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Post by Mark on Jan 16, 2024 12:43:55 GMT
English is an absolutely fantastic play. Hope it eventually makes it to London. It's announced as a co-production with the Kiln, where it will transfer straight afterwards. Oh I missed this. That’s wonderful news. I saw it at the Atlantic in New York. Curious how the dialects may change in a British production
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Post by sweets7 on Jan 16, 2024 13:10:28 GMT
Yeah sorry Alfred Enoch And to be clear it's not as though we're getting Ian McKellen, Judi Dench and Patrick Stewart back but still actor's known in theatre circles and further afield that hopefully will get people in. And if the productions are great then hopefully good word of mouth will attract more. But I'm trying not to be too optimistic. Daniel Evans and Tamara Harvey still have their work cut out to get the RSC out of the rut it's been in the past few years. COVID didn’t help but even before then. I think Doran was obsessed with getting big names in but you really aren’t going to persuade them to do 6 months miles from their homes. Not on theatre money. And then the company aspect was broken up a lot and people didn’t seem to want to be there. It’s alright when you’re young or perhaps older but being away from partners and children on theatre. Only isn’t appetising. in the beginning it did look promising. Getting them in to do smaller amounts of time with perhaps a transfer is always going to go down better. They would never get Dench. Other two perhaps but they’ve never turned down a job.
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Post by zahidf on Jan 16, 2024 13:13:39 GMT
I think its a promising first season. If they have quality stuff which transfers, will get some momentum building id hope
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Post by crabtree on Jan 16, 2024 15:38:26 GMT
definitely Scandal and Edward II - both Edwards at the Royal Exchange set the bar very high for that play, but it is still a great watchable play. It must have caused an outrage when first performed
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Post by couldileaveyou on Jan 16, 2024 15:44:44 GMT
Is this Daniel Evans first time on stage since Company at the Crucible? Excluding various Sondheim concerts
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Post by alicechallice on Jan 16, 2024 15:57:28 GMT
Is this Daniel Evans first time on stage since Company at the Crucible? Excluding various Sondheim concerts He also did The Pride in the Studio up at Sheffield. Think that was after Company. *actually I'm wrong, that was just before he did Company. So, yes, Bobby was his last role. **not including him playing that pimp in the Les Mis film
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Post by Jan on Jan 16, 2024 17:18:23 GMT
Can’t complain about the quantity so that’s a big improvement on the previous regime. Casting is a bit meh but far from all of it has been announced yet, and maybe some of the lower-profile actors will stay on. For me the major positive is bringing back Rupert Goold - it shows that unlike Doran they’re not resistant to bringing in senior outside directors with a strong Shakespeare track record - those type of directors will also be more able to attract high-profile actors. I wonder if they’ve offered him a guaranteed London transfer for Hamlet. Same applies to Tim Carroll.
On the plays themselves - School for Scandal is a really tough play to do in the RST unless you have really good comic actors. Let’s see.
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Post by aspieandy on Jan 16, 2024 17:44:48 GMT
Mmm, Luke Thallon as Hamlet, and the 3 leads in Othello look interesting ( John Douglas Thompson, Will Keen (Iago) and Juliet Rylance)
Strangely, I'm in.
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Post by Jan on Jan 16, 2024 17:45:28 GMT
definitely Scandal and Edward II - both Edwards at the Royal Exchange set the bar very high for that play, but it is still a great watchable play. It must have caused an outrage when first performed I doubt it caused any outrage at all when it was first performed (1592) otherwise it wouldn't have stayed continuously in the repertoire till 1622 and beyond (even though you might have expected James I to take against it). Of course subsequently it has caused an outrage. Iain McDiarmid very good in the Royal Exchange production I saw. Simon Russell-Beale good in the (rather graphic) RSC one.
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Post by greyskies on Jan 16, 2024 18:00:34 GMT
Pleasantly surprised at the quantity of Shakespeare. An encouraging start. Dead chuffed for Joe and Joe getting a high profile commission. They commissioned themselves
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Post by Being Alive on Jan 16, 2024 18:14:36 GMT
I think it's a cracking season - marks a real turning point for the RSC and properly puts it back on the map.
I'll be going to a lot, put it that way - I'm from about 20 minutes away originally - and I haven't been for over 5 years...
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Post by sweets7 on Jan 16, 2024 18:21:46 GMT
Can’t complain about the quantity so that’s a big improvement on the previous regime. Casting is a bit meh but far from all of it has been announced yet, and maybe some of the lower-profile actors will stay on. For me the major positive is bringing back Rupert Goold - it shows that unlike Doran they’re not resistant to bringing in senior outside directors with a strong Shakespeare track record - those type of directors will also be more able to attract high-profile actors. I wonder if they’ve offered him a guaranteed London transfer for Hamlet. Same applies to Tim Carroll. On the plays themselves - School for Scandal is a really tough play to do in the RST unless you have really good comic actors. Let’s see. Maybe Doran was threatened by some of them. Maybe they didn’t see eye to eye and Goold just decided working there when he took over wasn’t worth it. It’s worth your time with these things not thinking about you or even specific talent but in the company itself and what is best for that and what pushed forward and what puts bums on seats.
