Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

One Touch Theatre

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    I went to the Arcola tonight to see A Hero of Our Time, a new adaptation of a Lermontov novel. It was in the tiny Studio Two, which was less than half-full. Nonetheless the actors gave it their all, as though playing to a packed National.

    70 minutes long, very physical, very funny for much of the time, and quite moving.

    I hope they get more people on other nights, they deserve to.

    Comment


      I saw Hadestown at the National Theatre with the family at the weekend. It’s a musical based on the Greek myths of Hades, Persephone, Orpheus and Eurydice and the music is mainly jazz and blues based. I’m aware that probably sounds terrible but it was a fantastic fresh and inventive show & production with some stunning lead performances.

      It’s been an off-Broadway hit already but is taking the unusual route of productions in Canada and London before going to Broadway. On until the end of the month and worth seeing.

      Comment


        I saw Antony and Cleopatra at the National last night. Ralph Fiennes and Sophie Okonedo were excellent in the title roles and there was a high standard of performance across the cast. It's a modern dress production but not excessively tricksy. On the third row we were quite close to some loud thunderflashes in a Fallujah styled battle scene. I hadn't seen the play since studying it for A Level. It is long and slightly reminiscent of Gone With The Wind as it rattles through history at speed. Antony's drawn out death scene was moving as was Cleopatra's, live snake distraction notwithstanding.

        Comment


          Originally posted by Ray de Galles View Post
          I saw Hadestown at the National Theatre with the family at the weekend.
          Just snagged a cheap ticket for the Thursday matinee of this next week and looking forward to it.

          Comment


            Great, would be interested in hearing what you think.

            Comment


              Saw the full-fat touring production of Charlie and The Chocolate Factory on Thursday (part of our Mirvish subscription). Pee-yew. I've not read the book, and I don't think I've ever seen the movie, but of course I know the story. Any road, it was draggy as fuck. It's a 90 minute story packed into 2 hours and 15 minutes. The first act (working up to Charlie getting his golden ticket) was fine. Nice songs...nice pacing...decent acting. The second act dragged its ass from one end to the other. All the in-factory mania was grating after about 15 minutes. I truly believe that if we weren't in the dead centre of the row, we might have just slipped out and made an early night of it.

              Got home and read the two major Toronto reviews to find them saying pretty much the same thing.

              Comment


                I thoroughly enjoyed Hadestown this afternoon. The actors playing Hermes, Persephone and Hades were excellent; Eurydice and Orpheus were a little underpowered by comparison, but had less to get their teeth into. The three Fates and ensemble were all very watchable. Reading the cast bios, there are some serious Broadway pedigrees there and this London run is effectively a try out for New York next year.

                The premise was set up well and the modernisation and urbanisation of the source myth wasn't too clunky. Orpheus saving the world with his...singing had faint undertones of Team America: World Police but the production as a whole managed to avoid the post-Rent, edgy musical cliches that were memorably sent up in that film. The plot did seem to wobble a bit at the start of the second half but I found the ending really quite moving.

                The cheap seat that I had was dead centre in the first row. You can be unsighted from some of the action there, particularly if the production uses raised sets, but this was fine. It's a bit close to take everything in without having to look to and fro but a lot of the main drama unfolded three feet away and it is fascinating to see the performers up that close. There was no coarsening of their expressions and gestures, which might be expected in performances that have to carry through a large theatre. One bank of stage lights were a bit dazzling and I had a dry ice funnel just in front of me, which at one point created an unexpectedly acieeed microclimate.

                I would wish them well for the transfer but the backers of Groundhog Day would attest that my endorsement isn't a guarantee of runaway success Stateside.

                Comment


                  Pretty much everyone I know who has seen it has said the same as you about Orpheus struggling against the other leads due (I think) to a bland, underwritten role.

                  I wasn’t sure if it was Reeve Carney’s fault (and he has had some terrible luck in casting before, Spider Man being the obvious example) but his last two songs redeemed his performance some way for me as he finally commanded centre stage.

                  I thought Eva Noblezada was great as Eurydice though, a fantastic voice and her overall performance stood up well to the more obviously magnetic stage figures Hades, Persephone and Hermes who all have decades on the stage over her.

                  Comment


                    That's fair on both counts.

                    I don't know if it was because Orpheus had remained onstage throughout, working on his song, but after Eurydice makes her fateful choice and the Fates had a bit saying what would you do, it seemed a little superfluous. Who would blame her?

                    Any apparent criticisms are just odd thoughts that occurred as I was watching; overall it was a fantastic couple of hours and I was blinking rapidly when the circle of the story closed at the end. Too much dry ice, of course.

                    Comment


                      Oh yes, it’s a pretty strong endorsement if the only things approaching criticisms you can find are about the relative strengths of the leads.

                      Comment


                        As I said on my birthday thread, the Palladium’s panto (Snow White this year) lives up/down to the levels of the previous two years. Clary, Havers, Wilmot and Zerdin all excel and Dawn French is the best villain yet.

                        Comment


                          In two weeks I'm going to see Sam Shepard's True West with Ethan Hawke and Paul Dano. Well, I'm not going with them, they're in the play. I bought the tickets with the intention of inviting my nephew, because it's not a musical and I think he would enjoy it, but his work Christmas do is that night. Imagine choosing to spend an evening with work people you see every day over your auntie who thinks nothing of dropping hundreds of dollars to spend time with you? Because I would have bought dinner too. His loss, right?

                          Comment


                            I went to see the Zilina theatre perform Lucy Prebble's The Effect last night. The woman in the box-office was keen to stress when I bought the tickets that 'it's not a Christmas play' and she was certainly right there, but it was an interesting performance. It's about two young volunteers taking part in a clinical trial for anti-depressants who (seem to) develop feelings for one another. The question is to what extent they really do and to what extent it's the medication, plus, in wider terms, how much control neuro-science has/should have over our emotional lives. The two doctors treating them (it's a four-actor play) have a back-story of their own which complements what happens to the patients.

