Theatre Thread

[WyattSheepMask]

The rumours of My Neighbour Totoro transferring to the West End were true, as it’s just been announced that the show will run at the Gillian Lynne Theatre from March 8th 2025.

Tickets for the run go on sale next week, with Priority Booking from Monday April 29th and General Sale from Friday May 3rd

[Carbomb]

Nice day to be at The Globe for Richard III.

[Hannibal Scorch]

We went to see Spirited Away. Although it lacks a lot of the wow factor you get from My Neighbour Totoro, it’s similar staging and I thought had some great puppet work. I felt that it didn’t seem as badly paced as Totaro, although there were some things that dragged. It being in Japanese was interesting but the screens around the stage worked well, we definitely enjoyed it.

[WyattSheepMask]

6 hours ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

We went to see Spirited Away. Although it lacks a lot of the wow factor you get from My Neighbour Totoro, it’s similar staging and I thought had some great puppet work. I felt that it didn’t seem as badly paced as Totaro, although there were some things that dragged. It being in Japanese was interesting but the screens around the stage worked well, we definitely enjoyed it.

Yeah we saw Spirited Away 3 weeks back not long after it had opened. The subtitled screens took a few minutes to get used to, but having them either side of the stage allowed to just look at whichever one was closet depending on where the action was on stage at that point. 
There were as few of proper “wow!” moments though, which I won’t spoil for anyone who has yet to see it, and the orchestra sounded great throughout.

[Gus Mears]

8 hours ago, Carbomb said:

Nice day to be at The Globe for Richard III.

Was there too, Bomber.  Enjoyed it tremendously, even if everything was buried somewhat under Michelle Terry's immense performance in the title role.

Edited June 8, 2024 by Gus Mears

[Carbomb]

5 hours ago, Gus Mears said:

Was there too, Bomber.  Enjoyed it tremendously, even if everything was buried somewhat under Michelle Terry's immense performance in the title role.

It was incredible, wasn't it? 

For anyone else reading, it was truly a mesmerising performance. One notable bit I loved was thus: two of the cast were unable to perform the show, and there were no understudy, so two other women read in for the roles - this meant scripts in hand. They read from them wonderfully, that it didn't detract from the performance very much. But Michelle Terry did some beautiful improv, a moment when Richard III is mocking the Duchess of York (I think), and she grabs the script out of her hand and parodies reading it as part of the mocking performance. Tremendous bit of work.

Great stuff all the way through. There'd been a load of controversy in some papers (presumable the Mail and that ilk) about the all-woman cast, but there was pretty much no-one there who didn't put a shift in. Loved it.

[cobra_gordo]

Went to see Spirited Away on Saturday with the whole family. I'm really not sure what I thought. I love the film but I almost feel obligated to say I enjoyed it because it was forty quid a ticket. It doesn't half drag, it was difficult to hear the dialogue, some of the scenes from the film really don't translate and unless you really know the film well large parts of it will make fuck all sense, as my eldest two kids discovered.

Some of the staging and effects are admittedly amazing and the orchestration is STUNNING but there's also points where it just feels very amateur and I don't know if any amount of special effects can make up for that, considering the cost of admission. Maybe it's our seats that soured me on the experience. They weren't the cheapest available but on the lower end of the pricing because I simply couldn't afford to shell out £750 for stalls tickets. Best I could afford for five of us was the balcony where the seats are apparently made of bricks and the front third of the stage was obstructed. Then a metal rail took up visibility of the middle of the stage and if the woman sat infront of us leaned forward so she could see under the rail, which she did for most of the performance, then visibility of anything other than the back of the stage was zero. I don't remember the tickets being sold as obstructed view either.

All being said, I'm pretty gutted by the whole experience. If this had been good I'd have been all over tickets for Totoro but I'm feeling that jaded now I just don't see the point.

[Carbomb]

See, I went to see a matinee of it last week, courtesy of a generous UKFFer who couldn't use his tickets at the last minute.

I really loved it, and a big chunk of that is because Spirited Away is my favourite Miyazaki film ever, but I also thought it was all very well done indeed. It didn't feel particularly amateur to me. I loved the effects, the acting was good, the visuals were vibrant, the rendition of No-Face was great, and it recreated that warm, but light, fuzzy feeling that Miyazaki films give me.

That said, the RSC production of My Neighbour Totoro is vastly superior.

[Carbomb]

Back at the Globe again, this time for Much Ado About Nothing. Gorgeous weather for it. Set looks great.

 

[Carbomb]

Brilliant performance. A cast, particularly the actors who played Beatrice and Benedick, that was so capable of hitting every comic note in the script for maximum laughs. I'm not exaggerating; even for those who find Shakespeare impenetrable, they not only made it easy to follow, they made it easy to laugh.

Highly recommended.

[Chris B]

15 hours ago, Carbomb said:

Brilliant performance. A cast, particularly the actors who played Beatrice and Benedick, that was so capable of hitting every comic note in the script for maximum laughs. I'm not exaggerating; even for those who find Shakespeare impenetrable, they not only made it easy to follow, they made it easy to laugh.

Highly recommended.

The scene where Benedick is listening in is always a great one for lots of improv around it as well - easily Shakespeare's funniest, most accessible play. I love it.

Edited July 15, 2024 by Chris B

[Carbomb]

2 hours ago, Chris B said:

The scene where Benedick is listening in is always a great one for lots of improv around it as well - easily Shakespeare's funniest, most accessible play. I love it.

Yeh, this was no exception - a lot of great physical comedy from Ekow Quartey, who played him.

[Carbomb]

At the Globe again, this time in the Sam Wanamaker Jacobean theatre, for a play called Rough Magic. Basically a kid's production, but it's genuinely funny for everyone, and a ton of fun. As you'd expect, high quality improv and comedy timing from the actors.

Also (and will post this in the Celeb Spotting thread) saw Saffron Burrows with her kids, and she looks as good as ever.

Got a lovely picture, but haven't got round to deleting old stuff yet, so can't post.

[LSM]

Currently travelling back from the matinee performance of Spirited Away.

I made a point of rewatching the film ahead of time just in case I got lost trying to juggle reading the subtitles and enjoying the acting. I've got no problem with subtitles and got used to it pretty quickly in a theatre setting.

I was sat in the 4th row of the first balcony and that was the perfect position for me to see everything and glance at the subtitles.

Absolutely cracking show and I was impressed with the acting, music and choreography. It was very interesting to see how some scenes were adapted for stage, very much recommended.

[Carbomb]

Went to see The Comedy of Errors at the Globe yesterday:

A superb production, probably as good as Much Ado About Nothing, which I'm really kicking myself for not going to see again. Going to try to not make the same mistake for this one.

Comedy of Errors is such a ridiculous and stupid play that it needs all its elements to be good so that it works. This was bloody excellent. Like Much Ado, the actors were superb in pacing and delivery, getting maximum laughs and sympathy out of the audience, and, more importantly, maintaining the pace in such a way that you're always along for the ride, and have almost no chance to critically unsuspend disbelief. The fact that they had no intermission suggests the company had the strategy down pat. All great performances, good spectacle, a fun time, and a surprisingly fair bit of pathos too.

If you have a chance, go. I do not believe you'll regret it.

Edited September 23, 2024 by Carbomb