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Post by alessia on Sept 2, 2022 10:06:57 GMT
I've just read the Time Out review for I, Joan. It reads as if the guy is walking on eggshells a bit- gives it 3 stars but he seems wary of offending so gives a few good comments and makes sure he's on the right side by the reference to transphobes being offended and placating the comment on the play being too long with a self deprecating 'but I'm a cis white man so what do I know'. |
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Post by oxfordsimon on Sept 2, 2022 10:30:04 GMT
Times gives it 5 stars. Stage gave 3.
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Post by crowblack on Sept 2, 2022 10:30:46 GMT
I've just read the Time Out review for I, Joan. It reads as if the guy is walking on eggshells a bit- gives it 3 stars but he seems wary of offending so gives a few good comments and makes sure he's on the right side by the reference to transphobes being offended and placating the comment on the play being too long with a self deprecating 'but I'm a cis white man so what do I know'. I saw their tweet, which sounds glowing and omits the star rating (which most of their other theatre review tweets include!): "Review: I Joan, Shakespeare’s Globe - a joyous celebration of non-binary identity told as a tongue-in-cheek take on the tale of Joan of Arc" |
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Post by alessia on Sept 2, 2022 10:42:29 GMT
I've just read the Time Out review for I, Joan. It reads as if the guy is walking on eggshells a bit- gives it 3 stars but he seems wary of offending so gives a few good comments and makes sure he's on the right side by the reference to transphobes being offended and placating the comment on the play being too long with a self deprecating 'but I'm a cis white man so what do I know'. I saw their tweet, which sounds glowing and omits the star rating (which most of their other theatre review tweets include!): "Review: I Joan, Shakespeare’s Globe - a joyous celebration of non-binary identity told as a tongue-in-cheek take on the tale of Joan of Arc" Indeed. I usually agree with him on most of his reviews but it is obvious to me he is being careful with this one. Even previous tweets he made about the play always swept the main issue under the carpet: the transing of a powerful female figure seen as progressive- and failing to spell out why the people having an issue with this are in any way bigoted. |
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Post by oxfordsimon on Sept 2, 2022 15:49:38 GMT
I have read the reviews that are not hidden by paywalls and the reaction seems to be 'look at all the non-binary-ness and ignore the fact that this isn't a very well written play'
Which is pretty much what we should expect from the critics who reacted very similarly to the recent Legally Blonde.
The desire to be seen as progressive and supportive means that critics are suspending their critical faculties and just trying to find positives.
The way to support new trans creators is not to give them unconditional praise. Show them the same respect as their more established counterparts. We can all learn from constructive criticism.
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Post by cavocado on Sept 3, 2022 8:17:06 GMT
If I was a critic I'd be scared of losing my job or being banned from theatres for not praising this one.
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Post by jm25 on Sept 3, 2022 8:25:56 GMT
The Telegraph gave it 2 stars and I thought their review was very fair in its criticisms.
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Post by oxfordsimon on Sept 3, 2022 12:35:32 GMT
If I was a critic I'd be scared of losing my job or being banned from theatres for not praising this one. When the new orthodoxy surrounding any gender related issue is that controlling, we are a very dangerous period for freedom of thought and expression |
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Post by crowblack on Sept 3, 2022 14:02:38 GMT
(Need to verify, hang on!)
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Post by jojo on Sept 5, 2022 12:09:38 GMT
I've just read the Time Out review for I, Joan. It reads as if the guy is walking on eggshells a bit- gives it 3 stars but he seems wary of offending so gives a few good comments and makes sure he's on the right side by the reference to transphobes being offended and placating the comment on the play being too long with a self deprecating 'but I'm a cis white man so what do I know'. I saw their tweet, which sounds glowing and omits the star rating (which most of their other theatre review tweets include!): "Review: I Joan, Shakespeare’s Globe - a joyous celebration of non-binary identity told as a tongue-in-cheek take on the tale of Joan of Arc" I've noticed that a lot of reviews tweeted by the reviewing site only include stars for 4/5 star reviews and omit them when reviews are less enthusiastic. I could be wrong about three star reviews, and maybe that changes. Being generous, the reviewing site doesn't want to have their less glowing reviews reduced to a star rating shared across the internet. Being cynical, they know that high star reviews generate clicks from fans, who would ignore a 'bad' review, but would be tempted to click to find out. Three stars is a decent enough review IMO, but some fans of specific actors have unrealistic expectations. |
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Post by oxfordsimon on Sept 5, 2022 12:38:29 GMT
The RSC have form for this too.
When they did the LLL/Much Ado double bill a few years ago, I reviewed the separately as 4 stars for LLL and 2 for Much Ado.
They just took 4 stars and used it to promote the double bill as a whole.
