Well, that was bracing! I love Imelda Staunton. I still think one of her best (film) performances was with Hugh Laurie in ‘Peter’s Friends’. She’s been great forever, has Imelda Staunton. I would love to come to London for her Shaw performance. That play is indelibly printed in my mind because I did it for A level. I bet she’s brilliant at Mrs Warren. Maybe the director had the ghosts appear because everybody loves a ghost on the stage - but to have ghosts during Mrs W’s big speech is nothing but a distraction. I’m so glad you wrote this. Now that you’re about to leave London for Washington, I bet theatre directors there have no idea what’s about to hit them.
Boo to the director deciding he knows best what we should be thinking and feeling. The joy of live theatre for me is deciding where to look and what to take from what I see and hear during a performance. Watching a recording of a live performance is a poor substitute when the camera filming the piece makes the decision on who to show in close up and when. I’ll do my best to see this play, trying to expunge the immortal words of Captain Terri Dennis “Oh, that Bernard Shaw! What a chatterbox ….”
Well, that was bracing! I love Imelda Staunton. I still think one of her best (film) performances was with Hugh Laurie in ‘Peter’s Friends’. She’s been great forever, has Imelda Staunton. I would love to come to London for her Shaw performance. That play is indelibly printed in my mind because I did it for A level. I bet she’s brilliant at Mrs Warren. Maybe the director had the ghosts appear because everybody loves a ghost on the stage - but to have ghosts during Mrs W’s big speech is nothing but a distraction. I’m so glad you wrote this. Now that you’re about to leave London for Washington, I bet theatre directors there have no idea what’s about to hit them.
Haha I suspect I shall not be writing very many theatre reviews over there … let’s see… I must watch Peter’s Friends
Boo to the director deciding he knows best what we should be thinking and feeling. The joy of live theatre for me is deciding where to look and what to take from what I see and hear during a performance. Watching a recording of a live performance is a poor substitute when the camera filming the piece makes the decision on who to show in close up and when. I’ll do my best to see this play, trying to expunge the immortal words of Captain Terri Dennis “Oh, that Bernard Shaw! What a chatterbox ….”
Shaw is certainly a marmite writer
The actual quote is “0h, that Bernadette Shaw ! What a chatterbox! ….. “ etc
Author Peter Nichols
Definitely on my list - tickets being bought asap…
Yay!