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Post by crabtree on Sept 27, 2019 9:09:22 GMT
Now I love the books, but the plays have always left me disappointed, or maybe the productions have left me disappointed. They are usually resolutely so untheatrical, and a parade of lovely frocks usually in one setting. I remember Stephen Pimlott's production of And then there were none tried to be stylish and theatrical, but most others are introduce the characters in a singular setting, a character gets bumped off, and then much chatting as everyone sits around listening to the detective - and they simply refuse to actually thrill, in spite of being described as a thriller. I wish someone would be bold enough to reinvent one of the plays and shake it into theatrical life, and put some tension and thrill and theatre into them. I'd happily volunteer. All this was prompted by a production last night where the whole cast basically sat in chairs and glared at each other, whilst the audience applauded the frocks. Come on!
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Post by Jan on Sept 27, 2019 14:18:58 GMT
The current Witness for the Prosecution is moderately unconventional. She didn’t write that many and they don’t seem to get many professional productions at all these days. Somewhere like the Finborough or Orange Tree should have a go at one, Love From a Stranger maybe.
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Post by oxfordsimon on Sept 27, 2019 16:35:26 GMT
Samuel French have just released a load of Christie plays. No idea about most of them. But like the idea of the short ones as small scale things to tour
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Post by joem on Sept 27, 2019 23:05:33 GMT
I quite enjoyed reading Aknhaten which is atypical of her work. Would love to see it performed but its scale makes it an expensive and therefore unlikely proposition.
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Post by Jan on Sept 28, 2019 10:08:22 GMT
I quite enjoyed reading Aknhaten which is atypical of her work. Would love to see it performed but its scale makes it an expensive and therefore unlikely proposition. Blimey. I’d not come across that one. I bet the Finborough would be up for that, one of Phil Willmot’s “profit share” big cast productions. |
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Post by crabtree on Sept 28, 2019 10:31:43 GMT
Yes Aknhaten has long since been a curiosity. I wonder if it could work.
But the play I saw this week was billed as 'A nail biting thriller'. I can sure you that no nails were bitten. Characters simply talk in plot, and surely there should be some tension in working out who did what. Usually the audiences can't actually work things out as they are not given enough information. But I always want to love the plays but they are theatrically inert.
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Post by Jan on Sept 28, 2019 10:39:01 GMT
Yes Aknhaten has long since been a curiosity. I wonder if it could work. But the play I saw this week was billed as 'A nail biting thriller'. I can sure you that no nails were bitten. Characters simply talk in plot, and surely there should be some tension in working out who did what. Usually the audiences can't actually work things out as they are not given enough information. But I always want to love the plays but they are theatrically inert. Her work has been reinvented for TV by Sarah Phelps (The Pale Horse next Xmas) so it is possible a theatre might try. Robert Icke’s The Red Barn was based on similar material. |
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