| Author | Message | ||
     Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.157.114.136 |
The other week we got given two tickets to see david Tennant in Love's Labour's Lost. Yesterday we rush to see it feeing all chuffed only to find it's the understudy production, and that David T is only in it for a tiny bit. Not bad, you know, for four quid. We stick around. we see a queue for return tickets for Hamlet that night, with Tennant and Patrick Stewart, and decide to try for them (there were four of us needed tickets). Anyway, ten minutes before the show is due to start two of us get them. My stepson says he's not so excited about seeing it and gives me his ticket. It's for standing up in the Gods, but I'm chuffed as, again, it's only a fiver. Peering down on what is a great play and a great production, I see an empty seat three rows from the front, and keep checking now and then. It stays empty till the interval. When halfway comes I run like the clappers and get the seat. I have a seat about 8 feet away from the stage, for a fiver!!! At one point I am at arm's length from Tennant, and at the end get a smile off Stewart (I think I made him laugh for clapping like a nutcase). And...it's really, really good. Tennant is very Dr Who, I must say, in this, and at one point even teeters on being a bit Jim Carrey. Also it's my first Hamlet but won't be my last; I have a couple of dusty versions on my shelves - Nicol Williamson in a 60s movie and Olivier's version - that I've not even watched, but always meant to. And I know this sounds inane, but it's excellent, isnt it...? | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 79.70.122.241 |
Wow. That's great Tony. Experiences like that don't come along every day. | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.157.114.136 |
It was awesome, Ally. It feels like a dream. Didn't get back till three last night. Also my wife and stepson got in for the last half - the staff let in them in for a couple of quid donation. And these tickets are HUNDREDS on ebay. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 129.11.76.229 |
Good job it wasn't Love's Labour Lost. Its jokes are so specific to Shake's time that it's almost meaningless! My partner received her Degree Scroll from Patrick Stewart after he was awarded an honorary degree. Nice guy. | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 218.168.193.194 |
Nice one, Tony! Sounds like a great performance and an experience you'll never forget. | ||
| Simon Strantzas (Nomis) Username: Nomis Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 38.113.181.169 |
The lucky part was if they'd started doing "Loves Labours Won", Tennent would have been there to save the day. (Oy, how many times has he had to deal with that cruddy joke, y'think?) | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 75.5.9.81 |
Tony - see Olivier's HAMLET. The best of all the Shakespeares filmed (except maybe Polanski's MACBETH); contains one of the scariest ghosts in all of horror; Peter Cushing as a prancing Osric; atmosphere to spare; you can't go wrong... | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 129.11.76.230 |
Don't see Branaugh's - it's giddier than a cat beside a fish pond. | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 75.5.9.81 |
I detest Branaugh's HAMLET. He's the Suze Orman of acting: I listen long enough, and his voice - the very shrillness of it - eventually gets under my skin, and I feel compelled to puncture both my eardrums with rusty nails. Rusty nails, because they're more painful, and I need screaming agony to pound out his reedy incessant cawing from my mind.... Other than that, I'm not a big fan of his. | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 75.5.9.81 |
Though in fairness, he was good in CELEBRITY, channeling Woody Allen, in one of Allen's best least-appreciated flicks.... | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 129.11.76.230 |
I like Celebrity, too. | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 75.5.9.81 |
The set-pieces with Charlize Theron and Leonardo DiCaprio are priceless. And Judy Davis... still my #1 favorite actress... she can do no wrong.... | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.219.8.243 |
There we go: I knew we'd connect somehow about film, Craig. I adore Judy Davis. | ||
| Barbara Roden (Nebuly) Username: Nebuly Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 142.22.186.12 |
Haven't seen his Hamlet, but Branagh's film versions of Henry V and Much Ado About Nothing are both excellent. Sounds like you had a great experience, Tony, particularly when you were able to get up close. My mom went to Europe with her family in 1959, and they were able to see Olivier in something - Coriolanus, I think - in Stratford. Mom says they were right at the front, and it was incredible to be that close to a performer like Olivier at the top of his powers. | ||
| Guy (Guy) Username: Guy Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 79.144.252.203 |
