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Post by foxa on Nov 18, 2017 22:08:45 GMT
I don't see a thread for this production now that it is at the Young Vic - but please move my posting if there is a better place for it.
Saw this tonight and it well deserves the 4 and 5 star reviews it has been receiving.
If you are interested in Greek Theatre then the choral work in this is not to be missed. It opens with a libation to Dionysus which someone outside the cast is selected to read/offer (tonight it was Christiane Amanpour, the international journalist for CNN.) Then an extraordinary group of about 25 women, (and two male actors and some additional figures) perform the piece with excellent diction and huge conviction. Bits are sung/chanted, there is a variety of interesting movements/formations, expressing the sorrow/anger/joy/fear/determination of the events that confront them. Its themes are relevant (refugees/asylum/rape/women's empowerment.) It is an hour and a half played straight through.
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Post by foxa on Nov 15, 2017 14:22:29 GMT
Rapunzel (Stratford East panto) Belleville (Donmar) Hamilton (natch) The Brothers Size (Young Vic) Julius Caesar (Bridge) Network (NT) Boys & Girls (Royal Court) Summer & Smoke (Almeida) The Inheritance (Young Vic) Kiss Me Kate (ENO) Fun Home (Young Vic) Company
So quite a bit... but I think I am going to try to be a bit choosier in 2018. But we'll see if I can stick to that!
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Post by foxa on Nov 7, 2017 0:16:59 GMT
I did a focus group with them some time back. As said above, they are legit. They usually offer some form of recompense if it is an 'in person' focus group (as opposed to an online survey.)
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Post by foxa on Nov 4, 2017 15:40:11 GMT
I didn't see any cushions that could be hired. Some people did roll up their coats and sit on those. If you can get a back row where you can lean back that really does help.
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Post by foxa on Nov 1, 2017 8:45:07 GMT
I think this has been a bad run for the Olivier, but audiences liking something isn't the only gauge of the worth of putting it on - the luxury of subsidised theatre is that they can take risks that others places can't. Something might be new/raw/difficult/challenging/innovative without actually being crowd-pleasing.
But the risks in the recent three flops don't seem that interesting in terms of pushing the envelope. And if people begin to associate that space with boredom - it's not great for attracting new audiences.
However, it's hard to judge. I saw an early preview of 'War Horse' and would never have guessed its incredible success, so what do I know.
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Post by foxa on Nov 1, 2017 7:25:05 GMT
I've seen two of Mullarkey's plays and while I think he has a talent for coming up with bold ideas (what if the type of posh woman we associate with conservatism/the status quo became a violent anarchist?; what if St. George visited England in three different periods and found that the evils we face now are harder to deal with than the mythical dragon of the past?), but, from those two examples, at least, doesn't write interesting, believable characters (I found the daughter character painfully weak in this) or plot in such a way as to create tension/comedy/surprises/some sort of reaction beyond, ultimately, boredom. Both of those plays showed promise for the first 15 minutes or so and then lost steam. I didn't see Cannibals - from what I read that was probably better and obviously others really rate him as he's won a lot of awards and has commissions all over the place: 'Rory is currently under commission to the National Theatre, the Almeida Theatre,the Michael Grandage Company and the Royal Exchange Theatre. He is also writing libretti for The Royal Opera House and The English National Opera.'
Maybe he's being spread a bit thin?
On the positive side, I would think the NT, after three big flops, will have to look at its commissioning/dramaturgy?
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Post by foxa on Oct 30, 2017 13:30:20 GMT
Dave25, I appreciate that you are trying to tell the truth as you see it and you may feel you are a lone voice here (though there are a lot of Men's Rights groups elsewhere which would certainly share your views.) Although you indicate you feel misunderstood and silenced, I would say that you show a remarkable lack of empathy for anyone else. You express sympathy for your friend who lost his job and yourself (and I suppose the man in the obviously tongue-in-cheek foreign ad, which is obviously aimed at making women with grey hair feel better about themselves. The statistical odds are that it was both written and directed by a man - and the women are presented in a sexualised way.) You have interrogated others' stories and dismissed them, so your friend's story might warrant similar investigation: why would he be fired because he walked in the MD and an ensemble member - wouldn't he be more likely to tell others (as he did you) if he was fired? Why did the MD wield such influence that he could both fire and promote people - from my experience that would usually be the director and producers? Why would he be told he was being fired for 'artistic differences' but then claim that the woman understudy wanted him fired? (Again, from my experience, understudies really don't wield that sort of power.) Did he tell his agent and Equity what happened? Did he pick up the phone and make that call as you suggested Rapp should have done to clear the air? I am not sure, but I think your point was that this ambitious female ensemble member had sex with the MD to further her career and then got your friend fired because...her ambitions were observed? Is that it?
