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Post by theatrelover123 on Jun 13, 2017 9:44:03 GMT
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Post by bellboard27 on Jun 13, 2017 10:06:10 GMT
Given it is only a few hours since seeing Salome, I have to report my immediate reaction is not one of enthusiasm.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 13, 2017 10:34:43 GMT
Gosh. It's about a ploughman and a miller. Expect 20 minutes of story and 2 hours of people walking around. Slowly. With farm implements.
Can't wait.
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Post by bordeaux on Jun 13, 2017 10:58:43 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jun 13, 2017 11:32:09 GMT
Knives *in* hens? Is it a violent response to all the farmyard animals we've seen on stage lately? You'd think knives in rabbits would be more appropriate somehow.
Oh heavens, I'll probably book anyway (for near the end of the run, cheapest ticket I can buy, with half an eye on the reviews), but Yaël Farber's "own distinctive style" is not really a selling point, Donmar.....
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Post by Deleted on Jun 13, 2017 13:03:19 GMT
I haven't seen any of Yael Farber's shows but there are parallels between Knives in Hens and The Crucible, which she directed previously. Both plays have rural, historical settings. Knives in Hens is a much quieter play but quite disturbing in its content.
Knives in Hens follows Making Noise Quietly in Josie Rourke's Donmar programming strand of deserved, major revivals of searing domestic plays originally premiered at the Bush Theatre under Dominic Dromgoole's leadership.
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Post by lynette on Jun 22, 2017 15:46:07 GMT
Hmm, 'big in Germany' ? I saw a production of Macbeth in German once and it had Macbeth practising stabbing by stabbing what was obviously a rubber chicken with a big knife.
I'm sure I have mentioned this before. Left its mark, it did.
Might give this show a miss.
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Post by Tibidabo on Jun 22, 2017 17:46:21 GMT
practising stabbing by stabbing what was obviously a rubber chicken with a big knife. I'm sure I have mentioned this before. Left its mark, it did. On the chicken? |
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Post by bellboard27 on Aug 20, 2017 6:35:58 GMT
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Post by foxa on Aug 20, 2017 6:48:54 GMT
I haven't booked for this but am getting a lot of ads for it popping up on social media.
The marketing strategy seems to be to emphasise the sheer gorgeousness of the cast.
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Post by Phantom of London on Aug 20, 2017 16:41:56 GMT
Far from sold out last night, the people standing were all given seats.
Sadly this got stopped for half an hour, the actor noticed someone not very well and stepped out of character, to ask 'if the person was alright' the stage manager then stopped the show, requesting "if there is a doctor in the house"' most of the Donmar volunteered. They cleared the theatre, to give the poor person treatment. However the forced and unavoidable stoppage affected me and took me away from the dramatic action!!!
What I could make out The ploughman's wife who he treats her badly, is liberated because she can write her namemany has an affair with the miller,who is an outsider because he can read and write, unlike the other villages who are peasants. Even though in the Evening Standard interview they sold this as being 'erotic', sesperate for ticket sales I think, however I found watching a cup of tea brew more erotic and slightly more exciting than this play unfortunately.
Why why didn't the Donmar revive the critically acclaimed and excellent Blackbird by the same playwright?
2 Stars
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Post by theatrelover123 on Aug 20, 2017 16:58:36 GMT
I know it's difficult to say because of the stoppage but how long do you think it might be when it's running properly? And is there an interval?
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Post by Phantom of London on Aug 20, 2017 19:13:05 GMT
It is difficult, but advertised to run 90 minutes through, I was out at 9:30.
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Post by argon on Aug 20, 2017 20:18:28 GMT
I found this quite dreary. The forced intermission gave some of the audience the opportunity to depart. However, I persevered & by the end regretted it. Its a shame i haven't been disappointed at the Donmar for a while.
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Post by Phantom of London on Aug 20, 2017 20:37:26 GMT
Was you in the stalls? Did you see what happened? I couldn't see much from the circle, except a lady was ill, but seemed conscious. I assume things turned out well.
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Post by argon on Aug 20, 2017 21:57:53 GMT
Likewise I also was in the circle. I thought she may have fainted, but whatever it was she needed an Ambulance.
