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Post by c4ndyc4ne on Jun 6, 2023 20:48:02 GMT
Given that it was an adaptation of the successful Walliams book, it is hard to credit Ravenhill with conceiving it. He wrote the script in the same way Dennis Kelly did for Matilda. And, on the whole, few people remember who wrote the books of musicals. Ravenhill did a version of Candide for the RSC which got fair to middling reviews I like some of Ravenhill's work (in particular Mother Clapp's Molly House is a piece I would like to direct at some point), but his career has not lived up to the early promise. Perhaps this new play will change that, it is just rather had to reconcile the author of Shopping and f***ing with someone writing a two hander about Britten and Holst. (And it is ridiculous that this software censors the title of a famous play!) Its quality aside, from memory Ravenhill was the one who first had the idea and approached the RSC and Guy Chambers about it. But yes, given the Walliams of it all, I expect we'll not see it back. |
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Post by richardh on Jun 7, 2023 14:33:44 GMT
I just checked and the last RSC production of Henry VIII was directed by Doran in 1996. They hosted 10 performances of another companies production of it in 2006 as part of their Complete Works festival. It seems extraordinary that a subsidised company dedicated to Shakespeare haven't done a production of one of the First Folio plays for 27 years and counting. It has a big cast so it's unlikely anyone else will produce it - the NT have never done it - with the exception of the Globe who did a heavily adapted version of it recently. It is also worth noting that Doran's production of it was critically very well received and as far as I know popular with audiences and in addition to Stratford it played in London, Plymouth, Newcastle and New York. The whole point of their subsidy should be to do plays like that. According to Doran's book the play has always been thought of as a poisoned chalice. "Nobody has ever really made that play work" he was told by one source when Adrian Noble asked him to direct the 1996 production. It was going to be produced again in 2020 but Covid put paid to that. |
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Post by lynette on Jun 8, 2023 22:27:54 GMT
The production of Henry VIII in the church at Stratford worked a treat. No artificial lighting. A very sucky uppy ending but he gets away with it. Not a dry eye in the house … well church in this case.
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Post by Jan on Jun 9, 2023 6:18:42 GMT
The production of Henry VIII in the church at Stratford worked a treat. No artificial lighting. A very sucky uppy ending but he gets away with it. Not a dry eye in the house … well church in this case. Yes that was the one they hosted that only did 10 performances - I couldn't get tickets as it was very popular. Doran's RSC production was good - lots of processional and gold confetti, but the previous one in 1984 by Howard Davies with Richard Griffiths and John Thaw was better - he directed it as if it was by Brecht and emphasised the power politics aspects. |
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Post by Rory on Jun 12, 2023 23:03:32 GMT
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Post by oxfordsimon on Jun 12, 2023 23:30:25 GMT
26 is very young casting for Macbeth
Probably the youngest ever for the RSC
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Post by Jan on Jun 13, 2023 6:13:08 GMT
26 is very young casting for Macbeth Probably the youngest ever for the RSC Youngest I've seen in any professional production is 29. "Wilson said the production would be set in an imagined near-future: “the climate is more extreme, there’s scarcity of resources and war." Sounds like the flop Rufus Norris production. However I think Wils Wilson is a far better choice to direct this and it could well be good. |
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Post by cavocado on Jun 13, 2023 9:47:19 GMT
I see RSC 'big cast announcement tomorrow' posts and brace myself for disappointment. I'm hopelessly old hat and still hope that these iconic roles will go to actors with a fair amount of Shakespeare experience and maybe even someone I've heard of or recall seeing in something else. Same with most Globe productions. Hopefully it will be ok. The setting could work well and I'm interested to see what Wils Wilson does.
