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Post by peggs on Aug 30, 2017 21:13:25 GMT
Forgive me for cutting and pasting from an email: "Emma Fielding, Dominic Rowan, Crystal Clarke, Harry Lister-Smith, Sam Cox, William Mannering, Paul Rider and Phoebe Fildes join the cast of A Woman of No Importance, alongside the previously announced Eve Best, Anne Reid, Eleanor Bron and William Gaunt. Emma Fielding’s recent stage credits include Rapture, Blister, Burn (Hampstead Theatre) and Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again (Royal Shakespeare Company). A regular on The Globe stage, Dominic Rowan, most recently starred as the Duke in Measure for Measure (2015). Other credits include starring opposite Hattie Morahan in Carrie Cracknell’s acclaimed production of Ibsen’s A Doll’s House (Young Vic/West End/BAM New York) and Jacob Thorne on ITV’s Law & Order. American actor Crystal Clarke trained at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and then won a role in the feature film Star Wars: The Force Awakens from an open audition call of over 67,000 people. She will also appear in the forthcoming Star Wars: The Last Jedi later this year." There are also going to be a series of Oscar Wilde talks: "Classic Spring is delighted to announce that Stephen Fry, Frank McGuinness, Franny Moyle and Merlin Holland will give pre-show talks before evening performances of A Woman of No Importance at the Vaudeville Theatre this autumn. Merlin Holland, Oscar Wilde’s grandson will give the first address, offering his unique insight, entitled ‘The Remarkable reputation of Oscar Wilde’. Stephen Fry will reflect on ‘Playing Oscar’, having portrayed Wilde on the big screen in ‘Wilde’ (1997). Also included in the series are Franny Moyle (author of ‘Constance: The Tragic and Scandalous Life of Mrs. Oscar Wilde’) exploring Wilde’s women, and Frank McGuinness, who has adapted ‘De Profundis’ for the season will consider Wilde alongside Ibsen and Strindberg in ‘Wilde the European’." as if this wasn't,t tempting enough already |
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Post by martin1965 on Sept 3, 2017 12:20:38 GMT
Good cast for this, might have to book now😄
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Post by loureviews on Sept 3, 2017 18:33:24 GMT
Does anyone know why after all these years the Holland family haven't reverted their name back to Wilde?
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Post by zahidf on Sept 7, 2017 9:26:28 GMT
Jennifer Saunders, Kevin Bishop and Samantha Spiro for Lady Windermeres fan
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Post by theatrelover123 on Sept 7, 2017 10:17:17 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Sept 7, 2017 11:00:28 GMT
O. M. Gosh. Fingers at the ready. Booked.  |
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Post by vdcni on Sept 7, 2017 11:12:27 GMT
My husband loves Jennifer Saunders so I'll be booking that - perfect for a Christmas Present!
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Post by moelhywel on Sept 7, 2017 21:00:38 GMT
Just noticed that the Vue cinemas are showing the first two of these being broadcast in the cinema, in November and March respectively. I assume other cinema chains will probably follow suit.
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Post by TallPaul on Sept 8, 2017 10:39:44 GMT
Perhaps we should start a book on who will be cast as Lady Bracknell. Maybe Jennifer will put a good word in for Dawn!
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Post by Jan on Sept 8, 2017 15:53:20 GMT
Jennifer Saunders, Kevin Bishop and Samantha Spiro for Lady Windermeres fan Jennifer Saunders can't act at all, she always seems very self-conscious and almost embarrassed and is the same every time, the fact she's in it puts me off. |
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Post by princeton on Sept 8, 2017 16:24:35 GMT
Jennifer Saunders is playing the Duchess of Berwick, which isn't a particularly large part - one of those typical WIldean older aristocratic women. If I recall, and I get my Wilde plays mixed up, she kick starts the plot by reporting the alleged scandal then largely hovers around in the background with the occasional one liner. Not dissimilar to the character Anne Reid is playing in A Woman of No Importance.
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Post by peggs on Oct 13, 2017 19:46:31 GMT
At woman of no importance, something has gone wrong, I'm not laughing. Is still in previews would expect it will bed in and become lighter, more tripping with the dialogue but so far this is a very expensive non hit for me. Hopefully will improve in second half, eve best has at least made her entrance so there is hope.
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Post by peggs on Oct 13, 2017 21:27:10 GMT
Second half much better, largely because eve best was in much of it and Anne Reid looked to be having a whale of a time getting a little squiffy and waving a tamberine. Some of the cast don't yet appear to be quite there, some of the clever, funniest lines garnered not more than an odd titter and I could quite easily forget some of the characters but it's early days I guess and I assume this sort of play gets better with time and in fairness it was a quiet audience which didn't help. I thought I'd read this but if I had I'd forgotten it all, it's rather a nice change to not know where you're going even if you can make an educated guess.
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Post by mallardo on Oct 19, 2017 17:53:24 GMT
Re The Woman of No Importance (which should perhaps have a thread of its own?) I pretty much agree with peggs. The play really begins midway through the 2nd (of 4) acts when Eve Best arrives and all the posing and the arch dialogue - everyone speaking in epigrams as if Wilde had written all the parts for himself - turns real. The whole cast suddenly ups their game and we learn that the play has a point to make beyond portraying the silly rich as, well, silly, and has a fairly decent plot.
