|
Post by Deleted on Mar 2, 2017 13:48:09 GMT
first four performances cancelled and press night put back til 20th
|
|
1,465 posts
|
Post by foxa on Mar 2, 2017 14:03:03 GMT
Yes - I had booked for the 10th. Just off the phone with the box office and have rescheduled.
|
|
1,866 posts
|
Post by Marwood on Mar 3, 2017 13:27:13 GMT
I'm not seeing it until the last week of it's run, but hopefully the delay is due to minor technical issues (as happened with Hangmen) rather than anyone in the cast having issues with the script or not being up to par.
|
|
983 posts
|
Post by nash16 on Mar 3, 2017 23:39:32 GMT
It's probably issues with the director...
|
|
|
Post by perfectspy on Mar 5, 2017 23:27:07 GMT
I had a ticket for this but they cancelled the dates. I got an email then another one two hours after informing me they have refunded me thus leaving me no time at all to re-book. I tried to phone up but couldn't get through. Pretty shabby of the Royal Court to be honest. I'll try for a Monday ticket for £12.
|
|
851 posts
|
Post by bordeaux on Mar 6, 2017 8:05:52 GMT
It's probably issues with the director... I imagine the Royal Court has shorter rehearsal periods than McBurney is used to. Certainly compared to the Schaubühne, his last outing. And Complicité shows tend to develop over several months.
|
|
2,529 posts
|
Post by n1david on Mar 8, 2017 22:48:06 GMT
I have just had to put two tix on sale for this on the Noticeboard. 23 Mar, central row B.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 8, 2017 23:05:20 GMT
They've just added a new cast member, which would be an interesting developmemt at this late stage if only it were someone more charismatic than Christian Camargo.
|
|
885 posts
|
Post by lonlad on Mar 9, 2017 0:10:01 GMT
Christian is in it now? Fantastic -- and very easy on the eye:-)
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 11, 2017 18:53:13 GMT
Starts today, anyone seeing it? I goes Monday
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 13, 2017 21:24:57 GMT
Lasts 2 hrs 30 with interval coming 90mins in which is where I left. I have no idea if this is terrible or genius but a couple of words of warning
A) if u know little on the guy, his movies and other famous people at the time read up B) if you're sat anywhere near the front ring the box office in the morning and get moved as far to the back as possible or even get moved into a circle C) I think my flaw was I was concentrating too hard. There were genuine moments I thought I was gonna throw up, cry and scream but I think I was trying to process it all and there is a f*** of a lot to process. Constantly. Maybe have a drink before and just go for a ride?
My brother LOVED it, I was distressed by it. He said it was like a music video, I thought it was an overwhelming, sensory raping nightmare come to life. And I REALLY wasn't prepared for it. Bruv says I should go back in the last week and maybe I will but tonight I'm gonna go home, have a VERY strong drink and maybe punch myself in the face a few times to get over this evening
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 13, 2017 21:58:53 GMT
Lasts 2 hrs 30 with interval coming 90mins in which is where I left. I have no idea if this is terrible or genius but a couple of words of warning A) if u know little on the guy, his movies and other famous people at the time read up B) if you're sat anywhere near the front ring the box office in the morning and get moved as far to the back as possible or even get moved into a circle C) I think my flaw was I was concentrating too hard. There were genuine moments I thought I was gonna throw up, cry and scream but I think I was trying to process it all and there is a f*** of a lot to process. Constantly. Maybe have a drink before and just go for a ride? My brother LOVED it, I was distressed by it. He said it was like a music video, I thought it was an overwhelming, sensory raping nightmare come to life. And I REALLY wasn't prepared for it. Bruv says I should go back in the last week and maybe I will but tonight I'm gonna go home, have a VERY strong drink and maybe punch myself in the face a few times to get over this evening Sister Why you left? And why not sit at front I sittin front row
|
|
1,866 posts
|
Post by Marwood on Mar 13, 2017 22:27:05 GMT
hmm, I'll be sitting front row - who to listen to?
