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Post by jason71 on May 25, 2017 21:58:43 GMT
I've just booked up for this show. Thought it sounded interesting. I also noticed that Trevor Nunn is the director. Nice to see him directing in a small venue for change
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Post by Jan on May 26, 2017 6:32:41 GMT
A Pedant Writes: Trev directed the current "Love in Idleness" and "Lettice and Lovage" at the Menier which is a small venue, smaller than Southwark actually.
It is interesting he is doing so much work, 6 plays including 5 Shakespeare plays in 2015 (counting Henry VI as 3), 3 Shakespeares in 2016, now 3 plays in 2017 and we're not even half way though, plus his work on revivals of his musicals like Cats in the same period - he is the busiest director in the country by far. He is spreading himself too thin, the last really excellent thing he directed was over 10 years ago.
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Post by showgirl on May 26, 2017 7:18:17 GMT
For a 77-year-old this might however be considered an impressive work-rate!
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Post by Someone in a tree on May 26, 2017 7:22:45 GMT
Atos fit for work ?
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Post by jason71 on May 26, 2017 9:25:28 GMT
I wonder if Jan Brock is referring to King Lear(RSC)
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Post by Jan on May 26, 2017 10:26:56 GMT
I wonder if Jan Brock is referring to King Lear(RSC) No - that was flawed in several ways. I was thinking of the Old Vic Kevin Spacey Richard II which was a very good take on a tricky play. Or, a couple of years earlier, an absolutely brilliant "The Lady From the Sea" at the Almeida. |
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Post by showgirl on Jul 15, 2017 4:40:15 GMT
Previewing now and already heavily booked but no comments here yet? I'm not seeing it until next week so am unable to add mine but has anyone else been, or, apart from jason71, booked? Irrespective of its merits, it looks as though anyone considering seeing it had better check availability.
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Post by lonlad on Jul 15, 2017 8:54:51 GMT
The last good thing Trev directed was FLARE PATH at the Haymarket, which was sublime. The rest has ranged from indifferent (LOVE IN IDLENESS, redeemed solely by Ms Best; his New York PERICLES, with Christian Camargo) to unspeakable (LETTICE & LOVAGE). Didn't see his Rose Theatre Histories but from what I gather, I didn't miss much.
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Post by Steve on Jul 16, 2017 16:26:01 GMT
Saw this last night, and was underwhelmed. It's like Yasmina Reza's "Art," crossed with Marx's "Das Kapital," but unfortunately, more the latter than the former.
Some spoilers follow. . .
I'll refrain from saying what actually happens, at dessert time, at a dinner party for very wealthy people. Suffice to say, there is a plot, twists occur at about the rate you'd expect in a well-plotted play, and the value of art is discussed.
Between twists, we get the kind of super long speeches that anyone who saw the same writer's "Daytona" will be familiar with. Except, in "Daytona", the speech Oliver Cotton gave himself was filled with mystery and intrigue, and the one he gave Maureen Lipman was elegiac and moving, whereas the endless enormous speech in this play felt to me a LOT like "Das Kapital," a tediously lengthy and lengthily tedious rendition of a dull one-sided tome that killed my enjoyment of the passable plotting and cutting characterisations.
The two most enjoyable characters, for me, were in support: Teresa Banham plays the American philistine wife, of a posturing master-of-the-universe, with such blase honesty that I couldn't help laughing at her every utterance; and similarly, Graham Turner's blundering stuttering hesitancy as an old-soldier-turned-servant, of yet another master-of-the-universe, had me equally amused and charmed.
The two masters-of-the-universe, at the centre of the plot, are themselves well-realised by Michael Simkins and Stuart Milligan, the former all poise and fake modesty, the latter all charm and honest arrogance.
But these worthwhile performances struggle to stay above the surface of a mahoosive, blunt, capitalism-bashing club of a speech, that not only outstayed it's welcome, but was propagandist and inaccurate.
There are entertaining elements here, but this play's attack on First World Capitalism makes "Bodies" at the Royal Court seem subtle.
2 and a half stars.
PS: For perspective, I rank this at the bottom of this year's theatrical excursions, along with the unfunny "The Miser," but above the execrable "Mudsummer Night's Dream."
