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Topic: The Theatre Thread

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DaModerator
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The Theatre Thread
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We have a TV thread, and a Film one, so why not a theatre thread?

A number of us seem to go to the theatre - be it West End or local - so let us know what plays and musicals you've enjoyed or are going to see in the near future.

For me, my husband and I are off to see The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime on Thursday next week. It won a number of Olivier Awards a couple of weeks ago, so hopefully it'll be brilliant; I enjoyed the book, so hope the play lives up to it!



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Damiac
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I saw the National Theatre Live broadcast. It was brilliant. I preferred it to the book, which I appreciated but, interestingly, had trouble really relating to on an emotional level!

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PradaKat wrote:

We have a TV thread, and a Film one, so why not a theatre thread?

A number of us seem to go to the theatre - be it West End or local - so let us know what plays and musicals you've enjoyed or are going to see in the near future.

For me, my husband and I are off to see The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime on Thursday next week. It won a number of Olivier Awards a couple of weeks ago, so hopefully it'll be brilliant; I enjoyed the book, so hope the play lives up to it!


 Sounds rather interesting! smile Is that a West End production PradaKat? Or is it local to you? Will you post a brief review of it after you've seen it? smile (Sorry about the bombardment of questions!)



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No probs.

It is a West End production - actually another National Theatre one (so many of them around at the moment!) but it's transferred to one of the Shaftesbury Avenue theatres.

I'll certainly post a review if you want...

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Sorry PradaKat, I didn't mean for you to feel you had to post a review on it. I just wondered if you were planning on doing so. If not, please don't worry about it.
I hope you enjoy it!

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I'm just not very good at writing reviews, Ritz, lol.

Suffice to say though, the production is excellent. It's quite a challenging subject to cover, not in terms of plot which is quite simple, but in sympathetically portraying an autistic teenager and what's inside his head. They use a lot of dance choreography to represent not just "flights of fancy" but also to orchestrate ordinary plot lines, such as taking off his coat or riding on the train; it's all very clever.

In addition, the stage itself is brilliant. It's set up like a piece of graph paper, with squares on the floor and all the sides and the main character, Christopher, uses chalk to illustrate his points; plus there are hidden cupboards and doors and things for props and lights to represent problems, it's all really impressive.

Finally, in honour of the prime numbered chapters, all the prime number chairs in the auditorium are covered differently and have a little card in them. I need to get the photo off my phone, but I was lucky enough to sit in seat 191.

It's an expensive ticket, but if any can afford it and can get to the West End to see it, then I would heartily recommend it!

Edited to add my picture (not used Photobucket in AGES!)

adaf90f4-9043-4198-8e08-2475aafd7be7.jpg



-- Edited by PradaKat on Friday 24th of May 2013 09:58:53 AM

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It sounds like the show took a different approach to highlight a subject that could be quite hard to portray otherwise? Did the dance choreography distract from the main character?

Thanks for writing a review PradaKat. It's a fab review! wink

Glad you enjoyed it! biggrin



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Not at all, the minor characters are used to facilitate Christopher, for example, sleeping or being an Astronaut...it doesn't sound like it should work, but it really does. It's a real shame that it's not part of the National Theatre Live, although I don't think it would translate well to the cinema screen

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I saw Curious Dog as a National Theatre Live Broadcast. It made me curious to know how it would look live, as they used shots from above to show the projections onto the stage, and I wondered how that would look if one was in the front row. It was still brilliant.

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It was on last year then? Excellent.

Would have loved to see what it looked like from above - there were a couple of things that were a little difficult to see from the stalls, even though we were slightly raked and nearer the back, but would have looked great from the Circle; the building of the train set in particular.

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Ah. Cheers, Prada. That's exactly what I wondered about. I think it's a story that works better performed than read - I connected to Christopher in the show, I found the book too dry! - so perhaps film rather than theatre would have been a better choice of medium. But hey, theatre people wanted to do it, not film people, so there you go.

