246 posts
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Post by barelyathletic on Feb 10, 2023 11:09:47 GMT
Anyone going to this? I'm booked for early March. Gary Owen's previous work has been terrific, especially his most recent, Killology, Violence and Sons and Iphigenia in Splott, so I'm very much looking forward to this.
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Post by mrnutz on Feb 10, 2023 11:31:47 GMT
Yep, also going in March!
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Post by MrBunbury on Feb 10, 2023 12:15:39 GMT
Going on the 25th of February!
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Post by barelyathletic on Feb 10, 2023 12:19:21 GMT
Look forward to hearing what you think.  |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 10, 2023 23:54:45 GMT
Will report back after I see it on Feb 14.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 14, 2023 21:48:44 GMT
Describe a new play in four words:
Dull. Banal. Inert. Cliché.
Wow. This was a slog, particularly the first act.
For a first preview, things were pretty polished, particularly given the timing some of the choreographed stage movement requires.
Not much of a set per se, but the National’s requisite(?) neon lighting and loud music during scene shifts is omnipresent. Somewhere Marianne Elliott was smiling tonight.
I’m just not sure how much better this will get given the rather weak raw material.
My colleague and I sensed Howells in particular could probably play his part in his sleep, but appreciated how layered his facial expressions and body language were. Honestly, I’m not sure the play really asks much of any of the actors.
Sat in the “pit,” Row C, smack in the center.
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Post by ladidah on Feb 15, 2023 11:03:22 GMT
I'm not usually a fan of modern Shakespeare, usually feels very 'down with the kids'
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Post by alessia on Feb 15, 2023 12:11:40 GMT
Oh dear- I booked this because it's by the same people that did Iphigenia in Splott which was great...
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Post by Deleted on Feb 15, 2023 12:17:21 GMT
Oh dear- I booked this because it's by the same people that did Iphigenia in Splott which was great...
I may be a minority opinion, so don't give up hope yet.
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Post by alessia on Feb 15, 2023 12:20:44 GMT
Oh dear- I booked this because it's by the same people that did Iphigenia in Splott which was great...
I may be a minority opinion, so don't give up hope yet.
Ah yes I'll keep an open mind! |
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Post by barelyathletic on Feb 15, 2023 15:27:39 GMT
I'm still looking forward to it |
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Post by Steve on Feb 18, 2023 23:40:09 GMT
Maybe I'll be the minority opinion, but I LOVED this tonight. It's of a piece with Gary Owen's other work, and Callum Scott Howells is as delightful as you could hope for. . . Some spoilers follow. . . This is set in Splott, just like "Iphigenia in Splott," and just as in that play, the adaptation of the original play referenced is extremely loose, similarly inserting recognisable, warm, witty, sardonic, self-sacrificing characters, suffering a storm of socioeconomic circumstances, into an updated modern plot. The set was a bit too bleak for my liking, as, although I liked the "Constellations" style lights above the characters, which referenced symbols from physics (tying in with the Julie character's obsessions and field of study, as well as representing life's myriad possibilities), I was disturbed by the black background with a foregrounded pram, which put me in mind of the horrors of Edward Bond's "Saved." I'm quite happy to be disturbed, of course, but in the context of so much comedic banter (Welsh working class bluntness comically undercutting highfalutin pretensions at every turn; and loveable youthful coyness then comically undercutting said bluntness, offering a double whammy of laughs, simultaneously amusing and heartwarming: in particular in Callum Scott Howells's beautifully judged performance, full of beat down experience leavened by blundering innocence), I found the bleak background scared some of the potential laughs right out of me. Sure, the background does foreshadow an inevitable bleakness in the plot, but it overstates it, I feel: Gary Owen's attachment to some semblance of believable mundane reality doesn't allow for the full potential hell that that set puts in mind lol. Anyway, apart from the scary bleak background, I felt the play is perfectly judged, blending it's damning message about constricted opportunities for the less well off, with a lovingly etched sense of specific people and places, and affording Callum Scott Howells with an opportunity to essay a memorable and utterly delightful character: the pursed hesitancy of his every expression speaks to an inner softness. Rosie Sheehy's Julie is effortlessly empathetic and caustically blunt, and Howell's souse of a mother is superbly portrayed by Catrin Aaron, solid and slippery in equal measure, with a masterful comic timing in her line readings. This is not as hard-hitting as Iphigenia, but it offers up a love story that is the pitch perfect blend of amusing and meaningful: all-round adorable. 4 stars from me. |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 19, 2023 10:44:47 GMT
Glad you enjoyed it so much more than my colleague and I did. Ironically, we thought the opening staging was one of the more compelling moments in the production although it certainly could be seen as ominous.
The show is definitely is well-acted. We just wish the play had provided more compelling and less predictable material. As Americans, maybe we just didn't connect quite as well to some of the dialogue even though the themes are pretty universal.
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Post by drmaplewood on Feb 19, 2023 11:39:38 GMT
I was also there last night, less enthusiastic than Steve sadly though the acting was very strong and especially Catrin Aaron as Romeo's mum.
I really hated the opening scene (and it needs to be trimmed massively) and was dreading that the whole piece was going to be in that vein. Luckily it settled down and the second half definitely improves things but like stevea above I just didn't find it compelling and it felt like a middle of the road ITV drama. 3 stars for me - and mainly down to the acting.
