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Post by samuelwhiskers on Jun 13, 2022 15:18:57 GMT
Already causing controversy because none of the Jewish theatre artists who gave up their time for free to have meetings and provide free learning materials to the Court were invited to be involved, and that they’ve programmed the play to have its press night on a Jewish High Holy day.
Good for doing something, but the Court really need to commission a Jewish writer to write an actual play, and not someone who’s Vicky’s best mate from school.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Jun 13, 2022 12:31:00 GMT
I don’t think anyone seriously expects the Court to programme a completely inexperienced writer who’s never written a play before (although as a matter of fact they have done exactly that, and of course it was a Royal Court employee who was good mates with Vicky Featherstone).
There are lots of extremely talented women and minority writers who are burning up the fringe scene, not new writers but people who have been working for 5 years at places like Vault, Edinburgh, Bush, Soho, Pleasance, had TV and film commissions but who unfathomably are yet to have a full length professional production at a major theatre. Those are exactly the kind of promising early career writers the Court should be programming but the Court and theatres of a similar level won’t touch them because they’re not part of the right clique or not from the right background.
It’s shocking that they programmed an employee who’d never written a play before but won’t even take meetings with critically acclaimed emerging playwrights who have made their mark on the fringe scene.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Jun 11, 2022 23:22:00 GMT
I wonder whether sales would have been better or worse if they’d marketed it as ”A new play by Lucy Kirkwood about a young couple of climate change activists who are killed under mysterious circumstances after being radicalised online into the world of conspiracy theories, unaware someone is secretly recording their every word.” Also what is this trend for playwrights to do a Stephen King and put themselves into their plays as characters. I can think of about four off the top of my head.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Jun 11, 2022 22:52:45 GMT
To add to that: The conceit of the play is that it’s a verbatim docu-drama of a couple who were secretly recorded for months via hidden recording devices placed in their home by someone likely connected to security services, that all the events really happened, and that the Royal Court are breaking the law by putting it on and have had to credit Lucy as Dave to protect her from prosecution. But it’s immediately apparent that isn’t true because why then announce the writer’s real name at the start of the play? It’s clear early on the Quilters don’t actually exist. The play takes themes of (light spoilers) conspiracy theories, mental illness, folie a deux, state control, state censorship, protest, people being radicalised online, hacking, the perils of smart technology which spies on us, and the degree to which the Internet and smart phones run our lives and how that can be exploited.
The aspect of state control and surveillance reminded me of James Graham’s superior Angry Brigade (a topic I believe he also covers in his upcoming TV show Sherwood).
It has nothing to do with identity theft and everything announced so far is fake, except the cast list. I did find it absolutely enthralling in the moment and it’s wonderfully written and acted, but the fundamental conceit didn’t work for me. I was really quite angry afterwards that they’d lied that it was a first time playwright, because what’s the point of that? Heavy spoilers: The character of Lucy Kirkwood narrates the play and Priyanga Burford who plays this role announces that the real Lucy Kirkwood was planning to narrate but lost her nerve at the last minute so she Priyanga (referred to onstage by her real name) has agreed to take her place. She sometimes has a script in her hand, frequently calls “line” and pretends to be struggling to know her lines. Presumably all part of the conceit that it’s “real” and that Lucy Kirkwood is in danger, but annoying to watch. This leads to an extremely dramatic fourth wall breaking ending, raising the question: are conspiracy theories contagious, or are they really out to get you?
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Jun 11, 2022 20:54:34 GMT
Well written, very gripping, extremely funny in parts, but mad gimmicky.
No need to give the playwright a fake name, but all part of the gimmick/conceit of the play.
On train; more to follow.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Jun 6, 2022 0:50:44 GMT
Princess Diana backstage at the Royal Opera House.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on May 31, 2022 11:29:20 GMT
Josie Rourke has burnt too many bridges to get another AD job.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on May 26, 2022 20:19:30 GMT
Well Henry VIII is pretty puerile (gigantic gold inflatable penises, Henry VIII pulling his boxers down and sitting on a toilet onstage, and characters played by giant teddy bears) which would be fine but it seems to have little resemblance to the actual play.
Baffled by the writer’s insistence on shoehorning as many famous lines and speeches from other Shakespeare plays as possible, regardless of whether they fit the context or not, as some kind of Shakespeare Greatest Hits.
Henry VIII gets famous lines from Hamlet. When Anne Boleyn decides to marry Henry she’s given Benedick’s speech from Much Ado when he discovers Beatrice is in love with him and realises he loves her too. She also has some of Lady Macbeth’s most famous lines. When Katherine of Aragon talks about her stillborn child she’s given Constance’s famous grief speech from King John.
Honestly you cannot do this. Those characters are all completely different and in different circumstances. Constance’s grief speech expresses her rage and devastation after her 12 year old son is brutally murdered. That’s a completely different thing to having a stillbirth and Constance and Katherine have very different personalities. Much Ado is a romantic comedy about two people living a pretty frivolous life realising they’re in love with each other. Anne Boleyn is manipulated into a political marriage that ends up killing her.