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Post by Deleted on Jul 16, 2017 16:33:29 GMT
It's like Yasmina Reza'a "Art," Pud. |
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Post by Phantom of London on Jul 16, 2017 17:18:29 GMT
The last good thing Trev directed was FLARE PATH at the Haymarket, which was sublime. The rest has ranged from indifferent (LOVE IN IDLENESS, redeemed solely by Ms Best; his New York PERICLES, with Christian Camargo) to unspeakable (LETTICE & LOVAGE). Didn't see his Rose Theatre Histories but from what I gather, I didn't miss much. It is also worth noting, that Trevor Nunn doesn't have to sit in another theatre, he probably earns more from royalties than all of us put together in a year. He was passionate about theatre at Cambridge and it has never diminished. |
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Post by showgirl on Jul 16, 2017 18:11:00 GMT
Rather chastening reading, Steve, but incisive as always and at least I will go forewarned if I still do. I had to book in haste simply in order to fit this in somewhere so if I have to ditch it, or depart because it's dire, I'm only losing the cost of a PAYG ticket. Lots of people must have had high hopes, judging by the advance booking, so it'll be interesting to hear more views.
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Post by lonlad on Jul 16, 2017 23:06:35 GMT
Trevor's vaunted (and once genuine) "passion for theatre" long ago devolved into an inability to stop. There comes a time in every artist's life when you have to say enough is enough, otherwise you risk soiling the reputation that you spent all those decades building towards. Sigh .... am bracing myself for the worst for this.
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Post by showgirl on Jul 17, 2017 3:22:52 GMT
From a recent interview, though, Mr Nunn is busy with various projects for several years to come, which will take him into his eighties...
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Post by lonlad on Jul 19, 2017 0:16:08 GMT
Saw it tonight. As bad as expected. Starry audience though: Sophie Thompson, Mo Lipman, Tom Wilkinson (with his wife Diana Hardcastle), and more ..... notably few press, though, which was weird since it was press night.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 19, 2017 0:55:14 GMT
Saw it tonight. As bad as expected. Starry audience though: Sophie Thompson, Mo Lipman, Tom Wilkinson (with his wife Diana Hardcastle), and more ..... notably few press, though, which was weird since it was press night. Tuesday night was also press night for FIDDLER ON THE ROOF in Chichester, so that might have sent the usual London critics down to Sussex... |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 19, 2017 8:24:13 GMT
Well. You know when you're talking to someone and you have a very good point to make but then for whatever reason you meander off and head into a different direction before trying to get back to your original point but by that time you've got yourself into a bit of a knot and don't know how to get out of it? This play is it. A bunch of deeply unlikeable characters who are only particularly funny if you like laughing at poor people who don't have a holiday home (or four). To be honest . . {BIG spoiler!}
I'd have happily had Eddie the soldier shoot all of them and put us all out of our misery! Preferably before the end of the first act. The evening was saved though by seeing Glynis Barber. OMGosh, she is FOXY. |
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Post by showgirl on Jul 19, 2017 15:08:43 GMT
Reviews have been very mixed, on the low-to-middling side, but I did see one 4-star one, which was definitely out of keeping with the rest.
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Post by Backdrifter on Jul 20, 2017 9:10:30 GMT
I didn't think it was that bad, it had its moments but yes it was rather overheated.
Both Cotton and a note-taking Nunn in the audience then ligging about at the interval. In a major, shocking departure from his usual attire, Nunn was wearing a slightly lighter than usual shade of denim shirt. I almost didn't recognise him.
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Post by Someone in a tree on Jul 20, 2017 9:33:57 GMT
What does the Nunn wear on his feet? I'd like to think Denim pumps
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Post by Backdrifter on Jul 20, 2017 9:45:55 GMT
What does the Nunn wear on his feet? I'd like to think Denim pumps You'd hope, or think - he's practically made of denim. But on this occasion it was trainers. |
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Post by showgirl on Jul 20, 2017 13:54:42 GMT
I'm unable to go tonight so asked the Box Office if they could donate my ticket to someone (obviously only if they'd sold all theirs) but they didn't really reply to that. They offered to change the date but I simply don't have any other slots free. So if anyone here would like it...
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