Revivals of contemporary plays as good as the original....

[bordeaux]

Reading the disappointing early comments on The Pillowman I started wondering how often a first-rate new play gets a revival as well-cast and directed as the original production.  Clearly Pinter and Stoppard get that - though in my view it hasn't happened with Arcadia yet.  It's happened with David Hare's Skylight and Plenty.  The Sam Mendes revival of Alan Bennett's Habeas Corpus at the Donmar in the 90s had an astonishing cast.  At the same address Les Liaisons Dangereuses had a starry revival a few years ago.  But it strikes me that very few new plays from the 90s and later have had big-name revivals.  There are exceptions:  I saw Antony Sher play Freud in Bath in Terry Johnson's Hysteria (Henry Goodman was in the original Royal Court production);  Carol Churchill's A Number has attracted big names (though it's hard to match Gambon and Craig in the original!).  

Or perhaps plays do need to wait 30 years before they're considered ready for a major prestige revival, before they're considered modern classics?  I haven't entirely given up hope that someone will stage a 30th birthday revival of Arcadia with Rufus Sewell moving onto the Bill Nighy role and Emma Fielding to the Felicity Kendal one.

[lynette]

Lovely idea, Arcadia with R/S and EF going up as it were. If the play is a good one, then a revival will work regardless of who takes the roles.

[oxfordsimon]

One that intrigues me is Jerusalem. Given.how dominant Rylance has been in the lead role, how long will it be before someone takes the risk of trying to make that part their own?

I think it counts as a modern classic. It certainly is revival worthy (though not for a couple of years)

But who would dare challenge Rylance to a Rooster Off?!!

[cavocado]

Jun 16, 2023 13:22:40 GMT oxfordsimon said:

One that intrigues me is Jerusalem. Given.how dominant Rylance has been in the lead role, how long will it be before someone takes the risk of trying to make that part their own?

I think it counts as a modern classic. It certainly is revival worthy (though not for a couple of years)

But who would dare challenge Rylance to a Rooster Off?!!

That was the first one which came to mind for me too. But I think Rylance has talked about doing it again in 10 years, so Rooster probably won't be played by anyone else in London for a long while. It's hard to separate the play from the actor, but I'd love to see what a different creative team could make of it. Have any regional theatres done it already?

I think a few posters compared the recent Dancing at Lughnasa with the original. I saw and enjoyed both but my memories of the original aren't good enough to compare, and I suppose it's different from Jerusalem where that lead performance is so iconic. 

I think a big name revival of Arcadia is overdue. It's the sort of play that Chichester might do as a co-production with The Bridge or Hammersmith Lyric.

[Jon]

I'm sure there was a production of Jerusalem done at the Watermill?

In terms of Stoppard plays, The Invention of Love and The Coast of Utopia need to be revived.

[johng]

Watermill had Jasper Britton as Rooster. I booked but didn't go and I have no idea why!

I understand what people mean about Rylance = Rooster but I saw an amateur production at the Electric Factory in Guildford back in 2016 and it was wonderful and persuaded me it is a great play and not simply actor dependent

[oxfordsimon]

Jun 16, 2023 14:02:11 GMT johng said:

Watermill had Jasper Britton as Rooster. I booked but didn't go and I have no idea why!

I understand what people mean about Rylance = Rooster but I saw an amateur production at the Electric Factory in Guildford back in 2016 and it was wonderful and persuaded me it is a great play and not simply actor dependent

I agree and it is on my list of possible projects for next year if the venue and selection panel agree. It needs someone with big energy and big personality.

On the topic of Stoppard, I have managed to not see Arcadia even though it has been a regular part of the Oxford student offerings over the past 20 years.

I have seen Invention of Love and do like the script. It is very, very male heavy (only one female character IIRC) which might make it less attractive to possible producers.

We are getting a Rock and Roll revival this year. I saw the original production but can remember nothing about it.

[n1david]

Arguably the 2013 revival of Jez Butterworth's Mojo outdid the original in terms of talent:

1995 original included Tom Hollander, Aidan Gillen, Andy Serkis
2013 revival included Brendan Coyle, Ben Whishaw, Daniel Mays, Rupert Grint, Colin Morgan...

[alicechallice]

I think a Jerusalem revival would be a good excuse for Tom Hardy to come back to the stage.

[Jan]

Jun 16, 2023 13:51:53 GMT Jon said:

In terms of Stoppard plays, The Invention of Love and The Coast of Utopia need to be revived.

Who would revive The Coast of Utopia ? A trilogy of plays with a large cast. It will never be revived. In fact I think Stoppard is falling out of fashion and, like Terence Rattigan for example, will entirely disappear from the repertoire for a few decades and may never return. 

[oxfordsimon]

I think that is too pessimistic a prediction for Stoppard

R&G are Dead will absolutely persist in the repertoire, if nothing else.

[eatbigsea]

Jun 16, 2023 19:27:29 GMT oxfordsimon said:

I think that is too pessimistic a prediction for Stoppard

R&G are Dead will absolutely persist in the repertoire, if nothing else.

Yes, and Arcadia

[profquatermass]

Given that Stoppard currently has a Tony award winning play on Broadway, and Rock'n' Roll is being revived at Hampstead next season, it's a bit early to write him off

[lynette]

Utopia wasn’t very good, subChekovian long winded stuff and mostly inaudible from the gallery. The Invention of Love should get a revival, topical subject after all. Arcadia is a masterpiece. To be uneven isn’t a crime ( Cymbeline, anyone?) but tastes do change.

[bordeaux]

Jun 16, 2023 23:12:27 GMT lynette said:

Utopia wasn’t very good, subChekovian long winded stuff and mostly inaudible from the gallery. The Invention of Love should get a revival, topical subject after all. Arcadia is a masterpiece. To be uneven isn’t a crime ( Cymbeline, anyone?) but tastes do change.

I think that is a little harsh on Coast of Utopia.  Apparently the New York production was very different, much better and a great success - perhaps sections had been rewritten or cut.

[pledge]

That's interesting: I too sat through all (it felt like) one hundred hours of Utopia at the NT, where from the very top of the Olivier it was both inaudible and invisible; just lots of indistinguishable people in frock coats conversing in the distance...I'd be very interested to see another more immediate production. Didn't especially rate The Invention of Love first time round, but subsequently I've come to find more and more in it, though its immense depth of sub-text and lack of female roles probably means it's low on the list for possible revival..

BTW I also saw an am-dram "Jerusalem" which in my view was better than the original - a lot less "Look At My Acting" in the central role, yet which still managed to be appropriately flamboyant. I've seen a couple of revivals of Arcadia, though neither has come even close to the magic of the first production - one of those where everything just went right...