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Post by martin1965 on Apr 30, 2017 9:43:55 GMT
Is it unallocated seating? If so, any recommendations on where to sit? Thanks It is unallocated. Coz it wasnt full i sat front row left, always amazing to be so close! |
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Post by altamont on Apr 30, 2017 11:24:37 GMT
Thanks Martin - we'll aim for the front row too
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Post by Phantom of London on Apr 30, 2017 12:02:08 GMT
Didn't David Suchet star in this, in the last 10 years?
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Post by martin1965 on Apr 30, 2017 12:04:41 GMT
Didn't David Suchet star in this, in the last 10 years? He played a Cardinal in a play cant remember the title that was on at i think Chichester, WE and then toured USA but it wasnt this! |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 30, 2017 12:06:04 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Apr 30, 2017 12:08:48 GMT
Didn't David Suchet star in this, in the last 10 years? He played a Cardinal in a play cant remember the title that was on at i think Chichester, WE and then toured USA but it wasnt this! by Roger Crane, about the election and death of Pope John Paul I. James Shirley didn't foretell these events in his play, first staged in 1641. |
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Post by martin1965 on Apr 30, 2017 12:10:30 GMT
Decent watch. I didn't know the play but it does have huge similarities to Jacobean tragedies - I note how it it variously desribed as Caroline or Carolingian - with the bloodiness, the constant theme of revenge and the multiple asides. Stephen Boxer (looking remarkably like John Hurt here) was a suitably nasty villain, mixing religious bigotry with licentiousness and love for power. He wrung the right amount of humour from the odd line which threatens mass-corpsing, making it work for him rather than against him. The Richard III kind of bad guy who tells us from the word go how bad he is, Boxer's performance was a treat. Natalie Simpson as the serially widowed virgin Duchess started off edgily but grew into the part. Marcus Griffiths as Alvarez delivered the vese beautifully. Good performances all round. Staging: simple, stark look all iron-grey and white, with a thurible burning incense centre-stage. Good use of music (offstage) and visually appealing cotumes - though why the text twice refers to the red-robed cardinal as being in purple mystified me. Less textured and plotted than Shakespeare but with an easy to follow polt and elegant verse, I can see myself seeing more Shirley plys if they are ever staged. Didnt the loony woman annoy you? |
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Post by joem on Apr 30, 2017 14:43:14 GMT
Decent watch. I didn't know the play but it does have huge similarities to Jacobean tragedies - I note how it it variously desribed as Caroline or Carolingian - with the bloodiness, the constant theme of revenge and the multiple asides. Stephen Boxer (looking remarkably like John Hurt here) was a suitably nasty villain, mixing religious bigotry with licentiousness and love for power. He wrung the right amount of humour from the odd line which threatens mass-corpsing, making it work for him rather than against him. The Richard III kind of bad guy who tells us from the word go how bad he is, Boxer's performance was a treat. Natalie Simpson as the serially widowed virgin Duchess started off edgily but grew into the part. Marcus Griffiths as Alvarez delivered the vese beautifully. Good performances all round. Staging: simple, stark look all iron-grey and white, with a thurible burning incense centre-stage. Good use of music (offstage) and visually appealing cotumes - though why the text twice refers to the red-robed cardinal as being in purple mystified me. Less textured and plotted than Shakespeare but with an easy to follow polt and elegant verse, I can see myself seeing more Shirley plys if they are ever staged. Didnt the loony woman annoy you? Which loony woman? |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 30, 2017 14:46:21 GMT
Didnt the loony woman annoy you? Which loony woman? Martin1865's wife? |
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Post by joem on Apr 30, 2017 15:11:08 GMT
On way home from this. It was really good. Boxer superb in a role made for him. Natalie Simpson confirms the promise of her debut RSC season. Sad to see quite a few empty seats in a small auditorium. Also slightly spoilt by woman laughing like a drain as if it was Morecambe&Wise!! Recommended☺ Ah... my post somehow missed what I meant to say which was that I'd seen it the night before you Martin, on press night. It was packed and no loony women were in evdience. |
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Post by Jan on Apr 30, 2017 16:17:47 GMT
We have previously established that Marty attends such events on his own. Do keep up. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 30, 2017 16:23:25 GMT
