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Post by oxfordsimon on Jul 18, 2021 19:55:20 GMT
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Post by mrbarnaby on Jul 19, 2021 3:29:51 GMT
Looking at the production shots in the Guardian, it looks like Steven Berkoff has been replaced with Frances Barber. There’s a sentence you don’t read every day
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Post by Jan on Jul 19, 2021 6:02:21 GMT
Steven Berkoff ! How the mighty are fallen. I wonder if we'll hear from him afterwards about this curious production. Seems we may hear from him sooner than I thought. They must regret casting him. News that McKellen is distressed by all this reminds me of the fraught tour he did with his first King Lear. Frances Barber was one of his supporters in that problematic company.
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Post by lynette on Jul 19, 2021 14:16:15 GMT
She’s having a right go at some twit on twitter who has tried to get her sacked. V entertaining if it weren’t also terrifying what ‘small’ people think they can do.
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Post by mrbluesky on Jul 19, 2021 15:32:42 GMT
Planning on catching this in the next few weeks - very intrigued to see what Frances Barber is like as Polonius! (I've long wanted to see her do some Shakespeare, and seeing McKellen will be a treat!)
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Post by Jan on Jul 19, 2021 15:56:46 GMT
Planning on catching this in the next few weeks - very intrigued to see what Frances Barber is like as Polonius! (I've long wanted to see her do some Shakespeare, and seeing McKellen will be a treat!) I was going to ask if you missed her as Julius Caesar at the Donmar but I see that was 2012. Time flies.
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Post by mrbarnaby on Jul 19, 2021 16:55:44 GMT
This whole production sounds dreadful. Not surprised there are tensions on it.
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Post by mrbluesky on Jul 19, 2021 16:56:55 GMT
Planning on catching this in the next few weeks - very intrigued to see what Frances Barber is like as Polonius! (I've long wanted to see her do some Shakespeare, and seeing McKellen will be a treat!) I was going to ask if you missed her as Julius Caesar at the Donmar but I see that was 2012. Time flies. I so wish I’d seen her as Caesar - I bet she was brilliant!
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Post by peggs on Jul 19, 2021 18:34:38 GMT
I was going to ask if you missed her as Julius Caesar at the Donmar but I see that was 2012. Time flies. I so wish I’d seen her as Caesar - I bet she was brilliant! It really worked in that production. I'm trying to imagine how she would approach Polonius and my intrigued, my first thought was that it's very different from anything I'd seen her play before though those parts weren't actually similar there was a strain of seductiveness, influence, authority that I don't tend to associate with Polonius. That's a very poor explanation for a thought I can't really verbalise as it suggests she plays everything the same and she's a much better actor than that.
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Post by partytentdown on Jul 19, 2021 20:25:52 GMT
Her behaviour today on Twitter is appalling. She's openly threatening some person who posted about her (very open) dislike of trans women. She's basically telling him she has his address, how much he'll regret 'grassing' on her, tweeting photos of him at work and naming his employer etc. Properly psycho behaviour.
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Post by mjh on Jul 19, 2021 20:34:48 GMT
She’s having a right go at some twit on twitter who has tried to get her sacked. V entertaining if it weren’t also terrifying what ‘small’ people think they can do. I'd say her instigating a huge twitter pile and being their threatening herself towards a single user who is far worse than said user raising concerns about Frances' dubious past comments.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 19, 2021 23:06:17 GMT
While I do think Barber went too far in her response last night, that weaselly bloke tried to get her into trouble with her employers over a belief that was recently declared perfectly valid, and protected, in a tribunal. This happens all too often these days.
Women are sick and tired of being hounded for speaking up in defence of their rights; of receiving death threats and losing our livelihoods. I guess now we’re finally getting angry. Maybe it’s about time the bully boys who try to shut down women’s voices learn that not every woman they target will issue a grovelling apology and shut up.
So if this guy is now worried people pointed out to his employer he’s a bit of an online bully, I find it hard to care too much. (Come on, he’ll be fine anyway, he works for virtue-signalling Barclays!)