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 13, 2017 22:34:43 GMT
Lasts 2 hrs 30 with interval coming 90mins in which is where I left. I have no idea if this is terrible or genius but a couple of words of warning A) if u know little on the guy, his movies and other famous people at the time read up B) if you're sat anywhere near the front ring the box office in the morning and get moved as far to the back as possible or even get moved into a circle C) I think my flaw was I was concentrating too hard. There were genuine moments I thought I was gonna throw up, cry and scream but I think I was trying to process it all and there is a f*** of a lot to process. Constantly. Maybe have a drink before and just go for a ride? My brother LOVED it, I was distressed by it. He said it was like a music video, I thought it was an overwhelming, sensory raping nightmare come to life. And I REALLY wasn't prepared for it. Bruv says I should go back in the last week and maybe I will but tonight I'm gonna go home, have a VERY strong drink and maybe punch myself in the face a few times to get over this evening Sister Why you left? And why not sit at front I sittin front row How random, I was talking about u to my Bruv in the bar before hand! Was the second act done in the same style?
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 13, 2017 22:41:17 GMT
Sister Why you left? And why not sit at front I sittin front row How random, I was talking about u to my Bruv in the bar before hand! Was the second act done in the same style? Sorry My awful grammar and Line spacing Has lead to confusion I am sitting front row but not seeing until Next week So was relying on MLMP for spoilers Do advise please!! Thanks
|
|
1,465 posts
|
Post by foxa on Mar 13, 2017 22:50:06 GMT
Interesting - I originally booked for the 10th and then changed to the 20th when they cancelled the previews. Box Office recommended front of circle rather than whatever stalls seats were available saying 'we don't know yet what the set will be like' so went for that. So maybe a good thing.
I read the book this was based on which was partly why I was interested in it. Evans did a lot of cocaine - I wonder if they were trying to capture that. He had a wild life: 7 marriages, big hit films, tremendous fall from grace.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 13, 2017 23:03:39 GMT
Interesting - I originally booked for the 10th and then changed to the 20th when they cancelled the previews. Box Office recommended front of circle rather than whatever stalls seats were available saying 'we don't know yet what the set will be like' so went for that. So maybe a good thing. I read the book this was based on which was partly why I was interested in it. Evans did a lot of cocaine - I wonder if they were trying to capture that. He had a wild life: 7 marriages, big hit films, tremendous fall from grace. I will wave to you
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 13, 2017 23:07:17 GMT
How random, I was talking about u to my Bruv in the bar before hand! Was the second act done in the same style? Sorry My awful grammar and Line spacing Has lead to confusion I am sitting front row but not seeing until Next week So was relying on MLMP for spoilers Do advise please!! Thanks Oh good I'm glad I didn't miss u. visually it is very full on. Think there are 4 surfaces things can b projected onto, and this is not to say different things aren't projected at the same time onto these surfaces. Example - the main surface may have an actor on stage projected onto it, at the same time as some bull fighting is projected but then they do a sort of hall of mirrors effect so so it's repeated for miles, and then there is a photo of a face projected onto all of this at the same time. This may last a few seconds before it changes. And bear in mind there are another 3 surfaces which will all prob have separate things going on and on top of this is a cast of BILLIONS (7 actors) who may be well doing lots of other things whilst the above is going on oh and the script is broadcast on screens for the actors to "read" (not sure if this is coz of the cancelled previews or a device) which gets reflected in the main surface so if u can read backwards u can join in with them! oh and each cast member has a microphone on their face (musical theatre style) and a normal mic which are so big u can never see who is speaking. It's all so very disorientating maybe be all of this is done specifically? I'm guessing maybe it is, so maybe this is hands down the most exciting thing u will see this week. Or maybe it's a mess. The fact u don't get to "see" the main guy until 89mins......genius? iv been having a hard time sleeping and relationship issues this last week, got a sh*tter of a mouse problem in my bedroom and I cannot listen to both lyrics and music in songs at the same time (music always wins) so maybe this played into it somewhat. Maybe I should go again. I'm kinda hoping everyone hates it
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 13, 2017 23:08:55 GMT
Interesting - I originally booked for the 10th and then changed to the 20th when they cancelled the previews. Box Office recommended front of circle rather than whatever stalls seats were available saying 'we don't know yet what the set will be like' so went for that. So maybe a good thing. I read the book this was based on which was partly why I was interested in it. Evans did a lot of cocaine - I wonder if they were trying to capture that. He had a wild life: 7 marriages, big hit films, tremendous fall from grace. 90 mins in I think they may mention a marriage? No cocaine. Zips through the movies
|
|
515 posts
|
Post by callum on Mar 13, 2017 23:13:16 GMT
I was also there tonight - Simon McBurney came out before it started and said that there hadn't been a dress rehearsal before Saturday so Saturday's performance was the 'dress rehearsal' and this was thought of as the first preview. I'm wondering what went wrong in the rehearsal process for the amount of line fluffs and technical errors that happened. The script was also up on a screen which was extremely visible from the slips where I sat. More or less, the first act was 75 mins, interval 15 mins, second act 60 mins - finished at 10.
