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Post by Jan on Sept 19, 2020 17:59:33 GMT
At a Patron’s talk we were informed that more productions like The Tempest were in the pipeline .... Unusually I know someone who was in that production - even the cast realised the VR elements were disappointing and underwhelming. Theatre is never going to be able to compete with film for special effects, nor should it try. |
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Post by peggs on Sept 19, 2020 19:55:10 GMT
At a Patron’s talk we were informed that more productions like The Tempest were in the pipeline .... Unusually I know someone who was in that production - even the cast realised the VR elements were disappointing and underwhelming. Theatre is never going to be able to compete with film for special effects, nor should it try. Ahh that's interesting, it was so hyped up at the time and meant to be breaking a new mould but I was much more interested in unsurprisingly everything but the special effects. |
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Post by lynette on Sept 19, 2020 23:32:56 GMT
They worked out that in the end the face to face of Ariel and Prospero was what mattered, thank goodness. Maybe SRB pointed this out... anyway, the effects I thought were good in showing the ‘magic’ that Ariel could do but didn't add anything to characterising Ariel at all.
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Post by joem on Sept 20, 2020 1:00:17 GMT
The RSC has become a theatrical behemoth, with the turning-circle of a supertanker. It's core is in Stratford but its heart is elsewhere. It wants to dominate UK theatre but is doomed to be a regional theatre serving their curious mixture of tradition and tradition nouveau, which to be fair to them caught on in other large companies such as the National. Every production has to be Kalashnikovs and codpieces, music (however intrusive and unnecessary at times) and a little Tudor dancing at the end.
Having said that the attempts to find a "new normal" in theatre are doomed. Amateur theatre and fringe might be able to stumble along one-way systems and masks and social distancing but the professional theatre needs to pay its way and you cannot pay your way in a two-thirds empty auditorium. There is no "new normal". Either there is some sort of return to the old norms or theatres will remain closed. There isn't a third way in the long run.
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Post by Cleo on Sept 20, 2020 8:06:44 GMT
Re The Tempest - I agree that the visuals were disappointing. I believe the reasoning behind using technology is to appeal to the generations brought up on playing computer games. With the majority of the current regular audience being older, is the RSC “future proofing”?
I think A Midsummer Night’s Dream is the next digital production.
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Post by Jan on Sept 21, 2020 15:31:01 GMT
Re The Tempest - I agree that the visuals were disappointing. I believe the reasoning behind using technology is to appeal to the generations brought up on playing computer games. That’s what they think they’re doing - like that strange computer game trailer they did for Troilus & Cressida - but it’s middle-aged directors with no clue at all about that generation or about the appeal of computer games. It’s like their previous idea that if you want to make the plays appeal to a young audience you need to put in a scene with rap music. I think the real way to appeal to a young audience it to use very good younger directors like Robert Icke. Which do we guess appealed more to a younger audience: Icke’s Hamlet or Doran’s Troilus & Cressida ? |
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Post by lynette on Sept 21, 2020 17:57:33 GMT
The RSC has become a theatrical behemoth, with the turning-circle of a supertanker. It's core is in Stratford but its heart is elsewhere. It wants to dominate UK theatre but is doomed to be a regional theatre serving their curious mixture of tradition and tradition nouveau, which to be fair to them caught on in other large companies such as the National. Every production has to be Kalashnikovs and codpieces, music (however intrusive and unnecessary at times) and a little Tudor dancing at the end. Having said that the attempts to find a "new normal" in theatre are doomed. Amateur theatre and fringe might be able to stumble along one-way systems and masks and social distancing but the professional theatre needs to pay its way and you cannot pay your way in a two-thirds empty auditorium. There is no "new normal". Either there is some sort of return to the old norms or theatres will remain closed. There isn't a third way in the long run. You didn’t see that RII then, the one with the girl lead in the Swan? ‘Little Tudor dancing’ it was not nor frankly was it any good. 😂 |
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Post by peggs on Sept 21, 2020 18:24:05 GMT
Re The Tempest - I agree that the visuals were disappointing. I believe the reasoning behind using technology is to appeal to the generations brought up on playing computer games. That’s what they think they’re doing - like that strange computer game trailer they did for Troilus & Cressida - but it’s middle-aged directors with no clue at all about that generation or about the appeal of computer games. It’s like their previous idea that if you want to make the plays appeal to a young audience you need to put in a scene with rap music. I think the real way to appeal to a young audience it to use very good younger directors like Robert Icke. Which do we guess appealed more to a younger audience: Icke’s Hamlet or Doran’s Troilus & Cressida ? I was wondering which generation it is that it supposed to have been bought up on computer games, I mean they're not exactly new are they? Granted graphics etc improve all the time but I'm trying to picture failing to sell a Shakespeare play to a 'young' person on the premise alone and then showing them some computer generated graphics and them suddenly changing their mind. |
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Post by Jan on Sept 22, 2020 12:27:35 GMT
That’s what they think they’re doing - like that strange computer game trailer they did for Troilus & Cressida - but it’s middle-aged directors with no clue at all about that generation or about the appeal of computer games. It’s like their previous idea that if you want to make the plays appeal to a young audience you need to put in a scene with rap music. I think the real way to appeal to a young audience it to use very good younger directors like Robert Icke. Which do we guess appealed more to a younger audience: Icke’s Hamlet or Doran’s Troilus & Cressida ? I was wondering which generation it is that it supposed to have been bought up on computer games, I mean they're not exactly new are they? Granted graphics etc improve all the time but I'm trying to picture failing to sell a Shakespeare play to a 'young' person on the premise alone and then showing them some computer generated graphics and them suddenly changing their mind. With the added problem that the computer graphics they can show them on-stage look like something from the stone age compared with modern computer games. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 24, 2020 9:26:32 GMT
So, with today's announcement of the Chichester Festival Theatre's Autumn season, I think the RSC is now the only major ACE funded organisation to be doing basically nothing this year.
