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Post by peelee on Feb 4, 2020 19:22:48 GMT
An intelligent play, good to look at, with other design features enhancing the audience experience. Good writing, memorable characters, thanks to the writer and the actors who generally perform the play well. It was nice to see a production really occupy the National Theatre stage, in this case the Lyttelton, where other flimsier things have sometimes struggled in that respect.
However, it's clearly not for people who want something lighter, shorter, and that won't ask more concentration of them than they are prepared to give. It's a production with ideas, wit, serious argument, and plenty of life. I saw it on press night and hope that it was shortened even by 10-20 minutes to really grab everybody who buys a ticket. Two weeks later, though, the play is still lodged in my consciousness, so vivid an experience was it for the two of us. Well done, the National!
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Post by peelee on Feb 4, 2020 19:05:54 GMT
I saw this film some weeks back and enjoyed it. It's distinct, and it must have involved great confidence by producer, director, writers and actors to press on and get this rather unusual film off the ground. It's not fast but it should hold the attention of many who will get to see it.
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Post by peelee on Feb 4, 2020 18:57:06 GMT
From small beginnings and the showing of some very old-fashioned and often obscure British films, Talking Pictures has rooted itself in the TV schedules as an option for something to view when consciously TV modern channels can have a '57 Channels and Nothing On' quality to them.
It has steadily gone from earlier decades-TV programmes forgotten for good reason, through to landmark old TV series, vintage films and a smattering of short public information films, GPO film unit documentaries and Imperial War Museum-made works that provide perspective via some of Britain's TV and film history. Children's Film Foundation-made films have cropped up from time to time, along with prize-winners and distinguished early-career documentaries by feature film directors who went on to win big prizes in the international film and TV industry.
Last week for the second time I watched a short, amateur-looking film about the last day of the trolleybus between Hammersmith and Cricklewood, while on other occasions it's been half an hour on the old Covent Garden wholesale market, a day in the life of Waterloo Station, or the ferocious British winter of 1963. I've still got Dandy Nichols in The Birthday Party to watch, while the kitchen-sink dramas that Woodfall Films turned out get regular airings, with quite different 'social problem' films contemporaneous with theirs from the 1950s and 1960s revealing how clumsily or subtly or innocently various issues got treated.
Rather like the spirit-raising effect that early years Channel 4 had on so many of us in the early 1980s, the arrival of Talking Pictures five or so years ago and what it has eventually got around to showing has proved just as fascinating and provided some relief from low standard current TV efforts.
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Post by peelee on Dec 13, 2019 19:54:02 GMT
Kensington went Liberal Democrat, I see. Those tactical voting advisors/Lib Dems who used it at the opening of the general election campaign as an example of what was likely — see upthread where I explained unlikelihood based on actual local knowledge — certainly deserve a footnote in the eventual write-up of the 2019 General Election.
At about the same time a leaflet dropped through our door informing us that (never-seen-before-around-here) Sam Gyimah, recent Conservative Party leadership candidate, would become our Liberal Democrat MP, followed a day later by another missive with about seven snaps of Jo Swinson on four sides declaring that she intended to be our next Prime Minister. They worked as leaflets in grabbing our attention, as we read and re-read them with incredulity. All for free, they were; we'd have to have paid money for this sort of thing in London's West End.
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Post by peelee on Dec 13, 2019 19:01:07 GMT
The opening lasts 35 minutes. The whole thing is two hours including interval.
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Post by peelee on Nov 14, 2019 1:09:51 GMT
I saw it last weekend and enjoyed it a lot. The odd scene could have been trimmed a bit, yet I enjoyed the filmmakers' preparedness to let some droll scenes play out especially with such talented and certain not-often-seen actors on display. The structure was clever, given what it had to do for such a story, and the writing excellent. I've got Netflix and will watch this film once or twice again, but wanted to take the opportunity to see it on the big screen first. Repeat viewings will make that financially worth my while.
Whereas seeing stage play On Bear Ridge recently at the Royal Court, I must have slept through half of its 82 minute length. Buffoonery had nothing to do with my slumber. And I saw Judy recently on the cinema screen and its 118 minutes dragged because 20-30 minutes of them should have been cut or something of substance or energy put in their place. The Irishman ran for three hours at least and I savoured everything about it from opening shots to classy musicians Robbie Robertson and Van Morrison performing so well over what became the closing credits.
This film by Martin Scorsese, and Tarantino's wonderful Once Upon A Time in Hollywood, have been the best things I've seen on cinema screens in recent months and I look forward to opportunities to watch them again.
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Post by peelee on Nov 13, 2019 17:19:38 GMT
After the first quarter hour or so of concentrating hard on what characters on stage had to say, and never really understanding who they were or what they wanted, I'd slept through so much of this that I didn't know whether it was good or bad.