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Post by bordeaux on Aug 20, 2017 22:05:21 GMT
Why why didn't the Donmar revive the critically acclaimed and excellent Blackbird by the same playwright? 2 Stars Which, I notice, has been filmed by Benedict Andrews as Una, and is coming out in UK cinemas on 1st September. |
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Post by Phantom of London on Aug 21, 2017 7:15:23 GMT
Why why didn't the Donmar revive the critically acclaimed and excellent Blackbird by the same playwright? 2 Stars Which, I notice, has been filmed by Benedict Andrews as Una, and is coming out in UK cinemas on 1st September. Didn't know that and thanks. Maybe then there is a temporary suspension on performing Blackbird in theatre because of the film. |
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Post by pledge on Aug 21, 2017 9:29:00 GMT
I'm afraid I was one of those who took advantage of the break 30 mins in to slip away! Couldn't face another hour of painfully laboured Significance and doomy Portentousness. In fact, I'd actually found myself starting to giggle at some of the early dialogue - "You said I'm a field" /Like a field./ "A field."/ Like a field / "I'm not a field"/ I said like a field", or: "My cheese is cheese"...etc etc...Didn't help that, up in the circle I was really struggling to make out what they were saying - whole passages just passed in a blurred mumblecore haze. The only other Harrower play I've seen was the superb Blackbird, and reading up on Knives In Hens I see it's widely produced and frequently revived, so maybe it's my loss, or maybe this production is the problem? I'll try and read it one day to find out, but while wishing the person taken ill all the best, I was really grateful for the chance to escape!!
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Post by paplazaroo on Aug 22, 2017 14:58:46 GMT
In the royal court playwriting podcast Simon Stephens says that this is his favourite play so I am keen to see what makes it so good but not encouraged by WOM here
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Post by Deleted on Aug 24, 2017 8:23:08 GMT
Well. If you've seen Yaël Farber's other plays you've seen this one. Stage so dark that you need fog lights to see anything, someone getting too heavy handed with an incense stick and lots of walking about. On the plus side, Christian Cooke has a most delightful pair of buttocks and spends half the show with his shirt off which really, when you look at the work he's clearly put into his daily visits to the gym is a completely justifiable artistic decision. Bravo Yaël.
There's more than a touch of the Therese Raquin about it all and don't go in expecting any laughs because there aren't any. Well, except from some of the audience when Judith Roddy starts writhing about chucking flour all over the place. At that point you were half wishing for Mel & Sue to walk on and throw in a Bake Off innuendo about dusting some buns to liven things up.
Which reminds me of Christian Cooke's buttocks again. He's come a long way since 'Where The Heart Is'.
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Post by bellboard27 on Aug 26, 2017 8:30:09 GMT
Well, I may stick out like a sore thumb here, but I loved this. Once I realised that this is essentially an exploration of language, its limits, its power, the difference between language and knowledge, so much became clear. The written statement read by Roddy (which refers at the start to a knife in a hen) I thought was beautifully written. She understands that God's purpose for her is to understand the world, but she refers to this as naming what she sees in the world (echoing Adam naming the animals in Eden). However, she struggles that there is so much more about an object that she cannot name. Without being able to name something, there is a barrier to understanding. Hence we have the miller writing his thoughts and the reverence and fear of books expressed by the three characters. The play explicitly explores meaning at various points ('like a field', tree, puddle, etc.), but once the simplest language is questioned, even the most innocuous statements in the play cannot be taken at face value. Do the characters refer to concepts, objects, people by name, but are trying to say something more for which they have no name? If so what is meant? I can see that some will hate this play, but it's a thumbs up from me.
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Post by theatremadness on Aug 26, 2017 9:51:19 GMT
Apparently the nick-name 'Forks in Pigs' is becoming associated with this play...
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Post by kathryn on Aug 27, 2017 21:55:49 GMT
Oh dear, having swerved booking for this myself I just agreed to go with my friend who had a spare ticket. May have been a mistake, based on the above reports,
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Post by dlevi on Aug 28, 2017 7:07:35 GMT
Much like the Committee musical this one seems to be a box office loser for the Donmar. Under other artistic administrations there were maybe one or two plays that were not a hot ticket, but under Ms Featherstone there have been quite a few. While I like a certain level of unpredictability in programming, I like to be able to "trust" that what s programmed will be of a certain level. I've come to the difficult decision to not renew my membership simply because I'm not in agreement with Ms Featherstone's choices. The theatre seems in danger of losing its profile, the way Hampstead did in those awful Anthony Clark years.
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