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Post by David J on Sept 15, 2018 16:04:45 GMT
Finally visiting this beautiful theatre
I enjoyed the play. A slow start but by the interval it gets quite dark at times and there is a moment in the second act that is quite harrowing.
It it has the hall marks of a 17th century play with some comic relief, a usurping villain (played superbly by Art Malik) and revenge.
Anya Chalotra is superb in the lead role and gives a tormented performance at the start of the second act
The switch to prose/verse is a bit awkward at times and I could have done without the popular culture and political references
Still it’s a good show
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Post by chameleon on Sept 18, 2018 0:15:37 GMT
The new regime at Stratford East kicks off with this adaptation of Lope de Vega's Fuenteovejuna by April de Angelis. The updating to contemporary India (set around the incipient fascism of the BJP) gives it a sharper political edge than much of the recent work here. Though the production is occasionally rough around the edges, the story is always engaging and Anya Chalotra & Art Malik do fine work as the corrupt inspector, and the woman who defies him. Recommended.
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Post by showgirl on Sept 18, 2018 3:32:59 GMT
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Sept 18, 2018 5:26:53 GMT
Merged
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Post by drmaplewood on Sept 18, 2018 8:12:04 GMT
Saw this last night, probably the best thing I've seen at this venue. Enjoyed it hugely. Bodes well for the new season / AD
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Post by bellboard27 on Sept 18, 2018 8:24:18 GMT
I went way back for the first preview - the £10 front row seats were a bargain. I also liked this. I was pleased that in having a story where the police controlled the women in the village through sexual violence, this was committed off stage. We know what this means and this avoided gratuitous depiction of this without diminishing the impact.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 18, 2018 8:33:04 GMT
Portraying sexual violence against women without it being gratuitous, exploitative, or titillating is such a low bar and yet entertainment media fails at this first hurdle over and over and over again. (I think a large part of the problem is that so many people think of "rape" as a form of sex, when it's actually far more accurately a form of assault.) It's genuinely great to hear that this play hasn't fallen into these traps.
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Post by joem on Sept 20, 2018 23:40:13 GMT
Is this not some kind of reworking of Lope de Vega's "Fuenteovejuna"?
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Post by theatrelover123 on Sept 22, 2018 9:40:31 GMT
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Post by joem on Sept 22, 2018 9:48:09 GMT
Well that explains the depiction of sexual violence against a woman, the violation by the Comendador is the trigger for the peasants' revolt, and therefore inciting incident for the entire play, in the original: "Pongo la ballesta en tierra, y a la practica de manos reduzco melindres" |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 24, 2018 11:44:56 GMT
Got a last min ticket for the Saturday matinee for this after realising the rain wasn't going to stop and really glad I did - I found it completely mesmerising. Brilliant performances, every character shone out in 3D, and the storytelling was simply done and powerful. Pretty hard-hitting though - it's the first time the depiction of sexual violence has left me feeling claustrophobic to be sitting between two (perfectly nice) men, so if you're particularly likely to find it distressing you might want to avoid it. Lots of humour as well, though - I'm probably making it sound like hard work, but it isn't at all. Really memorable and the rest of the season looks interesting as well. I haven't been to this theatre for years but it will definitely be on my radar from now on, despite the slightly tedious trip east.
Excellent bar as well, which is of paramount importance as far as I'm concerned.
God, Stratford is horrible, though. I accidentally took the wrong entrance from the Overground and ended up in Westfield, and at one point I really thought I would never find my way out again. Hideous place.
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Post by tonyloco on Sept 24, 2018 12:32:15 GMT
God, Stratford is horrible, though. I accidentally took the wrong entrance from the Overground and ended up in Westfield, and at one point I really thought I would never find my way out again. Hideous place. Of course, a lot of people live in Stratford …. and like it! |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 24, 2018 13:06:58 GMT
tonyloco Fair enough but I fear I'll be having recurring 'trapped in Westfield' nightmares for years to come... The old tatty-round-the-edges shopping centre is much nicer, I hope it survives the competition.
