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Post by Honoured Guest on Sept 12, 2017 10:56:12 GMT
The Henry VI plays and Richard III have today been confirmed by Gregory Doran to be produced together, at some time in 2019 to 2021 when the RSC's first folio cycle will be completed. Not that i doubt you but where is this stated? @thersc Facebook video: Summer 2018 Season with Gregory Doran
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Post by David J on Sept 12, 2017 11:29:54 GMT
Just seen the news of Peter Hall's death and this announcement
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Xanderl
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Not always very high value in terms of ticket yield or donations
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Post by Xanderl on Sept 12, 2017 11:54:07 GMT
Wonder if any of these will make it to London Going by the last few years I would be surprised if Macbeth (given the casting) and possibly Merry Wives don't turn up at the Barbican in late 2018. The National's Macbeth in in spring 2018 so probably no clash there. Possibly they will randomly transfer one of the Swan shows to the Haymarket as well.
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Sept 12, 2017 13:01:08 GMT
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Post by oxfordsimon on Sept 12, 2017 13:01:08 GMT
All three new main house shows are being given modern day set productions.
Now I have no particular objection to Shakespeare being staged in contemporary ways as long as care is taken to reconcile the structures of the play with the modern setting.
I guess there is no real difference to having an entire season of Roman plays being played out in togas insofar as it has a visual coherence for the plays. However I am remain unconvinced that these three plays really do work in modern settings without knowing more about what is planned for each.
Macbeth is the one that is, for me, hardest to imagine working because of the supernatural elements of the piece. There are few modern cultures where witchcraft is taken that seriously. And that is such a key part of the text. Can Findlay pull it off? Who knows. Hopefully it will be a more successful interpretation than the Slinger one but I will remain sceptical for now.
There are still a good number of lesser known plays to be done to complete the cycle. I am surprised that they haven't taken the opportunity to use this season to sneak one in alongside the two big tragedies. They are going to have some very obscure seasons coming up now that the big ones have been exhausted.
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Post by Honoured Guest on Sept 12, 2017 13:33:13 GMT
There are still a good number of lesser known plays to be done to complete the cycle. I am surprised that they haven't taken the opportunity to use this season to sneak one in alongside the two big tragedies. That's how they consider Merry Wives - it's getting a very short run in peak summer, sceduled in exactly the same way as Two Gentlemen of Verona, another relatively weak play, in 2014.
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Post by cirque on Sept 12, 2017 14:44:20 GMT
I just cant get excited
some of the shows may turn out to be great....but I feel and this may be wrong that RSC is far more about education than creating memorable,dynamic theatre.Of course....great to engage the young,have all female directors,schoolchildren doing R and J prologue etc. However where is the RSC.....that company where actors and directors,writers and designers sought to re-evaluate the plays.Todays announcement is lack lustre and the facebook video of Greg Doran a total disaster. I should add its all 'in my opinion'and hopefully I will be proved wrong.The fire is not ignited by todays announcement at all.
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Sept 12, 2017 14:51:17 GMT
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Post by Jan on Sept 12, 2017 14:51:17 GMT
I just cant get excited some of the shows may turn out to be great....but I feel and this may be wrong that RSC is far more about education than creating memorable,dynamic theatre.Of course....great to engage the young,have all female directors,schoolchildren doing R and J prologue etc. However where is the RSC.....that company where actors and directors,writers and designers sought to re-evaluate the plays.Todays announcement is lack lustre and the facebook video of Greg Doran a total disaster. I should add its all 'in my opinion'and hopefully I will be proved wrong.The fire is not ignited by todays announcement at all. What is amusing is Doran saying the all-female list of directors in the main house just came about by chance. So why mention it then because it's no credit to Doran ? The Macbeth production has the greatest potential out of everything announced - I doubt Ecclestone would have signed up to it without a London transfer so I'll wait for that.
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Post by Baemax on Sept 12, 2017 14:56:20 GMT
I don't know, it's certainly fascinating to see that it is actually possible to end up with an all-female directorial line-up without having to resort to quotas and conscious decision-making. London theatre could learn a lot from that.
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Post by zahidf on Sept 12, 2017 15:14:54 GMT
It sounds fine: Macbeth sounds like the best traditional play, and the new stuff could be awful or amazing. Too Early to say!
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Post by Jan on Sept 12, 2017 17:10:42 GMT
I don't know, it's certainly fascinating to see that it is actually possible to end up with an all-female directorial line-up without having to resort to quotas and conscious decision-making. London theatre could learn a lot from that. What's to learn ? It just happened by chance so there's nothing to learn.
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Sept 12, 2017 17:17:13 GMT
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Post by oxfordsimon on Sept 12, 2017 17:17:13 GMT
In terms of an all female directing line up, I would have been less impressed if it had been engineered as that risks accusations of tokenism.
I have doubts over the abilities of some of the names announced. Not because they are women, but because their track record is not strong. I don't really care whether a director is male, female or some other gender. I do care that they can bring something interesting and insightful to their work.
