RSC All New Seasons

Saw ‘English’ tonight, I thought it was really quite good. At times sweet, at times funny, sometimes heartfelt. I thought there were some interesting ideas in here about language and identity. About halfway through I thought this was going to be basically perfect. Ultimately towards the end I didn’t think the writing quite nailed explaining its characters thoughts or their motives and it held it back from being 5 stars, but a solid 4 and some terrific performances to be seen. I see it’s heading to the Kiln now, would be worth catching.

Buddha of Suburbia (22 October to 16 November 2024) and Midsummers night dream (3 December 2024 to 18 January 2025) transferring to Barbcian

A somewhat underwhelming announcement

I appreciate they won't have had the development time to find their new Les Mis or Matilda but the lack of a big new family show is a shame. Recent years have not been blessed with memorable pieces, but the company has a great track record in this area and it would be fantastic if that was to return.

The Red Shoes is a pretty gruesome tale in the original so is a bold choice for a family audience. Perhaps that is why it is in the Swan rather than the main house. But it doesn't have feel of a Wendy and Peter Pan in terms of broad appeal.

Also interesting to note to our two big subsidised companies are both offer ballet related fare over the festive period.

David Edgar has written some strong plays for the RSC over many decades and it feels a shame that his latest will be in the very limited capacity TOP. It may well have been his choice to write a smaller scale piece for an intimate setting. But the Swan where his work often sits, it absolutely an intimate space. We shall have to wait and see on that one.

Following on from my guarded excitement over the first season announcement from the new leadership, this feels a bit more cautious and a little more pedestrian. Hopefully there is good stuff planned for the rest of 2025

It just seems like complaining for the sake of complaining to have a Christmas musical or show ready at the drop of a hat.

He also has a new play at the Orange Tree in September called "Here in America" about a meeting between Elia Kazan and Arthur Miller. I would imagine if either of them is a success they could transfer somewhere bigger. 

Several of his plays started at TOP - Destiny, Pentecost, The Prisoner’s Dilemma. I suppose this time it's just a pragmatic decision about how much demand there might be in Stratford for a new political play in the middle of Winter.   

Just back from Kyoto.

A rather surprising and thrilling piece of theatre.

Lots of energy. Lots of humour. Lots to think about. And brilliant central character.

Deserves to be seen more widely.

I hope this will transfer. Maybe the Kiln will host it after the English transfer doing so well.

Needs a reasonable sized stalls to cope with the staging. But it absolutely needs to be seen outside of Stratford.

What he says…

I’m not usually one for an ‘issues’ play, the word ‘relevant’ sends me running, but here it is for one thing, not shoved down yr throat and then also something that has layers and can be applied to other situations. It reminded me of the play about the Oslo treaty which managed to bring out something of the characters of the personnel. Here we have definite characters too. Shout out to the newbie actor playing the rep of the island nations. She has potential for sure. I wasn’t going to go, fearing a rant, but I’m glad I did. 

It's clear that Joe and Joe as writers are passionate about the issue of climate change but they make a really dull process (international negotiations) into something dramatic and very funny. It has the energy of a classic farce with some very modern touches

The punctuation section is dazzling

Another vote for Kyoto from me. It really should transfer. The writers and directors have done a brilliant job turning a series of environmental conferences, which climaxes with Kyoto, into something thrilling, funny and provocative. Having the narrator as a US oil lobbyist is a superb idea and Stephen Kunken gives a magnificent performance.

Merry Wives is played strictly as farce - very enjoyable, but I think overall the previous outing here was better balanced. Siubhan Harrison appeared to be corpsing a bit midstream though... Hodgkinson caught the right tone for this Falstaff really well I thought.

Kyoto is definitely worthy of a transfer - though perhaps they might trim the "epilogue" slightly as it dragged on a bit. Up to then it was excellent.