The Rupert Goold-directed production of 'King Lear' starring Pete Postlethwaite will definitely be transferring to the West End early next year for a limited run.

http://www.youngvic.org/whats-on?action=details&id=2273

It sold out tremendously quickly in Liverpool, so I recommend being first in line when public ticket booking opens on 20 October (although hopefully it won't be as bad as Friday 12th September ).

Happy!

I am already starting to get a bit stressed about booking this! Thanks for letting us know the dates...only a few weeks of agony to go! Given the clunkiness of the Young Vic website I don't hold out much hope for a smooth booking! And I see there are no matinee performances...it will be a late return on the coach to Oxford....if I do get tickets!

Funny, am supposed to be 'member' for what that's worth and had no communication on this, email or by post. Maybe I'll phone up, see if I can book yet. Who are the daughters?

Pass. The only cast list is what you see on the Young Vic site there, and I can only say for certain which of those is playing Lear (duh) and which is playing the Fool (Forbes Masson).

I might endeavour to be in London on the 20th; should be do-able, and that way I can go to the box office and talk to a real person.

Glad to see they have their priorities right and are doing more performances in London than Liverpool.

Totally unrelated, but is your logo/picture thing Ariel from the Rupert Goold "Tempest" ? Looks like it. I bet you don't know who mine is.

And that's why I like theatre websites; occasionally - just occasionally - people will recognise your avatar. I loved the Goold 'Tempest', especially Ariel, and this image really appeals to my slightly macabre side. :3

You're quite right though, I have no idea who yours is. Care to fill me in?

No - I'll leave it to the dinosaur contingent to guess.

Goold Tempest was fantastic - you knew right from the first 30 seconds it was going to be great.

Good grief! I knew from the start that JB's avatar was David Niven.

I have THE most abominable memory for faces. It made working in the bookshop very difficult indeed. "Okay, we should have that book, I'll just run and see if I can grab it for you, PLEASE WAIT RIGHT HERE BECAUSE IF YOU MOVE I'LL NEVER FIND YOU AGAIN". I'd have to force myself to remember "blue coat, red bag" if leaving my customer for more than five seconds. XP

How patronising.

I despair at comments like this - it's not as if we very often get some great performers daring to come out of London. I've lost track of the number of productions which have toured outside London after West End or National runs - but without any "names" in the cast whatsoever.

But who is the other person in the picture? I thought the bloke was James Stewart for a while.....Is it a still from a movie? Jan, do tell.

Is it David Niven? It doesn't look much like him.

Lynette! you're reading this topic in red. Congratulations.

Edited to say: ah, and now you've posted.

Dear McGill
As a guest, stand warned and don't fall for JB's "schtick". As someone who regularly seems to take umbrage at anything and everything (cf recent comments on David Hare/political theatre, young people, the blessed St Margaret and the new RSC building just to mention a few among other apparent "dinosaur" opinions) the presumed superiority of London over everywhere else is just another goad to try and get us all going

Oh no, do you think I would use a picture which was anything other than entirely theatrical ? Ah, how soon everyone forgets and what an ephemeral business theatre is - these two stalwarts were once at the top of the profession - 100 West End productions -I saw them once, I think in School for Scandal. I suppose in 30 years time people will be scratching their heads over .... oh, let's say Helen McCrory and Damian Lewis.

Michael Dennison and Dulcie Gray

Quite correct. Well done.

Co-starred together in 100 West End productions (apparently). Oddly enough the first time they appeared together on stage was in a play directed by Peter Hall - he is still going strong but their entire career has come and gone in the interim and now very few recognise them

There was a brief glimpse of PP doing his Lear in rehearsal at the end of tonight's Newsnight Review:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/news...iew/default.stm

Tickets on sale. Doesn't seem to be any issue with getting on the website and buying tickets for any date etc at the mo... Have to say that I only knew that it was today because I put a note in my diary - they haven't really gone all out with the hype.

Phew, thanks for the reminder. This is about the only thing for which I would go through the horror of Young Vic unreserved seating again!
(and thanks to the Menier, incidentally, for getting rid of it for White Devil)

They haven't got rid of it for The White Devil...just checked....seating is unreserved!

its not as unreserved as you think - its not the same rush for seats job as previous shows - you get ushered to a side so the audience is evenly split on both sides of the traverse!

