This year at the theatre....
- Thread starter belboid
- Start date
redsquirrel
This Machine Kills Progressives
This was my first live experience, I've seen the Mike Figgis film version previously. Definitely up for some more.
redsquirrel
This Machine Kills Progressives
Double Indemnity - Melbourne Theatre Company, lots of fun. Fast paced, good performances, and good comic touches, even the revolving stage (something I normally despise) actually half worked. It wasn't a brilliant piece of theatre but it was a very, very enjoyable 2 and half hours.
Skylight - Melbourne Theatre Company. Adaptation of David Hare's play, I'd seen the recent Bill Nighy/Carey Mulligan version on film at the cinema recently and that was so good that that although I tried to separate them this did end being a bit lacklustre in comparison. What was clear from seeing both performances that the play itself is very good. The actors in this version Colin Friels and Anna Samson were pretty good, although Samson insisted on playing the part with an English accent. I really don't get why so many Australian actors insist on doing this in plays. Overall competent but just a little disappointing.
Othello - Bell Shakespeare Company: Absolutely fucking fantastic! First time I've ever seen Othello done live this was really great, pretty much all the cast were good but the stand out was Iago, played by Yalin Ozucelik, I'd never heard of him before but he deserves to be a much bigger name of the back of this. Wonderful, simplistic set of just some columns and a table with great lighting, lots of green, avoiding the problem of over elaborate sets that a lot of Australian theatre seems to get bogged down by. Absolutely top notch, anyone else in Mebourne/Syndey/Canberra should get a ticket.
Skylight - Melbourne Theatre Company. Adaptation of David Hare's play, I'd seen the recent Bill Nighy/Carey Mulligan version on film at the cinema recently and that was so good that that although I tried to separate them this did end being a bit lacklustre in comparison. What was clear from seeing both performances that the play itself is very good. The actors in this version Colin Friels and Anna Samson were pretty good, although Samson insisted on playing the part with an English accent. I really don't get why so many Australian actors insist on doing this in plays. Overall competent but just a little disappointing.
Othello - Bell Shakespeare Company: Absolutely fucking fantastic! First time I've ever seen Othello done live this was really great, pretty much all the cast were good but the stand out was Iago, played by Yalin Ozucelik, I'd never heard of him before but he deserves to be a much bigger name of the back of this. Wonderful, simplistic set of just some columns and a table with great lighting, lots of green, avoiding the problem of over elaborate sets that a lot of Australian theatre seems to get bogged down by. Absolutely top notch, anyone else in Mebourne/Syndey/Canberra should get a ticket.
belboid
Exasperated, not angry.
No Man’s Land @ Sheffield Theatres, and then touring.
So Professor Xavier comes back from a night on the piss with Magneto, and they (well, mainly Magneto) proceed to drink more and talk barely comprehensible gibberish about the past and poetry and stuff. Until Ser Alliser Thorne and a vampire come back and sort them the fuck out. The cunts. Untrustworthy directions to Bolsover Street are given, identities are confused, and more drink is taken.
The last time I saw NML I think it had Danny Dyer in it, and it was still quite good. But this was something else. The first few minutes are a bit odd, there is almost a certain tension between those in the audience there to see the stars in anything, and those there to appreciatePinter’s absurdist masterpiece, laughing knowingly at some not particularly funny lines. But then there is a sly reference to activities on Hampstead Heath, leading to a proper belly laugh from one and all and the production really gets rolling. It isn’t a comedy, but it is hilarious, it isn’t a tragedy, but it is full of tragic moments. Ian McKellen is a sprightly, happy go lucky, drunk, Patrick Stewart almost the exact opposite (in the first half, at least). Owen Teale is magnificent as Briggs, oozing menace and distrust, even serving up breakfast you fear he might smack you in the choppers. His delivery of the central Bolsover Street speech is quite, quite, brilliant. Damien ‘Hal, the disappointing Aidan Turner replacement in Being Human’ Molony is perfectly louche and not quite as sure of himself as he pretends to be.
Buy a ticket, steal a ticket, rob a theatregoer for a ticket. You will not regret it. It’s a poetic, vaudevillian, masterpiece. You cunt.
So Professor Xavier comes back from a night on the piss with Magneto, and they (well, mainly Magneto) proceed to drink more and talk barely comprehensible gibberish about the past and poetry and stuff. Until Ser Alliser Thorne and a vampire come back and sort them the fuck out. The cunts. Untrustworthy directions to Bolsover Street are given, identities are confused, and more drink is taken.
