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Greg
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Feb 25, 2017 05:39PM
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Play: Ça ira (1), Fin de LouisWriter: Joël Pommerat
Finish date: 26.02.2017
Rating: 5 star
Winner 2016 Molières 2016 (French Theater Oscars...)
Review
Greg wrote: "I have tickets to Fun Home on Wednesday - can't wait!!"I had to look this one up, Greg. I'm not sure that it's been to the UK? Let us all know what it's like when you've seen it.
Live theatre is something very special, isn't it?
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I had to look this one up, Greg. I'm not sure that it's been to the UK? Let us all know what it's like when you've seen it.
L..."
Will do Gill; some of my friends saw the show on Broadway in NY and loved it. I have high hopes!
Gill wrote: "Hi Nancy, nice to see you back again."Thank, you Gill...I needed some 'down time' this month.
Recharged and ready to read more plays....!
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Last week, Ron & I went to see Matthew Bourne's The Red Shoes. For me, the performance wasn't in the top tier of my favorite Bourne works like Edward Scissorhands, Swan Lake, or the Car Man, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.
https://www.centertheatregroup.org/ti...
Tonight we're going to see a smaller play, a Oscar-themed comedy by Paul Rudnick, "Big Night" ... should be fun! https://www.centertheatregroup.org/ti...
Then, a week from Friday, we have tickets to see the Deaf West production of "Our Town" .. so eager to see what their talented artistic staff do with it! I'm really looking forward to this one!
https://www.pasadenaplayhouse.org/eve...
What a nice way to relax Greg!Was The Red Shoes about a pair of ballet shoes or something completely different? (I ask because there is a British movie called "The Red Shoes" about ballet shoes)
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Was The Red Shoes about a pair of ballet shoes or something completely different? (I ask because there is a British movie called "The Red Shoes" about ballet shoes)"
Thanks Leslie!
It's based on both the movie and the original fairy tale! - I'll have to watch the movie again now because I hardly remember it, but the show was based on a classic movie and ended on an incident with a train. I suspect it's the movie you're talking about.
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Glad to see you are still keeping this thread going Greg! It sounds like you have been seeing some good plays.I went to NY to see the Harry Potter play (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child) on Broadway this week. The play is so long that it is divided into 2 separate shows (Part 1 and 2) - we saw Part 1 on the Wed. matinee and then Part 2 Wed. night so it was a long day! But I am glad that I didn't have to wait more than a few hours to see the 2nd half as the first part ended on a cliffhanger. I won't say anything about the play itself as they make a big deal about "keep the secret"...
I recently discovered that L.A. Theatre Works has a free streaming audio-play each week:https://latw.org/broadcasts#broadcast
Last week I listened to Anouilh's play Becket, or the Honor of God. I didn't realize until partway through that this is the play that was the basis of the 1964 movie "Becket". Very powerful.
I have listened to several plays through the L.A. Theatre Works website since I posted last. This week the play is an adaptation of Shakespeare's 2 King Henry IV plays, combining them. I started to listen but decided that I actually wanted to read/listen to the complete plays so I switched to the LibriVox full cast recording of King Henry IV, Part 1 while I read the text in my Kindle omnibus "The Complete Works of Shakespeare".
While I am glad that I attempted this play, it reminded me of why I had stopped reading Shakespeare -- I find his language difficult when I don't have the visual component (and sometimes even with it!) and generally miss all the comic relief. I'll have to search out a video of the play and see how I like it once I have seen a performance. In the meantime, I give this historical fiction 3* (thanks to the help of Sparknotes!).
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https://latw.org/broadcasts#broadcast
Last week I listened to Anouilh's play [book:Becket, or the Honor of..."
I didn't know this Leslie - I'll definitely check it out!
I just finished listening to the L.A. Theatre Works full cast audiobook of Macbeth. An excellent production (though the witches spoke a little too quickly in the opening scene).
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Just finished listening - and reading at the same time! - King Lear. Always breath taking!!!!
I was considering reading some historical cronicles by the Bard; what do you think of Richard II?
I have only read a few of the historical Shakespeare plays & Richard II is not one of those. Do you want to read it together? If so, when?