I expressed my displeasure to the press office as it really was a misrepresentation
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Post by Steve on Oct 15, 2022 17:46:48 GMT
Finally got around to seeing "I Joan." I don't know about all the politics of it, or how the Globe advertised or spoke about the production, but my experience of this from the pit is that it is the most entertaining show of the Michelle Terry era, on a par with "Nell Gwyn," as far as original plays go. I absolutely loved it! Some spoilers follow. . . Like Henry VIII or Cromwell or any famous figure, I really don't think this play dents Joan of Arc and her legacy one little bit. There is simply no way that the historical Joan of Arc turns from a female into trans because of this production, simply because Joan of Arc is too well known a figure to be altered by any representation at this point, and will be the subject and object of a billion different interpretations in future. Nor do I think this is a piece that advertises or promotes anybody adopting a lifestyle or whatever. It is just a liberal plea to allow everyone to get on with their own thing without being persecuted for it. The play certainly isn't anti-female, as the Joan in this play's most controversial assertion, and the one that gets her the most blowback in the plot, is that she experiences "God" as female, using the "she" pronoun to describe "God," not "he" or "they" for that matter. All that said, what the experience of this production is actually like (for me, anyway) is a propulsively driven, hilarious comedy drama with an infectious joy for simply being alive. It is about characters sliding down a massive wooden slide from an impossibly high height, which is both propulsively exciting to watch but also evokes nostalgic playful childlike wonder and a hankering back to the joys of very big slides It is about Jolyon Coy's Dauphin acting the child, at times parading around in underpants, evoking for me Oliver Chris's amusingly over-emotional Duke Orsino from the National's "Twelfth Night," but with even more infantile comic precision, such that I was belly-laughing. It is about the urgency of large wind instruments and insistent percussion, such that the war scenes, evoked by thrilling dancing, are some of the most vigorous and energising that I've seen. It is about Isabel Thom giving a magnificent central performance, in their professional debut as Joan, part Leslie Caron, part street poet, part athlete, all infectious joyous engagement with plot and action. It is about a helium-fuelled Adam Gillen going pink in the face as he overheats from the pressure of his repressed identity as a callow courtier to become someone who explodes with passion through the catalyst of Joan's open agency This play is so funny, such moment to moment fun, it somehow even makes Joan's downfall enjoyable by its comic depiction of religious persecution carried out by rigidly robed religious figures wobbling like weebles (but they don't fall down), vibrating more furiously every time Joan says something even slightly controversial. If there is a flaw to this production, it is that Joan's speeches are cleverly written to fit both historical facts as well as to speak to trans identity, and sometimes that duallism is lost, and you just hear a speech about identity, when you expect a speech about even more than that. But overall, I think this production is glorious, the first production I've seen of Terry's era to match Emma Rice's love and joy in humanity as a whole. It's wonderful, and deserves a life beyond October 22. 4 and a half stars from me.  |
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Post by ladidah on Oct 17, 2022 8:25:31 GMT
Saw Much Ado about nothing yesterday, very mixed. Leonata was way too present and it felt like she was the lead!
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Post by cirque on Nov 10, 2022 14:25:56 GMT
TITUS
will have all female cast and candles trimmed for deaths.
Feel the terror
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Post by cavocado on Nov 10, 2022 17:31:25 GMT
TITUS will have all female cast and candles trimmed for deaths. Feel the terror I quite like the sound of that. I am a bit squeamish, so was waiting for reviews before booking this - not sure I could stomach too much gore in a theatre that small. Symbolic candle trimming might be more up my street! |
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Post by cirque on Jan 3, 2023 11:45:15 GMT
any thoughts,ideas,wishes for new season....?
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Post by Someone in a tree on Jan 3, 2023 11:52:09 GMT
For purely selfish reasons I'd like like the latter Henry's as then I will have ticked off of the plays.
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Post by cirque on Jan 3, 2023 11:59:17 GMT
be great to have full on Histories in Main S[pace....
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Post by cavocado on Jan 8, 2023 17:42:19 GMT
I'd like Love's Labour's Lost as I haven't seen it for about 20 years. But I'd be happy with almost any as long as they focus on quality rather than inflatable penises and the like.
It would be nice to see a play by a Shakespeare contemporary - maybe The Alchemist to belatedly mark Ben Jonson's 450th anniversary which was ignored by the RSC, National Theatre and Globe last year as far as I'm aware.
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Post by cirque on Jan 10, 2023 12:30:52 GMT
neil constable resigns.
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Post by Fleance on Jan 10, 2023 17:04:31 GMT
I'd like Love's Labour's Lost as I haven't seen it for about 20 years. That would be nice. I've seen a few excellent productions. During the height of the pandemic, I watched three BBC productions online (1965, 1975, 1985). I much preferred the 1975 performance, with Jeremy Brett, Martin Shaw, and Sinead Cusack. |
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Post by zahidf on Jan 18, 2023 11:25:34 GMT
"Freshly announced today, the London landmark venue has cut its number of £5 tickets from 600 to 300, with a number of £10 tickets also available. The Globe said today: "Since 1997, the Globe has proudly offered £5 standing tickets. Hundreds of the most economically accessible ticket in a major UK theatre will remain available for every performance, and now hundreds more will be available at £10 as well. Audiences are advised to book early to secure them."
The Globe added that: "A limited number of £5 tickets will also be released close to each performance, providing a last chance way to access the cheapest tickets. Further details will be announced in spring 2023."
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Post by oxfordsimon on Jan 18, 2023 13:04:07 GMT
That is a season with no ambition.
No new writing
No history play
Only one non comedy
Are they struggling for income?
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Post by zahidf on Jan 18, 2023 13:21:14 GMT
That is a season with no ambition. No new writing No history play Only one non comedy Are they struggling for income? Sounds like they need to get some extra audience money in "Speaking yesterday in a pre-season roundtable, artistic director Michelle Terry acknowledged that programming and choices had to be done with a "commercial imperative" in mind – acknowledging just how turbulent the UK economic and theatre landscape currently is. She also emphasised that she would always remain resistant to a removal of £5 tickets in their entirety, despite "endless discussions" on the subject." |
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Post by nottobe on Jan 18, 2023 14:03:11 GMT
And again Terry has cast herself in a main role. I know artistic directors tend to direct pieces at the venue but I saw her Cordelia/Fool last year and was not really impressed. None of the shows are that exciting either. Another one of my qualms with the globe now is that they don't get any criticisms like Emma Rice did even though their current stagings are not in the traditional Elizabethan way. In my opinion to stage Shakespeare in a fully traditional way would be one of the most radical things you could do in 2023 and could be quite good if pitched right.
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