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Post by PalelyLaura on Oct 21, 2016 12:45:36 GMT
Love Cherry Jones, but this production did nothing new with the play at all. Does anyone know why it is garlanded as being revolutionary in some way? Aside from there being "oil" around the set, and Laura coming out of a settee at the start? Has anyone said it was revolutionary as opposed to being very good, full of psychological detail and emotional intensity? Your objection, that it presented the piece as Tennessee Williams intended it, might be a plus point for many. Yep - personally, as I've never seen the play before, a more "traditional" production would be my preferred choice.
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Post by PalelyLaura on Oct 19, 2016 9:48:16 GMT
A year or so back we went to Buxton Opera House to see Miss Nightingale it was 2nd to last ever performance and there was only about 20-30 people in the stalls. It made me feel really uncomfortable and I almost felt I had to over egg my laughing and clapping. I deserved an olivier award for my performance as enjoying patron!! I'm sure it must make it harder for performers playing to an almost empty house. I hope the last show ever was full of family and friends so it got a good send off. Oh, I saw Miss Nightingale! I saw it at the Leicester Square Theatre and I thought it was great, sad to hear it had such a small audience in Buxton. Luckily there were a few more people when I saw it in London.
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Post by PalelyLaura on Oct 18, 2016 8:54:41 GMT
Saw this last night as part of that cheap lastminute.com deal. I was in the back row of the stalls, but the theatre is so small I had a great view, all I missed was the top of some of the projections, which I don't have a problem with at all (how creepy were they? Why did they think it was a good idea to project a massive child's head onto the back of the stage?).
I sort-of-enjoyed this. I liked the music but it could have been better - I liked the rock style but the songs weren't different enough from one another. I loved Ramin, obviously, and I was impressed with Kerry Ellis too (this is the first thing I've ever seen her in). Victoria Hamilton-Barritt was amazing, but I wasn't that impressed with Norman Bowman. I didn't think his voice was very good, though his acting was fine.
I agree that the characters weren't really fleshed out enough for us to care about them. In particular I didn't see what was so "bad" about Tom that he was labelled the "bad boy". I mean, yes he broke Sara's heart, but does that make him "bad"? Really?
I also spent a lot of time wondering what Sara was supposed to do for a living. Okay, she was a housewife and mother with Michael, but what did she do when she was with Tom the first time around? How did she pay her rent? Having a job or a subject of study might have made her a more rounded character...
I didn't think there was much chemistry between the leads, but I put that down to the heavily choreographed movement. I liked the ending, but I thought it ended way too abruptly.
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Post by PalelyLaura on Oct 10, 2016 12:33:00 GMT
Same here. Brilliant day. Chekhov is my favourite playwright and these productions reinforced why. They brought the whole cast and crew on stage right at the end. Several standing ovations including an enthusiastic one from me. Loved every minute. Where were you sitting? I had my badge on! Great, eh? C11 in the stalls. I had my badge on too but I kept forgetting to look out for others wearing them - think the plays left me a bit dazed!
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Post by PalelyLaura on Oct 9, 2016 8:54:08 GMT
Same here. Brilliant day. Chekhov is my favourite playwright and these productions reinforced why.
They brought the whole cast and crew on stage right at the end. Several standing ovations including an enthusiastic one from me. Loved every minute.
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Post by PalelyLaura on Oct 4, 2016 8:33:04 GMT
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Post by PalelyLaura on Oct 3, 2016 15:49:17 GMT
Some friends were at Ghost in Sunderland last week, and they said somebody got kicked out for smoking an e-cigarette :-O E-cigarettes are treated like cigarettes in theatres so it's not surprising Oh, I wasn't surprised they got kicked out, I was surprised they were smoking e-cigs in the first place. Well, not THAT surprised, given what else people get up to in theatres!
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Post by PalelyLaura on Oct 3, 2016 12:42:50 GMT
Anyone going to the Chekovs on Saturday 8th? I'm doing all three. I will be wearing my badge. I wore it tonight at The Threepenny Opera but no takers as it were. Was anyone there? Me! I'll wear my badge too. Whereabouts are you sitting? I'm in the stalls Row C - can't wait, I love Chekhov!
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Post by PalelyLaura on Oct 3, 2016 12:10:49 GMT
Some friends were at Ghost in Sunderland last week, and they said somebody got kicked out for smoking an e-cigarette :-O
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Post by PalelyLaura on Oct 3, 2016 10:47:21 GMT
They have tickets on TodayTix so if you can find a £10 discount code that might help?
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Post by PalelyLaura on Sept 29, 2016 5:59:21 GMT
Me six!
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Post by PalelyLaura on Sept 20, 2016 10:38:39 GMT
Someone I know on social media was at the performance last night and says it will be back in London as a new set has been commissioned (I don't know how she knows this, and I know it's very vague!).
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Post by PalelyLaura on Sept 20, 2016 5:48:48 GMT
Ha, I was in that nest A5 last night! Fantastic swat for the price. Just as well I only paid £10 as the play was sooo dull. Brilliant cast but I was still bored for most of it.
