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Last night, my beloved ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
cheshcat and I made our first visit to London's Donmar Warehouse theatre to see a production of Coriolanus.
This production was special for us in a couple of ways and, actually, we were quite lucky to get tickets. All the seats for the two month run of this production sold out within half an hour. Tis only because I was at the ready, keyboard in hand, at the moment that they went on sale to the general public.
Part of the reason for the quick sellout is that the Donmar Warehouse is a rather small venue, with only 250 seats. The other part, which I did not realise when buying tickets months ago, is that the title role is played by Tom Hiddleston -- best known for portraying the recurring villain Loki in Marvel's cinematic universe. Indeed, it wasn't until after reading this NY Times review of Thor: The Dark World, that I became aware that we would be seeing "Loki" on stage.
Hiddleston was very good and, in a true testament to his ability as an actor, he played a character very different than Loki. The production was good, although I must confess that this is not one of my favourite Shakespeare plays. Indeed, I would say that it is my least favourite of the four Roman plays; Coriolanus is too flat of a character, lacking the depth of a Brutus, an Anthony, or a Caesar. To say nothing of a comparison with the brilliance of Titus Andronicus
At the end of the performance, I turned tocheshcat and said: "That's it. We've done it." The woman next to me -- who had flown over from Ireland[*] to see Tom Hiddleston -- overheard and, being curious, asked what we had done. I explained to her that we have now seen every one of Shakespeare's extant plays performed live on stage. This one, Coriolanus, was the last of the lot. After nearly eight years of living in Merry Olde England, we have seen a live production of every single one of the Bard's thirty-eight plays.
Accomplishing this goal took a fair bit of hunting! As noted in this comment, I had seen 23 of the 38 after living here for two years and a bit. It then took over five more years to track down the remaining 15! After all, tis easy to find a Hamlet or a Midsummer Night's Dream or a Richard III or a Twelfth Night or a Henry V. Much more challenging to find a Timon of Athens or a Two Noble Kinsmen or a Cymbeline. Or a Coriolanus.
So, yes, it took time. And effort. Living in Oxford -- an hour's drive from Stratford-upon-Avon and two hours from London -- helped a lot. So did this page, which was a tremendous resource. It took work, but we did it. Every single one of the Bard's plays, live on stage. Mission accomplished. To be honest, that was even more of a treat than seeing Tom Hiddleston up close, from our third row seats.
Speaking of which, Hiddleston's performance continues a recent trend of seeing some Big Name ActorsTM tread the boards.
In October, we saw David Tennant perform the title role in Richard II at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. It was the first time that we have seen him on stage since 2008 and, quite frankly, he did much better at Richard than he did then in either Hamlet or Love's Labours Lost. In both of those shows, he was basically playing David Tennant, which didn't work so well -- particularly as Hamlet.[**] This time around, he only lapsed into himself once or twice; his Richard II was a suitably tragic king.
We then continue the trend next week in New York City, when we will be seeing Sir Patrick Stewart and Sir Ian McKellen in Pinter's No Man's Land. I've seen each of these amazing actors on stage multiple times, but only once before have I seen them together. That was nearly five years ago, March 2009, when we saw them perform in Waiting for Godot. I'm not a Beckett fan, but they made that show well worth seeing. I suspect that they will do the same for Pinter next week.
Meanwhile, I sit here in the post-Solstice light, enjoying the gradual return of the newborn Sun, and contemplate what my next theatrical goal should be. I suggested seeing all of Alan Ayckbourn's plays -- currently 78 of them -- but this idea was swiftly vetoed bycheshcat.[***]
[*] Which is nothing compared to her friend, who had flown in from Canada to see Hiddleston!
[**] It's rather similar to how I enjoy seeing Jim Carrey act when he's not playing Jim Carrey.
[***] Mainly because, having seen roughly ten of his plays so far -- including six of the most recent eight -- we find the quality to be rather inconsistent. Some are quite good, and I particularly enjoy Communicating Doors. Others are rather disappointing. Definitely hit-or-miss with Ayckbourn. We will be seeing his latest, Arrivals & Departures in February, and I hope it is one of the good ones!
cheshcat and I made our first visit to London's Donmar Warehouse theatre to see a production of Coriolanus.This production was special for us in a couple of ways and, actually, we were quite lucky to get tickets. All the seats for the two month run of this production sold out within half an hour. Tis only because I was at the ready, keyboard in hand, at the moment that they went on sale to the general public.
Part of the reason for the quick sellout is that the Donmar Warehouse is a rather small venue, with only 250 seats. The other part, which I did not realise when buying tickets months ago, is that the title role is played by Tom Hiddleston -- best known for portraying the recurring villain Loki in Marvel's cinematic universe. Indeed, it wasn't until after reading this NY Times review of Thor: The Dark World, that I became aware that we would be seeing "Loki" on stage.
Hiddleston was very good and, in a true testament to his ability as an actor, he played a character very different than Loki. The production was good, although I must confess that this is not one of my favourite Shakespeare plays. Indeed, I would say that it is my least favourite of the four Roman plays; Coriolanus is too flat of a character, lacking the depth of a Brutus, an Anthony, or a Caesar. To say nothing of a comparison with the brilliance of Titus Andronicus
At the end of the performance, I turned to
cheshcat and said: "That's it. We've done it." The woman next to me -- who had flown over from Ireland[*] to see Tom Hiddleston -- overheard and, being curious, asked what we had done. I explained to her that we have now seen every one of Shakespeare's extant plays performed live on stage. This one, Coriolanus, was the last of the lot. After nearly eight years of living in Merry Olde England, we have seen a live production of every single one of the Bard's thirty-eight plays.Accomplishing this goal took a fair bit of hunting! As noted in this comment, I had seen 23 of the 38 after living here for two years and a bit. It then took over five more years to track down the remaining 15! After all, tis easy to find a Hamlet or a Midsummer Night's Dream or a Richard III or a Twelfth Night or a Henry V. Much more challenging to find a Timon of Athens or a Two Noble Kinsmen or a Cymbeline. Or a Coriolanus.
