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Post by Phantom of London on Nov 28, 2019 20:55:35 GMT
This time of the year, you start seeing the ubiquitous lists in the ever shrinking reviews section and this year being the end of the decade I expect to see best plays of the decade, however being the ardent fans we are, thought we could sneak in there first.
So what are your top 10 plays from this decade?
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Post by irisjeregenboog on Nov 29, 2019 12:14:40 GMT
I haven't really seen many plays, but I think that Harry Potter and the Cursed Child should definitely be in the top 10. Yes, the story makes absolutely no sense and Harry Potter fans are very divided over it. Yes, it feels more like fan fiction. However, when you see the actual play on stage, it is realised beautifully. Mesmerised from start to finish, this was one of the most extraordinary theatre experiences I've ever had. The play is just really well done: the music, the staging, the acting, the special effects. It's brilliant. I would recommend it to anyone (just take the story with a grain of salt), as it truly is something special.
Having said that, maybe the extraordinary experience was enhanced by the facts that - I visited relatively early into the London run, so I had no idea what the story was about and everything was a surprise - I went with my entire book club, which was a special event in itself as we are distributed over multiple countries, so it was quite special we could all meet in London for this show! - We opted for a full day in the theatre, which is always a nice immersive experience
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Post by deadyankee on Nov 29, 2019 13:00:29 GMT
Hangmen in the Royal Court is the one that comes to mind most readily
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Post by Marwood on Nov 29, 2019 13:14:15 GMT
The Ferryman, Cyprus Avenue, Hangmen.
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Post by Steve on Nov 29, 2019 16:15:57 GMT
Here are my 10 (in no particular order):
The Flick Imp Anatomy of a Suicide Hangmen Adler and Gibb Posh Bull Love One Man Two Guvnors Cyprus Avenue
Here are my runners up (in no particular order):
Clybourne Park Circle Mirror Transformation The Inheritance An Octoroon Constellations The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart The Drowned Man The Play That Goes Wrong Harrogate Love Love Love The Nether The Mother Ink The Pass The Wolves Simon Stone's Yerma The Village Bike Our Lady of Kibeho Fleabag Wish List The James Plays Spur of the Moment Nine Night Mogadishu A Wolf in Snakeskin Shoes The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk
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Post by orchidman on Nov 29, 2019 19:51:42 GMT
The Ferryman The Nether Admissions Good People One Man Two Guvnors Consent Yerma Downstate Clybourne Park Fish in the Dark
To Kill a Mockingbird, Beginning and People, Places & Things bubbling under.
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Post by david on Nov 29, 2019 21:59:20 GMT
The Inheritance York Realist The Ferryman Beginning Downstate People, Places and Things The Father Nine Night Small Island TPTGW
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Post by David J on Nov 29, 2019 22:23:00 GMT
Here's my top 10 new plays, and again those that first premiered in the 2010s.
1. The Orphan of Zhao (RSC, 2012) 2. A Christmas Carol (Old Vic, 2017) 3. Pressure (Chichester, 2014) 4. The Flick (NT, 2016) 5. This House (Olivier production, 2013) 6. The Play that Goes Wrong (2014 tour) 7. Downstate (NT, 2019) 8. Wolf Hall/Bring up the Bodies (RSC, 2014) 9. Di, Viv and Rose (Vaudeville, 2015) 10. And then came the nightjars (Theatre 503, 2015)
Runners up The Nether (Royal Court, 2014) The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night (NT, 2012) Rotterdam (Arts Theatre, 2017) The Children (Royal Court, 2017) The House they Grew Up In (Chichester, 2017) Snow in Midsummer (RSC, 2017) Land of our Fathers (Trafalgar Studio 2, 2016) Blink (2014 tour) Collaborators (NT, 2011) Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (2016)
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Post by David J on Nov 29, 2019 22:57:26 GMT
My top 10 revivals are
1. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf (Bath, 2014) 2. The Rover (RSC, 2016) 3. An Enemy of the People (Chichester, 2016) 4. The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui (Chichester, 2012) 5. Rutherford and Son (Northern Broadsides, 2013) 6. A View from the Bridge (Young Vic, 2014) 7. The Caucasian Chalk Circle (Unicorn, 2015) 8. The Jew of Malta (RSC, 2015) 9. Peter Pan (Regent's Park, 2015) 10. All My Sons (Apollo Theatre, 2010)
Runners Up Orpheus Descending (Menier Chocolate Factory, 2019) Rosmersholm (Duke of York, 2019) Journeys End (Watermill, 2014) Oresteia (Almeida, 2015) For Services Rendered (Chichester, 2015) Man + Superman (NT, 2015) The Goat, or who is Sylvia (Haymarket, 2017) Fathers and Sons (Donmar, 2014) Summer and Smoke (Almeida, 2018) Uncle Vanya (Chichester, 2012)
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Post by David J on Nov 29, 2019 23:21:33 GMT
Oh and because I'm a fan, here's the Shakespeare plays that defined the decade for me.
