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Post by Latecomer on Dec 3, 2022 10:09:52 GMT
Matinee cancelled by email just now. What a shame for the cast and crew. It just said “my performance” so not sure about later show
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Post by Latecomer on Dec 3, 2022 9:13:40 GMT
Box office phone lines only open at 11am….the actual box office opens at 10am. If anyone hears any news about today’s matinee can they post here please? I’ve emailed and asked box office but as already said they may well not know yet.
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Post by Latecomer on Dec 2, 2022 22:51:24 GMT
Well I need to know if I should come from Oxford…I’m pretty sure they must know tonight if tomorrow is on or not? Surely?
Hope they aren't too poorly too (heard myself being all “me me me” there!
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Post by Latecomer on Nov 26, 2022 16:20:38 GMT
I agree with Jan….I always thought the point of Othello was that the very fact that he was an “outsider” and “different” made it very easy for Iago to plant the seeds of suspicion in his mind….and think of course Desdemona could betray him with someone from her “society”. And I have to admit that every production I have seen has made this quite clear. So a huge part of a production is the feeling of Othello that he just does not belong.
I look forward to seeing this production soon.
I always find the women in Othello really interesting….at the end, where we are hurtling towards tragedy at a rate of knots, Emilia and Desdemona. Just heartbreaking if done well. And so much to explore there….they both know, in their heart of hearts, what is going to happen but seem powerless to prevent it. Still just as relevant today.
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Post by Latecomer on Nov 23, 2022 17:03:46 GMT
Back to the show and annoyingly there seems to be a big gap of no performances between 10th and 27th June, which is of course when I was looking to book, so that I could nail The Pillowman, Patriots and A Little Life on the same trip. What a pain. Yes, gets notebook and diary out, finds date, looks at schedule….”oh, there’s a gap”…… |
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Post by Latecomer on Nov 19, 2022 21:00:00 GMT
Enjoyed this today from B27 in the Royal Circle. Excellent view from there and really enjoyed both leads…and the constant movement of the play…never a dull moment. Plunged right in and it was a bit like the start of a Shakespeare play where you panic that you won’t follow the language as it was so quick fire….but soon calmed down!
Loved seeing Zachary Quinto as was a big Heroes fan for series 1….! Word perfect from all the cast, in fine shape
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Post by Latecomer on Nov 3, 2022 18:16:18 GMT
Bought chocolate in case of 🎃 callers…..but didn’t get any (not surprising as didn’t have pumpkin in window!), so having to eat it all now….took to work so that I don’t eat whole packet of biscuits…..!
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Post by Latecomer on Nov 3, 2022 18:13:00 GMT
I didn't feel completely engrossed in the events, that is probably because I don't know anything about the history I think this really sums up a lot about the play. I liked the staging, I thought the cast were great (intense and claustrophobic) but without a knowledge of the history - I felt lost at more than one point. I'd have rather a free sheet with a brief history or something to give me a basis. Hell, I'd have taken a scene setting piece of exposition at the start. A shame as otherwise I think this would be so much better. Three stars from us with the notable effort from the cast helping with that. I thought this was a little bit the point…that in cases like these things are not clear, hence it was all about viewpoint and things become a little clearer through the play. Made it feel like it wasn’t about *history* but about how we *see* things as a public and how things are reported and the difficulties women in particular have about being believed. You need the confusion and the doubt about what is going on…. So, it’s not really a history play at all. |
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Post by Latecomer on Nov 1, 2022 17:34:38 GMT
It’s very easy to talk in general terms but the best reports on migration that I have seen have been from Lewis Goodall….where he actually went to Calais and asked people why they wanted to come to the UK….often it was relatives that lived here, sometimes language as they spoke English, and sometimes the feeling that the UK was a fair decent country (our benefits are not better - don’t let people mislead you on that). Imagine you were thrown out of this country (or it became so bad to live here that you felt you had to leave)…where would you try and get to? Think about how you would make that decision.
Oh and yes, unless we get more workers we won’t have care workers, vegetable pickers, people to work for low wages and be flexible. The country always SEEMS full as there are rubbish traffic jams everywhere, nothing seems to work anymore and there are no houses for people to live in at reasonable rates. This is just because things are run so badly! After the war we managed council houses in nearly every village, the NHS and good schools with mobility increased for people to university….we just need politicians with vision and good plans!
