134 posts
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Post by Mr Crummles on Feb 9, 2017 18:00:53 GMT
Medea was one of the best productions I've seen in the Olivier. . I agree, and remember being so surprised that Helen McCrory never got nominated for the Olivier. I would have given her the award that year.
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117 posts
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Post by edmundokeano on Feb 10, 2017 8:48:45 GMT
Medea was one of the best productions I've seen in the Olivier. Dunno why I said 'outrageously'; maybe I was recalling reactions at the time. Really? Goodness. One of the best? Ever? Wow. Well I'll give it this. It was certainly better than that abominable mess at the Almeida with Kate Fleetwood. That really was a disappointment....
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617 posts
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Post by loureviews on Feb 11, 2017 10:20:06 GMT
That's subjective though, I thought it worked very well and could equally present my opinion as bald fact if I were that way inclined. I thought the NT Medea was superb personally but not presenting that as a fact. Just shows how we all have different tastes, as with this Hedda.
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Post by Honoured Guest on Feb 11, 2017 10:24:59 GMT
No, you all have the same taste (mine). But most of you just haven't realised it yet.
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2,389 posts
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Post by peggs on Feb 12, 2017 17:38:22 GMT
I'm coming out in favour of this, my expectations were practicually floor level, was most excited about meeting up with friend and getting my hands on cursed child programme than going to see play but whilst I took quite a while to warm to this by the end i was in some sort of shocked starring state (and gloriously splashed in tomato juice). I found the approach really quite different to my previous Hedda's, not sure the modern staging, use of wide open set etc. but the different portrayal of Brack and Tesman. This Brack was threatening from the start, I found his 'change' quite plausible as he seemed so creepy, sinister. Had forgotten to look out for and missed the funny walk, but i remember stuff Spall has done on tv when he was evil and menacing and for me he can really do this. Tesman was not the usual sort of head in the clouds husband i've seen before, he knew how unhappy his wife was and wasn't so happy himself, again this worked for me. Ditto liked Sinead Matthews. Love Ruth Wilson, yes she was pretty unappealing from the off but so obviously unhappy, i felt for her, was horrified by the closing net on her.
Direction wise tick from me as a different way of doing this great play, i loved the great wash of flower scent when they all went flying and the sparseness of their apartment. Front row was harrowing at the end, all that sort of torturous tom juice, there seemed all these new awful possibilities about what Brack might be ready to demand from Hedda.
Possibly their gunfire notice should have contained splash warning for front row and firing pistol bits flying out and hitting audience though i admit for me this gloriously added to my experience, i do like to feel involved!
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515 posts
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Post by callum on Feb 12, 2017 23:12:19 GMT
I'm coming out in favour of this, my expectations were practicually floor level, was most excited about meeting up with friend and getting my hands on cursed child programme than going to see play but whilst I took quite a while to warm to this by the end i was in some sort of shocked starring state (and gloriously splashed in tomato juice). I found the approach really quite different to my previous Hedda's, not sure the modern staging, use of wide open set etc. but the different portrayal of Brack and Tesman. This Brack was threatening from the start, I found his 'change' quite plausible as he seemed so creepy, sinister. Had forgotten to look out for and missed the funny walk, but i remember stuff Spall has done on tv when he was evil and menacing and for me he can really do this. Tesman was not the usual sort of head in the clouds husband i've seen before, he knew how unhappy his wife was and wasn't so happy himself, again this worked for me. Ditto liked Sinead Matthews. Love Ruth Wilson, yes she was pretty unappealing from the off but so obviously unhappy, i felt for her, was horrified by the closing net on her. Direction wise tick from me as a different way of doing this great play, i loved the great wash of flower scent when they all went flying and the sparseness of their apartment. Front row was harrowing at the end, all that sort of torturous tom juice, there seemed all these new awful possibilities about what Brack might be ready to demand from Hedda. Possibly their gunfire notice should have contained splash warning for front row and firing pistol bits flying out and hitting audience though i admit for me this gloriously added to my experience, i do like to feel involved! I'm genuinely not being facetious - sitting in the front row this week, will my clothes be safe?!
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Post by Honoured Guest on Feb 12, 2017 23:13:37 GMT
Best not to wear any, if you want to be on the safe side.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 12, 2017 23:59:45 GMT
Your clothes will be safe. The tomato juice is very directed. You might get hit by flowers but there didn't seem to be any lilies or anything else that would cause a terrible stain.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 13, 2017 11:42:12 GMT
Mixed feelings about this. Just from an aesthetic point, I thought it was absolutely beautiful - almost designed to make amazing production photos!
This is one of my favourite plays and I don't like it when Hedda is played as too 'nice' or sympathetic - she is bored out of her brain and stultified in a society that doesn't know what to do with intelligent women, so of course she's in a foul mood and not particularly affectionate towards the husband who is probably less bright than she is. So I loved Ruth Wilson's performance in isolation from the production, and I also thought the other performances were very strong and interesting - done quite differently from other productions I've seen in somecases, which felt fresh.
