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Post by samuelwhiskers on Feb 6, 2019 22:38:36 GMT
Macbeth, Hamlet, Lear, As You Like It, and Midsummer Night's Dream. And maybe Twelfth Night and Antony & Cleopatra. Yay more Pericleses
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Post by Phantom of London on Feb 14, 2019 0:35:20 GMT
Today’s the day.
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Post by wickedgrin on Feb 14, 2019 4:01:46 GMT
Mmmmm….I have a feeling that there will be nothing to get especially excited about. I hope I am proved wrong.
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3,478 posts
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Post by showgirl on Feb 14, 2019 5:02:33 GMT
Yes, mixed feelings: if there's little or nothing of appeal, it will save me the cost of renewing my membership, the stress of booking (9 am on a Saturday, when many regular theatregoers would normally be en route to see something) and fraught journeys with GTR. But I do, travel aside, really enjoy my trips to Chichester, as it's so much more pleasant than yet another visit to London; the shops are worth a look provided it's not too often and there are great exhibitions at Pallant House gallery.
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Post by alicechallice on Feb 14, 2019 6:46:15 GMT
Why not Hamlet with John Simm in the Minerva? I can't remember Hamlet ever being on in Chichester? I'm sure it will have been done at some point! Surprisingly, it never has. One of life's great mysteries. It took them 50 years to do Private Lives.
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Post by theatrelover123 on Feb 14, 2019 8:07:02 GMT
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Post by Rory on Feb 14, 2019 8:09:23 GMT
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3,088 posts
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Post by Rory on Feb 14, 2019 8:10:17 GMT
8 Hotels looks good. Otherwise, a disappointing lack of new writing.
Very disappointed no reprisal for The Watsons or news of a transfer.
Plenty of revivals (no pun intended).
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Post by Deleted on Feb 14, 2019 8:10:26 GMT
Well, that's..... something less than overwhelming.
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394 posts
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Post by Distant Dreamer... on Feb 14, 2019 8:11:42 GMT
Am I the only one very disappointed by the planned rep? As already mentioned The Deep Blue Sea, Oklahom & Macbeth all done within living memory at CFT! It will be lovely to see Shadowlands though.
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Post by learfan on Feb 14, 2019 8:17:15 GMT
Plenty has been on my list for ages. 8 hotels and the Hedda look interesting. Not overwhelming but not too bad.
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1,189 posts
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Post by theatrelover123 on Feb 14, 2019 8:21:12 GMT
Probably one of the most boring Theatre seasons in the history of Theatre seasons in the whole wide world ever. And they can quote that on the posters
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394 posts
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Post by Distant Dreamer... on Feb 14, 2019 8:27:41 GMT
Probably one of the most boring Theatre seasons in the history of Theatre seasons in the whole wide world ever. And they can quote that on the posters I think they should! Others have mentioned this before, but CFT has lost its shine since Jonathan Church left.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 14, 2019 8:35:24 GMT
I mean, none of it sounds like it's going to be bad, if I lived in Chichester I would probably book everything, but I just don't see anything that's worth travelling to Chichester for from the outside. (And I say that as someone who dearly loves Nancy Carroll and still considers her performance in a Rattigan play one of the greatest performances I've ever seen. Did it have to be The Deep Blue Sea? How many more times must we be tormented with this play?) But then, I guess, it's nice for Chichester to be able to lure audience members from all over the place, but the programming really should be (and presumably is) aimed at providing for the people who actually live there.
(Although, speaking of being tormented multiple times with a single play, MACBETH? Yeah, maybe I wouldn't book *everything* if I were a Chichester resident...)
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Post by Distant Dreamer... on Feb 14, 2019 8:43:02 GMT
Does someone need to have a word with Daniel Evans and tell him that Shakespeare wrote more than a handful of plays?
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Xanderl
Member
Not always very high value in terms of ticket yield or donations
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Post by Xanderl on Feb 14, 2019 9:06:24 GMT
Peak Chichester and very underwhelming! Deep Blue Sea is a great play but they did it in 2011 - other Rattigan plays are available!
3 out of 12 plays are by women, one of those is Ibsen "in a version by ..", another is an adaptation of a Michael Morpugo book, and the third is the youth theatre production. 78 year old white man Nicholas Wright and 75 year old white man Richard Eyre give us their hot take on Paul Robeson. All the main stage plays are by white men, I think. There's only one play (the Roy Williams in the Spiegeltent) not by a white writer.
Anyway, good news for me as I find Chichester a real pain to get to! Only been there a few times, the first being the previous "Deep Blue Sea".
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Post by Polly1 on Feb 14, 2019 9:59:57 GMT
Hugh Bonneville as C.S.Lewis (Shadowlands) is bizarre casting. There was a very good tour a couple of years ago with Stephen Boxer which I'm pretty sure must have visited Chi so another very recent revival.
Expected more from Evans after his work in Sheffield, he must be under very different pressures here - I wonder how long before he gets itchy feet.
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Post by emsworthian on Feb 14, 2019 10:09:34 GMT
Hugh Bonneville as C.S.Lewis (Shadowlands) is bizarre casting. There was a very good tour a couple of years ago with Stephen Boxer which I'm pretty sure must have visited Chi so another very recent revival. Expected more from Evans after his work in Sheffield, he must be under very different pressures here - I wonder how long before he gets itchy feet. I seem to remember a production of "Shadowlands" at the New Theatre Royal, Portsmouth, a few years ago. That might be the one that you are referring to. I think Tony Slattery had a role in it.
