Playing Catch Up

It's been way too long since I posted here, so sorry to all that visited since my last post.

I will try to do better... It's been quite a busy time... had some invasive surgery which set my travel plans back a bit, but I'm back on track. Since my last post I've been on a few trips, I'm listing the plays I've seen here as a reminder to myself and will get back to them one by one.

In December 2013 London was the target, saw some beautiful things there:

The Next Room or the Vibrator Play (St James)

12 Angry Men (Garrick)

Mojo (Harold Pinter Theater)

Henry V (Noel Coward)

and Protest Song (NT shed)

Protest Song - Rhys Ifans

Caught Coriolanus in the NT Live broadcast in between trips

Next up was a combination trip to Chicago and Los Angeles in March 2014, wonderful stuff:

Chicago:

Gypsy (CST)

Seminar (theater Wit)

The How and the Why (Timeline)

Russian Transport (Steppenwolf)

Buzzer (Goodman)

LA:

Slowgirl (Geffen)

A Steady Rain (Odyssee)

The Pianist of Willesden Lane (Geffen)

Vanya Sonia Masha & Spike (Mark Taper Forum)

Daytrip to the Ruhrfestspiele in Germany, they do great work at that festival, many visiting companies, this time they included a Beckett combination of Eh Joe (with Michael Gambon) and I'll Go On (with Barry McGovern).... pinnacle of Beckett right there in a little theater in Marl.

I'll Go On - Barry McGovern

Back to London in May, the main reason I for this trip was to attend the RAW wine festival (organic wines, all the good stuff without the headaches!) but while there, why not catch some great work?!

King Lear (NT)

Handbagged (Vaudeville)

Good People(Noel Coward)

Other Desert Cities (Old Vic)

Let the Right One In (Apollo)

and last but not least, back to London again to attend a conference for work... perfect combination of work and pleasure:

Skylight (Wyndhams)

Fathers and Sons (Donmar)

Clarence Darrow (Old Vic)

There it is, many plays to catch up on in reviews in this Blog... real life has to go on as well, paychecks need to be earned to do more traveling, so it will probably be a while before I do get caught up.

Gabriel Byrne and August Osage County

Gabriel Byrne and August Osage County pages added to Geeksareus.nl

Gabriel Byrne
Gotta love his d'Artagnan in The Man In the Iron Mask. I'd never really took notice of the man's work before, apart from "The Usual Suspects" but that movie is so mindboggling story wise the actors doing such a great job with it didn't really register with me individually.
I decided to have a look at his work, past and future. The fun part of something like this happening is that actors often have such an eclectic body of work there are bound to be little known gems in there. This was certainly true with Gabriel Byrne... I'd recommend "Into the West" for one... or "Weapons of Mass Distraction" a completely different genre and even artistic merit but very enjoyable, or "Miller's Crossing", "Last of the High Kings", "Smilla's Sense of Snow" and "A Polish Wedding"  the list goes on... and while I am at it "The Poetry of William Butler Yeats" in audiobook, not to be missed if you want to get into the works of Gabriel Byrne.

This Dublin borne, LA based actor is more mainstream these days if not for "The Usual Suspects" a few years ago then certainly for the tv show "In Treatment". I'm happy that I had already added him to my list of 'bodies of work to be collected' years ago...


August: Osage County

Eventually I will retrace all plays on the site in their own dedicated review blog, for now just a few impressions.


So first time in Chicago, first time Steppenwolf, first preview of this brand new play, over 3 hours of excellent entertainment. Maybe not the perfect choice fresh off the plane with a jet lagged mind but excellent none the less. We witnessed a hit in the making! such good memories...

Having just come off a plane from Europe that afternoon, picking up the tickets at box office it was a bit of a shock when the lady said "you do know this is a 3,5 hour play?"… that'll teach me to look at play details before booking tickets for my first night in town!

Thus we came back to the theater after dinner a little apprehensive on the long evening awaiting us with this very new unknown play. A long evening it turned out to be, but an exciting one! We had the good fortune to see the very first preview of this play, actors still getting a feel for it but it already stood firm, the plot was highly entertaining, not a dull moment in those 3,5 hours. and the acting! here's where the worth of an ensemble really comes in, many of the cast were Steppenwolf ensemble members, I think the fact that this complex, exhausting (to the actors) play simply clicked in this first preview ever can be chalked up to the ensemble familiarity. 

Special mention to Deanna Dunagan, not an ensemble member, so above mentioned ensemble benefit reasoning is already disputed somewhat, because did she give a fantastic performance! some images of her Violet have made such an impression on me, I can play them back in my mind second by second, and this is a play I saw 5 years ago!

I'm not exaggerating I think in saying the whole cast gave a fabulous performance, it's really not fair to single some people out.  Having had a chance to talk to a few of them over time about this play made me realize how gracious Chicago actors can be with their time, in my experience most are honestly bemused to baffled  that we the audience even want to talk to them in person or discuss the play. to them it's their job, a job that they love but not something they think we'd be interested in much above and beyond seeing the result on stage.

I for one am interested...