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Post by bee on Sept 6, 2017 6:30:02 GMT
These days more often than not the first place I hear about a new production will be on this board, then I’ll look it up on the theatre website or wherever to get more information.
Whether I actually go to see something or not is initially based on the play itself. My tastes are fairly conservative so in general I’m way more likely to be interested in something by Shakespeare/Ibsen/Miller/etc. than a new play, and if it’s a work that I haven’t seen before then I’ll almost definitely try to see it no matter who’s in it or where it’s being done. Hence in these cases the marketing isn’t a factor at all, I’ve made the decision to go before I’ve even seen a poster or a brochure.
I will often end up going to see new plays, though, if there’s someone in the cast I want to see or if the subject matter seems interesting, so I guess for these cases the marketing plays more of a part in my decision process though I can’t really think of a situation where I’ve looked at a poster or preview and consciously thought “I have to see that”.
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Post by bee on Sept 6, 2017 6:10:04 GMT
haha you know what I'm good... I've actually been stalking this thread with interest- I never saw it, I adore Billie Piper but missed both ticket scrums and was busy on NT Live night. But I'm intrigued, as although the staging sounds fascinating I cannot personally imagine being particualrly affected by it. Having zero desire for children myself I find it utterly impossible to understand the obsessive drive that others have for it- so I really doubt I'd feel much in this play (as perhaps others are alluding to). It's also been interesting to watch here and on twitter the small minority tenatively raising their hands and whispering 'Actually I didn't LOVE it' ETA I'm not saying that it's not a fascinatingly interesting play in it's construction and staging- if anything that makes me still want to see it. I'm always turned on when someone who hasn't seen something decides to give their opinion on why they wouldn't like it
Welcome back parsley.
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Post by bee on Sept 4, 2017 13:46:03 GMT
Funny old day out there today. Muggy or what we used to call 'close'. Did anyone else use that word? I ask because I often come out with words that result in blank looks. I was brought up near Birmingham but not IN Birmingham, so I got a lot of the more villagely words from the area I was living in. I'd know what you meant if you said close. Me too (grew up near Glasgow).
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Post by bee on Sept 3, 2017 7:55:47 GMT
I saw this last night. It's a bit dry at first with the actors explaining things to each other so the audience gets filled in on the history behind the story, but once the story kicks in it moves along quite briskly. I liked that you're never really sure who you should be rooting for - Anne and Sarah are both admirable and infuriating at various times.
The staging is excellent and the acting is first rate. On the whole a very satisfying night out.
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Post by bee on Sept 3, 2017 7:36:03 GMT
I saw this yesterday afternoon. On the whole I thought it was very good. Siena Miller, Jack O'Connell and Colm Meaney were very impressive. I'm not sure the nudity was really necessary but it didn't bother me. I did think the final act dragged on a bit, but that might have been because by that point my ability to maintain interest in the play was starting to be overwhelmed by the pain in my legs, caused by the medieval torture device which passes for a seat on the dress circle.
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Post by bee on Aug 29, 2017 6:25:20 GMT
I live a couple of miles away and have not seen hide or hair of carnival. Granted I didn't go on any of the tube lines that go through the area, but surely that shows how contained and easy to avoid it is? Funny how events where white people get blind drunk and violent are never subject to this kind of condemnation and debate.
I really don't think that's true. To use an obvious example, whenever England football fans have gone on the rampage over the years it's been covered in great detail by the press and they have received widespread condemnation by politicians, journalists, pretty much everyone.
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Post by bee on Aug 25, 2017 14:16:35 GMT
OF COURSE IT HAD TO HAPPEN. OF COURSE WE GET ARSENAL LONDON!!! Sorry for shouting. Trip no.5 to London in five months then instead of discovering an exciting new European city. Although we could also go to Belgrade...
Surprised you're ruling out the delights of Belarus.......
Belgrade would probably be a lovely trip, though possibly not if you're a visiting football supporter. Serbian fans aren't exactly noted for being friendly.
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Post by bee on Aug 23, 2017 19:08:01 GMT
Having watched Christopher Nolan-shaped hit film Dunkirk on a cinema screen recently, I was intrigued enough on seeing a secondhand copy of a play text that seemed to shed another light on war-related events in 1940, to buy it and start reading. Three Days in May, written by Ben Brown and produced by Bill Kenwright, premiered at the Theatre Royal, Windsor, and may well have toured elsewhere. It is about the British War Cabinet-level conflict that occurred over whether to fight on or do a deal with Hitler. Did anyone here ever see the play when it was staged and if so how did it come across to the audience you were in? I saw it at Trafalgar Studios. Warren Clarke played Churchill. My memory is it was very good, though I can't remember too many details now, other than it being a battle of wills between Churchill and (I think) Lord Halifax, who was in favour of negotiating a surrender. Churchill was portrayed as being much less sure about fighting on than legend would have us believe - whether that was based on truth or was an invention of the writer I've no idea - and in a sense that gave the story a bit more depth and helped it be something more than just flag-waving "bulldog spirit" stuff.
