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Post by Deleted on Mar 20, 2016 11:07:17 GMT
Surprised all the hat for One Man, Two Governors, wasn't blown away like the critics, but still very good and the hatred for Jerusalem which did blow me away and got me into see plays, thousands of pounds later I still blame that play. Yes it's by no means hate-I think I and many others for 'One Man' have said 'It's not my sense of humour', so for us felt 'overrated'.
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Post by Honoured Guest on Mar 20, 2016 12:06:53 GMT
Whats my name got to do with anything? As I said, you have chosen a Scottish forum name for yourself ("Duncan") and if you are Scottish you are less likely to be receptive to the traditional English themes of Jerusalem which would explain your lack of interest in them.
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Post by Marwood on Mar 20, 2016 12:30:26 GMT
Whats my name got to do with anything? As I said, you have chosen a Scottish forum name for yourself ("Duncan") and if you are Scottish you are less likely to be receptive to the traditional English themes of Jerusalem which would explain your lack of interest in them. He might be a fan of Duncan Norvelle (or may even be the 'great' man himself) - not every Duncan in the world is Scots. They must have had some interest in the play to have gone and seen it in the first place.
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Post by TheatreDust on Mar 20, 2016 12:32:20 GMT
duncan Honoured Guest - please let's keep the conversation on the topic of the plays rather than making judgements on posters themselves. Our rules include:
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Post by Deleted on Mar 20, 2016 16:59:25 GMT
The Cut. Dimetos. Berenice. All Donmar. In fact, much of Josie Rourke's era. Ooh, I'd forgotten The Cut - or perhaps I was trying to expunge it from my memory, as it was such a lot of twaddle.
Booked on the basis that Ian McKellen was in it so surely he could pick a winner. Made it worse that I invited my husband, brother and sister-in-law so I felt responsible for the two hours of boredom for them as well as me. I always hate it when I have make the theatre choice and my companions don't like the play; sometimes I go on my own for that very reason.
So Mark Ravenhill is now on my no-go list (along with the poor man's Tennessee Williams, aka Sam Shepard).
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Post by peggs on Mar 20, 2016 17:13:44 GMT
The Cut. Dimetos. Berenice. All Donmar. In fact, much of Josie Rourke's era. Ooh, I'd forgotten The Cut - or perhaps I was trying to expunge it from my memory, as it was such a lot of twaddle.
Booked on the basis that Ian McKellen was in it so surely he could pick a winner. Made it worse that I invited my husband, brother and sister-in-law so I felt responsible for the two hours of boredom for them as well as me. I always hate it when I have make the theatre choice and my companions don't like the play; sometimes I go on my own for that very reason.
So Mark Ravenhill is now on my no-go list (along with the poor man's Tennessee Williams, aka Sam Shepard).
I too booked the Cut on the basis of Ian McKellen and was then somewhat baffled, it was in my early theatre going days though so I think I had more patience or less to compare it to at least and was excited to be at the Donmar but it hasn't sent me running back to see more Mark Ravenhill.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 20, 2016 17:38:47 GMT
Ooh, I'd forgotten The Cut - or perhaps I was trying to expunge it from my memory, as it was such a lot of twaddle.
Booked on the basis that Ian McKellen was in it so surely he could pick a winner. Made it worse that I invited my husband, brother and sister-in-law so I felt responsible for the two hours of boredom for them as well as me. I always hate it when I have make the theatre choice and my companions don't like the play; sometimes I go on my own for that very reason.
So Mark Ravenhill is now on my no-go list (along with the poor man's Tennessee Williams, aka Sam Shepard).
I too booked the Cut on the basis of Ian McKellen and was then somewhat baffled, it was in my early theatre going days though so I think I had more patience or less to compare it to at least and was excited to be at the Donmar but it hasn't sent me running back to see more Mark Ravenhill. I booked as I'd seen Mother Clapp's Molly House at the NT by Ravenhill, and found it entertaining and clever. When I found out McKellen was in it, I thought it was a bonus! I was so disappointed with this- just worlds apart, and I just found myself giving up with it... Have not been to see another Ravenhill since!
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Post by chameleon on Mar 21, 2016 11:12:19 GMT
King Charles III
Plotting that makes no sense, very little action that matters, characters straight out of 'Spitting Image'. Fine if it's just a laugh, but some people seemed to think this had serious intent.
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Post by alexandra on Mar 21, 2016 11:58:35 GMT
duncan Honoured Guest - please let's keep the conversation on the topic of the plays rather than making judgements on posters themselves. Our rules include: I assume that's more aimed at Duncan than HG as I'm not sure saying someone sounds Scottish is insulting.
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Post by wickedgrin on Mar 21, 2016 13:09:20 GMT
There are lots of plays or authors I don't like, so I avoid them now knowing I am going to have a grim evening. But art is, of course subjective and the plays I dislike others will enjoy.
I took the title of this thread to mean plays that are/were hugely commercial or artistic successes which seem overrated to individual posters.
So for example The Habit of Art with Richard Griffiths I found very disappointing due to the fact it reunited The History Boys team of author, director and star and expectations were too high. But I would not think it qualifies for this thread as it was not a huge artistic or commercial success.
War Horse of course does qualify and although I thought it was very cleverly staged and spectacular at times it wasn't especially a good play. So many times the production or the cast make up for weak material.
The Weir - already mentioned - successful but very dull IMO with no expected climax to the piece despite being "well acted".
But for the most part it is about personal taste or opinion. I suppose if a play is a commercial success it is not overrated by most folk.
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Post by Honoured Guest on Apr 24, 2016 14:51:43 GMT
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Post by joem on Apr 24, 2016 18:05:37 GMT
Look Back In Anger. I can understand its importance but it is a really dire effort. Worst John Osborne I've seen by a country mile.
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Post by mallardo on Apr 24, 2016 18:52:16 GMT
Look Back In Anger. I can understand its importance but it is a really dire effort. Worst John Osborne I've seen by a country mile. I couldn't agree more. I used to blame bad productions for hating it, but no, it's the play.
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Post by foxa on Apr 24, 2016 18:56:57 GMT
Look Back In Anger. I can understand its importance but it is a really dire effort. Worst John Osborne I've seen by a country mile. I couldn't agree more. I used to blame bad productions for hating it, but no, it's the play. Me too! I read somewhere that he wrote it in 16 days sitting in a deck chair and I'm like, yeah, I can imagine that. I find him so misogynistic.
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Post by caa on Apr 26, 2016 5:55:09 GMT
So far any play by Alistair McDowall
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Post by caa on Apr 26, 2016 5:58:26 GMT
She also said that Gertrude is a thankless part (which makes me wonder why she played it twice) that it sags in the middle and that Hamlet is a virgin.
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Post by lynette on Apr 27, 2016 17:02:17 GMT
Well it is jolly to cause a little rumpus but she can't be criticising WS for having a 'white male' antagonist can she? After all WS actually does have other ethnicities in key roles in his plays. And she herself says there are some juicy female roles such as Rosalind to be played. Maybe she should check out the Hamlet thing in Shakespeare Live and have a laugh.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 27, 2016 19:49:12 GMT
Yeah, sure. White men get to play the role described as "the greatest character ever written", while the best Shakespeare roles women get to play are women whose lives revolve heavily around their men, and black men get to choose between a wife-killer or an out-and-out villain. Shakespeare was very good at many things, but he was NOT good at diversity. Understandable given the period, but things have changed a smidge in the last 400 years.
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