3,528 posts
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Post by Rory on Jul 23, 2017 15:21:23 GMT
Were there any notable new plays, for example?
[/quote]
To be fair, not really. After several unsuccessful attempts to showcase new work such as Cloaca, National Anthems, Resurrection Blues and Complicit, he concentrated on revivals like Dancing at Lughnasa and Noises Off and had better luck with those.
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751 posts
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Post by horton on Jul 23, 2017 21:17:24 GMT
Not every theatre has to have new writing as its raison d'etre. It always struck me the clue was in the names: Old Vic- revivals and classics; Young Vic- adventurous new writing and staging
I agree the Old Vic is snobbish- did you ever go to a performance of Carmen Jones back in the last century?
I'm not one for fancy dress in the auditorium, but I'm not sure that space can avoid being a bit old-school just because of the way it's built.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 26, 2017 19:28:56 GMT
So that's two Christmas Carols this winter - one at the RSC (David Edgar/Rachel Kavanaugh/no lead announced) and one at the Old Vic (Thorne/Warchus/Ifans. The RSC one suggests it's suitable for 7 and older; the Old Vic one is 11+. I love Warchus as a director, but haven't seen much of Rhys Ifans. Had intended to go to Stratford but the 7+ puts me off; I have children of 11 and 13. Can one get away with waiting for reviews, or will it sell out because it's Christmas and Ifans had a brief moment in the sun God knows how long ago? Tricky. I've just noticed this on the Old Vic website: " Recommended for ages 11+
Contains haunting supernatural themes and some content which younger audiences may find upsetting."Part of me after reading that is now thinking "What in God's name are they doing in this version?!" |
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Post by lynette on Jul 27, 2017 10:53:05 GMT
Well it is about ghosts, so maybe they are really going for the 'effects'.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 27, 2017 15:14:16 GMT
The death of Tiny Tim?
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Post by Deleted on Aug 16, 2017 13:15:50 GMT
By the look of it there's going to be some onstage seats for this production. Not sure if it's quite the same as the previous in-the-round configuration.
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Post by Jan on Aug 16, 2017 16:40:29 GMT
So that's two Christmas Carols this winter - one at the RSC (David Edgar/Rachel Kavanaugh/no lead announced) and one at the Old Vic (Thorne/Warchus/Ifans. The RSC one suggests it's suitable for 7 and older; the Old Vic one is 11+. I love Warchus as a director, but haven't seen much of Rhys Ifans. Had intended to go to Stratford but the 7+ puts me off; I have children of 11 and 13. Can one get away with waiting for reviews, or will it sell out because it's Christmas and Ifans had a brief moment in the sun God knows how long ago? Tricky. They are both doing it because it is a set book for GCSE English next school year. So is Macbeth (NT). It would be interesting to look into just how much the school syllabus drives programming - quite a lot I think. |
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1,119 posts
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Post by martin1965 on Aug 16, 2017 20:04:37 GMT
So that's two Christmas Carols this winter - one at the RSC (David Edgar/Rachel Kavanaugh/no lead announced) and one at the Old Vic (Thorne/Warchus/Ifans. The RSC one suggests it's suitable for 7 and older; the Old Vic one is 11+. I love Warchus as a director, but haven't seen much of Rhys Ifans. Had intended to go to Stratford but the 7+ puts me off; I have children of 11 and 13. Can one get away with waiting for reviews, or will it sell out because it's Christmas and Ifans had a brief moment in the sun God knows how long ago? Tricky. They are both doing it because it is a set book for GCSE English next school year. So is Macbeth (NT). It would be interesting to look into just how much the school syllabus drives programming - quite a lot I think. Good knowledge Jan! The syllabus has always driven programming, particularly at the RSC. |
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Post by lynette on Aug 16, 2017 21:43:11 GMT
I think that the exam syllabus should connect with if not drive what companies put on. How on earth are kids supposed to understand Macbeth unless they see a production? And films just don't hack it. Dramatising novels is a bit different though of course Dickins dramatises so well. Not many kids will get to the Stratford show or the Old Vic one. It might look sometimes like the RSC is full of kids and I love that but on the whole it is a small number of pupils who get that opportunity.
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898 posts
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Post by bordeaux on Aug 17, 2017 9:23:53 GMT
I think that the exam syllabus should connect with if not drive what companies put on. How on earth are kids supposed to understand Macbeth unless they see a production? And films just don't hack it. Dramatising novels is a bit different though of course Dickins dramatises so well. Not many kids will get to the Stratford show or the Old Vic one. It might look sometimes like the RSC is full of kids and I love that but on the whole it is a small number of pupils who get that opportunity. Problem is there are always several to choose from. AQA has a choice of six Shakespeare plays for GCSE and eight for A level. |
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Post by lynette on Aug 17, 2017 10:22:27 GMT
You would expect 'A' level students to go to the theatre on their own. And I've not met many for whom Macbeth isn't the one chosen at GCSE. It would be nice to think that a whole generation studying Macbeth would result in a canny understanding of how tyrants operate.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 21, 2017 22:39:35 GMT
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Post by rockinrobin on Sept 22, 2017 8:26:53 GMT
Oooh! I have a crush on John Dagleish so definitely booking!