Probably all that’s needed in this case is to tell the pair of them to grow up. (Though if Barber chose to sue for defamation, it would certainly make an interesting case.)
Anyhoo, with luck she gets to stay on and people get to see her Polonius...and the silly man who targeted her also stays on in his job and learns his lesson!
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Post by Jan on Jul 20, 2021 6:59:56 GMT
She’s having a right go at some twit on twitter who has tried to get her sacked. V entertaining if it weren’t also terrifying what ‘small’ people think they can do. I'd say her instigating a huge twitter pile and being their threatening herself towards a single user who is far worse than said user raising concerns about Frances' dubious past comments. If someone contacted my employer and asked why they were employing a "known racist" (like he did) I'd say it had gone a bit further than "raising concerns". That's an accusation of a crime. An employer would have to address it in some way, especially in the entertainment industry. If it were true she'd never work again, so he is attempting to directly attack her livelihood. That fact it was a "single user" is irrelevant. Her respone, though intemperate in my view, is still not "far worse" than that.
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Post by mjh on Jul 20, 2021 8:52:11 GMT
I'd say her instigating a huge twitter pile and being their threatening herself towards a single user who is far worse than said user raising concerns about Frances' dubious past comments. If someone contacted my employer and asked why they were employing a "known racist" (like he did) I'd say it had gone a bit further than "raising concerns". That's an accusation of a crime. An employer would have to address it in some way, especially in the entertainment industry. If it were true she'd never work again, so he is attempting to directly attack her livelihood. That fact it was a "single user" is irrelevant. Her respone, though intemperate in my view, is still not "far worse" than that. I'd also say this is a bit more than "intemperate": But anyway, back to Hamlet.
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Post by mjh on Jul 23, 2021 12:16:08 GMT
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Post by cavocado on Jul 23, 2021 19:56:57 GMT
Well, inews described it as a 'haphazard mess'...
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Post by Peroni on Jul 25, 2021 15:51:54 GMT
I went to see this on Saturday afternoon and enjoyed it a lot. It is just so wonderful to hear Ian McKellen for hours, it's well worth the trip just for that! It's true that there isn't one single and clear concept that was presented to the audience, so it might feel disjointed for some people, like the critic from What's On Stage, who said the director "doesn't seem to have a view of the play; he throws in gimmicks such as an exercise bike for Hamlet and some loud pop music(...)". True, not everything works fantastically, but I wasn't bothered: I think changing the language to be more accessible (thy/thou was changed to your/you) and the cuts made sense, and the cast is fantastic. It's a production that doesn't have the pretension of being neither radical and modern nor conservative and as faithful to the original as possible, whatever that means. I sat on Front Stalls, and the view from half the seats on stage seemed terrible as you'd lose so much of the action or see it from behind/side - it's not a proper in the round production. Also, they have a small programme (kinda boring) and a large one, which looks great.
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Post by NeilVHughes on Jul 25, 2021 16:18:44 GMT
Was also there yesterday afternoon and would second the onstage seating, too much happens overhead and if tempted if possible go for the seats closer to the auditorium.
McKellen was as expected and let the language carry the load, enjoyed Polonius, the right amount of pomposity and comic, also Ophelia’s decent to madness was well executed through song which was definitely different and worked for me.
Lucked into a post show Q&A which was a bonus.
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Post by Dave B on Aug 6, 2021 12:28:26 GMT
On a slight tangent, we are heading to Windsor to see this next weekend. Neither of us have been to Windsor before so if anyone had a suggestion of a nice pub or place for dinner beforehand?
Thank you in advance!
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Post by Dr Tom on Aug 6, 2021 20:08:11 GMT
I can’t make any specific recommendations, but the theatre is in area right by the river and surrounded by eating places, including some very nice looking riverside pubs. Lots more options if you cross the bridge to Eton too.
