353 posts
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Post by cirque on Jun 28, 2022 11:33:42 GMT
Content Warning Richard 111......latex balloons in stalls.......ghosties......severed heads.......be warned and perhaps avoid this scary show
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Post by Jan on Jun 28, 2022 11:47:35 GMT
Content Warning Richard 111......latex balloons in stalls.......ghosties......severed heads.......be warned and perhaps avoid this scary show Doran has always worried about this - in his Macbeth 20 years ago he thought up really quite a clever and disturbing staging effect but then omitted it before the opening because he thought it would scare the audience. Glad to hear balloons are back in vogue, they were very popular at the RSC during the Adrian Noble era. There were a few in Britannicus at the Lyric too actually. |
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1,120 posts
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Jun 28, 2022 14:36:01 GMT
Peak RSC balloon era has to be the Dirty Dancing-esque King John with all the pastels?
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Post by Jan on Jun 28, 2022 15:01:33 GMT
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Post by oxfordsimon on Jul 2, 2022 10:44:39 GMT
On the subject of balloons 🎈🎈🎈🎈
The RSC has got a trigger warning on display for Richard III alerting the audience to the popping of a red balloon
I appreciate that loud popping noises can cause very mild distress to a tiny number of people
But this feels like a trigger warning too far
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Post by Jan on Jul 2, 2022 11:15:47 GMT
On the subject of balloons 🎈🎈🎈🎈 The RSC has got a trigger warning on display for Richard III alerting the audience to the popping of a red balloon I appreciate that loud popping noises can cause very mild distress to a tiny number of people But this feels like a trigger warning too far It also specifies the balloon concerned is made of latex thereby warning those with a latex allergy they may be in the same auditorium as it. Has anyone seen this yet ? One of the reviews spoke ominously of a 2hr long first half - sounded like Doran's usual plodding over-literal approach to the history plays. |
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1,120 posts
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Jul 2, 2022 23:51:16 GMT
On the subject of balloons 🎈🎈🎈🎈 The RSC has got a trigger warning on display for Richard III alerting the audience to the popping of a red balloon I appreciate that loud popping noises can cause very mild distress to a tiny number of people But this feels like a trigger warning too far For some people it’s absolutely essential because it could much more than mild distress. I don’t understand the argument that it’s gone too far. If it protects even one person surely it’s worth it? It’s just a single line of text, it doesn’t cost any money or barely any effort to do, and anyone it doesn’t apply to can easily just ignore it. |
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5,691 posts
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Post by lynette on Jul 30, 2022 15:50:31 GMT
The ballon was one ordinary balloon that R picks up and squeezes and pops. Frankly a bit naff. I’ll post here because there isn’t a separate RIII thread as far as I can see.
A good, thorough production, nothing weird. I felt it was rushed at times, particularly the scene where R fakes it in front of the citizens. I’ve seem this done much better. The queens stole the show, Anne, Margaret and Elizabeth, all very much the engines I thought. The lords nicely differentiated. RIII himself very competent, young, obviously pathological. Missed the deep rooted evil perhaps, the hiss boo villain which comes with an electric contact with the audience. The ghosts at the end very well done. A huge cenotaph was the scene set, music with individual choirboys, lighting giving us all the atmosphere…very long first half, two hours, and an hour for the second half.
( all costumed in its time but irritating use of video at the end for the king and Richmond’s speeches to the soldiers, a waste of time. )
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353 posts
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Post by cirque on Sept 26, 2022 16:18:50 GMT
So Tuesday the new season is revealed and the last with EW…..so much relief. Anticipate lots of community work to go out with a bang and second rate directors. The new team get in midsummer so no impact on the upcoming season……apart from Doran’s Cymbeline and EW Hamlet in Swan no ideas at all but hope all theatres in operation and a full season although not in repertoire next year.