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jay
Auditioning
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Post by jay on Jun 13, 2023 19:26:37 GMT
I see RSC 'big cast announcement tomorrow' posts and brace myself for disappointment. I'm hopelessly old hat and still hope that these iconic roles will go to actors with a fair amount of Shakespeare experience and maybe even someone I've heard of or recall seeing in something else. Same with most Globe productions. Hopefully it will be ok. The setting could work well and I'm interested to see what Wils Wilson does. Nothing 'old hat' about wanting actors who have a level of Shakespeare experience. Twenty years ago, our national companies had a wealth of older actors ( often playing smaller, but key roles) who brought great gravitas and weight to these parts - and so enhanced the whole production. Now, it seems quite the reverse: give parts to anyone regardless of experience of classical work. The current RSC As You Like It is a pleasant exception: get older actors who've played a ton of Shakespeare together. But then - *controversial point coming* - theatre is so very driven now but what fits so many 'agendas', box-ticking etc. A good example is Hayden Gwynne playing Stanley Baldwin in the new Churchill play at The Donmar. Of course, anyone can play anything - thats what actors do - but what was the point of that particular piece of casting ? Particularly when the actress concerned adopted a lower register , walked in a 'manly' way and did lots of back-slapping. Lets use our older actors as often as possible. A quick glance to other cultures illustrates well how actors with 20 years + experience are used, celebrated and employed. |
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Post by Jan on Jun 14, 2023 6:00:37 GMT
Hayden Gwynne playing Stanley Baldwin in the new Churchill play at The Donmar. Misgendering Stanley Bladwin ? Ha ha. |
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Post by lynette on Jun 16, 2023 23:17:32 GMT
A young Macbeth. Let’s hope he gets a better production than poor Rory Kinnear did at the NT. I don’t think age matters in this role does it? Not like King Lear who must be old enough to have married daughters. Macbeth has no kids, might have lost a baby…sounds rather appropriate. We’ll see.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 17, 2023 0:34:24 GMT
Hayden Gwynne playing Stanley Baldwin in the new Churchill play at The Donmar. Misgendering Stanley Bladwin ? Ha ha. Hayden is a fine actress and has the stature and gravitas to play gender blind roles in Shakespeare but who would think of her as Stanley Baldwin I wonder? Just reading up on Stanley Baldwin his son who succeeded him to his Earldom was actually a Labour MP despite Baldwin being a Conservative PM and was also gay when it was still illegal. Ironically Anthony Eden's son who succeeded to his title was also gay and is said to have been the inspiration for the title character in the film Peter's Friends. Churchill's eldest son had a severe drink problem and was always in his father's shadow so you have 3 very interesting sons of notable PMs who served within 20/30 years of each other. Could there be an interesting play featuring these 3 sons whose paths must have crossed at sometime and some dramatic licence could be used? |
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Post by Jan on Jun 17, 2023 8:39:29 GMT
Misgendering Stanley Bladwin ? Ha ha. Hayden is a fine actress and has the stature and gravitas to play gender blind roles in Shakespeare but who would think of her as Stanley Baldwin I wonder? Just reading up on Stanley Baldwin his son who succeeded him to his Earldom was actually a Labour MP despite Baldwin being a Conservative PM and was also gay when it was still illegal. Ironically Anthony Eden's son who succeeded to his title was also gay and is said to have been the inspiration for the title character in the film Peter's Friends. Churchill's eldest son had a severe drink problem and was always in his father's shadow so you have 3 very interesting sons of notable PMs who served within 20/30 years of each other. Could there be an interesting play featuring these 3 sons whose paths must have crossed at sometime and some dramatic licence could be used? Of course during their lifetime both Eden and Churchill themselves were rumoured to have had gay relationships (the former almost certainly had) at a time when amongst the upper classes it was not unusual for gay men to marry and have children to conceal the fact. In that inter-war period there were quite a large number of gay and bisexual MPs (“The Glamour Boys”) who were frequent visitors to the more liberal environment of Berlin where they witnessed the rise of the Nazis and were able to warn about it. I think you could easily get a 10-part Netflix series out of all this. |
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Post by oxfordsimon on Jun 17, 2023 9:46:52 GMT
Chris Bryant's book The Glamour Boys is well worth a read.
Also Michael Bloch's Closer Queens give a broader insight into gay MPs in the 20th Century
Another fascinating tale is that of John Wolfenden's son Jeremy. Brilliant scholar turned spy who died at an early age. Subject of The Fatal Englishman by Sebastian Faulks and the TV movie Consenting Adults.
John Wolfenden's report was the basis for the decriminalisation of gay sex (albeit on a limited basis) and his son was gay (and lived a fascinating and flawed life)
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Post by Jan on Jun 17, 2023 11:25:21 GMT
Chris Bryant's book The Glamour Boys is well worth a read. Also Michael Bloch's Closer Queens give a broader insight into gay MPs in the 20th Century Another fascinating tale is that of John Wolfenden's son Jeremy. Brilliant scholar turned spy who died at an early age. Subject of The Fatal Englishman by Sebastian Faulks and the TV movie Consenting Adults. John Wolfenden's report was the basis for the decriminalisation of gay sex (albeit on a limited basis) and his son was gay (and lived a fascinating and flawed life) The Chips Channon diaries provide a good evokation of the inter-war era amongst that class - he was an MP, married, had a son, was bisexual, and was later in a long-term relationship with Terence Rattigan. |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 17, 2023 12:56:20 GMT
Thanks for the great responses I'll have to try and get hold of The Glamour Boys as it sounds an interesting read. Consenting Adults was a very enjoyable TV film too.
I must admit that I hadn't heard much of Chips Channon apart from the Terrance Rattigan references, I've just realised that his son was Paul Channon who was a Cabinet Minister under Maggie Thatcher in the 1980's so we learn something everyday.
