Tag: old vic

Kevin Spacey in Speed the Plow, Old Vic – London – review – or not

thegirlinthecafe 5 Comments

Kevin Spacey - Jeff Goldblum - Speed the Plow
Kevin Spacey and Jeff Goldblum both star in this 90 minutes-performance-without-a-break (toilet before you go in) American play called Speed the Plow.

When I sat down in the Old Vic and the curtain opened and Kevin Spacey stepped into the light I thought:
“Wow, you lucky bastard. Here you are, living in London, that amazing city, sitting in this wonderful theatre, and one of your very favourite actors is performing right there in front of you. You should consider yourself very lucky.”

And trust me, I do. I sometimes wish I had a remote control (something like this, but in real life) so I could pause and freeze frame the world around me and stay in the moment for a while, just looking around, taking it in.

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Tube travel mates and Stephen Fry’s Cinderella Panto

thegirlinthecafe 7 Comments

Tube dogs

Those two did accompany me this morning on my travel on the Hammersmith & City Line. Trust me they look more dangerous than they were, they were quite cute, and a bit bored and not too happy to be on the train. And they have this intensely sad look on their face. They are not very pretty either, but I love them just the way they are. (Got that Bridget?)

And I saw Stephen Fry’s Cinderella in the Old Vic today.

More about Cinderella »

Moon over Spacey

thegirlinthecafe 1 Comment

I haven’t slept well since I wrote my bad review of A Moon For The Misbegotten, I still feel bad about it to be honest, because I have so much respect for Kevin Spacey. I have to stand by my words, even though people have explained to me that O’Neill plays aren’t always easy, but this was how I experienced the play, the acting was terrific, the story just wasn’t my cup of tea. That can happen.

But it pleases me enormously to read that the Independent (review isn’t online yet, I’ll link it up when it is) is raving the play and the actors to hights far beyond the moon today. So does the Guardian (Watching Best and Spacey together is like seeing two desperate people stripping their souls naked.), and the Times (Is there better acting to be found anywhere? I?d be surprised.)

Kevin Spacey gets what he deserves for the hard work and passion he puts in the Old Vic. Now London (critics) better stop nagging, and go appreciate him in stead.

And while we are at it, London, how can you even consider closing the Theatre Museum in Covent Garden. All the people saying that it doesn’t belong in the West End are simply stupid. There, I said it.

A Moon for the Misbegotten review – or Lost in Spacey

thegirlinthecafe 10 Comments


And so I saw The Moon for the Misbegotten. Just a few facts before I give my verdict:
For me Kevin Spacey is the second best actor in the Universe, I think he is fantastic, no matter what he plays.
I also saw him on stage as Richard II in the Old Vic last year, and loved it, despite my total lack of Shakespearian background and my ears not totally geared to tune in to old English.

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Cool, cooler, coolest

thegirlinthecafe 2 Comments


Kevin Spacey in front of the Old Vic (Picture AP)

Cool.
gregarius feedreader
I have long been looking for a feedreader that does the things I like a feed reader to do. Now I found it. I will add the sites I regularly read to it, press refresh once or twice a day, and voila. You can add del.icio.us feeds to it too, to make it even cooler. And what a beautiful default template. A real gem this feedreader with the slightly odd name.
Download here

Cooler.
Print your flickr photo’s as business cards
Ironically I just had a stack of business cards made last week, in The Cafe style with the big cup (from the header of this blog) on it, and in the same colours as the blog. But these moo cards are very cool too, select a bunch of your best pictures, and turn them into small business cards. I want some made from my Postcards in London photoblog. They are so cool that I am not even sure I want to hand them out.

Coolest.
The coolest thing of the day :
It is the 20th of September. After a long wait, tonight is the night for a visit to the majestic The Old Vic to watch one of my heroes perform in A Moon For The Misbegotten. I haven’t seen any reviews yet (it is still in preview stage), but I’ll write mine tomorrow. And I am going to see it again when it is out of preview stage.
I look very very very much forward to this. And if you are in London before the end of December, I would buy tickets for it if I were you.

Richard II in Old Vic

thegirlinthecafe 4 Comments

Kevin Spacey - Richard II Ik kocht het kaartje enkel en alleen voor Kevin Spacey, wist bijna niets van Shakespeare en al helemaal niets van Richard II. Ik las het stuk in het engels, maar het oude engels was zo moeilijk te volgen dat ik opgaf. Ik vreesde er niet veel van te kunnen volgen.

Maar dat viel allemaal erg mee. Het was gedeeltelijk in het oud engels, maar met uiterste concentratie was het goed te volgen. Kevin begon in een prachtig paars fluwelen koningdracht met kroon en juwelen, maar dat werd al snel omgewisseld voor moderne Armani pakkken. (Kevin in een suit, je zag de damesharten smelten). Het verhaal speelde ook in een moderne setting met een prachtig decor, en moderne zaken als mobieltelefoons en lcd schermen.

En langzaam werd ik het verhaal in getrokken. Hoofdzakelijk door het fantastisch acteerwerk van vooral Kevin Spacey. Ik vind hem magisch in bijna al zijn speelfilms. En hier stond ie, in levende lijve op nog geen 6 meter af stand van mij op het podium. Surreal but nice !

En theater is anders dan film, het moet in een keer goed, en het is meer intens. Afgezien van Kevin was Richard II ook een aangrijpend stuk, en dus echt aan te bevelen. Spacey speelt tot eind november, en komt terug in een nieuw stuk in Old Vic in het najaar van 2006. Ik kijk er nu al naar uit. Kevin is cool.

Ik vermaak me hier meer dan uitstekend.