grondfic

We're back from holiday (guess where we went!); me having first undergone a tooth extraction, barely finishing the penicillin in time to fly out and drink lots of wine.

So now we're back, and facing the autumn theatre season. So far we have -

September
'The Girl from the North Country' (Old Vic)
'Mrs Orwell' (Southwark Playhouse)
'Against' (Almeida)
'King Lear' (The Globe)

October
'Apologia' (Trafalgar Studios)
'St George and the Dragon' (The National)
Richard Thompson Concert (The Bridge Theatre - brand new venue; really exciting!)

November
'Young Marx' (The Bridge)
'A Murder is Announced' (Churchill, Bromley)
'Albion' (Almeida)
'A Woman of No Importance' (Vaudeville)
'The Lady from the Sea' (Donmar)

December
'A Christmas Carol' (Old Vic)

That's it so far for 2017; but we already have a couple of things (including Essiedou's Hamlet which goes on tour).

However, I've just noticed that Southwark will be putting on J M Barrie's Dear Brutus over the Christmas season. It hasn't even been cast yet; but I'm very tempted. I read it as an A level student, saw one production and then it kinda sank without trace. It's a great, funny, dark, thought-provoking whimsy

Queen Anne (RSC at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket)
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Dessert (Southwark Playhouse)
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The Play that Goes Wrong (The Duchess Theatre)
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(Part 1 can be found here http://grondfic.dreamwidth.org/5907.html )

The Ensemble:

It’s a bit invidious of me to divide the cast into ‘Hamlet’ and ‘Ensemble’; mainly because (unlike the last Hamlet production I saw *cough*), we’re not looking at a play consisting of STAR and the rest. Every character is fully integrated, and can be seen to possess their own backstory. In other words – all their performances are are all layered and nuanced; and each has their ‘moment in the sun’ onstage. The ensemble contains stars, sure. Andrew Scott, Juliet Stevenson, Jessica Brown Findlay, David Rintoul and, arguably Peter Wight and Angus Wright could reasonably lay claim to star-(or one-time-star-)status; whilst Luke Thompson is surely a star of the future on stage and tv.

So here are my impressions of some fine actors doing their job supremely:

Horatio
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Gertrude and Claudius
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’The Polonii’
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Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
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Old Hamlet/The Ghost
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I've treated some of this miles-deep interpretation of Hamlet in some depth .. and yet STILL there are things I've had to leave out. The Players and their wonderful dumb-show of The Mousetrap; the Gravedigger; the soldiery; the actors who only appeared on the screens. I can only say that the play runs until September 2. There's still time to see it if you can get hold of a ticket!

June has been a month of mixed fortunes for us as theatregoers. A nervous edge has been added to each visit with the post-Borough-Market re-imposition of bag searches, plus an airport-like limit on the size of our 'handbag-age'. Cue the metallic tape-measure, and a lot of heart-searching about what outfit goes with which (reduced) handbag.

Anyway, onwards and upwards to -

Love in Idleness (Apollo Theatre)
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Common (National Theatre)
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Well, I WAS going to add a third review here - Andrew Scott's Hamlet. But after that last review, I think I should maybe write more fully in a separate entry. After I've re-read the programme, looked at all the pictures, and purged myself from the contemplation of Common.

It's the Poet-Laureate's reaction to the General Election, written for The Guardian:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/jun/10/campaign-a-poem-by-carol-ann-duffy-exclusively-for-the-guardian

.... to my dear friend rusty_armour.

Have a great day; and all fond wishes for a successful year.

Here are some images from our recent trip to Vienna:
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Solar Heroes? Pffui - who needs them whilst the Dragon guards the Golden Hoard.

Here's one we've met during our travels -

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I've had a number of varied experiences recently, so I thought I'd review them all. Naturally they include theatre and concert visits; but also some other stuff:

Pure Everyday Theatre - Dental Implant Procedure
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Loreena McKennitt (London Palladium)
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Beauty and the Beast (at a cinema near everyone right now)
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Twelfth Night (The National)
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Next-up: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern at the Old Vic, next week; and thereafter our usual Easter arrangement.

the quote is from The Trackers of Oxyrhynchus by Tony Harrison (with a little help from Sophocles).

Following on from The Trackers review (http://grondfic.dreamwidth.org/2645.html) and The Tempest review (http://grondfic.dreamwidth.org/2822.html), here are my impressions of All the Angels at the Wanamaker Theatre:
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the quote is from The Trackers by Tony Harrison (with a little help from Sophocles).

****

Since New Year, I've seen 3 plays which, in retrospect, seem to me to be linked in their various themes and ambience. They appear to be outlined and pulled together most intensely in the final work I saw - The aforementioned Trackers.

I shall therefore begin with a very full appraisal of this play; and of the performance I saw; and then review the other two plays (The Tempest, livestreamed by the RSC from Stratford; and All the Angels at The Wanamaker Theatre) in the light of those common themes, in a separate post.

The Trackers of Oxyrhynchus (Finborough Theatre)
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