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Post by samuelwhiskers on Oct 27, 2019 22:02:12 GMT
Tom Stoppard wanted to do it in the commercial West End.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Oct 27, 2019 9:55:46 GMT
Yes, towards the end Eleanor retrieves the completed knitted jumper from inside the pile of boxes and puts it on.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Oct 20, 2019 3:41:21 GMT
I think The Almeida is going through a bad period; really for the past 2 years I've only enjoyed about 50% of their output. Agree, though their programming for 2020 looks extremely exciting.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Oct 18, 2019 23:21:09 GMT
I adore Annie Baker’s work, but like many people I simply can’t sit in one position in a small chair for two hours without discomfort.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Oct 16, 2019 23:13:27 GMT
Iirc Ink is currently being turned into a film, so they can always expand on the material in the original play.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Oct 14, 2019 23:15:48 GMT
Plenty of productions don’t know or announce their running time till press night, since plays are constantly being changed during previews.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Oct 12, 2019 7:59:23 GMT
Agreed. Nicholas you are a wonderfully astute and articulate critic! I enjoy reading your posts so much.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Oct 11, 2019 20:49:02 GMT
Lol, it’s not David Hare. I don’t think he’s on Twitter. It was the (excellent) playwright Isley Lynn who tweeted about sequels. She changed her display name to David Hare recently as a joke but if you look at the username it’s @isleylynn.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Oct 10, 2019 20:20:11 GMT
I saw it (a shortened/earlier version of it?) at the Orange Tree last year. performed by their youth theatre group. Some interesting moments but didn’t hang together well. Will be interesting to see how it’s developed since then.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Oct 2, 2019 10:54:50 GMT
Yes, anyone can visit the physical archive in person.
This thread is about the online archive, which apparently the public can not access.
Lots of people don’t have access to London, or work full-time so can’t easily visit an archive during business hours.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Oct 1, 2019 20:16:51 GMT
I honestly decry the state of modern education that has led so many intelligent people to believe “freedom of speech” to mean the right to do and say absolutely anything you want without any consequences (or sometimes even without disagreement).
Omooba was fired first because she outspoken about a belief system that was diametrically opposed to the production’s core values (a bit like a vegan activist complaining about being fired from the Meat Marketing Board) and second - allegedly - because her comments in rehearsals created a hostile working environment for her co-workers. Freedom of speech simply does not come into it.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Sept 30, 2019 8:31:13 GMT
Aw, I loved the one with balloons.
Or “Dirty Dancing with Murder” as it’s known in this house.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Sept 30, 2019 8:26:44 GMT
LGBT people have existed a hell of a lot longer than organised religion has, and I heard a rumour once they even have gays outside of London now!
During the initial controversy lots of theatre people and actors were posting privately about this young woman having a reputation for being difficult and for treating co-workers badly, including allegations of her making homophobic and bullying comments to other actors.
If these allegations have substance, Curve can mount a defence that they fired her due to her mistreatment of colleagues, and not (or at least not exclusively) over her social media posts.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Sept 27, 2019 14:32:51 GMT
No dropping when I saw it, but I think the second circus act exited prematurely as her act was substantially shorter than the juggler and was followed by about five minutes of staring at an empty stage.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Sept 21, 2019 23:41:15 GMT
The second half is objectively much stronger both in terms of writing and acting (the primary school stuff felt like extended improv) but the entire first half is non-stop laughs, and the second is mostly serious drama with the odd gag thrown in. Some bits in the second half are very funny, but I was surprised how dark and serious it got. Kudos to Mischief for trying something different and not being afraid to allow scenes of real emotional drama breathing space. But a surprise to find myself suddenly watching a Pinter play with hamsters after being barely able to breathe in act 1 from laughing so hard.
The core five are certainly extremely talented actors.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Sept 19, 2019 21:34:56 GMT
Extremely weird but interesting.
Not sure about the circus acts.
Three short plays before the interval, one long one after.