Why blame "the powers that be" for Evans' dud selections? Jonathan Church managed to come up with far more exciting seasons. Sure, Church had a few duds but he seems to have had a far higher hit rate than Evans so far.
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Post by wickedgrin on Feb 14, 2019 10:10:42 GMT
You don't have to be as old as me to have seen all the revivals recently - Oklahoma, Deep Blue Sea, Shadowlands, Plenty, etc. There are OTHER plays and musicals! But on a positive note it will save me a heap of money. As @baemax said if I lived there I would probably go but nothing worth a train trip.
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Xanderl
Member
Not always very high value in terms of ticket yield or donations
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Post by Xanderl on Feb 14, 2019 10:11:42 GMT
I guess things like "The Deep Blue Rinse" will appeal to the core audience there! Actually not particularly objecting to them putting on this type of thing, but reviving shows they've done themselves so recently seems very odd.
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1,936 posts
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Post by wickedgrin on Feb 14, 2019 10:18:37 GMT
Actually not particularly objecting to them putting on this type of thing, but reviving shows they've done themselves so recently seems very odd. I suppose things could have been worse - it could have been The Winslow Boy, Blithe Spirit and The Importance of Being Earnest. Next season?
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587 posts
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Post by Polly1 on Feb 14, 2019 10:18:44 GMT
Hugh Bonneville as C.S.Lewis (Shadowlands) is bizarre casting. There was a very good tour a couple of years ago with Stephen Boxer which I'm pretty sure must have visited Chi so another very recent revival. Expected more from Evans after his work in Sheffield, he must be under very different pressures here - I wonder how long before he gets itchy feet. I seem to remember a production of "Shadowlands" at the New Theatre Royal, Portsmouth, a few years ago. That might be the one that you are referring to. I think Tony Slattery had a role in it.
Why blame "the powers that be" for Evans' dud selections? Jonathan Church managed to come up with far more exciting seasons. Sure, Church had a few duds but he seems to have had a far higher hit rate than Evans so far.
Tony Slattery was slated to play Warnie for that tour production but had to withdraw "for health reasons" prior to its commencement, replaced by Dennis Lill (who was brilliant- and much more suited to the role).
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Xanderl
Member
Not always very high value in terms of ticket yield or donations
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Post by Xanderl on Feb 14, 2019 10:19:59 GMT
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587 posts
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Post by Polly1 on Feb 14, 2019 10:22:19 GMT
Re. Evans, I guess I've been so disappointed by his conservatism (recent revivals from Chi and repeats of his Sheffield hits) after his great success at Sheffield that I was looking for some other outside reason.
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1,936 posts
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Post by wickedgrin on Feb 14, 2019 10:27:37 GMT
Yes, interesting article. It mentions that the population of Chichester is only 22.000 20 years ago. I suppose it has risen since but still not enough to maintain a big season. So the theatre must still be trying to attract an audience from London and the larger catchment area.
The financial pressures must be immense and the Artistic Director must be limited with very safe commercial choices combined with the availability of licenses etc. Look at the debacle recently of To Kill A Mockingbird for example. Musical rights must be very difficult to obtain for the big successful shows too.
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Post by emsworthian on Feb 14, 2019 10:35:11 GMT
Thanks for the info about "Shadlowlands", Polly. I checked and it was on in the New Theatre Royal, Portsmouth, in 2016.
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Post by missthelma on Feb 14, 2019 10:49:36 GMT
Well this really is the most disappointing thing ever since probably the last most disappointing thing ever. It's been a long time since I was excited about the Chichester programme but this years is dire. The only thing that sounds vaguely interesting is 8 Hotels but it's only running in August when I may have commitments which make a day trip to Chicester difficult to plan in advance. And it's in the Minerva so with a reasonable cast there will be no tickets left
As someone said up thread I do love a day trip to Chichester and sometimes an overnight stay, there's enough to do there to keep you occupied but maybe not to make a special trip without the lure of a show. And if they are trying to attract outside audiences why cast the 'big' musical with two almost unknowns and Josie Lawrence, who is fab, but possibly not a draw?
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Post by Distant Dreamer... on Feb 14, 2019 11:09:36 GMT
Hugh Bonneville as C.S.Lewis (Shadowlands) is bizarre casting. There was a very good tour a couple of years ago with Stephen Boxer which I'm pretty sure must have visited Chi so another very recent revival. Expected more from Evans after his work in Sheffield, he must be under very different pressures here - I wonder how long before he gets itchy feet. More importantly, Amanda Ryan was utterly spectacular as Joy.
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Post by learfan on Feb 14, 2019 11:16:34 GMT
Yes, interesting article. It mentions that the population of Chichester is only 22.000 20 years ago. I suppose it has risen since but still not enough to maintain a big season. So the theatre must still be trying to attract an audience from London and the larger catchment area. The financial pressures must be immense and the Artistic Director must be limited with very safe commercial choices combined with the availability of licenses etc. Look at the debacle recently of To Kill A Mockingbird for example. Musical rights must be very difficult to obtain for the big successful shows too. Yes people tend to forget that, for all the talk about "cathedral city" Chichester is actually a small town on a par with Stratford and so does very much rely on its location close to London, especially the southern suburbs. Look at the Michael Rudman debacle in 1990/91 and then the triumvirate at the start of the millennium, lots of exciting programming but noone went!
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Post by Phantom of London on Feb 14, 2019 11:24:10 GMT
One of the most anticipated announcements in theatre but I am afraid it is a yawn, instead of ‘wow’
Never understood why there artistic programme is just a summer thing and why they don’t do another big Christmas musical? I would think Chichester would be beautiful at Christmas.
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