Old Vic 2021

[zahidf]

www.theguardian.com/stage/2021/may/11/old-vic-theatre-plans-supremely-informal-welcome-back-for-audiences


Emma Rice’s adaptation of Bagdad Cafe and Harold Pinter’s darkly comic The Dumb Waiter staged in July as venue reopens


Another two-hander, Caryl Churchill’s A Number, performed by Lennie James and Paapa Essiedu, will be staged by the Old Vic in early 2022.

Patsy Ferran and Luke Thallon – “two of the most startlingly superb actors of their generation” – will star in another world premiere, Camp Siegfried by US playwright Bess Wohl, to open in September. The play is based on a real summer camp on Long Island for Americans with German heritage and is set against the rise of nazism.



In spring 2022, Terry Gilliam and Leah Hausman will co-direct a revival of the fairytale musical Into the Woods by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine. The theatre has also commissioned new plays by Diana Nneka Atuona, Natasha Gordon, Regina Taylor and Roy Williams, and a musical version of When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr, with book and lyrics by Caroline Bird and music by Miranda Cooper and Nick Coler. In June, there will be a series of digital monologues curated by the actor Noma Dumezweni to mark Refugee Week.

[couldileaveyou]

May 11, 2021 7:59:42 GMT zahidf said:

Another two-hander, Caryl Churchill’s A Number, performed by Lennie James and Paapa Essiedu, will be staged by the Old Vic in early 2022.

So soon? The Bridge production had barely closed when lockdown started!

[jampot]

May 11, 2021 8:06:00 GMT couldileaveyou said:

May 11, 2021 7:59:42 GMT zahidf said:

Another two-hander, Caryl Churchill’s A Number, performed by Lennie James and Paapa Essiedu, will be staged by the Old Vic in early 2022.

So soon? The Bridge production had barely closed when lockdown started!

Also dumb waiter was at the Hamstead recently..which was very good...

[marob]

I’m glad to see they’re going to continue streaming some shows. I saw The Dumb Waiter during the Pinter at the Pinter season so wouldn’t bother seeing it again in person, but could see me giving it a go on streaming. Never seen the Bagdad Cafe film, I just vaguely remember the old TV version with Whoopi Goldberg. Will probably stream that too.

Patsy Ferran and Luke Thallon are both total scene stealers so Camp Siegfried sounds very interesting, though the description sounds rather grim. Glad they’re still going ahead with Into The Woods, even if it’s still a year away. I’m always up for more Sondheim.

[Dave B]

Easy peasy booking today. 18th in the queue (yay!). PWC £10 for both The Dumb Waiter and Bagdad Cafe.

[lynette]

They’ve changed the names of the supporters’ groups. Lost for words. Me. Lost.....

[sfsusan]

Has anyone booked a solo ticket for Bagdad Cafe? I understand I have to look for a single seat 'bubble', but I'm seeing a single available seat between unavailable seats, but apparently that's not a bubble, because when I go to book I get the message "you're not booking all the seats in the bubble" and it won't put the seat in my basket. I've tried various dates, locations, etc. and nothing has worked. And their ticket office is closed, so I can't call anyone.

I suppose I'll try again in a week or so, otherwise wait until the box office reopens and hope I can find a single ticket for one of the performances.

An additional question about the theater itself... I'm assuming that if I'm up in the gods on a hot August day, it will be somewhat stuffy up there?

[ceebee]

Yes, it gets hot in the gods in the OV.

[sfsusan]

Jun 15, 2021 17:16:33 GMT kit66 said:

Most seating plans are set up the same for every performance therefore you should find a single seat in Stalls Rows J,L or S Dress Circle Row E and Baylis Circle Row A (Star seats)

EDITED TO UPDATE:
I was able to find a single seat in Stalls Row L, otherwise the best was Row Q or S.  I was hoping they offered solo seats on the inside aisle, but apparently they're all on the ends (in the Stalls, anyway).  Too bad; I've been spoiled by the Bridge's really good single seat offerings.

Thank you, kit, that's useful to have specific locations to try.

Jun 15, 2021 19:41:36 GMT ceebee said:

Yes, it gets hot in the gods in the OV.

That's what I was afraid of. Thanks.

[Dave B]

Very much enjoyed The Dumb Waiter. Thewlis and Mays are both really good. The streaming is a little distracting at times as there are screens all around and of course the latency means a noticeable delay. It works really well a couple of times when the camera shows us a little off-stage, earlier when Mays opens a door off-stage and is looking to see what is happening, we hear this through the cast shouting at each other but the screens show us the moment in the off-stage area. Then to much greater success when the back of the dumb waiter itself is revealed to be a camera and use to great effect.

[londonpostie]

Also at The Dumb Waiter.  Sold out, of course, but fewer than 100 punters in the Stalls, I'd guess, spread over the front 4 or so rows. Then an epic techno village of people and equipment splayed across the top of the Stalls seats. They may have launched Richard Branson at the same time.

It's a single act, early piece. A short story for the stage, really. Perfectly formed and I never know if it's too clever or not.

Two first rate actors rinsing pretty decent material so it was a very pleasing 70 minutes. Lots of happy customers and staff still pretty joyous at stage life reemerging. Pub after. Worse ways of spending a tenner on a Saturday afternoon.

[couldileaveyou]

PwC £10 Previews tickets for Camp Siegfried will go on sale at 12 noon on Mon 02 Aug.

[drmaplewood]

[Mark]

Curious when we will get the next season announcement. "A Number" starts Monday but is only due to run until mid-March.