, theatre highlight appears to be a new Ayckbourn getting its world Premiere at the Festival in co-operation with the Old Vic, so I imagine it will head there after August.
BUT
its two parts and currently approximately 6 hours!!!!
EIF PR gubbins,
The Divide - an extraordinary new work by one of the UK’s greatest storytellers, Alan Ayckbourn. The Divide is a tale for our own turbulent times that unflinchingly examines a dystopian society of brutal repression, forbidden love and seething insurrection.
A century from now, England has been decimated by a deadly contagion. Contact between men and women is fatal. They are forcibly separated by a divide. Men wear white as a mark of their purity and women – still infected – wear black as a sign of their sin. rother and sister Elihu and Soween grow up in a small town devastated by disease, learning the ways of the closely monitored society around them. But when Elihu falls for the daughter of two radical mothers, he risks not only fatal disease but also igniting a bloody revolution.
Spread across two separate Parts, The Divide is a hugely engaging and constantly surprising story of a society that segregates – but is still recognisable. It is a vastly ambitious project, teeming with richly imagined detail that recounts the work of George Orwell, Aldous Huxley and even Nigel Kneale’s Quatermass films.
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Post by anita on Mar 15, 2017 14:40:43 GMT
I thought he wrote comedies. ?
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Post by Jan on Mar 15, 2017 15:00:26 GMT
He's ventured into the realm of science fiction before to limited effect, for example I vaguely remember one about a robot. Sounds grim. In 100 years I bet Relatively Speaking is still getting revived and this one isn't.
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Post by showgirl on Mar 15, 2017 16:11:49 GMT
Oh God, it sounds like a Margaret Atwood novel! (Not an incentive to see it imo.) I wish he'd stick to writing about the present day.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 15, 2017 16:13:17 GMT
As the kids were (at one time) saying 'Ain't nobody got time for that' (well I haven't at least)
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Post by Deleted on Mar 15, 2017 16:17:32 GMT
It will probably surprise no one to learn that I only made it as far as "Men wear white as a mark of their purity" before I wanted to flip my desk over. In the hands of another playwright or a YA author this could be very interesting indeed, but I fear Ayckbourn just doesn't quite have the necessary stuff. Still, I'll watch the reviews with interest, I'm always happy to be proven wrong when it comes to a good dystopia...
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Post by duncan on Mar 15, 2017 16:26:30 GMT
...even a 6 hour one?  |
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Post by Latecomer on Mar 15, 2017 17:45:03 GMT
I agree with Jan....Robot play was so awful ...will be avoiding this like the plague! ☺
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Post by martin1965 on Mar 15, 2017 18:50:42 GMT
Yet another year when i wont be going to Edinburgh. Sounds awful!
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Post by showgirl on Mar 15, 2017 19:56:14 GMT
The Edinburgh Festival sounds so unlikely a location for any Ayckbourn, even if it is a coup and is going to the Old Vic - though I wouldn't have thought it in keeping with recent programming at that venue, either.
I have seen several Ayckbourns in which he dabbles with the future, but the most successful to me seemed to be Communicating Doors - most recently revived at the Menier - which used time travel to good effect, and that's a bit different. Merely setting a play in the future has worked less well - only a couple of months ago I saw the touring revival of Henceforward, which had its moments but didn't convince.
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Post by lynette on Mar 15, 2017 20:22:43 GMT
Sounds dreadful.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 15, 2017 20:28:39 GMT
Ooh marvellous. This sounds like a barrel of laughs. A ticket for both parts please.
And perhaps a large glass of gin for the interval. A kind of bottle sized glass.
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Post by shakeel on Mar 15, 2017 23:21:32 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Mar 16, 2017 3:11:35 GMT
Am slightly surprised by the early scorn for this.
Could well be torturous - 6 hour length and dystopian future combo is hardly classic Ayckbourn - but not many playwrights have Sir Alan's grasp of drama, so this could well be wonderful.