                            Has anyone else seen this? I wasn't aware of it till it came up on the bill here, but it turns out it was quite prominently reviewed (and praised) when it was first staged in the UK and US in 2012.

                            Comment


                              I remember The Effect being on at the National Theatre but I didn't get to see it; Billie Piper was in it and Prebble's previous play Enron had been a massive hit so it was quite difficult to get tickets, I think.

                              In other 'not a Christmas play' news, I went to see Martin McDonagh's A Very, Very, Very Dark Matter at the Bridge Theatre yesterday. It was very funny in parts, well performed by the cast, with Jim Broadbent and Phil Daniels having a whale of a time as Hans Christian Andersen and Charles Dickens respectively, cleverly staged and visually striking. The central premise is quite weird and at times it seemed more like a series of sketches than a unified whole. It gets very gory, which felt a bit self referential given McDonagh's previous form with onstage splatter. There was a lot of gleeful swearing too. It is worth seeing but the longish run may have overestimated demand so if anyone fancies it keep an eye out for ticket offers (ours were £15 in seats usually priced at £65).

                              Comment


                                I'd like to see Enron, based on what we saw last night, though I doubt our local theatre will be tackling that as well. The actress playing Connie in last night's performance could just about have passed for Billie Piper herself. I won't say she stole the show - the play's a four-hander, and all four characters have equal importance - but she was certainly good. One to look out for.

                                Theatre, cinema, concert and live sport prices are one of the pleasures of life in Slovakia (and Poland, Czech Rep etc). Only 10 Euros each last night, plus a 2 for 1 offer on an upcoming performance.

                                Comment


                                  I saw True West last night, and I found it underwhelming. I don't think I was alone in this because no one stood when the actors did their curtain call at the end. The thing is, it's a Pulitzer Prize-winning play, and I know that it's studied by drama students (my nephew told me that he read it in one of his classes), but someone is going to have to explain to me what makes it so great. I wish I had seen the London version with Johnny Flynn and Kit Harrington, just to have a basis of comparison for the Ethan Hawke/Paul Dano version that I saw.

                                  Comment


                                    What’s it about?

                                    I’ve never seen a live production featuring anyone truly famous.

                                    Comment


                                      It's about two estranged brothers who end up spending a few days together in their mother's house. It's about sibling rivalry. I'm not very good at writing synopses, but here's a plot summary: https://www.sparknotes.com/drama/truewest/summary/

                                      I've seen lots of plays with famous people in them--it's one of the most brilliant things about being able to hop across the river whenever I want to.

                                      Comment


                                        Here's a list of the plays I've seen and the famous people who were in them (in no particular order):

                                        On Golden Pond - James Earl Jones, Leslie Uggams
                                        Spamalot - Tim Curry, Hank Azaria, David Hyde Pierce
                                        Equus - Daniel Radcliffe
                                        Thurgood - Laurence Fishburne
                                        How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying - Daniel Radcliffe, John Larroquette
                                        9 to 5 - Allison Janey
                                        Six Degrees of Separation - Allison Janey
                                        Cat on a Hot Tin Roof - Phylicia Rashad, James Earl Jones
                                        Boys In The Band - Zachary Quinto, Matt Bomer
                                        Jerry Springer: The Musical - David Soul

                                        I'm probably forgetting some.

                                        Comment


                                          The Play That Goes Wrong, Ed Mirvish Theatre, Toronto

                                          "MADCAP MANIA WITH MONTY PYTHON IN ITS BLOOD. IT CRANKS THE CHAOS UP TO 11!" raves the Associated Press

                                          Apparently we're only good for chaos cranked up to 6 or 7. We left at intermission.

                                          Comment


                                            I saw Follies at the National Theatre yesterday. I don't think of myself as a big musicals fan but this was superb. Every aspect of the production was top notch and the show cleverly manages to combine the main theme of middle aged regret with real spectacle and thrills.

                                            Comment


                                              La bohème at Queen Elizabeth Theatre, Vancouver

                                              Reminded me that, emotionally, I've never been able to take most Italian opera seriously. The woman on my left said it always made her cry. The presentation beforehand said something similar. I can't relate to it in that way at all. It's a way too exaggerated and OTT to engage with on that level, or so I find

                                              The Shoplifters at Arts Club Theatre, Granville Island, Vancouver

                                              The most underwhelming production we've seen in the past three years. An alleged comedy about two women shoplifters being interrogated by a pair of security guards in a supermarket. Worth the odd titter but nothing more. Shoutiness standing in for humour and the characters lacked coherence. On the plus side it was mercifully short, running about eighty-five minutes including a twenty minute intermission.

                                              Comment


                                                I went to see Madame Butterfly last year and my friend and I got talking to a group of women next to us who are Puccini nuts and go to any production of his work that comes through but aren't bothered about other opera at all. One of the enjoyable fan things was that when the singer who played Pinkerton took his curtain call, they mock booed him, as if he was still in character. Apparently this is an accepted sign of respect for a suitably dastardly rendition of the part.

                                                Yesterday's crowd seemed to include a fair number of hardcore Sondheim nuts. I don't know whether their love is reserved exclusively for him.

                                                Comment


                                                  I took a course on Wagner from prof who was a similar obsessive. It was kind of embarrassing because all critical judgement, of either the man or his work, was beyond the pale —–- and there's a fair amount there to be critical about. He gave everyone a B+ and retired immediately afterwards.

                                                  Comment


                                                    My immediate supervisor at the Music Library was one of those. We soon learned to discuss other subjects.

                                                    Comment

                                                    Working...
                                                    X