What I thought was missing though is a strong sense of why Hedda is so bored, fed up and self-destructive; Ibsen's proto-feminism seems to have disappeared almost completely. Without it, Hedda comes across as a terrible attention-seeking brat or someone with a diagnosable mental illness.
I really liked this and I think it's a strong, valid take so no complaints at all; but for me it misses what's driving the whole dynamic of the play.
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2,811 posts
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Post by couldileaveyou on Feb 13, 2017 20:53:43 GMT
End of act one and I'm really enjoying it so far, I didn't find Ruth unsympathetic at all. Also, I didn't remember it to be so ironic.
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2,811 posts
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Post by couldileaveyou on Feb 13, 2017 22:54:36 GMT
Yeah, I liked it. I liked it so much that I was very surprised to see that some people didn't come back for act two. I thought Ruth was great and so was the rest of the cast (I wasn't crazy about Aunt J). I remember Sinéad Matthews from Evening at the talk house, she was the only good thing in it, isn't it incredible how much her voice sounds like Bernadette Peters'?
I really liked the direction, I liked how everybody slowly turned against Hedda in the last few minutes, it was very effective. I went to see it with very low expectations and ended up loving it.
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2,389 posts
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Post by peggs on Feb 14, 2017 17:26:05 GMT
I'm genuinely not being facetious - sitting in the front row this week, will my clothes be safe?! You'll be fine, you might get hit by a flower but that's a rather sweet smelling experience, the tomato flick was only as I was directly in front of the actors when it occurred, sort of downwards action rather than spraying out and bathing the front row and in truth it hit my shoes and a wee sprinkling on trousers, am sure it will come out now problem, looks very watering. So fear not I was being a tad dramatic.
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515 posts
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Post by callum on Feb 14, 2017 18:50:08 GMT
Ha, thank you Peggs! Looking forward to it!
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Post by Honoured Guest on Feb 14, 2017 23:09:06 GMT
wee sprinkling on trousers, am sure it will come out now problem No, urine leaves a stain.
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4,799 posts
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Post by The Matthew on Feb 15, 2017 10:29:18 GMT
Research into the use of mordants in the dyeing industry. I hope.
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2,389 posts
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Post by peggs on Feb 15, 2017 14:29:10 GMT
wee sprinkling on trousers, am sure it will come out now problem No, urine leaves a stain. I guess I asked for that Honoured Guest, I think such an occurrence might have dampened by view considerably.
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5,585 posts
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Post by lynette on Feb 15, 2017 16:25:21 GMT
Yeah, I liked it. I liked it so much that I was very surprised to see that some people didn't come back for act two. I thought Ruth was great and so was the rest of the cast (I wasn't crazy about Aunt J). I remember Sinéad Matthews from Evening at the talk house, she was the only good thing in it, isn't it incredible how much her voice sounds like Bernadette Peters'? I really liked the direction, I liked how everybody slowly turned against Hedda in the last few minutes, it was very effective. I went to see it with very low expectations and ended up loving it. Actually I can understand people leaving. It is a play that depends on your knowing or feeling that disaster for Hedda looms big. And they didn't really achieve that.
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1,037 posts
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Post by jgblunners on Feb 25, 2017 14:56:47 GMT
Just seen that Entry Pass members can buy Circle tickets to the NT Live dress rehearsal for this, at 2pm on the 8th of March. Looks like none of the tickets have sold yet - just nabbed myself the centre of the front row!
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462 posts
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Post by djdan14 on Feb 28, 2017 7:02:33 GMT
Has a tour been announced for this? It's just been announced to be playing Hull when the New theatre reopens in November.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 28, 2017 10:19:05 GMT
Has a tour been announced for this? It's just been announced to be playing Hull when the New theatre reopens in November. Think you might be onto something... Just announced here also... www.thelowry.com/event/hedda-gabler1Unlikely that Ruth Wilson, Rafe Spall and Kyle Soller will be packing their suitcases I imagine?
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Post by Honoured Guest on Feb 28, 2017 10:33:22 GMT
NT has tour in its Whats On: www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/shows/hedda-gabler-on-tourDates for twelve venues, with further dates to be announced. This is a bold and generous act by the NT. Respect, Rufus! Selfishly, I hope that Cardiff or Bath are amongst the future dates.
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984 posts
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Post by nash16 on Feb 28, 2017 14:46:36 GMT
Has a tour been announced for this? It's just been announced to be playing Hull when the New theatre reopens in November. Think you might be onto something... Just announced here also... www.thelowry.com/event/hedda-gabler1Unlikely that Ruth Wilson, Rafe Spall and Kyle Soller will be packing their suitcases I imagine? Nope, a brand new cast in all roles.