Lord Boothby and Tom Driberg would certainly also be significant figures in this era. Tom in particular was a prolific journalist who was at hand when many of the major events of the 20th century unfolded.
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Post by zahidf on Jul 9, 2023 8:17:18 GMT
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Post by oxfordsimon on Jul 9, 2023 8:29:08 GMT
I read about that. I fear it says more about the director than it does Shakespeare. I have seen the Porter get plenty of laughs with the text as it woz writ. Requires the right casting and direction.
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Post by Jan on Jul 9, 2023 9:56:43 GMT
RSC going for the under-represented middle-aged middle-class white Guardian reader audience. As the audience will be full of GCSE school parties it might have been wiser to use a comedian they might actually have heard of. I wonder why he thinks Alison Peebles is inspired casting ? Looks entirely conventional to me. |
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Post by lynette on Jul 9, 2023 14:26:39 GMT
I read about that. I fear it says more about the director than it does Shakespeare. I have seen the Porter get plenty of laughs with the text as it woz writ. Requires the right casting and direction. Really hard to make it funny via text alone. None of the references mean anything at all now except cheap shots ( unless teachers have actually taught the kids properly so they might then know a bit..) Might be interesting to let the purpose of the scene , the manipulation of tension, work with contemporary references. The scene was basically a ‘sucking up’ to the powers that be, making sure they got it, that WS was onside. This was performed before the king and you can bet whoever played this scene did it very carefully. The text we have shows us how tricky times were, the kind of ‘if you are not with us, you are against us’ mentality, so brilliantly referenced in Millers’s The Crucible, centuries later but about the same kind of totalitarianism. Shakespeare is nothing if not robust and copes with most fiddling.. |
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Post by Jan on Jul 9, 2023 15:37:13 GMT
I read about that. I fear it says more about the director than it does Shakespeare. I have seen the Porter get plenty of laughs with the text as it woz writ. Requires the right casting and direction. Really hard to make it funny via text alone. None of the references mean anything at all now except cheap shots ( unless teachers have actually taught the kids properly so they might then know a bit..) Might be interesting to let the purpose of the scene , the manipulation of tension, work with contemporary references. The scene was basically a ‘sucking up’ to the powers that be, making sure they got it, that WS was onside. This was performed before the king and you can bet whoever played this scene did it very carefully. The text we have shows us how tricky times were, the kind of ‘if you are not with us, you are against us’ mentality, so brilliantly referenced in Millers’s The Crucible, centuries later but about the same kind of totalitarianism. Shakespeare is nothing if not robust and copes with most fiddling.. I’ve seen that scene ad-libbed and with lots of new text and with a Scottish actress playing the part and it still isn’t funny. I’ve also seen it cut which is maybe a better idea. When Rupert Goold directed Lear with Pete Postlethwaite in Liverpool he approached Ken Dodd to play Fool and told him he could add any amount of new material he wanted. Sadly it didn’t happen, although Forbes Masson who did play it was really good. |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 9, 2023 18:00:05 GMT
Doddy in King Lear that could have been a 6 hour night
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Post by lynette on Jul 10, 2023 13:24:59 GMT
Really hard to make it funny via text alone. None of the references mean anything at all now except cheap shots ( unless teachers have actually taught the kids properly so they might then know a bit..) Might be interesting to let the purpose of the scene , the manipulation of tension, work with contemporary references. The scene was basically a ‘sucking up’ to the powers that be, making sure they got it, that WS was onside. This was performed before the king and you can bet whoever played this scene did it very carefully. The text we have shows us how tricky times were, the kind of ‘if you are not with us, you are against us’ mentality, so brilliantly referenced in Millers’s The Crucible, centuries later but about the same kind of totalitarianism. Shakespeare is nothing if not robust and copes with most fiddling.. I’ve seen that scene ad-libbed and with lots of new text and with a Scottish actress playing the part and it still isn’t funny. I’ve also seen it cut which is maybe a better idea. When Rupert Goold directed Lear with Pete Postlethwaite in Liverpool he approached Ken Dodd to play Fool and told him he could add any amount of new material he wanted. Sadly it didn’t happen, although Forbes Masson who did play it was really good. What a marvellous crowd pleaser and marketing joy: new stand up each performance with their material and style slightly adapted…” this Macbeth, eh? “ |
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Post by cirque on Aug 10, 2023 13:35:02 GMT
All mention of RSC 37 project seems to have vnished.
is this still happening
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Post by lynette on Aug 10, 2023 22:41:30 GMT
All mention of RSC 37 project seems to have vnished. is this still happening Is this the new play thing? Yes it is. Eric W will be in charge of it. |
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