RSC All New Seasons

[Jan]

Feb 9, 2022 14:03:53 GMT oxfordsimon said:

Captioning technology already exists and has been working very well for years.

It's not as if the RSC is doing improv. They are working with texts that can easily be put into any number of subtitling systems.

They are just being self indulgent. As ever.

The Coronet had rather good and stylish captioning integrated into the staging for their Norwegian/English Ibsen production a couple of years ago but of course the RSC are never likely to host a foreign-language production under the current regime so it’s hard to see any benefit to them in improving the basic captioning already available that they use for the odd performance in each run.

[cirque]

mission statement changes-

teaching and learning theatre


no time anymore for them. 2 shows in stratford during july-october....wonderful magnet for tourists.

peter hall once said life of rsc is 20 years

rsc is over-what we have is faded shadow trading under name.

didnt plan to comment as the whole wretched company needs to close as after break of maybe a year...reinvent with passion for stage.

no chance.

[cirque]

Benedict withdraws from Much Ado. Understudy now takes over for full run. Press Night delayed.

[oxfordsimon]

Sounds like there us a story there somewhere

Stratford doesn't sound like a happy place

[c4ndyc4ne]

I expect the digital and education stuff is them having to find alternative revenue sources to plug the funding gap from lack of audiences, lack of second space and losing all that Les Mis dollar

[Jan]

Feb 10, 2022 15:10:19 GMT oxfordsimon said:

Sounds like there us a story there somewhere

Well now reports are using the word "abruptly" to report it maybe I'm starting to agree, but best wait to see. I remember something like this happening a couple of times before and no official explanation was ever offered, in fact in both cases the withdrawal was for medical reasons but the people concerned didn't want it widely reported partly because it might harm their future employment opportunities, which is fair enough. 

[Someone in a tree]

Feb 11, 2022 7:46:34 GMT Jan said:

Feb 10, 2022 15:10:19 GMT oxfordsimon said:

Sounds like there us a story there somewhere

Well now reports are using the word "abruptly" to report it maybe I'm starting to agree, but best wait to see. I remember something like this happening a couple of times before and no official explanation was ever offered, in fact in both cases the withdrawal was for medical reasons but the people concerned didn't want it widely reported partly because it might harm their future employment opportunities, which is fair enough. 

Hopefully not situation based depression from working at the RSC

[oxfordsimon]

Much Ado reviews aren't looking great.

2 stars from The Times. 3 from WOS.

Style over substance seems to be an issue

[Jan]

Feb 18, 2022 15:17:46 GMT oxfordsimon said:

Much Ado reviews aren't looking great.

2 stars from The Times. 3 from WOS.

Style over substance seems to be an issue

It’s not for us. I have no
knowledge or interest in Afrofuturism so I doubt I’d get anything out of it.

[oxfordsimon]

When was the last really great RSC Much Ado?

The Tamsin Greig one set in Cuba?

Jacobi/Cusack in the early 80s?

Sinden/Dench in the famous Raj production?

For such a popular play, it seems very hard to get right

[oxfordsimon]

This production does look extraordinary

www.rsc.org.uk/much-ado-about-nothing/production-photos

[Jan]

Feb 18, 2022 21:45:36 GMT oxfordsimon said:

When was the last really great RSC Much Ado?

The Tamsin Greig one set in Cuba?

Jacobi/Cusack in the early 80s?

Sinden/Dench in the famous Raj production?

For such a popular play, it seems very hard to get right

There was also a well regarded one with Mark Rylance as a Northern Irish Benedick, a touring production I think. I didn’t see it.

[bordeaux]

Feb 19, 2022 9:13:59 GMT Jan said:

Feb 18, 2022 21:45:36 GMT oxfordsimon said:

When was the last really great RSC Much Ado?

The Tamsin Greig one set in Cuba?

Jacobi/Cusack in the early 80s?

Sinden/Dench in the famous Raj production?

For such a popular play, it seems very hard to get right

There was also a well regarded one with Mark Rylance as a Northern Irish Benedick, a touring production I think. I didn’t see it.

That was magnificent, 1993 google tells me, but it wasn't RSC!  It was directed by Matthew Warchus, starred Rylance and Janet McTeer and produced by Thelma Holt.  

[oxfordsimon]

Of the many stage versions I have seen as an adult, I can only honestly think of one that was fully successful.

Tennant and Tate in the West End was too long and too hammy. Both actors had the ability to play the roles brilliantly but were allowed to fall back on their TV character performances too often.

2012 saw Meera Syal at the RSC as Beatrice. A handsome looking production but again not fully rounded.

We then had the RSC country house production. Which I felt fell way short of the mark. The play is not Love's Labour's Won and never will be. It had a lovely set and lovely costumes but it lacked detail in the direction and nuanced acting. Comic scenes were cheap gags. The more dramatic scenes lacked weight.

I am very glad I didn't see Vanessa Redgrave and James Earl Jones creaking their way through the play in the West End.

The only production I have seen in recent years that I enjoyed completely was the National production with SRB and Zoe W. Coherent, beautiful to look at and acted with clarity and warmth.

The Branagh/Thompson film which is not without flaws. But the central relationship is so joyful to watch that it is, at times, hard to imagine any other way of doing it.

I do wish the BBC had not decided to drop the production with Penelope Keith as Beatrice from their complete works. I would have loved to have seen her in the role.

