5,703 posts
|
Post by lynette on Dec 9, 2021 21:47:16 GMT
Totally connected with the actual theatre performance but would like to share a very strange fact. I recently realised that my Great Uncle was at Merton, Oxford at the same time as T.S Eliot! He was the first from his school in Sheffield to go to Oxford (they gave everyone a day off to celebrate his success) and was from an uneducated family (his father was a cabinet maker). He got a double first in Greats in 1915 before becoming a pilot in Royal Flying Core in WWI…..where he died near the end of the war. I realised T.S. Eliot was at Oxford briefly in 1914 (he wasn’t a great fan of Oxford and soon decamped to London)…..Eliot did speak in a debate in the common room when there was a motion complaining about how many Americans there were at the college!!!! I wonder what they would have made of each other if they met…..my great Uncle, northern, never been out of the country, bullied when he was at Oxford by the toffs and Eliot….rather exotic and well travelled….there is a play in there somewhere!!!! My grandfather also became a pilot, never going to university as he was younger, so the war timing prevented it, and survived the war….and the rest as they say, is history. Apologies for the diversion but I couldn't resist! Super family history. Sorry that your guy died in the War. Eliot not known for his chumminess. |
|
5,703 posts
|
Post by lynette on Dec 9, 2021 18:12:09 GMT
Just to say there is a story in media about donors withdrawing from TRC.
|
|
5,703 posts
|
Post by lynette on Dec 8, 2021 18:58:53 GMT
Just ordered more masks.
|
|
5,703 posts
|
Post by lynette on Dec 6, 2021 18:50:39 GMT
Happens a lot. I often wonder why nobody sits at the back early on and just delivers the truth. I remember that wonderfully bad Antony and Cleopatra. One sitting at the back of the stalls would have revealed all. And that’s a good play! I can think of occasions where all of the previous NT directors intervened during rehearsals to try to avert a disaster. Also situations like Nicholas Hytner stopping employing Katie Mitchell after she failed to follow his guidance to stage things that people in the circle could actually see and hear. But I’ve never heard of any similar situation with Norris - maybe he’s too nice and/or reluctant to offend. Made me laugh. I couldn’t see or hear her stuff from the front stalls. |
|
5,703 posts
|
Post by lynette on Dec 5, 2021 12:02:49 GMT
Best production of this play was and remains for me, the 1977 (76?) with Judi Dench and Michael Williams and many other stalwarts. You can see it as it was filmed. It was out of this world, made into a mini musical but not overbearingly so and it was very, very funny. Judi Dench the perfect outraged wife. I’m happier with two actors for each set of twins. All the running about if you only have one actor per set takes away from the flow of the piece and the poignancy at the end.
|
|
5,703 posts
|
Post by lynette on Dec 5, 2021 11:57:10 GMT
Whatever happened to the Prompter’s Corner? Would be easy to get a privacy screen for a laptop or tablet which would remove all the light issues for surrounding punters. Or they could learn their lines? Or make them up. Lots of fab stories about making up Shakespeare and the rest…over to you guys… |
|
5,703 posts
|
Post by lynette on Dec 4, 2021 23:13:44 GMT
May I ask opinions / take temperature on one that I think really falls into this thread? First night of Best Of Enemies at Young Vic tonight. Fourth row in, there is a lady with an open laptop (screen somewhat slanted but still bright and distracting). At least two people spoke to FOH at interval. FOH tell me that they think she is with the production but do get onto the radio and pass issue upwards. No action taken, no change. Lady continues to use laptop throughout second half. Turns out she's the prompter and, yes, she is needed for a couple of lines in the second half. Am I wrong in thinking this is bad behaviour from the theatre themselves? (..not to mention rude and disrespectful to paying customers) Further, in the very front row and right next to an entrance way, there is I think a second prompter who has what appears to be a large bound script but is in a seat that remains lit throughout and so has no need to disrupt anyone around them. I've never come across a prompter, but in previews of many shows I've seen creatives with laptops/ipads/phones taking notes during a show. I get it, but surely you would sit at the back and not in a seat amongst the audience? Whatever happened to the Prompter’s Corner? |
|
5,703 posts
|
Post by lynette on Dec 4, 2021 23:12:27 GMT
Dan vs AJ Dan out Unanimous decision At last To quote a well known and brilliant movie, My Cousin Vinnie , “are you sure?” ( imagine the accent and the intonation of course ) |
|
5,703 posts
|
Post by lynette on Dec 4, 2021 20:46:43 GMT
I realise that previous comment is a bit mean. Ahem. But what i like is a dance that leaves me astonished and appreciating the whole idea of the dance whether it be a slow number or a jive. Dan does not deliver this to me. I like Nadyia who is lovely to watch of course. Dan seems the same every week.
