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Post by samuelwhiskers on Dec 6, 2022 23:45:06 GMT
Can we open a book on who the rest of the cast will be?
Put a fiver on Simon Russell Beale, Rosy McEwen, and Mr Blobby.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Dec 6, 2022 16:36:38 GMT
Well this is a lot of fun but fundamentally a fairly shallow piece of theatre. Feels more like a concept, or someone who just finished their “Experimental Theatre” module at drama college wanting to shove in everything they learned, rather than an actual play. I feel like I’m being harsh because it was entertaining and some of the lines are extremely funny. The ending where Orlando learns of their writer’s suicide and the knowledge they will have to live on indefinitely without Woolf’s pen to guide them is very affecting. It certainly makes important points about gender, transphobia, sexism and treatment of women and gender non-conforming people. That’s a valuable voice and point of view we don’t see much in the West End. But I didn’t get more than a very superficial sense of plot or character. Corrin has huge charisma and stage presence but I’d love to see them in a role with more of a really juicy proper character to get their teeth into.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Dec 5, 2022 21:41:40 GMT
Oh wow I am not organised enough to have thought to look it up. Not that I don’t quite enjoy the randomness of “Will I get anything today?” However if anyone from the NT is reading I would like more free raspberry croissants pls.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Dec 5, 2022 18:02:12 GMT
Amex also gets you a free pastry with purchase of coffee. I didn't know that! Where and how? The little snack bar thing with all the salads that’s directly to the left of the NT Bookshop (not the self-contained restaurant through the doorway, the one by the windows with the round white tables). It seems somewhat vague. I’m not sure if it’s an offer that’s only active at certain times or if it’s just that they don’t always notice or offer, but I’ve been given free blueberry pastel de nata a few times when buying coffee on my Amex.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Dec 5, 2022 14:28:32 GMT
Amex also gets you a free pastry with purchase of coffee.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Dec 4, 2022 23:22:45 GMT
Woolwich Works (the arts centre next door) does the absolute finest rum punch I have ever tasted, and I’m saying that from a position of substantial experience. Not sure how much but I just checked their online menu and other cocktails are listed at £6.50.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Dec 3, 2022 18:00:13 GMT
I’ve said a million times they had a transfer in place. You are incorrect. They didn’t have any theatre lined up yet, so nothing was in place. They wanted to transfer it, but that’s all. I think they will by the way. They will only need Elton J to do some publicity for it and that will help a lot. They need time to work on the book, cut a few songs and improve the design. Happy to wait for the announcement.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Dec 3, 2022 17:12:53 GMT
No, that’s just not correct at all. Jerry Springer’s final performance at the NT was on 30th Sept and it started previews in the West End on 14th October. They announced and started selling tickets for the West End run in early July, nearly two months before the NT run finished. They could not have rushed it into the West End faster. Besides Jerry Springer was a very controversial show, that started life as a small fringe show. Not sure if that’s a good comparison. Though JS still ran for a couple of years in the West End and won four Oliviers. Perhaps your memory is better than mine but I remember quite a lull between the transfer, not to mention, next to zero publicity. I know you claim otherwise and I hope you are right that a transfer really is in place but until a theatre/dates are announced I will remain sceptical. This strategy of not maximising on the opening publicity/a mostly sold-out run is risky. If they announce before year's end, fair enough. But something seems odd here and most theatres now have tenants on the books between now and next autumn. Sad to feel so sceptical but there it is. Are you getting it confused with another show? I just googled and found a ton of press releases and articles announcing the West End transfer published a couple of months before the NT run ended.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Dec 3, 2022 16:27:37 GMT
No, that’s just not correct at all. Jerry Springer’s final performance at the NT was on 30th Sept and it started previews in the West End on 14th October. They announced and started selling tickets for the West End run in early July, nearly two months before the NT run finished. They could not have rushed it into the West End faster.
Besides Jerry Springer was a very controversial show, that started life as a small fringe show. Not sure if that’s a good comparison. Though JS still ran for a couple of years in the West End and won four Oliviers.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Dec 3, 2022 15:39:39 GMT
I’ve said a million times they had a transfer in place. Beginning to look more like 'had' in the past tense rather than 'have'. They risk losing momentum if they do not announce something soon. It’s going to sell when (not if) it transfers regardless of what length of gap there is between runs. Best of Enemies didn’t announce their transfer for at least six months. Plenty of shows haven’t announced their transfers until after the original run ended. People get too hung up on the idea of momentum but it’s just how you market.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Dec 3, 2022 13:17:35 GMT
I’ve said a million times they had a transfer in place.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Nov 30, 2022 17:52:49 GMT
Allergies have nothing to do with being offended.
