Great time at Much Ado About Nothing - Shakespeare Festival

jpphotography

Well-Known Forumite
Just wondered if anyone else here are planning to go to Shakespeare at the Castle this year? We were there yesterday and the actors did a fantastic job! I was speaking to someone who has recently seen the same play in Stratford Upon Avon (you know, that place everyone thinks you live when you say you live in Stafford) and they felt that it was better at the castle. If anyone is thinking of going, I would have no problem recommending it!

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jpphotography

Well-Known Forumite
The photo in my first post is from my seat which was a great view. It was second row in Stand C (Row B, Seat 74). The best is always going to be Stand B towards the front/bottom, but you can see the stage well from all stands and the actors move about to face all three stands so I would much rather be at the bottom of stand A or C then at the top of Stand B. We were all very happy in stand C.
 

proactive

Enjoying a drop of red.
We were there yesterday, middle of stand B. Had a great time.

I wouldn't really worry about seating as nowhere has a bad view, just rock up and enjoy, for if we don't use it we'll lose it...
 

Rikki

Well-Known Forumite
We're going on Saturday and have ordered one of the picnics for before it starts. Been going for a few years now and it's always a good night out. I agree with the others that where you sit doesn't really matter. The actors don't always perform facing one way so at times sitting at the side is better than head on. But saying that stand b low down is generally the best area. We're on the isle on stand c this year as I wanted somewhere easy for my very pregnant wife to get in and out of and that stand has the disabled ramp.

Just remember to take a cushion as the seats are a bit uncomfortable and it's a long time to be sitting down. Also coats or a blanket if the weather isn't great as it can get a bit cold sitting outside at night.
 

Withnail

Well-Known Forumite
Just remember to take a cushion as the seats are a bit uncomfortable...
^this
Also coats or a blanket if the weather isn't great as it can get a bit cold sitting outside at night.
^also this, though i'd go further and say take them both, regardless of the weather - it gets cold up there even in a heatwave.
 

Wormella

Well-Known Forumite
We haven't been since Romeo and Juliet was rained off - I'm a bit bored with the plays they keep picking, I saw Hamlet when we first moved to Stafford and it was great but everything else has been a bit fluffy.
 

Glam

Mad Cat Woman
We're on the isle on stand c this year as I wanted somewhere easy for my very pregnant wife to get in and out of and that stand has the disabled ramp.
First off, congratulations to both of you xx
When is baby due?
Do you know if you're having a boy or girl yet?
Have you got any names chosen?
Ooooh babys get me so broody, but I can't have and don't want any more xx
 

Withnail

Well-Known Forumite
I'm a bit bored with the plays they keep picking, I saw Hamlet when we first moved to Stafford and it was great but everything else has been a bit fluffy.
I have had this conversation with your beloved.

Hindsight is one thing, foresight is another - should have been Richard III this year, of all years, what?

I had another conversation with someone else who explained the rationale behind the endless stream of mediocre comedies, but didn't buy it - has there really been an audience 'built up', as it were, for this? Would that same audience really balk at the idea of Enobarbus and his golden poop?

One feels that this particular conversation is, to all intents and purposes, academic -
... if we don't use it we'll lose it...
- one suspects the time at the crease is up, and this will have been a brief but glorious innings of 25 (run out).

One hopes beyond hope to be proved wrong.

Because, as was also discussed, what effect would the demise of the 'Bill on the Hill' have on the Live@ kind of whatsit thing?
 

Floss

Well-Known Forumite
We haven't been since Romeo and Juliet was rained off - I'm a bit bored with the plays they keep picking, I saw Hamlet when we first moved to Stafford and it was great but everything else has been a bit fluffy.

Yes I stopped going soon as they started including the singing
 

proactive

Enjoying a drop of red.
- one suspects the time at the crease is up, and this will have been a brief but glorious innings of 25 (run out).
Is this a hunch or something I've missed in the press? Or do you have some insider knowledge, so to speak?

Can't help but feel it would be a sad day if the annual Shakespeare was cancelled and a very retrograde step on behalf of the council in sending a signal that the very events that help keep Stafford reasonably vibrant are not worth having.
 

jpphotography

Well-Known Forumite
Is this a hunch or something I've missed in the press? Or do you have some insider knowledge, so to speak?

