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Post by amyja89 on May 10, 2024 21:19:38 GMT
Mixed feelings for sure. As a Tudor era nerd I was always going to eat this up thematically, it’s the direction that pulls it down for me.
The content of the writing I didn’t have an issue with, I felt the ebb and flow of Mary’s mental state and was actually quite impressed by the sound that accompanied it. I’m by no means fluent in French so had to rely heavily on the subtitles. My first experience with them in the theatre and I have to admit that they took me out of it purely from a logistical standpoint. It was a choice if watching Huppert or reading the subs, there wasn’t really any scope for both in Row H of the stalls.
Where, for me, some of the repetition starts to border on unbearable is when you have to watch Huppert do GCSE level movement up, down and across the stage. Pretty unbelievable at times. Funnily enough, I did think of Dorian Gray at certain points as well.
I didn’t come out hating it, but it does feel like a waste of Huppert’s presence. The 80%ish standing ovation felt more for the privilege of seeing her than for adoration of the play.
Interestingly, I found myself sitting next to a lovely man who I discovered was Darryl Pinckney, who wrote the damn thing! Was with his partner James Fenton.
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Post by Dave B on May 10, 2024 21:52:36 GMT
The 80%ish standing ovation felt more for the privilege of seeing her than for adoration of the play. Yes and yes again. |
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Post by parsley1 on May 10, 2024 22:01:11 GMT
I estimate I have seen about 8500-9000 live shows plays concerts opera dance concerts in my life so far
This was the worst and most painful evening
Devoid of any artistic merit
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Post by Dave B on May 10, 2024 22:03:37 GMT
I picked up a ticket on stubhub earlier this week. It's a restricted view of the surtitles... does anyone have any experience of this at the Barbican? I do now.
I could not read the subtitles and watch the stage. It's not restricted, there is simply no possible way to view them while watching the play. I'm pretty furious, I booked two seats for us on the day it went on sale. Ended up with my sister in town and grabbed her a gallery seat when they went on sale, her seat was miles better than our stalls seats.
I've also just checked and my tickets that were re-emailed this week have an additional restriction warning which my original tickets did not and no email to alert me to this. I'm going to wait till the morning to calm down because right now I'm considering going straight to a chargeback on my credit card.
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Post by parsley1 on May 10, 2024 22:10:10 GMT
I picked up a ticket on stubhub earlier this week. It's a restricted view of the surtitles... does anyone have any experience of this at the Barbican? I do now.
I could not read the subtitles and watch the stage. It's not restricted, there is simply no possible way to view them while watching the play. I'm pretty furious, I booked two seats for us on the day it went on sale. Ended up with my sister in town and grabbed her a gallery seat when they went on sale, her seat was miles better than our stalls seats.
I've also just checked and my tickets that were re-emailed this week have an additional restriction warning which my original tickets did not and no email to alert me to this. I'm going to wait till the morning to calm down because right now I'm considering going straight to a chargeback on my credit card.
I am so sorry Dave you experienced this I have been to so so so many shows with surtitles here Over many years when they had BITE and the venue had some self respect not to stage shows for babies or musicals for half the year They had a spell of messing up the location and placing of surtitles for a while particularly with the Ninagawa shows and I recall people having to be moved at the start of the show As they are so high at the top of the stage you can’t see them really unless you are half way back in the stalls a good 9-10-11 rows and it does make you wonder at the sheer stupidity of a venue really Then for a long long time they ensured good surtitles by having screens much lower down and at the sides or back of the stage I fear the location of the three screens today was done to avoid “polluting” the pretentious staging If it’s any consolation the translation was so fast and most of it was repeated ad nauseum with the majority of it random and meaningless |
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Post by amyja89 on May 10, 2024 22:12:48 GMT
I’m going to dream about Mary Fleming, Mary Beton, Mary Livingstone and Mary Seton.