We have previously established that Marty attends such events on his own. Do keep up. Maybe sets off alone but is trailed by jealous and inquisitive, loony spouse, perhaps wearing a black balaclava? |
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Post by martin1965 on Apr 30, 2017 18:24:14 GMT
We have previously established that Marty attends such events on his own. Do keep up. Thank you Jan. HG does appear slow! |
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Post by martin1965 on Apr 30, 2017 18:25:08 GMT
On way home from this. It was really good. Boxer superb in a role made for him. Natalie Simpson confirms the promise of her debut RSC season. Sad to see quite a few empty seats in a small auditorium. Also slightly spoilt by woman laughing like a drain as if it was Morecambe&Wise!! Recommended☺ Ah... my post somehow missed what I meant to say which was that I'd seen it the night before you Martin, on press night. It was packed and no loony women were in evdience. Ah right! |
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Post by Phantom of London on Apr 30, 2017 18:35:13 GMT
Didn't David Suchet star in this, in the last 10 years? He played a Cardinal in a play cant remember the title that was on at i think Chichester, WE and then toured USA but it wasnt this! Excellent, thanks for that. |
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Post by martin1965 on May 4, 2017 16:47:50 GMT
Some good reviews for this though the woman at the Times appears to have been at a different play😵
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Post by Jan on May 4, 2017 17:03:13 GMT
Some good reviews for this though the woman at the Times appears to have been at a different play😵 She is apparently an academic specialising in the Elizabethan literature, so totally the wrong person to be reviewing this as entertainment. Like the over-qualified Germaine Greer who reviewed King Lear as if she would have preferred it to have been read out because "it is the greatest poem in the language". You get the problem here a bit too, people who have studied a text in depth and can't help letting you know it and indulge in nit-picking over aspects of the interpretation. |
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Post by martin1965 on May 4, 2017 19:22:27 GMT
Some good reviews for this though the woman at the Times appears to have been at a different play😵 She is apparently an academic specialising in the Elizabethan literature, so totally the wrong person to be reviewing this as entertainment. Like the over-qualified Germaine Greer who reviewed King Lear as if she would have preferred it to have been read out because "it is the greatest poem in the language". You get the problem here a bit too, people who have studied a text in depth and can't help letting you know it and indulge in nit-picking over aspects of the interpretation. Germaine Greer! The horror, the horror😵. Is she really? The review didnt come across like that? Oh well. |
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Post by Jan on May 5, 2017 22:06:44 GMT
This was good fun, like an RSC Other Place production from the good old days. Sir Ian McKellen was in the audience so he's obviously a man of taste like me and Marty.
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Post by hal9000 on May 5, 2017 22:57:16 GMT
Depending on my mood, I love me some Germs Greer  |
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Post by Deleted on May 28, 2017 9:27:47 GMT
Saw the last matinee of this yesterday, enjoyed it a lot. Few empty seats but seemed fairly full.
As noted above similarities with Duchess of Malfi. The black comic aspects of the ending were very well played. Quite short for a 5 act play of the era at 2 hours 20, wonder if much was cut? There's a comic subplot which popped up for one scene so I wonder if there was more to that.
With this & Jew of Malta, Justin Audibert has done a great job of gripping & clear versions of obscure early drama. Would be interesting to see what he could do on the main stage at the RSC or Globe.
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Post by mallardo on May 28, 2017 12:07:27 GMT
I was at the matinee as well, xanderl - that's twice we've been at the same show. Agree with your take, I loved it. The cast was wonderful - especially Stephen Boxer and Natalie Simpson - and the play itself a real discovery. Very happy I caught it before it closed.
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Post by bee on May 30, 2017 6:30:02 GMT
I was at the same matinee as xanderl and mallardo on Saturday. Really enjoyable, satisfying play, good acting and a plot which skipped along nicely, other than the comic scene mentioned ay xanderl, which came out of nowhere. As far as I can see it's only function was to tell the audience about the masque which was being performed at the wedding, otherwise the murderers would have showed up at the wedding without any explanation for their presence. As others have pointed out they managed to pitch it just right, with a lot of droll humour from Stephen Boxer especially.
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