Initially I was angry when the hearty applause at the end woke me up and I realised I'd missed so much of the play, but really it was irritation with myself for spending money and having nothing to show for it. At least I had the play text though, not that I've got around to doing anymore than just glance at the cover ever since.
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Post by peelee on Oct 31, 2019 20:55:46 GMT
This'll attract quite a bit of interest from theatregoers, it seems safe to say.
Plus however many copies of the book have already been sold or borrowed in the past so many decades, the arrival of such a play in London will boost interest in the book.
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Post by peelee on Oct 31, 2019 20:43:55 GMT
I refer to the 2017 general election result in Kensington because it is the last, though fairly recent, actual general election result as counted on election night at the local town hall, and not to be confused with a hypothetical vote-share in 2019 according to some lobby group's prediction. See result here along with a comparison of trends in Kensington parliamentary constituency from general elections 2005 to 2010 through to 2015 and lastly 2017: electionresults.parliament.uk/election/2017-06-08/results/Location/Constituency/KensingtonThis is why whatever people elsewhere might be led to think by such lobbyists, Kensington people have more knowledge of actual conditions locally along with historical awareness of parties' performances. That is also why The Guardian article I linked to first, see above, queried the claims being made about Kensington. And if the 2017 general election result doesn't suit you, Cardinal Pirelli, then see here the local election results for the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea in May 2018: www.rbkc.gov.uk/council-and-democracy/local-democracy-and-elections/local-council-elections-2018-resultsYes, 36 Conservative Party councillors, with 13 other councillors Labour Party, and Liberal Democrats with just one councillor. Click on the graphic to see the local picture in easier to-read format. If you think that was unusual, back in the 2014 local elections the respective councillor numbers were 37, 12 and just one Lib Dem. The Labour MP elected in 2017 is as pro-EU and pro-Remain as they come, although that was only referred to in a coded way "Emma is passionate about..." in her campaign literature in 2017. Mere days after she was elected, she joined a Chukka Umuna-led rebellion of Labour MPs on, I think it was, Article 50 or some such, anyway it was in defiance of the Labour whip. While she won on a margin of only 20 votes, it was to a weight of votes that far exceeded any for the Lib Dem.
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Post by peelee on Oct 31, 2019 12:50:30 GMT
I doubt that voting pattern for Kensington constituency. It bears hardly any resemblance to the last general election outcome, in 2017, nor others that preceded it IIRC. It was in the last local elections in the borough that the Liberals seemed to have undergone a split or breakaway of some sort sufficient for quite different candidates but once political bedfellows, to have stood. So Lib Dem storming of general election 2019 in Kensington looks very unlikely whether because of internal divisions and loyalties or because of other political parties being unlikely to fall for this new app/website's hype. I notice today in The guardian that these people are sceptical about it too: www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/oct/30/tactical-voting-could-deliver-remain-victory-in-election-study
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Brexit
Oct 1, 2019 18:27:25 GMT
Post by peelee on Oct 1, 2019 18:27:25 GMT
Stuart Rose was the Chairman of Britain Stronger in Europe, corporate pro-Remainers. He was good, too, as I recall. Admitted at an early presentation to mass media that if the UK voted to Leave then wage rates for workers in Britain probably would rise. Amidst much laughter from many rank and file trades unionists amused he'd blurted out something that was part of their argument for Leaving the EU, he departed. And wage rates have indeed been rising since the Referendum vote. Fondly remembered for his honesty, though must have appalled the CBI.
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Post by peelee on Oct 1, 2019 16:11:53 GMT
Looking forward to seeing this programme in a few days. I've not always understood Caryl Churchill plays, though have enjoyed a number of them, so hope I can understand and appreciate these.
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Post by peelee on Oct 1, 2019 16:03:50 GMT
I read Permanent Way a few years ago and was impressed at the methods used to gather information for its staging, and struck by the comments made from the many standpoints quoted. It had a lot of energy on the page.
It was the years following that made railway privatisation so controversial, underlined for me by a friend one of whose workmates had got himself out of the Clapham disaster, walked to their workplace in a daze, and a little while later fainted at the shock of death he'd only just avoided.
The industry had been sold off piecemeal through the 1980s by Thatcher — sections like ferries, catering, hotels, and railway workshops — with still more enabled in the deregulation given 'a green light' by an EU directive the year before its single market came into being. Prime minister John Major's legislation, The Railway Act 1993, privatised the railways, especially memorable and infuriating as elements like travel information, ticketing, signals, rolling stock were among the sections of the industry fragmented by the de-nationalisation. Where there had been one network since the late 1940s, there were now one hundred companies set up so as to prevent or try to make near-impossible any later attempts to reconstitute a coherent network. That was why rail disasters subsequent to the de-nationalisation seemed to indicate 'corporate neglect' and too often 'no clear responsibility taken'.
