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Today's Joanna Page

Review: Fat Pig (again)

12 June 2008 Rob Buckley 12 Comments

Okay, I’ve already reviewed this. I know. But my wife wanted to see it, and she was gutted when we couldn’t use the free tickets Fat Pig‘s PR guy offered us – two hours before the performance was due to start, mind – so I thought I’d treat her to dinner and the theatre yesterday. Cos I’m nice.

The thing about both movies and TV shows, though, is that they’re always the same. Once recorded, they’re immutable. But theatre changes every night. The actors can improve or vary their performance, be tired one night and turn in a dodgy performance, get bored, or ad lib, for example. Mistakes can be fixed – or new ones can turn up.

So two weeks on, is Fat Pig better or worse?

Continue reading “Review: Fat Pig (again)”

Today's Joanna Page

TV star casting in the West End: good or bad?

10 June 2008 Rob Buckley 6 Comments

Today’s biggish news is that famed director and writer Jonathan Miller has decided to have a go at West End casting practices – and in particular the casting of David Tennant (and Jude Law) in Hamlet.

Apparently, he’s been trying to get his no-star version of Hamlet into the West End but can’t, even though he reckons the performances are bound to be better than either Tennant’s or Law’s.

So the question for you, my friends, is does he have a point? Or do West End producers have a point?

For my own part, I’m very easily swayed by some big film or TV names into turning up at a theatre when I otherwise wouldn’t: my most recent theatre attendances (off the top of my head) have included Fat Pig (Joanna Page, Robert Webb, Kris Marshall, Ella Smith), Art (bloke off Dalziel and Pascoe, Sean Hughes and Alistair McGowen if I recall correctly), A Few Good Men (with Rob Lowe and John Barrowman), The Master Builder (Patrick Stewart and Kelly Reilly), Patrick Stewart’s one-man version of A Christmas Carol, and Sexual Perversity in Chicago (Matthew Perry, Minnie Driver, Hank Azaria, Kelly Reilly).

That’s money in the pockets of theatres that they otherwise wouldn’t have had with less well-known casts. And the West End isn’t exactly cheap.

More to the point, are celebs possibly the best choices? Maybe they’re famous because they have talent. David Tennant isn’t exactly unknown in theatre.

In fact, is Miller just grumpy because he couldn’t get his own production off the ground? Why have a go at a version of Hamlet that hasn’t even started performing? 

Fat Pig is the most obvious piece of TV celeb casting at the moment, so why not pick on it? Is it because, way back in 2002, he cast the RADA-trained Joanna Page in his production of Camera Obscura at the Almeida (to generally excellent reviews), and so wouldn’t have had much of a leg to stand on?

What do you think? Are good actors being overlooked? Are they being overlooked in favour of better, more famous actors? Or is celeb casting a necessary evil in a competitive market?

Today's Joanna Page

Review: Fat Pig

30 May 2008 Rob Buckley 10 Comments

Joanna Page and Kris Marshall in Fat Pig

Where: Trafalgar Studios, Studio 1

When: 7.30pm Mondays–Saturdays, 2.30pm matinees on Thursdays and Saturdays

How long: Two hours with a 15 minute interval

How much: £25-£45 (+ £1 restoration levy)

Tickets from: 0870 060 6632 or www.theambassadors.com/trafalgarstudios

My free tickets never arrived. Gosh. How can that be after all my publicity work? Maybe they got lost in the post.

Turns out the Fates wanted me to see it anyway.

You see, I was supposed to be going out to see a movie last night with my sister. But last week, she emails me. There’s been a terrible mix-up with a theatre booking and she’s ended up with matinee tickets which she can’t use. But the box office has been able to sort it out and instead get her tickets for the night we were supposed to be going to the movie – do I mind seeing Fat Pig?

Oh.

Fat Pig starring Robert Webb (Peep Show), Kris Marshall (My Family), Ella Smith (Cape Wrath/Meadowlands) and Joanna Page (Gavin & Stacey)?

Well, it would be a shame for them to go to waste…

Continue reading “Review: Fat Pig”

Friday’s Orange news

16 May 2008 Rob Buckley Post a comment

Film

Commercials

  • Rob Lowe latest star of Orange cinema ads

British TV

US TV

Theatre

Fat Pig

9 May 2008 Rob Buckley 6 Comments

Anna’s mentioned it, I’ve mentioned it in passing, but Fat Pig‘s PR company has just asked me very nicely to point out that performances of Fat Pig are starting on May 16th. And since it stars Robert Webb (of Mitchell and Webb, Peep Show and those Apple ads), Kris Marshall (My Family, My Life in Film and those BT adverts), Ella Smith (Meadowlands/Cape Wrath) and blog-favourite Joanna Page (Gavin & Stacey), why not?

Apparently, they would be really appreciative, as would everyone else involved with the show (probably). Do you reckon that means free tickets? And could my editorial independence be even more compromised if it does?

KRIS MARSHALL & JOANNA PAGE, ELLA SMITH & ROBERT WEBB TO STAR IN THE UK PREMIERE OF THE COMEDY “FAT PIG”

WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY NEIL LaBUTE

OPENING AT THE TRAFALGAR STUDIOS IN LONDON ON TUESDAY 27 MAY WITH PERFORMANCES STARTING ON 16 MAY

Kris Marshall will star as ‘Carter’, Joanna Page as ‘Jeannie’, Ella Smith as ‘Helen’ and Robert Webb as ‘Tom’ in the UK premiere of Neil LaBute’s comedy “FAT PIG”, which will open at the Trafalgar Studios in London on Tuesday 27 May, following previews from 16 May. The limited season will finish on 6 September.

Robert Webb is one half of the duo ‘Mitchell & Webb’, who are one of the most popular comic acts in the country and who are behind hit television shows, such as “Peep Show” and “That Mitchell & Webb Look”. Kris Marshall was recently on the West End stage with Billie Piper in ‘Treats’ and his television credits include starring as ‘Nick’ in “My Family”; his film credits include “Death at a Funeral”, “The Merchant of Venice” and playing ‘Colin’ in “Love Actually”. Joanna Page stars as ‘Stacey’ in the BBC comedy series “Gavin and Stacey” and can also currently be seen in “Love Soup”; her film credits include “Gideon’s Daughter” and starring in “Love Actually” and she was recently seen with Ian McKellen in the Old Vic stage production of “Alladin”. Ella Smith was a regular character in the television drama series “Cape Wrath” and has recently starred opposite Kris Marshall in the BBC drama “Sold”.

“FAT PIG” will be directed by its author Neil LaBute.

When Tom first meets Helen there is an instant connection, but it’s not exactly love at first sight… Helen is a bright, funny, sexy young woman who happens to be plus-sized – and then some – and it’s only so long before the insults start to fly from Tom’s shallow yet shockingly funny office buddies. Television’s hottest young comedians star in this searing, funny and ultimately touching love story.

“FAT PIG” in London will be produced by Howard Panter for Ambassador Theatre Group and Broadway producer Barry Weissler, responsible for the New York and London hit musical “Chicago”.

Performances at the Trafalgar Studios will be at 7.30pm on Mondays – Saturdays, with 2.30pm matinees on Thursdays and Saturdays. Tickets priced from £25-£45, with previews priced at £30 and day seats at £25, are available from the Trafalgar Studios Box Office on 0870 060 6632 or online at www.theambassadors.com/trafalgarstudios.

There’s a web site, too.