Simon Russell Beale

[A Cousin]

(09-01-2012 02:44 PM)watchstrap Wrote:  I would urge anyone who has the chance to go and see SRB in The Deep Blue Sea, which is just about still on general release in the UK.

Oooohhh! this is a very provocative play. I had no idea it had been remade into a movie. I'll have to keep an eye on the art houses on this side of the pond. Thanks watchstrap!

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(09-01-2012 02:21 PM)Tea Lady Wrote:  

(09-01-2012 01:44 PM)JHyde Wrote:  I'm planning to see The Collaborators via the NT Live programme at my local cinema on Saturday. Anyone been yet?

I went to the National Theatre on Saturday to see it. I won't spoil it now, other than to say it was very good. Probably an 8 out of 10 for me. Well worth going. Actually, you will probably see more than I did. Odd stage layout in that the stage was haphazardly in the middle of the theatre.

I saw it as part of the NT Live program in early December and loved it. I know nothing about Bulgakov or Stalin. It is very thought provoking re: the relationship between art and the state. It seamlessly moves back and forth from the expressionistic to the realistic. The first act is a black comedy but it all gets deadly serious very quickly. SRB is at once mesmerizing, loveable and frightening as Stalin. He hits just the right balance in the role. I also really loved Mark Addy and Alex Jennings in it. No one is all they appear to be. Even Bulgakov.

It is a fascinatingly staged play. I was as enthralled with the stage as anything else. But, as TL says, the thought did occur to me that enjoyment in seeing it live would be different depending on where you were seated. I think there might have been an advantage to seeing it through the camera's eye b/c, while they cameras were placed in the audience, they could change camera angles to show the best POV possible for each individual scene.