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Post by Latecomer on Oct 31, 2022 16:50:45 GMT
They are fabulous!  |
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Post by Latecomer on Oct 30, 2022 20:58:27 GMT
Can't wait for this. Did anyone else see Rona Munro's 'James Plays' trilogy about James I, II and III of Scotland? They were superb. She's recently written a 4th (James IV: Queen of the Fight) which is currently touring Scotland. I went to see it in Edinburgh and it was equally super. Interesting to see that 'Mary' is a smaller scale production compared to the others, especially when Munro considers this part of the same 'cycle' as the James plays. It says in the programme for 'James IV' that the forthcoming 'James V' play is envisaged as a smaller scale production too so perhaps this will be an indication as to the direction Munro is going with her history plays. Anyway, can't wait to see it! Yes, did the 3 in a day special from the front row at the National. Splendid. Was spectacular that they managed it with rep company and that the plays all felt very different in tone and staging. Plus knew nothing about the history but she explains context and characters so well. I think she always approaches a play with a “how would I feel in this situation” …so she very clearly gave the experience of someone going to Scotland and being rather shocked at how it was….and she really makes you feel the passion for Scotland and the politics of the place. She makes the characters very human and when we put ourselves in their shoes their motivations become easier to understand. Can’t wait for IV and V…. |
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Post by Latecomer on Oct 30, 2022 13:02:24 GMT
Ah- fair enough if neither of you buy the programmes, I didn't use to but in the past year I've started collecting them, I really like to have a visual memory of all the shows I've seen. I keep them all on display. A few times I've regretted spending the money on the programme when I didn't like the show (see Boy with two hearts- should have waited til the interval!) When only the play text is available, I wait til the end to buy in case I didn't like the show enough to warrant spending more on it. I used to collect flyers, that all got pinned up on two huge cork boards, or failing that I’d put up the paper ticket if I liked the play enough and had no flyer….I am now a bit stuck, as neither seems to exist any more in theatres! BRING BACK FLYERS please….of course the “save the planet” part of me does approve of the change! |
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Post by Latecomer on Oct 30, 2022 8:07:13 GMT
Had a really lovely day in London yesterday with theatre buddy I hadn’t done theatre with since before the pandemic. Felt a bit like coming home to be back walking to Hampstead theatre and, of course, the weather was lovely, so that helped.
Still feel a bit like life is not back to “before covid” as out of practice and so much has changed, mostly me!….it’s funny how in life we really can’t go back to how things were..only forwards making a new reality! It does make me think about history and how life must have been with the plague, after World War I with the horrible Spanish flu pandemic and even after polio outbreaks our parents would have been around for. It also makes me more sympathetic to refugees, immigrants of all sorts….we can see how fragile situations are, and that things happen when you don’t expect them to.
Less sympathetic that I used to be about the flash cars and big houses in London….give me long enough and I may end up a communist!
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Post by Latecomer on Oct 30, 2022 7:53:22 GMT
I didn’t read the programme (I never buy them and save money for tickets) and didn’t know anything about the period in history but quite enjoyed piecing it together from the dialogue…..and then going to Wikipedia afterwards! |
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Post by Latecomer on Oct 29, 2022 17:43:01 GMT
Loved this today…interesting play, great production and great acting. Had to sort of sit down for a bit at the end to recover! Front row seats were perfect! The sort of play where you wander out after the matinee and you feel like you have been transported to another world! Rona Munro is a very clever writer.
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Post by Latecomer on Oct 28, 2022 14:58:49 GMT
There for the matinee tomorrow!  |
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Post by Latecomer on Aug 13, 2022 15:44:46 GMT
New play by Rona Munro. Political thriller about Mary, Queen of Scots, Oct 21st onwards. Article in the Radio Times says Douglas Henshall is in this! I already really wanted to see anything by her (loved her history plays at the National!) …..but it was a little close to my Autumn limit (I prefer to travel to theatre in nice weather and am put off by winter….I know, lightweight!). Now of course I definitely have to go….. www.hampsteadtheatre.com/whats-on/2022/mary/ |
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Post by Latecomer on Aug 8, 2022 12:27:30 GMT
Really enjoyed this too. Great staging and fabulous dialogue….plenty of humour and an interesting and clearly told story. The maths was absolute rubbish that they put on the blackboard, which was a bit annoying. If they were going to pretend to do a mathematical exchange at least make it a real one….not some garbage. But apart from that I enjoyed it a lot! I lived though all the London stuff, watching the news at the time, but had no idea who the main character was in this play before this. Fascinating!
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Post by Latecomer on Jun 24, 2022 20:34:49 GMT
Is anyone else horrified at the way things are going in the US at the moment? The Republican-dominated Supreme Court has just ruled that states can't be allowed to set their own rules about gun control, despite the fact that the country leads the world in mass shootings. The Supreme Court has also ruled that states must be allowed set their own rules to ban abortions, despite the fact that this will probably cause many more deaths than it will prevent. What with the Republicans opposing all attempts to control the coronavirus, refusing to accept that Trump lost the 2020 election, and the fact that the election of the latest Supreme Court judge was corrupt as hell, it's like the party has decided to drop any pretence of trying to do the right thing and just be full-on evil.