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Post by bee on Aug 18, 2017 12:58:40 GMT
Not a whole lot of detail in those interviews but I think she's probably off to a better start than Emma Rice managed with her "I'd rather listen to The Archers" from her first interview in the job.
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Post by bee on Aug 7, 2017 19:15:47 GMT
Started raining during the interval, lasted 30 minutes or so, so the second half was delayed for a bit.
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Post by bee on Aug 6, 2017 13:58:33 GMT
I saw this yesterday afternoon. It certainly helped to go in with low expectations, since I ended up coming out thinking it wasn't that bad. Nicholas Karimi was good as Carton, really quite moving at times, and there were other good performances such as Kevork Malikyan as Lorry, Nabil Elouahabi as Barsad and especially Nicholas Khan who doubled up as Jerry Cruncher and an enjoyably thuggish Monsiegneur. I also thought the set worked well and was used quite skilfully.
There was also, unfortunately, some real guff in there. The linking sections, where cast members would read what I assume were chunks of text from the novel, accompanied by some godawful miming by the company, were painfully embarrassing. I'd have thought it's the playwright's job to write some scenes to move the story forward and explain the backstory, otherwise we might as well buy an audiobook. Plus there were some scenes which were just silly, like the part close to the end when Dr. Manette, Lucy et al were fleeing and either leaving France or entering England (it wasn't clear which) and for some reason the French and English travellers got split up and one lot got carried off screaming to presumably some horrible fate, though exactly what we never found out. Presumably the writer was making some point there but I'm not sure what and it didn't fit with the story at all. Another weird scene featured a bunch of the actors sharpening axes and swords on grindstones in preparation for chopping the heads off the aristos, but it was interesting that even though they were supposed to be part of a savage, rabid mob, they still remembered to put on their safety goggles in case of flying sparks. Obviously Health & Safety was a big deal in pre-revolutionary France.
Still, there was no sex scene and only three or four swearwords so from a take-the-kids point of view you could have just about got away with it.
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Post by bee on Aug 6, 2017 13:17:36 GMT
I saw this last night. It's pleasant and enjoyable, but as others have said, insubstantial. Cast was fine but the play didn't exactly ask a great deal from them.
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Post by bee on Jul 17, 2017 14:58:26 GMT
Hi all, Bit of a strange request/long shot - if anyone is going to this soon...could you possibly pick me up a programme? I will of course pre-pay for it and include shipping. I saw it at the weekend but didn't have enough cash to get one. As I'm a complete nerd, it feels odd not to add it to my collection I'd be happy to pick one for you, but I'm not going till early September. If that's OK with you, drop my a PM with your address.
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Post by bee on Jul 12, 2017 19:01:08 GMT
Shame. That's the one bit I was looking forward to.
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Post by bee on Jul 12, 2017 18:48:58 GMT
^You could always say "thanks for the warning, I am religious and I'd rather not, if I can have a refund, please." Ha ha, yes doing something like that did cross my mind, but what the hell, I'll stick with it. I could probably do with stepping out of my comfort zone now and again. Who knows, maybe I'll end up being pleasantly surprised!
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Post by bee on Jul 11, 2017 18:44:05 GMT
I got an e-mail today from the theatre warning me about the swearing and violence, and asking me to give them a call if I have any issues with the "age suitability" of my party. Presumably they've some negative feedback from folks who assumed a Dickens adaptation would be a good night out for all the family.
Since my party is, well, me, then I don't think there will be a problem, but I have to confess I'd rather dreading it now.
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Post by bee on Jul 9, 2017 7:40:43 GMT
I saw this at The Barbican yesterday. It's a very enjoyable production. SRB is excellent, especially the very moving final speech, and I also thought Daniel Easton and Jenny Rainsford were funny and rather sweet as Ferdinand and Miranda. As most people have said, the motion capture effects don't really add much, but some of the other visual stuff is good. I was actually pleased to have an upper circle seat as I think I got the full benefit of the floor lighting effects from there.
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Post by bee on Jul 5, 2017 5:59:32 GMT
Having said that though, the opening section with the hoodies running about, looting and having a f***ing bizarre dance-off with the cops, was almost unbearably naff. They did well to recover from that. Won't see this as not near Stratford and rather too much gore in this particular play for me but bee your description alone of the opening has my curiosity piqued quite successfully.
As well just as being rubbish, it was like something that had been imported from a different play, as if someone in the RSC office had picked up a few pages of someone else's printout at the photocopier when they were printing out the scripts to hand out to the cast.
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Post by bee on Jul 1, 2017 22:11:47 GMT
Just come out of the evening performance. I'd say I'm more in the Lynette/Elanor camp than with Parsley on this. It's gory and barking mad, but the actors just about get away with it, and Troughton is fantastic when he's giving it some proper welly.
Having said that though, the opening section with the hoodies running about, looting and having a f***ing bizarre dance-off with the cops, was almost unbearably naff. They did well to recover from that.
