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Post by dramallama on May 11, 2018 14:12:54 GMT
Apologies if there is already a thread for this, I couldn't find one (and the search function didn't show one either).
I was really excited when the National Theatre of Scotland announced a mini tour of The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart. It's one of my favourite plays and I've wanted to see it ever since we read it for University. So, next week I finally get to do so. Anybody else going to see it? Or did some of you see it when it first toured and want to share your opinions?
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Post by n1david on May 11, 2018 14:39:35 GMT
I had tickets for the London dates a few years back and had to cancel because of a family illness. Keep hoping it will come back...
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Post by Deleted on May 11, 2018 14:44:12 GMT
Saw it in Edinburgh some years ago and it just hits the right spot for me - music with a folky tinge, something a bit mystical, intriguing staging. David Greig should be more well known than he is, in my opinion. The lovely Midsummer by Greig is also being upsized with a full band and an immersive staging at this year's Edinburgh International Festival.
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Post by Polly1 on May 11, 2018 14:46:30 GMT
I saw this done by Eastern Angles (local professional touring group) last year and it was completely brilliant. Great singing and very very funny. We were in the front 'row' at our local community centre, set up as a pub and sitting round tables, the key scene at the end took place on our table! Hope you enjoy.
Edited to add: I love David Greig, I wish someone would revive more of his stuff.
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Post by dramallama on May 11, 2018 19:57:13 GMT
Edited to add: I love David Greig, I wish someone would revive more of his stuff. Agreed. I've never actually been able to see any of his work but I've read a couple (after being introduced to him through reading Prudencia Hart for class). He has quite a lot of work on at the Lyceum in Edinburgh where he's artistic director (mostly versions or directing, though). Really glad to hear that most people liked it. I might try and catch Midsummer as well... |
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Post by n1david on May 11, 2018 20:51:27 GMT
'Midsummer' in its original form was superb, I saw it at the Soho Theatre years ago. Want to try and catch it in Edinburgh this August but not sure if I'll make it. Very interested to see how it's evolved.
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Post by victoriantheatre on May 11, 2018 23:05:03 GMT
A prolific playwright!
His own plays:
Europe (1994)
One Way Street (1995)
The Architect (1996)
Caledonia Dreaming (1997)
The Cosmonaut's Last Message to the Woman He Once Loved in the Former Soviet Union (1999)
The Speculator (1999)
Danny 306 + Me (4Ever) (1999)
Victoria (2000)
Dr Korczak’s Example (2001)
Casanova (2001)
Outlying Islands (2002)
San Diego (2003)
American Pilot (2005)
Pyrenees (2005)
Yellow Moon: the Ballad of Leila and Lee (2006)
Damascus (2007)
Midsummer (2008)
Dunsinane (2010)
The Monster in the Hall (2010)
The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart (2011)
The Letter of Last Resort (2012)
The Events (2013)
Translations and Adaptations:
Battle of Will (2002), Laurent Gaudé
Caligula (2003), Albert Camus
Oedipus the visionary (2005), Sophocles
The Bacchae (2007), Euripides,
Creditors (2008), August Strindberg
Peter Pan (2010), adaptation of JM Barrie's original fairy tale
Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory : the new musical (2013), from the story by Roald Dahl
Lanark: A Life in Three Acts (2015), from the novel by Alasdair Gray
The Suppliant Women (2016), Aeschylus
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Post by Deleted on May 12, 2018 6:14:48 GMT
Saw the last tour when it came to London - it was a great evening.
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Post by dramallama on May 12, 2018 6:29:35 GMT
I don't think I've ever heard anybody who knows the play and didn't like it - absolutely can't wait for Tuesday.
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Post by partytentdown on May 14, 2018 15:23:55 GMT
Where is this on?
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Post by dramallama on May 14, 2018 15:26:21 GMT
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Post by partytentdown on May 14, 2018 16:50:34 GMT
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Post by foxa on May 14, 2018 17:02:09 GMT
I know nothing about this play, except for its title which I like very much.
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Post by partytentdown on May 14, 2018 18:03:38 GMT
One of the best nights I've ever had at the theatre (well actually a bar)
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Post by dramallama on May 14, 2018 18:29:23 GMT
One of the best nights I've ever had at the theatre (well actually a bar) I so can't wait to see it tomorrow. |
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Post by Steve on May 16, 2018 18:11:16 GMT
Saw this in Peckham. Music, laughter, community, poetry, free drink and edibles on the tables, actors rushing about amongst (and on) the tables, dancing, Melody Grove so relatable as Prudencia Hart, and, lurking in the shadows, the devil! Really wonderful original unforgettable fun production.  |
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Post by dramallama on May 16, 2018 21:27:22 GMT
[...] free drink and edibles on the tables [...] There were no free drinks at the production I saw yesterday.  (They did hand out sandwiches in the interval.) It was still amazing, though, and I am so glad I went (it was a bit of a hassle for me because I had to get the train to Edinburgh, find somewhere to spend the night, and then got the train back home today - all of that with about three hours worth of sleep). Still, I did not regret it for a second and I am pretty sure this theatre experience is one that will stay with me for a long time. The atmosphere was brilliant and you could just see how much fun the cast were having which really transferred to the audience. I went on my own which I usually do not mind at all, but with this kind of thing I think it would work better going in a group. I was quite lucky that the couple sitting at the table I ended up at were quite chatty so that saved me from a potentially awkward situation. |
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Post by showgirl on May 17, 2018 3:33:57 GMT
I read a 5-star review today but could not make head or tail of what the play was about. All I could get was hints of things I don't like, eg fantasy, magic realism and so on. Trying to find the substance was like attempting to pin down a jelly, so can anyone enlighten me, please?
