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Post by oxfordsimon on May 14, 2024 11:52:21 GMT
I saw it at the National and really admired the play.
O'Casey is a writer that I would like to direct at some point - though I would have to do a lot of work first. His characters are brilliantly drawn.
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Post by oxfordsimon on May 13, 2024 20:36:12 GMT
Ah yes. Tom Holland's background of Kingston and then Wimbledon will have given deep personal insight into London Gang culture.
I know it's acting
But couldn't they have come up with something a bit more original?
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Post by oxfordsimon on May 13, 2024 18:27:02 GMT
Loreen won last year with a performance that excluded the audience in the hall due to the design.
And it is the TV audience that votes in their millions rather the thousands in the venue.
I thought it was a really striking visual presentation. And designed to impact on the audience that matters.
They clearly didn't respond. But I don't think the staging caused that by being television focused
The explicit sexuality may well have put off some. But politics is likely to have done more.
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Post by oxfordsimon on May 13, 2024 18:20:13 GMT
It does look groundbreaking
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Post by oxfordsimon on May 12, 2024 21:56:48 GMT
I was a contemporary of hers at Oxford and she was all the rage for her daring Sex plays
How innocent we were back in the late 80s!
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Post by oxfordsimon on May 3, 2024 10:08:21 GMT
No and then more no.
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Post by oxfordsimon on May 1, 2024 22:59:19 GMT
Nothing I said limits the freedom of the director to create. But you have to respect the score and the contribution that makes to creating the character.
Respecting doesn't mean slavish recreation of the original. But if you go too far from what was written, you have to expect comment and criticism.
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Post by oxfordsimon on May 1, 2024 21:54:25 GMT
I have played Charles in Pippin and the music for that number is not enhanced by interpolated riffs and embellishments.
The score reflects the regimented nature of the character and his approach to life as a direct contrast to his rather wafty son.
So riffs are not a valid choice for this song.
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Post by oxfordsimon on Apr 29, 2024 22:57:19 GMT
Tom Littler was Oxford not Cambridge...
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Post by oxfordsimon on Apr 26, 2024 19:07:58 GMT
This form of protest is targeted at the wrong people.
It costs people enjoying a treat at the theatre and ruins what should be a memorable event.
It does not get positive publicity for the environmental cause. It creates anger towards the protests and that sets back positive engagement on the issues they claim to represent.
I was reading earlier about the people who target SUVs by letting down tyres. They don't care that some people need larger vehicles because of caring/transport issues. I really don't like the increase in use of larger vehicles in urban settings but I do know that for some people there isn't a viable alternative.
Again this sort of unfair targeting does harm to public discourse on environmental matters.
Disrupting theatre, damaging works of art and such stunts do not help the green agenda.
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Post by oxfordsimon on Apr 25, 2024 21:35:29 GMT
It is a very short run.
So it might attract enough.
I won't be making the effort. I like Shakespeare because of the words!
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Post by oxfordsimon on Apr 24, 2024 15:34:27 GMT
I do love me some Marschner
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Post by oxfordsimon on Apr 23, 2024 22:46:32 GMT
Is this a record for the number of West End theatres that a single production has used?
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Post by oxfordsimon on Apr 23, 2024 19:58:33 GMT
I only saw An Inspector Calls last year or perhaps the year before. And it felt very dated and far from radical.
In one way that shows how influential it has been. But it now seems to exist as a cosy piece of nostalgia and as something for teenagers to study.
Given how the rights have been restricted, no one has had the opportunity to revisit the piece. Priestley died 40 years ago and so there are three more decades before people can do what they like with his plays without having to negotiate with agents and rights holders.
It would be good for the rights to be released so that other creative minds can see how they can work with the text.
Few directors will have probably given it much thought because of the dominance of Daldry. But if they knew that new productions could be permitted, they may well start to bring fresh thinking to it.
Now the rights for Priestley are nowhere near as tightly controlled as those for Beckett. He died in 1989 and so we have even longer to wait for artistic freedom to come to his great works.
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Post by oxfordsimon on Apr 20, 2024 22:25:17 GMT
On this occasion, side stalls might be better than front on.
The blocking is a bit clunky so the diagonals are not very well used.
I was sat in D25 and frequently couldn't see key moments
But sitting round to the side would probably have avoided the worst of this.
Of course each production is different so what is true for LLL may not be true for Merry Wives
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Post by oxfordsimon on Apr 19, 2024 12:56:18 GMT
Avoiding Emma Watson is something I am always keen to do....
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Post by oxfordsimon on Apr 19, 2024 12:30:20 GMT
I may be wrong, but I had never heard of this book probably because ballet was not a part of growing up for me.
There will be those who do have fond memories of it but it probably doesn't have universal appeal.
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Post by oxfordsimon on Apr 18, 2024 23:16:03 GMT
Me no likely the new RSC programmes.
Now cut down to A5. To save trees apparently. But it is thicker so not many!
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Post by oxfordsimon on Apr 18, 2024 23:10:38 GMT
Just home from press night.
It isn't perfect. Some of the stagecraft shows a serious lack of experience in handling a thrust stage.
But the performances are all solid or better.
The updatings/interpolations work very well in context. Yes, even the Back Street Boys section!
Excellent physical comedy throughout. Costard and Moth were particularly well characterized. Excellent Boyet.
The tonal shift after a very well handled Worthies scene was well judged. Final song very haunting.
Overall an entertaining and fun production of a play that can be tricky to tackle.
I would happily see it again.
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Post by oxfordsimon on Apr 16, 2024 9:43:43 GMT
Am reviewing on Thursday so will share my thoughts!
The Masque of the Worthies is going to have to be radically rethought to fit a contemporary setting I would imagine.
Also I can't see a Sir Nathaniel in the cast list.
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Post by oxfordsimon on Apr 12, 2024 23:29:45 GMT
It's out of copyright now which saves a lot of hassle.i can just imagine a set made up of Georgie's watercolour sketches.
A vocal setting of the Moonlight called Un Po di Mu
And a reprise of Au Reservoir to end Act 2.
Yes, it would have to be a passion project. But theatre is all about passion.
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Post by oxfordsimon on Apr 12, 2024 18:13:49 GMT
Anderson and Petty might be the right partnership
Would love to see them tackle a longer form piece
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Post by oxfordsimon on Apr 12, 2024 17:48:29 GMT
I know it has been tried before but I think the Mapp and Lucia stories would make a great chamber musical. Lots of fun period pastiche combined with memorable characters and wonderful catty lyrics/dialogue.
We have some fantastic older MT stars who would be fab in it.
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Post by oxfordsimon on Apr 11, 2024 16:44:43 GMT
Matinee today cancelled due to cast illness Oh dear!!! More bad luck! It is starting to look more like bad planning now
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Post by oxfordsimon on Apr 11, 2024 11:47:30 GMT
I loved the musical side of the production. Top class orchestra and the singing well delivered. Shadow has a lighter sound than many who have sung the role but it worked.
I don't yet know if it was a technical failure or bad lighting design that left the singers in darkness in many numbers last night. But it did impact on my enjoyment.
The production needs editing. Just too many ideas buzzing around. And I thought we left chairs being endlessly moved around the by the chorus back in the 90s. Just so dated.
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