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Post by altamont on Oct 12, 2018 19:16:31 GMT
Best - Kevin Spacey's Richard III at the Old Vic David Suchet in All My Sons Ian McKellen's recent King Lear
Worst - We Will Rock You - by a country mile
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394 posts
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Post by altamont on Oct 1, 2018 15:32:40 GMT
Anyone seen this? The reviews have been very good but I'm not sure I can persuade myself that it justifies a trip up to S-on-A. Thanks
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394 posts
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Post by altamont on Sept 30, 2018 11:39:15 GMT
Saw this last evening in the Bristol Old Vic - a stunning recreation of Joe Simpson and Simon Yates' mountaineering experiences in the Andes in 1985. The story is well known - a near unbelievable tale of life or death decisions and the struggle to survive - and was turned into a movie 15 years or so ago. The stage recreation is brilliantly realised, with a cast of four and an amazing production design bringing the story to life. Despite being about the least active person imaginable, I have a strange fascination with mountain climbing, but you really don't need to share that to enjoy this - it has a week to go in Bristol then moves on to Northampton and Edinburgh.
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394 posts
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Post by altamont on Sept 29, 2018 9:48:46 GMT
Thanks - I’m not thinking about day seats, more hoping that my row E seats will remain the front row. I’ll keep an eye on the website as you suggest and maybe exchange them if needed
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394 posts
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Post by altamont on Sept 29, 2018 9:32:22 GMT
Quick question, TM - is there a possibility that rows A-D might still be added, or is E guaranteed to be the front row for the two Miller plays? Thanks...
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394 posts
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Post by altamont on Sept 27, 2018 9:13:06 GMT
Rather oddly, my place in the queue keeps going up - currently 1884!
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394 posts
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Post by altamont on Sept 23, 2018 8:37:17 GMT
We were there last night and I concur with the comments above - a serious and entertaining evening at the theatre, with much to think about afterwards. The Minerva really is a marvellous, intimate theatre, and even if some of its plays transfer (I wonder if this will), it is worth the effort to get there from deepest Somerset.
Mr Frayn was in attendance and I have to admit to approaching him after the performance and asking him to sign my programme - he seemed genuinely pleased to be doing so for those who asked.
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394 posts
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Post by altamont on Sept 21, 2018 8:47:44 GMT
Thanks Tmesis and Xanderl - I've rearranged my calendar and booked tickets for the single performance in Southampton. Wasn't aware it was coming to the ROH - but I'm sure a decent seat there would be quite a lot more than a similar seat in Southampton!
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394 posts
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Post by altamont on Sept 20, 2018 17:07:58 GMT
Welsh National Opera has a production of Prokofiev's War and Peace on at the moment - but with only 7 performances across a handful of venues until November. It is clearly an epic production and it is very hard to believe that it won't have a future - however, not being familiar with the ways in which opera companies work, can I ask if this a fair assumption, and it will be likely to return for future performances?
The reviews seem good enough to suggest that it would sell - and while it is possible we could go to one of the remaining performances, it wouldn't be easy and I'd rather leave it in the (hopefully safe) assumption that it will be back again
Thanks for any advice
A
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394 posts
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Post by altamont on Sept 19, 2018 13:55:17 GMT
Michelle Terry and her real life partner Paul Ready will be playing the Macbeths in the Swanamaker! Are they gender-swapping it ? Terry playing Macbeth, might be interesting. I can't recall a female Macbeth, more often it's Hamlet, Richard II, Richard III, King Lear. No, not gender swapping the lead roles. I agree though, it would be very interesting
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394 posts
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Post by altamont on Sept 17, 2018 10:59:31 GMT
She was in Les Liaisons Dangereuse at the Donmar a few years ago
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394 posts
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Post by altamont on Sept 11, 2018 17:38:13 GMT
Full cast -
Gadi Roll directs renowned actor Tom Burke (The Musketeers, The Deep Blue Sea, The Doctor's Dilemma) as Rodrigo, Marquis of Posa, Alexandra Dowling as Eboli, Darrell D'Silva (X, The Lying Kind, Dunsinane) as Philip, Kelly Gough (Game of Thrones, A Street Car Named Desire) as Elizabeth, Jason Morell as Domingo, Vinta Morgan as Alba, Samuel Valentine (King Lear BBC/Amazon, The Stepmother) as Don Carlos, Stephen Ventura as Lerma, and Flip Webster as Duchess. Alexander Allin, Dan Ball, Guy Dennys and Euan Shanahan complete the ensemble.
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394 posts
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Post by altamont on Sept 10, 2018 16:51:04 GMT
Wow. Berberian Sound Studio! Hopefully they're able to capture the eerie, atmospheric and oppressive soundscape of the film. If they do it could really make a fab play. I wonder who they would bring in for Toby Jones' role. Those are pretty big shoes to fill. Just maybe Toby would play the role himself?
