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Savage Messiah: Ken Russell => Savage Messiah: Ken Russell => Topic started by: Nick Jones on August 02, 2008, 03:45:46 AM

Title: Variety: Ken set to direct Off-Broadway play
Post by: Nick Jones on August 02, 2008, 03:45:46 AM

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117989885.html?categoryId=15&cs=1 (http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117989885.html?categoryId=15&cs=1)

Ken Russell to direct 'Mindgame'
British filmmaker set for Off Broadway debut
By GORDON COX

Brit film director Ken Russell will make his Gotham stage debut at the helm of the upcoming Off Broadway offering "Mindgame," toplined by Keith Carradine.
Russell ("Women in Love," "Tommy," "Altered States") will stage a new production of Anthony Horowitz's thriller, which played the West End in a 2000 incarnation directed by Richard Baron.

"Mindgame" centers on a pulp crime novelist who visits an asylum to interview an infamous serial killer. Carradine plays a doctor at the institution, with Lee Godart portraying the scribe.

Carradine ("Deadwood"), nommed for a 1991 Tony for his perf in "The Will Rogers Follies," last played New York in the Rialto production of "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels."

Russell has directed opera in addition to prolific pic and smallscreen work.

"Mindgame" is set for a commercial run at the SoHo Playhouse that begins previews Oct. 28 ahead of a Nov. 9 opening. Monica Tidwell, Darren Lee Cole and Michael Butler produce.

Title: Re: Variety: Ken set to direct Off-Broadway play
Post by: Iain Fisher on August 05, 2008, 10:53:30 PM
Good news, thanks!!!

Some reports here say that it will be Ken's first stage production.  Wrong, he did directed a play on Kurt Weil and Lotte Lenya in London, I saw it and enjoyed it.

I wish I could see this one.

Iain
Title: Re: Variety: Ken set to direct Off-Broadway play
Post by: Nick Jones on August 08, 2008, 09:48:26 AM
I'm taking a wait-and-see attitude on this one. He was supposed to direct a production of MacBeth in Boston during the time I lived there, in the 80's,  until the backers heard some of his ideas. Doesn't that sound familiar. I believe Nicole Williamson was attached to play MacBeth.

As far as "stage production" goes, he's also directed Gounod's Faust and Puccini's Madama Butterfly.
Title: Re: Variety: Ken set to direct Off-Broadway play
Post by: Iain Fisher on August 14, 2008, 12:14:59 PM
I didn't know about the Macbeth.  Do you have any other info and I'll add it to the "impossible projects" page.

I agree on the wait-and-see attitude.  I hope it happens, but I have also heard of Moll Flanders about to get off the ground, and Boudica Bites Back being available on-line.  Too many things about to start and not enough getting the go-ahead.

Iain
Title: Re: Variety: Ken set to direct Off-Broadway play
Post by: Nick Jones on September 11, 2008, 12:54:34 PM
MORE NEWS ON 'MINDGAME'

http://blog.auditionalerts.com/2008/09/10/mindgame/ (http://blog.auditionalerts.com/2008/09/10/mindgame/)

MINDGAME’

Soho Playhouse is casting the comedic psychological thriller Mindgame. Michael Butler, Monica Tidwell, & Darren Lee Cole, prods.; Anthony Horowitz, writer; Ken Russell, dir.; Lewis & Fox Casting, casting. Rehearsals begin Sept. 30. First preview Oct. 28; opens Off-Broadway Nov. 6.

Seeking-Nurse Plimpton: female, 40s, once a woman of command and authority, now strained, frightened and doing her best to hide it, has the air of an abused woman, British accent, also seeking Understudy for this role; Dr. Farquhar/Mark Styler Understudy: 40s-50s, Dr. Farquhar has a dubious quality, sinister, British accent, Mark Styler has an air of self-confidence that borders on smug, think late-night BBC documentary, British accent.

Equity principal auditions will be held Sept. 15 & 16, 10 a.m.-1:30 p.m. & 2:30-6 p.m. at Soho Playhouse, 15 Vandam St., NYC. Sides will be provided. Bring pix & resumes, stapled together. $516 min./wk. until Oct. 26; $525 min./wk. thereafter. Equity Off-Broadway Contract.
 