Loathed Olivier's Hamlet... full of terrible artifice, poetry and rhythm fighting against emotion. When I was at theatre school I was nearly beaten up over it by a towering bisexual who wore a Garrick tie and soliloquised at cabbies when in his cups. Now... Mel Gibson... not bad! It's a wonder I ever had a successful career as an actor isn't it? Oh wait... I didn't. | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 75.5.9.81 |
Hamlet really should be very young... an early twenty-something angsty-emo kid of some kind... it's hard to find one of those in the given versions.... I guess I liked HENRY V and MUCH ADO... but they were both forgettable. Olivier's HENRY V is most certainly un-forgettable, however - even more so (less so?), his RICHARD III. (Which I hear was the inspiration for John Lydon's Johnny Rotten persona, Olivier's portrayal of Richard III in this film?... I think that's what I remember a friend telling me....) Judy Davis in HUSBANDS & WIVES alone, is near perfection: one of the all-time best female roles ever. I've been very much hoping, Zed, that Davis' earlier films that I've not seen - GEORGIA, HEATWAVE, etc. - will make it to dvd. No luck so far, alas.... | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 79.70.122.241 |
I love going to open air performances. Watched A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM this year. MUCH ADO last year - Wonderful stuff. | ||
| Frank (Frank) Username: Frank Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 79.187.206.46 |
Craig - I must be feeling a bit woozy or something, because Judy Davis is an outstanding actress. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.242.126 |
Craig - I must admit I've seen woefully few of her films. I'm rather fond of her in BARTON FINK - my favourite Cohen Brothers film. I find her screen presence utterly compelling. Even liked her in WHO DARES WINS... :-) | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.157.114.136 |
What was odd was i got talking to an old man in the audience; he has been going to that theatre almost every week for fifty years, taken first by his dad, and even been in some productions, including Midsummer Night's Dream in the sixties; directed by Peter Brook... This was almost as humbling as seeing Tennant and Stewart! | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 67.116.103.241 |
Zed - discover the sheer joy that is Judy Davis in these films: -- MY BRILLIANT CAREER (a natural) -- A PASSAGE TO INDIA (creepy) -- KANGAROO (if you like this kind of movie, you'll love this movie) -- HIGH TIDE (a drunk: great small flick) -- IMPROMPTU (ha!) -- NAKED LUNCH (of course) -- HUSBANDS AND WIVES (so good, worth mentioning twice) -- CELEBRITY (this too!) -- THE NEW AGE (across from Peter Weller... nice indictment on yuppies that's probably still relevant) -- CHILDREN OF THE REVOLUTION (weird comedy, quirky, unique - a treat) These are the best of what I've seen so far... I've left out ones where she just couldn't outshine the terrible movie (THE REF, anyone?...) | ||
| Adriana (Adriana) Username: Adriana Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 99.230.239.233 |
That's so cool, Tony. I don't suppose you happened to have had a chance to tell Tennant that I want to have his babies??? | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.219.8.243 |
I've always found Judy Davis weirdly sexy. :-o | ||
| Simon_b (Simon_b) Username: Simon_b Registered: 10-2008 Posted From: 86.24.165.182 |
Don't worry, Zed, mate. They can treat that on the NHS now.  | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.219.8.243 |
Hey, you finally found your way here! Welcome, mate... | ||
| Simon_b (Simon_b) Username: Simon_b Registered: 10-2008 Posted From: 86.24.165.182 |
Cheers, pal. Better late than never. Where's the beer? | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 79.70.62.122 |
Hey - it's Simon! A big welcome to you! | ||
| Simon_b (Simon_b) Username: Simon_b Registered: 10-2008 Posted From: 86.24.165.182 |
Hi there, Ally. What's a nice girl like you doing in a place like this? | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 79.70.62.122 |
That Zeddy man lured me in a couple of years ago and I can't find the key to get out. | ||
| Simon_b (Simon_b) Username: Simon_b Registered: 10-2008 Posted From: 86.24.165.182 |
Yes, you have to be careful with these Geordies. They're bad influences... | ||
| Danzinger (Albie) Username: Albie Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 212.50.191.46 |
"Of course it later unfolded that it was Father dressed in the lion skin, and the newspapers filled with articles on several mutilations and rapes in the district were mock ups and all part of the april fool prank. We did laugh." | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 75.5.11.102 |
"He was discovered in his basement, smeared with his own filth, muttering and batting away at a strangely moist typewriter. On closer inspection, it was discovered he had fixed needles to every key, their points jutting upward; and that he was not, in fact, wearing red gloves...." |