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Post by parsley1 on May 10, 2024 22:14:28 GMT
Mary Seton
Mary Beaton
Mary Fleming
Mary Livingstone
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Post by parsley1 on May 10, 2024 22:15:38 GMT
I’m going to dream about Mary Fleming, Mary Beton, Mary Livingstone and Mary Seton. OMG we both posted at the same time 😂😂😂 Which one liked the jewels I can’t recall even though she told us 59 million times 🫣 |
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Post by parsley1 on May 10, 2024 22:19:26 GMT
Mixed feelings for sure. As a Tudor era nerd I was always going to eat this up thematically, it’s the direction that pulls it down for me. The content of the writing I didn’t have an issue with, I felt the ebb and flow of Mary’s mental state and was actually quite impressed by the sound that accompanied it. I’m by no means fluent in French so had to rely heavily on the subtitles. My first experience with them in the theatre and I have to admit that they took me out of it purely from a logistical standpoint. It was a choice if watching Huppert or reading the subs, there wasn’t really any scope for both in Row H of the stalls. Where, for me, some of the repetition starts to border on unbearable is when you have to watch Huppert do GCSE level movement up, down and across the stage. Pretty unbelievable at times. Funnily enough, I did think of Dorian Gray at certain points as well. I didn’t come out hating it, but it does feel like a waste of Huppert’s presence. The 80%ish standing ovation felt more for the privilege of seeing her than for adoration of the play. Interestingly, I found myself sitting next to a lovely man who I discovered was Darryl Pinckney, who wrote the damn thing! Was with his partner James Fenton. Very interesting you picked up on this As from Variety review from a past performance “Huppert has an audacity unparalleled among actresses, but also a very specific range, and studying her over the years, I’ve found that dance is not her forte. There is something cold and slightly inhuman about Huppert’s most iconic roles (if you’re unfamiliar with her edgy oeuvre, I recommend you start with “Elle” and work your way up to “The Piano Teacher”) — a mechanical quality that makes such movement look like exercise when she attempts it, something unnatural and rehearsed. To watch the choreography of this show is to witness an actress manipulated by her director, trusting entirely in his genius, at the expense of her own instincts.” I don’t know that much as I was sleeping for 2x 15 mins spells during the show so I don’t see her movements |
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Post by amyja89 on May 10, 2024 22:20:20 GMT
Fleming was miserable.
Beton was jewels.
Livingstone was (something?).
Seton was fave.
😅
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Post by parsley1 on May 10, 2024 22:21:08 GMT
Fleming was miserable. Beton was jewels. Livingstone was (something?). Seton was fave. 😅 Someone was also about to laugh from the 4 Perhaps we did learn something 😂 |
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Post by amyja89 on May 10, 2024 22:24:32 GMT
Mixed feelings for sure. As a Tudor era nerd I was always going to eat this up thematically, it’s the direction that pulls it down for me. The content of the writing I didn’t have an issue with, I felt the ebb and flow of Mary’s mental state and was actually quite impressed by the sound that accompanied it. I’m by no means fluent in French so had to rely heavily on the subtitles. My first experience with them in the theatre and I have to admit that they took me out of it purely from a logistical standpoint. It was a choice if watching Huppert or reading the subs, there wasn’t really any scope for both in Row H of the stalls. Where, for me, some of the repetition starts to border on unbearable is when you have to watch Huppert do GCSE level movement up, down and across the stage. Pretty unbelievable at times. Funnily enough, I did think of Dorian Gray at certain points as well. I didn’t come out hating it, but it does feel like a waste of Huppert’s presence. The 80%ish standing ovation felt more for the privilege of seeing her than for adoration of the play. Interestingly, I found myself sitting next to a lovely man who I discovered was Darryl Pinckney, who wrote the damn thing! Was with his partner James Fenton. Very interesting you picked up on this As from Variety review from a past performance “Huppert has an audacity unparalleled among actresses, but also a very specific range, and studying her over the years, I’ve found that dance is not her forte. There is something cold and slightly inhuman about Huppert’s most iconic roles (if you’re unfamiliar with her edgy oeuvre, I recommend you start with “Elle” and work your way up to “The Piano Teacher”) — a mechanical quality that makes such movement look like exercise when she attempts it, something unnatural and rehearsed. To watch the choreography of this show is to witness an actress manipulated by her director, trusting entirely in his genius, at the expense of her own instincts.” I don’t know that much as I was sleeping for 2x 15 mins spells during the show so I don’t see her movements She’s one of my all time favourite actresses, and her strength is VERY MUCH in her stillness. Something like the Piano Teacher, her physical and emotional stoicism in that is what makes it a masterpiece (IMO). No surprise to me then, that the better parts of this (again, IMO) were those when she was still and not performing those awful mechanical movement sequences. |
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Post by parsley1 on May 10, 2024 22:28:35 GMT
It reminded me of Olympia
The doll from Hoffman Tales
Did you see her in Phaedra(s)
I preferred that
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Post by amyja89 on May 10, 2024 22:33:23 GMT
It reminded me of Olympia The doll from Hoffman Tales Did you see her in Phaedra(s) I preferred that No I didn’t! It’s her in The Maids with Cate Blanchett that I really regret missing. |
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Post by parsley1 on May 10, 2024 22:35:07 GMT
It reminded me of Olympia The doll from Hoffman Tales Did you see her in Phaedra(s) I preferred that No I didn’t! It’s her in The Maids with Cate Blanchett that I really regret missing. No it wasn’t good I prefer the acting in the Trafalgar Studios staging Jamie Lloyd no less 😂 |
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Post by mkb on May 11, 2024 2:12:10 GMT
This was utter purgatory. From just a few minutes in, I was willing it to end. This is pseudo-intellectual rubbish, entirely devoid of any merit. There is certainly no entertainment value, but also nothing of educational benefit. The translated script lacks any poetical artistry.
