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Post by Deleted on Feb 21, 2023 14:37:54 GMT
Nothing screams 'rollicking queer cowboy show' to me like the Royal Shakespeare Company lol Yeehaw  |
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Post by oxfordsimon on Feb 21, 2023 16:33:18 GMT
That is a lot of co-productions. Not something the RSC has done much of over recent years.
Not a trend I would encourage. They are funded well enough to develop their own work fully and to tour.
They just lack the leadership and ambition.
We can only hope the new team will stop the rot.
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Post by imstillhere on Feb 21, 2023 17:32:43 GMT
Erica Whyman gonna Erica Whyman.
But somehow she's managed to out Erica Whyman herself. This is such a dull uninspired season put together by someone who obviously shouldn’t be running an organisation anymore.
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Post by cirque on Feb 21, 2023 20:26:55 GMT
I would volunteer to pack the lorry taking her out of town…..she is the reason this company is no longer on the list.
Awful season announced and will empty the theatre after Hamnet. Only hope is that the new pair start to build ba ck but it’s going to take a long time.
Very depressed about this
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Post by cavocado on Feb 21, 2023 20:48:09 GMT
I would volunteer to pack the lorry taking her out of town…..she is the reason this company is no longer on the list. Awful season announced and will empty the theatre after Hamnet. Only hope is that the new pair start to build ba ck but it’s going to take a long time. Very depressed about this Hard to understand how someone can get to run a national theatre company and be in charge of £millions of public money and 3 theatres...and yet be so completely lacking in understanding of what her core audience wants and what is the RSC's position, remit and responsibilities as a major UK cultural organisation. But the responsibility also lies with the board, ACE and other senior staff - it's not a one-woman band. I really hope the new ADs are up to the job. |
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Post by kate8 on Feb 22, 2023 7:45:11 GMT
Merchant looks good, but it’s not an RSC production (‘supported by..’) so feels like an easy way to do the Shakespeare part of their job. I’ll probably see Empress at Hammersmith, and I’d go to the Falklands one if it was at the Finborough, but none of them give me a reason to go to Stratford.
They can’t just do plays that appeal to the outgoing AD, or that she thinks we ought to see. Stratford is a day out venue for most, and needs to be worth visiting. For me, I’d do a day trip to see an interesting-sounding Shakespeare (concept, actors, director). I’d do an overnight stay if I could add another Shakespeare or contemporary, and maybe a new play if I could see the same actors, or understand how the play fits with the repertoire. But there’s no company any more, and for all the community talk, the RSC’s overall vision (if it has one) isn’t something that’s communicated to mere theatregoers any more.
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Post by zahidf on Feb 22, 2023 8:16:12 GMT
Hamnet seems to be a success at least!
Season seems fine to me: if i was doing a day trip, i could see myself doing two different plays in a day, wouldnt really be worth me coming up for just one play though
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Post by lichtie on Feb 22, 2023 12:50:42 GMT
While everyone is of course entitled to dislike actual stagings, the idea they've done no period drama in the last decade in the Swan is just wrong. We've had 4 1/2 Marlowe's, Jonson's The Alchemist, a whole raft of restoration drama (some very good, some really poor), Euripedes, adaptation of Don Quixote. Certainly in terms of what I saw the period stuff far outstrips the new commissions in terms of numbers.
If we're looking for the ones that stood out, mine would be Oppenheimer, Snow in Midsummer and Kunene and the King. I admit to losing track of which restoration drama was which but I did like one or two of them a lot.
It seems clear to me that Whyman is just clearing the decks of all her projects before she leaves. I suspect that at least one or two of the announced programme may have ended up in The Other Place if she'd been carrying on.
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Post by cirque on Feb 23, 2023 12:10:18 GMT
I am confused so perhaps someone can help me.
Today in The Stage Erica Whyman rightly identifies how difficult it is running a theatre and programming. So what has she done for summer…..
The Swan theatre created essentially for early modern repertoire with exploration projects is given over after Hamnet to a programme of work that will not draw an audience in the town of Stratford. One doesn’t need to be wise to see this……the works focus on hectoring and lecturing bringing in all the excitement of a wet afternoon . Her desire to champion new writers is fine but TOP is pretty much empty whereas Swan houses a bill that will further harm RSC finances.Sheer arrogance.
Never has this company been in such an awful state and I think The Tempest success will be short lived.Evans and Harvey arrive in June with a massive job to do. Audiences have left this once groundbreaking theatre and it will take a mighty programme toget them back. I think even Royal Court would be anxious about the Sean lineup…..any AD in the current economic climate would be an absolute fool to do what has been done.
