1st performance of Love's Labour's Lost (my 1st)
Photo by leesy
I had a really easy journey up to Stratford-Upon-Avon as the M25 flowed quite freely. There was an accident between junctions 8A and 9 on the M40 so I came off at junction 8 and my SatNav found a great detour which was mainly 70mph roads so I only lost 7 minutes. I had time for a 2 hour break at my usual pitstop!
I picked up a friend from Stratford railway station at 6.30pm and parked in my usual place to arrive at The Courtyard Theatre by 6.45pm. We went to the bar and she excitedly told me that Anthony Sher was there ....just as we were standing beside Gregory Doran who she obviously didn't recognise! (They were later sitting in the same row as I did.)
A different friend and I were sitting in exactly the same seats as we did for the first night of Hamlet so we had a great view from row E! The set was very impressive! I'd seen a photo of the tree but it was bigger than I expected. It's only David Tennant that climbs up it but it's wide so he has a variety of ways that he can sit and he makes full use of that. My only concern was that he jumps off it at one point and, having problems with my knees (too much sport!), I was concerned at the fact he has to land each night but as there are only 24 performances of Love's Labour's Lost hopefully his knees will survive the impact!
It started about 2 minutes early with Dumaine, Longaville and then Berowne (David Tennant) walking onto the stage within 2 minutes of each other. DT just laid down with a straw hat over his face. Next Navarre walked on stage and dropped a chest on the ground which disturbed Berowne. Navarre soon pulled the cushion from Berowne's head too which was funny.
I won't go through the whole play (I'm seeing it about 9 times so I have loads of time!) but I was amazed at Berowne's first speech! It's one I've studied (learnt!) but the way he delivered it was totally different to how I'd read the words on the page - it really brought the words alive to me!
I think my favourite scene was the one when all 4 guys hide from each other while declaring their love for the various ladies. DT comes on first in that scene and hides in the tree. When the other three are revealed as having broken their pledges his indignation and later shame at being a hypocrite was hilarious and really well acted! He even tried to eat the letter and actually stuffed a large chunk in his mouth!
Another great part was a speech by Berowne which included something about people sitting with their arms crossed and he highlighted someone in the front row who was doing just that. They immediately unfolded their arms! Later in the same speech he pointed out a lady in the front row and then winked at her!
And the Russians scene is hilarious! It took me a while to work out which one was DT until I recognised his sparkling eyes.
The costumes were amazing, especially the ladies. The other 3 main guys wore white or cream clothes (Longaville has white tights which make his legs look longer than ever!) but Berowne was wearing a lovely blue jacket and pantaloon trousers with white tights that show from about the knee down. They also all wore a funny puff-ball thing around their middle and buttocks which were quite unflattering.
I thought that the female actors were considerably weaker than the men and the Spaniard and Moth got on my nerves a bit but Costard was really good. Unfortunately Oliver Ford Davies only had a small part but I noticed that Ryan Gage ended up in a dress again - I wonder if that is part of his contract!
The play ended at about 10.12pm (we'd heard it was going to end at 10.00pm) with a song and then the others leave the stage while Berowne and Rosaline just stand and stare at each other (ironically DT is placed at the same spot that Hamlet almost starts at) while the lights go down. They only did two lots of bows tonight.
Afterwards we went round to the stage door and it was the worst that I've experienced it. DT came out quite quickly and signed loads of autographs. I stood back as I usually do but there was a large group of excitable teenybopper girls who just barged into everybody near me trying to get to him!
Afterwards I met up with my other friend (she'd been sitting in the Circle and said she had a great view too!) and she said that at the end of the interval there had been some singing and dancing out in the hallway.
We left S-U-A at about 10.30pm but there were roadworks on the way to her house so I didn't get home until about 2.00am.
I picked up a friend from Stratford railway station at 6.30pm and parked in my usual place to arrive at The Courtyard Theatre by 6.45pm. We went to the bar and she excitedly told me that Anthony Sher was there ....just as we were standing beside Gregory Doran who she obviously didn't recognise! (They were later sitting in the same row as I did.)
A different friend and I were sitting in exactly the same seats as we did for the first night of Hamlet so we had a great view from row E! The set was very impressive! I'd seen a photo of the tree but it was bigger than I expected. It's only David Tennant that climbs up it but it's wide so he has a variety of ways that he can sit and he makes full use of that. My only concern was that he jumps off it at one point and, having problems with my knees (too much sport!), I was concerned at the fact he has to land each night but as there are only 24 performances of Love's Labour's Lost hopefully his knees will survive the impact!
It started about 2 minutes early with Dumaine, Longaville and then Berowne (David Tennant) walking onto the stage within 2 minutes of each other. DT just laid down with a straw hat over his face. Next Navarre walked on stage and dropped a chest on the ground which disturbed Berowne. Navarre soon pulled the cushion from Berowne's head too which was funny.
I won't go through the whole play (I'm seeing it about 9 times so I have loads of time!) but I was amazed at Berowne's first speech! It's one I've studied (learnt!) but the way he delivered it was totally different to how I'd read the words on the page - it really brought the words alive to me!
I think my favourite scene was the one when all 4 guys hide from each other while declaring their love for the various ladies. DT comes on first in that scene and hides in the tree. When the other three are revealed as having broken their pledges his indignation and later shame at being a hypocrite was hilarious and really well acted! He even tried to eat the letter and actually stuffed a large chunk in his mouth!
Another great part was a speech by Berowne which included something about people sitting with their arms crossed and he highlighted someone in the front row who was doing just that. They immediately unfolded their arms! Later in the same speech he pointed out a lady in the front row and then winked at her!
And the Russians scene is hilarious! It took me a while to work out which one was DT until I recognised his sparkling eyes.
The costumes were amazing, especially the ladies. The other 3 main guys wore white or cream clothes (Longaville has white tights which make his legs look longer than ever!) but Berowne was wearing a lovely blue jacket and pantaloon trousers with white tights that show from about the knee down. They also all wore a funny puff-ball thing around their middle and buttocks which were quite unflattering.
I thought that the female actors were considerably weaker than the men and the Spaniard and Moth got on my nerves a bit but Costard was really good. Unfortunately Oliver Ford Davies only had a small part but I noticed that Ryan Gage ended up in a dress again - I wonder if that is part of his contract!
The play ended at about 10.12pm (we'd heard it was going to end at 10.00pm) with a song and then the others leave the stage while Berowne and Rosaline just stand and stare at each other (ironically DT is placed at the same spot that Hamlet almost starts at) while the lights go down. They only did two lots of bows tonight.
Afterwards we went round to the stage door and it was the worst that I've experienced it. DT came out quite quickly and signed loads of autographs. I stood back as I usually do but there was a large group of excitable teenybopper girls who just barged into everybody near me trying to get to him!
Afterwards I met up with my other friend (she'd been sitting in the Circle and said she had a great view too!) and she said that at the end of the interval there had been some singing and dancing out in the hallway.
We left S-U-A at about 10.30pm but there were roadworks on the way to her house so I didn't get home until about 2.00am.
Next performance for me: Love's Labour's Lost tomorrow !!!
