Thursday, 23 January 2025

Rhubarb?

Tuesday night's theatre trip was [mostly] brilliant. We enjoyed our meal at Côte Brasserie, opting [as usual] for the Prix Fixe and a bottle of mineral water. Then we decided to walk round to the Theatre and have pre-performance coffee there. 

This is the Norwich Playhouse, which has two sister venues - Theatre Royal and Stage Two. It is the middle sized site, seating 300 people, 
and a popular venue for fringe events and touring companies. Unfortunately, by 6.45pm they have, inexplicably turned off their coffee machine. Our tea[r]s are not yet brewed!
The seats are low and relatively small - I was glad I'd booked two end seats so Bob at least had space in the aisle for his legs. My legs felt cramped after a while, and that is unusual! Of course, the people in seats 3-10 didn't arrive till just before the starts, and all  wanted the bar in the interval. There was much standing up and sitting down again! “Stand not upon the order of your going, but go at once”

However, we could see the stage well from Row K. Rows A-F nearer the stage would have felt too close, I thinbk/ They were occupied by school parties - all extremely well behaved, I must say. 

The performance by the National Production Company  was very good, with a few caveats.

  • Lady Macbeth was excellent, delivering her lines well
  • The Weird Sisters were superb, and spoke in sequence and in unison equally well, chanting and dancing beautifully. Great costumes too
  • Macbeth was good, but his voice wasn't quite 'big' enough for some of the speeches. 
  • The sword fighting was incredibly well done, and the Kensington Gore which flowed freely when necessary.
  • The Porter was wonderfully funny, spot on comedic timing, and interaction with Rows A-F, saying "'equivocate' thats a good word, remember to use it on your exam papers"
  • Lighting fairly good, but one spot, stage right, was far too bright, and actors were blinking and clearly bothered by it. Bob is a lighting geek [in his youth he did a lot of stage lighting and is rather fussy about these things]
  • Theatre staff get top marks for friendliness, efficiency and helpfulness.
  • I think a **** review of the evening [better seating and coffee would have made it 5*]
But all in all we loved it. We'd declined coffee at CÔte explaining we were going to the Theatre. The conversation at the paydesk went like this...
Waitress - What are you going to?
Bob - Macbeth
Waiter - Is that a comedy?
Bob - well, I suppose you COULD play it like that...
[The staff there are mostly French, perhaps he only knows Moliére]
Did you know Shakespeare mentions rhubarb in the Scottish play? we had both completely forgotten that - 
 [Act V Scene3] What rhubarb, senna or what purgative drug would scour these English hence? 
Not actually grown in the UK till the 1620s, but its medicinal uses were already well known in the Bard's day.
Do you have a favourite Shakespeare play?
Do you get to much live theatre? 
We enjoyed the Christmas Carol, but before that our last trip was Open Air in the rain in 2022, we usually go for low budget/small company/AmDram stuff.

20 comments:

  1. Never seen MacBeth as a comedy but Oddsocks Productions, a travelling theatre company, did a wonderful "Hamlet - the panto" a few years back.

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  2. I saw one of the comedies performed by an all-male company once. Some of the lines spoken by female characters pretending to be men, but who, of course were actually young men acting the part of girls now pretending to be men became completely hilarious. If you ever get the chance, go to one!

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  3. Love a live show but I'm now too deaf so haven't been to anything f for years.

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  4. This sounds a successful evening, cramp and coffee - consumption aside.
    I like Macbeth. I am very fond of A Midsummer Night's dream, Julius Caesar and particularly Comedy of Errors.

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    1. I did Caesar for GCE, and I like MND too. Have seen both as open air productions . We took the girls to an open air Comedy if Errors on holiday in Sussex about 35 years ago

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  5. I love Hamlet. I saw a great production by the Actors Company years ago. The actress playing Ophelia had damaged her ankle in rehearsals so she was in a wheelchair. Worked very well and didn't seem at all odd. The Hamlet was played by a very dashing athletic young man, all in all a very enjoyable night. Measure for Measure is my second favourite , love a 'problem play'.

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    1. That Hamlet sounds great!! I do not really know Measure for Measure

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  6. We enjoyed The Reduced Shakespeare Company’s productions of both Shakespeare plays and The Bible. The Shedman shares his birthday with the Bard. My favourite play is the Scottish Play but I haven’t been to the theatre since pre Covid. Catriona

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  7. David Tennant has just done a stint as Macbeth.I've booked a seat to see 'Chicago' the musical next month (matinee performance), Mary Beard, the Historian in October (again, a matinee luckily enough since I don't travel alone at night anymore). Tried for tickets for Lucy Worsley but she must be very popular in Edinburgh, only sell out showing! Looking forward to my little local Fringe by the Sea happening in May. Always great people to see there.

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    1. You get so much culture up there in Scotland. David Tennant is such a gifted guy, playing so many diverse roles - from the Bard to the Doctor, by way of Broadchurch

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  8. Stafford Theatre had a wonderful performance of Twelfth Night last June. There were gifted singers and musicians, laughter and dancing. The musicians started well before the play and through the interval, and at the end got everyone singing.
    We have been to several clever plays recently where two or three actors take on numerous characters.
    Amateur productions are good fun, the best was when they got stuck in a loop, the prompter couldn’t help, the script was brought out, and somehow they got to the end to huge applause.
    We cried with laughter, all post covid depression lifted.

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    1. AmDram is at its best when they acknowledge their limitations and everyone has fun

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  9. Regrettably, I have not seen many live performances of Shakespeare’s plays. I once saw Julius Caesar which i enjoyed very much - so many quotes!

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  10. Glad you enjoyed the play, even if you didn't get any coffee. It's been a long time since I last went to a play, but one of the local parks holds something called "Shakespeare in the Park" every summer and one summer, my daughter and I attended one of the plays with some of our friends (before the pandemic).

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    1. So many small groups disappeared during COVID, it is good to see them gradually coming back

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