That aside - most women aren't only interested in sex and money. I'm sure if we conducted a straw poll of women on this forum whose boyfriends/lovers/husbands have been less than flush with money, the numbers would be high (mine had about £500 in his bank account when we married. Our wedding cost £200.) Perhaps you have been very unlucky. Or perhaps women sense that you don't like them. I don't know, of course.
Finally - you use the words 'erased' and 'intimidated' a lot - and not always in a way that I understand.
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Post by foxa on Oct 30, 2017 11:39:26 GMT
Edited to make a correction: Sorry - I wrote 'she makes' originally - the person who shared the article with me originally is a woman, but the article is written by a man.
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Post by foxa on Oct 30, 2017 11:32:19 GMT
I would be very surprised if more stories like this don't come out. I can totally understand why Rapp didn't give Spacey a call. I never called any of those men who exposed themselves to me - but then I didn't have to watch them on tv all the time, so I could just imagine their sad pathetic lives as being a punishment for their actions - whether or not that was the case. On an adjacent point: this is an excerpt from a Salon article discussing some issues that have come up in this thread: 'I also have friends who self-identify as "men's rights activists," insisting that men are persecuted as much or even more than women. Even among the male friends who don't align themselves entirely with the MRA movement, there are still many who subscribe to what I call the male victimization fallacy. They view themselves as victims, feel threatened when confronted with the fact that women face more systemic oppression than men (which is not to say that men don't suffer at all, just that our society is inherently patriarchal) and try to blur, diminish or outright deny feminist concerns in order to shore up their own status of victimhood. Not coincidentally, these are usually the same men who claim that feminists just want to be victims. They do this by projecting their own assumption that victimhood is some kind of finite commodity — one they seek for themselves at the expense of others — and ignore that the term refers to real-life suffering and persecution.' This is the whole article (the title isn't great, but there are some good points): www.salon.com/2017/10/29/listen-up-men-we-must-shun-our-sexist-friends/One of the points he makes is how important it is for men to speak in a sensitive and nuanced way about what happens to women and to confront those who are misogynistic - and thank you to the many on this forum who do that.
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Post by foxa on Oct 29, 2017 11:55:56 GMT
Cardinal - that sort of thing would happen quite a bit in NYC. Many years ago, I met a young actress who told me how she performed a number of scenes topless in her acting classes because the teacher said that her breasts had to be 'as expressive' as her face. Yeah, right. And I had an uncomfortable dinner party argument when I disagreed with a director who felt that actors had to sexually experience anything they were portraying (he advocated masturbation in rehearsals to aid with this.) We actually ended up shouting at each other over the table - and then carried on shouting at each other in the street. I was never invited back to another dinner party there for some reason....
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Post by foxa on Oct 28, 2017 17:52:29 GMT
This is an interesting article in which Kate Hardie talks about the links between film content and harassment: www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/oct/14/time-to-make-link-between-abuse-and-film-contentI think agents, casting directors, etc. have been remiss in addressing this. But as Hardie points out - her request for a 'no nudity clause' in a film in which no nudity was suggested in the script led to her losing the job as the director felt it impinged on his artistic freedom. I frequently watch films and think - did she really have to be naked in that scene?
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Post by foxa on Oct 28, 2017 16:11:30 GMT
I didn't know he had directed at the RSC, but a search has revealed this: A Jovial Crew (Richard Brome), The Country Wife (William Wycherley) and The Wives' Excuse (Thomas Southerne) for the Royal Shakespeare Company
The only one of those I've heard of is The Country Wife.
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Post by foxa on Oct 28, 2017 13:29:36 GMT
Sorry - I meant during the interval, (i.e. don't spend the whole interval in the auditorium or the toilets - if you can help it.)
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Post by foxa on Oct 28, 2017 12:10:43 GMT
Oh - without wanting to spoil anything - but, at least judging from my experience, it's worth being in the foyer (the one near the lower gallery entrance/gift shop on the day I was there) for something extra that happens.
