527 posts
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Post by danielwhit on Apr 21, 2022 17:21:55 GMT
The background for me is I read the script in mid-2010 and thought it flew off the page, could picture exactly how I imagined it to be staged and really wanted to see it. I then saw it on its third stint at the Apollo in 2012 from the balcony and couldn't really connect with the piece at all - the hype was too much, potentially, or perhaps my seat(bench?) was just too bum-numbing.
Last night, with more budget to my theatregoing these days, I splashed out on a mid-stalls seat and had a much better viewing and experience (pardon the tall head in front of me).
Somehow I think it works better with a ~60 year old Byron than a ~50 one, it allows the "I've lived like this all my life and have got all the legends and stories to tell of it" arc to be more powerful, it means Ginger is even more the tragic guy who never moved on like his peers, it means Rooster's ever changing gang feels even more strange than it did before.
Staging it in 2022 also means that the idea of uprooting someone who has lived through all the stuff in our last 10 years has more impact. In 2009 we just had the economic crash, since then we need not mention the chaos - but there's a lot more life to have worked through. We also, I think, have a greater public awareness of the possibility of young women being led astray and taken advantage of than we did a decade ago - so the Phaedra story has greater resonance.
This production felt much more like the one I read 12 years ago and, I'm convinced, this was a perfect time for a revival.
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4,804 posts
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Post by Mark on Apr 21, 2022 22:20:18 GMT
Absolutely loved this again tonight - it has truly stood the test of time and is a fantastic play. As for Rylance? He truly is sensational in this role and I’m so glad I get to see him play it again.
Front row central seat was fantastic, stage isn’t very high.
DO NOT MISS!
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1,250 posts
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Post by joem on Apr 23, 2022 9:00:00 GMT
Just wondering if today being St George's Day some extra magic will happen? The giants actually turn up or something?
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531 posts
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Post by wiggymess on Apr 23, 2022 9:56:52 GMT
Just wondering if today being St George's Day some extra magic will happen? Please use spoiler tags that's what they're there for. |
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Post by lonlad on Apr 23, 2022 10:24:35 GMT
I was thinking that exact same thing ! (*And pointing out that today is St George's Day is hardly a spoiler!) But I imagine with two perfs of a 3hr-15 minute play, they won't want to be extending anything.
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Post by wiggymess on Apr 23, 2022 10:51:40 GMT
I was thinking that exact same thing ! (*And pointing out that today is St George's Day is hardly a spoiler!) But I imagine with two perfs of a 3hr-15 minute play, they won't want to be extending anything. The fact it's St George's Day obviously isn't the spoiler, but if I quote the bit that is then that defeats the object if they decide (rightly) to take it down... |
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4,804 posts
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Post by Mark on Apr 23, 2022 11:07:18 GMT
Just wondering if today being St George's Day some extra magic will happen? Please use spoiler tags that's what they're there for. It’s a 13 year old play! |
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Post by wiggymess on Apr 23, 2022 12:58:34 GMT
Please use spoiler tags that's what they're there for. It’s a 13 year old play! I know it is! Not everyone has seen it! Not hard to understand that in my opinion. But whatever, I've been to see it but I was suggesting that spoiler tags were used for spoilers (also an obvious concept) so others who haven't yet seen it would benefit, but never mind. Jesus, this place sometimes... |
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Post by Mark on Apr 23, 2022 13:16:34 GMT
I know it is! Not everyone has seen it! Not hard to understand that in my opinion. But whatever, I've been to see it but I was suggesting that spoiler tags were used for spoilers (also an obvious concept) so others who haven't yet seen it would benefit, but never mind. Jesus, this place sometimes... As someone else mentioned, St George’s Day is hardly a spoiler. For a play now on its third revival you should expect some plot points to be mentioned surely. |
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Post by wiggymess on Apr 23, 2022 13:38:28 GMT
