JOHN vs HERE LIES LOVE

02/01/2015 22:02A:
so whats on topic tonight?


 02/01/2015 22:02B:
uhm...what was the last show we saw?
with college

 02/01/2015 22:02A:
I was meant to see john


 02/01/2015 22:02A:
but i saw
here lies love instead
because it went on hiatus
so we could talk about john vs here lies love

02/01/2015 22:02B:
ok
let's do that then

02/01/2015 22:03A:
great

02/01/2015 22:03B:
shall I start with John?

02/01/2015 22:03A:
so you can tell me about the famous john yes

02/01/2015 22:03B:
well, you heard the general discussion didn't you?

02/01/2015 22:03A:
yes

 02/01/2015 22:03B:
so do you know more or less what it is about?

 02/01/2015 22:04A:
did you go to the seminar?

02/01/2015 22:04B:
yes

02/01/2015 22:04A:
yes kind of a lot of sauna right?
verbatim theatre etc

02/01/2015 22:04B:
basically it follows the story of John, this man, narrated by himself

 02/01/2015 22:05A:
yeah

02/01/2015 22:05B:
he starts with his family and then the story progresses with his search for love
yes, there's a long digression into the 'world' of gay saunas

 02/01/2015 22:05A:
yeah

02/01/2015 22:06B:
so it is also a 'coming out' story

 02/01/2015 22:06A:
and overall, the production was for what purpose do you think?
uh huh

02/01/2015 22:07B:
apparently, from what I heard during the seminar, the director is very involved into LGBT activism which makes a lot of sense considering the play

02/01/2015 22:07A:
yes

02/01/2015 22:07B:
but I think definitely what worked was the technical aspect
the stage design

02/01/2015 22:07A:
and Dv8 being a physical theatre group, do you think they played on the physicality of the over riding intention?
did it serve the purpose of the production do you feel?

 02/01/2015 22:08B:
yes definitely, they were constantly moving not quite dancing, but moving to the textI think it did, I didn't find it annoying or too much, and I do not always like physical theatreI enjoyed all aspects of the play from a technical point of view

02/01/2015 22:10A:
perhaps if the physical theatre and movements were justified then it wouldn't have mattered if you had a predetermined opinion of physical theatre

 02/01/2015 22:10B:
not so much from a point of view of what the play wanted to communicate perhaps

02/01/2015 22:10A:
in the seminar I think Michael said that they used magnets?

02/01/2015 22:11B:
yes, there was a moment when they did that, you know, Michael Jackson move, they were standing still and they leaned forward

02/01/2015 22:11A:
ah stage tricks...
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/reviews/article-2824525/A-National-DISGRACE-Sleazy-Amoral-paid-QUENTIN-LETTS-horrified-National-Theatre-s-latest-offering.html
the daily mail review
giving the show zero stars

02/01/2015 22:12B:
haha
I have to read it

02/01/2015 22:13A:
"Having written in support of gay rights since the late Nineties, I hope I can say without being accused of homophobia that John is, despite the artfulness of its performers, a disgrace."Read more:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/reviews/article-2824525/A-National-DISGRACE-Sleazy-Amoral-paid-QUENTIN-LETTS-horrified-National-Theatre-s-latest-offering.html#ixzz3Nf4vTxIL
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
National Theatre's John is a National DISGRACE, says QUENTIN LETTS www.dailymail.co.ukSir Nicholas Hytner will soon finish his stint running the Royal National Theatre. One of his parting gifts to us is John, a production about unprotected sex in gay saunas.

02/01/2015 22:13A:
I think this is in support of most the class's opinion

02/01/2015 22:14B:
well obviously it depends on what kind of person it was written by and for

 02/01/2015 22:14A:
you know obviously meeting the standards of the daily mail's reputation

 02/01/2015 22:14B:
yes exactlyI mean I did think the sauna part was too long, but not because it was too explicit. Just because it got kind of boring, like it veered too much off the main story

02/01/2015 22:16A:
yeah and i  think that review is panning the explicit nature of the show and sort of the flawed personality/character of John, rather than considering the production as a whole

02/01/2015 22:16B:
and also I found it very stereotyped

02/01/2015 22:17A:
http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2014/nov/05/john-dv8-national-theatre-review
the guardian on the other hand gives it 3 stars…i am hearing noises in my kitchen, i left the window open. I hope its not some crazy fuck off beast of a cockroach or one of the many huntsman who have made my apartment their home this summer. ah im scared


02/01/2015 22:19A:
anyway

02/01/2015 22:19B:
do you want to tell me something about the other play?

02/01/2015 22:19A:
well on the guardian pieceI think it says something interesting
that it smashes narrative expectations....if so, was this effective?
should we also perhaps discuss the seminar too?

02/01/2015 22:20B:
yes well in a way it does...because of the long passage about saunasbut I didn't think it was effective


02/01/2015 22:21A:
I think it is important in new writing, on commercial stages to take risks like that

02/01/2015 22:21B:
but anyway I wasn't so much bothered by the sauna part, because I actually found that quite funny although stereotyped, but the end I found really banal

02/01/2015 22:22A:
but perhaps it kind of opens up opportunities for more risks, although maybe the critical reception to john won't allow for this to happen
yesI think the class agreed with you
apparently not much really happened at all

02/01/2015 22:22B:
I mean, I was expecting a lot more
es exactly

02/01/2015 22:22A:
yeah...so
we can chat "Here Lies Love"

02/01/2015 22:23B:
I think perhaps they focused a lot on the sauna part because they expected many people to be either impressed or shocked or whatever

02/01/2015 22:24A:
yes
or maybe it was in an attempt to familiarise with that gay culture?

