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Post by oxfordsimon on Mar 6, 2024 15:53:20 GMT
It will mean a series of rolling closures. I hope they find other spaces to keep the number of productions/performances in line with normal.
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Post by oxfordsimon on Mar 4, 2024 16:28:23 GMT
The script has been released to the amateur market so I would imagine enterprising companies will pick up
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Post by oxfordsimon on Mar 4, 2024 11:56:20 GMT
It has the potential to have the same energy as one of my favourite recent tracks - Rush by Troye Sivan
But it fails to break out of mid tempo dullness.
Perhaps it can be remixed to give it more impact.
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Post by oxfordsimon on Mar 4, 2024 11:18:05 GMT
I thought I would see if I could construct a season written by women
Modern Revival: Dinner by Moira Buffini. I love this play and it would sit perfectly in the space
Jacobethan: The Tragedy of Antonie by Mary Sidney. Or The Tragedy of Mariam by Elizabeth Cary
Early 20th Century Revival: Busman's Honeymoon by Dorothy L Sayers. The only Wimsey that started as a stage play. Would need a few tweaks but should sell
US: commission something new from Lauren Gunderson. For the most staged living writer in the US, she has not had much exposure in the UK
Ancient: there are no known Greek or Roman plays written by women, so commission a new piece about Sappho.
European: something by the fascinating Olympe de Gouges. She deserves to be given her proper place in literary history beyond France.
Musical: The Secret Garden - Simon/Wallace. Would need an innovative production but I think it could work.
I just spotted that Southwark has a new piece about Sappho coming so to avoid duplication I would switch to a piece about Enheduanna who appears to be 'the earliest author and poet in the world that history knows by name.'
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Post by oxfordsimon on Mar 3, 2024 22:47:43 GMT
Musical: Kiss of the Spider Woman
Jacobethan: Volpone
Restoration/Georgian: The Relapse by Vanburgh
New Writing: commission Jed Mercurio to write anything that had the tension of one of his extended interview scenes but with no police/crime content.
Film Adaptation: The Draughtsman's Contract
European: a Racine would please me
Literary Adaptation: I have long loved the short stories of Yiyun Li and seeing one of these brought to life would be wonderful
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Post by oxfordsimon on Mar 2, 2024 21:20:16 GMT
Sorry, being very thick here, but what exactly is this? Is it Henry IV parts 1 and 2 all one evening? God help us. Or edited or what? The full text of both plays would be a little over 5 hours. So this is a light trim rather than a radical gutting!
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Post by oxfordsimon on Mar 2, 2024 21:04:56 GMT
There is always a lot of Shakespeare in Oxford and Cambridge each summer if you wanted a day out in a pretty city. cambridgeshakespeare.com/Oxford has 2 months of outdoor performances at the Castle Romeo and Juliet in a double bill with Troilus and Cressida (1 hour versions of each) Twelfth Night Hamlet There is also a Much Ado and at least one more to be announced They are all usually targeted at the tourist market and this pretty accessible
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Post by oxfordsimon on Mar 2, 2024 20:38:52 GMT
Not the longest first half that I can recall
Years ago there was an almost full text Hamlet touring with Stephen Dillane, Donald Sinden and Gwen Taylor in the cast. The interval was 150 minutes in...
I remember leaving the theatre after 11pm
** A quick Google reminded me that this was 1994/5 and directed by Peter Hall
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Post by oxfordsimon on Mar 1, 2024 17:56:12 GMT
I knew very little of this part of Britten's life and even less about Imogen Holst and was still captivated by their relationship.
My friend knew even less and loved it just as much.
It is more a character study than a biographical piece. So I would say that you really don't need a working knowledge of the real people.
A general sense of the arts in the early post war era will aid a little with some references but again not essential.
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Post by oxfordsimon on Feb 29, 2024 22:35:17 GMT
Just home from press night...
This is unlike any Mark Ravenhill play ever staged.
It is delicate, fragile, hilarious, touching, human.
I did something I have never done before in a theatre. I started the standing ovation.
Both performers (Samuel Barnett and Victoria Yeates) were sublime. The direction by Erica Whyman was the best I have seen from her. Lighting and sound both exemplary.
The theatre was far from full. But this deserves to be seen.
I loved it to pieces.
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Post by oxfordsimon on Feb 27, 2024 23:16:27 GMT
I genuinely hope people have researched to understand the nature of what they are booking.
This is not something to wander into blind as to the content.
I have no desire to see it based on what I have read. I am far from being a prude. But this is not what I seek in a play.
Everyone is free to make their own choice. But it should be an informed choice.
This isn't about detailed spoilers or trigger warnings. This is about getting a general understanding of the material.
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Post by oxfordsimon on Feb 26, 2024 23:13:24 GMT
The term is also used in a Tom Lehrer song
I had to Google it to find what to what it was a reference. It is an incredibly obscure piece of language.
I dread to think what the reaction of people offended by one word in Mary Poppins might be to a song like Mad Dogs and Englishmen... Or I've never met a nice South African!