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1,305 posts
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Post by londonmzfitz on Oct 16, 2017 11:40:16 GMT
Got my £10 PWC tickets *phew* - number 115 on Internet Explorer, 615 on Google - gone for Thursday preview as the Friday kept crashing. I really wanted to see this, but the ££'s held me back, so delighted!
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677 posts
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Post by westendcub on Nov 21, 2017 23:23:44 GMT
Wow what an absolute delight this production is!
We couldn’t have been more pleased with our £10 PWC preview stall seats - Amazing to be on the stage, felt very immersive (I did feel for anyone in the front rows of the normal stalls could miss out on moments & some of the beautiful lighting on stage - I look forward to hearing from others on their experience at this show). As got onto the stage I was greeted with a mince pie so the evening was set to be festive.
We all know this Dickens take, wherever its through the book, a TV/Movie adaption, ‘The Muppets’ so for the stage it needs an edge to make you feel like you are coming to this story like you have never seen it and this offered this in spades.
It’s a creative set that starts bare & small props come into play, I won’t go into detail as it’s a key part of the show and I wouldn’t dare spoil it.
Rhys Is an excellent ‘Scrooge’ he plays it with malice, pathos, dark heart with underlining warmth and he is supported with a spirited cast (‘Tiny Tim’ did not jar) and Alex Gaumond always love to see him (there’s a brilliant musical theatre moment!).
This goes quite dark in places which was moving and then it’s also funny and engaging, a big scene of audience interaction is a delight!
I absolutely loved this show!!
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7,050 posts
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Post by Jon on Nov 21, 2017 23:27:24 GMT
How long is it? I'm really want to see it having seen many adaptations of the story from Muppets to the recent CGI version with Jim Carrey although it seem to be selling well
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Post by Deleted on Nov 21, 2017 23:27:30 GMT
Well. For those who love a group of people getting their bells out for an audience (and who doesn't?), you'll love it. It's a campanologist's dream.
It might have been the mulled wine. It may have been the sugar rush from the copious amount of mince pies I devoured during the day in preparation. It may have indeed been both but I thought it was, in the words of the late Bernard Matthews, bootiful.
Imagine if you will the foyer of the Bridge Theatre with a catwalk down the middle and you've got the set. I hope Nicky x2 don't see this production, they may sue. It's fabulously lit and staged and there's some lovely box work with cubes pushed about the stage like an episode of 'The Krypton Factor'. There are some rather smashing top hats on show (I wish I'd worn my own) and for those who love a bit of pretend door action you should be delighted.
The cast are uniformly marvellous and while I've not particularly been a fan in the past, Rhys Ifans was just wonderful (and the way he worked with Tiny Tim at the end was delightful) but special mention for me has to go to Eugene McCoy as Fred, Erin Doherty as Belle and John Dagleish as Bob Cratchit, all three are absolutely smashing. The arrival of the three ghosts is done very well too. Now I admit to having a real fondness for 'A Christmas Carol' in all its sentimentality but this production brought many a tear to my glass eye from pretty much the arrival of Ghost Numero Uno. So much so, I've booked to go back again closer to the big JC's birthday.
Now excuse me while I give my bells a polish.
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677 posts
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Post by westendcub on Nov 21, 2017 23:45:42 GMT
How long is it? I'm really want to see it having seen many adaptations of the story from Muppets to the recent CGI version with Jim Carrey although it seem to be selling well About 2 hours 20 inc interval, I think Act 2 May have gone over in the brilliant pathos...must say for a second preview this is in fine and wonderful form! Oh yes the bells, so magical & done with style!! |
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Post by Steve on Nov 22, 2017 8:58:59 GMT
Brilliant version of "A Christmas Carol:" dramatic, moving, musical and magical. There won't be a better Christmas show this year! Some spoilers follow. . . More Scrooge-like than Ryan, it never crossed my mind to eat mince pies in November. But the show rectified that as I took my onstage seat (there had been no "front-facing" seats left when my ginormous PWC queue-it booking bingo number was FINALLY called 6 weeks ago), by having a beaming tall gent in a top hat graciously offer me a tray of warm mince pies. A bribe, I thought, to mollify my fury, when the actors on stage form that unnatural stage posture, where they all turn their backs to me, having a conversation where noone looks at each other because they are all facing the principal audience. Never happened. Matthew Warchus' gift to the onstage audience, as well as to the side-facing audiences, is to stage conversations as they happen, with characters facing each other, so you either see two profiles, or you see one of the character's faces. You might say this is staged as if in the round, which it effectively is. The stage is vast, extended by a ramp across the entire stalls, although the principal performance area is demarked by four empty door frames. Set and costume designer, Rob Howell, scores a massive win by using these frames to delimit metaphorically the cruel compartmentalisation of Scrooge's mind, that allows him to justify his behaviour, as well as using the