So, yes, it took time. And effort. Living in Oxford -- an hour's drive from Stratford-upon-Avon and two hours from London -- helped a lot. So did this page, which was a tremendous resource. It took work, but we did it. Every single one of the Bard's plays, live on stage. Mission accomplished. To be honest, that was even more of a treat than seeing Tom Hiddleston up close, from our third row seats.
Speaking of which, Hiddleston's performance continues a recent trend of seeing some Big Name ActorsTM tread the boards.
In October, we saw David Tennant perform the title role in Richard II at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. It was the first time that we have seen him on stage since 2008 and, quite frankly, he did much better at Richard than he did then in either Hamlet or Love's Labours Lost. In both of those shows, he was basically playing David Tennant, which didn't work so well -- particularly as Hamlet.[**] This time around, he only lapsed into himself once or twice; his Richard II was a suitably tragic king.
We then continue the trend next week in New York City, when we will be seeing Sir Patrick Stewart and Sir Ian McKellen in Pinter's No Man's Land. I've seen each of these amazing actors on stage multiple times, but only once before have I seen them together. That was nearly five years ago, March 2009, when we saw them perform in Waiting for Godot. I'm not a Beckett fan, but they made that show well worth seeing. I suspect that they will do the same for Pinter next week.
Meanwhile, I sit here in the post-Solstice light, enjoying the gradual return of the newborn Sun, and contemplate what my next theatrical goal should be. I suggested seeing all of Alan Ayckbourn's plays -- currently 78 of them -- but this idea was swiftly vetoed by
cheshcat.[***][*] Which is nothing compared to her friend, who had flown in from Canada to see Hiddleston!
[**] It's rather similar to how I enjoy seeing Jim Carrey act when he's not playing Jim Carrey.
[***] Mainly because, having seen roughly ten of his plays so far -- including six of the most recent eight -- we find the quality to be rather inconsistent. Some are quite good, and I particularly enjoy Communicating Doors. Others are rather disappointing. Definitely hit-or-miss with Ayckbourn. We will be seeing his latest, Arrivals & Departures in February, and I hope it is one of the good ones!
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Yeah, much the way I enjoy seeing Hugh Grant act when he's not playing Hugh Grant.
And Mazel tov!
I was thinking of you guys last night, wondering if you'd done your pilgrimage to Stonehenge. How cool to find out what auspicious occasion you were really celebrating!
::applauds::
::hugs to the puppets::
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Also, a good question about which plays I have seen most frequently. Right now, the record is held by Henry V (7 times), with Richard III as the runner-up (6 times). Honourable mention goes to The Tempest and Twelfth Night (5 times each). *grin*
Thirty-six of the plays are in the 1623 First Folio, with Pericles and The Two Noble Kinsmen rounding out the total to thirty-eight. By an odd coincidence, we have seen professional productions of all thirty-six First Folio plays... but, thus far, only amateur productions of the other two. The quality varied, as the Kinsmen was somewhat disappointing, but the student production of Pericles that we saw last month was surprisingly good. In time, of course, we will see professional productions of those two, also.
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Gods, I can't believe that it has now been over two years since you celebrated Yule with us! Time really does fly! (That's the last time we enjoyed the pleasure of your company, is it not?) For that matter, it has been over four years since you moved back to the States, yes? Wowza... you've been back longer than you were gone!
Well, speaking of the turning of years, we are about to welcome in a new one. Hope it proves joyous and fruitful for the both of you! *more hugs*
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Glad you enjoyed it. A rather fitting end to the year (if Yule counts as the end) before starting again with your jaunt across the pond to see friends and celebrate xmas. Have a great time and I look forward to seeing you all again when 2014 rolls around. Hugs to all.
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I am definitely rather chuffed at completing this goal. Truth be told, other than
I hope you have a most excellent holiday season, and I'm looking forward to seeing you in the new year! Give our love to the rest of the clan up north! *hugs*
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i started quietly keeping an eye out when you both started talking about completing the first folio at the same time a while back, wondering who would hit it first :)
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Although the production of Coriolanus that the Intrepid Arachnid and I saw on the Boston Common was a good one, with able acting and an interesting set design and setting, we could tell from early on that this play was not meant for us. We kept asking each other, "Are we really supposed to like and sympathize with this entitled asshat??" So I'm interested to hear if your reaction to the title character was anything like mine.
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Coriolanus himself does have some redeeming features, such as his bravery and his generosity in sharing the spoils of war with his fellow soldiers. But his utter disdain for the citizens of Rome really leaves him utterly unsympathetic.
In other words, I think our reaction to the title role is pretty similar.
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Hope you're having a good run-up to the holidays!
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Have a safe trip to the states, if you ever make it as far as Arizona let us know!
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I won't be in Arizona on this coming trip, but maybe a visit on a subsequent one could be arranged. I've not been since June 2006, and I would love to go back. I miss some of my old friends from when I used to live in the Phoenix area... and I've not been down to Tucson in even longer.
Gods, I envy you your weather! There are many things that I like about living in England... but the climate isn't one of them! I absolutely adored the Arizona sun when we lived there!
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Miss you so much, and am delighted to be seeing you again in less than two weeks! Prepare to be hugged into next year! ;-D
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Which is mildly disturbing since I've lusted after Patrick Stewart since I was 17...
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