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Post by Jan on Sept 26, 2022 17:16:57 GMT
So Tuesday the new season is revealed and the last with EW…..so much relief. Anticipate lots of community work to go out with a bang and second rate directors. The new team get in midsummer so no impact on the upcoming season……apart from Doran’s Cymbeline and EW Hamlet in Swan no ideas at all but hope all theatres in operation and a full season although not in repertoire next year. On Cymbeline they say "It is also the last major Shakespeare that Gregory has yet to direct." www.rsc.org.uk/cymbeline/Is that true ? I might be wrong but I can't recall his productions of Comedy of Errors, Pericles, Romeo & Juliet, Two Gentlemen of Verona ? It's not even possible to quibble over the word "major" because there's no way Cymbeline is anything other than a minor work. |
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Post by oxfordsimon on Sept 26, 2022 17:29:41 GMT
Considering we had a production in 2016, another just 7 years later feels a bit quick particularly when you think how little they have done since then.
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Post by c4ndyc4ne on Sept 26, 2022 18:54:05 GMT
I think there might be a few bangs!
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899 posts
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Post by bordeaux on Sept 26, 2022 21:26:13 GMT
I'd love to see Cymbeline again. I've not seen it since the Cheek by Jowl production 2007 with Tom Hiddleston's brilliant double of Posthumus and Cloten. And Harriet Walter as Imogen in about 1990 is one of my favourite acting performances ever. I'd like to see it cast with a major actor as Cymbeline to see what difference that makes (SRB?! Rylance? Alex Jennings) to the production.
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Post by Jan on Sept 27, 2022 6:22:51 GMT
I'd love to see Cymbeline again. I've not seen it since the Cheek by Jowl production 2007 with Tom Hiddleston's brilliant double of Posthumus and Cloten. And Harriet Walter as Imogen in about 1990 is one of my favourite acting performances ever. I'd like to see it cast with a major actor as Cymbeline to see what difference that makes (SRB?! Rylance? Alex Jennings) to the production. I've seen 7 productions of it. That Cheek by Jowl one was easily the best overall. |
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2,481 posts
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Post by zahidf on Sept 27, 2022 7:51:52 GMT
"RSC acting artistic director Erica Whyman has announced details of the company’s programming for 2023.
Next year marks the 400th anniversary of the publication of Shakespeare’s First Folio, and in response, the RSC will stage five titles that would have been lost if the First Folio had not been published in 1623 – The Tempest, Julius Caesar, Cymbeline, As You Like It and Macbeth.
They will run consecutively in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre from January to October 2023 in a break from the company’s usual repertory model, kicking off from 26 January to 4 March with Elizabeth Freestone's production of The Tempest. It stars Alex Kingston (Doctor Who), who returns to the RSC, as Prospero, alongside Jessica Rhodes making her company debut as Miranda.
Next up is Julius Caesar, directed by Atri Banerjee in his RSC debut. The production premieres in Stratford from 18 March to 8 April, and will visit nine venues across the country including RSC Partner Theatres. It will feature a Community Leaders Chorus made up of six women from each location on the UK tour.
Venues will include the Marlowe Theatre Canterbury, Hall for Cornwall in Truro, The Alhambra in Bradford, Theatre Royal Newcastle, The Grand Theatre in Blackpool, Theatre Royal Nottingham, Theatre Royal Norwich, Theatre Royal in York and The Lowry, Salford.
Gregory Doran, RSC artistic director emeritus, will direct his 50th production for the RSC with a new staging of Cymbeline (22 April to 27 May). This will mark a personal milestone for Doran, who will complete his journey to direct every Shakespeare play featured in the First Folio.
In July 2023, Paul Ainsworth directs the RSC's young company of 13 to 18-year-olds recruited from across the country, to present their abridged interpretation of Hamlet. Rounding off the season will be Omar Elerian's "playful and provocative" take on As You Like It, which runs in summer 2023 (dates to be announced). "
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Post by oxfordsimon on Sept 27, 2022 7:57:39 GMT
Very strange to reference Macbeth in the opening and then not actually announce it as part of the programme...