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Post by dramallama on May 17, 2018 8:54:11 GMT
I read a 5-star review today but could not make head or tail of what the play was about. All I could get was hints of things I don't like, eg fantasy, magic realism and so on. Trying to find the substance was like attempting to pin down a jelly, so can anyone enlighten me, please? With pleasure. It is a difficult one to describe to people who haven't experienced the play or at least read it but I'm going to give it my best shot. I read somewhere that David Greig (playwright) and Wils Wilson (director) came up with the idea for Prudencia because they wanted to stage a theatre ballad in a pub, which I think they definitely achieved. It is often staged in pubs; the version I saw was in an old church and the audience were sitting around tables. There was a stage area on one side but only about 50% of the action took place there, the rest happened around (and on) people's tables. So it doesn't really matter all that much where you sit, you will have to turn and stretch your head at some point anyway. It is about Scottish folk tales and ballads so there is a lot of music and singing so you sometimes feel like you're in a pub with a folk session ongoing, which was brilliant (in my opinion). I'll go into the plot in the following - I'm not giving away the ending (yet) but there are, nevertheless, quite substantial spoilers so I've put it behind that spoiler thingy: {Spoiler - click to view}
Prudencia Hart, an uptight academic in Scottish folk studies, attends a conference in Kelso (near the Scottish Border). She is considering herself to be the only person to stay true to the texts while everybody else deconstructs and analyses texts along modern concepts - so while she stands for the older values, everybody else around her seems to have moved on. Her big nemesis is Colin (who gets funding to analyse football chants, which, for Prudencia, is not folk studies). So she does not really have a very good experience at the conference (her talk doesn't go so well and she ends up falling off stage). She wants to go straight back home but it's the winter solstice 2010 - there is lots of snow. Colin convinces her to go to the pub and he tries to find them a B&B (to Prudencia's disdain, using a B&B finding app on his phone). In the pub, a folk session is happening which is pretty dire but Prudencia is keen to listen to more. The session then turns into karaoke which Colin loves but Prudencia hates. And this is pretty much where the realism ends and fantastic folk elements take over. Four patrons (referred to and dressed up as the four corbies) try to convince Prudencia to sing and strip, eventually making her flee the pub and try to find the B&B on her own. [The winter solstice is the one day the devil can take a human before their time - this becomes important in a bit.] On her way to the B&B, she sees a woman out in the snow who sings and tries to stop her from going to the B&B but Prudencia powers on. Eventually, Nick (from the B&B) finds her and takes her to the place, where it is revealed that *drumroll* Nick is the devil and hell is a B&B next to a Costco carpark. To Prudencia (and I'm with her on that), it looks pretty much like heaven, though, because there is a library with every book that has ever been written and all the books that haven't been, too.
So, that turned out longer than expected. It's basically a summary of act one. I can do one for act two later if people want me to but I have to get ready for work now... |
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Post by showgirl on May 17, 2018 18:06:44 GMT
Thank you massively, dramallama, for the impressively detailed and helpful explanation. It sounded at first like absolute anathema to me; then it turned interesting and so on. It sounds like something I'd have to see for myself in order to decide, but thanks to you, I now know I'd take the risk if the opportunity arose. |
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Post by foxa on May 17, 2018 20:07:42 GMT
dramallama - you're only 30 postings in but you're already a hot favourite for this week's MVP award! I wonder if this play will (or has) come to London.