Nooooo! But I've been given a seat number! Not one I was particular thrilled about, admittedly, but still better than it starting 20 mins late due to the faff of trying to get everyone seated in a full house.

The last time I went to the Young Vic (to see Punch and Judy) I vowed never, ever to go back - people were queueing out of the door when I got there half an hour before it was due to start, and there was an insane rush as soon as the doors opened. Not my idea of a relaxing evening out. Really, how hard is it to put a few seat numbers down? (I suppose, being cynical, the answer is that you can charge the same price for every seat and punters just have to cough up and take the risk of being stuck somewhere with a rubbish view)

Thanks for the reminder re King Lear - got tickets no problems. I agree about the seating at the Young Vic - it was worse than Ryanair the last time I went - albeit to see Dr Fautus with Jude Law in 2000 (I think it was). Their reasoning I believe is that it encourages "equality" in the audience.

As for the Menier, The White Devil is unreserved though as Laughing Monsta pointed out you are ushered to the far or near side of the traverse stage. The far side has more seats (perhaps 8-10 rows, as opposed to the near with 5-6?). Either is fine.

A good play btw, though a bit confusing!

Got a ticket for KL on 310109 @1915 @£15. Not a bad price. Got straight throught to the Young Vic Box Office without any problems. It all took less than three mins to do

I'm going in half term with daughter(18th Feb). Shame there are no matinees as it will mean a late night back on the coach to Oxford!

It was easy to get tickets wasn't it ? So the Young Vic's attempt to drum up support for their £50 mailing list scheme on the back of this was unwarranted.

I saw the first performance of this last night.

I'll preface my comments with the following - I don't really get on with Shakespeare. I've seen a few productions, both on stage and film, but generally struggle with it.

This particular production of King Lear is interestingly put together. It has an identifiable setting, and a definite "period".

The acting is top-rate as you'd expect. Postlethwaite is great, as is Tobias Menzies. I could listen to John Shrapnel all night, too.

It will be interesting to see this later in the run (which I dont think I'll do given that the tickets are sold out for Liverpool at least) - as I'm sure it will develop further. It's long - however - coming in last night at 3h 45, including 2 intervals (one five minute and one twenty minute).

That's why I haven't booked for it at the YV - Those seats arn't good

Blimey, four hour running time and no matinees - they really don't want anyone living outside zone 2 to see it, do they?

This one really is as bad as its critics have made out. I made the journey from Bristol to see this and I was extremely disappointed. Postlethwaite was anonymous and stylistically it was a horrible mess. Leading contender for one of the worst productions of the year. Lear and his court were dressed as though for a Pinter play, he sporting a mac and flat cap. His supporters were football yobs - except this last idea isn't followed through. On a temporal level his stepping down and division of the kingdom matter not a jot and it fails to register on a personal level either. Not sure why he later appears in a dress - it just provoked titters when I saw it. And there are so many ill-judged touches: the snatch of 'My Way' by Lear as he steps down; the delivery of the heath speech through a hand-held mike while the rest of the cast slow-mo. Ghastly, ghastly. And the set isn't even distracting. There are one or two good things: I liked the performance by the fool on the whole but really this is a car-crash.

[I logged in but was then shown as not logged in. I'm a bit concerned about this so haven't tried again. Is it possible someone can hack my account/find my email addy if my login attempt was diverted?]

Interesting article here:

"Actor Pete Postlethwaite has called bad reviews for a new production of King Lear, in which he stars, justified."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7739158.stm

It sounds like they've made some substantial changes.

Pete Postlethwaite is going to be on Front Row, BBC4 tonight, 7.15 pm.

Correction, although most people probably realise this, but Front Row is on Radio 4 (not BBC4 TV.) It will probably be available to listen to after broadcast via Listen Again

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/arts/frontrow/

Theoretically, yes: if someone sets up a fake WoS site and then manages to persuade you to visit it instead of the real site, then they could capture your password. But that's a lot of work to go to just to be able to post under someone else's name on a forum. It's kind of like buying a house next to a bank and tunnelling through the walls in order to steal a pen. Your password is safe.

Ah, but my reputation is on the line here! Priceless!!

(As you may have gathered, I'm not that tech minded, so I appreciate the re-assurance!)

I should add that it would be a different matter if you were logging into a bank account, obviously.

Thanks for that. Is it my impression or did Pete Postlethwaite clearly (if not openly) put the blame with Rupert Goold?