1. King Lear with Derek Jacobi (Donmar, 2010) 2. Maria Aberg's As You Like It (RSC, 2013) 3. Henry IV with Roger Allam (Globe, 2010) 4. Simon Godwin's Twelfth Night (NT, 2017) 5. Hamlet with Andrew Scott (Almeida, 2017) 6. Rupert Goold's The Merchant of Venice (RSC, 2012) 7. Gregory Doran's Julius Caesar (RSC, 2012) 8. The Tempest with Tim McMullan (Sam Wanamaker, 2016) 9. Richard III with Tom Motherland (Headlong, 2019) 10. Rupert Goold's Romeo and Juliet (RSC, 2010)
Runners up Simon Godwin's Hamlet (RSC, 2016) Blanche McIntyre's The Comedy of Errors (Globe, 2014) King Lear with Frank Langella (Chichester, 2013) The Tempest (Donmar/Kings Cross, 2016) Richard III with Greg Hicks (Arcola, 2017) Antony and Cleopatra with Eve Best (Globe, 2014) Maria Aberg's King John (RSC, 2012) David Farr's The Tempest (RSC, 2012) Roxanna Silbert's Measure for Measure (RSC, 2011) Dominic Dromgoole's Pericles (Sam Wanamaker, 2015)
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Post by Deleted on Nov 30, 2019 0:05:42 GMT
PLAYS The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart Love and Information This House Adler & Gibb The Nether Pomona The Flick The Ferryman The Writer Anatomy of a Suicide
PLAY ADAPTATIONS The Master and Margarita 1984 Let the Right One In The Octoroon The Doctor
ONE PERSON SHOWS It’s Always Right Now, Until It’s Later Bravo Figaro Brand New Ancients Kim Noble: You’re Not Alone Every Brilliant Thing
IMMERSIVE SHOWS You Once Said Yes (Look Left Look Right) The Drowned Man (Punchdrunk) The Borough (Punchdrunk) Toynbee (Geraldine Pilgrim) One Day, Maybe (dreamthinkspeak)
FOR ANOTHER THREAD.... MUSICALS Love Story London Road Once American Psycho What’s It All About (Close To You) Groundhog Day Girl From the North Country Romantics Anonymous Hamilton Fun Home
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4,786 posts
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Post by Mark on Nov 30, 2019 8:35:23 GMT
No Particular Order
The Ferryman Clybourne Park The Inheritance Sweat Labour of Love Admissions Beginning Posh The Audience The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime
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Post by Phantom of London on Nov 30, 2019 22:57:31 GMT
Better chip in being the original poster:
Posh Ferryman Hangman People, Places, Things Sweat Ink The Night Alive One Man, Two Guvornors Small Island Anna
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Post by Polly1 on Nov 30, 2019 23:32:30 GMT
This is hard, isn't it?!
Chimerica King Charles III This House Labour of Love People Places and Things The Children Gloria The Encounter Incognito Collaborators/Pressure/Circle Mirror Transformation/Good People/Oppenheimer
Oh & a special mention for Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart See, I said it was hard.
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Post by Mr Crummles on Dec 1, 2019 11:02:38 GMT
My list includes only the new plays/productions from the last decade that I enjoyed most, leaving the classics, revivals etc.
One Man, Two Guvnors The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time Chimerica King Charles III The Hangmen The Ferryman Network Fanny & Alexander The Inheritance Clybourne Park
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Post by barelyathletic on Dec 2, 2019 16:35:40 GMT
What a good idea. A quick trawl back through the years, and I've come up with these that made the biggest impact on me. It seems, for me, that 2017 was the best year of the decade overall.
