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Post by emsworthian on Jan 2, 2018 12:07:35 GMT
^ Why wasn’t the little git and his family thrown out of the theatre when it had become apparent who was causing the disturbance? I can’t believe they were allowed to stay in, even if they did become the targets of the water pistols... I am surprised the nerf gun wasn't spotted by security and confiscated before the family went in.
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Post by emsworthian on Dec 26, 2017 8:34:17 GMT
I went in a group to do the Royal Opera House, Covent Gardens, a couple of years ago. It was quite expensive - about £26 I if remember correctly - but it was fascinating. We saw a practice in the ballet studios, a tea dance in the restaurant and had a good wander round the building. Our guide - a resting actor- was very witty and informative.
Edit: There are tickets currently available for tours for £12 so perhaps I misremembered the price but I do remember that we all enjoyed it.
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Post by emsworthian on Dec 11, 2017 9:56:15 GMT
I tried to edit but time is up. The Duke of Windsor episode is 6 not 5.
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Post by emsworthian on Dec 11, 2017 8:03:53 GMT
I've just watched the first 7 episodes and after a slowish start, I am really enjoying it. I thought Jeremy Northam was excellent at Eden; he resembled him so much that at times I felt that I was watching the actual Prime Minister. I am not so sure about Anton Lesser as Harold Macmillan. I like Lesser as an actor but his voice is very distinctive and it's not Macmillan's voice. Prince Philip's foreign sojourn is too dragged out for my taste; the five months seem more like 15 months.
But things liven up with Matthew Goode as Tony Armstrong-Jones. I could never understand why so many women found Tony attractive but Matthew playing Tony, I definitively get. Episode 7 gets very raunchy especially with his girlfriend Jackie Chan, who he was dating at the same time as Princess Margaret. Tony was certainly imaginative with sex if this series is anything to go by; it's a case of "Every Which Way But Loose."
My favourite episode so far is Episode 5 when the Duke of Windsor seeks a role. Alex Jennings is superb as Windsor and I found it moving how the Queen tries to reconcile her Christian belief in forgiveness with more and more disclosures about Windsor's past. What an odious creature the Duke of Windsor was; including his dress sense.
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Post by emsworthian on Dec 10, 2017 17:31:44 GMT
I loved "Quiz". The snippets from former Game Shows were hilarious and Keir Charles was brilliant impersonating Des O'Connor, Jim Bowen and Leslie Crowther, quite apart from his uncanny aping of Chris Tarrant's mannerisms. As people have said on this board, the audience participation was voluntary and there was no humiliation of the participants; everyone was joining in the fun and that was the first time that I have experience a Chichester audience whooping. The second half was more serious as it put the Ingrams' defence case and showed what they had been through. As we left virtually everyone was discussing how they had voted at the end on whether they thought the Ingrams were guilty. The audience at the Saturday matinee had a majority Not Guilty and a results board projected onto the of stage backdrop revealed that out of 39 performances, at all but at two performances the majority voted Not Guilty
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Post by emsworthian on Dec 2, 2017 9:54:01 GMT
There is an interview in this week's Chichester Observer with Sarah Woodward who plays Charles Ingram's defence counsel and she says the play has changed every day for three weeks and it is a challenge having to relearn lines. She also says that they have not been allowed the court transcripts; apparently they are not in the public domain.
Congratulations Allicechallice on winning the quiz. I did wonder at one time about trying to get a TheatreBoard team together.
Anyway, I've now realised that I've booked for next Saturday, not this Saturday as I originally thought, so I'll be giving feedback from the final matinee.
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Post by emsworthian on Nov 24, 2017 7:54:47 GMT
It hasn't quite sold out yet though - despite the good reviews and the writer's reputation - and I'd have thought either enough to produce a sell-out, possibly even before the opening. The run was extended by a week.
I'm seeing it in 8 days time. I'll let you know what I think.
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Post by emsworthian on Nov 15, 2017 10:57:26 GMT
On the basis on Bramble's recommendation I've now bought a ticket for this. Originally I was disappointed that Chichester ended up with Quiz rather than Ink, because as an ex-journalist I was keen to see Ink. Also, I was reluctant to see a play that I thought would just be taking the mickey out of the Ingrams. I'll admit that at the time of the trial I had a good laugh but the Ingrams have been humiliated and I felt it would just amount to kicking people when they are down. I now realise that the play is much more complex and subtle. I found Plaskett's comments and the link very interesting.
BTW I loved This House so if it's anything like as good as that then it will be a pre-Christmas treat to myself.