Frankly didn’t think much of the shorts but they all built together. The final piece, Imp, is excellent.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Sept 17, 2019 8:32:59 GMT
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Sept 11, 2019 11:43:48 GMT
Conflicted. The story is important and I understand why they decided to stage it (or I should say the writer had decided to write it in that style) the way they have done. Intellectually the approach was perfect for the themes of the play. But subjectively I found it almost impossible to sit through. With no actual characters on stage there was no one to connect with and I found the style confusing and difficult to emotionally engage with.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Sept 6, 2019 8:25:54 GMT
Normally I love audience interaction so I was really looking forward to this, but the interaction was so forced and strictly proscribed it felt fake. Being prodded to recite like a parrot isn’t true interaction.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Sept 5, 2019 13:33:43 GMT
I thought it was the worst thing I’ve ever seen, and I don’t say that lightly. I’d say this was up there with the infamous RSC/Wooster Troilus and Cressida.
Didn’t have the foggiest what was going on and hated the mandatory audience participation. The night I went a young foreign girl was picked to read and really struggled, it was humiliating to watch. An elderly couple oh front of me were complaining they couldn’t read the tiny font in the script. If a play is entirely dependent on the audience reading the scripts themselves why not make it large print ffs?
A word of warning. You aren’t allowed to take any personal items or bags (even tiny purses) into the auditorium. The ushers said it’s because there’s no space under the seats but the seats are standard folding chairs set in a wide circle and have far more space around and under them than regular theatre seats. The start of the play was delayed when I saw it as the entire audience basically had to run down stairs and back up again to put their bags in the cloakroom.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Aug 29, 2019 16:40:15 GMT
That, I'm afraid, is not entirely for you to judge. People are free to draw their own conclusions based on the evidence you've given them. People should probably also bear in mind legal action can be taken if they libel (or slander) another person as a result. The burden of proof being on the person making the libellous/slanderous remark, so they’d better be very sure they can back up their own judgement. Opinions are not libellous and I was very careful to say “the post is racist and dishonest” not “the person is racist and dishonest.” The posts in question (namely the allegation that the signatories went to the press without substantial private conversations with the producers first) were not factually accurate. If anyone’s getting sued for libel it’s not me.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Aug 29, 2019 12:51:33 GMT
Su Pollard!!! at the Turbine yesterday for Torch Song. She was clearly aiming to keep a low profile so was wearing an understated ensemble of a bright red crocheted top and fishnet stockings, and carrying a handbag made out of a hollowed-out dalmatian. Pop in to Above the Stag sometimes, she’s always in there. I believe she’s a patron.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Aug 29, 2019 6:37:27 GMT
Director Steven Dexter’s tweet about Jewish actors wearing yellow stars and tattooing their Spotlight number on their arms is disgraceful.
And isn’t it interesting how many brand new anonymous Twitter accounts (with zero followers, zero following, no profile photo, no name, display name things like “Jewish Theatremaker”) have sprung up to defend Steven Dexter and attack the letter signers? Some accounts have only ever sent one tweet, defending Steven Dexter, and somehow he’s finding and liking those tweets despite not being @ into them.
Oh and ^^, calling a post (not a person) “racist” is an opinion, not “name calling.” Bit rich coming from someone who posted calling Adam “bitter and whiny” among other things.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Aug 28, 2019 9:09:01 GMT
I'd have had FAR more (actually 'some') respect for this person if he'd have stepped up early on in the process and inspired/created some real change instead of (as you point out) kicking a hornets nest with little to no thought for the consequences and looking like a bitter 'whiny little *****'. What a horrific, racist, dishonest series of posts. 1. It was a large group of people not one man. 2. None of them have any connection to the production so obviously short of being psychic there’s no way they could have “stepped up” prior to the public announcement. 3. They did contact the producers privately and had private conversations. 4. A group of people from an oppressed ethnic minority complaining that a play about that minority group being staged without a single person actually of that ethnicity is not “bitter and whiny.” Not sure why you felt the need to drag up Israel or the Labour Party, has neither have anything to do with this thread. Oh and “intoanewlife” I’m really curious as to why in one post you stated that you’ve been waiting “years” to see another production of Falsettos and felt the letter had “tarnished” your long-awaited chance to see it again, yet in another post you claimed to be completely unfamiliar with Falsettos and that you didn’t have the slightest clue what the musical is about until the scandal? Hmmmmmmmmmmmm. Oh and welcome to the board. Always great when brand new posters get really stuck in like that.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Aug 23, 2019 22:43:48 GMT
I was there last night, and honestly thought it was the hdtv’s thing I’ve seen all year.
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