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Post by Deleted on Jul 8, 2016 13:33:47 GMT
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Post by oxfordsimon on Jul 8, 2016 15:21:51 GMT
I was involved in a production of Mary Stuart last year - and I think it is a cracking play. But a lot comes down to the quality of the adaptation.
The idea of role-sharing/swapping is hardly new and doing it this way is probably not the best in terms of the audience. There is no way for certain that you can book to see the show both ways - which is missing a trick.
Will be interesting to see the rest of the casting for this as well - as Leicester and Burleigh need to be top notch as well for the drama to work.
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Post by mallardo on Jul 8, 2016 15:56:01 GMT
Didn't Lia Williams and Kristin Scott Thomas do the same thing when they were in Pinter's Old Times, in 2013?
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Post by peggs on Jul 8, 2016 18:28:15 GMT
I think they were scheduled mostly weren't they so you could pick but there may have been some occasional coin tossing? Isn't this how they did the Faust (sp?) at RSC recently although I think that would fit better with the play?
Maybe the Almeida figures it will sell out without punters double booking to see both ways?
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Post by lynette on Jul 8, 2016 19:28:06 GMT
It's a nice idea. Elizabeth insecure but in control and Mary secure in her claims but a prisoner. Mary was tall I think and Lizzie not so....so plenty of suspension of disbelief required.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 8, 2016 20:27:29 GMT
I don't think it's showing off to be honest but It gives both of them chances to play each role and is probably quite fun for the audience as they don't know who they're going to get
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Post by mrbarnaby on Jul 9, 2016 8:53:54 GMT
This is a really exciting prospect... 2 of our very best Actresses in 2 great roles..
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Post by Jan on Jul 9, 2016 9:29:26 GMT
I was involved in a production of Mary Stuart last year - and I think it is a cracking play. But a lot comes down to the quality of the adaptation. The idea of role-sharing/swapping is hardly new and doing it this way is probably not the best in terms of the audience. There is no way for certain that you can book to see the show both ways - which is missing a trick. Will be interesting to see the rest of the casting for this as well - as Leicester and Burleigh need to be top notch as well for the drama to work. The coin tossing idea was used in an Akybourn play at NT once. Michael Gambon had a two-headed coin made which he used to ensure he and Stephen Moore had less work to do. |
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Post by Polly1 on Jul 9, 2016 9:38:26 GMT
Is it worth shelling out for a Friends' membership for the Almeida to get tickets for this and Hamlet, do we think?
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Post by popcultureboy on Jul 10, 2016 7:41:32 GMT
A Friends membership is my plan, for sure.
As for the role swaps mentioned above, for Old Times, it was all scheduled bar the Thursday evening performance, which was decided by a coin toss. For the RSC Faustus, it is decided by both actors striking a match at the same time at the very start of the play. Whoever's match blows out first remains on stage to play Faustus, the other leaves the stage to change into the Mephistopheles costume.
Personally, I am VERY excited for this. Lia Williams blew my mind so comprehensively in Oresteia I would now watch her in anything. And I'll probably book more than twice, to increase my chances of seeing it played both ways, so you could argue that it's a crafty decision on the Almeida's behalf to get more than 2 bookings out of people :-).
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Post by theglenbucklaird on Jul 10, 2016 20:54:34 GMT
I was involved in a production of Mary Stuart last year - and I think it is a cracking play. But a lot comes down to the quality of the adaptation. The idea of role-sharing/swapping is hardly new and doing it this way is probably not the best in terms of the audience. There is no way for certain that you can book to see the show both ways - which is missing a trick. Will be interesting to see the rest of the casting for this as well - as Leicester and Burleigh need to be top notch as well for the drama to work. The coin tossing idea was used in an Akybourn play at NT once. Michael Gambon had a two-headed coin made which he used to ensure he and Stephen Moore had less work to do. How is that less work? Everyone calls heads? |
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Post by Polly1 on Nov 25, 2016 17:52:48 GMT
Press night delayed by a week due to 'coin-flip complications'! (According to The Stage)
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Post by lonlad on Nov 25, 2016 18:09:18 GMT
These swapping overs are beginning to seem less aesthetically driven and more a tiresome gimmick. Then again, Lia Williams is so astonishing that one wishes she could be in everything; the same is not so of her esteemed co-star, helas ....