Without any explanation, the performance start was delayed ten minutes. For the next ten, Madame Huppert was in darkness at the rear of the stage taking an eternity to rotate 180 degrees to face us. The dialogue -- about 75% live and 25% pre-recorded -- is all French and from Huppert, apart from a small section on the soundtrack in English.
From the centre of stalls row C, I had the choice of surtitles high above the proscenium, or to the left or right. None were comfortable to look at easily, and I shifted between the options to avoid neck strain. Huppert delivers lines at such breakneck speed, that it's frequently impossible to keep up with the displayed words. A two-line sentence might appear for less than a second.
Whereas movie subtitles and the normal pace of dialogue allow one's eyes to flit back and forth between text and image, here one is rooted to reading, with rare glances at the stage only when there is the occasional pause in speech. This is no great loss, because the actress is frequently static, and when she moves, it is with bizarre hand gestures and frantic pacing back and forth on a loop that suggest she might be a malfunctioning automaton rather than a lauded thespian.
Whoever was responsible for the lighting design -- and, quelle surprise, it turns out to be Robert Wilson, the director and creator of this garbage -- has a particularly sadistic streak. We are forced to endure two stage-wide strips of brilliant white lighting at floor level, marking the front and back of the space. Even though I was mainly focused on surtitle watching, I was having to contend with little white lines burnt into my retina from the infrequent peeks towards Huppert. And just as those were starting to dissipate, the illumination of the rear wall would be suddenly cranked up to blind you properly.
The music soundtrack is meant to stir, but does so with such little subtlety that the effect is excessively melodramatic, as if this were a lampoon of bad experimental theatre rather than a show setting out to be completely serious.
Incredibly, there were four minutes of applause and well-supported ovation. I'd like to think that others had somehow managed to glean a worthiness beyond my capability, but I rather suspect it a performative display.
One star.
One act: 19:55-21:24
including 4 minutes of applause and ovation
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Post by Dave B on May 11, 2024 8:11:24 GMT
We are forced to endure two stage-wide strips of brilliant white lighting at floor level, marking the front and back of the space. Even though I was mainly focused on surtitle watching, I was having to contend with little white lines burnt into my retina from the infrequent peeks towards Huppert Incredibly, there were four minutes of applause and well-supported ovation. I'd like to think that others had somehow managed to glean a worthiness beyond my capability, but I rather suspect it a performative display. Also yes and yes again. Ugh. |
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Post by jr on May 11, 2024 9:49:22 GMT
Ticket available on noticeboard for tomorrow. Front row stalls.
DM if interested.
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Post by Dave B on May 11, 2024 11:42:15 GMT
I picked up a ticket on stubhub earlier this week. It's a restricted view of the surtitles... does anyone have any experience of this at the Barbican? I do now.
I could not read the subtitles and watch the stage. It's not restricted, there is simply no possible way to view them while watching the play. I'm pretty furious, I booked two seats for us on the day it went on sale. Ended up with my sister in town and grabbed her a gallery seat when they went on sale, her seat was miles better than our stalls seats.
I've also just checked and my tickets that were re-emailed this week have an additional restriction warning which my original tickets did not and no email to alert me to this. I'm going to wait till the morning to calm down because right now I'm considering going straight to a chargeback on my credit card.
I calmed down a little and this morning I emailed a polite complaint to Barbican expressing my disappointment and expanded on what I posted here a little. I used their complaints form at 09.34 this morning. At 12.33 I received not one but two apologies from a fully named person (not generic details), an assurance that they are urgently going to investigate *now* and a full refund of my booking.
I'm feeling a lot more positive towards Barbican than I was a few minutes ago.
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Post by n1david on May 11, 2024 11:48:44 GMT
4.5 stars from The Reviews Hub, although it does acknowledge "However, it’s not an easy watch, especially at the beginning when surtitles – it’s performed in French – flash by so quickly it’s tough to keep up." and "In the opening 20 minutes or so, it seems as if Wilson’s show will drag on forever, " www.thereviewshub.com/mary-said-what-she-said-barbican-london/ |
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Post by mahagonnite on May 11, 2024 12:04:18 GMT
I was at the edge of row B (seat 11) and could read the left hand side surtitles due to the curve of the row, although not particularly comfortablely. (I can speak French but not the frenetic French that made up most of the latter scenes.)