02/01/2015 22:24B:
which I guess kind of worked considering some of the reviews!

02/01/2015 22:25A:
in saying that, I don't think I would find it effective in the sense that I wouldn't find a piece about tinder or the straight equivalent effective either
for some people, it's all subjective of course. shouldn't inform your opinion

02/01/2015 22:25B:
yes but they really wanted to highlight an especially 'transgressive' type of culture and the actors were naked, etc...

02/01/2015 22:25A:
yeah yeah

02/01/2015 22:27B:
anyway...yes tell me something about the other play!

02/01/2015 22:27A:
are you familiar with the background of the piece?

02/01/2015 22:27B:
no

02/01/2015 22:28A:
It's a Broadway musical from New York

02/01/2015 22:29B:
oh ok

02/01/2015 22:29A:
based on a concept album released by David Byrne and Fatboy Slim, that was written about Imelda Marcos, wife of former Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos

02/01/2015 22:30B:
about her life?

02/01/2015 22:30A:
yes about her life
that was then adapted into a musical
I think the album on its own totally sucked
but the musical was pretty good!

02/01/2015 22:30B:
I don't even know anything about her

02/01/2015 22:30A:
 I knew nothing of the whole thing
but basically it's about her entire life until her husbands assassination?? If i remember right

02/01/2015 22:31B:
oh ok

02/01/2015 22:31A:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2791847/here-lies-love-review-t-say-emotionally-involved-novelty-intention.html
 the daily mail gives this one 5 stars
Here Lies Love review by Quentin Letts www.dailymail.co.uk Here Lies Love, written by David Byrne and DJ Fatboy Slim, is sparky, sassy and every bit as revolutionary as that Lloyd Andrew Webber hit Evita was in its day.

02/01/2015 22:32B:
ah he liked this one

02/01/2015 22:33A:
"might easily have worked as a traditional musical. In this brilliantly drilled, genre-breaking form, it becomes little short of an instant classic for urban groovers."umm I'm not so sure about that
I was not up for the immersive experience and defiantly opted for a seat!
I'm not even sure what an “urban groover” is

02/01/2015 22:33B:
so what made you go see it?

02/01/2015 22:34A:
I suppose it's some one who is 50+ because I don't think the gen x and ys were into it
the taxi fare that I paid to the national theatre so I could see John
that wasn't even showing that night
so I just got a ticket to what ever was on

02/01/2015 22:35B:
oh ok did you like it?

02/01/2015 22:35A:
I did!
for what it was for sure

02/01/2015 22:35B:
do you generally like musicals?

02/01/2015 22:35A:
it was completely surface and novel
no, not really and I don't really choose to go

02/01/2015 22:36B:
was it anything else apart from a musical?

 02/01/2015 22:36A:
it was a good history lessonI'm not sure the intention of the concept album

 02/01/2015 22:36B:
what about stage design, costumes,etc..

02/01/2015 22:36A:
or the piece itself
yeah it was every bit a musical
there were shifting platforms and it was completely in the round or immersive with the audience, for which if you were in pit you were moved about by dressed up ushers
lots of projections, live feed cameras

02/01/2015 22:37B:
it's interesting how certain forms of theatre, such as musical, are so 'strict'  so to speak
oh really

02/01/2015 22:37A:
lighting was great, kind of went for the fatboy slim novelty of the club, with a  faux dj
everything suited the piece rightit was cheesy to the max

02/01/2015 22:38B:
I like musicals because of thatbecause of the excess

 02/01/2015 22:38A:
but kind of a mask for a real story that destroyed a nationand the problems of this, I think, might resonate today
completely excessive, and redressed perfectly for a musical theatre audience wanting something new
Florence Welch was in the audience, she was the only member (in the pit) to not partake in the clapping and dancing activities and I don’t blame her, I wasn’t going to do that myself

02/01/2015 22:40A:
http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2014/oct/14/here-lies-love-byrne-marcos-review
Beguiling songs, ingenious design and stunning performances don’t quite do justice to the story of Imelda Marcos’s rise, writes Michael Billington

02/01/2015 22:40A:
the guardian gives it 3 stars

02/01/2015 22:40B:
because she didn't like it or because she is snobby

02/01/2015 22:41A:
I think for the same reasons I had issues with the piece, it wasn't emotionally tolling enough
but I personally don't think that was the intention
David Byrne is a skilled musician, if he wanted to milk genuine emotions undoubtedly he could

02/01/2015 22:42B:
probably most people liked the music

02/01/2015 22:42A:
yes
more conventional than John, I suppose

02/01/2015 22:44B:
do you think it communicated the story successfully then?

02/01/2015 22:44A:
yeah it was very clear story telling
couldn't have been more spoon fed, that's musicals though

02/01/2015 22:45B:
yes, how do you think it could have been made more interesting?

02/01/2015 22:47A:
im not sure I don't think i would know how to tackle a musical



02/01/2015 22:48A:
I think, like the guardian review says, shining more of a focus on the US's support for the regime would have been effective, and kind of addressed contemporary world conflicts i.e. iraq, Palestine/Israel etc

02/01/2015 22:49B:
ok

02/01/2015 22:49A:
yeah

02/01/2015 22:50B:
I didn't open that link, oops

02/01/2015 22:50A:
that's alright!

02/01/2015 22:51B:
well it'd be interesting to know a bit about her
not knowing anything about the story it's hard to comment

02/01/2015 22:51A:
yeah a little history lesson well it was an efficient musical
it is coming to Sydney as part of Vivid, our light/winter festival

 02/01/2015 22:52B:
oh cool

02/01/2015 22:53A:
should we call it a night?