For anyone who is interested: for the rest of this week (I believe until 12 Dec. 2019) L.A. Theatre Works has their full cast recording of Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband available for free streaming. A very funny play about a politician & a blackmailing adventuress...
https://latw.org/broadcasts#broadcast
This week's play by LATW is the French classic The Liar by Pierre Corneille, translated by Richard Wilbur (who did marvellous translations!).Not quite as funny as the best of Moliere but the humor was similar. I would love to see a production of this play in the theater!
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for the rest of this week (I believe until 12 Dec. 2019) L.A. Theatre Works has their full cast recording of Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband available..."
A shame I missed it Leslie!
Greg wrote: "Leslie wrote: "For anyone who is interested: for the rest of this week (I believe until 12 Dec. 2019) L.A. Theatre Works has their full cast recording of Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband"
You could listen to The Importance of Being Earnest instead:
https://soundcloud.com/latheatreworks...
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for the rest of this week (I believe until 12 Dec. 2019) L.A. Theatre Works has their full cast recording of Oscar Wilde's "
Thanks Leslie! :)
Also, the Globe Theatre has made Shakespeare's plays available for viewing for free. I've been enjoying Romeo and Juliet.http://www.openculture.com/2020/04/wa...
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http://www.openculture.com/2020/04/wa......"
Nice! Thanks for letting us know Tamara! I will definitely make use of it.
The National Theatre has been releasing a play each week on YouTube. The current play is Frankenstein. There are two versions. Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller alternate roles of the Creature and Victor Frankenstein.
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That must be the one they were showing in movie theaters in the US some years ago. If I remember correctly, that had special limited showings of it. I missed it though. I guess this is my second chance! Thanks Faith!
Greg wrote: "Faith wrote: "The National Theatre has been releasing a play each week on YouTube. The current play is Frankenstein. There are two versions. Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller alternate role..."Yes, it's the one they showed in theaters. I missed it too, but I've now seen both versions.
Tamara wrote: "Also, the Globe Theatre has made Shakespeare's plays available for viewing for free. I've been enjoying Romeo and Juliet.http://www.openculture.com/2020/04/wa......"
Great! I am trying to get back to my project of reading all of Shakespeare's plays and that will be a big help.
Leslie, I clicked on the link yesterday to watch the end of Romeo and Juliet and now it's saying the video is no longer available. I don't know why. I'm sorry. I hope they put it back on.
I have recently read two volumes of Harold Pinter's plays - very dark, surreal and indeed Pinteresque!I really enjoy Arthur Miller's plays too, especially Death of a Salesman (which I studied as a mature A-level student) and All My Sons.
Tamara wrote: "Leslie, I clicked on the link yesterday to watch the end of Romeo and Juliet and now it's saying the video is no longer available. I don't know why. I'm sorry. I hope they put it back on."Oh well. I have read & seen Romeo and Juliet before (and I bet that there are productions of it on YouTube). Apparently each play is only available for a given "run" just as in a theater. Currently Two Noble Kinsmen is playing until 17 May and Macbeth is opening 11 May. I have never heard of The Two Noble Kinsmen so that is a bonus!
I followed your link to this one:
https://www.shakespearesglobe.com/watch/
Kim wrote: "I have recently read two volumes of Harold Pinter's plays - very dark, surreal and indeed Pinteresque!I really enjoy Arthur Miller's plays too, especially Death of a Salesman (which I studied as ..."
I have to be in the right frame of mind to enjoy Pinter - as you say, surreal and dark!
Arthur Miller I enjoy though I haven't read or seen any of his plays in several years.
Leslie wrote: "I followed your link to this one:https://www.shakespearesglobe.com/watch/..."
Thanks, Leslie!
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I really enjoy Arthur Miller's plays too, especially Death of a Salesman (which I studied as ..."
Death of a Salesman is a wonderful play, so very affecting! I have read and seen several of his plays, and many of them are excellent.
This week's offering on L.A. TheatreWorks website is a comedy by W. Somerset Maugham called The Constant Wife. A great comedy of manners with some surprisingly strong feminist views (considering it was written in 1927)...https://latw.org/broadcasts#broadcast
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GReat this work!!! I'll listen to it in a day or two.