Besides it’s kind of ironic how much the mere existence of warnings triggers some people. Surely being triggered by an allergy warning is the very definition of offended by everything?
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Nov 30, 2022 13:11:16 GMT
Surely warnings for smoking are aimed at people with allergies?
People get very offended (“special snowflake” types) at signs saying there are latex balloons used in a production, but that’s because latex allergy can cause anaphylactic shock which can and does kill people.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Nov 29, 2022 21:04:59 GMT
Yes, MrBarnaby is completely on the money here. One of my closest friends is one of the designers on the new iteration of the show and was hired for this over a month ago. They wouldn’t be hiring crew if it wasn’t a done deal.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Nov 29, 2022 14:01:44 GMT
Shame I missed this. Wonder if they’ll do it again. Tried to hint that it was coming back and no one believed it. 😎 They’ve already hired crew and the crew have been told tentative dates, so it sounds (hopefully!) fairly far along in the planning stages.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Nov 28, 2022 21:25:35 GMT
I saw this yesterday and enjoyed it. It is Katie’s show and I feel she’ll be in her way to more awards. My mind wandered a little in Act 1 but thought the closing number of this act and the opening of Act 2 were the best. I still cannot remember any of the songs though, so maybe I need the cast recording to listen to. Has there been news of a transfer yet? They only ever had Katie in mind. She’s worked with Rupert G before. Cassidy Jansen would KILL this show. And not in a good way. They will transfer this with Katie and only Katie. They looked at several actors when first casting (this was several years ago), and were originally thinking of casting older. Katie is wonderful and has made the role her own.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Nov 26, 2022 18:08:06 GMT
The problem is there’s barely a person in British telly (or I suspect other areas) who’s not got a James Cordon horror story. You can’t be a diva and throw screaming tantrums on every single show you work on and not get a reputation.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Nov 25, 2022 17:07:39 GMT
Not sure how that’s relevant to the fact that some “horrifically scarred by abuse who never received treatment” people hate the book, and consider it inauthentic and exploitative misery porn.
Everyone is entitled to an opinion.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Nov 25, 2022 15:39:54 GMT
There’s a fan theory that Hades might actually be Schliemann (which seems to be based on the fact the actor playing Hades originally did the welcome bit saying “welcome to my collection”) but in some very vague and nebulous way,
Much of Punchdrunk is vague and nebulous.
I don’t think you missed anything. I’m fairly certain Schliemann is not mentioned, other than in the original Musem entry. It’s a shame because it’s an interesting slant on the story: that we’re looking back on the war and the destruction of the city from the perspective of future archeology.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Nov 25, 2022 15:29:07 GMT
The events portrayed in the book are very very similar to my own upbringing and life (except obviously I didn’t die), and the fact I have personally experienced those events is the very reason I hate the book and consider it Misery Porn.
It very obviously was written by someone without any personal experience of the things she’s writing about, and while normally I applaud writers being able to write characters very different from themselves (an able-bodied Asian-American woman raised by a father who was a respected doctor, writing a disabled white gay man raised without any family), but in this case the nature of the material coupled with the lack of authenticity made it feel deeply exploitative and shallow. Imo obviously.
Fwiw, and obviously this is anecdotal, all the people I know who experienced the same things as Jude, dislike the book. The only people I know who adore it come from very comfortable and privileged backgrounds and really do seem to see the book as a kind of dark tourism of literature. I’m sure there are exceptions. But it does seem like the most pushback against the book is coming from actual abuse survivors.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Nov 25, 2022 13:15:34 GMT
Yeah, one of the conceits of the show is that it’s based around Heinrich Schliemann, who was an amateur archaeologist in the 19th century. He was obsessed with proving that the stories Homer told were based on true historical events, and dedicated his life to this goal. He ultimately discovered the remains of the city of Troy, which at that time was considered mythical. His “work” was and remains highly controversial and although the existence of Troy is now accepted, a lot of his claims in the historical validity on Homer as a source are not. (Trojan War: Ask Me Anything!)
The original entry to Burnt City was via a “museum” that purported to be Schliemann’s collection of objects found in the remains of Troy. (The real objects were very recently in a British Museum exhibition, which was quite a neat coincidence.)
People deep into Punchdrunk lore have come up with many theories about the significance and involvement of Schliemann on the show, and why he was used as a framing device.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Nov 23, 2022 18:59:47 GMT
This is very much third hand, but I hear a production company in New York are very interested and in talks over adapting this into a feature film.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Nov 23, 2022 18:48:18 GMT
Just to bring you back, you wrote that specifically Featherstone and staff at The Royal Court reject forms of diversity. In relation to your post, if I have something constructive to respond with, I will. That’s my personal experience of the meetings I’ve had with Vicky, and my experience of having worked at the RC. Obviously I’m not going to go into detail as to the specifics of those meetings.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Nov 23, 2022 15:24:45 GMT
It’s really an industry wide problem that diversity is framed in terms of what’s trendy and without looking at what barriers exist.