ramp to suggest generous expanses beyond. And the outfit Howell puts Rhys Ifans' Scrooge in is equally effective, a warm red coat covered in endless layers of dust, suggesting a warm core, literally and metaphorically smothered by the passage of time, a Father Christmas trapped in amber. The melding of actor and part are seamless, as Ifans' dishevelled persona (defined for me years ago by his scally in "Notting Hill") has always seemed averse to acknowledging time. Jack Thorne's adaptation of Dickens is perfectly judged. Faithful to Dickens to a large extent, but also bringing in his own bugaboos about the way parents shape children, and his thoughts about how we fulfil the social responsibility of being alive, he judges perfectly the moments that actors should be story narrators, and the moments actors should play characters in scenes. This balance is so often done wrong, as it was in the Broadbent version not long ago, where there was too much narrating, and where the tone was twee. Here the tone is truthful and dark, yet, like the Santa suit that Ifans' Scrooge is secretly wearing, the show is choc full of magic, magic, magic! The core of the magic, for a Christmas show like this, lies in the title. Matthew Warchus and Jack Thorne understand that it is the "Carol" part of the title that is most precious. It is music that speaks to the soul most eloquently, and carols pour from this production, which has almost wall-to-wall music, whereby carols fill spaces between scenes, but even during scenes a piano eloquently underscores emotions. If this was another show, you'd say it was too much, but at Christmas, nothing feels more right than to embed the show in this warm glow of music. The different pitches of bells, that the cast periodically handle, like town cryers of the spirit, actively demonstrate how magical musical creation is, in a way that recreates childish wonder even for a cynical adult. And if actual children demand magic beyond music, to hold their attention, it is there: "Real" snow (cold soap suds?) falls on the audience, and a hilarious gathering of (prop) food for the poor involves a very exciting way of getting it from the dress circle to the stage. The supporting cast are all wonderful, with Erin Doherty as Scrooge's compassionate, but truthful, lost love Belle, and Alex Gaumond as Scrooge's father and as Marley, exceptional. But it is Rhys Ifans who is the true gem here. I liked him as the fool in Lear. I was frightened of him as the audience assailing homeless man in "Protest Song." But this role bottles his frightening and likeable qualities so perfectly that I can say I absolutely loved him in this! Overall, this is an unmissable Christmas treat, and if like me, you think mince pies are only for December, this show might change your mind! 5 stars  |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 22, 2017 9:14:53 GMT
I'm terribly bored of A Christmas Carol but I do like a good theatrical ghost, are these fairly impressively done?
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1,475 posts
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Post by Steve on Nov 22, 2017 11:06:07 GMT
I'm terribly bored of A Christmas Carol but I do like a good theatrical ghost, are these fairly impressively done? If you mean, are they scary, then, not one bit. I remember attending a highly enjoyable "Christmas Carol" show where Patrick Stewart just sat in a chair in front of a fire and read the whole thing, and his "scary ghost voice" was scarier than anything in this lol. When I looked at the website to see if the cast warranted booking this, I saw there was no cast member for "Ghost of Christmas Future," so I thought, whoa, maybe it's animatronic, or maybe a projection of Vincent Price, or maybe Rhys Ifans doubles. . . The truth about this ghost is a massive spoiler, so look here: Melissa Allan, in the squeakiest sweetest high-pitched voice, playing Scrooge's sister, Little Fan, is the Ghost of Christmas Future. This chimes with Jack Thorne's bent of always making everything about family. It makes things more emotional, but it's not scary in the slightest, nor is it meant to be. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 22, 2017 11:42:34 GMT
I'm terribly bored of A Christmas Carol but I do like a good theatrical ghost, are these fairly impressively done? Ummmm, not with effects and bells and whistles no . . . {Look. No dont look. Go on look. No. Oh go on then.}
. . although I think they went to the Maria Von Trapp School of Fashion for costume inspiration . . |
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Post by finalperformance on Nov 22, 2017 11:51:31 GMT
A nice production with female ghosts but not totally to my taste because at times it seemed to slight. Stage entended out through stalls and audience also on stage. Two acts each running 50 minutes.
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Post by crowblack on Nov 23, 2017 10:03:55 GMT
We saw this on Tuesday and thought it was rather joyous! It had pretty much everything you could want, with bells on (and Erin Doherty, already a favourite with us - she was also in Jack Thorne's musical Junkyard earlier this year). My one quibble was that sentimentally it was a bit more Capra than Dickens - I miss the scary spooks, though I suppose this is less upsetting for the wee ones. We got PWC £10 tickets and were on the stage, row M, which was a great view, raked seating in that area a bit like the pit for Mosquitoes at the Dorfman. In this production the circle is probably also very good, traditional stalls maybe less so unless you're further back from the stage/runway.
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Post by Polly1 on Nov 23, 2017 15:55:00 GMT
OV have just tweeted that there are tickets for tonight for a fiver, quoting code SCROOGE.
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