Thanks a lot for the news Leslie!!!!
LauraT wrote: "Leslie wrote: "This week's offering on L.A. TheatreWorks website is a comedy by W. Somerset Maugham called The Constant Wife. A great comedy of manners with some surprisingly strong..."Enjoy! And if it isn't the first (top) play shown on the page, scroll down to the recent broadcasts section.
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I'll give it a closer look!!!
I finished Henry VI, Part 1 by William Shakespeare (as part of my Kindle omnibus "The Complete Works of Shakespeare" and listening to the full cast audiobook from LibriVox) - 4*My thoughts:
A great play. I am not one who loves all Shakespeare (especially the histories) but this one is very accessible. The language isn't too arcane plus it involves historical events that many will recognize (Joan of Arc, the War of the Roses, the 100 Years War etc.)
The LibriVox full cast audiobook was very well done & a great complement to reading the text. I especially liked the guy who did Talbot who had a deep somewhat growly voice.
Before posting here, I did a little searching to decide if this play was 'history' or 'historical fiction' & learned some interesting facts, especially from Rex Factor at
https://rexfactor.wordpress.com/2017/...
"The good news for Shakespeare when it comes to his history plays is that he drew extensively from chronicles and histories. Primary among his sources was Raphael Holinshead’s The Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland (the second edition, published in 1587), which told the complete story of the three kingdoms from their origins to the present day. This was actually the work of multiple authors but it was an important and extremely popular work because such a comprehensive history had not been published before for the British Isles.
As well as Holinshead, Shakespeare also made use of other histories available at the time such as Polydore Vergil (author of an English history commissioned by Henry VII) and Edward Hall’s The Union of the Two Noble and Illustre Families of Lancastre and Yorke, covering from 1399 and the death of Henry VIII in 1547. These histories were far from perfect in terms of accuracy, but they were the best sources available and Shakespeare did as much as was possible in the 1590s to research the real history."
However, as Factor goes on to explain, Shakespeare wrote with a good deal of Tudor bias towards history (and I have to wonder about the amount of this bias in Shakespeare's sources as well).
"The Tudors were keen to promote the idea that from the deposition of Richard II to the defeat of Richard III, England was a country mostly in chaos and civil war (known as the Wars of the Roses) due to the evils of rebellion and usurpation against a rightfully anointed king. It was, according to the Tudor view, only with Henry VII’s victory at Bosworth that peace was restored. As an example of how Shakespeare helped create a false national remembrance of this period, the phrase “Wars of the Roses” is actually a nineteenth century term based on a scene in Shakespeare’s Henry VI (Part 1) where the opposing sides pick which rose to wear as emblems. In reality, the Lancastrians did not wear a red rose during the conflict but rather Henry VII used it for symbolic purposes to create the Tudor rose (both white and red) to symbolise national unity." (my emphasis)
I had no idea that the term "War of the Roses" was a relatively recent one!
Currently reading the complete plays of George Bernard Shaw (starting Heartbreak House) and the Shakespeare plays I haven’t read before (Troilus and Cressida, Timon of Athens, Coriolanus for starters).
Patrick wrote: "Currently reading the complete plays of George Bernard Shaw (starting Heartbreak House) and the Shakespeare plays I haven’t read before (Troilus and Cressida, Timon of Athens, Coriolanus for starte..."Hey, I am (very slowly) making my way through Shaw's plays as well. I find that I like his commentary and stage direction almost as much as the plays! Have you read The Devil's Disciple yet? It's one of my favorites.
^ I haven’t gotten to The Devil’s Disciple yet; I’m nearing the end of the first volume of the classic six-volume set, which has all the prefaces, etc, and I’m reading all of that. Fascinating stuff. And yes, the stage directions are so thorough and descriptive, one might as well be reading a novel.
The Devil’s Advocate was made into a really good movie starring Lawrence Olivier and Kirk Douglas (among others). You might check it out. That play was a big boost to Shaw’s popularity, especially in the U. S.
Yes, I have seen the film - in fact, I saw it before I knew it was based on a Shaw play. When I started reading the play, it seemed so familiar but it took me a while to realize why!
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Stephen Karam (other topics)Joël Pommerat (other topics)
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