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698 posts
Member is Online
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Post by thistimetomorrow on Feb 20, 2023 23:01:46 GMT
I really liked this - thought Callum and Rosie were both fantastic.
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Post by n1david on Feb 22, 2023 10:43:34 GMT
This seems to be dividing critics too - first two reviews I've seen are 5* in The Stage and 2* in BWW...
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Post by barelyathletic on Feb 22, 2023 11:15:57 GMT
An absolute 5 star rave from WOS.
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Post by foxa on Feb 22, 2023 13:50:10 GMT
That BWW review is pretty harsh - calls an actor a 'theatre starlet' (? - does that mean her theatrical debut?) and criticises Howells' 'weird mouth acting' (also ?)
However, even with raves, this one is not for me as it just seems such a tired idea. How many times and ways has Romeo and Juliet been updated?
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Post by stevemar on Feb 22, 2023 13:52:43 GMT
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Post by stevemar on Feb 22, 2023 13:53:21 GMT
Can we have a poll, pretty please moderators?
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Post by Steve on Feb 22, 2023 15:50:54 GMT
That BWW review is pretty harsh - calls an actor a 'theatre starlet' (? - does that mean her theatrical debut?) and criticises Howells' 'weird mouth acting' (also ?) However, even with raves, this one is not for me as it just seems such a tired idea. How many times and ways has Romeo and Juliet been updated? The BWW review should be avoided because it gives away the ending. It does say "spoiler alert" but in this case, it reveals absolutely EVERYTHING. In addition to Foxa's observation, the review also takes offense at "distasteful Welsh stereotypes," which, I suppose, means the reviewer thinks Romeo's mother shouldn't be depicted as drinking so much and Romeo himself shouldn't be such a "simpleton," as the reviewer describes him. That seems a bit oversensitive as the play is explicitly about poor socio-economic circumstances, which often cause people to lean on substances as crutches, and under that standard, we won't be seeing a biography of Dylan Thomas ever, and "The Motive and the Cue" is at risk of an impending two star review lol. |
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Post by barelyathletic on Feb 22, 2023 16:04:14 GMT
Ooer! Cindy Marcolina must have got out of bed on the wrong side, got back in then did it again. Ouch!
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Post by Deleted on Feb 22, 2023 16:08:05 GMT
"It's disheartening to see such a big platform being under-exploited to the benefit of a silly narrative."
I can agree with this line from Marcolina's review although I'm not sure I would use silly as my modifier. I just think a better play would have allowed these talented actors to really shine.
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Post by alessia on Feb 25, 2023 7:24:38 GMT
I really enjoyed this last night. Great acting from all, Romy's mum drunk scene is a performance masterclass and the relationship between the teens is believable and sweet. I was so engrossed in the story that I never thought of the time- in the second half I got worried it would end v badly for the couple, as by then I really was caring for them! I had seen Rosie Sheehy in Oleanna and was impressed then, and she is equally good here. I was a bit cynical when she first meets Romy and she falls for him because what would a bright young woman see in him? However, you then see how genuinely selfless and good he is, as portrayed by Callum Scott Howells, how he really wants Julie to succeed at university (with no toxic/controlling tendencies, rare!). I've read the reviews including the 2 (2???) stars one, and yes, it is true that maybe it's not believable that Romy doesn't know the difference between Cardiff and Cambridge universities until Julie tells him, but then why would a teen from a poor family, who never finished school and certainly never thought of a university education, be interested to find out about those things? So yes maybe a bit unrealistic but not impossible. And Julie wanting to give it all up is not unbelievable as people do all sorts when infatuated, and they are both so young so even more likely to do silly things.
My seat wasn't great up in the circle on the side, but as all the action is at the front, you don't really miss anything. Recommended!
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jay
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Post by jay on Feb 25, 2023 12:01:33 GMT
A curio.
The connection with the Shakespeare original seems tenuous at best - and is never really fully explored apart from the fact that both protagonists fight with their parents! A second group of actors getting to grips with the demanding 'Kerdiff' accent ( the other , over at The Donmar) - most do well, although Callum Scott Howells often sounds more Scouse than Taff, and Paul Brennan doesn't even bother - so we have a Northern Dad ( were there no good older Welsh actors available for the role?) The result of the accent leads to a sort of 'recitation' of the lines - more like poetry in fact, as the accent often leads to frequent upward inflections, so a line like 'Im not feeling well', becomes 'I'm not feeling well?' Takes a bit of time to get used to. This coupled with the decision ( directorial ? ) to deliver much of the material directly towards the audience - even in 2-hander scenes - leads to a sort of 'Brechtian alienation', which on reflection I couldn't work out if it was a deliberate choice, or just the actors 'playing the house'. The performances are generally good - Catrin Aaron excelling - but I found Howells over-egging the physical side of his performance ( all ticks, and tricks ), while Rosie Sheehy could have found more variation in her delivery perhaps - all brash, chippy & tomboyish. Never fully believed their relationship - a Cambridge bound physics student and a drop-out lad from Splott but this was more a reflection of the writing I feel. The design concept was simple & effective and must have thrilled the National in terms of budget - several plastic chairs, 2 wooden chairs & a table. The bursts of music between each scene were WAY too loud - several folk near me literally jumped out of their seats each time ( and became quite fun to watch .) Counted about 40 empty seats - which , for a Friday night, was surprising . 3 ***.
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