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Post by bee on Jul 1, 2017 16:58:47 GMT
Mixed feelings about this. I thought the music was too loud and rather intrusive. It just didn't seem to fit. I didn't really think Matthew Tennyson worked as Salome. He gave it his best shot, but I thought he just looked a bit silly in his high heels and skimpy dress. Why not just put him in male clothing and turn it into a proper gay adaptation? That would have worked better for me.
On the plus side, the acting was generally good, especially Gavin Fowler as Iokanaan. He chewed the scenery a bit but I thought that worked well for the part.
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Post by bee on Jun 24, 2017 20:59:48 GMT
I liked this. It's relentlessly miserable to an almost ludicrous degree but the fine performances make it worth hanging on in there. Daragh O'Malley as Ivan is especially good, constantly bullying and criticising his family - other than the son who appears to be becoming just like him, and a daughter with whom he appears to have an almost incestuous relationship - but at the same time wallowing in self pity at how they have all let him down.
It's set against a backdrop of anti-Tsarist revolution, and the police are portrayed as a bunch of corrupt thugs, but the real focus of the play is the breakdown of Ivan's dysfunctional family.
Disappointing crowd though, less than half full I'd say. I think it deserves better than that.
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Post by bee on Jun 22, 2017 13:35:58 GMT
Well I say bravo to the Nash. I've been a couple of times since the security measures began and I've not found it a hassle or unwelcoming in the slightest. The bag check moved quickly, the bag checkers were delightful and the cloakroom was dealt with quickly and efficiently. The only thing I was disappointed about was that you don't get a full body frisk on the way in. You obviously didn't have a sufficiently suspicious looking bulge in your trousers....
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Post by bee on Jun 11, 2017 11:28:23 GMT
This was a struggle. At first I just found it dull, but I eventually started to get drawn in and by the interval I was thinking it might turn out OK - I thought the final scene before the break with Woyzeck and Marie was tense and nicely acted.
Unfortunately that was as good as it got. Everything just crashed and burned in the second half. A shambles. I thought the ending was pretty well done and might have been genuinely disturbing had I still given a damn but by that point I was just waiting for it to end.
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Post by bee on Jun 11, 2017 7:56:12 GMT
Yes, they're just wooden benches. I'd definitely recommend getting a seat on the back row so you have a wall behind you. I've always found the lower gallery to be best, the back row seats there have more buttock space (both in terms of width and depth) than the other seats.
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Post by bee on Jun 6, 2017 13:04:14 GMT
Yes, but not till June 24th.
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Post by bee on Jun 4, 2017 19:20:03 GMT
I saw the matinee of this yesterday. An epic performance from Greg Hicks and a fine supporting cast, especially Matthew Sim as a cool, sinister Catesby (although his veneer cracks briefly after the murder of the princes) and Jane Bertish as a ferocious Queen Margaret.
Not a bad crowd in, maybe 80% full, but it really deserves to be sold out every night.
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Post by bee on May 30, 2017 6:30:02 GMT
I was at the same matinee as xanderl and mallardo on Saturday. Really enjoyable, satisfying play, good acting and a plot which skipped along nicely, other than the comic scene mentioned ay xanderl, which came out of nowhere. As far as I can see it's only function was to tell the audience about the masque which was being performed at the wedding, otherwise the murderers would have showed up at the wedding without any explanation for their presence. As others have pointed out they managed to pitch it just right, with a lot of droll humour from Stephen Boxer especially.
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Post by bee on May 24, 2017 5:59:21 GMT
Olivia Campbell the latest victim confirmed to have passed away, so terribly sad. 15 years old. Four fatalities now named, can't even begin to imagine how difficult this must be for rheir friends and families, and the friends and families of those yet to be found.
A tweet from this girl's mother showed up on my Twitter feed yesterday morning. It had been retweeted by a journalist that I follow. She was asking for information and lots of well meaning people were trying to help but couldn't really do anything other than send encouraging message ("she's probably just lost her phone", that sort of thing). It was agonising reading the mother's responses, seeing someone's pain and distress played out in public. I felt that I shouldn't be looking at this but kept swiping down hoping to read that she had been found. Eventually I gave up. And now she's gone.
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Post by bee on May 15, 2017 10:17:23 GMT
I pretty much always go alone these days. I’m not sure I prefer it as such, it’s more a result of my circle of friends not really having an interest in theatre, and as others have said it’s much easier to organise when you’re only trying to please yourself and fit it around your own schedule.
I go to quite a few gigs and I have a mate that I go to most of these with, but if there’s a band that I want to see and he’s not interested I’ll go on my own. I sometimes feel a bit out-of-place if it’s a new band with a young fan base but I generally find if you stand at the back of the hall you’ll see other older folks hanging around there sheepishly.
The only time I’ve really been nervous about going was similar to shady23’s Zedel example, it was at a jazz club and had the table and chairs format, but it turned out fine, they actually had two or three “solo” tables and stuck me on one of those.
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Post by bee on Apr 26, 2017 12:31:48 GMT
I’m a chemical engineer. My job involves building computer simulations of a client’s plant (usually oil and gas or petrochemicals), the simulation models then being used for testing out the control and safety systems for the plant, or for training the control room operators.
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