Every time I recognised a famous line from a different play it took me completely out of this play.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on May 26, 2022 1:22:27 GMT
Ugh, that’s my pet peeve. It’s so unprofessional.
I once saw something at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse where the actors were fooling around giggling waiting to go on (actually at the back of the auditorium so literally inches from the people sitting on the back row). I tweeted whinging about it and got loads of insults from some weird anonymous troll account that did nothing except post abuse about people in theatre and vociferously champion one single unknown actor, then it turned out to belong to someone working at a very major acting agency.
That has nothing to do with Cinderella, sorry, it just reminded me of how bugf*** insane theatre is sometimes.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on May 25, 2022 1:58:56 GMT
The most important question: Did anyone actually get fleas at the flea market? I've always liked the idea of selling off old props and things that would otherwise just get binned. Not theatre-related, but there used to be a shop near Euston that sold old railway stuff and I still have an Underground hand-grabby thing that I picked up there once. (I don't know what they're called: the long conical spring with a ball on the end that you hold on to when standing.) I took it in to work once and people assumed I'd nicked it. This post inspired me to go down a deep, deep Google hole, the result of which is: they are called “Spring handles.” They have since been replaced with either Loop Handles or Grab Poles, and I can tell you exactly how many of each trains have and why, and which two tube lines don’t have grab poles that are colour coordinated to their lines. TFL fandom is much more uh, intense, than theatre fandom.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on May 24, 2022 14:30:55 GMT
“Celebs who pose half-naked will never work again because it wouldn’t fly if they worked in my office in Wolverhampton” is certainly a unique take. 🤣🤣 Firstly ‘celebs’ 😂 Secondly offices/theatres/garbage collectors i don’t really see the difference in terms of professionalism. And shading the boss even accompanied by a lovely attention seeking photo is never acceptable. We have only heard the side of the cast. We’ve not heard ALW or his company publicly shade anyone Keep it for your FINSTA lads Of course there’s a difference. If you work in an office you are not contractually required to get naked, perform simulated sex with the person at the next desk, do photoshoots (where you may be pressured to pose wearing revealing outfits or even semi-nude), do press interviews (where you may be pressured into revealing things about your personal life), maintain an active social media following, be pressured into revealing personal things on social media to build up a brand and a fanbase, or be told explicitly that only people with x social media followers will be considered for a job. All common for actors. There are huge cultural, attitude and etiquette differences between the theatre industry and other industries. As well as significant difference between the (legal and cultural) expectations of employees vs freelancers. A freelancer slagging off a client isn’t great but it is pretty common amongst freelancers. The nudity is irrelevant (and slagging off actors who pose nude as “attention seekers” is just weird), and context matters. If it wasn’t ALW this would be looked upon much more poorly, but there’s a lot of industry support for the cast due to the circumstances and broader context, which means people are more willing to give the actors the benefit of the doubt.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on May 24, 2022 9:38:20 GMT
Yes everyone knows that only extremely shy modest people ever become celebs.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on May 24, 2022 9:30:39 GMT
“Celebs who pose half-naked will never work again because it wouldn’t fly if they worked in my office in Wolverhampton” is certainly a unique take. 🤣🤣
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Post by samuelwhiskers on May 22, 2022 19:26:37 GMT
Iirc (and I’m going by memory from some years back) the issue with the Barbican was that the original set was too cumbersome and revolved too slowly, so there were huge gaps between the scenes.
3D modelling, yes some theatres use that and I assume the NT is one (no personal experience) but it doesn’t tell you what the play will feel like or look like when you first see it in person and the actors stand on the stage for the first time. If UK theatre had the budget for lengthier rehearsal periods and proper time to rehearse on the stage, like they do in other countries, I don’t think we’d have these problems.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on May 21, 2022 21:20:22 GMT
So they've known about this since at least 7 April then. I presume they've been storing up returns so that they didn't have to move everyone affected to the back of the circle. I guess I'm lucky to still get a good close-up view. As per the recent Young Vic discussion, I struggle to understand why theatre contracts with the director and set designer can't specify the date by which they must let the theatre know of any unavailable or restricted-view seats, with no changes allowed after that date. Smacks of ineffectual management to me. It’s often because they just can’t give directors and designers the budget or the time they need to have access to the space with the budget for the design elements. If there was enough time and enough money then it wouldn’t be a problem, but it’s just not possible to completely predict how a show will handle the move from the rehearsal room to the venue. The space you’ve done all your rehearsals and blocking in might be a completely different size and shape to the stage, and rehearsal time is sometimes barely enough to get the performances together. The Barbican Hamlet set had to be changed last minute causing all kinds of problems because the venue just couldn’t install it till so close to first preview.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on May 21, 2022 15:21:48 GMT
Apart from the Sunset Patti thing has there ever been any evidence of being black balled in the theatre world? How far is the reach of RUG and ALW? Depends what you mean by blackballed. Everyone has their own list of people they’d never work with, and people gossip and share horror stories. It’s pretty common for CDs, directors and producers, if they’re considering an actor they’ve not worked with before, to call up any names they recognise on that actor’s CV to ask what they were like to work with. On the flip side I know one CD who’s so universally despised he’s barely cast anything other than cornflake commercials in years. Actors just won’t audition for him. The thing about ALW is that he’s widely disliked within the industry and there’s a fair bit of schadenfreude over Cinderella, and the cancellation was handled so poorly, it’s generated sympathy and goodwill for the cast and not much for ALW. Blackballing definitely exists, in terms of people losing opportunities because they get a rep for being difficult. But theatre is such a popularity contest. If the cast were beefing with say Sonia Friedman (who’s well-liked and known to be fair) it’d impact their reps a lot more.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on May 21, 2022 13:28:55 GMT
It’s not about that, it’s just utterly exhausting that non-Jewish people can discuss antisemitism until the cows come home, but the second a Jew speaks, someone brings up Israel. It’s hard not to be over sensitive when you experience it every day.