The last time I saw NML I think it had Danny Dyer in it, and it was still quite good. But this was something else. The first few minutes are a bit odd, there is almost a certain tension between those in the audience there to see the stars in anything, and those there to appreciatePinter’s absurdist masterpiece, laughing knowingly at some not particularly funny lines. But then there is a sly reference to activities on Hampstead Heath, leading to a proper belly laugh from one and all and the production really gets rolling. It isn’t a comedy, but it is hilarious, it isn’t a tragedy, but it is full of tragic moments. Ian McKellen is a sprightly, happy go lucky, drunk, Patrick Stewart almost the exact opposite (in the first half, at least). Owen Teale is magnificent as Briggs, oozing menace and distrust, even serving up breakfast you fear he might smack you in the choppers. His delivery of the central Bolsover Street speech is quite, quite, brilliant. Damien ‘Hal, the disappointing Aidan Turner replacement in Being Human’ Molony is perfectly louche and not quite as sure of himself as he pretends to be.
Buy a ticket, steal a ticket, rob a theatregoer for a ticket. You will not regret it. It’s a poetic, vaudevillian, masterpiece. You cunt.
Winot
I wholeheartedley agree with your viewpoint
The kids are at my mum's for the week and so we are making the most of it with 2 trips to the theatre (National both times).
Last night was The Deep Blue Sea, Terence Rattigan's 1950s play about a woman living in sin with an emotionally lost ex pilot having left her judge husband. Influenced by Rattigan's homosexuality. Helen McCrory really fucking good - one of the most assured central performances I have seen for a long time.
Thursday is Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour - a bawdy musical about a Catholic girls school day out. Should make quite a contrast to the Rattigan.
Last night was The Deep Blue Sea, Terence Rattigan's 1950s play about a woman living in sin with an emotionally lost ex pilot having left her judge husband. Influenced by Rattigan's homosexuality. Helen McCrory really fucking good - one of the most assured central performances I have seen for a long time.
Thursday is Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour - a bawdy musical about a Catholic girls school day out. Should make quite a contrast to the Rattigan.
brogdale
Coming to terms with late onset Anarchism
Saw Platanov at the National this morning, yes morning...kick-off 11.45!
They were staging all of David Hare/Jonathan Kent's 'Young Chekhov' "trilogy" in one day. They had originally restricted sales for the day to folk willing/able to do the whole thing, but yesterday they obviously realised they needed to shift tickets and so Mrs B picked up tickets at the Travelex £15 price for the first offering.
Really enjoyed it; nothing was missing...there was the philosphy, the scientist, the fat landlord, the lovable rogue, the teacher, the old soldier, the doctor and the love-struck women.
Best line from the eponymous:-
4.5 Brogdale stars.
They were staging all of David Hare/Jonathan Kent's 'Young Chekhov' "trilogy" in one day. They had originally restricted sales for the day to folk willing/able to do the whole thing, but yesterday they obviously realised they needed to shift tickets and so Mrs B picked up tickets at the Travelex £15 price for the first offering.
Really enjoyed it; nothing was missing...there was the philosphy, the scientist, the fat landlord, the lovable rogue, the teacher, the old soldier, the doctor and the love-struck women.
Best line from the eponymous:-
spanglechick
High Empress of Dressing Up
We are doing a trip, our third Old Vic show of the school year (we're doing four, "Woyzek"(sp?) is the last).
I hope it's good. Lear was pretty disappointing and "Art" was only worth it for Tim Key.
spanglechick
High Empress of Dressing Up
Whee is travesties on?
Winot
I wholeheartedley agree with your viewpoint
Apollo Shaftesbury Ave. Transfer from the Meunier.
You didn't like Glenda's Lear?
spanglechick
High Empress of Dressing Up
Frankly no. Terrible direction. Disparate ideas not hitting their targets, and neither sitting well together not generating any impact in their discord. Production design was good. The fool was a highlight. I thought the Artaud-esque discomfort of that never ending storm was great... But the rest of it was a whole heap of meh. And It really, really shouldn't have been with a cast of that calibre. How can you have Imrie and Horrocks and a physical young Edmund, and create no sexual tension between them?
Reno
The In Kraut
Last year in the theatre....I saw The Red Barn by David Hare at The National in December. It was a decent enough slow burn thriller, starring Mark Strong. But the scene changes were breathtaking and the staging stole the show. Probably the most inventive and cinematic staging I've ever seen.