Category:
Union Stage
Gender:
Male
Female
Age:
ages 40-49
50-65
Ethnicity:
Caucasian/White
African-American/Black
Latin/Hispanic/South American
Asian
Native American
European
Middle Eastern
Indian/South Asian
Other
 
Pay: Professional Pay
Production: Ken Russell, dir.
Audition Date: [ 9/15/2008 | 9/16/2008 ]
Location: [ New York ]
Nudity Involved: No

Right age, but no Equity card, no British accent. Damn. Always an audience, never a star. :(
 

Title: Re: Variety: Ken set to direct Off-Broadway play
Post by: Nick Jones on September 11, 2008, 12:58:15 PM
Iain, your best bet is to check with Ken himself on the MacBeth. My recollection has faded, although I sort of remember something about the witches being Martians....???
Title: Re: Variety: Ken set to direct Off-Broadway play
Post by: Iain Fisher on September 12, 2008, 02:55:37 AM
Watch Brief Encounters a few times then you will get the British accent
Title: Re: Variety: Ken set to direct Off-Broadway play
Post by: Nick Jones on September 14, 2008, 12:23:57 PM
Watch Brief Encounters a few times then you will get the British accent

Still won't get me the Equity card. :'(
Title: Re: Variety: Ken set to direct Off-Broadway play
Post by: Iain Fisher on September 25, 2008, 01:14:56 AM
I just read the play, by Anthony Horowitz.  It is a two act play with three characters- Styles a writer, Farquar the head of an asylum and Plimpton a nurse.  Styles visits an asylum to ask Farquar if he can interview a serial killer being held at the asylum.  The first act was a bit obvious, with the plot twist flagged too clearly "The trouble with working with the criminally insane.  Your perceptions get twisted.  You have no sense of what is real any more", and the head talking of the killer "he must be the same age as me.  I doubt if you'd recognise him".  Pretty clear who the killer is.  The second act develops with more twists, but again nothing that hasn't been done before in The Cabinet of Dr Caligari or Spellbound.

Interesting to see how Ken will handle the stage directions, where the scenery has to change but without the audience noticing the change.  So a painting on the wall changes from one subject to another, and every time a door is opened what it leads to has changed.

There is a lot of threatened violence, and one violent scene, but it is primarily a dialogue play about ideas, and long scenes of dialogue (talking heads) is not Ken's strong point.  I wish I could see how Ken tackles it.

Iain
Title: Re: Variety: Ken set to direct Off-Broadway play
Post by: Iain Fisher on October 07, 2008, 01:02:11 PM
From The Times 7 Oct 2008 (some of this also apprears in the thread on The Times).

Ken describes the play Mindgame as "A play in which nothing is as it seems. Strains of violence, intrigue, questionable identity, serial killers and sexually loaded psychodrama stretch the imagination to breaking point or breakthrough point: your choice and your ride... Alone in my room, reading the script... ,by the end of Act I I was ready for a large scotch. By the last page, I had finished the bottle. Yes, it was honestly the scariest script I had ever read."

And how he came to do the play "Some time ago I was approached by the talented American actor Lee Godart to direct the play, by the British author Anthony Horowitz, whose TV series Foyle's War and whose Alex Rider books are international hits."

The play stars Keith Carradine, Lee Godart and Kathleen McNenny.  Beowulf Boritt is the production designer, Ken's wife Elise is assistant director and the producers are Monica Tidwell and Michael Butler.  It is on at the SoHo Theatre, 15 Vandam Street, New York, from 29 Oct 2008 and opens on 9 Nov 2008 www.sohoplayhouse.com)
Title: Re: Variety: Ken set to direct Off-Broadway play
Post by: Iain Fisher on October 14, 2008, 12:28:06 AM
The Soho website has some more on the play, plus an image

(http://www.iainfisher.com/russell/ken-russell-mindgame.jpg)

The website says the play starts on 28 Oct 2008 and is open ended

http://www.iainfisher.com/russell/ken-russell-news.html (http://www.iainfisher.com/russell/ken-russell-news.html)

Who is going?

Iain
Title: PLAYBILL.COM'S BRIEF ENCOUNTER With Keith Carradine
Post by: Iain Fisher on October 25, 2008, 04:56:52 PM
By Robert Simonson, 22 Oct 2008

"...Carradine is currently making a surprise return to the New York stage in Anthony Horowitz's Mindgame at SoHo Playhouse. Surprise, because it's Off-Broadway, and because the play is a thriller — not a genre Carradine is known for — and because it's directed by controversial British filmmaker Ken Russell. The actor talked to Playbill.com about his new role..."