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Post by crabtree on Sept 1, 2021 12:51:55 GMT
A great day in windsor yesterday, down from manchester and back after the show. Easy to park, managed a boat trip and a great meal, and then the glorious show. Yes, maybe there's no clear overall picture, but the play stills works it's magic even after twenty odd productions i've seen. McKellen flirts with those familiar phrases and comes up fresh everytime, frances barber was pompously hysterical, Jenny Seagrove looks as if she has stepped in from Frozen, having played Elsa, though the long blonde plait had a reason. Her accent was extraordinary, though i liked that she suddenly turned to drink - making sense of her part in the fencing scene. The arras scene was interesting though the rack of dresses hardly looked like ones Gertrude would have worn. Not worried about the age/gender/race/ability ballyhoo for one second - this is after all, a play that begins with a talking ghost. and actors conveniently act out a play within a play echoing the main story. Sad not to see Francesca Annis in the curtain call, but then the ghost has so little to do - but if we see the ghost as flesh and blood should it not be there in the closet scene, or is Hamlet teasing gertrude. Then that would mean the actor would have to stick around for act Two. Lots of random ideas, some worked well, and some didn't, but hurray for sir Ian.
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Post by Rory on Sept 1, 2021 13:13:47 GMT
I wonder if this will transfer?
I wouldn't be surprised to see it go to the Gielgud between the Hilary Mantel and To Kill a Mockingbird. Nothing announced for that gap yet and Bill Kenwright doesn't usually announce hugely in advance.
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Post by oxfordsimon on Sept 1, 2021 21:08:53 GMT
They have to do Cherry Orchard before anything else
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Post by danielwhit on Sept 2, 2021 20:18:25 GMT
I can't see this transferring. Partially as it isn't actually very good. It's a confused mess of a show with random set pieces that make no sense, some uncomfortable casting and a sense that everyone has been left to their own devices to work out how they should play their parts.
Also as even with the cast they've got they're not selling out the Theatre Royal at all.
Mind you, according to publicity material its breaking all records at thee box office - so who knows what what means when it isn't selling out.
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Post by Jon on Sept 2, 2021 20:28:41 GMT
I can't see this transferring. Partially as it isn't actually very good. It's a confused mess of a show with random set pieces that make no sense, some uncomfortable casting and a sense that everyone has been left to their own devices to work out how they should play their parts. Also as even with the cast they've got they're not selling out the Theatre Royal at all. Mind you, according to publicity material its breaking all records at thee box office - so who knows what what means when it isn't selling out. They haven't said what the previous box office record was and when it was so breaking all box office records is a bit meaningless.
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Post by crabtree on Sept 2, 2021 20:58:35 GMT
I'd agree about the lack of focus, but i did come away with many of the lines heard as if for the first time, with new meanings, but anything fresh about Hamlet, I'm not sure. Best summed up for the constant changing of McK's many inconsequential costumes. Full of sound and fury, signifying.....? Yes some of the characters seemed sadly wan and insubstantial - thank goodness for Ian McK and Francis Barber. seemed full on tuesday.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Sept 2, 2021 21:00:32 GMT
I just finished reading David Weston’s memoir of the tumultuous Lear tour (which starred McKellan and Barber). Wonder if they shared fond - or perhaps not so fond - memories!
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Post by stevemar on Sept 3, 2021 13:22:38 GMT
I thought this was a decent production but nothing special other than Sir Ian who brought as much new light to the part, but it was very much a “performance”. He and Frances Barber were very good. Absolutely no idea why Gertrude was played with an alienating accent (maybe Danish, but just out of the place). The staging worked well for the main theatre (fortunately I was in the stalls), but terrible for anyone on stage with the performances directed away from them or even above (with the scaffolding/bridge).
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Post by crabtree on Sept 3, 2021 16:35:39 GMT
Yep, I didn't understand Gertrude at all - she looked like Elsa from Frozen as a maure lady, but then anyone care to explain the the three eventual hair losses - some thought must have been behind that, something about seeing the truth, being honest? Though i did like the thinking tha Gertrude turned to drink, albeit rather suddenly. and Hamlet and Horatio clearly had a history together, but R&G were a bit wishy washy.And Osric certainly made the most of her moment.
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Post by lynette on Sept 3, 2021 18:36:58 GMT
The turning to drink is now pretty standard, explains why she objects to being told not to drink by Claudius at the end.
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