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Post by Deleted on Dec 13, 2016 10:10:02 GMT
There's been a lot of very positive comment on twitter. I'm seeing it (and a handful of other shows to round off the year) the week after next. People rarely say negative things about theatre shows on Twitter. Why is this? Is it because it's mostly public domain? I'm genuinely intrigued. They do, but on twitter the warning sign is a lack of any positive comment. |
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Post by nash16 on Dec 14, 2016 9:20:13 GMT
Saw this last night. Impressed as always by Ruth Wilson. Not the most emotionally diverse Hedda I've seen, but has a beautiful way of playing and is exceptional in her silences, especially in the last act.
The big trouble we had was with the male casting. Chuk Iwuji is a great actor, but completely lost here. No sexual chemistry with Ms Wilson and he fails to bring any of the hedonism of Lovborg onto the stage, or out and out distress in the second half act.
Also, Rafe Spall looked too much like he was acting, to be creepy/bad. It doesn't seem to come naturally to him and you can see his funny bones aching to come out, but he knows it's wrong for this part. So he tried his hardest, but it all looks too effortful, not just in delivery, but also in movement (watch the way he walks). I didn't believe him for a sec on, especially when he suddenly turned master manipulator at the end. That could also be down to the fact that van Hove goes very heavy handed, almost knocking the audience over the head to make sure we now know that Hedda is under his control. It's done in quite a sick way too, which you could say works, but in another dimension just looks beyond demeaning and a step too far.
The repetition of the the Joni Mitchell song is also way to obvious. I'm surprised van Hove is this slightly condescending to his audience.
Wilson survives both these men though to come out trumps, with Sinead Matthews and Kyle Soller also adding value.
The onstage maid doesn't work, not does the whole walking through the audience thing. Reviewers have said there is no door in the room, Hedda is so trapped. But there IS a door in the far corner of the stage, at least the outline of one. Why did no one use that?
Richard Eyre's production is still the the best I've seen, but this one was interesting. And Ruth Wilson deserves the plaudits. It's just a shame they miscast two vital parts so badly.
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Post by nash16 on Dec 14, 2016 9:21:18 GMT
People rarely say negative things about theatre shows on Twitter. Why is this? Is it because it's mostly public domain? I'm genuinely intrigued. I'd guess you don't have the right friends, I follow a wide circle of theatre fans and very few of us are civilised enough to hold back when we hate something. Though if you're interested, one of my friends very purposefully avoids commenting on a show she has hated because she knows it would be so easy for her comments to get to the cast and crew. So maybe some people fear confrontation, or maybe - as in the case of my friend - they realise that there is a real person on the other end of the Twitter account and thus don't say anything they wouldn't say to someone's face. Aaaaand I suppose for some people the realisation that the cast and crew could very easily find their tweet leads to their seeking approval from the cast and crew by loudly tweeting their approval first. (Also if you follow theatres and haven't muted their retweets, then you're going to get nothing but a neverending stream of "I SAW THIS PLAY AND IT WAS TERRIFIC BEST THING ALL YEAR OMG", especially the day after press night. That'll tip the balance like nobody's business.) "I guess you don't have the right friends"  ?? |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 14, 2016 9:42:00 GMT
Twitter friends, obviously. Surely that was implicit!  |
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Post by nash16 on Dec 14, 2016 9:51:43 GMT
Twitter friends, obviously. Surely that was implicit! Ah, ok, I don't really call people I follow on Twitter "friends", I just follow them for their opinions. Probably where we got mixed up. My 50+ age is showing. |
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Post by infofreako on Dec 22, 2016 23:43:38 GMT
Baz suggests theyre looking to transfer this to the West End
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Post by Deleted on Dec 23, 2016 0:47:58 GMT
Baz suggests theyre looking to transfer this to the West End How interesting However I don't think it has the commercial appeal of A View From the Bridge I saw this last night and would award it a good 4 star rating Is is also possibly the strongest overall cast I have seen for this play However it really does present Hedda Gabler in a very obscure and unconventional form and there are gaps due to the generic staging methods the director insists on using They have an intercom system with a video Yet they write letters as a standard method of communication I thought the acting was excellent but some of the concepts like the use of the song 4 times and the stapling of the flowers are a bit too obvious and rather pretentious Compared the the Hedda at the Almeida this is not a complete production and overall I preferred Eve Best to Ruth Wilson yet the latter actress is also wonderful and sitting in the front row I was enthralled by her facial expressions The Richard Eyre staging was also a compete theatrical experience rather than a concept production The overall effect here is still powerful and Rafe Spall is quite remarkable although borders on a pantomime villain at times Interestingly the director has been having his native work shown at the Barbican for ages and these plays are usually superior to the work that is done for the more commercial venues |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 23, 2016 0:53:25 GMT
In fact I have seen the following Hedda Gablers
Ruth Wilson
Martha plimpton
Eve best
Rosamund pike
All offered very different but excellent interpretations
I also saw the first half of Sheridan smith
And anyone who has seen the above proper actresses will
