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Post by Marwood on Jun 22, 2024 22:00:24 GMT
I thought it was pretty terrible, an example of throwing everything up in the air and seeing what sticks: I’ve been generous and given it two stars because there were a couple of moments I liked but far too many that I was just left wondering why (the magic tricks, the singing, that crap decor for starters) I think I’ve seen enough Chekhov productions in the last ten years to last a lifetime (all with crap ‘contemporary’ updates) and won’t be rushing to see any more.
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Post by nash16 on Jun 22, 2024 22:46:38 GMT
Yes, won’t miss this at all.
Clinging on, just, to the amazing memories of his Three Sisters at the Young Vic though.
What a missed opportunity this Orchard was.
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Post by lt on Jun 23, 2024 13:48:31 GMT
I thought it was pretty terrible, an example of throwing everything up in the air and seeing what sticks: I’ve been generous and given it two stars because there were a couple of moments I liked but far too many that I was just left wondering why (the magic tricks, the singing, that crap decor for starters) I think I’ve seen enough Chekhov productions in the last ten years to last a lifetime (all with crap ‘contemporary’ updates) and won’t be rushing to see any more. Intrigued, what were the moments you liked? |
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Post by aspieandy on Jun 23, 2024 14:07:00 GMT
I wanted to go back for a second viewing, and glad I did. It was something else for me, part immersive, a little hypnotic. It was a little like watching a doomed family wedding from behind glass.
The comings and goings, the formality of some relationships contrasting with the familiarity of others and the personal of still others, the looseness, observing a superficially relaxed though fixed hierarchy – there was an awful lot to piece together and reflect on, if you wanted. Strong historical/generations threads. Intriguing themes to explore at your own pace.
Don't quite know how it was achieved. It stays with me, in a good way.
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Post by Marwood on Jun 24, 2024 13:31:28 GMT
I thought it was pretty terrible, an example of throwing everything up in the air and seeing what sticks: I’ve been generous and given it two stars because there were a couple of moments I liked but far too many that I was just left wondering why (the magic tricks, the singing, that crap decor for starters) I think I’ve seen enough Chekhov productions in the last ten years to last a lifetime (all with crap ‘contemporary’ updates) and won’t be rushing to see any more. Intrigued, what were the moments you liked? Having given it a couple of days to sink in, I’ll say I liked Adeel Akhtars shouting rage (not sure that the old bloke sat next to him with a gormless grin up to that point was quite so impressed when he returned covered in what is assuming was meant to be vodka and blood) and while it was by no means an acting masterclass, I enjoyed Nina Hoss’ work in this (although her sitting with a grin like it was an end of term college jamboree when the others were acting did no one any favour) : actually the more I think about this, the more I’m inclined to think it was indeed a bag of sh*te but as it was Saturday and the weather was nice, I’ll stick to 2 stars. |
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Post by alessia on Jun 24, 2024 16:00:58 GMT
Intrigued, what were the moments you liked? actually the more I think about this, the more I’m inclined to think it was indeed a bag of sh*te but as it was Saturday and the weather was nice, I’ll stick to 2 stars. 🤣🤣 dying. [Weeks later for me, and this is still one of the worse things I've ever seen] |
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Post by Marwood on Jun 24, 2024 18:01:28 GMT
actually the more I think about this, the more I’m inclined to think it was indeed a bag of sh*te but as it was Saturday and the weather was nice, I’ll stick to 2 stars. 🤣🤣 dying. [Weeks later for me, and this is still one of the worse things I've ever seen] I have memories of sh*t minutes flooding back to me all the time; the ‘yellow ball, side pocket’ bollocks, the buffoon who kept tripping up like a particularly crap tribute to Norman Wisdom, the woman with the crap card tricks that has the grizzling baby that she throws to the ground and oh no, it’s a tea towel: where does it end? 🤣 |
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Post by Jan on Jun 24, 2024 19:50:09 GMT
🤣🤣 dying. [Weeks later for me, and this is still one of the worse things I've ever seen] I have memories of sh*t minutes flooding back to me all the time; the ‘yellow ball, side pocket’ bollocks, the buffoon who kept tripping up like a particularly crap tribute to Norman Wisdom, the woman with the crap card tricks that has the grizzling baby that she throws to the ground and oh no, it’s a tea towel: where does it end? 🤣 Of course the majority of those things are in the original text - the actual adaptation was very faithful to the original. Gayev and his billiard shots - I saw Leslie Phillips play that part, he was perfect. |
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Post by Marwood on Jun 25, 2024 12:32:06 GMT
I have memories of sh*t minutes flooding back to me all the time; the ‘yellow ball, side pocket’ bollocks, the buffoon who kept tripping up like a particularly crap tribute to Norman Wisdom, the woman with the crap card tricks that has the grizzling baby that she throws to the ground and oh no, it’s a tea towel: where does it end? 🤣 Of course the majority of those things are in the original text - the actual adaptation was very faithful to the original. Gayev and his billiard shots - I saw Leslie Phillips play that part, he was perfect. Was there even a billiard table in stage in that version though? In this, not even a cue to give a hint of what he was on about so he just came across as a mentally deficient with a form of Tourette’s 🫤 It may well have referenced the original but it came across as just stuffing in loads of stuff with a vague connection to it.to tick a load of boxes. |
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Post by aspieandy on Jun 25, 2024 14:50:02 GMT
psst. He wasn't playing billiards.
This is a little bizarre now. If you don't know the play - fine. Criticising Chekov's choices without knowing the text is .. ambitious.