There is much unhappiness within the company at what has been done and I foresee the summer being more of the same. It is getting very late to save this company now .Listen to the chatter and from June 5 when new AD s in place hope that there is a theatre in the town for them to run.. On a recent visit I listened and spoke with lots of Stratfordians from restaurants to academics ….my constant criticism is nothing compared to theirs.
RSC is killing itself and EW must take much of the blame,. Let’s wish her well in her future career but coun5 the days until her Acting AD role ends
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Post by cirque on Mar 24, 2023 10:08:22 GMT
Well Julius Caesar is quite a demonstration of the community idea.
Oh Dear,oh dear,oh dear.
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Post by oxfordsimon on Mar 24, 2023 10:10:38 GMT
I am reviewing next week. So trying to keep an open mind.
But people keep telling me horror stories
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Post by kate8 on Mar 25, 2023 7:38:07 GMT
Apparently The Empress is a GCSE text, so that should attract plenty of school bookings.
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Post by foxa on Mar 25, 2023 13:00:10 GMT
The Empress is one of the set text options for the Edexcel exam board, but I'm not sure how many schools are picking it. By far the most popular English modern drama texts are An Inspector Calls (there was an article recently about the extraordinary percentage of students who study this) and Blood Brothers. It's always a problem for exam boards when they try to extend the range of texts that students are studyng, versus the schools' inclination to stick with what they view as tried and true material.
But yes, I am sure part of the hope is that it will attract student audiences. I'm interested to see it when it's at the Lyric Hammersmith.
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Post by kate8 on Mar 25, 2023 15:11:07 GMT
I wonder if theatres can get info on how many schools are studying a play, or if they talk to exam boards.
It’s a disappointing programme for the Swan, but it will at least be good if it enables some students studying The Empress to have that first experience of theatre that school trips often provide.
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Post by oxfordsimon on Mar 28, 2023 22:08:20 GMT
Just back from the Julius Caesar press night
Very poor piece of work. Not as bad as the infamous Troilus. But an ill conceived and, at times, amateurish effort
I have seen more convincing student Shakespeare productions
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Post by cirque on Mar 29, 2023 9:01:38 GMT
Dear Daniel and Tamara,
Get to Stratford as quickly as possible. .There will be no RSC left to run if this Caesar continues.
Good luck….you will need it
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Post by oxfordsimon on Mar 29, 2023 10:16:24 GMT
That's the review submitted - the RSC won't like it.
But then they shouldn't have let it hit the stage. Inexperienced directors shouldn't be given main house shows as their first RSC gig
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Post by David J on Mar 30, 2023 0:13:11 GMT
Just back from the Julius Caesar press night Very poor piece of work. Not as bad as the infamous Troilus. But an ill conceived and, at times, amateurish effort I have seen more convincing student Shakespeare productions A friend saw it and left at the interval. Said they preferred Troilus to this!  |
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Post by oxfordsimon on Mar 30, 2023 8:29:18 GMT
It is a near perfect example of inexperienced directors being given a major production too early in their career.
And it is a near perfect example of why Whyman's choice to discontinue the ensemble part of the Company was the wrong move.
No production should ever need a director, an assistant director, an associate director and not one but two dramaturgs. That is too many voices in the room. It means there is no unity or clarity of vision.
Your first attempt at directing Shakespeare should never be in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. It is great to bring in fresh talent but they must have the track record of success elsewhere with this sort of repertoire.
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Post by Jan on Mar 30, 2023 9:57:05 GMT
Dear Daniel and Tamara, Get to Stratford as quickly as possible. .There will be no RSC left to run if this Caesar continues. Good luck….you will need it Daniel Evans was in the audience for the opening night of this. As was Adrian Noble. |
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Post by oxfordsimon on Mar 30, 2023 10:05:48 GMT
It was notable how little press was present on Tuesday. The interval drinks room had less than 20 people in it at most.
Mark Lawson was there. But no other familiar faces.
I did wonder why the press night was so close to the end of the run.
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Post by bordeaux on Mar 30, 2023 14:10:39 GMT
The Whatsonstage.com review reads like a 2-star but they've put 3 on it.
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Post by oxfordsimon on Mar 30, 2023 14:27:22 GMT
I thought exactly the same.
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Post by TallPaul on Mar 30, 2023 15:08:54 GMT
There's a 'big interview' with Erica Whyman in The Stage (behind a paywall).
"There are lots of jobs I might do next. I'm looking forward to the freedom."
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Post by cavocado on Mar 30, 2023 16:13:52 GMT
There's a 'big interview' with Erica Whyman in The Stage (behind a paywall). "There are lots of jobs I might do next. I'm looking forward to the freedom." She's right, there are lots of jobs that don't involve theatre directing, being responsible for big budgets or mothballing public buildings. |
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