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Post by PalelyLaura on Sept 19, 2016 12:41:11 GMT
I had the same problem, Marwood. Still, got a ticket eventually, despite the rather stressful experience of having to partake in a phone meeting at work while trying to book my ticket at the same time!
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Post by PalelyLaura on Sept 16, 2016 15:20:02 GMT
I saw Oliver Ryan as Faustus when I was at the RSC. Considering I really didn't like Maria Aberg's White Devil, I liked her production of this play. It's a flawed work but I thought she did a good job on it.
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Post by PalelyLaura on Sept 16, 2016 9:55:05 GMT
There's a cat cafe in Newcastle called 'Mog on the Tyne'. Full marks for the name :-D
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Post by PalelyLaura on Sept 14, 2016 14:50:44 GMT
So I've been trying to get my thoughts together since I saw Groundhog Day last night. I've never seen the film and I'd assumed it was a comedy, but the production was a lot darker (at least in the second half) and had much more depth than I'd expected. I started off thinking that I wasn't going to like the show. During the first fifteen minutes or so I thought it was going to be a kind of soppy sentimental romcom. By the interval it had grown on me and I thought, "Hey, this isn't so bad". Act II blew me away. The songs were better, the plot was tighter and there just seemed to be more depth to it. Even though we see the same day repeated numerous times the show never gets boring, which impressed me. {Spoiler - click to view} When we initially meet Phil he is a rude, selfish, sarcastic asshole, but we see him grow and develop throughout the show, going from gleefully don't-carish to despairingly suicidal before finding peace and gaining a greater understanding of himself and others. The whole show hinges on Phil's character development and a lead actor could make or break it. Luckily Andy Karl is brilliant.
Talking of character development... remember the whole show takes place over the course of one day. There isn't really room for any "character development" other than Phil's because we're only seeing one day in their lives, as opposed to many, many days in Phil's life. Interest in the other characters comes mainly from Phil's perception of them and how it changes over time. An exception to this is the song Being Nancy which I LOVED - both the song itself and what it says about characters and how they are portrayed on stage (particularly female characters).
This song also serves to emphasise how the "Groundhog Day" phenomenon isn't just something that actually happens to Phil, it's a metaphor for how many people live, repeating the same thing day in day out, consciously or unconsciously. Act II's "suicide song" really brought this home. I actually found this section really upsetting. As someone who has suffered from depression and felt suicidal in the past it brought back to me just how much depression really does feel like "Groundhog Day" in that you feel that you can't escape from your feelings and the only way out is to die. It probably sounds ridiculous but I felt really emotional during this song and a bit shaky, to be honest. I mean all this as a compliment - only really powerful theatre can have this much of an effect. It was really unexpected, too - as I mentioned, I thought Groundhog Day was meant to be a comedy! Yes, there are some funny scenes especially in Act I, and the suicide scenes are blackly comic, but still pretty dark. If you think about it, being forced to repeat the same day over and over again with no idea when, if ever, it would come to an end would surely be akin to torture.
I was so much more engaged with Act II and I found the ending very satisfying: Phil has really grown as a person and I ultimately found the show uplifting and full of hope, a reminder that it's important to care about others and life is more satisfying when you can form meaningful relationships with other people. I didn't feel like Phil got the girl as a "prize", I thought his happiness with Rita was hard won and came at the cost of months (years?) of genuine suffering and personal growth. I would like to see this show again, if possible, but not for a while. I honestly don't think I could cope emotionally. I would like a cast recording, too - I didn't exactly come out humming any of the songs (something I rarely do anyway after just one listen/viewing) but there were several which I think could really grow on me.
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Post by PalelyLaura on Sept 14, 2016 14:33:40 GMT
Exactly, I can understand why they *need* to charge those prices, but I see at least 3 shows a week normally and to afford that I rarely spend more than £20 on a ticket. I'm lucky enough to live in London, and to have a decent job, but that doesn't mean I can just splash out £35 on a theatre ticket unless I really, REALLY want to see a show.
If I went to the theatre only once or twice a year, I'm sure I'd see £35, even £50 or more as perfectly reasonable.
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Post by PalelyLaura on Sept 14, 2016 10:37:00 GMT
Going to wait for the transfer (fingers crossed one happens) as I don't really want to splash out £35!
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Post by PalelyLaura on Sept 13, 2016 9:14:52 GMT
I saw Ashley Day in BOM too, he was in the Oklahoma tour last year as well and he was excellent. Will definitely be catching this if he is in it
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Post by PalelyLaura on Sept 13, 2016 9:01:49 GMT
The original book is superb too.
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Post by PalelyLaura on Sept 13, 2016 8:19:27 GMT
Seeing this tonight - never seen the film but thought I'd give the show a try thanks to all your great reviews :-)
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Post by PalelyLaura on Sept 5, 2016 20:40:49 GMT
Came back from holiday to find my badge - looking forward to sporting it on my next theatre outing!