I would have been really impressed if the RSC had chosen not to mention anything about the gender of the team. It should be unremarkable. It isn't but it should be.
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Post by Jan on Sept 12, 2017 17:39:21 GMT
In terms of an all female directing line up, I would have been less impressed if it had been engineered as that risks accusations of tokenism. I have doubts over the abilities of some of the names announced. Not because they are women, but because their track record is not strong. I don't really care whether a director is male, female or some other gender. I do care that they can bring something interesting and insightful to their work. I would have been really impressed if the RSC had chosen not to mention anything about the gender of the team. It should be unremarkable. It isn't but it should be. Correct - he shouldn't have mentioned it, it should be unremarkable and mentioning it just draws attention to the fact that, by chance I suppose, all 5 are all white (I think they are anyway). I see Doran is directing Troilus and Cressida in Autumn 2018 so it IS being cross-cast with R&J I suppose, except T&C will be 50/50 male/female cast.
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Sept 12, 2017 19:14:03 GMT
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Post by martin1965 on Sept 12, 2017 19:14:03 GMT
In terms of an all female directing line up, I would have been less impressed if it had been engineered as that risks accusations of tokenism. I have doubts over the abilities of some of the names announced. Not because they are women, but because their track record is not strong. I don't really care whether a director is male, female or some other gender. I do care that they can bring something interesting and insightful to their work. I would have been really impressed if the RSC had chosen not to mention anything about the gender of the team. It should be unremarkable. It isn't but it should be. Correct - he shouldn't have mentioned it, it should be unremarkable and mentioning it just draws attention to the fact that, by chance I suppose, all 5 are all white (I think they are anyway). I see Doran is directing Troilus and Cressida in Autumn 2018 so it IS being cross-cast with R&J I suppose, except T&C will be 50/50 male/female cast. Cool, want to see T&C again, where did you see that JB?
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Post by Jan on Sept 12, 2017 19:27:58 GMT
Correct - he shouldn't have mentioned it, it should be unremarkable and mentioning it just draws attention to the fact that, by chance I suppose, all 5 are all white (I think they are anyway). I see Doran is directing Troilus and Cressida in Autumn 2018 so it IS being cross-cast with R&J I suppose, except T&C will be 50/50 male/female cast. Cool, want to see T&C again, where did you see that JB? Guardian. What they're mostly interested in of course is the pure chance that means they have 5 female directors for the Summer season. www.theguardian.com/stage/2017/sep/12/royal-shakespeare-company-chooses-all-women-directors-summer-2018-season
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Sept 12, 2017 19:39:46 GMT
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Post by martin1965 on Sept 12, 2017 19:39:46 GMT
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Post by lynette on Sept 12, 2017 21:57:25 GMT
Maria Aberg... nooooooo Modern dress...well that's how they were put on in the first place. I think that Macbeth is fine for modern interpretation. Mental health issues, marriage issues, totalitarianism, random and cruel murder. Personally I found the Slinger production chilling with the children brought to the fore.
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Post by oxfordsimon on Sept 12, 2017 22:21:18 GMT
The children were interesting in the Slinger version but there was zero passion between the Macbeths and so the production lacked any real dynamism. If you don't buy that central relationship - which I and many others didn't - then the production fails. What was strange was that the same actors were playing with real passion in the Pinter running at the same time - but Macbeth was just devoid of it.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 13, 2017 0:26:42 GMT
The season looks quite interesting, it will be good to see Eccleston tackle a role like that and David Troughton as Falstaff should be a good fit too.
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Sept 13, 2017 5:40:55 GMT
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Post by martin1965 on Sept 13, 2017 5:40:55 GMT
Maria Aberg... nooooooo Modern dress...well that's how they were put on in the first place. I think that Macbeth is fine for modern interpretation. Mental health issues, marriage issues, totalitarianism, random and cruel murder. Personally I found the Slinger production chilling with the children brought to the fore. I felt the same Lynette! I like Webster and hopes we would see DoM ar Stratford before too long but White Devil was so awful im v nervous about the this director let loose again. Casting may be key, i felt the two leads in WD woefully undercast. Will def book for Macbeth.
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Post by cirque on Sept 13, 2017 9:31:15 GMT
Maybe not quite as bad as this but not very thrilling.However dont worry Greg tells The Times today no British actors can play Macbeth-Sorry Kinnear dont bother-and we need Jackman/Crowe to come over.He also looks forward to Harriet Walter playing the role.
I think RSC have got very lost and the Doran/Whyman partnership plays politics but not serving the plays or the repertoire well at all.All this is brought into focus by the memory of what Sir Peter Hall created.
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Post by martin1965 on Sept 13, 2017 10:22:23 GMT
Another woeful announcement. A revival of their mothballed nepotistic King Lear and packed around it, Britain's weakest female directors. Polly Findlay? Maria Aberg? Jo Davies? Erica Whyman? None of them have ever delivered a decent show. The Arts Council of Great Britain should put the RSC out of our misery. Not a fan then?😂
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Post by David J on Sept 13, 2017 11:13:11 GMT
Again I defend Maria Aberg's As You Like It as one of the most joyous productions I've seen in the past few years. Funny that it was on just before Gregory Doran took over. Feels like it marked the end of an era at the RSC.