|
|
5,703 posts
|
Post by lynette on Dec 4, 2021 20:44:14 GMT
Dan annoyingly will go thru and represent the bloke on his journey….pass me the bucket.
|
|
5,703 posts
|
Post by lynette on Dec 3, 2021 13:50:43 GMT
I thought it was good. Cast of 6 six, the plot remains and it zips along at under 2 hrs. Nice venue and good production values. I agree with that in general. There are so many cuts it is really just a summary of the play although all the text is Shakespeare. But beyond that it is very straightforward and conventional which is not particularly to my taste as I prefer a strong directorial concept and interpretation. However, it is a good chance to see the play which is done quite infrequently and I suspect given its subject matter will become even rarer in the future. We’ve put up with this play for centuries now. It is always such hard work especially post WWII to contextualise, to explain, to do the detailed analysis and the irony stuff and to have the actors interviewed and apologetic and unapologetic and Jewish and non Jewish. It is very hard work. I wouldn’t blame future companies if it just slid into the library shelf and never came out again. But it is brilliant to teach to a’diverse’ group of teenagers. Or should be. |
|
5,703 posts
|
Post by lynette on Dec 3, 2021 13:46:41 GMT
I just wish they'd come back to Newcastle occasionally, with something I want to see. I don't want every last thing on the programme to be an edgy twist on something, or gender-swapped, or whatever their latest trend is. Yes, by all means do those things, if there's an audience for it. But one or two traditional productions each year where I can just see Taming of the Shrew, or Much Ado, or hell at this point I'd even settle for Troilus and Cressida, as an old-style RSC production like I always enjoyed before, and they'd get my money again. I wish they'd come back to London with some non-traditional edgy plays, or obscure Swan plays, but all we get is the odd bland mainstream popular Shakespeare - from this last cycle I don't think they've transferred a single one of the seldom performed plays (eg. Two Gentlemen, Timon, Troilus, Merchant, Shrew etc.). I fear neither of us are going to get what we want. You’ll have to get on the ole bus, Jan and make it up to the Badlands, oops, Midlands. |
|
5,703 posts
|
Post by lynette on Dec 3, 2021 13:44:56 GMT
I saw the play last night and agree with the reviews - it is really very bad. I feel sorry for the cast, who are trying very hard to find some depth to their characters despite the woeful text that they have to work with. It's mind-boggling that this made it all the way to the stage at the NT without someone flagging up a concern. Perhaps I'm over-estimating the bureaucracy at the NT, but I imagine there must be a whole chain of people who had to read this play prior to it being programmed, and who then had to check in on rehearsals and report back to Norris or the board. How did they not see the problems with this play?! Happens a lot. I often wonder why nobody sits at the back early on and just delivers the truth. I remember that wonderfully bad Antony and Cleopatra. One sitting at the back of the stalls would have revealed all. And that’s a good play! |
|
5,703 posts
|
Post by lynette on Dec 3, 2021 13:43:20 GMT
Saw review said over 10s. What do you think?
|
|
5,703 posts
|
Post by lynette on Dec 3, 2021 13:41:42 GMT
Always have considered this Will’s pantomime, after the drudge of the back story at the start I just wallow in the ridiculousness and the cast when I saw it in Stratford really excelled at this and am looking forward to seeing it again next week. Plenty of Will’s other plays to get excited over the conceptualisation and for me which is rare in a Shakespeare play I can leave my brain at home and just enjoy the chaos, in this instance the title says it all. I love it, maybe because first I met it when I was 13 and we had to do a bit of it in school, all by ourselves and we made it funny, much to the surprise of our teachers! One thing which has always irritated me though is the door scene not being conceived properly. You need a proper door and I expect much was made of the central entrance and balcony above in the original staging at the Globe back in Will’s day. Or in whatever theatre is was performed. You need to have that reality to counter the madness. And the question is, did Antipholus have sex with his brother’s wife? I’ve seen both a clear ‘yes’ and also a more coy interpretation. |
|
5,703 posts
|
Post by lynette on Dec 3, 2021 13:36:21 GMT