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Post by oxfordsimon on Feb 26, 2024 11:16:58 GMT
Ben and Imo at the Swan for me this week
No idea what to expect. Not usual Ravenhill fare...
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Post by oxfordsimon on Feb 25, 2024 14:19:21 GMT
I preferred the original version ahead of all the others I have scene.
There are moments in the WYP version which I like. But the original (which I saw opening week) still wins as a whole
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Post by oxfordsimon on Feb 24, 2024 18:51:13 GMT
I must admit that internal consistency is something that I prefer in terms of casting.
I know there are those who say they can see beyond skin colour. But I am not sure I actually believe them.
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Post by oxfordsimon on Feb 23, 2024 17:40:45 GMT
Ludicrously expensive. It's two actors and a tree, how much do they need! It's five actors and a tree Vladimir Estragon Pozzo Lucky Boy
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Post by oxfordsimon on Feb 22, 2024 18:51:11 GMT
With a 4 hour run time, you don't need to cut that much.
In my 2.5 hour cut, I still found space for the Welsh sequence. It is good to have some female characters!
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Post by oxfordsimon on Feb 22, 2024 16:40:08 GMT
May well be a lot of doubling beyond the announced roles. The Welsh scenes are great and should be retained.
I recall I had Glendower double with at least two bishops and a rogue or two
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Post by oxfordsimon on Feb 21, 2024 15:29:26 GMT
I would be very sad to see cash eliminated. Coins and notes are a big part of our culture and heritage. So's slavery but luckily that doesn't exist now either. Go check the statistics about modern day slavery and then come back to say sorry.
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Post by oxfordsimon on Feb 20, 2024 22:20:19 GMT
A lot of local barbers and chip shops seem have a strong preference for cash. Probably the only places I regularly use cash.
But I do understand why they do prefer it.
I also take a reasonable quantity of Euros when holidaying in France. You don't see many people paying with cards in boulangeries when buying the daily bread.
There is also still a significant number of people using cheques in many supermarkets in France. I can't remember the last time I saw a cheque book in the UK. But most checkouts in Leclerc or SuperU have someone paying by cheque when I visit.
I would be very sad to see cash eliminated. Coins and notes are a big part of our culture and heritage.
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Post by oxfordsimon on Feb 20, 2024 15:33:07 GMT
Far too young for the role. Ludicrous
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Cash
Feb 20, 2024 15:02:09 GMT
via mobile
Post by oxfordsimon on Feb 20, 2024 15:02:09 GMT
My sister runs a bakery/deli/coffee shop and still very much prefers cash. Yes, she has to make the occasional trip to get change but that is still cheaper than having to pay the transaction charges that come with every card payment.
She has a card machine and it is in regular use. But with cash she gets to keep all the income rather than giving a percentage/fixed to the service provider.
Yes, cards are very convenient. But small traders with relatively low margins do notice the extra costs that card transactions bring particularly with lower average spends per customer.
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Post by oxfordsimon on Feb 19, 2024 12:14:37 GMT
I remember buying the cast recording of Spider woman they released following her takeover of the role and being impressed.
No idea about the score for this but that, for me, is more important than the casting. A great cast can't shine if the songs are flaccid.
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Post by oxfordsimon on Feb 15, 2024 11:45:41 GMT
I see that Nigel Havers features as a 'character' in Redlands by Charlotte Jones. Wonder if he'll like that! It's based on his dad defending the Stones so probably he'll be chuffed. Would be inspired casting to cast him as his father, The ages don't work for that, tempting as it might be. Michael Havers was in his 40s when the action takes place. With the best will in the world, Nigel at 72 isn't going to pass for 43 even in the dusk with the light behind him.
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Post by oxfordsimon on Feb 15, 2024 8:38:53 GMT
The Le Carre adaptation intrigues me as it is a story that I have wanted to tell on stage but lacked the writing skills to undertake (even if I could have got permission)
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Post by oxfordsimon on Feb 15, 2024 1:03:10 GMT
Interesting insights there.
The original audiences of Lear would have understood madness as being another word for anger so having a Lear being rage filled makes a lot of sense to me
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Post by oxfordsimon on Feb 13, 2024 18:32:00 GMT
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Post by oxfordsimon on Feb 13, 2024 18:29:05 GMT
The trigger warnings on this will be extensive
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Post by oxfordsimon on Feb 13, 2024 13:58:25 GMT
Oh to return to the days of preprinted physical tickets that were sold at fixed prices.
I remember going into WHSmith Travel Agents and getting two tickets for Les Mis as a present for my parents. £7 each.
Ok that was close to 40 years ago. But it is easy to see how attractive the return to simpler times can be!
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Post by oxfordsimon on Feb 12, 2024 19:22:55 GMT
I hope that any other venues, who have booked this particular person, are urgently reviewing whether is is appropriate to allow him to perform again
Hate speech isn't part of comedy. You can't excuse away this sort of behaviour.
Soho Theatre could have done nothing to prevent this. But other venues can decide whether they want to platform such a person
But it is worrying how easily antisemitic behaviour is just accepted.
Rochdale by election Apprentice candidate This
Three examples from the past few days alone.
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