|
|
Post by kt12 on Aug 17, 2022 9:20:31 GMT
I think one of the major issues facing the future of The RSC , is to appoint a director who has a track record of directing Shakespeare. There's a history of directors being appointed to the role of AD of companies with little, or no Shakespeare experience. Droomgoole at The Globe had directed one, Michael Boyd, at The RSC, only one Shakespeare credit. The knock-on effect of this is that directors don't like to surround themselves with experienced Shakespearean actors. They feel threatened. This goes some way to explain why there seems to be a lack of seasoned Shakespearean actors on stage at our major companies. The great strength of The RSC in the 80's/90's was the quality of its leading actors and also very experienced actors playing supporting roles. It gave productions great gravitas and power. You'd be hard-pushed to find actors with a long list of Shakespeare credits in the company now playing say, The Duke in The Merchant of Venice, or The Archbishop in Henry V. Boyd got round that issue by repeatedly casting the same actors in his 'ensemble' , elevating certain actors again and again to playing leading roles, even if they weren't suitable or experienced enough. I'm thinking of Jonathan Slinger who was given almost every male lead possible - from Hamlet to Prospero. The Globe has become an exercise in political correctness, with Terry giving herself interesting parts, casting from a small pool of actors. Think of some of the great actors who could be cast as Prospero, but instead we currently have a guy willing to play the part in a pair of tiny swimming trunks!
The RSC is in desperate need of a new AD with vision and experience - who can build on the companys great history.
|
|
5,797 posts
Member is Online
|
Post by oxfordsimon on Aug 17, 2022 10:10:13 GMT
I didn't realise the Boyd and Dromgoole were so inexperienced with Shakespeare
|
|
|
|
Post by Jan on Aug 17, 2022 13:11:06 GMT
I didn't realise the Boyd and Dromgoole were so inexperienced with Shakespeare That's not true of Boyd. Here are the Shakespeare productions he directed before taking over as AD in 2002/3. Othello (1985) Macbeth (1985) Much Ado About Nothing (1995) Measure for Measure (1998) Troilus and Cressida (1999) Midsummer Night's Dream (1999) Romeo & Juliet (2000) Henry VI 1,2,3 (2000) Richard III (2000) The Tempest (2002) |
|
|
|
Post by kt12 on Aug 17, 2022 23:32:28 GMT
I stand corrected on the number of Shakespeare plays Boyd directed before taking over The RSC. But even 10 plays seems a slim number to run the premiere classical theatre company in the world.
My point still stands about the issue of avoiding experienced Shakespearean actors - and how a new AD of The RSC needs to use and embrace its alumni.
|
|
|
|
Post by Jan on Aug 18, 2022 7:57:33 GMT
I stand corrected on the number of Shakespeare plays Boyd directed before taking over The RSC. But even 10 plays seems a slim number to run the premiere classical theatre company in the world. My point still stands about the issue of avoiding experienced Shakespearean actors - and how a new AD of The RSC needs to use and embrace its alumni. It is 12 plays, Henry VI is 3. I 100% agree with you, it was just that the comment about Boyd struck me as being wrong and I looked it up out of interest. I think Terry Hands, Adrian Noble and Greg Doran had all directed more than that. I think the answer to the question “Who took over as AD of the RSC having only ever directed one Shakespeare production ?” is probably Trevor Nunn. The problem is there now isn’t a single candidate for the job who has directed anything near to 12 Shakespeares. Doran has seen to that, he hasn’t allowed any director other than himself to direct a substantial number of plays during his 10-year tenure, he’s just brought in different freelances and given them 1-3 productions each. I think you’re right on Dromgoole’s experience - that didn’t stop him writing an article telling the RSC where they were going wrong in directing Shakespeare. |
|
5,797 posts
Member is Online
|
Post by oxfordsimon on Aug 18, 2022 13:02:37 GMT
I knew I should have applied
I have directed:
Merry Wives
Richard III
As You Like It
King Lear
Henry IV (cut into 1 play)
Much Ado
Twelfth Night
Love's Labour's Lost
Sadly no Marlowe. But 1 Jonson (Volpone)
I am still short of having seen all the Shakespeare plays. Timon, Henry VIII and Two Noble Kinsmen have eluded me.