For the show itself, it is a wild animal, constantly feeling volatile and raw and rough but crucially, never dull. None of the cast play one particular character, with Evans himself having his lines divided between the cast, though Danny Huston playing him in the autumn of his life and narrating the events on stage from behind a screen like Oz. The rest of the cast tell the story of Evans' childhood, his role in the making of Rosemary's Baby, The Godfather, Chinatown and The Cotton Club and his personal issues like his marriages and drug addiction. There are characters like Roman Polanski, Mia Farrow, Francis Ford Coppola, Marlon Brando, Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway (ironically this time she read the right lines!), Robert Shapiro, Henry Kissinger and Richard Gere. The staging is very particular and wonder if it may change during the rest of the previews. It's extremely difficult to describe.
Definitely if you have tickets hold on to them, it's a wild ride but totally worth it.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 13, 2017 23:18:31 GMT
I was also there tonight - Simon McBurney came out before it started and said that there hadn't been a dress rehearsal before Saturday so Saturday's performance was the 'dress rehearsal' and this was thought of as the first preview. I'm wondering what went wrong in the rehearsal process for the amount of line fluffs and technical errors that happened. The script was also up on a screen which was extremely visible from the slips where I sat. More or less, the first act was 75 mins, interval 15 mins, second act 60 mins - finished at 10. For the show itself, it is a wild animal, constantly feeling volatile and raw and rough but crucially, never dull. None of the cast play one particular character, with Evans himself having his lines divided between the cast, though Danny Huston playing him in the autumn of his life and narrating the events on stage from behind a screen like Oz. The rest of the cast tell the story of Evans' childhood, his role in the making of Rosemary's Baby, The Godfather, Chinatown and The Cotton Club and his personal issues like his marriages and drug addiction. There are characters like Roman Polanski, Mia Farrow, Francis Ford Coppola, Marlon Brando, Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway (ironically this time she read the right lines!), Robert Shapiro, Henry Kissinger and Richard Gere. The staging is very particular and wonder if it may change during the rest of the previews. It's extremely difficult to describe. Definitely if you have tickets hold on to them, it's a wild ride but totally worth it. The second act was in the same style then? I was kind of hoping it wud all be set in that room with the tv in at end of act 1 and wud make a full turn around and become a nice gentle comedy
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 13, 2017 23:19:51 GMT
Sorry My awful grammar and Line spacing Has lead to confusion I am sitting front row but not seeing until Next week So was relying on MLMP for spoilers Do advise please!! Thanks Oh good I'm glad I didn't miss u. visually it is very full on. Think there are 4 surfaces things can b projected onto, and this is not to say different things aren't projected at the same time onto these surfaces. Example - the main surface may have an actor on stage projected onto it, at the same time as some bull fighting is projected but then they do a sort of hall of mirrors effect so so it's repeated for miles, and then there is a photo of a face projected onto all of this at the same time. This may last a few seconds before it changes. And bear in mind there are another 3 surfaces which will all prob have separate things going on and on top of this is a cast of BILLIONS (7 actors) who may be well doing lots of other things whilst the above is going on oh and the script is broadcast on screens for the actors to "read" (not sure if this is coz of the cancelled previews or a device) which gets reflected in the main surface so if u can read backwards u can join in with them! oh and each cast member has a microphone on their face (musical theatre style) and a normal mic which are so big u can never see who is speaking. It's all so very disorientating maybe be all of this is done specifically? I'm guessing maybe it is, so maybe this is hands down the most exciting thing u will see this week. Or maybe it's a mess. The fact u don't get to "see" the main guy until 89mins......genius? iv been having a hard time sleeping and relationship issues this last week, got a sh*tter of a mouse problem in my bedroom and I cannot listen to both lyrics and music in songs at the same time (music always wins) so maybe this played into it somewhat. Maybe I should go again. I'm kinda hoping everyone hates it Good god Sounds interesting! Thanks I will have to look out for Foxa
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 13, 2017 23:21:25 GMT
