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Post by Jan on Jun 27, 2020 17:31:06 GMT
I wonder if Sir Ian's understudy for this will write a book about it... He won’t have an understudy, in a production like this the punters wouldn’t put up with it. And rightly so. |
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Post by lynette on Jun 28, 2020 14:47:05 GMT
Trying to work out a way of having an old Hamlet..maybe a flashback and he doesn’t die but lives on under the thumb of Fortinbras. Or ghosts of many Hamlets - will Ian play his father ?- telling the story. Or transposed into a care home, very appropriate post COVID., like they put Julius Caesar into a women’s prison. Yes, the drama group of a care home, I like that idea. 😁 many tensions played out.
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Post by Jan on Jun 29, 2020 10:19:41 GMT
Trying to work out a way of having an old Hamlet..maybe a flashback and he doesn’t die but lives on under the thumb of Fortinbras. Or ghosts of many Hamlets - will Ian play his father ?- telling the story. Or transposed into a care home, very appropriate post COVID., like they put Julius Caesar into a women’s prison. Yes, the drama group of a care home, I like that idea. 😁 many tensions played out. And yet you didn't like the mental hospital setting of the Michael Sheen Hamlet ? |
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Post by lynette on Jun 29, 2020 13:49:18 GMT
No I didn't. Thought it was pretentious and a waste of talent. It wasn’t so much a setting though was it, as with the prison, it was a distortion imo.
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Post by Sotongal on Jun 29, 2020 14:46:18 GMT
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Post by Jan on Jun 29, 2020 17:01:06 GMT
No I didn't. Thought it was pretentious and a waste of talent. It wasn’t so much a setting though was it, as with the prison, it was a distortion imo. It wasn’t a setting, no, the setting was inside Hamlet’s head. |
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Post by lynette on Jul 2, 2020 20:02:43 GMT
Sheen is a hugely talented actor but on this occasion he didn't convey the inside of his head sufficiently to me.
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Post by kjb on Oct 25, 2020 22:41:55 GMT
Anyone heard any news about this one? They started rehearsals at the end of June and it’s all gone quiet since.
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Post by couldileaveyou on Mar 18, 2021 15:46:26 GMT
Some updates: they're shooting a movie version but the stage revival is still supposed to happen
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Post by zahidf on Mar 18, 2021 22:59:46 GMT
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Post by mrbarnaby on Mar 18, 2021 23:24:17 GMT
Francesca Annis is playing a ghost and Jenny Seagrove is Gertrude? Hilarious
Oh yeah, Bills producing.
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Post by alicechallice on Mar 18, 2021 23:33:21 GMT
Francesca Annis is playing a ghost and Jenny Seagrove is Gertrude? Hilarious Oh yeah, Bills producing. At least she’s got the lead in The Cherry Orchard. So, will she be Hamlet’s Dad? She was Gertrude to Ralph Fiennes wasn’t she? |
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Post by Being Alive on Mar 18, 2021 23:37:36 GMT
This just sounds...hideous.
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Post by mrbarnaby on Mar 19, 2021 0:12:53 GMT
This just sounds...hideous. It truly does. McKellan wobbling round being an old ham, Jenny Seagrove saying every line like she’s reading the radio times listings. No no no. |
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Post by Phantom of London on Mar 19, 2021 1:27:13 GMT
Well I would have thought there would be a fat chance of getting a ticket a Windsor, as demand for this will be huge.
Alas, poor Phantom!!!
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Post by NeilVHughes on Mar 19, 2021 14:46:16 GMT
Booked both, with the cheapest membership price was comparable to a mid price West End production and gives a good reason to visit the delightful Theatre Royal Windsor and the surrounding area again.
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Post by Dave B on Mar 20, 2021 11:45:52 GMT
Booked both - not spending on much at the moment so why not. Something to, fingers crossed, look forward to.
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Post by Jan on Mar 21, 2021 18:00:25 GMT
Steven Berkoff ! How the mighty are fallen. I wonder if we'll hear from him afterwards about this curious production. For me the main potential problem in the whole enterprise is that Sean Matthias is a really mediocre director. When McKellen played King Lear in the Trevor Nunn production he was really bothered about what Matthias would think about that production. I mean, who cares ?
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Post by TallPaul on Apr 2, 2021 9:07:37 GMT
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Jun 1, 2021 10:05:53 GMT
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Post by crabtree on Jun 21, 2021 12:37:29 GMT
anyone off to Elsinore tonight? As it happens, we open with our 'Complete works of shakespeare - abridged', tonight. In Manchester
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Post by Dr Tom on Jul 3, 2021 11:19:02 GMT
I don't know if anyone has got to see this yet, but it was interesting.
Good Covid-19 awareness from the venue and social distancing in place.
The on-stage seats are really uncomfortable! But there is an interesting view.
It is all fairly minimalistic. Largely empty stage with a raised metal structure on which some of the action takes place. Modern clothing. Sir Iain runs through lots of different pairs of designer trainers during the performance. The performances on the upper level are not really visible from the on-stage seating, but the sound is good.
Running time is slightly over three hours (with interval).
I'm not too sure what I thought about it. A lot of this is traditional. No unnecessary guns or anything alarming like that. Lots of Sir Iain in his pyjamas. It is quite easy to suspend disbelief at the casting. But some of it is also quite bizarre, like a scene being delivered in a barber's chair.
When I was leaving, I heard people raving about it and also people staying quiet. I think that sums everything up. But it is certainly a unique performance that you won't see everyday, in a lovely theatre that is easily accessible from London (timed very well for the trains back from either of the two local stations).
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Post by Phantom of London on Jul 10, 2021 1:12:21 GMT
I saw this tonight, I also know the Hamlet monologues and both Hamlet and Polonius had dropped lines in their respective soliloquys, whoops! The understudy was on as Polonius, so Steven Berkoff was out, wasn’t too fussed with that.
In the day of colour blind, gender blind casting, we now have age blind casting. Hamlet is a gift of a role for a younger actor, it is the greatest role that can be played in theatre. Ian was a better, a very tormented and more believable King Lear, he fitted that role better. Saying that he could’ve popped of the road and had a word with Maj and brought Prince Charlie ‘boy’ over, they are about the same age, so what do I know?
Something rotten happed in Denmark, but not so great in Windsor too.
3 stars
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Post by Jan on Jul 10, 2021 8:52:50 GMT
I am a bit surprised by these reviews. I assumed there would be some concept or framing device which would "explain" the fact Hamlet was very old, but it seems not, just a standard production which doesn't acknowledge the fact at all ? This means this production far from being "modern" or "edgy" is in fact just very very old fashioned. It was common for actors who were far too old to play the part right through the Victorian and Edwardian periods and even up to about 1950. And for the same reason: to treat the play as simply a vehicle for a star actor.
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Post by cavocado on Jul 10, 2021 10:00:02 GMT
I thought they were being a bit disingenuous talking about 'blind casting' in the context of giving a plum role to a white, male, able bodied superstar.
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