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Post by theatrenerd on Jan 16, 2024 20:23:46 GMT
Even a ballet production of Romeo and Juliet, I wonder how that's going to look like on the thrust stage. They could reconfigure it so it is more pros-arch or "end-on" like they did for The Boy in the Dress and The Magician's Elephant.
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Post by lynette on Jan 16, 2024 21:23:59 GMT
Some worries expressed about casting - I’m not fully up with the latest talent but I think they have chosen some excellent talent, actors and director, new ish maybe but with good stuff under their belts. And some experienced people to keep the boat steady. 😁
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Post by sweets7 on Jan 16, 2024 21:32:35 GMT
Some worries expressed about casting - I’m not fully up with the latest talent but I think they have chosen some excellent talent, actors and director, new ish maybe but with good stuff under their belts. And some experienced people to keep the boat steady. 😁 Everyone was young once! Investment in people that will keep returning is key. Alfie Enoch and Luke Thompson are interesting choices. Never would I have thought of those two at the RSC. But also career wise a good move for them. Thompson has never led a play and a Enoch’s role is a build on a good Shakespeare thang he is brewing.
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Post by oxfordsimon on Jan 16, 2024 22:57:35 GMT
I remember Mr Enoch when he was a student. I saw him as Ferdinand in The Tempest once
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Post by alicechallice on Jan 16, 2024 23:17:17 GMT
I remember Mr Enoch when he was a student. I saw him as Ferdinand in The Tempest once The Hogwarts Players, was it?
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Post by oxfordsimon on Jan 16, 2024 23:20:58 GMT
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2,495 posts
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Post by zahidf on Jan 16, 2024 23:58:12 GMT
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Post by sweets7 on Jan 17, 2024 0:33:40 GMT
I remember Mr Enoch when he was a student. I saw him as Ferdinand in The Tempest once Certainly turning into one of the more visible potter verse kids. I know Radcliffe and Grint do a lot of theatre too but he seems to be developing quite the successful main road career. Classical good looks don’t hurt of course.
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Post by Jan on Jan 17, 2024 7:22:00 GMT
I remember Mr Enoch when he was a student. I saw him as Ferdinand in The Tempest once Certainly turning into one of the more visible potter verse kids. I know Radcliffe and Grint do a lot of theatre too but he seems to be developing quite the successful main road career. Classical good looks don’t hurt of course. Harry Melling the best of the lot.
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Post by Cleo on Jan 17, 2024 9:40:28 GMT
The Co-ADs were interviewed on BBC Radio 4's Front Row last evening which I found interesting. I will be booking for Pericles which I have seen but not at the RST, and the Garden Theatre for ASYLI.
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Post by Jan on Jan 17, 2024 11:42:45 GMT
The Co-ADs were interviewed on BBC Radio 4's Front Row last evening which I found interesting. I will be booking for Pericles which I have seen but not at the RST, and the Garden Theatre for ASYLI. Did they comment on anything other than the season that has been announced ? I mean anything like Doran's first interview which was full of hostages to fortune about performing the complete cycle, London presence, returning Associates etc. ?
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Post by sweets7 on Jan 17, 2024 11:58:11 GMT
The Co-ADs were interviewed on BBC Radio 4's Front Row last evening which I found interesting. I will be booking for Pericles which I have seen but not at the RST, and the Garden Theatre for ASYLI. Did they comment on anything other than the season that has been announced ? I mean anything like Doran's first interview which was full of hostages to fortune about performing the complete cycle, London presence, returning Associates etc. ? No. Mentioned they would do musicals but not yet. They were grilled a bit and money. They need to repay 15 million and rather sneeringly about no bigs names like Eccesttine (sp?). To which both rightly said Daldry was a huge name and also Thompson. I mean Thompson is huge. People may not place him but you say Bridgerton brother. And everyone would know. Much bigger than C. Eccles currently. Would kids today know who he is. They made no promises, and just said: it’s tough. It’s going to be tough. Pragmatic. Which may make them more successful. Doran was an idealist. I often think people are more successful the more adaptive and pragmatic they are. Not working throw it out. Not working that way, what tweaks can we make. Talked about returnees as well as new. Got Goold because he wanted to do Hamlet again. Interviewer was quite rude and dismissive with them. Held their own though.
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Post by Jan on Jan 17, 2024 12:40:04 GMT
Did they comment on anything other than the season that has been announced ? I mean anything like Doran's first interview which was full of hostages to fortune about performing the complete cycle, London presence, returning Associates etc. ? Interviewer was quite rude and dismissive with them. How odd, before their first season has even started. And the mention of Ecclestone, one of the vanishingly few "big name" actors Doran used in his entire decade of Shakespeare productions (and only because Ecclestone directly approached him). Very weird. I wonder what agenda is being pursued there. I never heard an interview Doran which was even slightly critical and most were fawning. When he left one journalist even said "He'll be a hard act to follow" which he is but not at all in the way they believed.
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