Right now a ton of lower level support is being thrown at queer and trans artists (Vault Festival is being criticised for programming a million queer shows but few non-white artists), but the only LGBTQ shows that get mainstream programming tend to be about white cis-gay men, in plays that tell very traditional and cliched narratives.
Minorities that aren’t considered “trendy” don’t get a look in. Theatre is still very hostile towards disabled writers, for example (the only recent disabled play in a mainstream venue I can think of is Amy Trig’s play, which is great but an autobiographical one-woman play performed by the writer). Class is often ignored too. The Court’s treatment of Jewish writers this year has been really bad. They could have found an easy win in programming an actual play by a Jewish playwright but instead commissioned a journalist and non-playwright to put together a verbatim devised piece.
A lot of smaller venues are programming more artists and writers of colour, which is great, but it’s almost always young black and brown writers from middle class, university-educated backgrounds, usually (not always, and not in this case, but usually) relegated to studio spaces, nearly always autobiographical or whatever trauma cliche is associated with that minority, and often rigid in what kind of stories they’re allowed to tell.
I know one theatre who recently commissioned a writer to write a play about knife crime in Lewisham, and an experienced playwright who was actually from Lewisham and grew up homeless and involved in gangs and knife crime pitched for it, but was white and the theatre couldn’t wrap their heads around a white person knowing about gangs, so they gave the commission to a young black writer who’d grown up in the middle of the Cotswolds and had just graduated from Cambridge. I don’t want to see what someone from the Cotswolds thinks about knife crime in South London. I want to see a play about what it’s like growing up black in the English countryside. Or a play from a black writer about any topic of their choosing.
I know another award-winning black playwright who was regularly asked for meetings by a major theatre, who turned down all her ideas and plays. Finally she asked, “what do you want from me, why do you keep asking to read my work but never say yes” and the LM said flat out, “Write the knife crime play and we’ll put it on.”
There’s a real problem in the assumption black writers can only write the knife crime play, LGBTQ writers can only write the Coming Out play or the AIDS play, Northern Irish writers can only write the Troubles play, Iraqi writers can only write the Iraq War play. There’s often the assumption too that minorities can only write autobiographically, and in a way that exploits and requires them to reveal significant information about their private lives and personal trauma.
If any of those writers wanted to write a purely fictional (or research-based) play about 1970s British politics, or mid-20th C painters, or the state of the railways, or a sci-fi play set on a spaceship, would anyone be interested? Would any theatre even give it consideration?
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Nov 23, 2022 12:47:02 GMT
They push diversity in certain aspects but not in others. They are very very selective in what forms of “diversity” are acceptable.
They also seem to hold an attitude which is an industry-wide problem, of assuming that regular straight plays are inherently the preserve of white men, and that anyone “diverse” can only do avant garde fringe festival type stuff.
I’ve read so many incredible plays - plays you’d swear David Hare or James Graham penned - properly structured “well made plays” - that theatres just won’t engage with because of this attitude that “diverse writers” should be making radical work and pushing boundaries in a way “non diverse” writers are not expected to do.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Nov 18, 2022 9:23:23 GMT
A lot of the information here is not quite correct. Of course sometimes unexpected things happen and choices have to be made.
But remember things are often planned months or even years ahead of being announced to the public. Best of Enemies booked its West End transfer before the original run was over, but didn’t announce it for six months.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Nov 16, 2022 10:55:02 GMT
The whole industry reads this forum - from producers casting directors to agents. It’s free feedback that would cost thousands normally Do they? No. But some (many?) do. Maybe business people do, I don’t know. Creatives are more likely to avoid reading stuff online. They’ve had the feedback about the bows directly. This forum isn’t the only place pointing that out.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Nov 8, 2022 12:45:03 GMT
This is a great play but those prices are stupid. I’ve seen this play probably two or three times over the past few years, done either by am dram or fringe companies. It’s not the kind of play that needs a West End run.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Nov 8, 2022 12:43:39 GMT
How does a first time playwright (okay she’s written one play before but it doesn’t appear to have ever been staged) get a major gig like this?
I’m all for opportunities for new writers, but putting someone completely inexperienced straight into the West End with a play not of her own creation feels like a fail all round.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Nov 7, 2022 15:00:07 GMT
Eileen Atkins is still attached IIRC, I assume it'll go to somewhere like Bath rather than a London venue. Sorry to name drop but my team had a conversation with Eileen very recently because we’re trying to get her for a different production, and she’s still attached to 4000 Miles which is in talks with another venue.
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