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Post by lt on Jun 25, 2024 15:01:15 GMT
psst. He wasn't playing billiards. This is a little bizarre now. If you don't know the play - fine. Criticising Chekov's choices without knowing the text is .. ambitious. I think the problem is for many people new to The Cherry Orchard this was a pretty incomprehensible version. |
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Post by max on Jun 25, 2024 15:12:39 GMT
Marwood, you perfectly sum up the way the characters have made an infantalising doll's house of their home, memories, and identities: with Gaev stuck in a verbal loop reenacting so-called clever trick shots, and always with a lollipop in his pocket for a different kind of oral gratification. What was once cute (decades ago!) is now strangling them. A kind of self-inflicted delusion and brain damage gifted by privilege. You loathed it, but I didn't think this aspect was all that different from when I saw Ronald Pickup play the role in a more 'straight' West End version with Judi Dench and Bernard Hill years ago (directed by Sam Mendes). I remember he did more precisely cue up the ball and mime it though. This Donmar Version has certainly been fascinating in polarising reactions, with what's 'so wrong' held up by others as being precisely what's 'so right' about it.
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Post by aspieandy on Jun 25, 2024 15:14:35 GMT
@it If the case, rather than moaning away on the internet, the version I have to hand is 66 pages long (Michael Fryan translation) << not a typo : 66. The introduction, plot, commentary and notes add at least the same again
Fwiw, my view of Guyev is - as with, say, Astrov in Uncle Vanya - Chekhov is identifying a personality type he has seen in society (Chekhov as a keen observer of human behaviour in a time when categories such as 'autism' 'Asperger's', 'OCD', ADHD, etc, had no classifications or labels). Presume Chekhov saw them as interesting and different, and noteworthy. Fwiw, I read Astrov as 100% aspie.
As above, Guyev's lollypop/oral habit is also a strong lead into a character more comfortable with people not of his own class. The fact he finally secures a job in a bank would likely have been highly amusing to a contemporary audience, who would understand the mocking of privilege and entitlement.
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Post by max on Jun 25, 2024 15:15:42 GMT
psst. He wasn't playing billiards. This is a little bizarre now. If you don't know the play - fine. Criticising Chekov's choices without knowing the text is .. ambitious. I think the problem is for many people new to The Cherry Orchard this was a pretty incomprehensible version. It would have been really interesting to go along with someone who didn't know the play. One thing I'll say in this version's favour (when it comes to first-ever-viewing): there are a lot of characters introduced by talking about them in the first scene; but by seating the off-stage characters in the audience they were pointed to or gestured at while being talked about. Perhaps a help of some kind? But I can't say other aspects didn't go on to confuse in equal measure, as I just don't know |
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Post by Jan on Jun 26, 2024 7:14:16 GMT
@it If the case, rather than moaning away on the internet, the version I have to hand is 66 pages long (Michael Fryan translation) << not a typo : 66.
That is 100% the best version - and his versions of the other Chekhov plays too particularly Three Sisters. I think that's because he is a playwright in the Chekhov mould himself and crucially he speaks Russian so didn't have to work from a literal translation. In the original Gayev is fixated on billiard shots as a sort of verbal displacement activity, in this version it is pool or snooker so only a superficial updating. It's the same with all the stuff about vapes, it's all there in the original but with cheroots. Charlotte's magic tricks are there too and that's an element that is almost never handled well. So the version itself is faithful. I'm not defending the production though, I thought it was poor. |
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Post by lt on Jun 26, 2024 12:49:57 GMT
@it If the case, rather than moaning away on the internet, the version I have to hand is 66 pages long (Michael Fryan translation) << not a typo : 66. I am sure it wasn't intended but this feels unnecessarily rude. I wasn't "moaning away on the internet" but simply expressing the view that to some of those new to TCO, the Donmar version was hard to understand. People are of course free to disagree with my opinion. |
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Post by aspieandy on Jun 26, 2024 16:01:16 GMT
you posted over 20 times in this thread - mostly repeating the same negativity and disbelief - over an 8-week period. There is no sign yet of you stopping.
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Post by nash16 on Jun 26, 2024 16:07:26 GMT
Can someone lock this Thread.
The Marketing Manager at the Donmar is getting annoyed.
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Post by zahidf on Oct 31, 2024 9:16:15 GMT
Moving to Broadway in March 2025 with the same cast
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Post by alicechallice on Oct 31, 2024 10:01:23 GMT
Moving to Broadway in March 2025 with the same cast OFF-Broadway. |
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zed
Auditioning
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Post by zed on Oct 31, 2024 10:34:30 GMT
Moving to Broadway in March 2025 with the same cast I know some were really negative regarding the Donmar production, but I really, really loved it -- felt like I was on the same wavelength every step of the way and loved the performances (which I fully understand many others didn't feel...several walk-outs at intermission both times I went). Also, it seemed to me like the cast had a special bond, so I'm glad to hear they'll be getting back together to have another run at it. |
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Post by aspieandy on Oct 31, 2024 11:09:42 GMT
I saw it twice in order to try and understand the approach. Liked the relaxed, easy decadence about it (pre revolution obv.). Ambitious artisitc choices.
Slight wafts of the Flytes of Brideshead.
Bit of a gamble for the backers.
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Post by nash16 on Oct 31, 2024 11:45:06 GMT
Moving to Broadway in March 2025 with the same cast 😂 Are they joking? |
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Post by Being Alive on Oct 31, 2024 12:15:03 GMT
Moving to Broadway in March 2025 with the same cast 😂 Are they joking? Off Broadway - it's going to St Ann's in Brooklyn |
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Post by asfound on Oct 31, 2024 15:11:39 GMT
Funny that of all the things that I would love to see here this one ends up transferring... still, I'll probably see it again just for the hell of it. But can we not get Bluets or The Years or A Mirror or Ulster American?
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