I mean, our Conservative party has done some pretty evil things. But they're not two-mass-shootings-a-day-isn't-enough, why-shouldn't-a-twelve-year-old-be-forced-to-have-a-baby evil.
Yes horrified. But wouldn’t be too sure about our Government….right to protest noisily? Bill of rights, only the bits we fancy thank you very much, voter ID to suppress people (mostly poor) from voting…..breaking the law….proroguing parliament when it suits them….corruption in the Brexit campaign…Windrush…..workers rights…..selling the schools and the NHS for profit? Refugees being called “economic migrants” and sent to Rwanda. Unemployed being called “scrounges” Food banks. It’s deeply distressing. Each small step takes us closer to the F word. And remember, people don’t think THEY will be targeted, it only happens to someone else. By the time they are, it’s too late. |
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Post by Latecomer on Jun 24, 2022 15:10:26 GMT
Wish there was a heatwave now! I’m perished! The wind today has been insane which I think has made it feel colder. Had a great day today, went on a food walk and then went to the sky lagoon which is out of this world incredible. Yes, it’s eye wateringly expensive here, but I love it! This is my first midsummer visit and the 24h daylight thing is really really wierd, in a cool way! Also, since I was here last, Reykjavik have introduced electronic scooters so I’ve been zipping about on them, they’re ace! Shame they’re not allowed in the U.K. cos they’re a quick easy cheap environmentally friendly way to get about! We have scooters in Oxford. Not entirely sure they are the right place to have them as it is hard enough watching out for cyclists and pedestrians …..and as a pedestrian it seems to make navigating the city centre a bit more fraught (they seem to just use pavements sometimes and are rather unpredictable). They do look fun though! Do you feel less tired when it never goes dark? Watching test cricket on TV as husband has finally succumbed to Covid. We were supposed to be seeing cousins up North, who we haven't met up with for over 5 years tomorrow….for a 60th celebration. Ah well. Can someone please tell Covid we are done with it now? |
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Post by Latecomer on Jun 18, 2022 20:10:14 GMT
Have to agree with people above, great performances, I enjoyed the dialogue which was very natural and well written, but…..to be frank I was a bit bored by the end and sort of “get on with it” so play lacked a bit of something and was rather muddled. Felt a bit like it was written by rich people about how they think people must feel. Gosh that sounds awful but it’s how I felt. It felt a bit patronising? I’ll have to think about that a bit more!!!!
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Post by Latecomer on Jun 12, 2022 8:38:57 GMT
Thanks for this. Very helpful. Wanted to know if good play really…and you have all helped with that one! Excellent use of the spoiler function all round! (Of course I read them all but I am the type that turns to the end of the book to find out the ending!) |
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Post by Latecomer on Jun 11, 2022 7:51:38 GMT
Anyone going to this soon? Feedback gratefully received as a complete blank canvas so far!!!! |
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Post by Latecomer on Jun 10, 2022 18:41:43 GMT
I sat in lowest seats around the edge of the area for Midsummer Nights Dream and the view was splendid. Also saw Julius Caesar from the floor, as it were, and that was fab too. They were both imaginative dynamic performances and the space has been deliberately designed to be flexible, from the very start, so lots of sets arriving and disappearing like a choreographed piece, but didn’t seem intrusive. I think this will probably be splendid. I expect they will also get some starry casting!
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Post by Latecomer on May 29, 2022 15:47:12 GMT
I liked this a lot. It took some concentrating to hear all the words, as you had to tune in (like when I go to a Shakespeare play!) but boy was Carvel good and the script for him to work with…all the weird little things he does (like claim he has the best eyes etc!) and the way he argues in a “debate”….using interruptions, non sequiturs, insults and challenges…..just like Boris Johnson….and sort of railroads his way through. I thought it was also an important play as it shows how difficult it is in society to tackle issues when peoples attention is often a nanosecond and it is so attractive to believe a plot or conspiracy. Do the “good guys” have to fight dirty or just be reasonable? It’s very easy to be caught up in the moment when feelings are involved. Interestingly I think the situation in the US has overtaken the play….abortion rights and gun laws anyone?
I enjoyed spotting the Shakespeare and I suppose the point is that history tries to teach us things (it’s all been done before) but the play asks if we can ever learn or are we driven by base primeval instinct?
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