Can't help but feel it would be a sad day if the annual Shakespeare was cancelled and a very retrograde step on behalf of the council in sending a signal that the very events that help keep Stafford reasonably vibrant are not worth having.

I have to agree. It may not be everyone's cup of tea but on Monday it was reasonably full (3/4s) and everyone seemed to have a really good time. I hope it continues.
 

Carole

Well-Known Forumite
Each to their own......I dont mind a bit "fluffy" or a bit of singing.

I haven't been before as I have either been working, on holiday or the weather put me off.

It ceratinly doesnt bother me that is not "high brow" Shakespeare.

We have booked for Friday night, ordered a picnic and hopefully enjoy it for what it is....a pleasant night out.
 

The Hawk

Well-Known Forumite
This http://www.staffordshirenewsletter....tners-Ludlow/story-24737351-detail/story.html has to be the way forwards. Sharing the performance, and the cost of production, with other venues (providing they are not too close to each other, could benefit all parties.

Then Stafford could reduce the length of its Shakespeare run and use the stage and seating to provide other attractions. For example, it could expand the current music festival http://www.staffordbc.gov.uk/liveatthecastle into more of a nationally attractive small music festival. Or comedy, literature, science, film, other theatre, carnival etc. and appeal to a wider range of people, spreading the cost of setting up and maintaining the venue, whilst retaining the core Shakespeare Festival.

They could even try and be crafty; A number of years ago, I lived in Weymouth for 5 years. The local council realised it couldn't afford to provide the regular firework displays that were attractive to locals and visitors. So it announced it was going to hold an international fireworks competition and invited countries to enter. The result was that the town was able to have a 'free' firework display every week through the summer months (even China put in an entry).

The trick is to use the venue for a wide variety of events each year, some will be attractive enough to maintain as regular annual events, others might need to be rotated to keep them fresh.

It's not rocket science; unless you hold a science festival.
 

basil

don't mention the blinds
This http://www.staffordshirenewsletter....tners-Ludlow/story-24737351-detail/story.html has to be the way forwards. Sharing the performance, and the cost of production, with other venues (providing they are not too close to each other, could benefit all parties.

Then Stafford could reduce the length of its Shakespeare run and use the stage and seating to provide other attractions. For example, it could expand the current music festival http://www.staffordbc.gov.uk/liveatthecastle into more of a nationally attractive small music festival. Or comedy, literature, science, film, other theatre, carnival etc. and appeal to a wider range of people, spreading the cost of setting up and maintaining the venue, whilst retaining the core Shakespeare Festival.

They could even try and be crafty; A number of years ago, I lived in Weymouth for 5 years. The local council realised it couldn't afford to provide the regular firework displays that were attractive to locals and visitors. So it announced it was going to hold an international fireworks competition and invited countries to enter. The result was that the town was able to have a 'free' firework display every week through the summer months (even China put in an entry).

The trick is to use the venue for a wide variety of events each year, some will be attractive enough to maintain as regular annual events, others might need to be rotated to keep them fresh.

It's not rocket science; unless you hold a science festival.
Agreed it's not Aerospace Engineering, however maybe Proximate Pyrotechnics Science ?............
 

Withnail

Well-Known Forumite
Is this a hunch or something I've missed in the press? Or do you have some insider knowledge, so to speak?
All i know is that it loses money, and we live in a 'price of everything/value of nothing' kind of world. Like i say, i do hope i'm wrong but if they can't find a partnership like the folded one with Ludlow as per @The Hawk 's post, it's difficult to see a future for it.

Sorry to be a Debbie Downer - it really is a good night out and i too would be sad to see it go.
 

jpphotography

Well-Known Forumite
Each to their own......I dont mind a bit "fluffy" or a bit of singing.

I haven't been before as I have either been working, on holiday or the weather put me off.

It ceratinly doesnt bother me that is not "high brow" Shakespeare.

We have booked for Friday night, ordered a picnic and hopefully enjoy it for what it is....a pleasant night out.

How did it go @Carole ?
 

ATJ

Well-Known Forumite
I really like Shakespeare at the Castle and hope it continues, but I am tired of the fact they seem to have taken to repeating the same few plays over and over again. I know there's only a finite number of Shakespeare plays, but in the last ten years they've done Much Ado about Nothing, A Midsummer Night's Dream and Romeo and Juliet twice. And I'm sure for Much Ado about Nothing, they're even reusing the same costumes.
 
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