postcardsfromtheoryland:

Oh my lord, surprising rice! xD I will never be able to listen to that episode in the same way again!

Alex Jennings as Henry (Benjamin Britten) and Richard Griffiths as Fitz (WH Auden). Photo by Johan Persson.


Richard Griffiths as Fitz (WH Auden), Alex Jennings as Henry (Benjamin Britten) & Adrian Scarborough as Donald (Humphrey Carpenter). Photo by Johan Persson.


Stephen Wright as Tim (Stuart) and John Heffernan as George (Assistant Stage Manager). Photo by Johan Persson.


Alex Jennings as Henry (Benjamin Britten). Photo by Johan Persson.


Frances de la Tour as Kay (Stage Manager). Photo by Johan Persson.


Richard Griffiths as Fitz (WH Auden). Photo by Johan Persson.

ntlive:

totally-sherwholocked:

waggers12:

Oh, fantastic I find stuff like this so interesting but I didn’t take pictures when I was in there!

THE WAIT IS OVER AT LAST! I went to the first preview of Edward II at the National Theatre on Wednesday Couple of days late as I’ve had job applications and work to do, but someone wanted early reviews, so…

I’ll put my not-really-a-review-more-of-a-Hefferpraisy-ramble under a cut for spoilers, but I will just say this for everyone: If you’re homophobic, don’t bother. (Also obviously just…just don’t. Stop it.) The people there on Wednesday night complaining about boys doing things they didn’t want to see boys doing…just *SIGH*. If you’re going to book to see an ‘erotic play’ about a king who has male lovers, you cannot say you weren’t warned. Dear LORD. People! *rolls eyes*

Anyway, under the cut lies POSITIVITY and more spoilers than I intended, though not as many as I could’ve put in…

Well. The beginning is probably a good place to start. First preview, and I was in the third row right over on stage right, just so you can imagine my viewing angle. As it happened, I quite liked being at the side…but I’ll talk about that later. The set…gosh. No fourth wall - I could see the actors and crew getting ready at the sides (cue a bit of ‘LOOK! THERE’S JOHN!’ before it had even started) and there’s a room built so that the panels facing the audience are all unfinished looking. Bare wood with notes for the crew written all over. To begin with I wondered if it was maybe just not finished in time, but no, it’s meant to be like that. Which I like, actually. Edward’s reign was hardly perfect and polished - why should his surroundings be?

Anyway, we begin with director Joe Hill-Gibbins coming on to say that they ran out of time for rehearsal. They haven’t finished. They only finished tech at 5:30pm that day and so they haven’t even had a dress rehearsal yet. Not only are we seeing this run from start to finish for the first time, so is he! Bit seat of the pants, then…!

I hope it’s not too much of a spoiler to say that there’s a lot of camera work in it. I mean, they’re in the rehearsal photos… There are projection screens that, at intervals, show live action being recorded on stage, and pre-recorded clips. A lot of it is stuff filmed inside the room, which aside from the odd glimpse through windows (and perhaps over the top, if you’re in the circle? I couldn’t say… you only get to see via video on the screens. (Sorry to say to people looking forward to it, the already infamous ‘masked orgy’ happens inside that room…if you want to see John getting his kit off, you have to wait a bit longer :P) Now there’s loads of reasons I liked this filming idea. The whole surveillance thing made it feel like there was reason to not trust anybody. It was claustrophobic, really got in the actors’ faces. And it was kind of creepy, because so many characters (the ones with the cameras included) had masks on the whole time. I really liked the whole medieval-meets-modern thing going on. It also meant that sometimes we had two things going on at once - something on stage and something different on screen, most memorably for me near the end, when Edward was staggering around behind the set, seen on screen, and Isabella and Mortimer were being all powerful on stage. The juxtaposition was great. Downsides? I did feel like some of the video bits went on a little long, just now and then. There’s one scene where nothing happens except for on the screens, and I was starting to wish it’d hurry up and get back on stage. Even if they just had Edward and Gaveston frolicking about a bit silently while the screen scene was going on, I think that’d be good…the contrast of them having fun while the barons are plotting Gaveston’s banishment would be interesting. But hey, I’m not a theatre director and probably for good reason! The other thing is, sometimes the cameras are a bit in the way. I do love the concept but when you can’t see the actors because there’s a camera in front, it gets a bit annoying. Very near the end, Edward has a wonderful little speech which John delivered beautifully - for me, it was one of his real shining moments - but he says it straight to camera, with the camera in the way. I liked seeing it up on screen, all big, with him looking directly at us, but I’d rather see him do it on stage, not just be looking at a cameraman’s arse, you know? I hope they change that…

They play around a bit with Marlowe’s sсript. Added bits. Wait and see… It’s one of the things those who don’t like it really won’t like (people sat near me were saying they’d ‘taken too many liberties’…they didn’t like the modernisation either because it was ‘tasteless’ apparently, but hey, it was always going to be divisive) but I thought it was great.