I would avoid the first half of the stalls if I didn't speak French.
The surtitles are above and to the left and right of the stage.
There are some people 'reviewing' this piece who should have familiaried themselves with Robert Wilson's work beforehand and simply not gone.
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Post by mkb on May 11, 2024 12:54:58 GMT
There are some people 'reviewing' this piece who should have familiaried themselves with Robert Wilson's work beforehand and simply not gone. 1) Inverted commas on "reviewing" is plain rude. 2) I prefer to judge work based on personal experience rather than pre-judge. The marketing material made it sound like it was right up my street. If I was risk-averse and always avoided stuff that sounded challenging or not for me, I would have missed out on some wonderful theatre over the years. |
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Post by parsley1 on May 11, 2024 13:47:17 GMT
I was at the edge of row B (seat 11) and could read the left hand side surtitles due to the curve of the row, although not particularly comfortablely. (I can speak French but not the frenetic French that made up most of the latter scenes.) I would avoid the first half of the stalls if I didn't speak French. The surtitles are above and to the left and right of the stage. There are some people 'reviewing' this piece who should have familiaried themselves with Robert Wilson's work beforehand and simply not gone. Pretty “patronising” Robert Wilson is hardly Beyoncé His work has been in the UK 2003 2011 2013 Other than the appalling Aida he directed at the ROH I can still recall the torrent of booing at the opening night He is neither an A list nor a desired name on the London theatre circuit He is frequently referred to as a “cult” figure in theatre Cult usually means not very popular for valid reasons Not very good |
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Post by Steve on May 11, 2024 16:22:12 GMT
Saw the matinee, and it felt like the best ever exhibit at the Tate Modern, rather than an entertainment. Some spoilers follow. . . Duly warned by this thread, I was kicking myself for buying the cheapest Stalls Seats (Row B), which in the past provided excellent access to surtitles in various Van Hove's and whatnot. So, given that everyone was still waiting to go in at 2:40pm, I joined the very back of the queue, so as to go in last, and noted as I walked in that Row R of the Stalls was almost completely empty, so I just went in there instead. From there, the surtitles were easy to see and, as Parsley said, it became clear that alot of it is repetition. That makes perfect sense because this is really an art exhibit "The Confined Queen loses her marbles," and repetition is a big part of that. I remember, for example, how the polar bears at Bristol Zoo, years ago, just paced back and forth, banging their heads against the walls, completely insane, like mechanical cuckoo clocks more than living creatures. Huppert goes through lots of insane moods, repeating her babbling words about Mary Seton (as the surtitles spelled it) being her bestie, and Mary Fleming being a grump, in silhouette, beaming, dour, with a rictus grin, cackling, rasping like Linda Blair in the Exorcist. She rages about savagery and abuse and betrayal, before constantly slipping back into her world of the 4 other Marys. She stretches her arms as if to fly, like a caged bird with clipped wings, does her merry dance going nowhere, then her not-so-merry dance, then she imagines herself to be brightly cheerily floating in the clouds, but always the darkness and the repetition return, and she looks more and more desperate and robotic. The stillness of Huppert's trapped silhouette, which brightens to reveal an overly bright unnatural forced smile, followed by all her repetitive unnatural behaviour, was all quite brilliantly done. If there is anywhere you expect a theatre show to be experimental, like an art exhibit, its the Barbican, and I was doubly warned by this thread lol. So that said, as a drama, this is 1 star, as an art exhibit, it's 5 stars. Overall, from me, 4 stars, as imprisonment and madness are states I can only bear for so long, and once you get the hang if it, you get the hang of it. It lacks the Sarah Kane type unexpected eccentricity and extremism of the Phaedra thing Huppert did, that Parsley mentioned, where your mind boggles at what you're watching, and which was more up my street.  |
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Post by mkb on May 11, 2024 19:32:17 GMT
... it felt like the best ever exhibit at the Tate Modern, rather than an entertainment. ... Funny you should say that because that's exactly what I was saying to my husband as we exited last night. I have toured the rooms in the Tate Gallery only once, and I was astonished that there was not a single exhibit I would consider art. Most failed my test that if it's something I could have come up with, it's definitely not art. Modern art isn't always terrible, so it was staggering that the Tate had managed to curate only the worst examples. I think Mary Said... would fit in perfectly. |
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