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Post by showgirl on Oct 22, 2023 3:19:34 GMT
I saw the matinee (preview, £15 ticket) of Cowbois in the Swan yesterday. I have no idea what it was I saw and will probably have to rely on others here and the press to tell me but it was like nothing I've ever seen before, though very good (& hilarious) in parts and received a standing ovation from the majority of the audience.
The running time was advertised as 2 h 30 and was actually 2 h 45, though I see the website has now been updated to 2 h 40 and this will likely change and needs to reduce somewhat as it's not as tight as it could be yet. However, given that a FoH team member told me they were still rehearsing and tweaking it, I'm impressed that all involved were coping with that plus 2 shows that day. It was also great for those who need a matinee due to transport (I'd done my first ever day trip by train rather than staying overnight and doing a 2-show visit as before) that there was a matinee during previews.
One of the best aspects, in common with all the productions I've seen in the Swan, hugely varied as these have been, was the music and dancing; I couldn't get enough of that.
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Post by oxfordsimon on Oct 22, 2023 7:14:33 GMT
Am reviewing it on Tuesday. So will comment then.
Trying to keep an open mind!
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Post by showgirl on Oct 22, 2023 14:45:48 GMT
Shall be very interested in reading your thoughts, oxfordsimon. |
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Post by oxfordsimon on Oct 24, 2023 23:02:43 GMT
Shall be very interested in reading your thoughts, oxfordsimon. Well, well, well... I really don't know what to make of all that. Very hard not to get swept up by the exuberance of it all. But I have some doubts. Need to sleep on it! |
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Post by showgirl on Oct 25, 2023 3:41:04 GMT
Sounds as though a couple of your initial reactions matched mine, oxfordsimon, ie "I really don't know what to make of all that" and "hard not to get swept up by the exuberance of it all". Makes me wonder whether even the writers, cast and production team quite know what they're creating? |
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Post by showgirl on Oct 25, 2023 6:06:01 GMT
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Post by oxfordsimon on Oct 25, 2023 12:11:03 GMT
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Post by oxfordsimon on Oct 25, 2023 12:13:00 GMT
I didn't put it in the review but I think the writer should not have co-directed. There would have greater freedom to polish the script as a piece of theatre rather
But I did enjoy it. Eventually.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 25, 2023 12:35:05 GMT
Sounds interesting and Sophie Melville is a very talented actress. Her single handed performance in Iphigenia in Splot was one of the best one person performances I've seen. Looking at the cast the name Lucy McCormick rang a bell but I know I hadn't seen her on stage and eventually realised I'd seen her name advertised as part of a Fierce Festival in B'ham a few years ago where she did an "extreme popstar physical piece".
It is nice to see the RSC listing the performer's pronouns in the online cast biographies for this play as they don't usually do it and for this piece it is totally appropriate. Some shows do this generally now and some don't so I guess it is up to the producers unless an individual performer could ask for it. I guess a lot would depend on the standing of the performer and if they used they/them as that is where they usually want it defined if they aren't the presumed pronouns or there might be confusion about what to use.
I noticed the Pretty Woman musical has it in their cast biogs too but I think we knew Amber Davies is she/her for example.
Anyway I do want to try and get back over to Stratford to see something as I haven't been since early 2020 and this with Sophie in the cast would be my show of choice as it sounds interesting and thought provoking.
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Post by bram on Oct 25, 2023 16:46:39 GMT
a technicolored romp through a different wild west , some lovely moments.Preferred the first half to the second.
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Post by oxfordsimon on Oct 25, 2023 18:51:55 GMT
a technicolored romp through a different wild west , some lovely moments.Preferred the first half to the second. That's interesting as I found the second act built more successfully (other than the opening section meeting the returning menfolk) |
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Post by Being Alive on Oct 25, 2023 21:08:28 GMT
I saw this end of last week, and felt it to be...fine.
Brave piece of programming from the RSC, and it touched on a lot of issues/current affairs topics, but I don't feel like it did any of them particularly well, or in any real depth, and thus I came away unsure of what a lot of the point of it was.
5 stars for effort for sure (it's really quite bold for this to be in the RSC considering it's core audience) - but 3 star execution.
