Trailer from "Jeeves and Wooster in Perfect Nonsense"

[haikitteh.livejournal.com]

Found a trailer from the new Jeeves & Wooster play. Has anyone seen it yet? Thoughts?

Between the Faulks book and this play, it's certainly turning out to be the Fall of Jeeves. Take that how you will.

Comments

[cherrypep.livejournal.com]

On one hand it's just down the road from what currently I call my office so I'm going to have to see it. On the other tickets are currently pretty expensive for what on the evidence of that trailer looks less like successfully done theatrical Wodehouse than either Top Hat, which had Wodehousian elements but is now closed in London, or a performance I once saw by the Barnes Charity Players starring a mate from school.

I guess I'll see it if I can get a cheap enough ticket or if I run out of anything to do and have time to kill... anyone else seen it yet?

[cherrypep.livejournal.com]

Ah, the penny drops. According to this interview thingummy (http://www.theartsdesk.com/theatre/perfect-nonsense-adapting-jeeves-and-wooster) it's a three-man adaptation, one of those very self-referential things. They say, "if we wanted to keep Bertie as the raconteur we should write a play in which, encouraged by his drinking pals, he would take over a West End theatre and attempt to tell one of his stories in the form of a one-man show. As his loyal valet, Jeeves would naturally accompany Bertie to the theatre and, in the certain knowledge that the show was destined to go horribly wrong, he would have made certain contingency plans." Then they added a third character later (Seppings). The Telegraph calls it a short-staffed play within a play (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/theatre-features/10361252/What-is-it-about-Jeeves-and-Wooster.html). As an occasional theatre-goer that's the sort of thing that makes me wonder how they get away with charging up to £85 a ticket; you can't claim to be spending it on the cast, eh what?

A review from the Sussex Express (http://www.sussexexpress.co.uk/news/review-jeeves-and-wooster-in-perfect-nonsense-theatre-royal-brighton-until-saturday-october-26-1-5621695) says it's "an absolute riot from start to finish", while the Richmond magazine (http://www.sheengate.co.uk/richmond-and-barnes/2013/10/17/review-jeeves-wooster-in-perfect-nonsense/) say "a night of near farce ensues in which the idea of a play within a play works rather well and the scenery itself becomes almost a fourth character". Which is interesting because these reviews seem to be cribbing off each other with regard to plays within plays and breaking fourth walls, but I digress. And this review (http://thelatest.co.uk/brighton/2013/10/24/jeeves-and-wooster-in-perfect-nonsense/) says that "by employing the clever conceit of Bertie actually telling his story to the audience, and indeed by acting it out with the aid of Jeeves and Seppings the spirit of Woodhouse is maintained – quite brilliantly!" which suggests that the journalist could do with actually reading a Wodehouse novel since despite describing themselves as a fan they clearly haven't paid much attention to the name on the front cover.

This reviewer, who desperately needs to be led away from the font jar before she does us all permanent optical harm (http://lalampert.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/review-wodehouse-with-twist-review-of.html), says it's a tremendously inventive, inspired and riotous production packed with superb performances end quote, while this slightly more critical review (http://thelondonyears.wordpress.com/2013/11/03/jeeves-wooster-in-perfect-nonsense/) says that "Unfortunately, although I thought the acting was exceptional, the writing was a bit clumsy and distracting – I found the meta-play device a bit cumbersome and repetitive. "

So to conclude: the setup of the play offers logical reasons why the trailer is a bit... bizarre, cross-dressing aunts and so on. So maybe it's better in real life and the trailer just isn't very representative.

[haikitteh.livejournal.com]

Everything I've read is generally positive, though I'll admit that this trailer left me cold. I'm wary of the characterizations that I've seen peeks of, both in this trailer and in reviews. I don't see Bertie as a giddy idiot, nor Jeeves as a long-suffering minion who is pressed to go along with his master's every whim. In fact, the main thrust of all of the books is that Jeeves comes up with crazy plans that Bertie is pressed into executing. But I get that they need to find a way to dramatize the stories.

I admit also that I'm kinda shocked that they're charging so much for such a stripped-down show, but I'm even more shocked that you haven't gone yet when it's so close to your work. Living across the globe from it, I can't even dream of going, and can only hope it goes on the road and comes closer to my town.

[cherrypep.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'd maybe have gone a little earlier if I'd a) realised it was on yet or b) found well-priced tickets. Sadly, though, there is no truth in the rumour that working on Drury Lane entitles you to a West End Weighting. Mostly it just means that your commute, accommodation, lunch etc. are all really, really expensive. So I have to ration myself on the musical attendance front because if I didn't, going to work would become completely uneconomical :-)

[caligularib.livejournal.com]

I agree that there's nothing minion-esque nor long suffering about Jeeves. But boy is Matthew Macfayden freakin' adorable.