know how one dimensional and awful her take on it was
I think she famously said she had never heard of the play nor read it before playing her
Her attempt was laughable when you compare it to actresses capable of true acting and anyone who sees the NT version will surely agree
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Post by Jon on Dec 23, 2016 1:12:03 GMT
Baz suggests theyre looking to transfer this to the West End Wonder what theatre? Most are booked up until the Spring. |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 23, 2016 1:25:23 GMT
Baz suggests theyre looking to transfer this to the West End Wonder what theatre? Most are booked up until the Spring. If this does transfer Good for them It has to be the least mainstream thing since The Nether And would perhaps also become the most credible thing also since that play It could go the the Noel Coward The sooner the better |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 23, 2016 1:33:18 GMT
Wonder what theatre? Most are booked up until the Spring. If this does transfer Good for them It has to be the least mainstream thing since The Nether And would perhaps also become the most credible thing also since that play It could go the the Noel Coward The sooner the better Inspector Calls wraps up around the time this finishes at the NT. Likely? |
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Post by nash16 on Dec 23, 2016 20:34:19 GMT
If this does transfer Good for them It has to be the least mainstream thing since The Nether And would perhaps also become the most credible thing also since that play It could go the the Noel Coward The sooner the better Inspector Calls wraps up around the time this finishes at the NT. Likely? Ruth Wilson will be off filming as soon as the extended run ends in March, so doubt a transfer is possible at all. |
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Post by Phantom of London on Dec 23, 2016 22:46:31 GMT
Don't you think that an Inspector Calls will extend? It is a popular piece.
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Post by popcultureboy on Dec 24, 2016 8:17:20 GMT
If a transfer happens, it's clear from the article it won't be immediate. It could take 6-8 months for all their diaries to align again.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 24, 2016 14:31:46 GMT
If this does transfer Good for them It has to be the least mainstream thing since The Nether And would perhaps also become the most credible thing also since that play It could go the the Noel Coward The sooner the better Inspector Calls wraps up around the time this finishes at the NT. Likely? An Inspector Calls keeps extending its run. It's going very well, lots of schools visiting because every school studied the text. I mean it's one of the few shows on GILT to completely sell out its run. What theatres are available for this? Noel Coward springs to mind but they keep extending Half a Sixpence |
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Post by zak97 on Dec 24, 2016 15:04:51 GMT
Inspector Calls wraps up around the time this finishes at the NT. Likely? An Inspector Calls keeps extending its run. It's going very well, lots of schools visiting because every school studied the text. I mean it's one of the few shows on GILT to completely sell out its run. What theatres are available for this? Noel Coward springs to mind but they keep extending Half a Sixpence Well if it won't be an immediate transfer the Apollo, Vaudeville, Gielgud and Harold Pinter will all be empty come some point. |
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Post by Jon on Dec 24, 2016 15:08:10 GMT
An Inspector Calls keeps extending its run. It's going very well, lots of schools visiting because every school studied the text. I mean it's one of the few shows on GILT to completely sell out its run. What theatres are available for this? Noel Coward springs to mind but they keep extending Half a Sixpence Well if it won't be an immediate transfer the Apollo, Vaudeville, Gielgud and Harold Pinter will all be empty come some point. The Vaudeville is too small, I would think either the Gielgud or Pinter |
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Post by loureviews on Jan 7, 2017 17:20:02 GMT
I have to formulate my thoughts properly but that was a fantastic production of a difficult play.
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Post by Phantom of London on Jan 7, 2017 19:07:23 GMT
Not saying this will go in the Playhouse. But is An Inspector Calls still planning on closing in March? It is selling well.
This could go into the Piccadilly for a limited run.
The Ferryman has the Gielgud, think they're just waiting on reviews.
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Post by foxa on Jan 7, 2017 22:55:28 GMT
I saw this Friday night and like loureviews I'm still formulating my thoughts.
I loved A View from the Bridge and I would say this didn't work nearly as well but - this is an admission - I've never read or seen Hedda before and that was partly why I wanted to go. Having now seen it, I love the play - isn't she an absolutely infuriating character? There is something about her angst and need for attention that felt very modern and relatable. Thought Marber's adaptation worked really well though you always wonder when something is updated why they don't have mobiles or laptops - they had a video entryphone but that was about it for technology. I had some of the same hesitations as Nash expressed here a couple of weeks ago: Rafe Spall's performance was stagey/awkward/annoying; the repetition of 'Blue' and then the ubiquitous 'Hallelujah' seemed lazy sound design. The staging was often ugly and, at times, perverse. A huge stage where the middle is rarely used. A lot of action took place on the extreme SL so from our slightly restricted view seats (we could see 7/8s of the stage from the slips) we actually missed quite a bit (had to strain to see anything on the sofa.) The entrances were odd - sometimes from the audience, sometimes, in the second half, emerging from behind furniture. Poor Sinead Matthews was cowering behind an ugly chair for a long time before she finally struggled out.