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Post by emsworthian on Oct 22, 2017 10:53:57 GMT
I am a "King Lear" novice compared to some of this board; this is only the fourth stage production I have seen but I was impressed. I agree it was fast-moving with only one interval, which comes after the blinding of Gloucester (the usher did warn me that the interval was at 1 hr 50 mins). I am not usually a fan of modern dress Shakespeare but this worked for me. Neither am I usually a fan of gender-fluid casting but I thought Sinead Cusack was superb as Kent and the reason for the sex-change seemed convincing (Appearing as the Countess of Kent in the first scene, after she falls out with Lear and is banished from court, she returns disguised as a man). I also was convinced by the way the fool's demise was depicted. Unlike Dr. Jan Brock, I liked Phil Daniels' performance but then I am a fan.
I agree with the praise for Goneril, Regan and Gloucester. I thought Damien Molony as Edmund showed the lot of charm that makes the two sisters fall for him but on a few occasions I couldn't hear his words even though I was only three rows back from the stage (perhaps it is my hearing).
As to Sir Ian's Lear, it was an impressive performance. People have said that he didn't seem mad enough during the mad scene but I have had to deal with elderly relatives with dementia and they do have periods of lucidity, especially during early stages of dementia.
At the risk of seeming contrary, I found the final scene between Lear and Cordelia more moving in the production with Frank Langella in the title role which I saw at the Minerva a few years ago. But this was a great production.
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Post by emsworthian on Oct 22, 2017 10:27:36 GMT
Sir Tom Stoppard plus wife and Simon Callow at Minerva, Chichester, yesterday to see Sir Ian in "King Lear."
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Post by emsworthian on Sept 25, 2017 14:33:02 GMT
The best thing for me about the original film was the music by Richard Rodney Bennett. I wasn't impressed by the music in the trailer but it did look very stylish.
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Post by emsworthian on Sept 18, 2017 11:53:32 GMT
For Bollywood fans and drag queens : An American In Saris
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Post by emsworthian on Sept 15, 2017 12:00:06 GMT
Piddler on the Roof
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Post by emsworthian on Sept 15, 2017 6:46:50 GMT
Lists of 50 books or places to visit that "you must do before you die." As opposed to after you die? Anyway, why must I do these things? What will happen if I don't?
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Post by emsworthian on Sept 12, 2017 10:46:16 GMT
I remember as a schoolgirl watching on TV the Peter Hall/John Barton production of "The War of the Roses". It had a tremendous impact on me and that ignited my love of Shakespeare. RIP
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Post by emsworthian on Aug 13, 2017 9:18:03 GMT
A handful of tickets for various performances of this have just become available on the CFT website. Hurry if you want one.
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Post by emsworthian on Aug 10, 2017 9:03:25 GMT
I saw yesterday's matinee and enjoyed it but first a rant:
I knew from the comments on here that there was a false proscenium arch in this production but I wasn't expecting it to be so ugly and intrusive. I was in an end seat (K1) and my view of the back of the stage was blocked by this arch. Admittedly virtually all the action takes place on the thrust stage but there were times when I wanted to see the back of the stage. I half expected to be offered a free ice cream in the interval after Frostie's experience at the Minerva but it was not to be.
A few years ago I went to a talk where the set designer for Terra Nova (produced at CFT in 1980) read out the policy statement she had been given by the theatre then that Chichester was a democratic theatre and those in the cheapest seats should have as good a view as those in the most expensive. Increasingly, people are complaining that musicals at CFT are being directed with a view to a West End transfer and/or a tour and those sitting at the side of the stage get a lousy view. I am especially disappointed given that it was directed by Daniel Evans in his first season as Artistic Director at CFT and when he was appointed a lot was made of the fact that coming from The Crucible, Sheffield, he had experience directing on an open stage.
Rant over, I thought it was great. There were times when I wished Omid Djalili's voice was stronger, especially during "Sunrise, Sunset", which I think is a beautiful song. But he had chutzpah in the bucket loads. The musical had the emotional depth lacking in "Half A Sixpence." I'd like to see it again - but in a more central seat.
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Post by emsworthian on Jul 22, 2017 20:01:03 GMT
Audience plants; e.g a heckle from audience member which has been scripted or an apparent random member of the audience is dragged on staged reluctantly to become involved in the action, when you know they are a member of the cast.