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Post by foxa on Oct 27, 2017 6:57:07 GMT
Maybe. Unless there is physical contact or direct insults, sometimes it is hard to react quickly - often because it's too baffling or unexpected. Example: at university one of my professors said to me (in front of about five other students) 'You have an overbite, but I don't suppose it will affect your kissing much.' Did I storm out, etc.? No. I stood there thinking, 'I have an overbite? My parents should get a refund from our orthodontist. Why are we talking about kissing in the middle of a seminar? How bad would an overbite have to be to affect kissing? Could I accidentally gnaw through someone's lips?') And while those thoughts were going through my head, I just stood there, doubtless looking ridiculous.
So on 'Nice ass' - I could imagine an actor thinking: is it important for this role to have a nice ass? Is he testing me to see how I react? Is this a joke? Maybe he's quoting a line from a play? At least he didn't say 'fat ass'...etc.
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Post by foxa on Oct 26, 2017 21:10:26 GMT
Thanks again, remark, for the tip about the special code. For the first time ever, I left the Sam Wanamaker theatre without a backache, because I was in Row C of the Lower Gallery where the seats have backs - my seat would usually be £62, but thanks to the code, was only £20. Emma Rice was sat two seats along from me.
I enjoyed this a lot. For the first 20 minutes or so I wondered if it would be too twee for me, but it won me over. I thought it was really charming and amusing. The design/staging was great and the ensemble was very strong. The songs weren't, in themselves, very memorable, though I liked the songs about not being able to find the right words and the one about flying.
I don't think this will be for everyone, but I would recommend it.
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Post by foxa on Oct 25, 2017 19:36:52 GMT
Ah - that feeling when you discover that at least some of the tickets you have booked are in green on Theatremonkey. ;-)
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Post by foxa on Oct 22, 2017 10:54:54 GMT
So glad to hear these positive comments robadog as I am going on Thursday and I think I may have similar seats to yours (back row downstairs.) Got what looks to be a fantastic deal thanks to the £20 code given earlier on this thread.
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Post by foxa on Oct 21, 2017 12:46:21 GMT
I heard of a woman who was assaulted when wearing a Jabba the Hutt costume - so really, go figure.
There was a period of my life - from ages 14 - 26 - when I received a ridiculous amount of unwanted sexual - I don't know what to call it - harrassment, assaults, encounters (most frequently men exposing themselves to me - this happened to me in NYC to an almost, but not quite, comical degree.) I didn't dress in an enticing way (often baggy jeans, boots, loose flowing tops, no low necklines) but I did look, I think, rather shockable. At least that was the only reason I could figure out why I was such a frequent target - they wanted to upset someone and I looked like someone who could be upset. Maybe I was unlucky. Or maybe this just happens a lot to a lots of women. Anecdotally, I would guess the latter.
(For what it's worth - I found it much worse in the U.S. than here - one of the many things I liked about England.)
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Post by foxa on Oct 18, 2017 19:50:57 GMT
And Madeleines are associated with Proust: www.finedininglovers.com/stories/proust-madeleine/I knew a French professor who was trying to describe to an American friend what a Madeleine was. The American friend said, 'Ah, ya mean like a Bear Claw?' (A large, slightly gross, overly sweet American style pastry) which positively enraged the professor. For a long time.
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Post by foxa on Oct 18, 2017 18:24:58 GMT
I got a bit of shock when the tickets for this arrived today - I'd half-forgotten I booked for it. November 2018. 2018!! I must have been mad.
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Post by foxa on Oct 18, 2017 18:19:23 GMT
I typed a reply and then deleted it. I feel sure if we were sitting in the same room, Matthew, we could make sense of this, but I don't think it's going to happen here - and I certainly don't want to be called a dick of Trumpian magnitude if I try.
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Post by foxa on Oct 18, 2017 17:43:17 GMT
I think it can be exhausting not knowing the rules. The train example, TM gave earlier is interesting. Anecdotally, I see women giving up seats to other women (say, pregnant women) most commonly. Some men, I think, fear being snapped at if they offer. Some think women have too much anyway so if they want equal rights then they can stand. And some folks are just too busy looking at their phones. And I think all the not knowing what to do and how it will be received is tiring for everyone (but, optimistically, maybe a necessary stage.) It's that trying to figure out who needs/wants help and offering it rather than a clear - ah, it's a woman, ah it's an old person - rule. I offered a seat to man much older than me who seemed tired and he took it, but looked a bit depressed so I wasn't sure I'd really helped.
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Post by foxa on Oct 18, 2017 15:13:47 GMT
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Post by foxa on Oct 17, 2017 18:32:45 GMT
Also pcdrom20 gets the 'best available' seats for £20 if booked before 04/11. Thank you for this. I've now booked for the Thursday matinee.
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