394 posts
|
Post by altamont on Apr 27, 2017 10:08:12 GMT
Curious about the negativity towards Lenny Henry - is it do with his Comic Relief/Premier Inn adverts persona (which I agree is irritating), or his acting ability? I've not seen him in anything, but I thought his acting had been praised, especially his Othello from a few years ago
|
|
394 posts
|
Post by altamont on Apr 26, 2017 7:14:44 GMT
Hey Marty, just while we're in here and because there isn't a suitable thread, have you read the book "The Rise and Fall of the Royal Shakespeare Company" by Simon Trowbridge ? Any good ? So why not start a new thread? Why start a conversation with another member about the RSC on a thread about the Bridge Theatre?
|
|
394 posts
|
Post by altamont on Apr 24, 2017 9:45:08 GMT
I work in software. Pensions software to be precise. Yes, it is as dull as it sounds.
BUT I retire in a few years!
|
|
394 posts
|
Post by altamont on Apr 21, 2017 21:00:12 GMT
My tip would be to just look forward to it - to say much else might be to spoil some of the surprises. It was a wonderful way to spend 75 minutes
|
|
394 posts
|
Post by altamont on Apr 21, 2017 9:11:40 GMT
Yes, we're also going this evening
|
|
394 posts
|
Post by altamont on Apr 19, 2017 9:21:57 GMT
Two promenades for JC and two front row for YM bought - each ticket costing £25
|
|
394 posts
|
Post by altamont on Apr 19, 2017 9:15:27 GMT
At seat selection for JC - front row is £90! Think I'll go Promenade (esp. if only two hours)
|
|
394 posts
|
Post by altamont on Apr 19, 2017 9:01:16 GMT
156 in the queue
|
|
394 posts
|
Post by altamont on Apr 19, 2017 8:58:31 GMT
Nightfall -
On a farm outside Winchester, Ryan struggles to make a living off the land. His sister Lou has returned home after the death of their father to support Jenny, their formidable mother. Not so long ago, when a neighbour’s Labrador strayed onto the farm, their dad reached for his shotgun. Now, when Lou’s boyfriend Pete reappears, flush with money from his job at an oil refinery, Jenny fights to hold her children to the life she planned for them.
|
|
394 posts
|
Post by altamont on Apr 19, 2017 8:57:41 GMT
JC -
Caesar returns in triumph to Rome and the people pour out of their homes to celebrate. Alarmed by the autocrat’s popularity, the educated élite conspire to bring him down. After his assassination, civil war erupts on the streets of the capital.
Nicholas Hytner’s production will be in promenade, thrusting its audience into the street party that greets Caesar’s return, the congress that witnesses his murder, the rally that assembles for his funeral and the chaos that explodes in its wake. Ben Whishaw and Michelle Fairley play Brutus and Cassius, leaders of the coup, David Calder plays Caesar and David Morrissey is Mark Antony, who brings Rome back under control after the conspirators’ defeat.
With seating wrapped around the action, there will also be 250 promenading tickets at £25 available in advance for each performance. The production designer is Bunny Christie, with costumes by Christina Cunningham, lighting by Bruno Poet and music by Nick Powell.
|
|
394 posts
|
Post by altamont on Apr 19, 2017 8:56:28 GMT
Young Marx -
1850, and Europe’s most feared terrorist is hiding in Dean Street, Soho. Broke, restless and horny, the thirty-two-year-old revolutionary is a frothing combination of intellectual brilliance, invective, satiric wit, and child-like emotional illiteracy.
Creditors, spies, rival revolutionary factions and prospective seducers of his beautiful wife all circle like vultures. His writing blocked, his marriage dying, his friend Engels in despair at his wasted genius, his only hope is a job on the railway. But there’s still no one in the capital who can show you a better night on the piss than Karl Heinrich Marx.
Rory Kinnear plays Marx and Oliver Chris, Engels. The production reunites the creative team behind Richard Bean’s smash hit One Man, Two Guvnors, with direction by Nicholas Hytner, design by Mark Thompson, music by Grant Olding, sound by Paul Arditti and lighting by Mark Henderson. The show will be broadcast on National Theatre Live in December.
|
|
394 posts
|
Post by altamont on Apr 19, 2017 8:45:19 GMT
Andrew Scott was really gracious and friendly after Hamlet - and this was within minutes of coming off stage
|
|
394 posts
|
Post by altamont on Apr 12, 2017 13:13:11 GMT
I've had the same email - and requested my seats be changed to the new front row - all sorted within minutes
|
|
394 posts
|
Post by altamont on Apr 10, 2017 17:31:59 GMT
Priority booking opens on 19th April for the first three productions
|
|
394 posts
|
Post by altamont on Apr 7, 2017 19:10:31 GMT
Has anyone else received the email invitation to purchase half-price priority membership? It appears to be the top level and the offer is £25 for a year rather than £50. There are very few membership schemes I find worthwhile and in most cases I'd rather spend the money on tickets, but in this instance, unless I'm mistaken, there has been no information regarding the first season's productions, so it'd be an even riskier purchase than usual. I don't think it has been officially announced, but Julius Caesar with Ben Whishaw has been mentioned as being the second play in the season, opening in January 2018
|
|
394 posts
|
Post by altamont on Apr 6, 2017 19:42:16 GMT
Just a reminder that Showgirl has started an Ambience topic in General Chat - perhaps this topic can be reserved for Killology?
|
|
394 posts
|
Post by altamont on Apr 6, 2017 15:58:50 GMT
Thanks Abby
|
|
394 posts
|
Post by altamont on Apr 6, 2017 15:52:26 GMT
|
|
394 posts
|
Post by altamont on Mar 30, 2017 21:29:05 GMT
Every summer, loads of companies put on outdoor performances of Shakespeare (and other plays, but it does seem mainly Shakespeare). Encouraging you to bring picnics, and watch a play in the grounds of a castle, or forest etc.