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Post by Honoured Guest on Feb 28, 2017 15:09:15 GMT
Is the present NT cast completely different from the original New York cast? Or did some actors transfer to London? It's been recast once so why not again? I think this is about the most exciting and unexpected tour news for nearly ever.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 28, 2017 15:15:09 GMT
Has a tour been announced for this? It's just been announced to be playing Hull when the New theatre reopens in November. Think you might be onto something... Just announced here also... www.thelowry.com/event/hedda-gabler1Unlikely that Ruth Wilson, Rafe Spall and Kyle Soller will be packing their suitcases I imagine? That would be a real shame if they didn't. I didn't really think that much of the show but I think if more "names" did a few tours every now and then, it could bring more people into the theatre. I didn't think much of Sheridan Smith in 'Funny Girl' but you've got to hand it to her for schlepping round the country showing her Fanny to the masses.
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Post by Honoured Guest on Feb 28, 2017 15:30:40 GMT
Maybe it's better to bring a completely new set of actors to recreate Ivo van Hove's concept, instead of bringing back one or two of the previous cast? Does anyone know if any of the NT South Bank cast had played it in New York? Those three actors aren't "names" known to most people and the NT usually promotes its tours on the basis of the NT and not on the cast. Obviously we all want to see an able cast but I don't think it will matter to most people if there's a complete refresh. And a partial recast could unbalance people's reactions, with some audiences paying undue attention to the old hands.
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Post by bordeaux on Feb 28, 2017 20:01:51 GMT
Is the present NT cast completely different from the original New York cast? Or did some actors transfer to London? It's been recast once so why not again? I think this is about the most exciting and unexpected tour news for nearly ever. Yes, he often recasts plays, does the same play in different languages. This is an advert for Vu du Pont, still doing the rounds in France. All looks fascinatingly familiar. www.theatre-odeon.eu/fr/spectacles/vu-du-pontClick on En vidéo.
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Post by frosty on Mar 9, 2017 22:31:18 GMT
Anyone else watch this with NT Live tonight? I thought it was good, although I didn't know anything about the play, but Ruth Wilson gave the ending away when she was on Graham Norton on Radio 2 the weekend, so it's a shame that I was watching it knowing what was coming up. But hey ho, I do like these NT live screenings, it's nice for people like me who don't live in London to see these productions, and it's probably not something I would make the effort to go and see live when there's so much other stuff on my list. And it is a National Theatre, so all credit to them for attracting people outside of London.
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893 posts
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Post by vdcni on Mar 17, 2017 9:08:32 GMT
Saw this last night and not sure what to make of it.
I loved Ruth Wilson, thought she did a great job with Hedda but that's pretty much all I liked.
Wasn't keen on Marber's version but that's par for the course with him - I wish he wouldn't pop up so much at the National. Thought the direction was heavy handed and obscured the meaning rather than illuminated it as he did with View From The Bridge.
And then usually excellent actors like Soller, Spall and Matthews were left floundering. Soller and Matthews in the Glass Menagerie a few years ago were glorious together, here he was anonymous and her's was less a performance than one long whine. The less said about Spall's panto turn the better, laughable rather than chilling.
The last time I saw it Sheridan Smith looked uncomfortable in a fantastic production, here the exact opposite.
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Post by nash16 on Mar 17, 2017 10:10:46 GMT
Saw this last night and not sure what to make of it. I loved Ruth Wilson, thought she did a great job with Hedda but that's pretty much all I liked. Wasn't keen on Marber's version but that's par for the course with him - I wish he wouldn't pop up so much at the National. Thought the direction was heavy handed and obscured the meaning rather than illuminated it as he did with View From The Bridge. And then usually excellent actors like Soller, Spall and Matthews were left floundering. Soller and Matthews in the Glass Menagerie a few years ago were glorious together, here he was anonymous and her's was less a performance than one long whine. The less said about Spall's panto turn the better, laughable rather than chilling. The last time I saw it Sheridan Smith looked uncomfortable in a fantastic production, here the exact opposite. Agree with your Rafe Spall comment. He was appalling in it. And has been nominated for an Olivier now? So they've validated his OTT performance and bizarre physicality and shouting as something for performers to look up to? He and Chuk Iwuji really deflated the realism of the piece in the 2nd half.
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Post by theatrefan77 on Mar 17, 2017 12:53:37 GMT
I was there yesterday too. Rafe Spall wasn't that bad imho, if anything he's miscast as Brack. It probably would have been better as Tesman but I wouldn't call his performance as Brack appalling. He's a fine actor and did an excellent job in Constellations.
I thought Ruth Wilson was excellent in this and is a serious contender for the Olivier Award. For me it's between her and Billie Piper and I'll be happy with either of them winning.
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