That made David Hare's play so timely and impactful — its platform for public concerns about rail travel and safety, in a country criss-crossed by railways. Loss of so many 'safe Tory seats' in railway commuter-land at the 1997 general election, was put down to that privatisation and its consequences. An unpopular process that had only been completed in 1996-97, caused attempts by trade unions and others at the Labour Party conference that followed the 1997 general election, to restore public ownership of railways but transport and regions minister and deputy PM John Prescott and prime minister Tony Blair blocked them.
I have been to The Vaults before, but have never seen this play. I'm tempted to go. In any case, to whoever has put this play on, and right by Waterloo Station, well done!
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Post by peelee on Sept 6, 2019 17:44:57 GMT
In the foreground two interesting characters, TV actor and his body-double, played by Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt. While in the background but also crossing their paths at various points are fellow seekers after Hollywood work, some 'names' and the flotsam and jetsam of late 1960s Los Angeles in a time of Love, Peace and War. The Paris Peace Talks have just begun, years into the war on Vietnam, yet there is still the shadow of the draft on the lives of young men, and a gun culture on screen and on the streets far from that war in South East Asia. There are hippies and drifters, the peaceful and the anti-war but also some other more malign, ingrown types who look outwards mainly to resent what they see.
The way that writer and director Quentin Tarantino, who was six years old in 1969, from childhood must have soaked up Los Angeles, later researched it, learned from within about the film industry around Hollywood and nearby towns, and the LA music scene, are all evident here. He must have realised the tragedy and comedy, the needs to work and create, of the many sensitive souls with their idealism alongside other, larger-than-life, egotists and show-offs. All about him were what we'd call 'chancers'.
This is the best film I've seen in quite a while. The quality of the writing and acting, the care that's been taken to film and then edit scenes that are long or fleeting, justify the two hours and 45 minutes or so of what has ended up on screen for public showing. Throughout, it feels like the very period and place it is supposed to be, and then Tarantino tells the story of what happens to the various characters and does so how 'Hollywood' of the time would have done. So it's about characters, in storylines and subplots that are fascinating, but also about the wider industry and the city in the country where all this is happening.
You can follow the film, although some viewing it will by dint of memory or knowledge appreciate more than some others. Rather like I had to find a book about Edison and Westinghouse after I'd watched The Current War recently, there will be people the gaps in whose knowledge, and with some curiosity stirred, are enough for them to at least 'google' a few names or read a book or two, a process that down the years has enriched the lives of film-goers and theatre-goers. There's also a wonderful soundtrack!
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Post by peelee on Jul 12, 2019 16:34:12 GMT
Rather good, with believable characters and a play with something to say about families. It held my attention throughout.
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Post by peelee on Jul 12, 2019 16:32:43 GMT
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Post by peelee on Jun 23, 2019 19:03:37 GMT
Boeing-Boeing could fit the bill.
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Post by peelee on Jun 17, 2019 19:13:23 GMT
Watching this the other evening, I found myself thinking 'This is brilliant'. Then a while later I was thinking 'How could I have thought otherwise, this is rubbish'. A little while later I was back to 'It's kind of brilliant in its way'.
What attracted me to this was the writer's name, Dion Boucicault, whose well-known London Assurance I'd seen and loved at the National Theatre London a few years ago. Long years before that I'd seen The Shaughraun with Stephen Rea and co chasing each other across the green hillocks of the Olivier stage turning as intended. Common denominator: laughter. After Dark prompts a bit of laughter and causes many more smiles. The writer intends the melodrama, the sense of the ridiculous, and director and cast pull it off in what is the play's 'First London performance for 120 years'.
The director's name attracted me as at the Finborough I had seen at least three things Phil Wilmott had previously directed: Arthur Miller's Incident at Vichy, Maxim Gorky's The Lower Depths, and John Galworthy's Loyalties. The dozen-strong cast play multiple roles in a farce that stays busy with effective scene changes, playing with space, and dialogue from mid-19th century London, with its chancers and criminals but also higher, moral aspirations. Here and there scenes include accordion, violins and singing that is delivered by at least two or three impressive voices amidst several others in chorus. Old reliable Boucicault could write for the stage all right, and these actors and singers give it plenty of welly. Of course there are romances, intrigue, misunderstandings and skullduggery, set in a London that has just had built its first few miles of passenger railway from Paddington to Farringdon and tunnels that enable a city underground as much as it was on the surface.
