|
|
|
timmy
|
 |
Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13800
|
|
|
Today is a day I never forget.
Thye Storming of the Bastille I only learnt about when I got married, back in 1979. It was not only my wedding day, but the anniversary of my wife's baptism.
Thsi post is not for any congratulations. It is simply to show that it is possible, and usually pleasant, for a gay man to be married to a woman and stay married.
The difficult parts are usually "ok", but they do tend to mean we are not entirely sexually compatible 
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Well, congratulations anyway, Timmy. I hope you have a great day.
David
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
timmy
|
|
Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13800
|
|
|
Going to the theatre in Windsor tonight. Complimentary tickets, so I guess the Theatre Royal is failing again.
Otherwise nothing special
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I wish someone would give us complimentary tickets! I hope it goes well.
I'd be interested to know if it's any good (Confusions, by Alan Ayckbourn, presumably?) as there's nothing on in the cinema at the moment (apart from Hollywood blockbuster trash), and a good play might be a useful motive for inviting a friend or two to stay.
David
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
timmy
|
|
Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13800
|
|
|
Lord. The actors did a great job with awful material. It was truly dreadful. They each deserve a medal. Alan Ayckbourn;s Confusions officially sucks bigtime
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Timmy,
>Confusions officially sucks bigtime
Do you reckon it's the writing, or the direction?
I know nothing about this play, but the impression I get from a quick Google is that it's a play that's often studied by students, and perhaps even considered a classic in its own way.
The reviews do point out that a good director is essential, though.
Unfortunately, I have seen a number of not-very-good plays at Windsor. I have no idea how they get funding (sometimes even funding to go all the way to the West End), while wonderful -- and original -- film scripts (not mine, I might add! other people's) flounder around for years and, in the rare case if made, do so on a budget so small they don't even qualify as shoestring.
David
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
cossie
|
 |
On fire! |
Location: Exiled in North East Engl...
Registered: July 2003
Messages: 1699
|
|
|
... beauty is found in the eye of the beholder. So far as playwrights are concerned, I tend to the view that - unlike some novelists - their earlier work is generally the best. Once they acquire a reputation, the zeal to impart a 'message' distorts their output. Plays with a 'real' message don't deliver it as they go along, they leave a kernel festering in your mind, which may change your outlook on life forever.
As an example, I admire without reservation the early work of Ken Loach. 'Cathy come home' and 'Kes' were seminal influences on my political thinking. But though I am broadly sympathetic to the IDEA of his recent work, such as 'Ae Fond Kiss' and 'The Wind that Shakes the Barley', the message is much less subtle, and sometimes unjustifiably misrepresented.
A novelist who is the exception to prove the rule suggested above is William Golding. 'Lord of the Flies' could be read as an adventure, but the moral implications were firmly planted in the reader's mind. I've tried to get to grips with his later work, but it's far too portentious - or. I might even say - pretentious.
For a' that an' a' that,
It's comin' yet for a' that,
That man tae man, the worrld o'er
Shall brithers be, for a' that.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
timmy
|
|
Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13800
|
|
|
The cast really tried hard. The director did as good a job as was possible with poor material. I fear Ayckbourn has a few good plays and a load of Emperor's New Clothes.
"Confusuons" is not actually confusing. It's a series of 5 poorly interlinked playlets with 20 characters played by the five cast members. One is tragedy. One is a "comedy of embarrassment bordering in tragedy. One is almost but not quite a French Farce. No doors to go in and out of. One is a woeful slapstick with a vicar and a weird scoutmaster, a tea urn and an electric shcoh routine. The final is an embarrassment again with some sort of poorly paced rhythmic finale.
No cast could have done better and I think no director could have done better. It was suited to a proscenium arch set, and the set design was good enough. However the lighting design was poor - I've never seen a thumderstorm in bright sunshine before! They should have killed the light on the backcloth.
I'm deeply into theatre. I spent my university almost professionally involved with plays, sound and lighting. Never acted or directed, but produced and similar stuff. So that makes me an amateur expert(!). And as such I say this play should have been trashed before it was ever premiered.
God help me I have another Ayckbourn to see on Tuesday at Sonning!
The theatre was full of complimentary ticket holders. This one they could not sell, so they are trying to recoup their loss on bar takings. We had three full rowns in fornt of us of aghast people, some of whom were even asleep!
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
timmy
|
|
Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13800
|
|
|
I think the score here, in terms of beholders was as follows:
Audience split about 100:3 against
Cast (by the expressions of disbelief that anyone was applauding at all at the curtain) 5:0 - unanimous that it was rubbish
So, Confusions Nil, Rest of the world, 1. Extra time not required (please!)
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
|
|
|
|
|
Goto Forum:
|
] 
A Place of Safety
Search
Help
Register
Login
Home