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Post by Jan on Mar 16, 2017 10:43:41 GMT
How about the claim he is "one of the UK's greatest storytellers". He isn't really is he ? His good plays are really character-based rather than plot-based.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 16, 2017 10:47:28 GMT
If one has seen a number of plays by a playwright and realised that one doesn't really enjoy that playwright's works, then it's not unreasonable for one to respond unfavourably to news of a new play by said playwright. And if you think my response to a new Ayckbourn play is unfairly negative, you should see my response to new Richard Bean plays.
Also Jan does make the excellent point that Ayckbourn's best material is character-based - if this new work looks too much at the concept and not enough at the characters, then it has the potential to go very easily from "not my bag" to "complete unadulterated nightmare".
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Post by Deleted on Mar 16, 2017 11:31:19 GMT
Also say what you like but that time commitment is a factor- especially at the fringe. Like Baemax I'm not a big fan, but for a relatively short and cheap piece I might be persuaded. For committing my whole day, when there are many many other options...I'll pass!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 16, 2017 13:07:50 GMT
Also say what you like but that time commitment is a factor- especially at the fringe. This is one of the main events in the Edinburgh International Festival. It's not part of the Fringe. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 16, 2017 13:11:47 GMT
Also say what you like but that time commitment is a factor- especially at the fringe. This is one of the main events in the Edinburgh International Festival. It's not part of the Fringe. Oh sorry I misread then...(if I'm honest my brain kinda stopped at 'ugh 6 hours of it no ta') |
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Post by Jan on Mar 16, 2017 17:58:49 GMT
Name one modern playwright who has written both successful hit comedies and successful serious (i.e. Non-comic) dramas. I mean plays that are clearly in one genre or the other, rather than a bit of both in a single play. There are not many. Michael Frayn. Stoppard.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 16, 2017 20:55:09 GMT
I agree Jan; it's not that widely achieved - or even attempted. But perhaps it should be encouraged more. The Coen Brothers regularly go between comedy and drama on film. Various writers have done it across television - Dennis Kelly for one, and I believe that the new Phoebe Waller Bridge TV show (called Killing Eve) is a drama/thriller.
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Post by jadnoop on Jul 11, 2017 15:47:18 GMT
They've finally announced the dates and cast for the Old Vic performances of Alan Ayckbourn's upcoming new two-part play 'The Divide'. Explicitly mentioning George Orwell and Margaret Atwood sets a pretty high bar, but the premise looks really exciting: The Divide is set in the aftermath of a deadly contagion which, a century from now, has decimated the English population and rendered contact between men and women fatal. Under the dictates of an elusive Preacher, an unthinkable solution is enforced. Separated by the Divide, the adult survivors are segregated by gender, as men wear white as a mark of their purity, and women – still infected – are clothed in black as a sign of their sin.
Brother and sister Elihu (Jake Davies) and Soween (Erin Doherty) grow up learning the ways of their tightly controlled society. As they begin to glimpse the cracks in the system, Elihu falls for Giella (Weruche Opia), the daughter of two radical mothers, risking fatal disease and threatening to ignite a bloody revolution. The Divide is a vision of a dystopian future defined by brutal repression and forbidden love.Did anyone here go to the semi-staged performance in 2015? Some tickets are already on sale, but the Old Vic site doesn't yet seem to show the part 1/2 split very clearly. Anyway, can't wait. www.oldvictheatre.com/news/2017/07/casting-and-date-announced-for-the-dividewww.eif.co.uk/2017/divide1 |
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Post by duncan on Jul 11, 2017 15:49:37 GMT
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Post by jadnoop on Jul 11, 2017 15:51:36 GMT
Ah, sorry. I thought I'd searched for a thread. Must be losing my mind a bit... Erm, not sure how to remove/move this post. Is this something mods can help with? |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 11, 2017 16:05:34 GMT
Gosh, it's not a long run at the Old Vic, is it? God help me, I'm probably going to book. I wish EVERYTHING weren't going on sale this next couple of weeks, I'm going to be flat broke by August...
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