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Post by Jon on Nov 25, 2016 18:37:09 GMT
Press night delayed by a week due to 'coin-flip complications'! (According to The Stage) Rock, Paper, Scissors would be easier and cheaper than using a coin.... |
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Post by showgirl on Nov 26, 2016 22:56:02 GMT
The first time I recall seeing a production in which the leads swapped roles was for John Barton's 1973 RSC version of Richard II, in which Ian Richardson and Richard Pascoe alternated as the king and Bolingbroke. But I'm sure there are earlier examples.
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Post by DuchessConstance on Nov 27, 2016 10:05:58 GMT
The first time I recall seeing a production in which the leads swapped roles was for John Barton's 1973 RSC version of Richard II, in which Ian Richardson and Richard Pascoe alternated as the king and Bolingbroke. But I'm sure there are earlier examples. Gosh, I'm green with envy! |
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Post by Snciole on Nov 27, 2016 20:29:28 GMT
Why didn't do an RSC Doctor Fautus and schedule one actor for an afternoon press night and the other for the evening?
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Post by Deleted on Nov 27, 2016 23:13:00 GMT
Presumably because the random element is considered integral to this production.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 27, 2016 23:21:44 GMT
I mean, they are already planning that whoever wins the coin toss at the matinee of a two-show day will be the automatic loser for the evening performance, but I can't imagine any of the critics desperately wanting to see it twice (unless it's utterly superb, but I know I wouldn't take kindly to having to take twice as long to do my job one day). I wonder what the details of the press arrangement are?
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Post by Deleted on Nov 27, 2016 23:24:37 GMT
The coin toss isn't win or lose, is it? Aren't they equivalent roles? Surely a "winning" actor doesn't shout: "Bags I play [favourite character] tonight!", do they?
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Post by Deleted on Nov 27, 2016 23:30:01 GMT
Would be funny if they did! But I think you know perfectly well what I mean.  |
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Post by Jan on Nov 28, 2016 7:03:29 GMT
These swapping overs are beginning to seem less aesthetically driven and more a tiresome gimmick. It is a meta-theatrical conceit to underline that there is a some sort of equivalence between the characters. The famous one was the John Barton Richard II mentioned above (in production photos I have seen of that Richard and Bolingbroke also look identical, same costume, same RSC beard). It has not been done that often - Frankenstein, Dr Faustus, this .... any more ? The one I'd like to see, which occurred to me at the Almeida production, is Vanya and the Professor swapping, there are all sorts of interesting implications if you regard those two as fundamentally similar. More of a gimmick in my view is the Ayckbourn approach of having the play itself modified by a chance occurrence. |
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Post by sondheimhats on Nov 28, 2016 8:04:54 GMT
It has not been done that often - Frankenstein, Dr Faustus, this .... any more ? It's definitely been done more often than that. Phillip Seymour Hoffman and John C. Reilly did it in True West. Laura Linney and Cynthia Nixon are about to do it in Little Foxes on Broadway. Also, in 1935, Gielgud and Olivier alternated between Romeo and Mercutio. I'm fairly certain I've heard of several other examples throughout history as well, though none are coming to mind. |
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Post by Polly1 on Nov 28, 2016 8:41:01 GMT
I remember a friend seeing Becket where Jacobi swapped with someone (want to say Robert Powell or Lindsay? But not sure that's right) Someone will know the details.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 28, 2016 9:35:35 GMT
Barrel Organ's Some People Talk About Violence has which characters are played by each performer and which scenes of the play are performed that night selected at random in the course of the play. All part of a meticulously worked-out play.
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