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Post by marob on Sept 19, 2020 20:44:55 GMT
I got a Friday Rush ticket to see it at the NT. It was even weirder and more messed up than you make it sound. I'm not someone who's easily offended (err... I was actually a bit gutted I couldn't see anything during a certain scene with Tom Mothersdale) but I've been made to wince by characters enduring much milder PG level violence in other shows, whereas here I just felt kind of detached from the whole thing. Despite that though, I actually wouldn't mind seeing another production of it, to see what a different director could make of it. I think it could be really moving and devastating in the right hands. I always wonder about these people that faint during certain scenes. Can't help thinking of the guy who reportedly  when Russell Tovey took his top off in the Broadway transfer of A View From the Bridge. |
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Post by NeilVHughes on Sept 19, 2020 21:20:21 GMT
One of the most impenetrable and uncomfortable plays I have seen, the pain of love in all its g(l)ory.
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Post by Phantom of London on Sept 19, 2020 23:10:39 GMT
After having many heart attacks with all those horrible unexpected gun shots.it was uncomfortable viewing just as a master playwright in Sarah Kane wanted you. Sarah unfortunately died to young in tragic circumstances. I did have my heart attacks, but my heart also missed beats because of the excellence of the play, which reminded me of a modern 1984.
Always worth having a read of the reviews of the other Sarah Kane’s first play ‘blasted,’ to put it very mildly the critics hated it. Jack Tinkler of the Daily Mail was called it ”a piece of filth.” Michael Billington savaged it as well, but late recanted and said “he got it wrong.” Still haven’t seen this play.
Brilliant artistic decision by Rufus Norris to stage this.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 20, 2020 10:32:57 GMT
I saw both the Royal Court and NT productions. The Court production was the follow up to Blasted, which had scandalised the usual media suspects (it’s now become a classic, produced across the world). This was at the Duke of York’s while the Sloane Square space was being redone, if I remember correctly. The play was compelling in that production but the staging of the NT production was far superior, in my opinion. It picked out the phantasmagoric nature of the piece more effectively. It’s a beautiful play (and I know that word would be seen as unlikely).
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Post by Forrest on Sept 21, 2020 8:15:15 GMT
42ndBlvd , if you are curious to see the NT version, I can confirm that the NT Achive has it available for viewing. I've watched the recording, sadly not the live performance, and thought it was extraordinary. And I agree with @cardinalpirelli that the play itself is beautiful the way Kane wrote it. All the violence and the torture is there to show you that, in the end, love can surpass anything. In Mitchell's direction it's a bit more brutal - she makes some directing choices that strip the play, I think, of a part of that optimism, most notably the way she chose to end it. But it's such a superbly, wonderfully crafted and acted production that it is definitely worth a watch if you can find the time once the Archive reopens. [ marob , I love the story of the guy fainting at the shirtless scene! It made me think back of the shirtless scenes I've witnessed at the theatre, and I don't think anyone has ever fainted. :D]
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Post by peggs on Sept 21, 2020 11:12:22 GMT
Surely it must have been a swoon rather than a faint?!
Watched a few minutes of this at archive, sufficient to confirm not for me as a fainter in much calmer circumstances but the quality looked decent.
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Post by n1david on Sept 21, 2020 13:00:11 GMT
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Post by Forrest on Sept 21, 2020 13:56:19 GMT
Call it a faint or a swoon, peggs, now I'm just worried that I pick my plays unwisely! I mean, I've cried, sobbed, been left in shock and in awe, giggled, laughed like crazy, but I have yet to experience a play - or an actor, judging by the correlation implied by the Independent! - that (who?) will get me to pass out in the audience! |
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Post by peggs on Sept 21, 2020 18:20:35 GMT
Call it a faint or a swoon, peggs , now I'm just worried that I pick my plays unwisely! I mean, I've cried, sobbed, been left in shock and in awe, giggled, laughed like crazy, but I have yet to experience a play - or an actor, judging by the correlation implied by the Independent! - that (who?) will get me to pass out in the audience! Have done it @forrest and it's overrated, must stress not at an actor disrobing or in fact doing anything particularly but a couple of times down to illness (and a few prevented times by slumping in seat or even sat on floor when someone has the audacity of stage to say they've got a paper cut or something?. |
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when Russell Tovey took his top off in the Broadway transfer of A View From the Bridge.