But yeah, otherwise it feels like Maria Aberg got lucky with that production and has never lived up it since.
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Post by cirque on Sept 13, 2017 11:16:46 GMT
true.
Do you think RSC is converting the target young audience though.....are they now flocking to Stratford out of school time..?
They seem to think they are,so,if thats now the stated aim it seems to be fine.
So much for Greg saying....I will put SHAKESPEARE back into RSC.
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Post by Jan on Sept 13, 2017 11:31:36 GMT
Another woeful announcement. A revival of their mothballed nepotistic King Lear and packed around it, Britain's weakest female directors. Polly Findlay? Maria Aberg? Jo Davies? Erica Whyman? None of them have ever delivered a decent show. The Arts Council of Great Britain should put the RSC out of our misery. I thought the Findlay/Ecclestone "Antigone" at NT was excellent. Agree on Aberg, she should never have been let back in after her ridiculous "King John".
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Post by David J on Sept 13, 2017 11:46:08 GMT
I think a great Shakespeare production starts with the director and the cast understanding the text and conveying that to the audience.
The language barrier is after all what can turn anybody off. Before he took over Gregory Doran was actually my favourite Shakespeare director because his casts clearly what they were talking about delivering the text.
But as you say trying to make Shakespeare as accessible as possible has become the priority of the main house productions to a detriment. The Roman productions this year seemed to consist of actors delivering the lines as clearly as possible with no real feeling. It was telling when to me Andrew Woodall was one of the few who actually gave a damn playing Julius Caesar and Enobarbus.
And Andrew Jackson had been given directorship of this season and I have seen way better productions from him. Iqbal Khan as well. Okay, Gregory Doran needs some oversight but give your directors some leeway at the reins
I may sound like I prefer a different RSC era, but you also need a Shakespeare production that is creative as well as clear. You can say the same for any production really, and there's always a place for recreating Ancient Rome on stage but this is a leading Shakespeare company we're talking about here that should be encouraging new and exciting interpretations of Shakespeare, like the Almeida's Hamlet.
After 10 years going to Stratford, I am sticking to seeing the main house productions at the cinema (except perhaps the winter show). If you want creativity, see the shows in the Swan Theatre.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 13, 2017 14:32:39 GMT
Greg Doran seems to be stuck between a rock and a hard place, some say he is too hands on but when he delegates a whole season people don't seem to like it either. The artistic director's role is always a hard one to judge between the administrator and the director role especially when they have a high profile deputy as Greg has in Erica Whyman.
You could argue that Greg and Erica should direct at least one possibly two plays each every season and when two plays are due to open close together then other directors are brought in. Also at the RSC they are constrained by the plays they can present and Greg would be unlikely to revisit one his has done earlier in his term as AD.
I do wonder if maybe Greg was Assistant AD for too long before he became AD hence he had used up a lot of his fresher ideas by the time he became AD. If he had got the role when Michael Boyd did then things may have been fresher or if he had taken over earlier. Perhaps Michael was more of an Administrator and planner whilst Greg is better as a hands on director as they seemed to work well together during Michael's tenure.
Does anyone know how long Greg's contract is for as I doubt it would be open ended?
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Post by lucky700 on Sept 13, 2017 16:34:04 GMT
Again I defend Maria Aberg's As You Like It as one of the most joyous productions I've seen in the past few years. Funny that it was on just before Gregory Doran took over. Feels like it marked the end of an era at the RSC. But yeah, otherwise it feels like Maria Aberg got lucky with that production and has never lived up it since. I think it was a combination of things. Right actors, play and director. I liked their King John as well mind you. But no nothing has reached the heights since. However, she has been busy with a baby or two I recent years so probably not her first concern.
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Post by David J on Sept 13, 2017 17:23:05 GMT
I liked their King John as well mind you. A controversial production amongst some people on this board. I'm with you though. In fact I'd rather see it over the 2015 Globe production, even if it was perhaps the better of two, just because it was so out of left field
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Post by lucky700 on Sept 13, 2017 17:36:06 GMT
I liked their King John as well mind you. A controversial production amongst some people on this board. I'm with you though. In fact I'd rather see it over the 2015 Globe production, even if it was perhaps the better of two, just because it was so out of left field Saw that too. It was fine. Not a great play but the Aberg one was just crazy it perked me up. The working relationship of Aberg/Waldmann/Nixon made them and particularly AYLI into what it was. How much Aberg contributed in that trifecta is unknown. I would like to see Waldmann and Nixon together in something directed by someone else. I would venture that was a special combination for all three.
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Sept 13, 2017 17:57:54 GMT
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Post by lynette on Sept 13, 2017 17:57:54 GMT
Yeah that King John. Controversial. Or terrible. Happy to hear about her growing family.
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