"...Have you ever worked with Ken Russell before?
KC: No. I've certainly been well aware of him over the years and been a huge fan. But I had never even met Ken before.

Playbill.com: I guess when his name is attached to a project, you know it's going to be kind of interesting.
KC: (Laughs) At least.

Playbill.com: What's he like as a stage director?
KC: Well, his approach is not conventional. He doesn't approach the process of directing a play in a theatre-director way. But his point of view and sensibilities is 100 percent Ken Russell. All I can say is expect the unexpected.

Playbill.com: Should we expect something interesting in the design elements?
KC: Part of the design of the piece is written into it by the playwright. There are several aspects to the set; there are several changes that will occur during the course of the evening to underscore the nature of madness. The audience's perception of what is real and what is not will also be questioned. There are two acts, but it does take place in one confined space, which is my office..."

www.playbill.com/celebritybuzz/article/122336.html (http://www.playbill.com/celebritybuzz/article/122336.html)

Thanks to Alex for the link

Title: Re: Variety: Ken set to direct Off-Broadway play
Post by: Iain Fisher on November 05, 2008, 10:13:08 PM
Some pictures from the production

(http://www.iainfisher.com/russell/ken-russell-mindgame-2.jpg)

(http://www.iainfisher.com/russell/ken-russell-mindgame-3.jpg)

Much more on the website of the play

www.mindgametheplay.com (http://www.mindgametheplay.com)
Title: Re: Variety: Ken set to direct Off-Broadway play
Post by: Iain Fisher on November 06, 2008, 02:12:09 AM
The bits of the play on the play's website look really good, some nice imaginative images.

Iain
Title: Re: Variety: Ken set to direct Off-Broadway play
Post by: John Gargo on November 13, 2008, 01:53:04 AM
I'm seeing this Friday, November 21st.  I'm really excited..  :)
Title: Re: Variety: Ken set to direct Off-Broadway play
Post by: Iain Fisher on November 14, 2008, 08:44:07 PM
What was it like?

Iain
Title: Re: Variety: Ken set to direct Off-Broadway play
Post by: Nick Jones on November 18, 2008, 03:18:45 PM
More pictures, from the curtain and party after:

http://www.playbill.com/news/article/123207.html (http://www.playbill.com/news/article/123207.html)
Title: Re: Variety: Ken set to direct Off-Broadway play
Post by: John Gargo on November 22, 2008, 05:02:56 AM
Mindgame Review (of sorts)

Just came back from Mindgame.  I thoroughly enjoyed it... The Soho Playhouse is a cozy little place, and it really helped the subtly claustrophobic aspect of a play whose action, over the course of roughly two and a half hours, occurs in one room.  I also spotted Mr. Russell himself in the front row (with I think his wife along with some friends) and he was very gracious to sign my playbill for me, after identifying myself to him as "something of a fan."

The three actors were excellent.  Lee Godart and Kathleen McNenny were both fine in their roles, but predictably Keith Carradine stands out.  He's given a real "meaty" role, and I really got a sense that he had a blast with it.

The play itself may not be the most original thing out there, but it's got a deliciously pitch-black streak of humor running through it.  The audience (a little over half full I'd say) was really into the play, and they responded very well to the darkly humorous proceedings.

I can see what attracted Russell to this project.  The play makes full use of its visual trappings, there are some thematic elements that the director has touched on before (such as one scene in particular with potentially homosexual repression that drips with tension) and there's a neat bit of Russellian kitch in a nurse's wardrobe.

Yes, this got some lukewarm reviews, but this is nothing new with Russell, but I had a really good time with it.  There were moments of real tension and wit, and I had a big stupid grin throughout, sort of like watching an old Hammer film.  This sort of thing has been called "old fashioned," but that's missing the point... we're often in on the joke, and at the end we're quite surprised when we realize that the play may have pulled a fast one on us as well when we weren't looking.
Title: final performance
Post by: Iain Fisher on December 22, 2008, 05:37:55 PM
The final performance is 4 Jan 2009.

Any rumours of it going elsewhere?