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Post by emsworthian on Jun 10, 2017 20:08:08 GMT
After all the flak this production received on this board, I'm almost ashamed to say that I enjoyed it. I haven't seen this performed before so I haven't got a yardstick by which to judge it but walking away from the theatre I heard nothing but praise for the leads from audience members.
I sat in a £15 seat (no upgrade offered) but I was quite happy with the view. I do agree about the cloud. If I hadn't heard it described as a cloud on this board, when I walked into the theatre and saw the set, I would probably have thought that it was supposed to represent rumpled bed sheets. It was distracting.
The theatre was about 65 per cent full and there were people in the circle. Regarding the query from wickedgrin if the circle has been closed off before, I think it was for the morning performances of "Platanov" when they staged three Chekhov plays in a day.
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Post by emsworthian on Jun 4, 2017 5:58:12 GMT
I caught the last matinee of this. I've never seen Sharon D. Clarke in anything before so I can't comment on whether she always plays the same part but I thought she was great in this. I did find the first half rather slow and I wasn't sure whether I was enjoying it but the second half really came to life and I loved it. About four or five no-shows in the audience after the interval but a standing ovation at the end. Apologies for double post. I've tried to delete.
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Post by emsworthian on Jun 3, 2017 21:00:05 GMT
I caught the last matinee of this. I've never seen Sharon D. Clarke in anything before so I can't comment on whether she always plays the same part but I thought she was great in this.
I did find the first half rather slow and I wasn't sure whether I was enjoying but the second half really came to life and I loved it. About four or five no-shows in the audience after the interval but a standing ovation at the end.
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Post by emsworthian on May 6, 2017 9:33:23 GMT
Perhaps it is worth setting up a separate thread on family experiences of disastrous mistakes in theatre/cinema visits?
My offerings: my Grandmother booked tickets decades ago for a family visit to an adaptation of Dostoyevsky's "Crime and Punishment" under the misapprehension that it was an Agatha Christie style "whodunit". She said afterward that the crime was to buy the tickets and the punishment was to watch it.
On a cinema visit, the same grandmother and my uncle ended up watching "Emmanuelle" as my grandmother decided that the girl on the advertising poster outside was wearing a pretty dress (which Emmanuelle soon discards in the soft porn film). My grandmother spent most of the film with her hands over her eyes saying: "I can't watch. You'll just have to tell me what is happening.", which made it even more embarrassing for my uncle.
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Post by emsworthian on May 5, 2017 18:27:02 GMT
Within the last 40 minutes lots of tickets released for sale. Hurry if you are interested and without a ticket.
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Post by emsworthian on Mar 22, 2017 7:52:55 GMT
A whole lot of tickets currently available for various dates if anyone interested still hasn't got one.
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Post by emsworthian on Mar 15, 2017 14:23:16 GMT
I thought the last one was: Troilus and Cressida or Tortoise and Chest O' Drawers
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Post by emsworthian on Mar 4, 2017 21:07:06 GMT
Yeaah. Just clicked onto the CFT website and managed to get a ticket to Caroline or Change for matinee on 3 June. Oh, ye of little faith.
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Post by emsworthian on Mar 3, 2017 12:30:49 GMT
In the past certain productions have appeared sold out but then extra tickets are released. Also, there is always the possibility of returns. I've managed to get a ticket to sold out productions in the past just by persevering and constantly logging onto the website.
Optimist that I am I shall be attempting to go online tomorrow in the hope there will be some tickets left for what I want to see.
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Post by emsworthian on Feb 22, 2017 11:34:30 GMT
In the twitter Q and A session Daniel Evans said that McKellen approached Chichester and said that he wanted to have another go at "Lear"; this time in the intimate setting of the Minerva.
I agree about "The Deep Blue Sea". Several people said that it would have worked better in the Minerva (me included).
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Post by emsworthian on Feb 21, 2017 9:41:07 GMT
If anyone is interested, Daniel Evans will be answering questions on twitter at 12.30 tomorrow (Wednesday, 22 Feb). People are invited to submit questions asap on #ASKCFT. So here is you chance to tell him what you think of this season and what should be in the 2018 line-up.
Correction: It is today at 12.30.
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Post by emsworthian on Feb 18, 2017 8:15:58 GMT
I saw Paul Nicholas at Chichester in "Pirates of Penzance" three or four years ago and by a process of elimination realised that the elderly chap on stage was my former heart throb Vince from "Just Good Friends". Therefore, I wasn't shocked by how he has aged when I watched "The Real Marigold Hotel". I thought he was a laugh in this. In contrast, Miriam Stoppard looked and acted like a scary clown.
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