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Post by PalelyLaura on Aug 26, 2016 12:28:18 GMT
It's a fair point but as someone who's London based, where there is quite a lot of choice (for me, anyway), I will likely do most of my theatregoing there. Occasionally I see plays elsewhere if I'm on holiday or visiting family, but it is occasional. It's not that I hate regional theatre or anything! Just that, as people on here occasionally comment about the price of travel/overnight stays when seeing shows in London, I'd face the same issues travelling outside London. Yes, you back up my point by implying that you have no interest in reading about anything which you won't (for good reason) be able to see yourself. Two years ago, the equivalent Midsummer Mischief festival at The Other Place presented four new plays and one of those was revived this year earlier in the Festival and then transferred to the Edinburgh Fringe and is moving on next month to Shoreditch Town Hall, so I find it interesting to read about things which may come my way at a later date. And also to read about work by people who may have worked near me in the past and may work near me in the future. Personally I try to read every post on this forum. I don't see the point in replying to a post about a play I'm unlikely to see, if all I have to say about it is "I would see it if I could".
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Post by PalelyLaura on Aug 26, 2016 12:23:09 GMT
I'd definitely be interested in seeing this. I studied The Glass Menagerie for A Level and didn't particularly like it, but Tennessee Williams has grown on me since, and I've never actually seen a production of this play.
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Post by PalelyLaura on Aug 19, 2016 17:48:18 GMT
I LOVE The Little Mermaid, it's my favourite Disney film, and I can't imagine anyone better than Lin-Manuel Miranda to co-write songs. So excited for this!
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Post by PalelyLaura on Aug 19, 2016 14:01:07 GMT
I think Fun House would be better at somewhere like the Dorfman. I would LOVE a Fun House musical. I wonder who they'd get to play Pat Sharp? (sorry, couldn't resist!)
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Post by PalelyLaura on Aug 19, 2016 12:27:08 GMT
A fuller response to my experience of Cursed Child on Wednesday:
I thought the show (I keep describing it as one show even though it's in two parts) excelled in terms of stagecraft and in terms of relationships between the characters. I was in the second row of the stalls so I could often glimpse how they were doing some of the tricks - the Polyjuice Potion for instance, and the Patronus - but I didn't find that this detracted from my enjoyment. From further back I would imagine that this would be very impressive indeed.
Jamie Parker is just wonderful. He IS Harry Potter. His performance was so moving especially in the second part. The scene when they all watch Harry's parents getting killed just broke me. Hermione and Ron were great too. Noma Dumezweni was very dry and sarcastic and this really suited the character. Paul Thornley was great too, so funny.
I LOVE the character of Scorpius. Albus was annoying at first (the character not the actor) but he grew on me. Delphine interesting at first but I wasn't impressed during Part II. Her character was a bit pantomime and not that scary or convincing.
This play is really about fathers and sons and their relationships. Yes, the male characters are to the fore and this should probably annoy me but it doesn't. If it had been written as a novel I'm sure the female characters would feature much more. As it's a play, they've got to focus on the bits most relevant to the plot. The last scene with Harry and Albus nearly made me cry and I enjoyed seeing how their relationship developed during the play: same with Scorpius and Draco, and even Harry and Draco.
My biggest problem with Cursed Child is the plot. I don't believe Voldemort would ever have consented to have a child. Bellatrix, yes, she'd think it an honour to carry the Dark Lord's heir. V, though... for one, I can't imagine him ever doing something as human as have sex. Some people have argued the child could have been conceived by magic, but I still don't buy Voldemort agreeing. He wanted to make himself immortal and he believed that he had done so - why would he need an heir? Why would he want a potential rival? From what I've read, I'm in the minority on this but it's a big flaw as far as I'm concerned.
Seeing the show in mid-August, I wondered if most audience members would have read the book but by the sounds of it, they hadn't. It was a brilliant audience - quiet and attentive when it mattered, applause at the beginning of each part (because we're Potter fans and we're so excited!) and at crucial moments - Snape Stunning Umbridge got a big cheer. Laughter at the funniest lines and a gasp when it was revealed that Cedric killed Neville in one of the timelines. It was lovely to be part of an audience that was so engaged, and not a ringing phone to be heard!
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Post by PalelyLaura on Aug 19, 2016 12:04:13 GMT
I'm not knowledgeable enough to comment on the wider context of "queer-baiting" but when I saw HP on Wednesday I definitely thought Albus and Scorpius could be heading towards a relationship. Scorpius asking out Rose at the end doesn't make a difference to me. It's entirely possible he could be bisexual. Ron and Hermione were still "just friends" when they were 14 - A & S could get together in a few years' time.
That said, the "intense friendship" theory is entirely plausible.
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Post by PalelyLaura on Aug 19, 2016 11:03:05 GMT
I've updated my profile pic since I've recently gone blonde (blonde hair hides the greys better than brown, sob).
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