By the time we get to the last act Best is in full flight and she has a long emotional speech that had me - and everyone else in my row - reaching for the tissues. This woman is such an amazing actress!!
And the play itself - which I did not know previously - is not half bad. Wilde was not just a playwright who could string bons mots together, he was a craftsman. The piece is nicely structured with many lines and plot points from the early acts paying off in the finale. The last line of the play actually got applause, so right and so apposite was it.
Dominic Dromgoole's production is nice to look at but a bit clunky and not all performances are where they should be. Anne Reid and Eleanor Bron as the two grandes dames are both terrific - old pros showing us how this sort of thing should be done - while young Harry Lister Smith as Best's son is a real find. And Dominic Rowan, whom I have never much liked in anything, provides a good foil for Best and, to his eternal credit, is her match in that final act where everything comes together.
For those who care, I was in a day seat in the front row which is always excellent at the Vaudeville with its low stage. A bargain. To sum up, not everything worked but it was fun and, eventually, quite involving. And Ms Best, as they say, was worth the price of admission.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 22, 2017 14:56:39 GMT
Well. I just loved this. It's not an Oscar Wilde play that I am especially familiar with but it's a delightful story with a serious heart. Lovely set and a great cast. Anne Reid is a delight, especially as she gets a little more sauced as the evening goes along, Harry Lister Smith is a lovely Gerald and I found Phoebe Fildes hilarious as Lady Stutfield. The musical numbers between scenes are fun although I wonder if the two actors playing the servants were selected because they had the same set of eyebrows?
Anyhoo, the play is worth seeing for Eve Best alone. She is just the most delicious actress in London's glitzy West End and while others seemed like they were "acting Oscar Wilde", she's just so utterly natural (not to mention GORGEOUS). She's an absolute joy.
With La Best here and earlier in the day Natalie Dormer in 'Venus In Fur', Imelda Staunton's grasp on that Best Actress Olivier that seemed so sure earlier in the year looks decidedly shaky now.
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Post by peggs on Oct 22, 2017 17:36:11 GMT
I missed matching eyebrows?! Darn it. Eve best is on my list of would watch reading the football results? Fishing broadcast? I want to say yellow pages but that doesn't exist any more.insert suitably dull material.
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Post by bee on Oct 30, 2017 11:37:49 GMT
I saw this on Saturday, and pretty much agree with what’s been said so far. Fairly mundane Wilde-by-numbers stuff at the start, with the usual one-liners being passed back and forth without generating a great deal of laughter, then Eve Best shows up and all of a sudden you’re in a proper, serious drama. She is glorious really, and the exchanges between her and Dominic Rowan are brilliant, vicious stuff.
The rest of the cast are decent enough, but the play seems a bit over-populated with peripheral characters that don’t do a whole lot. In general though, definitely worth a visit to see one of our…erm….best actresses at the top of her game.
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Post by Rory on Nov 6, 2017 6:39:05 GMT
A Woman of No Importance is being shown in cinemas on Tue 28th November at 7.15pm.
Lady Windermere's Fan is being shown on Tue 20th March.
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Post by romeo94 on Nov 13, 2017 15:34:02 GMT
Is A Woman of No Importance worth catching? I don't know much about the play itself. Any advice?
Cheers!
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Post by peggs on Nov 13, 2017 15:37:26 GMT
For the second half and eve best yes but don't worry if you're tempted to nap first half. There are some deals around, today tix offering £15 seats for today only (as in selling today for this week).
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Post by Deleted on Nov 13, 2017 15:39:05 GMT
Anyone know what the day seat situation has been like? I'm thinking about catching it over Christmas, but only if it's easy to enough to get a day seat by rocking up at 10am and seeing what they have.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 13, 2017 16:28:11 GMT
Anyone know what the day seat situation has been like? I'm thinking about catching it over Christmas, but only if it's easy to enough to get a day seat by rocking up at 10am and seeing what they have. That's what I did. It may have been a little later than 10am as well. Front row is a great view, not especially high and you can see everything perfectly well from what I recall. AND more fabulously, you may get to sit next to a MBer who reads but doesn't post if you're lucky! |
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Post by showgirl on Nov 13, 2017 20:07:07 GMT
For the second half and eve best yes but don't worry if you're tempted to nap first half. There are some deals around, today tix offering £15 seats for today only (as in selling today for this week). Interesting, peggs, as I've been searching for a deal and couldn't find anything like that good an offer on Todaytix - and I last checked first thing this AM. Best I could find was absolutely rubbish seats for £22.50 in the rear stalls or dress. So if I can't improve on that online, I will chance day-seating - after all, it's only a matinee I want, too, and not school hols or summer. |
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Post by peggs on Nov 13, 2017 21:55:08 GMT
Oh sorry, I looked about mid afternoon I guess but just checking now and the site won't load. I think it must vary as the other week they had £20 seats end of row B I think. But sounds like you ought to be able to day seat, I would do that but can only do Saturdays so lessens my options.
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Post by wickedgrin on Nov 13, 2017 22:58:39 GMT
I was offered row J of the stalls for £15 this week on Today Tix
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