What else? I mentioned boys kissing, I think. There’s a lot of boys kissing. At length. And a few audience members tutting about it. It’s history, darlings! What did you think Edward and his lover were doing? Having tea and scones?!

LOVED Gaveston’s entrance. I won’t ruin it. But it’s fab. Kyle Soller is brilliant, and I’m glad I’ve finally managed to see him in something after hearing so many good things - all true, it turns out. I mean, I spent half the play feeling a bit jealous of him, but y’know :P He does an excellent swagger, and I liked that he kept his American accent, too. Made him seem out of place without there having to be any fake French. LOVED that he doubled as Lightborn. I know it’s not a new idea but it’s a brilliant one. That the man who plays such a huge role in Edward’s power is the one who finally finishes him off is clever, and then when he’s killed too and they lie there dead together…it’s touching, in a horrible, sad way.

Very honorable mentions to Vanessa Kirby and Kobna Holdbrook-Smith as Isabella and Mortimer. Mortimer kind of scared me with his power-crazy bit in the second half! The whole cast were fab but I’d definitely pick those two out. Even if I’d hated the concept and modernisation, I’d have still loved the play for the acting. Not a weak link to be found.

John Heffernan. Oh, man. I think I’ve made it fairly obvious what I think of him already, but… There aren’t enough words to describe how fantastic I think he is, there really aren’t. Every performance he gives is an absolute masterclass. I’ve always found him to be particularly wonderful at being adorably excitable and really heartbreaking, and this gives him the chance to do both. He does vulnerability outstandingly well - better than anyone else I can think of. The way he screamed in his death scene physically hurt to listen to. Actually, everything he did after falling from power hurt. The way he staggered around on screen was painful. The fear and sadness in his eyes was horrible. When they bring out the plastic sheeting that he eventually dies on, the look on his face…Christ. The desperation as he reaches out to the man who’s going to kill him… I spent pretty much the entire second half with my face in my hands, to be honest. But I’m skipping ahead. In the first half, his joy at seeing Gaveston is just lovely. He’s hilariously adorable as he showers him in titles. And his excitable flaily squeally-growl thing he does after snogging his face off when he returns from exile the second time is fantastic xD He does a great job of being a bit of an annoying twat without being *just* an annoying twat. I thought he made Edward someone who really needed love and attention in quite a childlike way. Reading the play beforehand, I thought he came over as a shitty, selfish king who deserved to be kicked off the throne. John made me feel much more for him than that. He was still a shitty king but one I felt couldn’t quite help it. I’d be interested to know what others think about that though, because it could be that I’m just a bit more sympathetic to him because my soft spot for John makes me biased as hell. Wouldn’t be surprised. He’s just so bloody good though… OH. Lastly, I liked how he wore fewer and fewer clothes as the play went on! Not in a pervy way okay yeah partly in a pervy way but come on but because I liked how it mirrored his fall from grace. He starts off so regal, god the robes are lovely, and ends up dying in an open shirt and boxers, looking really quite pathetic. (Reminds me, I loved Isabella’s dresses. Gorgeous. And I liked the furry waistcoat thing she had on at the end, like she’d become some kind of animal. A she-wolf, I suppose, appropriately.) Oh, and I liked the way John’s hair flopped over his crown. That one, admittedly, is purely because it was aesthetically pleasing :P

What else should I say? Argh, there’s so much more. It’s such a fascinating production. I should shut up though, this is long and I’m really not interesting enough to do justice to it. Perhaps I’ll continue after press night… I’ll finish, then, with why I liked being at the side, because I said I’d come back to it. a) Some things looked like they might be obscured by people with cameras if you were sat centrally. I may be wrong. But it was nice to see those things. b) You could see a bit inside the room through a side window - just an interesting place to look now and then. c) Few things happened facing sideways that I think might work better face on, or at least, that I saw face on from my seat and liked that way. Edward’s death scene, for example - we saw his face rather than the side view. It was painful to watch, but horribly brilliant acting from John that a lot of people won’t have been able to see. d) If you’re right round stage right you get to see John take his trousers off at the side xD Don’t think that will have been visible in many seats, hahaha!

So…yeah. TL;DR - needs tightening up, bit rough round the edges, few flaws, but these can and hopefully will be sorted before press night. Fascinating concept that some will love and others will hate with the burning of a thousand red hot pokers. Brilliant cast. JOHN HEFFERNAN IS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE. Boys kissing. More boys kissing. He wasn’t lying about there being an orgy. Really, really interesting production, could be very special indeed, despite those who will inevitably absolutely detest it. GIVE JOHN HEFFERNAN SOME AWARDS PLEASE. Thrilling night. Go see!

michael-peers:

Oh god, it’s so good. Few flaws and work to be done before press night but it could be very, very special. Concept’s fascinating, whole cast’s brilliant. John is…*sigh* John is magnificent.

takingtherestofthedayoff:

Um…yeah. He wasn’t joking! So… Um… Yeah.

I’ll write a review, of sorts, soon. Job application to finish first!

Sherlock filming, August 22, 2013. #setlock #benedictcumberbatch

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