|
|
1,245 posts
|
Post by joem on Aug 18, 2022 21:44:35 GMT
Why was Neil Tennant from Pet Shop Boys on the selection committee? Most odd I thought we said it couldn't happen here! |
|
5,694 posts
|
Post by lynette on Aug 26, 2022 16:57:05 GMT
I knew I should have applied I have directed: Merry Wives Richard III As You Like It King Lear Henry IV (cut into 1 play) Much Ado Twelfth Night Love's Labour's Lost Sadly no Marlowe. But 1 Jonson (Volpone) I am still short of having seen all the Shakespeare plays. Timon, Henry VIII and Two Noble Kinsmen have eluded me. I have seen them all, most of them, too many times to count up. So I am qualified. Remind me what the job is .. |
|
|
|
Post by Jan on Aug 26, 2022 17:16:49 GMT
I am still short of having seen all the Shakespeare plays. Timon, Henry VIII and Two Noble Kinsmen have eluded me. Surprised you haven't seen Timon, I've seen it a few times, 4-5 maybe. The best was the Trevor Nunn/David Suchet one, I forget exactly how many lines Nunn wrote and added but it was in the hundreds. |
|
5,797 posts
Member is Online
|
Post by oxfordsimon on Aug 26, 2022 17:19:52 GMT
I was booked to see it at the National with SRB but was ill on the day
|
|
|
|
Post by Jan on Aug 26, 2022 17:52:33 GMT
I was booked to see it at the National with SRB but was ill on the day Bad luck. I've held tickets for but been unable to attend several notable productions, SRB Richard III, Branagh Hamlet, Ejiofor/McGregor/Grandage Othello amongst them. |
|
7,061 posts
|
Post by Jon on Aug 26, 2022 18:29:07 GMT
I do think we need to lay off the hyperbole that the RSC will no longer exists or die if Erica Whyman gets appointed, the backlash of the prospect of the place of Shakespeare having no theatre at all would be too strong.
|
|
|
|
Post by Jan on Aug 26, 2022 19:37:52 GMT
I do think we need to lay off the hyperbole that the RSC will no longer exists or die if Erica Whyman gets appointed, the backlash of the prospect of the place of Shakespeare having no theatre at all would be too strong. Is it hyperbole ? As a “company” it ceased to exist 10 years ago. Stratford could quite easily manage with simply a summer Shakespeare festival as it did before the RSC existed. |
|
|
|
Post by artea on Aug 29, 2022 22:33:45 GMT
Given the greater reverence given to Shakespeare in Germany and Russian I can see the case for looking there for candidates. But how many UK representatives are on the Comedie Francaise board? There is a fun direct link between the rsc and the comedie-francaise: marina hands, daughter of Terry, has been a member of the company for a few years. She plays goneril in the first ever production there of King lear, if i understood correctly, opening in sep. It would take pages to list the differences between the comedie-francaise and the rsc and nt. The cf is a highly structured, very hierarchical company with lots of funding. France govt cares a lot about the arts. England govt doesn't. |
|
184 posts
|
Post by sweets7 on Aug 29, 2022 23:47:52 GMT
Given the greater reverence given to Shakespeare in Germany and Russian I can see the case for looking there for candidates. But how many UK representatives are on the Comedie Francaise board? There is a fun direct link between the rsc and the comedie-francaise: marina hands, daughter of Terry, has been a member of the company for a few years. She plays goneril in the first ever production there of King lear, if i understood correctly, opening in sep. It would take pages to list the differences between the comedie-francaise and the rsc and nt. The cf is a highly structured, very hierarchical company with lots of funding. France govt cares a lot about the arts. England govt doesn't. Sounds very well French. In general society is highly structured and very hierarchical. Down to children at school being thought the proper way to eat their lunches…as in what order. Public services in French are extremely, I guess from our point of view, traditionally structured. |
|
|
|
Post by Jan on Aug 30, 2022 6:59:04 GMT
The cf is a highly structured, very hierarchical company with lots of funding. France govt cares a lot about the arts. England govt doesn't. That’s simply untrue. State funding for CF is almost exactly equal to state funding for the RSC. So apparently the French government mustn’t care about the arts either ? |
|
|
|
Post by imstillhere on Sept 2, 2022 22:52:48 GMT
My instinct is that the new artistic director will 100% be from our current roster of British Theatre Artistic Directors. It won't be someone with a body of work of Shakespeare productions. I'm thinking either Nadia Fall, Daniel Evans, Indhu Rubasingham or Tamara Harvey.
