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Theatre Thread


Gus Mears

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Has anybody seen The Full Monty? I saw it at the Wales Millennium Centre last year and it was dreadful. They basically took the best lines from the film and placed them between shit, unfunny dialogue.

 

The lead, who was some guy from Hollyoaks I think, was the most unlikeable character you could imagine, and not like the film where Robert Carlyle was a bit of a twat but you felt for him, he was just an outright bellend with no redeeming characteristics. Terrible accent, too. You couldn't hear a bloody word he was saying half the time.

 

The bloke who played Denzel's character was good, but it was as if they cast him purely because his voice sounded exactly the same.

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One of the best performances by a famous name in recent years was Segio's favourite ever actor, David Suchet, playing Lady Bracknell from the Importance of Being Earnest. Poirot in drag was far better than it had any right to be.

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A big name is usually a draw for me when it comes to theatre. We'd probably not have gone to see Skylight if it hadn't had Bill Nighy and Carey Mulligan in, for example, and I'd have never sat through No Man's Land last year in Newcastle if it hadn't had McKellen and Stewart in it because I just don't understand Pinter. Sometimes it's the only draw - I'd go to any play if it had Sir Mark Rylance in it, because he's so fucking good you know you're in for a treat whatever the play is.

 

Sometimes though, it's just a nice surprise. Lapidus from Lost being in the West End version of 12 Angry Men, or Stephen Mangan and Matthew Macfadyen as Jeeves and Wooster. I was going for the play itself in those cases but if it's got people off the telly in it as well, so much the better, usually!

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I absolutely loved Jeeves and Wooster In Perfect Nonsense. Genuinely one of my favourite two hours in a theatre ever. I am huge fan of the books, rarely has anything committed to text been so successful in just taking you away from life to somewhere quite pleasant and the play was much the same. 

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I did what's probably the pleb thing last month of going to see a play just cos an actor off the telly I like was in it and saw The Dresser, with Reece Shearsmith (and also Ken Stott, and the lady who kept her babies in a drawer in the Brittas Empire). It was fantastic.

 

Although Reece is well known for being particularly prickly and a 'doesn't suffer fools' type, and I did become a bit preoccupied with the thought I hadn't switched my phone back off in the interval (or what if I accidentally sat on it and turned it back on?!) and imagining if it had rang during a quiet bit, and he'd have furiously pointed at me and yelled at me with everyone booing as I'd skulked out, unable to watch the League of Gentlemen or Psychoville or Inside Number 9 ever again. Next time I think I'll just leave it in the car.

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I saw Kevin Spacey perform his one man production of Clarence Darrow and not five minutes in, without missing a beat, looked at someone and said "Would you mind turning off your phone please? The one that's lighting up your face. Thank you". Cue a round of applause and someone shrinking in their seat like a cock n balls in winter.

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Sasha Reagan's all male version of Mikado tomorrow. Saw her production of Pinafore with a similar cast last year and it was a real hoot, so looking forward to it. G&S engenders itself well to a good dollop of campness.

Edited by Gus Mears
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Reduced Shakespeare Company tonight. They count as theatre, right? Anyway, I've been meaning to catch one of their shows for years and years but never got round to it. I think I'm going solo but fuck it. Ice cream at the interval for one it is. Missed out on the other RSC's Nell Gwynne (or was that the Globe?) in Edinburgh this week, though.

In theatrical news, they've announced the cast for the new Young Frankenstein show that's opening in Newcastle in August before transferring to London. Ross Noble as Igor. Still more excited by the idea of Mel Brooks living in the North East for a month than the show itself, but should get round to getting tickets sometime.

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On 07/03/2017 at 1:26 PM, WyattSheepMask said:

Again I'd love to get down to see Network, but getting down to London to make a weekend of it would mean putting my credit card into a Crippler Crossface, it was the same with wanting to see John Goodman when he was over here doing American Buffalo. I was lucky that my wife's birthday fell during The Elephant Man being on at the right time.

In fact, living in Hull means you've got to travel at least to Leeds before you to see anything decent, and that's before you even start to mention the "City of Culture" coverup for giving the city centre a very cheap makeover.

 

The wife loved Aladdin too, but I didn't think much to it. Lion King is great though.

We were both disappointed when we saw Wickid last year.

Not a fan of Hull Truck Theatre? Always heard they put pretty decent stuff on.

I haven't been to as much theatre as I would like the past couple of years. Best stuff I saw was when Michael Grandage was the artistic director at the Crucible in Sheffield in the early 2000s. He put on some incredible plays: Derek Jacobi in 'Don Carlos' - Ian Mcdiarmid in Edwards Bonds 'Lear' & Kenneth Branagh in 'Richard III'.

 

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