78 replies to this topic

[zahidf]

I hope against hope that the barbican prices aren't that bad.

[Parsley]

Strange how all RSC members can book at the same time for the London run....whilst Barbican members are staggered....

I am sure the prices will be standard Barbican ones £15-£65 or similar

[MrBarnaby]

I assume he will play it like he did Hamlet, like it's a panto.. Gurning away for the Doctor Who fans.

I'll skip this one.

[Epicoene]

MrBarnaby, on 24 January 2013 - 12:07 AM, said:

I assume he will play it like he did Hamlet, like it's a panto.. Gurning away for the Doctor Who fans.

I'll skip this one.

It is true that everything he is in automatically becomes a comedy, still a chance to do some "serious" acting to draw attention away from his lamentable film career.

Let's just pretend for a moment that Greg Doran's assertion that they chose the Barbican because it is "the best" theatre for this production is true. What does "the best" mean ? Why is it better than the Roundhouse where they can duplicate the RST stage configuration ? (That 5 year arrangement with the Roundhouse has been terminated or what ?).

[Lynette]

Will be interesting to see how they fill that hugely wide stage at the Barbican. The Donmar effort used the intimacy of the smaller space. Mind you, wasn't the Almeida prod in that massive Gainsborough place huge? I recall massive ruins. I think it might be better to see this in Stratford if possible where Tennant has done good work and where his Hamlet was beautifully stage with soemthing lost when it transferred to the West End. [ I know he only did a few shows, I mean the whole shebang lost something]

[igb]

Epicoene, on 23 January 2013 - 01:22 PM, said:

So Richard II is transferring to the Barbican ? Words fail me - what exactly was the last decade all about then ?

Quite.  So it's going to be faux-proscenium in the RST so it works in London where all the journalists are?  Or what?

Quote

Good news (for me) they will stage all the plays over 5 years with no repeats.

Did Doran say exactly that, or something that allows one to think that?   There are about 38 plays, and it seems unlikely they're going to stage eight per year in the RST if they're also running a full programme of "other stuff" in the Swan.  Even if there's an audience sufficient to commit a main house slot to each of the plays running in rep, could a single company rehearse and stage eight new productions in a year?   I suppose he could go back to having two companies, one in London, one in Stratford, each doing four productions per year, and swap them over, but that would be massively expensive and require a full-time London base available from 2014, which there's no sign of.

However, it would hardly be radical to make sure there's no repeats in the main house over 2014-18, especially as a bunch of popular stuff has been done in 2012 and 2013.  Had there not been a Twelfth Night in 2012 and an As You Like It this year, the usual run of things might have seen there being two of at least one of those in the next five years.  But as they've both been done recently, he can do one of each in 2014-18 and still keep up the "every three or four years" rhythm of the boffo box office plays, talk about radical new scheduling but actually not really do much differently.

[igb]

Lynette, on 24 January 2013 - 09:29 AM, said:

The Donmar effort used the intimacy of the smaller space.

To my shame, I knew almost nothing about Eddie Redmayne before I saw the Grandage Richard II.  I thought it was both an excellent performance and an exquisite production.  It was also a production that was rather RSC-y, so it's to be hoped that Doran can just live with that, and doesn't feel the need to do something gratuitously different to avoid accusations of similarity.

[xanderl]

I'm confused as to whether he meant the full canon, or the complete histories cycle

[Epicoene]

igb, on 24 January 2013 - 10:24 AM, said:

Quite.  So it's going to be faux-proscenium in the RST so it works in London where all the journalists are?  Or what?

I assume it will be like the Goold "Merchant" where it will be directed in the RST with the intention of then transferring to proscenium arch in London - how was that staged ?

igb, on 24 January 2013 - 10:24 AM, said:

Did Doran say exactly that, or something that allows one to think that?  

Here is apparently what the direct quote is:

"This winter season acts as a prologue to a wider plan, stretching forward over the next five years. I hope we will work through the entire canon, producing all his plays in our new Royal Shakespeare Theatre, but without repeating the titles in that time".

Any get-out clauses in that ? As you say, the logistics of achieving that look impossible.

[xanderl]

The get-out clause is "I hope"!