Theatre 2012

[Kitty Kat]

What's happened to this thread?! Last reply APRIL?!

I went to see Birthday at the Royal Court this week. Very good. Enjoyed Stephen Mangan's performance muchly. It did border on too much at times; you could tell which parts were specifically the playwright's experience.

[TurnerPrize]

Oh BLESS YOU for trying Kitty Kat. I was invited to see Birthday, but said NO WAY because my god i HATED Joe Penhall's last play at the Court back in December, plus i cannot stand Lisa Dillon or Stephen Mangan. And then i found that there was a special party afterwards and Geru Hallwell turned up SO CLOSE

2012 has been amazing for theatre so far i think, mostly thanks to the Cultural Olympiad THING. My highlights have been Blanchett, Misterman, Mercury Fur (though it nearly made me throw up), the RSC King John (tackiest production ever but SO FUCKING FABULOUS), and 'Gatz' which was the whole of The Great Gatsby on stage and lasted eight hours but was SO SO GOOD and just flew by. The worst thing i saw was the aforementioned-by-Bev Wild Swans, which was like a fucking school play. Such. Bad. Acting. And the whole entire book was shrivelled down into 90 minutes straight through so it got about as much chance to breath as a wikipedia synopsis. It still felt longer than Gatz though.

I am now mostly excited about the Finding Neverland Musical (premiering in Leicester, somewhat surprisingly), and a lot of this -

[RobotBoy]

I've not been to see anything recently.

[dUb]

I saw London Road the other night, for the second time after seeing it from (and falling asleep in) crappy seats during its previous run.

I loved it this time. Everyone should go.

[Madison]

Oh and if anyone wants to see Stephen Fry on stage for the first time since he went mental and ran off to belgium, he's just been added to the Mark Rylance Twelfth Night at the Globe, palying Malvolio. It will obviously sell out very quickly.

I think that's a brilliant cast, but i'd rather rim a tramp than sit/stand through anything at the Globe again so I'M OUT Debra Meaden style.

I bought three tickets for this - £5 each.

I promotly forgot all about it. I'm on holiday in September and can't go

But it turns out on viagogo they are selling for £60 each. Thanks TP!

[TurnerPrize]

Oh go to the transfer at the Apollo Shaftesbury! It will be indoors and therefore better than that ghastly wooden pit on the southbank. The fact that it's all male still completely puts me off though, and brings out my inner Germaine Greer a bit.

Speaking of you Madison, i saw Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time at the national the other night. I hated the first half so fucking much and had to be talked out of leaving but in the end i UTTERLY LOVED IT. The cast are awesome (i mean it features UNA STUBBS and spoiler an actual adorable real life puppy <3). It's in cinemas next week if anyone is interested and isn't near The Nash/can't get tickets. I expect it will transfer as well though (probably to the Olivier).

I also saw Birthday in the end and must choke on my words because i thought it was brilliant (i didn't know that the angry beautician lady from AbFab was in it basically playing the EXACT SAME CHARACTER). I am now mostly looking forward to the new Caryl Churchill play, and the fierce combination that is WILL YOUNG in CABARET. After a good summer it's looking a bit like theatrical slim pickings for the next few months, alas.

[Madison]

I was disappointed by the spoiler.

[TurnerPrize]

It really was ADORABLE though. I bet even your heart would melt. I don't usually care for such things myself either.

[TurnerPrize]

ALTHOUGH, everyone was either going AWWWWW or/and wondering if it was going to bark/piss all over the Treadaway boy playing Christopher so it did take you out of the moment somewhat.

[Sharla]

I had the shock of my life walking down my local high street earlier when I saw a huge poster, as big as you like, advertising The Best New Comedy of 2012.

With the hilarious title of "Whose Coat Is That Jacket?" (I'm literally typing this through tears of laughter) it stars someone I've never heard of alongside TERRI DWYER(!!!!)with someone who was an extra in Doctor Who in a supporting role. I don't think it will be getting a West End transfer and the best seats in the theatre are only £14.50.

I'm tempted to get a front row seat give a standing ovation every time she comes on stage and to shout out "Bless you Terri, your parents would be dead proud of you!"

[dUb]

I saw Loserville the other day which was bloody awful.

[TurnerPrize]

I trust you didn't pay? It looks SO SO BAD, but i do quite want to see it still. Was anything about it good? I did quite fancy the lead (POSSIBLY?) when he was playing Ian Beale's evil son in 07.

I love how desperate the posters are too. I've seen at least four variants of the "If you like [NAME OF ANY POPULAR FILM/TV SHOW AIMED AT YOUNG PEOPLE] then you'll LOVE Loserville!" slogan, with things ranging from Glee to The It Crowd namechecked. It will surely lose hundreds and hundreds of thousands of pounds. The target market can't really afford west end prices (even slightly cheaper ones), and i'm not sure they'll even wish they could in this case.

Oh and in other theatre news, Finding Neverland MUST come to the West End. Loads needs changing (and apparently loads has already) and it could do with an entirely new score (well, 95%), but it's just lovelier than lovely. I expect it would do well if they sort out the kinks and parachute in Paltrow/Katherine Jenkins to be a bit shit in the Winslet part for the first four/five months.