I was also there tonight - Simon McBurney came out before it started and said that there hadn't been a dress rehearsal before Saturday so Saturday's performance was the 'dress rehearsal' and this was thought of as the first preview. I'm wondering what went wrong in the rehearsal process for the amount of line fluffs and technical errors that happened. The script was also up on a screen which was extremely visible from the slips where I sat. More or less, the first act was 75 mins, interval 15 mins, second act 60 mins - finished at 10. For the show itself, it is a wild animal, constantly feeling volatile and raw and rough but crucially, never dull. None of the cast play one particular character, with Evans himself having his lines divided between the cast, though Danny Huston playing him in the autumn of his life and narrating the events on stage from behind a screen like Oz. The rest of the cast tell the story of Evans' childhood, his role in the making of Rosemary's Baby, The Godfather, Chinatown and The Cotton Club and his personal issues like his marriages and drug addiction. There are characters like Roman Polanski, Mia Farrow, Francis Ford Coppola, Marlon Brando, Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway (ironically this time she read the right lines!), Robert Shapiro, Henry Kissinger and Richard Gere. The staging is very particular and wonder if it may change during the rest of the previews. It's extremely difficult to describe. Definitely if you have tickets hold on to them, it's a wild ride but totally worth it. I hate this sort of excuse making Oh we are doing your heart transplant But it's the first one we have done Don't worry though We have the instructions pinned up on the wall Theatre can be so twatty
|
|
515 posts
|
Post by callum on Mar 13, 2017 23:25:47 GMT
I was also there tonight - Simon McBurney came out before it started and said that there hadn't been a dress rehearsal before Saturday so Saturday's performance was the 'dress rehearsal' and this was thought of as the first preview. I'm wondering what went wrong in the rehearsal process for the amount of line fluffs and technical errors that happened. The script was also up on a screen which was extremely visible from the slips where I sat. More or less, the first act was 75 mins, interval 15 mins, second act 60 mins - finished at 10. For the show itself, it is a wild animal, constantly feeling volatile and raw and rough but crucially, never dull. None of the cast play one particular character, with Evans himself having his lines divided between the cast, though Danny Huston playing him in the autumn of his life and narrating the events on stage from behind a screen like Oz. The rest of the cast tell the story of Evans' childhood, his role in the making of Rosemary's Baby, The Godfather, Chinatown and The Cotton Club and his personal issues like his marriages and drug addiction. There are characters like Roman Polanski, Mia Farrow, Francis Ford Coppola, Marlon Brando, Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway (ironically this time she read the right lines!), Robert Shapiro, Henry Kissinger and Richard Gere. The staging is very particular and wonder if it may change during the rest of the previews. It's extremely difficult to describe. Definitely if you have tickets hold on to them, it's a wild ride but totally worth it. The second act was in the same style then? I was kind of hoping it wud all be set in that room with the tv in at end of act 1 and wud make a full turn around and become a nice gentle comedy At the interval I thought from then on it would be Danny Huston playing Evans on stage but the second half is identical to the first in terms of style - you only see him as Evans behind the screen or hear him making voice over. Act II is more focused on Evans' personal life but still has the rotating door of celebrity name-dropping and archival soundbites. If you didn't like the first half, you wouldn't have liked the second. Perhaps I'm being too spoilerific in these posts so admin feel free to edit what you think is appropriate.
|
|
|
Post by Honoured Guest on Mar 14, 2017 2:11:58 GMT
Everything in the season is tantalisingly promising but also highly unpredictable, with so little information available about any of the shows. Even with Road, a very wellknown text, we know absolutely nothing about the planned production except that John Tiffany is directing and it's the traditional audience seating configuration. But Simon McBurney's and Alice Birch & Katie Mitchell's shows could both be absolutely anything at this stage. I'm only reading this thread because I hadn't intended to see this show. I would definitely have avoided this thread if I were going, and would've tried to keep clear of any details elsewhere. It sounds as if it's well within the strand of Simon McBurney's Complicite shows, but perhaps at the busier end of the spectrum than The Encounter was? Actually, I'm intrigued now to see it!
|
|
27 posts
|
Post by shakeel on Mar 14, 2017 23:45:25 GMT
(mild spoilers)
Just got back from this - liked it a lot. As others have said, incredibly bustling and chaotic production - but it all sort of works. Though I didn't find the story hugely engaging (particularly In the second act), the staging was incredible. Excellent use of projection/live camera feeds/moving sets/audio trickery, a lot of which is seemingly done live. Can completely see why previews were delayed as must have been a nightmare to perfect. Unlike in some other productions, the tech felt valuable too: for a play about the movie industry, it made sense to include this stuff. There are some scenes that can be a bit overwhelmingly busy, but all in all I think it worked well.