Politicians on both sides exploit things for their own agendas but we know the difference between racism, and criticism of a government we didn’t vote for in a foreign country many of us have never even been to, but nonetheless often used to justify racism against us.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on May 21, 2022 12:56:59 GMT
You're being too literal. Of the pair who played it in Amsterdam (and Edinburgh), Hans Kesting, who has a similar energy to Mark Strong's, is a couple of years older than Marieke Heebink. It worked beautifully. OK. Let me try this: there are so few major parts available for actresses over 70 that only actresses over 70 should play them. Any good ? Weren’t you complaining just the other week about how unfair it is that famous actors who are not from a marginalised minority group are “banned” from playing characters written as being of that minority group, and that actors should be allowed to play any role?
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Post by samuelwhiskers on May 21, 2022 10:49:37 GMT
The fact that she waited until lights were down suggested she knew it wasn't ok but clearly thought once dark rules no longer apply. Though part of me is impressed if she managed to balance all that tupperware on her knees, I always tip it and that's when I'm in light and not not trying to hide it. Weirdly I didn’t get that vibe. It was more like how you find someone good to watch on Netflix before you start eating, like oh okay the dinner entertainment has started now. But who knows.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on May 20, 2022 15:22:54 GMT
This discussion has nothing to do with Israel and no one has mentioned Israel.
It’s very disturbing that the second Jews speak, like clockwork someone immediately pops up to say “but whatabout Israel.”
Like clockwork.
EVERY time.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on May 20, 2022 13:42:13 GMT
There was a wonderful stage play which was a straight bio of Mary Seacole on the fringe a few years ago, starting Cleo Sylvestre (the first black woman to star at the National). Such a shame strong traditional playwriting with solid performances that just tell the story, don’t get programmed for larger venues, while fancy stuff with lazier storytelling does.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on May 20, 2022 13:36:04 GMT
Imagine having voted for the alternative - a bunch of anti-Semitic Putin apologists advising a leader who has now had the Labour whip removed. Corbyn was by no means perfect, but Anti-Semitism in the party reduced under his leadership, and the Tories are way more compromised wrt Russia than Corbyn ever was. You appear to have fallen, like many others, for a very successful smear campaign. As a Jewish person I’d love to know what “reduced antisemitism” means in practice. Pretty sick of Jews being told our concerns over our own safety as a minority group who are subject to some of the most insidious and constant racism in this country is a smear campaign. But on the other hand equally sick of Tory politicians exploiting our concerns for their own political agenda. In general, non-Jews need to let Jewish people decide what is and isn’t antisemetic (not aimed at anyone on this forum as obviously don’t know anyone’s religion, just a general observation).
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Post by samuelwhiskers on May 20, 2022 13:20:03 GMT
Woman at Father and the Assassin press night last night.
Sat down, normal, put phone away, etc. The minute the lights went down and the play started she pulled an entire picnic out of her backpack, spread tupperware boxes across her lap, and spent most of first act happily chomping away. And some of it was pretty stinky (possibly fish?). Someone finally said something when she produced an apple and started loudly munching it.
Do people not realise they’re not in front of their telly?
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Post by samuelwhiskers on May 19, 2022 22:50:16 GMT
Saw it tonight, and thought it was stunning.
Apparently it’s not been selling amazingly well but word of mouth has been excellent so they’re predicting it’ll do well as word continues to spread.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on May 18, 2022 10:17:27 GMT
There really is no reason to get nasty.
Its obvious that some posters here aren’t aware of the norms either in the performing arts world, or about freelancing - it’s not logical to compare freelancing to being an employee. (And if you’re shocked by this, you’d be horrified by what’s normal in the world of fashion, media, or news.)
It’s clearly not reasonable to expect actors to adhere to corporate office standards, and it’s sheer naïveté to think this will damage their career just because your office wouldn’t allow it.
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