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Saw Othello at the National last night, with Rory Kinnear and Adrian Lester. Absolutely fabulous. A most vibrant production. Three hours plus? It flew by. Even a ten minute halt to the production due to a technical hitch didn't slow it down! Nice to see Lindsey Marshal and Jonathan Bailey too, most impressive. Lester is a powerhouse and Kinnear is the most enigmatic Iago. Can't wait to see it again when it goes 'Live' at the flicks. (I want these shows on DVD, damn it!)



-- Edited by UJ on Thursday 4th of July 2013 10:08:49 AM

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I'm surprised, if they're prepared to show it at cinemas, they don't cash in and do DVDs. Could be a vital boost to the Arts industry (although the National Theatre is probably one of the few places that doesn't need it...) I did see the adverts for Othello, but I don't get on with Shakespeare too well so am always a little wary of going to see it. Glad you enjoyed it though.

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I think they need to do deals with all the actors and anyone else involved, so that delays things. ... But I wants them! I wants them so much!

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Fair point UJ. It's probably one of those things that's horrendous to set up, but once organised as standard would become a lot easier...it's just getting started, lol.

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Went to see Tristan and Yseult by We Are Kneehigh at Bristol Old Vic last night.  What a fantastic piece of theatre! 

The story is a heartbreaking love triangle, but it was told with real exberance and entertainment, beauty and intimacy.  There was music, singing and dancing - the wedding feast dance was just bizarrely brilliant.  There were moments of touching poignancy - Tristan and Yseult, drunk on sweet wine and love potion perfomed a beautiful routine using ariel rigging (couldn't find a pic of them off the ground...but this shows what I mean)

   There was fighting, and love, and sex, and death.  There was audience participation and a lot of laughing (much of which was thanks to the chorus of the 'Unloved', or 'love-spotters').......there were even balloons!  And, ultimately there was heartbreak.

Absolutely everything about this show was fantastic - if you should ever have a chance to see it....then do!!!

 

In fact...it was so good, that I'm even going to give you the link to the trailer!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=8PhPDqa5Q7Q



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You've made me want to see it, fifi. That's unlikely to happen but it's good to know it's out there.

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Sounds like you had a lot of fun there Fifi - and it's quite an interesting looking play as well.

I'm off to see Derren Brown this evening, which I'm very excited about. I've seen his last three shows and I've also been on stage with him (after catching the infamous frisbee). I had to spin a nut on a string and then help move a table round the stage - it was a seance thing he was doing - it was all very exciting!

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It sounds it, Kat! Any idea on how he made you move the table? Assuming that's what happened.

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Anyone going to see "Let The Right One In" at the Royal Court theatre?
UJ, fancy seeing it?

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It's all to do with perpetual motion I think, but it was a weird feeling to have it move around - he picked the four of us from the nut spinning thing; must have been an easy way to determine who is susceptible to that kind of persuasive thinking.

I can't say a huge amount about the show last week - Derren asks that we keep it secret so it's not spoiled for other people who may see the show - but suffice to say it was a spectacular as it always is, with the second half emphasis on debunking a myth regarding psychics (the man does his research!) but there was a bit of more traditional magic and the kind of nerdy mind games that I like...

What's Let The Right One In, Laura?

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Ooh, Laura, you tempt me so. I don't really have the money for extra treats right now ... I'll have a think about it and let you know asap.

Prada, it's a stage adaptation of the book the films were based on. Swedish vampire horror.

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Ahhhh, thanks for that. Not sure it's my thing, although how bad (in a gory sense) can a theatre adaptation be? Actually, probably quite bad! furious



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Kat - once saw a truely grusome production of Titus Andronicus - when Lavinia had her hands cut off and her tongue cut out somebody in the row behind me passed out!  It was at The Swan in Stratford in Avon, which is a really intimate space;  I have no idea how they did it, but it looked pretty real to me!

 



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OK, that sounds petty grim!

I admit that I am a total wuss, so maybe this wouldn't be the production for me, unless someone wants to hold me up (and warn me of the horrible bits so I can look away)...

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