I guess it is a piece that just hasn't had many 5 star productions in recent decades. Audiences still love the play which says much for the resilience of the text.

But it does seem harder to direct than it might appear at first sight.

[Jan]

Feb 19, 2022 13:02:53 GMT oxfordsimon said:

I do wish the BBC had not decided to drop the production with Penelope Keith as Beatrice from their complete works. I would have loved to have seen her in the role.

That one also had Arthur Lowe as Dogberry. It has never been clear why the BBC dropped it, I don't think it was ever broadcast and they completely recast a second production of it for their complete works cycle. 

The Terry Hands/Derek Jacobi/Sinead Cusack production was perfect. 

[oxfordsimon]

Feb 19, 2022 13:13:13 GMT Jan said:

Feb 19, 2022 13:02:53 GMT oxfordsimon said:

I do wish the BBC had not decided to drop the production with Penelope Keith as Beatrice from their complete works. I would have loved to have seen her in the role.

That one also had Arthur Lowe as Dogberry. It has never been clear why the BBC dropped it, I don't think it was ever broadcast and they completely recast a second production of it for their complete works cycle. 

The Terry Hands/Derek Jacobi/Sinead Cusack production was perfect. 

That was my second ever Shakespeare. School trip to the Barbican.

I can remember the look of the production but very little else other than the Barbican being hard to navigate...

[cavocado]

Didn't the BBC version have Cherie Lunghi and Robert Lindsay? I remember seeing that in the 1980s sometime, but not one with Penelope Keith.

[Jan]

Feb 19, 2022 14:51:34 GMT cavocado said:

Didn't the BBC version have Cherie Lunghi and Robert Lindsay? I remember seeing that in the 1980s sometime, but not one with Penelope Keith.

They made the Penelope Keith one as part of the cycle but never broadcast it. Michael York as Benedick which doesn’t sound all that interesting.

[Jan]

Feb 19, 2022 20:43:43 GMT kit66 said:

Feb 19, 2022 13:13:13 GMT Jan said:

That one also had Arthur Lowe as Dogberry. It has never been clear why the BBC dropped it, I don't think it was ever broadcast and they completely recast a second production of it for their complete works cycle. 

The Terry Hands/Derek Jacobi/Sinead Cusack production was perfect. 

And it was on a double bill with Cyrano De Bergerac which was also superb.

And that same season, having directed both those, Terry Hands also directed a brilliant Arden of Faversham in the Pit.

[oxfordsimon]

It was a real golden age for the RSC. Roger Rees was making his mark. Branagh and Sher were breaking through.

We shall never see that richness of talent in Stratford again.

[stevemar]

My first ever Shakespeare was at the RSC Barbican - Much Ado About Nothing with Roger Allam and Susan Fleetwood. I have no recollection of the actual production, except having only studied the play for GCSE English Literature, I was blown away by finally seeing it live. It sparked a life long interest in plays. I’ve just looked it up, and it was 1990. Did anyone see this - @ Jan ?

I enjoyed the NT’s version with Simon Russell Beale and Zoe Wanamaker, complete with pool. The RSC version with Edward Bennett and Michelle Terry was very picturesque with the mock up of nearby Charlecote Park but the comedy very broad, as oxfordsimon points out.

I also found this old article, which may be of interest:
www.theguardian.com/stage/2014/apr/17/best-shakespeare-productions-much-ado-about-nothing

[Jan]

Feb 19, 2022 23:19:37 GMT stevemar said:

My first ever Shakespeare was at the RSC Barbican - Much Ado About Nothing with Roger Allam and Susan Fleetwood. I have no recollection of the actual production, except having only studied the play for GCSE English Literature, I was blown away by finally seeing it live. It sparked a life long interest in plays. I’ve just looked it up, and it was 1990. Did anyone see this - @ Jan ?

Yes I saw it but I don't remember anything about it. A couple of years before that there'd been an RSC small-scale touring version with Fiona Shaw and Nigel Terry in rep with Merchant of Venice - I remember Fiona Shaw being very good in both of them. At some point there was also an RSC production directed by Doran with Harriet Walter and (I think) Nicolas le Prevost. It was probably good but on a point of principle I refused to see it because it was on at the Haymarket - I have a feeling it never played Stratford. 

[cavocado]

Feb 20, 2022 11:59:33 GMT Jan said:

Feb 19, 2022 23:19:37 GMT stevemar said:

I saw the Walter/Le Prevost Much Ado at Stratford in 2002, but I don't remember much about it. I'm going to the current one next month, mainly for the nostalgia of a trip to Stratford. 

[cavocado]

Sorry I meant to include a quote there!

[Jan]

Feb 19, 2022 11:24:48 GMT bordeaux said:

Feb 19, 2022 9:13:59 GMT Jan said:

There was also a well regarded one with Mark Rylance as a Northern Irish Benedick, a touring production I think. I didn’t see it.

That was magnificent, 1993 google tells me, but it wasn't RSC!  It was directed by Matthew Warchus, starred Rylance and Janet McTeer and produced by Thelma Holt.  

Was it ? It seems to be the Shakespeare play that gets the most purely commercial West End productions. In addition to this there was the David Tennant/Catherine Tate one, and I also saw one with Alan Bates and Felicity Kendal. Can you think of any other Shakespeare play that's had even two commercial West End productions ? It's hard to think of many that have even had one: Merchant of Venice, Richard II, Richard III ... there must be a few more.