Saw this last night in a house that was maybe a 1/4 full.I'm sorry to say that I found it rather pathetic. The actors seemed game enough but the fact is that Phillip Breen's overall concept (if that's what it was) was a mish-mash of half thought-out ideas which failed to coalesce around a central thought - not even something as basic as "being funny" or "reveal the dark under current of the different classes of society living together under the rigid laws of Ephesus". Because the concept wasn't unified, the design unclear and the enthusiastic actors completely at sea on the vast Barbican stage, it all seemed to exemplify the deep deep trouble the RSC are in. I wouldn't be surprised if this run is cut short ( the way Wolf Hall 3 was). I haven't seen this yet but of course it was designed and directed for a temporary outdoor summer theatre so it's not that surprising if it doesn't work on the Barbican stage especially with a sparse audience. Yes I wouldn’t think it is Barbican enough- I mean full and layered. Remember the Cumberbatch Hamlet? The Barbican is a silly theatre, too wide and too big too ‘shushy’ |
|
5,703 posts
|
Post by lynette on Dec 3, 2021 13:31:02 GMT
You do wonder don’t you about security. I mean whatever you think of him, being able to take a pic from this angle seems to indicate to me that anyone could take a pop at him as well! I remember when I was in the audience with Prince Charles at the RSC ( ‘with’ not exactly precise, you know what I mean) there were security men behind him, beside him and in the row over the aisle who didn't take their eyes off him, didnt look at the stage at all. Guided him out in interval ( Camilla a bit behind not being official at the stage ) and at the end so as you were not even aware. Similarly with Tony Blair at the NT, blokes all over but then he and Cherie mingles with the plebs at the end. |
|
5,703 posts
|
Post by lynette on Dec 3, 2021 13:23:32 GMT
A real loss. Condolences to all his family and friends. He was a really nice guy.
|
|
5,703 posts
|
Post by lynette on Nov 30, 2021 20:59:50 GMT
I’ll take anything over 90%
|
|
5,703 posts
|
Post by lynette on Nov 28, 2021 23:26:31 GMT
I would love to see the voting numbers. I’m wondering if there is some betting syndicate with an interest in keeping dan. Would this be a thing?
|
|
5,703 posts
|
Post by lynette on Nov 28, 2021 18:55:09 GMT
Dan has done ‘hard’ dances and done them ok ish. The rumba is hard and he didn't do it very well. Just look back at the videos. Honestly quite embarrassing but sweetly he is the last to see it. I think he truly believes he is dancing well.
|
|
5,703 posts
|
Post by lynette on Nov 27, 2021 23:28:22 GMT
If Tilly's out this week, I think Dan next week, and Rhys out in the semi-final. AJ, John and Rose for the final. Rose wins. If I'm right, I get a biscuit 😁 I agree. Maybe though John won’t make the final - it very much depends on the dance they do. |
|
5,703 posts
|
Post by lynette on Nov 27, 2021 23:27:06 GMT
Ridiculous. Should have been Dan out.
|
|
5,703 posts
|
Post by lynette on Nov 27, 2021 23:19:48 GMT
Just to add that this may change if the virus situation changes in light of the new strain of virus.
|
|
5,703 posts
|
Post by lynette on Nov 27, 2021 22:29:46 GMT
I'm an American in Paris at the moment and you have to show proof of vaccination to enter museums and most restaurants. Masks are required in shops and on transit with fairly good compliance. And normal life is able to go on because of these precautions. Restaurants are full, shops are busy, people are out and about. Additional precautions will be in place shortly, including offering booster shots to everyone (and requiring them for certain groups in order to keep their vaccine pass), making masks mandatory in all indoor spaces (and some outdoor events) and reducing the validity period of using a negative test result instead of a vaccine pass. Sadly, when I travel to London in December, I'll probably stop going out to eat, won't be buying new theater tickets and I'll probably restrict my activities that involve crowded indoor venues if they don't require vaccination proof and/or testing, in addition to masking. You can do what you think is best for yourself of course but I can assure you that it is a ‘normal ‘ here as I have ever seen it. Yes, covid pass for some venues, not all by any means, temp checks maybe in place of and the restaurants are heaving. I don't do clubs but I expect they are all heaving too. People are shopping as can be seen by the number of designer bags being hauled onto the tube this evening. Mask wearing varies; seems about 70% wear on tube in my experience. Inside theatres, 30% unless asked by management to wear. Shops 50% I would say. Hairdressers vary but seem to be keeping to the masks wearing and distancing rules. Etc etc. I do not know the numbers . Perhaps Paris is ‘safer’ than London. I am triple jabbed, wear a mask in indoor situations and keep my distance: I don’t go to social occasions with more than a few people so you can say I am pretty cautious. I have been to the theatre a few times, different measures each time. Inconsistency rules. But London is busy. As I said I do not know the numbers. Maybe check yourself but if you take some precautions I think you will be ‘safe’. |
|
