RSC All New Seasons

[fossil]

Members booking is a mess. Pages taking forever to load. Errors. Payment hanging. I can't take this stress!

[fossil]

Finally managed to book for Buddha and Pericles. Only took two and a half hours. Long waits and numerous errors on loading seating plans and then errors after payment details entered at the checkout.

Booking opens for the National and the Open Air tomorrow, both at noon. Hopefully that should be more straightforward.

[fossil]

At 4.30pm I can see that the RSC web site now has a queueing system in place so I suspect general booking will be a lot better. Perhaps this did not kick in this morning. I feel quite sorry for box office staff on days like this.

[lichtie]

THe queue kicked in just before 2pm, by which time I'd only just managed to get one seat in the basket in 4 hours. 30 minutes later it all went perfectly smoothly!

[oxfordsimon]

I guess it is a good sign that the new season is popular enough to generate queues.

But this has happened enough times in the past for them to have better anticipated likely IT demands!

[aspieandy]

Jan 17, 2024 9:40:28 GMT Cleo said:

The Co-ADs were interviewed on BBC Radio 4's Front Row last evening which I found interesting. I will be booking for Pericles which I have seen but not at the RST, and the Garden Theatre for ASYLI.

Link to the interview, which begins at 20-minutes. Continues for about 11-minutes. That leads to an interesting interview involving Othello with a poetry prize winner:

www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001vcgc

[cirque]

Stratford today feels very positive. Staff much happier and excitement about new season.Have yet to complete the EW plans but from April looks thrilling. Fingers crossed

[theatrenerd]

Technically this isn’t part of Evans/Harvey’s new season, but just got in from seeing A Midsummer Night’s Dream and thought it was a really enjoyable production. Very funny, great performances all round, especially by Matthew Baynton as Bottom, loved the design and effects too. Would recommend catching in its last couple of weeks or hopefully they’ll film it or transfer to London!

[Jan]

Mar 11, 2024 23:43:25 GMT theatrenerd said:

Would recommend catching in its last couple of weeks or hopefully they’ll film it or transfer to London!

They won't transfer it - there is no obvious theatre for it and their Barbican residency is over until the end of the year. The new regime have been notably silent on their plans for touring in general and London in particular, probably with good reason as Doran over-promised and under-delivered. My guess is that the next Shakespeare we'll see from them in London is the Rupert Goold Hamlet which I'm guessing he required a guaranteed transfer for - that would make it 5 years since they last did Shakespeare in London.  

[Someone in a tree]

Recently an RSC Hamlet went to Hackney Empire. Im not sure how it went down but i suspect the venue is good fit for large scale Shakespeare productions.

The Empire does have large gaps in its scheduling so it could work assuming ACE wants to fund it.

[theatrenerd]

I think the last RSC Shakespeare in London was The Comedy of Errors at the Barbican in late 2021 (which played the outdoor theatre in Stratford), however if I remember correctly it closed early either due to COVID cases or low ticket sales.

[theoracle]

Does anyone have any idea when the remaining shows will go on sale / dates announced? I’m aware the new season hasn’t even technically started but I’m considering going away towards the end of the year and don’t want to miss Edward II or Hamlet. Thanks.

[lynette]

Mar 19, 2024 12:33:58 GMT theoracle said:

Does anyone have any idea when the remaining shows will go on sale / dates announced? I’m aware the new season hasn’t even technically started but I’m considering going away towards the end of the year and don’t want to miss Edward II or Hamlet. Thanks.

Good question. I haven’t heard anything yet. 

[jek]

I have just received an email with the trailer for the Buddha of Suburbia. Really surprised to see that it is two and a half hours long without an interval. I know that is only the length of many films (and shorter, for example, than Oppenheimer) but it does feel like a long time without a break in a theatre. And I would have thought that the RSC would have wanted the interval bar takings.

[solotheatregoer]

Caught the first preview of Love’s Labour’s Lost on Thursday and was a little disappointed. I know it’s a comedy but this just felt like everyone was trying way too hard. Lots of cheap, cringeworthy, slapstick comedy that most people around me seemed to love but to me it just felt like a bad school production.

I know Thompson inevitably attracts a younger crowd but it just felt very forced with the inclusion of some modern references (the Backstreet Boys bit was particularly awkward).

I was looking forward to seeing Thompson again after A Little Life but this was not for me unfortunately.