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Post by dramallama on May 17, 2018 22:02:10 GMT
dramallama - you're only 30 postings in but you're already a hot favourite for this week's MVP award! I wonder if this play will (or has) come to London. Awww  Honestly, I'm just glad I've finally found a place where I can enthuse about theatre without anybody rolling their eyes (or, if they do, I at least don't have to see it). The majority of my friends aren't that bothered and get a bit tired of me rambling on and on. I am pretty sure Prudencia Hart played in London the first time it was performed. And it's being performed all over the place - mostly in Scotland but quite a lot in the US, too, so I don't see why it wouldn't come back to London at some point. |
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Post by n1david on May 18, 2018 7:50:05 GMT
I am pretty sure Prudencia Hart played in London the first time it was performed. And it's being performed all over the place - mostly in Scotland but quite a lot in the US, too, so I don't see why it wouldn't come back to London at some point. Yes, it played at the London Welsh Centre in Grays Inn Road in 2013. |
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Post by Deleted on May 18, 2018 8:37:46 GMT
Thanks for the synopsis, dramallama! I'd be very interested in act 2 if you have the time and/or inclination. |
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Post by dramallama on May 18, 2018 13:50:30 GMT
Thanks for the synopsis, dramallama! I'd be very interested in act 2 if you have the time and/or inclination. Oh, it's my pleasure! One thing I forgot to mention earlier (and I have no idea how that happened) is that the majority of the play is written in rhyming couplets. It sometimes makes for some really forced rhymes but it works within the play and makes people laugh rather than roll their eyes. Now, back to the plot: {Prudencia Hart - Act 2 (Spoilers, obviously)}
Act Two begins with Prudencia still in hell. At first she doesn't mind much because she has access to every book in the devil's library. But after a thousand years or so, she does grow a little bored. She can look out into the Costco car park and watch the world pass by while she is stuck in the B&B. And she's alone a lot; the devil changes his bodily form often and sometimes disappears for years at a time. She knows she wants to leave and tries to reason with the devil but he doesn't listen and doesn't want to let her go. Prudencia says that she has studied the topography of hell in folk stories so almost hints that she knows better than the devil (which makes for a quite funny exchange between them). She tries to convince him to go to sleep but he says that because he doesn't have a bodily form, he doesn't need to sleep.
Her next attempt is to try and seduce him because again, that's what usually happens in folk tales (i.e. the devil has a relationship with the human he takes). After years and years of trying (again, no bodily form, no bodily desires), she finally succeeds and the devil falls asleep afterwards. Sensing her chance, she steals his keys and flees. He wakes not much later and starts chasing her and as she runs across the car park, she finds a crack in time that would bring her back to 2010. She has to realise that as in all the folk stories, she needs a knight in shining armour to save her. She reaches through the crack in time and shouts for help while the devil comes closer and tries to hold her back.
She doesn't exactly get a knight but Colin (in his pants and with a cocktail stick for a sword). So basically, Prudencia is stuck in the crack in time with the devil trying to pull her back and Colin holding on to her. Now, to fully grasp what happens next, you need to sort of know the Ballad of Tam Lin (this is a pretty good summary (skip to around 5 minutes if you just want to listen to the changing business): . And because David Greig loves his puns (honestly, check out his twitter if you don't believe me), what follows is referred to as the ballad of Co Lin.
Back to the plot: the devil changes Prudencia into all kinds of things to test Colin, who has to hold on: first, an eel (they got a glass of little eels and stuck the actor's hand in), next she turns into fire (they got out a lighter and held it under the actor's hand), next she turns to ice (they stuck ice into his pants). She goes through more mutations (that are only mentioned) and because Colin holds on every time, she is eventually released. They both fall on top of each other and pass out while the devil returns to hell.
Colin and Prudencia wake up again and, in front of Colin, Prudencia sort of passes everything that's happened off as hypothermia because she assumes she must've fallen asleep in the snow. They go back to the pub where she finds out that the woman she saw who'd sung a song and tried her to stop her from going to the B&B was an alcoholic and fell asleep with a cigarette in her hand, burning down the whole house (with her children inside) exactly a year ago and that Nick from the B&B is a swinger.
The party is still very much ongoing and the pub is heaving. Finally, Prudencia is persuaded to participate in the karaoke. Just as she is about to begin, she sees the devil looking in through the window of the pub so she dedicates her song to him and says that this isn't the devil's ceilidh but the devil's Kylie (another brilliant pun by the master). She starts singing 'Can't Get You Out of my Head', starting really slow at first with the other actors joining in on their traditional folk instruments so it turns into this weird but amazing mixture of pop and folk music. Honestly, I have so many feelings about this play. We read it in university for a class on Scottish identity and I wrote an essay on it (not a very good essay but still). That was also around about the time I decided I wanted to go into theatre studies for my postgrad and while it wasn't just because of Prudencia Hart, I think it's been really influential in that decision. |
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(They did hand out sandwiches in the interval.) It was still amazing, though, and I am so glad I went (it was a bit of a hassle for me because I had to get the train to Edinburgh, find somewhere to spend the night, and then got the train back home today - all of that with about three hours worth of sleep). Still, I did not regret it for a second and I am pretty sure this theatre experience is one that will stay with me for a long time. 
Honestly, I'm just glad I've finally found a place where I can enthuse about theatre without anybody rolling their eyes (or, if they do, I at least don't have to see it). The majority of my friends aren't that bothered and get a bit tired of me rambling on and on.