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Post by lynette on Jul 20, 2016 16:08:25 GMT
Blimey, this is a bad one considering the state of the art blah blah. So they can conjure spirits from the deep ( new Tempest thing going on - I know mangled quote from H1V) but the air con has broken.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 23, 2018 10:07:16 GMT
In the Royal Shakespeare Theatre: Troilus and Cressida directed by Doran, music by Evelyn Glennie, 12th Oct - 17 Nov A Christmas Carol returns from 4th Dec - 20th January So only one main stage show over Christmas unlike the two in rep this year. In the Swan: Tamburlaine directed by Michael Boyd, 16 August - 1 December Given it has the same designer I suspect this may be based on Boyd's 2014 Brooklyn production www.nytimes.com/2014/11/19/theater/marlowes-tamburlaine-parts-i-and-ii-in-brooklyn.htmlTimon of Athens directed by Simon Godwin, with Kathryn Hunter as Timon 7th Dec - 22 Feb Tartuffe, directed by Iqbal khan from 7th Sept - 23rd Feb An interesting selection there although I thought that about the Rome season and look how that turned out  Also announced today - £10 tickets if you've never booked for the RSC before and can be there on a Friday: www.rsc.org.uk/first-time-fridays |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 23, 2018 11:06:17 GMT
In the continuing RSC project to stage every one of Shakespeare's plays in the First Folio, Timon of Athens is the first to be staged in the Swan Theatre, instead of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. Like all the RST productions, Timon of Athens will be recorded for broadcast 'Live From Stratford-upon-Avon'. Maybe, some of the other plays still to be produced in this project will also be in the Swan, e.g. King John, Henry VI 1, 2 and 3?
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Post by martin1965 on Jan 23, 2018 12:16:26 GMT
At first glance this looks like an excellent season! Short run in the mainhouse for Troilus though?
They are obvs working through the Marlowe canon, Tamburlaine is the fourth play done in a few years.
V promising.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 23, 2018 13:03:54 GMT
I saw A Christmas Carol last week and absolutely loved it, so I'm glad it's returning. It says on the 10th December performance that it will be filmed, so does anyone know if that means it will be released or just filmed for archives? I can't imagine it will be a RSC Live broadcast as it isn't Shakespeare.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 23, 2018 13:35:25 GMT
If you click on "this performance will be filmed" it appears it will be for cinema broadcast
If so it seems odd for the cinema broadcast performance to be the day before press night!
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Post by Deleted on Jan 23, 2018 14:23:41 GMT
If you click on "this performance will be filmed" it appears it will be for cinema broadcast If so it seems odd for the cinema broadcast performance to be the day before press night! So it does. I just didn't think they did it for non-Shakespeare plays, or have they before? Also it probably doesn't matter so much that it's before press night as it is a returning production. |
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Post by jasper on Jan 23, 2018 15:54:57 GMT
I notice on the RSC website the author for Timon Of Athens is a certain William Shakespeare. I thought the latest thinking among those who trouble themselves about such things is that Thomas Middleton wrote a great deal of it. Indeed it is included in his latest magnum opus of his collected works. Since the RSC are including this in their attempt to perform all the plays of Mr Shakespeare does this mean a production of Thomas Moore is to be included in the future? Further what of Edward III which was included in the Oxford complete works of Shakespeare? What about Ironside. (No not the one in the wheelchair the play Edmund Ironside) Or is there a threshold for how much Will had to pen before it gets included? At least it gives a chance to see the misanthropic side of the personality of the millennium.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 23, 2018 17:01:15 GMT
The project is to perform every play in the First Folio.
So, presumably they'll perform every play in it, even if authorship is now disputed, and they won't perform other plays now thought to be by WS if they're not in the First Folio?