[cavocado]

Apr 13, 2024 12:43:48 GMT solotheatregoer said:

Caught the first preview of Love’s Labour’s Lost on Thursday and was a little disappointed. I know it’s a comedy but this just felt like everyone was trying way too hard. Lots of cheap, cringeworthy, slapstick comedy that most people around me seemed to love but to me it just felt like a bad school production.

I know Thompson inevitably attracts a younger crowd but it just felt very forced with the inclusion of some modern references (the Backstreet Boys bit was particularly awkward).

I was looking forward to seeing Thompson again after A Little Life but this was not for me unfortunately.

That's a shame. I'd originally booked for this week, but had to change my ticket for later in the month. Hopefully they will make some changes during the previews. 

[Fleance]

Apr 13, 2024 12:43:48 GMT solotheatregoer said:

Caught the first preview of Love’s Labour’s Lost on Thursday and was a little disappointed. I know it’s a comedy but this just felt like everyone was trying way too hard. Lots of cheap, cringeworthy, slapstick comedy that most people around me seemed to love but to me it just felt like a bad school production.

I know Thompson inevitably attracts a younger crowd but it just felt very forced with the inclusion of some modern references (the Backstreet Boys bit was particularly awkward).

I was looking forward to seeing Thompson again after A Little Life but this was not for me unfortunately.

Sorry to hear that, I was thinking of booking. I love LLL, having seen three RSC productions over the years. During lockdown, I watched three BBC versions, from 1965, 1975, and 1985. I much preferred the 1975 version, with Jeremy Brett, Martin Shaw, and Sinead Cusack.

[Jan]

Apr 13, 2024 16:09:36 GMT Fleance said:

Apr 13, 2024 12:43:48 GMT solotheatregoer said:

Caught the first preview of Love’s Labour’s Lost on Thursday and was a little disappointed. I know it’s a comedy but this just felt like everyone was trying way too hard. Lots of cheap, cringeworthy, slapstick comedy that most people around me seemed to love but to me it just felt like a bad school production.

I know Thompson inevitably attracts a younger crowd but it just felt very forced with the inclusion of some modern references (the Backstreet Boys bit was particularly awkward).

I was looking forward to seeing Thompson again after A Little Life but this was not for me unfortunately.

Sorry to hear that, I was thinking of booking. I love LLL, having seen three RSC productions over the years. During lockdown, I watched three BBC versions, from 1965, 1975, and 1985. I much preferred the 1975 version, with Jeremy Brett, Martin Shaw, and Sinead Cusack.

I’ve seen lots of good productions of it, it is rarely done badly. I recall the 1993 RSC production with my personal favourite Daniel Massey splendid as Don Armado.

[Fleance]

Apr 13, 2024 16:27:53 GMT Jan said:

Apr 13, 2024 16:09:36 GMT Fleance said:

Sorry to hear that, I was thinking of booking. I love LLL, having seen three RSC productions over the years. During lockdown, I watched three BBC versions, from 1965, 1975, and 1985. I much preferred the 1975 version, with Jeremy Brett, Martin Shaw, and Sinead Cusack.

I’ve seen lots of good productions of it, it is rarely done badly. I recall the 1993 RSC production with my personal favourite Daniel Massey splendid as Don Armado.

I saw that production at the Barbican. Richard O'Callaghan had taken over the role of Don Armado. I also saw an earlier production (RSC/Aldwych) with Michael Pennington, Richard Griffiths, Ian Charleson, Jane Lapotaire, David Suchet, Oliver Ford Davies, and Ruby Wax. 

Daniel Massey was a great actor, able to enliven even the movie Star!, in which he played his own godfather. I first saw him on stage in the The Gay Lord Quex, with Judi Dench and Sian Phillips.

[Jan]

Apr 13, 2024 16:49:48 GMT Fleance said:

Apr 13, 2024 16:27:53 GMT Jan said:

I’ve seen lots of good productions of it, it is rarely done badly. I recall the 1993 RSC production with my personal favourite Daniel Massey splendid as Don Armado.

I saw that production at the Barbican. Richard O'Callaghan had taken over the role of Don Armado. I also saw an earlier production (RSC/Aldwych) with Michael Pennington, Richard Griffiths, Ian Charleson, Jane Lapotaire, David Suchet, Oliver Ford Davies, and Ruby Wax. 

Daniel Massey was a great actor, able to enliven even the movie Star!, in which he played his own godfather. I first saw him on stage in the The Gay Lord Quex, with Judi Dench and Sian Phillips.

Around the time he was at the RSC in 1993 I was told he was living at the Savoy hotel. I’m not sure if that’s true but nothing in his manner suggested it wasn’t.