We have three of them locally this summer, at Glastonbury Abbey, including one "promenade performance", of Romeo and Juliet. Are they recommended? Are there certain companies to watch out for?
Thanks
|
|
394 posts
|
Post by altamont on Mar 30, 2017 9:07:44 GMT
Clearly not a view shared by many, but I actually like the RSC to be purveyors of "traditional" Shakespeare. Everywhere else puts their own interpretation on the plays, including plenty that relate to current times - I find it refreshing to know that what I see at Stratford will be a little more traditional - perhaps in the current climate a bit old fashioned.
In recent months, I've seen the Harriet Walter and Toneelgroep versions of Julius Caesar - and they were both excellent - I'm now looking forward to seeing a "heritage" performance as a contrast
|
|
394 posts
|
Post by altamont on Mar 23, 2017 20:36:22 GMT
Believe it or not, but Mr Cooney had another go at this play with a sequel "Two into One". I had the dubious pleasure of playing the hotel manager in it just last year. As much as I cringed at trotting out the lines, the audience loved it. They couldn't get enough Willey. I remember seeing Two Into One in the 80's with Donald Sinden and Michael Williams. And I think I loved it then. Not sure what I would think now
|
|
394 posts
|
Post by altamont on Mar 20, 2017 10:30:15 GMT
We fully intended going up on stage but ended up with front rows seats with a perfect view - so we stayed there. It did strike me that you could be very lucky with your view from the stage but equally might miss a lot of what was happening. A very interesting idea though - it was good to be know you could stretch your legs if you needed to. I actually watched a bit of A+C from one of the screens in the lobby. Did they use the onstage seats idea for Kings of War?
As others have said, A+C was the weak link - it really seemed to drag toward the end, whereas C and JC had been slick and action-packed. I wondered about the decision to have very light, almost jaunty music in the scene changes - it didn't seem appropriate.
I also noticed Angus Wright in the audience.
|
|
394 posts
|
Post by altamont on Mar 19, 2017 19:37:22 GMT
The highlight for me was Hans Kesting's "Friends, Romans Countrymen". One of my favourite Richard IIIs and tonight he delivered the speech with such emotion and alacrity. We are about to go into Antony and Cleopatra but I have to say that his delivery of that speech is as fine a piece of acting as I can remember - absolutely spellbinding and worth the price of admission by itself
|
|
394 posts
|
Post by altamont on Mar 15, 2017 19:20:30 GMT
That's great, many thanks
|
|
394 posts
|
Post by altamont on Mar 15, 2017 18:12:11 GMT
I went when it was last over, and would say go with an open mind. And embrace it, and also take advantage of the moving around opportunity and don't be afraid to leave for a leg stretch Can I ask a few questions regarding how it works please. Does the moving around happen all the time, or just at set points? Are you expected to go back to your allocated seat when returning to the main auditorium seating? Are you at risk of heading toward the stage and not finding somewhere there to sit? I have to say that I wouldn't have thought the seating at the Barbican lends itself to movement, with the lack of aisles. But the whole thing does sound very intriguing... Thanks
|
|
394 posts
|
Post by altamont on Mar 11, 2017 20:33:22 GMT
Also going on the 19th. Perplexed perhaps, more than excited. My wife is dreading it
|
|
394 posts
|
Post by altamont on Mar 9, 2017 18:49:31 GMT
Public booking now open
|
|
394 posts
|
Post by altamont on Mar 7, 2017 20:21:22 GMT
I'm happy to see most people favouring the thrust over the proscenium arch - I wondered if it was just me.
To me, proximity is everything - I don't understand people who choose to sit further back. I want to see the actors, not the backs of other people's heads
|
|
394 posts
|
Post by altamont on Mar 7, 2017 7:17:03 GMT
Thank goodness someone has raised the 'could of' thing... This has bugged me for ages but I thought if I brought it up it would go down like a lead balloon. Champagne for ggersten! Couldn't of put it better myself!
|
|
394 posts
|
Post by altamont on Mar 6, 2017 8:01:43 GMT
Reading David Weston's Covering McKellen, he laments the decision to reconfigure the Royal Shakespeare Theatre stage as a thrust design, saying that the old proscenium style of the RST was good enough for Olivier, Gielgud and Schofield.
I only went to the old RST once, and to be honest hated it, although to be honest we were high up in the circle. On the other hand, I love both the design of the new RST and the Swan - they just seem to be much more intimate spaces, and to my mind proximity to the stage is paramount.
Weston also says that thrust stages can often lead to problems with sight lines (he actually describes the design of the Courtyard Theatre at Stratford as "faulty"). which I can agree with although have never found it a problem from the audience point of view
Curious to know other thoughts on this.....
|
|