|
|
|
|
Post by Jan on Sept 3, 2022 11:24:46 GMT
My instinct is that the new artistic director will 100% be from our current roster of British Theatre Artistic Directors. It won't be someone with a body of work of Shakespeare productions. I'm thinking either Nadia Fall, Daniel Evans, Indhu Rubasingham or Tamara Harvey. That would be a good list for the next NT director. But the RSC job would not be attractive to anyone mainly interested in new writing like Indhu Rubasingham. Do we know when the new AD will be announced ? |
|
353 posts
|
Post by cirque on Sept 3, 2022 11:44:46 GMT
September is the latest thinking.
Hear a few front runners pulled out but that’s rumour mill…..Goold,Godwin etc…….don’t really know.
I still guess Whyman and therefore goodbye RSC
Shows this summer very bland….nothing awful,nothing great,very simply OK,……no real reason to travel to see them.
Next year hear repertoire will be dropped for straight runs……
Ah well
|
|
1,730 posts
Member is Online
|
Post by marob on Sept 3, 2022 11:48:17 GMT
Tamara Harvey’s also been mostly focused on new writing while she’s been AD at Theatr Clwyd.
They’ve also just started a massive renovation, which I believe is still seeking funding, and currently have an empty shell of a building, so I would hope that she wouldn’t leave without seeing that through to completion.
|
|
|
|
Post by Jan on Sept 3, 2022 13:14:13 GMT
September is the latest thinking. Hear a few front runners pulled out but that’s rumour mill…..Goold,Godwin etc…….don’t really know. I still guess Whyman and therefore goodbye RSC Shows this summer very bland….nothing awful,nothing great,very simply OK,……no real reason to travel to see them. Next year hear repertoire will be dropped for straight runs…… Ah well Straight runs make it even less attractive to go to Stratford. Curious we get these “Goold pulled out“ rumours just like last time - setting us up for the same conclusion that the internal candidate was the only serious one left. |
|
5,694 posts
|
Post by lynette on Sept 4, 2022 14:22:34 GMT
September is the latest thinking. Hear a few front runners pulled out but that’s rumour mill…..Goold,Godwin etc…….don’t really know. I still guess Whyman and therefore goodbye RSC Shows this summer very bland….nothing awful,nothing great,very simply OK,……no real reason to travel to see them. Next year hear repertoire will be dropped for straight runs…… Ah well Straight runs make it even less attractive to go to Stratford. Curious we get these “Goold pulled out“ rumours just like last time - setting us up for the same conclusion that the internal candidate was the only serious one left. Stratford a good option if they run three different shows in all three of the theatres, say over a weekend, Friday, and two on Saturday. The straight runs might be better for actors and attract , dare I say it, bigger names. They can commit for the time and then toddle off. |
|
|
|
Post by Jan on Sept 4, 2022 14:35:45 GMT
Straight runs make it even less attractive to go to Stratford. Curious we get these “Goold pulled out“ rumours just like last time - setting us up for the same conclusion that the internal candidate was the only serious one left. Stratford a good option if they run three different shows in all three of the theatres, say over a weekend, Friday, and two on Saturday. The straight runs might be better for actors and attract , dare I say it, bigger names. They can commit for the time and then toddle off. I was assuming that next year the Swan won’t be reopened and The Other Place never will reopen. |
|
353 posts
|
Post by cirque on Sept 4, 2022 15:00:00 GMT
Swan has opening pencilled in.
|
|
394 posts
|
Post by lichtie on Sept 4, 2022 15:05:04 GMT
The Other Place is reopening next month for the latest Mischief thing.
|
|
