1,052 posts
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Post by David J on Mar 10, 2016 19:22:43 GMT
A brutal comedy about Thomas Aikenhead, the last man to be executed in Britain for blasphemy, in 1697 Edinburgh
Includes songs with lyrics written by Simon Armitage
Looking forward to this
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835 posts
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Post by duncan on Mar 10, 2016 19:26:35 GMT
Seeing at the end of the month at the Lyceum.
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34 posts
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Post by meso77 on Mar 10, 2016 19:59:16 GMT
Watched this last week at the Lowry in a very, very empty Quays theatre. I liked it, the songs are okay, but the football analysis stuff just isn't funny especially after the fourth or fifth time.
Suprisingly the programmes were free, only about six pages but hopefully a trend others will follow.
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1,052 posts
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Post by David J on Mar 10, 2016 20:57:28 GMT
Oh goodness me
Between this and Madame Bovary I'm seem to be finding productions who have their heads stuck up their own perceived cleverness
The house is barely full which is not helping
But it's hard not to notice the sketch like quality this show is going at.
The set is very static
The tv references are unfunny
It just stops and starts with long longeurs filling in this 2 hour play. It's clear the creatives are trying desperately to make something out of a historical event that might have been mentioned in a few records and nothing else. The songs aren't anything special
What the heck is up with the end of the first act where the cast seem to pretending to be birds, whilst singing something about a prehistoric heaven. Some of them are wearing a t shirt showing someone behind bars with the words 'problems' and 'no future'
An audience member summed it up very well. No dramatic impetus
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1,052 posts
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Post by David J on Mar 10, 2016 21:42:58 GMT
My god Told by an Idiot, if you want to connect Thomas Aikenhead to Charlie Hebdo, at least give the role to one cast member ONLY for us to connect to
AAAARRRGGGHHH!!!!
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163 posts
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Post by Scots UK Theatre on Mar 25, 2016 17:47:26 GMT
Just wondering if anyone has seen this on tour yet. I'm going tonight & it does sound like it could be interesting. It's a co-production between National Theatre of Scotland, Told by an Idiot & Lyceum theatre.
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163 posts
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Post by Scots UK Theatre on Mar 25, 2016 22:00:24 GMT
If I'm honest I actually really enjoyed this. It's very funny and the songs are excellent.
Yes it's a devised theatre piece which has created some bizzare yet funny moments. The MOTD scenes were initially funny but repeated too many times & became repetitive & less funny. That's the danger when there no one to chop the moments when the colaberitve process oversteps the mark. The birds were supposed to be the Heron looming over Thomas.
The whole point of the entire cast playing Thomas is to emphasise that we are all Thomas. Every one of us now could of been hanged for what Thomas did. Simply holding different beliefs. It worked for me. It's relevant in this day & age, religion, spy's, hatred of the unkown.
Overall worth seeing if you enjoy interpretive theatre.
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Post by littleimpulse on Mar 26, 2016 7:23:15 GMT
I saw this in Liverpool... and hated it! I didn't intend on beginning with a negative post, but here it is! The single thing I liked about it was the singing voice of that one bloke. I would have enjoyed listening to him sing for a few hours. The play though, I did not enjoy at all. I didn't think it was supposed to be funny. Was it? I had assumed it was going to be a comedy in advance from the description, but I didn't find it funny at all.
I also think if you're going to have all your actors play a main role you ought to make the audience feel something from doing this (I saw National Youth Theatre's production of Wuthering Heights last year where they did this to great effect - at least I thought so!) I understand that the point is supposed to be that we're all Thomas, but the play doesn't get into any details of who Thomas is/was by doing this, thus there is nothing to care about. In fact, it almost feels as though there isn't even a play there at all.
Anyway, I got nothing from it myself. Apart from that guy (the one who sang at the end) with the beaaaauuuutiful voice. And compared to the amount everyone else sings, they hardly even let him sing...!!
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835 posts
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Post by duncan on Mar 31, 2016 22:47:04 GMT
Loved it, its probably a bit too Scottish for those people not from Gods own country to get the underlying themes and jokes (Arthur and Archie wont travel south of Gretna for instance) but a cracking evenings entertainment.
....although its a Musical rather than a play.
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