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Post by tonyloco on Sept 24, 2018 16:42:05 GMT
tonyloco Fair enough but I fear I'll be having recurring 'trapped in Westfield' nightmares for years to come... The old tatty-round-the-edges shopping centre is much nicer, I hope it survives the competition. Actually, abby, I was quoting in my post something that really happened when I was playing piano for the monthly Sunday Night Variety Shows at the Theatre Royal. On one occasion they had booked as top of the bill a little-known stand-up comic who began his routine with a string of jokes that portrayed Stratford as a horrible place. I suspect he had the jokes already written to just insert the name of anywhere he chose, but the local Stratford audience did not find this funny and somebody shouted out: "We live here, mate, and we like it!" The comic then went off into some other material and managed to finish his spot, but he was never booked again. But that of course was long before the days of Westfield! |
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Post by jek on Sept 25, 2018 21:10:34 GMT
Well I live in Stratford and have brought up three (now young adult) children here. And I like it!
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Post by NeilVHughes on Sept 29, 2018 17:29:49 GMT
Not sure whether you can like the play because of the subject matter, nevertheless a most absorbing, if harrowing piece of Theatre, well worth my first foray to the Stratford East.
As previously stated some of the verse is quite clunky and could at times be distracting, on reflection this could be on purpose as it is more prevalent in the innocent sections of the play.
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Post by Steve on Oct 6, 2018 22:45:27 GMT
Saw this Thursday night, and like Kwame Kwei-Armah at the Young Vic, Nadia Fall's first show as AD and director is primarily an audience-pleasing entertainment. At the post show q and a, one audience member praised the show for it's topical references to Modi and his threatening rhetoric against Indian Muslims, but she dismayingly detected a cheery "Bollywood" aspect to the show. Art Malik simply explained that Stratford East has a history of not only producing political work, but also of entertaining audiences, and that this show embraces both politics and entertainment. And you know this is an entertainment when it turns so quickly from horrendous scenes of rape and murder to scenes full of jokes about the #metoo movement. When asked who he modelled his sexually predatory power-abusing villain on, Malik got a great laugh when he replied "Boris Johnson," but I couldn't help recalling Tim Piggott-Smith in "The Jewel in the Crown." You see, in that series, a sexually jealous Tim Piggott-Smith played a police chief who persecuted Malik's hero, Hari Kumar (Malik's star-making role), for having a cross-cultural love affair. Now, the Jewel in the Crown plot is recycled on stage, with Malik in the Piggott-Smith role of a sexually jealous police chief persecuting Scott Karim for having a cross cultural love affair. The ITV series was one of the biggest ratings hits with audiences, for it's passionate epic storylines, revenge themes, across the backdrop of India's history. And all these themes are present again in this production. Except, if anything, this show is even more of an audience pleaser than "Jewel in the Crown," because where that show was relentlessly grim, this one features funny comedy sidekick characters, with one cowardly one played particularly endearingly by Ameet Chana, and it features some exquisitely beautiful singing (not enough by half) from Anya Chalotra, and it goes for an audience pleasing story resolution that you wouldn't really expect from a rape/revenge/murder style plot. The set was beautiful to look at, with background figures working and lolling about in front of tall plants and colourful radiant skies. The ensemble were across-the-board terrific, with Malik giving great Piggott-Smith, at his most recalcitrant, obnoxious, corruptly blase and terrifying. But above all, Anya Chalotra was especially special. Not only did she sing like an angel, her down-to-earth mischievous matter-of-fact Yorkshire-accented put downs of amorous men were amusing, and when ill-treated, her phoenix-like resurrection as a tongue-wagging murderous banshee was edge-of-the-seat gobsmacking, accompanied by a revenge-of-the-women ensemble dance that electrified. Although I didn't know it, if you mix one part epic dramatic "Jewel in the Crown" with another part of singing, dancing and jokes, the emerging cocktail is the most audience pleasing intro of an AD to a venue I have seen, up there with Emma Rice's Midsummer Night's Dream. 4 and a half stars  |
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Post by zahidf on Oct 6, 2018 23:47:56 GMT
I thought this was ace. And art Malik plays the repulsive villain really well
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