[Fleance]

Apr 13, 2024 20:08:20 GMT Jan said:

Apr 13, 2024 16:49:48 GMT Fleance said:

I saw that production at the Barbican. Richard O'Callaghan had taken over the role of Don Armado. I also saw an earlier production (RSC/Aldwych) with Michael Pennington, Richard Griffiths, Ian Charleson, Jane Lapotaire, David Suchet, Oliver Ford Davies, and Ruby Wax. 

Daniel Massey was a great actor, able to enliven even the movie Star!, in which he played his own godfather. I first saw him on stage in the The Gay Lord Quex, with Judi Dench and Sian Phillips.

Around the time he was at the RSC in 1993 I was told he was living at the Savoy hotel. I’m not sure if that’s true but nothing in his manner suggested it wasn’t.

I erred. The first time I saw Daniel Massey on stage was in Peter Luke's Bloomsbury, in which he played Lytton Strachey brilliantly. That was a year before The Gay Lord Quex.

[tartantraveller]

I saw Love's labour's lost last night and as someone who finds Shakespeare can be inaccessible at times, I think it did a good job of keeping the audience entertained and following the story. I think the more slapstick moments are designed to keep audiences who are not Shakespeare fans engaged. If it's aim is to do a play that gets non Shakespeare fans to start enjoying Shakespeare and want to see more of his plays, I think it will do that. Certainly the audience enjoyed it by the laughter round the theatre.
It's a fairly young cast and at points that shows but you can tell Luke Thompson is a pro with Shakespeare as he rattles off the speeches without a second thought. How he didn't trip over his words at points I have no idea. In all I enjoyed it and came away feeling mostly positive about the play.


The bit I didn't like was they had one of the ladies openly vaping on stage. Personally there was no need for it, it didn't add to the story and shouldn't be glamorised on stage, that needs cutting.

[Fleance]

Apr 14, 2024 10:38:14 GMT tartantraveller said:

I saw Love's labour's lost last night and as someone who finds Shakespeare can be inaccessible at times, I think it did a good job of keeping the audience entertained and following the story. I think the more slapstick moments are designed to keep audiences who are not Shakespeare fans engaged. If it's aim is to do a play that gets non Shakespeare fans to start enjoying Shakespeare and want to see more of his plays, I think it will do that. Certainly the audience enjoyed it by the laughter round the theatre.
It's a fairly young cast and at points that shows but you can tell Luke Thompson is a pro with Shakespeare as he rattles off the speeches without a second thought. How he didn't trip over his words at points I have no idea. In all I enjoyed it and came away feeling mostly positive about the play.


The bit I didn't like was they had one of the ladies openly vaping on stage. Personally there was no need for it, it didn't add to the story and shouldn't be glamorised on stage, that needs cutting.

The ending -- with the song -- can be quite magical. Was that handled well?

[Jan]

Apr 14, 2024 12:36:13 GMT Fleance said:

Apr 14, 2024 10:38:14 GMT tartantraveller said:

I saw Love's labour's lost last night and as someone who finds Shakespeare can be inaccessible at times, I think it did a good job of keeping the audience entertained and following the story. I think the more slapstick moments are designed to keep audiences who are not Shakespeare fans engaged. If its aim is to do a play that gets non Shakespeare fans to start enjoying Shakespeare and want to see more of his plays, I think it will do that. Certainly the audience enjoyed it by the laughter round the theatre.
It's a fairly young cast and at points that shows but you can tell Luke Thompson is a pro with Shakespeare as he rattles off the speeches without a second thought. How he didn't trip over his words at points I have no idea. In all I enjoyed it and came away feeling mostly positive about the play.


The bit I didn't like was they had one of the ladies openly vaping on stage. Personally there was no need for it, it didn't add to the story and shouldn't be glamorised on stage, that needs cutting.

The ending -- with the song -- can be quite magical. Was that handled well?

Did Nicholas Selby ever play the messenger Marcade in that final scene ? Perfect for him I would have thought.

[richardh]

Apr 11, 2024 12:53:22 GMT jek said:

I have just received an email with the trailer for the Buddha of Suburbia. Really surprised to see that it is two and a half hours long without an interval. I know that is only the length of many films (and shorter, for example, than Oppenheimer) but it does feel like a long time without a break in a theatre. And I would have thought that the RSC would have wanted the interval bar takings.

I see that Buddha of Suburbia has now acquired a 20-minute interval according to the RSC website. Which I'm sure will be most welcome (not least for bar takings).