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Post by oxfordsimon on Oct 25, 2023 21:30:58 GMT
I did think it felt like it would feel more at home at the Globe. But that is unsurprising given the background of many of the creative team
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Post by showgirl on Oct 26, 2023 3:16:01 GMT
I also preferred the 2nd half, though in both it was too slow at times and the start was particularly mannered, especially for that critical period when audience members may well be wondering "what sort of play and production is this?" - though on that point, as in my original post, I was still uncertain at the end and remain so. Also it tried to do too much and was such a mixture of genres and styles - but I'd always rather see an interesting new work, even if it wasn't a complete success, than something over-familiar. This was definitely a fascinating experiment with so much to enjoy and based on the reception at the performance I attended; comments elsewhere on line and press reviews (3- and 4-star), I think it has already found an audience and will continue to do so. I take your point, oxfordsimon, re the Globe, but I travelled a long way to see this (and would've been reluctant to see it at the Globe); Stratford-On-Avon has quite a wide catchment area and besides, maybe some people would seek this out precisely because of the creative team's track record? |
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Post by lynette on Oct 27, 2023 21:46:01 GMT
I saw this end of last week, and felt it to be...fine. Brave piece of programming from the RSC, and it touched on a lot of issues/current affairs topics, but I don't feel like it did any of them particularly well, or in any real depth, and thus I came away unsure of what a lot of the point of it was. 5 stars for effort for sure (it's really quite bold for this to be in the RSC considering it's core audience) - but 3 star execution. I think I’m a core and I ain’t going. |
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Post by oxfordsimon on Oct 27, 2023 22:20:03 GMT
I was highly sceptical and ended up won over
So don't write it off
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Post by lynette on Oct 28, 2023 12:31:04 GMT
I was highly sceptical and ended up won over So don't write it off Tbh we can’t fit it in. But i am concerned about the RSC’c basic programming. Hoping for better imo with new guys |
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Post by theatrenerd on Oct 28, 2023 14:01:26 GMT
Daniel Evans is performing as an emergency cover
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Post by oxfordsimon on Oct 28, 2023 14:13:57 GMT
That will be very different. But I won't say why!
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Post by Steve on Jan 18, 2024 19:08:33 GMT
This has transferred to the Royal Court, where I saw today's matinee and I LOVED it. Some spoilers follow. . . Like "I Joan" at the Globe, the other Charlie Josephine play I've seen, this is an exuberant, energetic and joyous piece about not stuffing people into identity boxes and just letting people do their own thing. Like "I Joan," song and dance are utilised as raucous release, a glorious antidote to stifling repressive forces. Like "I Joan," it sets up a staid stuffy rigid societal reality (here, the world of macho cowboys and their dutiful partners, as opposed to "I Joan's" world of overbearing Priests and their dutiful flocks), and then introduces a trans outsider to blow that stuffiness apart. Where "I Joan" seemed to annoy some people (I loved it lol) for being "too woke" and "pushing it's agenda too hard," this play remedies those complaints by adding into the mix the outrageous provocative camp of John Waters, which is the opposite of po-faced wokeness, given the propensity of his persecuted protagonists to descend into gleeful displays of camp violence lol. Two actors here, in particular, give the most magnificent John Waters style performances, with Lucy McCormick's Jayne hilariously oozing quivering comic camp sexual repression in every scene, and LJ Parkinson's Charley hilariously channeling Divine's no holds barred comic camp deviant violence. In the lead role, Sophie Melville is wonderful as the bar owner who, in the absence of her gold prospecting husband, begins to fall for trans cowboy, Jack, played empathetically and charismatically by Vinnie Heaven. I've seen Melville do serious acting in various things, and she's terrific, but what I loved here is how fully she gave herself to the camp comic acting, when it was required. There are so many fantastic supporting performances here too, with Lee Braithwaite so bright and commanding, Paul Hunter so put upon and pathetic, Emma Pallant so unwinkingly po-faced and prudish, Bridgette Amofah so expressive and likeable and Shaun Dingwall beautifully treading the line between acceptably and unacceptably macho lol. For me, this is a unique, camp, musical, entertaining and liberating show. I'd give it 4 and a half stars.  |
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