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Post by jasper on Jan 23, 2018 17:13:20 GMT
The project is to perform every play in the First Folio. So, presumably they'll perform every play in it, even if authorship is now disputed, and they won't perform other plays now thought to be by WS if they're not in the First Folio? Does this mean no Pericles for us to ponder who wrote it? Are they using the First Folio text or just the list of plays? |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 23, 2018 17:24:46 GMT
Does this mean no Pericles for us to ponder who wrote it? Are they using the First Folio text or just the list of plays? No idea. Just saying that, starting in October 2013, they're staging all 36 plays in the First Folio and now about halfway through. |
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Post by jasper on Jan 23, 2018 17:30:10 GMT
Does this mean no Pericles for us to ponder who wrote it? Are they using the First Folio text or just the list of plays? No idea. Just saying that, starting in October 2013, they're staging all 36 plays in the First Folio and now about halfway through. The Two Noble Kinsmen is also notable by its absence in the First Folio and the play has disputed authorship. However, it was produced in 2016. Maybe a fondness for John Fletcher from Doran meant its inclusion in the First Folio. |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 23, 2018 17:33:02 GMT
The Two Noble Kinsmen is also notable by its absence in the First Folio and the play has disputed authorship. However, it was produced in 2016. Maybe a fondness for John Fletcher from Doran meant its inclusion in the First Folio. No, it wasn't produced as part of this First Folio project. It was one of their other productions. |
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Post by martin1965 on Jan 23, 2018 18:09:22 GMT
The project is to perform every play in the First Folio. So, presumably they'll perform every play in it, even if authorship is now disputed, and they won't perform other plays now thought to be by WS if they're not in the First Folio? Does this mean no Pericles for us to ponder who wrote it? Are they using the First Folio text or just the list of plays? I notice that they have stopped their practice of listing the plays in he programmes with the one already produced highlighted, not quite sure why. Maybe because the whole thing is taking longer than first thought. In 2013 Doran was saying six or seven uears well that has obvs gone out the window! |
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Post by oxfordsimon on Jan 23, 2018 18:30:49 GMT
Much as I need to see Timon to tick one of the final three off my list, I am not tempted at all to see Kathryn Hunter on stage again.
I find her mannered performing style just too much for my tastes. Shame as I managed to be miss it when it was on at the National (the joys of being ill on the day I was due to attend as far as I recall!)
I suspect Tamburlaine will have a big name in the lead to justify such an extended series of performances. No idea who. At least it won't be Sir Tony.
T&C - all comes down to casting for me. Will have to be interesting to drag me to Stratford after the last one. Doran's pedestrian style will be easier to live with than the Wooster Group's.
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Post by lynette on Jan 23, 2018 18:41:51 GMT
Troilus and Cressida is difficult to do and so not done that often and they don’t put it on the school syllabus. But it is so modern, so right now. I hope they do as good a job with it as say, Hytner did with his Othello.
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Post by Jan on Jan 23, 2018 19:17:34 GMT
Much as I need to see Timon to tick one of the final three off my list, I am not tempted at all to see Kathryn Hunter on stage again. I find her mannered performing style just too much for my tastes. Shame as I managed to be miss it when it was on at the National (the joys of being ill on the day I was due to attend as far as I recall!) I suspect Tamburlaine will have a big name in the lead to justify such an extended series of performances. No idea who. At least it won't be Sir Tony. T&C - all comes down to casting for me. Will have to be interesting to drag me to Stratford after the last one. Doran's pedestrian style will be easier to live with than the Wooster Group's. Agree on K.Hunter, her Cleopatra was a low point. On authorship, I see they have now assigned Henry VI to a Marlowe/Shakespeare collaboration. I like Troilus & Cressida and have not seen a bad production of it, save for the appalling Wooster Group farrago. |
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Post by oxfordsimon on Jan 23, 2018 19:25:06 GMT
I know academics love the whole authorship thing - but from a playgoer's perspective, it really doesn't bother me in the slightest as long as the text is theatrically vibrant and comes alive in the hands of talented actors under the guidance of a director with good taste.
Other than rejecting the Oxfordian school of thought as being ludicrous, I think whoever Shakespeare was and whoever he collaborated with (and when), some great plays were written that have become the mainstay of world theatre.
Yes, it is fun to play with the variants between the different folios and quartos to shape a performing version that works for my particular vision/cast - but as for the intricate analysis of each scene to work out if it was Shakespeare or Shakespeare and someone else, or just someone else entirely - that really doesn't impact on my enjoyment of a play on the stage.