And yet, I was interested throughout and was glad to see it. Sinead Matthews and Ruth Wilson had a terrific scene together and some of the moment by moment work was so good - with the actors really mining the lines and, at times, finding a rich dark humour.
Husband's comment: 'It was a bit like the Pompidou Centre - everything's on the outside.' (This is him regretting the lack of sub-text and subtlety.) He consoled himself by watching an old film of Glenda playing the role and muttering, 'Now that's a Hedda.'
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Post by Deleted on Jan 8, 2017 12:51:31 GMT
Thought this was great, best production of Hedda Gabler I've seen I think. Sat in the front row of the stalls which was great for this staging although... {Spoiler - click to view}
I was worried about the tomato juice. Entertaining prop malfunction at the start of act 2. The maid goes to light the fire in the middle of the stage using a match. Strikes the first match which immediately goes out, so discards that, gets another match out and is about to light the second match when the fire magically lights itself  Felt sorry for the actress trying to maintain her stony faced demeanor in the face of a big laugh from the audience. |
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Post by loureviews on Jan 8, 2017 14:51:16 GMT
Yes the fire malfunction was amusing but these things happen.
Might be a spoiler in your post there about something else. I was thinking how to refer to it without removing the element of surprise for later audiences.
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Post by loureviews on Jan 8, 2017 19:24:51 GMT
My thoughts, ported over from my blog:
Ibsen's difficult late play comes to the National Theatre in a new version by Patrick Marber, directed by Ivo van Hove. In a modern production, set in one white box, minimally furnished, and airless except for one window (adding to the oppression of the story), it begins with two figures already on stage, one sitting motionless on a chair to the side, and one playing the piano, occasionally flinging themselves forward on to the keys in frustration or despair.
The former is the maid, Berte (Éva Magyar), who throughout the play is present, seeing everything along with the audience, but ignoring all just as she is largely ignored. The latter is the titular Hedda Gabler (Ruth Wilson), newly married to academic Dr Tesman (Kyle Soller, here using his American accent rather than the one we have grown used to in his appearances as the doomed Francis Poldark on television) but bored and without purpose.
"Academics are no fun!" she whines, and even stapleguns flowers to the walls when she is particularly fed up. Not for this new bride the glow of happiness - even the expensive house she now lives in is theirs purely through a quirk of fate, a caprice that made Tesman think she had "set her heart on it." She is trapped in circumstances she is powerless to change, in a cage from which she can not break free.
For Tesman's part he can't believe his luck, not just that the General's daughter has chosen him, but that he has "special access" to her body. This makes him just as unsympathetic a character as their supposed friend, Brack (Rafe Spall) who is a smooth but repellent sexual predator who, in the final few scenes of the play, defiles and abuses Hedda in a most appalling and shocking way, helped by an inspired use of prop design to provide the gore often missing from this play.
Hedda Gabler is a proud woman, but not in any way a nice one. She torments her school friend, Mrs Elsted (Sinéad Matthews) and ruins her life, under the cloak of supposed kindness. She goads the weak-willed career rival of her husband's, Lovborg, her former lover, into desolation and destruction while fantasizing of the beauty of his "wearing vine leaves in his hair". She lies, cheats, manipulates, and destroys. She is a viper in her words, too, hurting the kindly but interfering Tesman aunt (Kate Duchêne), and pushing away her devoted husband.
This production may rely too much on musical interludes ('Blue' by Joni Mitchell appears several times, and 'Hallelujah' the Leonard Cohen song, as rendered by Jeff Buckley - but clumsily edited - cuts into one scene), but its sparseness and the decision to stage much of the action on the fringes of the stage worked well for me, as it forces the eye to follow the characters as they separate or interact. Entrances and exits are blurred, so we end up unsure as to the proportions of the room(s) we are viewing. A video entry phone is the only concession to technology.
Marber's adaptation may bring more laughs to the fore than the piece requires, but there is no denying the cumulative power of script, direction, and performance. Wilson, Soller, Spall and Matthews are all excellent, with only Chukwudi Iwuji's Lovborg missing that final note of mental disintegration that his fate would seemingly require. Hedda's final act may shock some, "People do not do such things", but at least the events of this production are delivered in such a way that she clearly does not have a choice if she is not to spend her days in a living hell.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 9, 2017 13:41:24 GMT
You must have been sitting near me in that case! I was at the end of row A on the side where the cup flew. Impressed how the actor dealt with it in character when making his exit.
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Post by theatrefan77 on Jan 9, 2017 13:47:36 GMT
A few £29 and £39 tickets available now for January 25th!
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Felt sorry for the actress trying to maintain her stony faced demeanor in the face of a big laugh from the audience. 