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394 posts
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Post by altamont on Aug 31, 2018 7:32:56 GMT
Maybe it has suffered from the transfer to London - we really enjoyed both parts in the much smaller confines of the Swan in Stratford
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394 posts
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Post by altamont on Aug 28, 2018 19:40:27 GMT
Queen Margaret at the Manchester Royal Exchange Hamlet at the Dublin Gate Theatre In Praise of Love at the Ustinov in Bath
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Post by altamont on Aug 26, 2018 20:48:37 GMT
Not obvious choices but a trio of fantastic older actors who'll never have the profile of many of those mentioned above, but always improve anything they're in
I'm thinking Michael Pennington, Oliver Ford Davies and William Gaunt
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Post by altamont on Aug 26, 2018 12:43:03 GMT
Thought this was perfectly fine yesterday afternoon - yes, Bennett is perhaps a bit scattergun in his targets, and some of the characters are closer to caricatures, but both Mrs A and I (who have had parents going through the care system in recent years) had much to think about afterwards. It is worth reading his introduction to the play in the programme - gives a lot of useful context to the play and his way of writing. Simon Williams in particular is a joy to watch as he reacts to what's going on around him.
And if only I'd known - but somewhere in the ten or so sets to our left in row A was TheatreMonkey!
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394 posts
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Post by altamont on Aug 23, 2018 11:48:42 GMT
As I recall the programme listed three understudies, Leighton Pugh was SRB's, and the actor playing the janitor was one of the other two
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394 posts
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Post by altamont on Aug 23, 2018 8:57:20 GMT
A mention for David Suchet - never seen a poor performance (even in the dreadful Complicit at the Old Vic), and I still think that his Joe Keller in All My Sons a few years ago is just about the most powerful bit of acting I've seen
I am also possibly influenced in suggesting him after seeing The Price in Bath last night - another wonderful performance
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Post by altamont on Aug 20, 2018 15:02:39 GMT
It is very long - first part 1 hour 35, second part 1 hour 30. I'd imagine there could be some trimming. So, add 20 mins for the interval, and we're looking at about a 4:20 to 4:30 finish? That's just about okay for getting a 5pm train back to Birmingham, then. I would think the performance time will tighten up as everyone gets used to playing it (I'm remembering The Crucible at the Old Vic here). Yes, we were out at about 4.25. The programme states 2.55 plus interval so they are aiming for a little shorter
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394 posts
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Post by altamont on Aug 19, 2018 18:46:07 GMT
Anyone doing anything has the potential to annoy me at the theatre. Examples include -
Reading the programme Flicking the pages of the programme Not sitting still in front of me (why I am near obseesive about being in the front row) Not sitting still on my left or right (why I am almost equally obsessive about being at the end of the row - I can trust my wife next to me to sit still) A child spending the entire play twirling his mother's hair Sweet wrappers (obviously) Breathing too loudly Nail filing would be added to the list if I'd come across that Phone usage (I still remember the look on Lesley Manville's face when she saw someone next to me on their phone early in Long Day's Journey into Night - she cojld have killed him - although the culprit was too engrossed to notice)
I fully admit I am utterly unreasonable and doubtless annoy other people by doing some of the above things - and I'd really hate having to sit next to me (my wife has the patience of a saint)
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Post by altamont on Aug 19, 2018 15:43:37 GMT
There's certainly not as much blood as the recent Duchess of Malfi - but it is very dark, very intense. Jude Owusu fine as Tamburlaine but didn't fully convince me that he could conquer so much of the known world, but it was only the second preview. Much of the rest of the cast take on multiple roles which can get a little confusing. It is very long - first part 1 hour 35, second part 1 hour 30. I'd imagine there could be some trimming. I wasn't familiar with the play before reading the programme synopsis, which takes up two pages rather than usual couple of paragraphs - there are a lot of kings and governors to depose and a lot of territories to conquer. I found the second part more interesting than the first... in the first half, conquering and killing is pretty much all that happens, in the second, Tamburlaine's fallibility comes more to the fore, and Marlowe's religious views (or lack of them) are more prominent. And throughout, the blood is chucked around in buckets to signify a character's death, or it drips and splashs down the plastic screens at the front of the stage I would recommend this - it's not subtle and you need to have a strong stomach at times.
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394 posts
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Post by altamont on Aug 19, 2018 10:38:07 GMT
Please excuse the non-"The Price" comment - but I agree that Switzerland is very good, and does develop in very interesting and unexpected ways. At the post show talk on Thursday, Phyllis Logan certainly was amenable to the idea of a transfer but didn't know of (or was able to comment on) plans for one. She did say that she had the Downton Abbey movie on her horizon so it may not be imminent
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394 posts
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Post by altamont on Aug 17, 2018 23:24:43 GMT
It’ll take me a day or so to put down my thoughts on this - but for the moment - if you are in the front couple of rows at either side, be prepared for a bit of stage blood splashing. I suspect they will start having rugs available as they did for the Duchess of Malfi
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Post by altamont on Aug 6, 2018 8:24:37 GMT
A few thoughts about the RSC - we've only been going to Stratford since the start of the current Complete Works - what is likely to happen when it concludes?
I assume there will still be regular productions of Shakespeare, but fewer than currently? I'm not sure what has happened in the past - but will other plays start appearing in the main house? Apart from the Christmas shows, the only non-Shakespeare I can recall in recent years is Death of a Salesman. And I wonder when the next Complete Works project is likely to start
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