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Post by oxfordsimon on Sept 27, 2022 7:59:52 GMT
Am guessing that the Young company will be doing Macbeth rather than Hamlet
Very poor work by the press department and those who signed off on the release
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Post by oxfordsimon on Sept 27, 2022 8:12:38 GMT
Whyman said "We love the benefits of playing in rep and will be returning to it, but we are experimenting with new models. This pattern allows each play a very distinct identity, and a unique company of actors, allowing us to be more surprising as we reveal the intentions behind each production. The five directors offer different approaches, influences and instincts and share a commitment to release courageous new meaning in the plays."
What utter tosh.
Nothing she says she wants to achieve is made impossible by the repertory model.
What isn't possible with short runs is proper company development, learning from your peers over an extended period, building a theatrical community.
It's almost as if she doesn't care
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Post by oxfordsimon on Sept 27, 2022 8:31:26 GMT
There's also a complete absence of Swan or TOP announcements
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Post by oxfordsimon on Sept 27, 2022 12:42:22 GMT
My mistake, the Macbeth is in the autumn season. So we really are getting a community youth Hamlet...
Still a very badly written press release
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Post by Jan on Sept 27, 2022 17:26:43 GMT
Whyman said "We love the benefits of playing in rep and will be returning to it, but we are experimenting with new models. This pattern allows each play a very distinct identity, and a unique company of actors, allowing us to be more surprising as we reveal the intentions behind each production. The five directors offer different approaches, influences and instincts and share a commitment to release courageous new meaning in the plays." What utter tosh. Nothing she says she wants to achieve is made impossible by the repertory model. What isn't possible with short runs is proper company development, learning from your peers over an extended period, building a theatrical community. It's almost as if she doesn't care I assumed the switch away from a repertory system was purely economic, shorter contracts for fewer actors at any particular time. Doing a schools production of Hamlet in the RST is ambitious, it will only sell to friends & family. The Other Place would have been more suitable. |
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353 posts
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Post by cirque on Sept 27, 2022 19:59:25 GMT
Hamlet in TOP
Some good directors
Too much community work outlined in release…overshadows the core repertory.
Swan was due to open with EW doing Hamlet
Maybe she is checking out early and swan opening in autumn
Not a disaster that I feared and perhaps a build back now the community officer is fading
Sorry it’s cruel but both Whyman and Doran destroyed something I loved over their time
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Post by Jan on Sept 28, 2022 6:29:51 GMT
Too much community work outlined in release…overshadows the core repertory. I just don't get the community work they are doing at all - they put 6 local women into a touring Julius Caesar, what's the point ? It is great for those 6 individuals and their families and it generates some local press coverage for the production but beyond that what does it do ? As a normal audience member why should I be in the slightest bit interested in this ? And beyond that how does it provide any long-term benefit to the local community ? It is deploying the RSC's huge resources for the benefit of six individuals. Are there any other theatres who follow this mode of community work of putting a few amateurs in a professional production rather than, say, helping to stage genuine community productions (I'm thinking of "The Passion" that Michael Sheen was involved with) or providing expert help to established long-term amateur community theatre groups ? Is there any other art form that treats community engagement in this way ? Opera companies who use a few amateur singers, or art galleries that mix in a few paintings by local amateurs ? |
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Post by Someone in a tree on Sept 28, 2022 6:44:08 GMT
I agree @jan Birmignham Opera Company generally use a lot of volunteers. It's on the level of Michael Sheen's Passion and its a real benefit to the city.
Generally its a practice that is not revolutionary and nor is it carried out.
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Post by Jan on Sept 28, 2022 7:03:26 GMT
I agree @jan Birmignham Opera Company generally use a lot of volunteers. It's on the level of Michael Sheen's Passion and its a real benefit to the city. Generally its a practice that is not revolutionary and nor is it carried out. Birmingham Opera Company are also actually based in Birmingham so there is long-term continuity. The RSC is putting 6 people from Blackpool into a touring production that is doing 7 performances there then they are disappearing probably forever. |
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