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Post by Jan on Sept 24, 2020 13:10:07 GMT
So, with today's announcement of the Chichester Festival Theatre's Autumn season, I think the RSC is now the only major ACE funded organisation to be doing basically nothing this year. Almeida ? Donmar ? |
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Post by n1david on Sept 24, 2020 14:16:49 GMT
Donmar did Blindness, but agree on the Almeida...
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Post by Deleted on Sept 24, 2020 17:25:41 GMT
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Post by Jan on Sept 25, 2020 7:06:45 GMT
It doesn't much surprise me with the RSC under Doran, but what is odd is that the Almedia has been so active and innovative under Rupert Goold but now seems to be just closed - one issue may be that they know their audience will come back anyway so they feel they don't have to do anything to retain them ? |
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Post by NeilVHughes on Sept 25, 2020 7:22:30 GMT
they know their audience will come back anyway so they feel they don't have to do anything to retain them ? As only a relatively recent convert to the joys of Theatre the concept of loyalty to a Theatre in the same way as a Band was inconceivable. Now I do have my favourites, not liking all songs by a Band I will invariably search out any new music out of loyalty and now that is the same for Theatres. My top two are the Almeida and Jermyn St, very rarely miss anything they put on and as you say I will be in the queue for both these Theatres when they re-open. The RSC is a strange one, the combination of Shakespeare and a trip to Stratford Upon Avon are some of my favourite weekends and am itching to visit again even though I am largely disappointed with the Productions and recently the Swan had been its saving grace. I could not imagine a Theatrical life without the RSC and Stratford Upon Avon. |
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Post by lynette on Sept 25, 2020 8:53:36 GMT
Gonna take a few big names and some cracking productions of the Comedies, to get the locals back and the London crowd to Stratford.
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Post by cirque on Sept 25, 2020 9:03:09 GMT
It will take a lot more than a few outdoor loose pieces.The whole place looks forlorn and even the Riverside Cafe a shambles......RSC once led the way-now not even following.They say nothing until 2021-with the prospect of another 6 months of nothing,I think they will have lost their loyalists and,no hope,of restoration. The work was uninspiring anyway-Doran/Whyman may have the right words for the agenda but little to show for this on stage.
Only hope-a season that brings in some alumni for special projects....even a Swan season of Shakespeare/Jacobean in a chamber setting,small casts,etc....Look at some other examples of innovation across Opera,Dance,Theatre.
RSC is in a perfect position now to change leadership across all levels,regroup and start afresh.
I really feel heartbroken walking past,tumbleweed,pools of water,Paul Matthgews lorry outside,decorations abandoned from March and a feeling of 'we've gone'
Tell me I am wrong-That's what I want to hear.
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Post by Jan on Sept 25, 2020 9:38:02 GMT
Gonna take a few big names and some cracking productions of the Comedies, to get the locals back and the London crowd to Stratford. And yet what they are committed to is the fag-end of the complete cycle with the problematic Henry VI and others (Henry VIII). One odd thing - looking across their whole history I’d say on average their most successful work artistically and creatively (in terms of commercial transfers) was in The Other Place - but they closed it, it seemed almost absent-mindedly. Why ? |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 25, 2020 9:39:12 GMT
That sums up my feelings cirque and also what I saw when I visited Stratford a few weeks ago. It was busy outside the theatre with a food market, but the RSC just had their little hatch open. Appreciate they can't open the theatres properly but so much of what other theatres are doing could be done by the RSC - get some of their alumni to do zoom readings, live stream David Tennant etc reading sonnets from the empty theatre, run socially distanced one or two person shows, or just open the bar and restaurant! Partly to get some income, partly to keep their name alive in peoples' minds and partly to justify that £15 Million a year subsidy. Given their traditional model relies so much on tourists and I can't see tourism getting back to normal for a couple of years, they need to work out some way of operating. |
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Post by Jan on Sept 25, 2020 9:51:14 GMT
Agree. But the current regime aren’t up to the task. Time for new leadership to galvanise the place - a top foreign director (Ivo Van Hove, Julie Taymor), a young director (Robert Icke), a returnee from the commercial sector (Marianne Elliot), a top AD they passed over before (Rupert Goold), a good Shakespeare director (Tom Littler, Simon Godwin), an actor (Branagh) - at this point I’d be happy with almost anyone who is up for the job.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 25, 2020 10:30:07 GMT
Another thing they could be doing - if they can't use the RST or Swan in a socially distanced manner, and possibly opening up any part of the building involves big running costs, they have the flexible auditorium and also two massive "hangar like" rehearsal rooms in The Other Place which they could presumably configure in any way they want for small-scale performances. www.archtalent.com/projects/rsc-the-other-placeI'm sure there are reasons they are not doing any of this stuff but I think given that virtually every other comparable theatre is doing one or more of these things, I'd love to know more about what those reasons are. |
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Post by lynette on Sept 30, 2020 12:40:24 GMT
The RSC needs new trustees. So here you go, people: apply. Helps if you fit the diversity profile so I bet there are people here who would be good and useful.
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Post by n1david on Sept 30, 2020 13:17:24 GMT
Helps if you fit the diversity profile I'm a white cis gay man. I don't think I'm much of a minority at the RSC... |
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Post by lynette on Sept 30, 2020 14:15:06 GMT
Helps if you fit the diversity profile I'm a white cis gay man. I don't think I'm much of a minority at the RSC... 😂yes well a few of us wouldn’t get through the door right now... |
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Post by joem on Oct 3, 2020 14:32:20 GMT
No one from my city has ever been appointed. Does that count as blatant discrimination requiring immediate redress?
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