I know it is! Not everyone has seen it! Not hard to understand that in my opinion. But whatever, I've been to see it but I was suggesting that spoiler tags were used for spoilers (also an obvious concept) so others who haven't yet seen it would benefit, but never mind. Jesus, this place sometimes... As someone else mentioned, St George’s Day is hardly a spoiler. For a play now on its third revival you should expect some plot points to be mentioned surely. This is getting painful so this will be my last comment on it. The spoiler,as I've already said above if you'd read it, is NOT the fact it's St George's Day. Obviously. It's the line after that which gives away what does/doesn't happen in the very last moment of the play. If that isn't the definition of a spoiler I don't know what is. It can either be taken down or left up. Either way don't get defensive when an obvious spoiler is called a spoiler and could have very easily been put in spoiler tags, as they are what they are here for, especially when the spoiler contributes nothing to the thread. |
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4,804 posts
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Post by Mark on Apr 23, 2022 13:52:57 GMT
As someone else mentioned, St George’s Day is hardly a spoiler. For a play now on its third revival you should expect some plot points to be mentioned surely. This is getting painful so this will be my last comment on it. The spoiler,as I've already said above if you'd read it, is NOT the fact it's St George's Day. Obviously. It's the line after that which gives away what does/doesn't happen in the very last moment of the play. If that isn't the definition of a spoiler I don't know what is. It can either be taken down or left up. Either way don't get defensive when an obvious spoiler is called a spoiler and could have very easily been put in spoiler tags, as they are what they are here for, especially when the spoiler contributes nothing to the thread. Arguably, I'd missed the line you DIDN'T quote. So it wasn't particularly obvious what you were referring to initially. That said, it's still a play on its third revival and people should be allowed to discuss plot points as they wish. And arguably, we don't actually know what does/doesn't happen in the very last moment of the play. That is certainly left to our imagination. |
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Post by joem on Apr 23, 2022 17:44:24 GMT
As someone else mentioned, St George’s Day is hardly a spoiler. For a play now on its third revival you should expect some plot points to be mentioned surely. This is getting painful so this will be my last comment on it. The spoiler,as I've already said above if you'd read it, is NOT the fact it's St George's Day. Obviously. It's the line after that which gives away what does/doesn't happen in the very last moment of the play. If that isn't the definition of a spoiler I don't know what is. It can either be taken down or left up. Either way don't get defensive when an obvious spoiler is called a spoiler and could have very easily been put in spoiler tags, as they are what they are here for, especially when the spoiler contributes nothing to the thread. Take a chill pill. There were no spoilers in the original post. |
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Post by crowblack on Apr 23, 2022 19:27:21 GMT
Well I couldn't make it to London today (I'm still too wary of Covid as I live with someone clinically vulnerable) but my London-based brother went and really enjoyed it, though also commented 'no masks and lots of coughing, you'd have freaked out!'. I hope they record it for an NT Live this time around.
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Post by wiggymess on Apr 23, 2022 22:48:39 GMT
This is getting painful so this will be my last comment on it. The spoiler,as I've already said above if you'd read it, is NOT the fact it's St George's Day. Obviously. It's the line after that which gives away what does/doesn't happen in the very last moment of the play. If that isn't the definition of a spoiler I don't know what is. It can either be taken down or left up. Either way don't get defensive when an obvious spoiler is called a spoiler and could have very easily been put in spoiler tags, as they are what they are here for, especially when the spoiler contributes nothing to the thread. Take a chill pill. There were no spoilers in the original post. Will do. Thanks for being considerate. |
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Post by crowblack on Apr 24, 2022 8:38:02 GMT
A silent, 25 min clip of the show on Youtube has 38,000 views and the trailer, again without dialogue, 122,000 views. Given that this show was developed with Rylance and is seen as very much 'his' defining role, making a pay-to-view recording or film (like the Young Vic are doing with their Basquiat Warhol play) for those of us who aren't going to get to see it makes sense.
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Post by imstillhere on Apr 24, 2022 11:28:02 GMT
Unfortunately Mark Rylance will never allow a filmed version of the production to happen. He is only interested in Jerusalem being a live experience.