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Post by peelee on Jun 17, 2019 15:45:05 GMT
I hadn't seen or heard of Niamh Algar but will look out for what she's in in future. She held the screen comfortably with Stephen Graham who himself has screen presence. She's in her mid-20s apparently, yet just as well cast, and excellent in providing some family-wit at the breakfast table, were the children of the family whom character Joseph spends some time with in Ireland. The series contrasted the gruelling childhood memories of some characters with the carefree, happy lives of Joseph's young relatives. It was bleak in places, certainly, yet it was far from unrelenting misery and was all so gripping that the drama of this short series repaid the few hours we spent watching it at home. Bleaker by far was another TV four-parter we watched this weekend, From the Darkness (2015) from BBC iPlayer featuring Ann-Marie Duff, who I enjoy on stage and screen, which had its moments but not many.
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Post by peelee on Jun 6, 2019 13:51:06 GMT
Very 1890s this concern theatregoers have with Bradshaw and trains running across Tyneside.
To change the subject, though, did you like the play that was set around then?
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Post by peelee on Jun 6, 2019 10:07:57 GMT
This playing at the end of each episode, and the filmed scene, has been unsettling yet captures the mood and something essential about this series:
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Post by peelee on May 24, 2019 18:28:56 GMT
I was expecting things to move quickly back to Britain but it seems that the childhood of Joseph (Stephen Graham) years before part-explains the intensity of the adult character being portrayed and this character takes time to reveal his anguish. The director and co-writer Shane Meadows had experiences in his formative years in England that have contributed to this series. Meadows and Jack Thorne give the few scenes plenty of time to unfold, and they're convincing in developing the story.
I liked the scenes involving the kids in the family he learns more about, which I suppose is the quality of acting, the writing and the editing. The adults are good too and there is one scene that is one of the funniest I've seen in ages. These are really good actors who convince the audience theirs are family relationships.
It all looks and sounds appropriate, and marks an artistic leap; the effect is mesmerising. Interesting that it was PJ Harvey who was the initiating party in having written to Meadows about the chance of a drama to match her music.
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Post by peelee on May 20, 2019 10:49:01 GMT
Aah, just past the half-way mark? Fancy that!
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Post by peelee on May 19, 2019 18:21:10 GMT
Playwright of Mouthpiece, Kieran Hurley, is co-writer of a new film, Beats, based on an earlier play of his. I see it's on at cinemas in various towns. Here is what Mark Kermode thinks of it, as he said on his BBC Radio 5 show the other day:
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Post by peelee on May 19, 2019 17:40:30 GMT
I saw this on Friday and really liked it. Three hours all in, though they might trim a few minutes once into the run. Whatever, it's a good play, a fine production, and well worth anyone's time in a theatre seat.
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Post by peelee on May 19, 2019 17:37:36 GMT
Nice idea for a play in this space.
Has the season this year started earlier than usual, or have they just been a bit unlucky with some wet weather?
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Post by peelee on May 19, 2019 17:28:08 GMT
Thank you for starting a thread on this. On 15 May on a thread about something else I'd written:
Having just watched the first episode of the four-part The Virtues on Channel 4, I think that was more 'drama of the week' material than the publicity-hogging and political calculations behind Years and Years. Written by Shane Meadows and Jack Thorne, led by Stephen Graham playing a recovering alcoholic, theme music by PJ Harvey, The Virtues will surely have touched many hearts. A series of human stories are there on display, and the skills involved do them justice.
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Post by peelee on May 15, 2019 23:04:08 GMT
I'm steeled for my chance on Friday to see what looks like it'll be quite a production. Previews are likely to be a little longer but do end long before last tube trains home.
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Post by peelee on May 15, 2019 22:53:44 GMT
It being dystopian has been the gist of the many trailers for it that preceded its eventual arrival on TV screens. For some days Emma Thompson's face 'in character' has been 'the' front cover of Radio Times, plus a four page article inside by Mark Lawson on her, the drama and 'this world we live in'. No surprises in any of that position-taking by those elements. It didn't depress me so much as anger me at the stroke these various media elements are trying to pull off. Very much political players as BBC broadcasting seems to have been to a heightened degree since the global financial crash in 2008 and subsequent austerity.
On the other hand, that technology is out of control, or has fallen well behind social influences likely to moderate its worst effects, is a concern that people across the political spectrum share. And concern about climate and environment, is shared by many more people than the political actors who've been taking a higher profile in recent years. Many people have long since made or currently make quiet arrangements to reduce their carbon footprint, minimise waste, etc.
Having just watched the first episode of the four-part The Virtues on Channel 4, I think that was more 'drama of the week' material than the publicity-hogging and political calculations behind Years and Years. Written by Shane Meadows and Jack Thorne, led by Stephen Graham playing a recovering alcoholic, theme music by PJ Harvey, The Virtues will surely have touched many hearts. A series of human stories are there on display, and the skills involved do them justice.
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Post by peelee on May 15, 2019 15:18:05 GMT
Interesting enough to watch, and writer Russell T Davies usually puts in good work, but I am not really gripped by it. I have a pretty good idea, though, of what I'm supposed to think by the end of it.
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