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Winot
I wholeheartedley agree with your viewpoint
Interesting. I agree about Horrocks and Imrie - dreadful. And I was very tired so didn't take in the whole play very well. But I thought Glenda's performance was one of the best Lears I've seen (haven't seen many but saw Ian Holm and Simon Russell Beale). The combination of her slight physicality and domination of the stage was amazing. And somehow her performance had a spine running through it that held together the pre-mad and post-mad Lear more successfully than I've seen before. And the gender things was interesting to the extent it transcended gender - it really didn't matter.
Virtual Blue
ready
Career Suicide - Chris Gethard, Soho Theatre.
Last minute decision. My Spanish friends, well, they were pretty lost throughout.
As expected, good pace to this humour...recommend.
Last minute decision. My Spanish friends, well, they were pretty lost throughout.
As expected, good pace to this humour...recommend.
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
Webster's white devil
belboid
Exasperated, not angry.
Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures presents The Red Shoes
So, the finest film in the world gets made into a ballet. Probably not that surprising considering the ballet at the heart of the movie. I did find myself trying to work out who was Lermontov and who Craster at the beginning, rather than watching the actual dancing (Victoria Page was very obvious, a young Aussie whose name I forget doing a brilliant job of recreating Moira’s role), but I soon got over that. It is a very straight retelling of the film, as far as is really possible in such a medium, completely lacking in dialogue. And it was very pleasing to be able to go to some modern dance malarkey and not be wondering wtf is going on. The music – a selection of Bernard Herrman scores - is brilliantly fitting, discordant, but also romantic when it needs to be, much more fitting then music from the actual film would have been.
The highlight is the ballet within the ballet itself. In some ways, the riskiest scene, as there is a direct and obvious contrast with the ballet in the film, it’s smart, sassiness, and just the brilliance of the performers (can anyone match the genius of Helpmann?). but it is done so well, VP is magnificent and engaging and a believable character! The dancing is fresh and invigorating, the downfall, tragic. The stage upon a stage and the audience upon it were just great to look at, and a marvellous way to end the first half. The ending is bloody well done too, theatrically impressive and genuinely moving.
We came out and immediately booked tickets to go and see it again when it comes to Sheffield.
So, the finest film in the world gets made into a ballet. Probably not that surprising considering the ballet at the heart of the movie. I did find myself trying to work out who was Lermontov and who Craster at the beginning, rather than watching the actual dancing (Victoria Page was very obvious, a young Aussie whose name I forget doing a brilliant job of recreating Moira’s role), but I soon got over that. It is a very straight retelling of the film, as far as is really possible in such a medium, completely lacking in dialogue. And it was very pleasing to be able to go to some modern dance malarkey and not be wondering wtf is going on. The music – a selection of Bernard Herrman scores - is brilliantly fitting, discordant, but also romantic when it needs to be, much more fitting then music from the actual film would have been.
The highlight is the ballet within the ballet itself. In some ways, the riskiest scene, as there is a direct and obvious contrast with the ballet in the film, it’s smart, sassiness, and just the brilliance of the performers (can anyone match the genius of Helpmann?). but it is done so well, VP is magnificent and engaging and a believable character! The dancing is fresh and invigorating, the downfall, tragic. The stage upon a stage and the audience upon it were just great to look at, and a marvellous way to end the first half. The ending is bloody well done too, theatrically impressive and genuinely moving.
We came out and immediately booked tickets to go and see it again when it comes to Sheffield.
spanglechick
High Empress of Dressing Up
Really liked R&G. Best thing at the Old Vic for a while.It's a two Stoppard week - just about to go into Rosencrantz and Guildenstern then Travesties on Saturday
Edit: David Haig is genius. Steals the show.
Winot
I wholeheartedley agree with your viewpoint
Great production. Loved David Haig and Joshua McGuire, who I thought has something of the Simon Russell Beale about him. Thought DR was a bit weak - or at least in their shadow - kept thinking how much I'd like to see Mackenzie Crook in that role instead.
I don't think I've seen it on stage before - only seen the Roth/Oldman film. Hadn't really noticed how much it is influenced by Godot. That came out strongly in this production.
clicker
nanook rubs it....
Saw 'Stepping Out' at the Vaudeville this weekend. I read the good/mediocre three out of five star reviews beforehand and felt a bit deflated. But it was bloody great . Proper laugh out loud funny , yet it became so dark. With a couple of moments when the audience as a whole did a sharp intake of breath. Each character superbly played . And a fabulous ending . Only sour note was £18 for two glasses of non descript rosé wine in the theatre bar.