Thought the cast were pretty good too, though there were a couple of line slip-ups. Enjoyed the disorienting nature of having different actors play the same character at the same time: made everything feel very dynamic and engaging. Think it needs a little bit more time to perfect it, but certainly glad to have seen it.
|
|
1,192 posts
|
Post by Steve on Mar 19, 2017 14:17:21 GMT
A documentary about Robert Evans, the film producer, in the form of a play, you've got a like documentaries to like this (and it also helps if you are fanatical about seventies movies, like The Godfather, Marathon Man and Chinatown). Saw the matinee yesterday, and loved it. Some spoilers follow. . . I had seen the original movie documentary about a decade ago, and this feels similar to that, with added details. What you do lose here is Robert Evans own voice, as he narrated the documentary himself, sounding a lot like a world-weary Raymond Chandler detective, equal parts braggy and self-deprecating. What you gain here is a construction of movie-making taking place in front of your face, as well as a deconstruction of a personality, having him played by many fragmented voices and three faces. Of these, the most important face is Christian Camargo (who played Dexter's psycho brother on tv). It is hard to believe that Camargo came late to this project, as when he puts on those square glasses, his look, his mannerisms, his voice, everything about him uncannily resembles seventies-era Robert Evans. This is something the movie documentary did not have, a living breathing facsimile of Evans in his prime. Camargo is gold! There is something wonderfully androgynous, as well as modest about Robert Evans, which for me is part of the fascination of the man, that he does not come across as the priapic monster-famed-for-swimming-in-women-and-cocaine that the tabloids (and indeed, some of his friends) made him out to be. Instead of trying to take all the credit for films like Chinatown, he freely admits he couldn't make head or tail of Robert Towne's screenplay, that he never could understand that "Chinatown" was a metaphor rather than a place. And he tells us what it's like to be cuckolded by Ali McGraw. If Camargo's physical portrayal of Evans is definitive, Evan's definitive voice is that of Danny Huston, who plays the part that Evan's own voiceover played in the movie. This is a story about surviving, in some form or another, and Danny Huston's voiceover, accompanied by his shadow on the back screen, convincingly conveys the grizzled voice of a hapless survivor, and is the framing device for Evan's whole life story. Heather Burns, who plays the significant women in Evan's life (though only one of his wives, Ali McGraw - the other 6 wives are never even mentioned in either this show or the movie documentary) is examplary, a chameleon who morphs from playing a wispy Mia Farrow to a full-on seductive Ali McGraw, and more! She even nails her portrayal of the young Robert Evans, the show's obvious tribute to Evan's androgynous physicality. What the play uniquely achieves is having all aspects of Evans, and his life, as a clothes seller, an actor, a film studio boss, a producer, a stroke victim, exist at once, in different faces and voices, where the present, the past, and screen reflections of both present and past, combine to show how Evans, and by extension, ourselves, are all always fragments as well as forming some kind of whole. Fascinating and absorbing, with the caveat that you have to give a damn about Evans for any of this to work. 4 stars
|
|
851 posts
|
Post by bordeaux on Mar 20, 2017 9:58:13 GMT
I had mixed feelings about this; the first half is very good, though even that takes a while to get going, but after Chinatown the last 45 minutes of the show I found somewhat dull. The use of multiple actors to narrate and play the role of Evans works (though, as Parsley said of Beware of Pity, I think, there is a lot of telling not showing), and the stuff with screens is clever. But even to this fan of 1970s cinema there is something curiously unmoving about it all - the only prickle behind my eyes was when the theme tunes of The Godfather and Chinatown came up.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 20, 2017 20:58:01 GMT
This is horrifically awful
With total f*** ups in the video projection this evening
Again
Just people telling an abbreviated story
A series of events
Emotionally frigid
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 20, 2017 22:00:17 GMT
Also someone near row B stalls
Doing stinking farts
Has anyone else had to deal with this?
Very difficult
What to do?
Needed a nose gay
|
|