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Post by mrnutz on Apr 24, 2022 11:35:46 GMT
Saw this on Wednesday night for the first time and it absolutely lived up to the hype. Loved it.
Best behaved audience I've been amongst for a while, too.
But that theatre is badly in need of another gents' toilets in the building! One for the whole theatre?!
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Post by crowblack on Apr 24, 2022 12:05:12 GMT
Unfortunately Mark Rylance will never allow a filmed version of the production to happen. He is only interested in Jerusalem being a live experience. That's a shame, and a rather elitist position in the theatre streaming and Covid era, unless he's prepared to tour it to cities other than London and Broadway and with accessible prices and with Covid-safe, disability-friendly access performances for the more clinically vulnerable or those with mobility issues (which the actress Liz Carr was recently calling for) or those (like me) who live with someone who is. |
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Post by talkingheads on Apr 24, 2022 12:14:31 GMT
Unfortunately Mark Rylance will never allow a filmed version of the production to happen. He is only interested in Jerusalem being a live experience. Well Rylance has gone far, far down in my estimations. What an awful, elitist view, exactly the sort of thing that puts people off the theatre. I couldn't afford to see this. Jerusalem is a play for the rich only. |
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Post by crowblack on Apr 24, 2022 12:42:57 GMT
Unfortunately Mark Rylance will never allow a filmed version of the production to happen. He is only interested in Jerusalem being a live experience. Well Rylance has gone far, far down in my estimations. What an awful, elitist view, exactly the sort of thing that puts people off the theatre. I couldn't afford to see this. Jerusalem is a play for the rich only. Yes, I know some actors were in the past reluctant, saying that a stage performance isn't like a screen performance, but we're used to filmed / streamed theatre now, and audiences do recognise that difference and alter their expectations. And yes, it's not the same as the live experience, of course it isn't, but given the way so many theatre people 'identify' as 'left leaning' they should surely be doing everything they can to make their medium as accessible to everyone regardless of income, disability, age, geography and language (streamed productions can be subtitled or dubbed). In Jerusalem's case it's very much a star vehicle for Rylance and he was apparently involved in the creation of it so it makes sense to capture that version on screen. |
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Post by lynette on Apr 24, 2022 18:40:19 GMT
Ridiculous stance not to allow filming. But film it well. During the unmentionable Jermyn St did some remarkable live streaming which really worked, wasn’t at all distanced which is the danger with a lot of filmed stuff.
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Post by theatreliker on Apr 24, 2022 19:22:54 GMT
I saw this originally back in 2011. It was the play that really got me into theatregoing, an interest in new writing, and a love for Butterworth's plays. I was in my first year at university at the time and his plays played a large part of the next few years. The best tenner I've spent probably.
Now married, I went with my wife to see the matinee on Sarurday. It was superb. The play is still full of vitality and the cast were on top form.
I notice in the programme Paul Chahidi does a voiceover... where was this in the play?
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Post by Jon on Apr 24, 2022 19:45:20 GMT
This is going to be an unpopular opinion but no one has the right to see theatre either live or filmed and if Rylance doesn't want Jerusalem to be filmed then we have to respect his wishes.
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Post by oxfordsimon on Apr 24, 2022 19:50:26 GMT
I think it is always worth having an archive recording of all major productions. The Theatre Museum used to host a collection of many, many West End productions.
From an academic perspective, it was an invaluable resource.
This is not to say that archive recordings of shows like Jerusalem should be released to the public. But it is an important piece with a career defining performance. That alone means to me that some permanent record be made.
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Post by wiggymess on Apr 24, 2022 20:17:47 GMT
I think it is always worth having an archive recording of all major productions. The Theatre Museum used to host a collection of many, many West End productions. From an academic perspective, it was an invaluable resource. This is not to say that archive recordings of shows like Jerusalem should be released to the public. But it is an important piece with a career defining performance. That alone means to me that some permanent record be made. There is an archive recording of it which can be seen by appointment as per earlier in this thread. In the process of being moved to the, quote, "here-be-dragons territory" of zone 2 London. |
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