. Proper laugh out loud funny , yet it became so dark. With a couple of moments when the audience as a whole did a sharp intake of breath. Each character superbly played . And a fabulous ending . Only sour note was £18 for two glasses of non descript rosé wine in the theatre bar.
spanglechick
High Empress of Dressing Up
I'm glad you mentioned Godot. I think this is a better play, though. Beckett always seems to sit uncomfortably with the humour he creates, and while I'm sure that's part of the point for him, I'm not sure it works on many other levels.
I thought Radcliffe was great, actually. Glad he had the less dominant, more flippant role. He's a nice little comedian. Crook would be ten years too old and ten inches too tall. The physical similarity of R&G, short and powerless with the Player King between them was cleverly tied into the whole production design concept... which just bloody worked, without being aggressively High Concept.
I'm finding production design a bit odd in a lot of stage work lately. I don't mean the experimental stuff, like the muddy Midsummer Night's Dream at the Young vic... risk taking like that earns the right not to pay off 100%. But the yuppy setting of Saint Joan (Donmar) that worked about 45% in the first scene, and then became pointless and imposed, in combination with gratuitous use of the revolve.., or the half-arsedness of Lear at the old vic... or Once In a Lifetime at the young vic where the uninspired production design concept just got in the bloody way... I feel like I've been watching a lot of theatre in the last year that has been designed by GCSE drama students.
Winot
I wholeheartedley agree with your viewpoint
Saw City of Glass last night at the Lyric, Hammersmith. An adaptation of Paul Auster's 1985 novella (part of the New York Trilogy). Extraordinary video design enabling a single set to morph seamlessly between multiple locations. The book is classic Auster - a metaphysical labyrinthine Escher-like detective story exploring the nature of identity, the authorial voice and reality becoming blurred. This isn't exactly character-driven stuff, and accordingly it felt frustratingly flat and cold at times, but that's not really the cast's fault and they did an incredible job of portraying multiple characters as seamlessly as the video images changed.
With two Stoppards and an Auster under our belts in the last month it feels time for some characters and emotion. Seeing Obsession with Jude Law next and then Parts 1 and 2 of Angels in America in a day at the National.
With two Stoppards and an Auster under our belts in the last month it feels time for some characters and emotion. Seeing Obsession with Jude Law next and then Parts 1 and 2 of Angels in America in a day at the National.
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phillm
Trolling through Life (TM)
One of my crackpot money making scams was to think up a blackmail of the Mousetrap. You would dress up as the character whodunnit and hang around outside the theatre with a large placard saying 'The xxxxxx did it' - which would obviously have the effect of giving away the suspenseful, cliff-hanging outcome away to patrons milling around waiting to go in. This would of course spoil the enjoyment for many and no doubt result in falling box-office for the theatre. That's when you would need to come up with some arrangement to stand down your 'protest/piece/blackmail' whatever you wish to call it with the management of the theatre. Which of course would stay the right side of extortion/blackmail - say 100 quid a week / 5k one-off payment. You would have to be a rightcunt to do this though - which is the 'not so hidden' price of engagement.
So please kids please don't do this at home.
redsquirrel
This Machine Kills Progressives
The Mousetrap is a fucking awful play and should have been consigned to the dustbin a long long time ago. And the murder is obvious from the first act or so anyway.
Richard III - by the Bell Shakespeare Company, I think it's the first time I've seen the play live. Kate Mulvany plays the title role, she's unlikely to be known in the UK as she doesn't really do a massive amount of TV and film work, but IMO she's one of Australia's leading actors. This is really her piece and she was excellent, with the rest of the cast very good too. I wasn't totally convinced about the setting, a sort of 20s/30s upper class dinner party style, or some of the direction choices but it's worth going for Mulvany alone.
Richard III - by the Bell Shakespeare Company, I think it's the first time I've seen the play live. Kate Mulvany plays the title role, she's unlikely to be known in the UK as she doesn't really do a massive amount of TV and film work, but IMO she's one of Australia's leading actors. This is really her piece and she was excellent, with the rest of the cast very good too. I wasn't totally convinced about the setting, a sort of 20s/30s upper class dinner party style, or some of the direction choices but it's worth going for Mulvany alone.
redsquirrel
This Machine Kills Progressives
In what way?
Both the Ivo van Hove pieces, A View From a Bridge and Hedda Gabler, I've seen (in the cinema with NT Live rather than the real thing unfortunately) were brilliant. What was wrong with this one?
Both the Ivo van Hove pieces, A View From a Bridge and Hedda Gabler, I've seen (in the cinema with NT Live rather than the real thing unfortunately) were brilliant. What was wrong with this one?
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