Theatre bastards - The new class

Saw Julius Caesar last night. The standing ‘promenade’ tickets are good fun and offer something a bit different from the usual theatre visit. I’ve seen people referring to them as being a more immersive experience, but while there were definitely points where it was amazing to be in the middle of things (standing directly in front of Mark Anthony during his funeral oration, for example really gave a strong sense of being part of the crowd he was speaking to), there were also moments when the freedom for people to move around was a distraction from the play itself, making it harder to focus on the scenes in the way that you’d be able to when sitting. That said, the pros outweigh the cons and it’s hard to see how any of the seats would be the better option, unless you’re likely to be uncomfortable standing for a couple of hours.

As for the play itself, it’s the best production of JC I’ve seen. The central characters were really well drawn out and acted; Michelle Farley, David Morrissey, Ben Whishaw and Adjoa Andoh were all fantastic, and David Calder’s Caesar felt very of the moment in his presentation of a populist leader. If you like a Shakespearian tragedy, grab yourself a ticket!

The theatre looks like a promising space - will be good to go again and see what it’s like in other configurations.

Next up The Brothers Size, before finally getting to Network at the end of the month!

McKellen klaxon

https://twitter.com/dukeofyorksldn/status/961521229822922752

My girlfriend managed to get cheap Monday tickets for Girls & Boys at the Royal Court last night.

Carey Mulligan and the set design were incredible, and it’s worth going to see it for them alone, even if some of the content towards the end was a little heavy-handed.

We’re going to see Beginning tomorrow night.

I also saw Girls and Boys, and liked it very much. Never really rated Mulligan before but she’s captivating in this.

Other recent viewing:

Brothers Size - first play from Moonlight writer Tarell Alvin McCraney - wrote it when he was in Grad school and it shows. Can’t fault the production but it did nothing for me, but I was in the minority there as it got a very warm response.

York Realist - Quite sweet if slight portrayal of repressed gay love in the 60s. Ben Batt is brilliant

Gundog - Alec Secareanu stars in another farm-related tale about morality and sheep farming. Beautifully atmospheric and VERY bleak.

Jubilee - updated reworking of Jarman’s classic film. Completely all over the place and think it might get ripped to shreds by the critics but I went along with it and quite liked the ballsy “in yer face” -like vibe. Lots of walkouts. And nudity.

The Grinning Man and Pinocchio , both of which are taking the War Horse approach to production. Both well staged, both lacking a little something in terms of heart though.

I’m a big fan of Beginning - there’s a great interview with Justine Mitchell and Sam Troughton (grandson of the Doctor) in The Sunday Times from last year, where they argue about whether it’s a sad or a funny play.
Seeing John tonight. I like the sound of a slowly unfolding spooky story so this pretty much had me at hello.

ITS SO GOOD

Loved Beginning, too.

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Looking forward to it - it sounds good so I’m hoping it lives up to expectations.
Beginning has got something. There’s a wealth of emotional truths in that play. It’s as much a rollercoaster as the How’s your love life? thread, but with a bar and better jokes. (I wonder how many people wince each performance at the “My life is a shell of activity” line.)

All tickets for Fanny and Alexander at the Old Vic tonight are £5 with the code FIVER

(its 3 hrs 45 mins long but apparently very very good)

Saw this last night and it’s very very good - highly recommended.

Saw Network yesterday. Wow.

[spoiler]Really, really enjoyed it. Thought it was really innovative and captivating.

  • I was sat in third row (with a devilishly cheap Entry Pass ticket). In that scene where Howard Beale comes into the audience, he sat down in the seat in front of me. Quite surreal. Was terrified he was going to talk to me.
  • The bit in which they filmed that couple by the BFI looked really great with the snow outside.
  • I didn’t really follow all the ideology of it, but I suppose that was the point, that it all sounded convincing to me. Howard Beale reminded me a bit of Jordan Peterson in his self-help guff.
  • The president bit at the end was so naff and unnecessary. One of the (admittedly more minor) problems with Trump being elected is that a lot of remade productions (like Angels in America last year) take on this heavy-handed ‘POIGNANCY’ that wouldn’t have been the case if Hillary had been elected, as she very nearly was. Do you think these plays were decided and cast before Trump was elected anyway?[/spoiler]

Why isn’t that spoiler working?

Angels… was definitely pre-Trump, that had been on the cards for a few years. Not sure about Network, though.

Did I get a picture of the back of your head?

You did! That looks like me just to the right and two rows ahead of that fur shawl. How did you like it?

:grinning: I enjoyed it- though BC did a good job, although some of the dialogue was a bit overdone (Jensen blathering on about there being no countries and money being everything definitely could have done with an edit, for example).

The scene outside seemed very brave- was waiting either for one of them to fall over or for someone to hit them with a snowball…

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The Birthday Party @ The Harold Pinter Theatre last night.

Saw this when I was at school and loved it even if I didn’t fully understand it. Went to this version mostly because it had Toby Jones in, but Stephen Mangan absolutely stole the show as Goldberg. Zoe Wannamaker (still a babe) is good too. The whole thing is cryptic as fuck, which works for me :+1:

Network - Really enjoyed the staging of this and thought Cranston was excellent, even if a lot of what Howard Beale was saying was trite and sometimes objectionable stuff.

Julius Caesar - I really admired the ambition of the set up for this, but maybe it was just a little too frenetic for me. Also, while the casting and acting of David Morrissey as Mark Antony, Ben Whishaw as Brutus and Micelle Fairley as Cassius is terrific if you treat them separately, when you put them together, something about the balance doesn’t quite sit right. Antony becomes less of a working class-tyro and Brutus becomes less of a respected elder statesman, which unbalances the play a little.

Also, the Bridge Theatre is very swish, isn’t it?

The very very good Almeida Hamlet is on the BBC next weekend

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Agreed on BC, he was great. I thought the American accents got a bit “Radio 4 afternoon drama” quite often. Enjoyable enough, but I’ve had better nights at the theatre.