Anne Boleyn. Howard Brenton. Shakespeare's Globe , 2010 (Does that count as this decade? Adding King Charles III if not) Clybourne Park. Bruce Norris. Royal Court, 2010 & Wyndham's Theatre 2011 Jumpers for Goalposts. Tom Wells. Palace Theatre Watford & Bush Theatre, 2013 King Charles III. Mike Bartlett. Almeida & Wyndham's Theatre, 2014 Rotterdam. Jon Brittain. Theatre503, 2015 & Arts Theatre, 2017 Killology. Gary Owen. Sherman Theatre, Cardiff & Royal Court Upstairs, 2017 Gloria. Branden Jacobs-Jenkins. Hampstead Theatre, 2017 The Ferryman. Jez Butterworth. Royal Court & Gielgud Theatre, 2017 Girl from the North Country. Conor McPherson & Bob Dylan. Old Vic & Noel Coward Theatre, 2017 The Inheritance. Matthew Lopez. Young Vic & Noel Coward Theatre, 2018 Sweat. Lynn Nottage. Donmar & Gielgud Theatre, 2019
And I'm really excited about kicking off the next decade with Lucy Kirkwood's The Welkin. Will it be on the list in ten years time I wonder?
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Post by theatremad on Dec 3, 2019 8:32:55 GMT
In no particular order:
Blue Stockings Seven Acts of Mercy Rules for Living The Power of Yes Collaborators This House The James Trilogy The Flick Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour The Lehman Trilogy
Very weighted towards the National I know, there has been fab work elsewhere that I didn't see
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Post by lynette on Dec 3, 2019 11:35:57 GMT
Can we omit The James plays please. Pretty please....I’m begging ya...
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Post by theatremad on Dec 3, 2019 11:53:26 GMT
Can we omit The James plays please. Pretty please....I’m begging ya... Mmmmmm, what's it worth?
IF we are:
Clybourne Park
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Post by Polly1 on Dec 3, 2019 16:57:06 GMT
Can we omit The James plays please. Pretty please....I’m begging ya... Mmmmmm, what's it worth?
IF we are:
Clybourne Park
Haha, I was going to say Rules for Living (on the same list) was one of my two worst plays of the decade (the other being Nice Fish)...
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Post by barrowside on Dec 4, 2019 0:14:53 GMT
Our Few and Evil Days by Marc O’Rowe was never seen after its premiere in Dublin. Play and production were off the scale.
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Post by David J on Dec 4, 2019 1:20:04 GMT
Best Revivals of 2010
1. The Homecoming (RSC, 2012) 2. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf (Bath, 2014) 3. The Rover (RSC, 2016) 4. An Enemy of the People (Chichester, 2016) 5. Pinter at the Pinter - New World Order/Mountain Language/One For the Road/The Collection/Night/Night School 6. The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui (Chichester, 2012) 7. Rutherford and Son (Northern Broadsides, 2013) 8. The Caucasian Chalk Circle (Unicorn, 2015) 9. The Jew of Malta (RSC, 2015) 10. All My Sons (Apollo Theatre, 2010)
Runners Up A View from the Bridge (Young Vic, 2014) Peter Pan (Regent's Park, 2015) Orpheus Descending (Menier Chocolate Factory, 2019) Rosmersholm (Duke of York, 2019) Journeys End (Watermill, 2014) For Services Rendered (Chichester, 2015) Man + Superman (NT, 2015) The Goat, or who is Sylvia (Haymarket, 2017) Fathers and Sons (Donmar, 2014) Uncle Vanya (Chichester, 2012)
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Post by bordeaux on Dec 5, 2019 21:14:32 GMT
Finally got round to this, got the diaries out. Favourite New Plays in more or less chronological order: Clybourne Park, Bruce Norris One Man, Two Guvnors, Richard Bean 101 Dalmatians, Sally Cookson and team (Bristol) Our House, James Graham The Encounter, Simon McBurney The Truth, Florian Zeller The Ferryman, Jez Butterworth The Lehman Trilogy, Stefano Massini Cyprus Avenue, David Ireland Sweat, Lynn Nottage
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Post by bordeaux on Dec 5, 2019 21:19:33 GMT
Favourite revivals The Misanthrope, Shakespeare at Tobacco Factory/BOV - Tony Harrison's updating of his updating Tis Pity She's a Whore, Cheek by Jowl Othello, Hytner, NT A View from the Bridge, Ivo van Hove Man and Superman, Shaw, NT Travesties, Menier Choc Hamlet, Icke Summer and Smoke, Almeida, Rebecca Frecknall Julius Caesar, Hytner, Bridge A Midsummer Night's Dream, Hytner, Bridge
Three Hytner Shakespeares, I see.
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Post by Stephen on Dec 6, 2019 3:10:59 GMT
In no particular order (and I'm probably missing some worthy of the list) here goes...
The Inheritance Labour of Love Ink The Ferryman Bryony Kimming's 'I'm a Phoenix Bitch' Julius Caesar (Bridge 2018) Nine Night This House The Children Imp
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