The tedious classics.

I've not seen the Schiller but Verdi's version is probably my favourite of his operas - and I prefer it Italian to the French even though the French is "correct". I would have thought it would interest the Spanish & French more than the Germans, as it's a French princess marrying into the Spanish royal family.

The Patrick Stewart is very good. Wasn’t it thingy Fleetwood as LM? Remind me.and a modern take on it. Stalinist

Macbeth is one of those plays where I feel the first half is the most interesting. Right up to Macbeth's second meeting with the witches. After that the play slows down for me as we lead up to his death. That said the Malcolm and Macduff scene is one of the best in the play.

Agree on the Rupert Goold Macbeth. Best Macbeth for me is the Yukio Ninagawa production. Beautiful to watch and the only one I felt sorry for Macbeth. Then again it could have been the endless playing of Adagio for Strings affecting me.

Romeo and Juliet is worse for me. I think its telling that I haven't seen a production since the Rupert Goold production which really spiced up the play for me (there's an ongoing Rupert Goold theme here). The play is a good romantic/comedy play that turns into a tragedy by the end of the first half. After that the play drags as we watch the stars align for the lovers to die by bad luck.

Julius Caesar has a similar problem with the second half but its made up by some compelling characters. I think we can all agree Antony and Cleopatra really suffers by the end. Even an average production will feel tedious.

Henry V does nothing for me. Whether or not you make it a jingoistic of an anti-war play. Except for the time when I saw Antic Disposition's WW1 production, when I realized it is better as a soldier's play rather than a play about Henry V. Watching the soldiers of the trenches finding themselves in the soldiers the play draws the limelight to away from the titular character

Just as I find King Lear is rather England's tragedy rather than his. He's a difficult character to sympathize with as it is and yet I've seen more than a dozen productions. So many characters die, many of whom are england's leaders, so the surviving ones in the closing moments are left lost and rudderless as england is left adrift.

I just watched the film of Macbeth with Stewart/Fleetwood.

It kind of reminded me of the Godfather in one scene, ‘where they take care of family business.’

I saw his R+J, Merchant and Richard II. Some of the best and most creative Shakespeare I've seen.

Such a shame his productions in the Almeida haven't been as inspiring. His Medea is the worst theatre experience I've ever seen. Talk about dreary. Yes, I'd rather see Wooster Group's Troilus and Cressida over that.

That said he is in charge of Headlong and Almeida that attracts some very talented directors.

Oh I definitely not saying Angels in America is tedious, I’m saying that a 8hr play felt like 2hr play.

Angels in America, War Horse and Curious Dog and Jerusalem are the finest plays I have ever seen.

Mentioning Angels in America with this thread title, I can see why you thought I was down on Angels.

That Medea in the Greek season at the Medea, felt like 8hr, wasn’t a patch on the National version, where Helen McCrory was absolutely superb.

Sorry didn't think you were down on Angels at all. Glad the time flew by when you saw it, whereas I didn't. Enjoy the writing or anything and appreciated it discussed way more than homosexuality and AIDs. Just didn't connect with me on an emotional level enough to warrant that amount of time.

As I remember leaving the second part I thought these are very personal plays that on touch life experiences that I've have or yet to face to fully appreciate. Especially at 8 hours.

Now on the Medea side it was an hour and 30 minute production that felt like an eternal slog listening to what sounded like someone's ramblings on their blog copied into the script. And has writer Rachel Cusk written another play since then?

And after all that, when I was yearning for the famous ending, they have this 'thing' come one (I believe it was meant to be a God) and give a monologue in which she passingly says "oh and the kids killed themselves"

Funnily enough Wooster Groups Troilus and Cressida was more than 3 hours so I must have been mad staying after the interval. Partly because it was the first time I was watching the play. But at the same it was the first time I was watching an absolutely pretentiously bad production and it was fascinating to watch. Like watching a car crash in slow motion. I left Medea absolutely livid.

Funny what you get out of a long production sometimes

A Moon for the Misbegotten is appallingly dull. I saw a famous production of it years ago with Frances de la Tour. Painful. 

I've never found Joe Orton's plays in the slightest bit amusing, real museum pieces. They never get revived now but his reputation is still high.  

I liked the Rupert Goold "Medea" - I was familar with the play anyway and it was an interesting spin on it. 

The recent(ish) Leicester Curve production of What the Butler Saw is still available to view online, should anyone wish to.

www.curveonline.co.uk/news/watch-our-archive-recording-of-joe-ortons-what-the-butler-saw/

There was a touring Headlong production of The Seagull directed by Blanche McIntyre that I thought worked very well (saw it at Richmond). The one Chekhov that I struggle with is Ivanov, the rest are up there with the greatest plays in my opinion.

So much with Chekhov comes down to the translation. And, of course, how much a director can continue the adaptation process in translating the translation into something viable for modern audiences.

I am working on The Cherry Orchard at the moment and selected one of the earliest English versions because it was out of copyright and thus I could further develop the text in the rehearsal room.

It didn't come with any modern sensibilities or attempts to make it feel more relevant. It was a straightforward translation into English by someone who understood the theatre.

It isn't cutting edge or modern. It is close to the original period in terms of feel and I can make it work with my cast as we explore character and situation.

If you stay true to Chekhov being a writer of plays in the comedic rather than tragic tradition, you avoid the heavy feel to those productions which only focus on the more tragic elements of the scripts. This is not that you have to treat them as sitcoms or farce. You have to view them as bittersweet comedies about dysfunctional people and to have casts who can treat their characters as real people. This allows the natural humour to emerge which then creates a more balanced interpretation.

So often modern productions come with an agenda rather than letting Chekhov be Chekhov.

I was loving working on Cherry Orchard before a virus delayed things by a year. With very few minor trims, we were looking at a run time of two hours plus interval which is not a long show. I am really looking forward to reassembling my team in the spring.