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Post by martin1965 on Jan 23, 2018 19:28:54 GMT
Much as I need to see Timon to tick one of the final three off my list, I am not tempted at all to see Kathryn Hunter on stage again. I find her mannered performing style just too much for my tastes. Shame as I managed to be miss it when it was on at the National (the joys of being ill on the day I was due to attend as far as I recall!) I suspect Tamburlaine will have a big name in the lead to justify such an extended series of performances. No idea who. At least it won't be Sir Tony. T&C - all comes down to casting for me. Will have to be interesting to drag me to Stratford after the last one. Doran's pedestrian style will be easier to live with than the Wooster Group's. Agree on K.Hunter, her Cleopatra was a low point. On authorship, I see they have now assigned Henry VI to a Marlowe/Shakespeare collaboration. I like Troilus & Cressida and have not seen a bad production of it, save for the appalling Wooster Group farrago. I missed that about Henry 6 Prof, where was that? They have obvs made up with la hunter after she stropped off when Boyd didnt bring A&C to New York a few years back. |
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Post by jasper on Jan 23, 2018 19:52:08 GMT
Much as I need to see Timon to tick one of the final three off my list, I am not tempted at all to see Kathryn Hunter on stage again. I find her mannered performing style just too much for my tastes. Shame as I managed to be miss it when it was on at the National (the joys of being ill on the day I was due to attend as far as I recall!) I suspect Tamburlaine will have a big name in the lead to justify such an extended series of performances. No idea who. At least it won't be Sir Tony. T&C - all comes down to casting for me. Will have to be interesting to drag me to Stratford after the last one. Doran's pedestrian style will be easier to live with than the Wooster Group's. Agree on K.Hunter, her Cleopatra was a low point. On authorship, I see they have now assigned Henry VI to a Marlowe/Shakespeare collaboration. I like Troilus & Cressida and have not seen a bad production of it, save for the appalling Wooster Group farrago. My first T&C was the late lamented John Barton's, which meant the bar was set so high others have not come near to it. Saw an terrible one by the Berliner Ensemble. Set was literally rubbish and costumes not much better. Treated the play like a cartoon to be played for laughs. Only good moment was at the end when they stopped acting and spoke the speech as intended and not like an in joke between us and them. |
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Post by lynette on Jan 23, 2018 22:08:39 GMT
Henry VI a collaboration between Willie and Chris? Where is this discussed? Seems a very 'romantic' idea to me. A bit Shakespeare in Love.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 23, 2018 23:23:57 GMT
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Post by lynette on Jan 24, 2018 4:39:50 GMT
This is interesting. I’ve sometimes thought that people attributed to other writers the bits that aren’t so good. Of course I bow to superior scholarship. One thing though. The guys that published the First Folio actually knew Shakespeare. They don’t mention Marlowe as co writer. They are happy to assign all of what they publish to Shakespeare. Was this then a sign of the developing sense of single authorship or had they tactfully omitted an old mate best forgotten?
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Post by Jan on Jan 24, 2018 6:55:59 GMT
This is interesting. I’ve sometimes thought that people attributed to other writers the bits that aren’t so good. Of course I bow to superior scholarship. One thing though. The guys that published the First Folio actually knew Shakespeare. They don’t mention Marlowe as co writer. They are happy to assign all of what they publish to Shakespeare. Was this then a sign of the developing sense of single authorship or had they tactfully omitted an old mate best forgotten? The Folger Shakespeare Library do a podcast on Shakespeare and it was in one of those I heard about the Marlowe attribution, although I see our trusty Google operative HG has found another reference. It's a failure of nerve not to put Timon on in the main house - NT managed to fill the Olivier with it (with appropriate casting) and Doran's own production of it (with Michael Pennington replacing an indisposed Alan Bates) was in the main house (I think - it transferred to the Barbican main stage anyway). |
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Post by martin1965 on Jan 24, 2018 8:58:58 GMT
Tend to agree with you, i saw the Pennington one at the Barbican. Did you see the David Suchet one at the Young Vic a while back? Really good.
Maybe one reason for putting it in a Swan slot is to catch up with the folio project, they are behind imo and at this rate it will take nearly all of Doran's tenure.
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