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Sat Mar 03, 2007 7:11 am  |
Hi
Was my b/day on the 1st March and hubby took me to the theatre to see 'Old Times', by Harold Pinter. Has anyone else seen it? If you have, can you explain it to me? Neither of us had a CLUE what it was about?! Who was the woman in black?
We left baffled and by the look of the audience we weren't the only ones. I have done searches on-line to try to find out the story but can only find brief details and they don't explain the play! |
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Sat Mar 03, 2007 7:27 am |
| I haven't seen this recently, but from what I can remember it's main focus is how everyone remembers the past differently, so the 3 characters all have different interpretations of their past relationships and events and so have different ideas about how their current relationships are structured. Not sure about the woman in black though, unless it's one of the 2 main female characters. |
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Sat Mar 03, 2007 8:53 am |
Ha. I love Harold Pinter's plays, but they arent popular with everyone.
He is master of the oblique and the pregnant pause.
In my student days whenever anyone said anything randomly nostalgic or particularly solepsistic we would
enjoy to dub it 'just like a Pinter play."
A great get - out for those with a tendency toward the non-sequitur. |
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Sat Mar 03, 2007 8:54 am |
| Yes it's the one that comes to stay, she's dressed all in black. Was she a ghost? Were they lesbian lovers years back? Did she even exist? The other woman who has a bath was going on about her being dead, the guy in it bursts into tears and then it ended?! Didn't have a scooby doo what on earth it was about, but half way through I'd glazed over with boredom anyway! |
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Sat Mar 03, 2007 8:56 am |
| catski wrote: |
Ha. I love Harold Pinter's plays, but they arent popular with everyone.
He is master of the oblique and the pregnant pause.
In my student days whenever anyone said anything randomly nostalgic or particularly solepsistic we would
enjoy to dub it 'just like a Pinter play."
A great get - out for those with a tendency toward the non-sequitur. |
So do you know what it is about? |
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Sat Mar 03, 2007 9:01 am |
Ha, Sarah, I think Fifi did a brilliant job in suggesting what to make of it.
It's probably not something to try to reduce, but something to sit with. ( Like a dream.) A lot of people find that frustrating. Like non - representational art. |
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Sat Mar 03, 2007 9:07 am |
| catski wrote: |
Ha, Sarah, I think Fifi did a brilliant job in suggesting what to make of it.
It's probably not something to try to reduce, but something to sit with. ( Like a dream.) A lot of people find that frustrating. Like non - representational art. |
I realise it was supposed to be about relationships and how we perceive things differently to others, at least that's what I thought it was supposed to be about.
I wanted to know who one of the characters was supposed to be. Do you know? |
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Sat Mar 03, 2007 11:00 am |
| From what I remember, the character who came to stay was an old friend of the wife's, but may also have been a former lover of the husband's at one time although neither of them had any idea the other knew her? It's been a while though. |
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Sat Mar 03, 2007 11:27 am |
| fifi wrote: |
| From what I remember, the character who came to stay was an old friend of the wife's, but may also have been a former lover of the husband's at one time although neither of them had any idea the other knew her? It's been a while though. |
Yes that's right, I wanted to know who she was? A ghost? What was the reference about her being dead? |
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Sun Mar 04, 2007 4:16 am |
| catski wrote: |
Ha, Sarah, I think Fifi did a brilliant job in suggesting what to make of it.
It's probably not something to try to reduce, but something to sit with. ( Like a dream.) A lot of people find that frustrating. Like non - representational art. |
You make it sound so appealing Catski - I desperately want to see it now. Don't you just love frustration and sitting with things. |
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Sun Mar 04, 2007 5:08 am |
| Molly wrote: |
| catski wrote: |
Ha, Sarah, I think Fifi did a brilliant job in suggesting what to make of it.
It's probably not something to try to reduce, but something to sit with. ( Like a dream.) A lot of people find that frustrating. Like non - representational art. |
You make it sound so appealing Catski - I desperately want to see it now. Don't you just love frustration and sitting with things. |
Molly, we could go together, and then discuss it over a supper of nostrils. Pleeeeeeease. |
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Sun Mar 04, 2007 8:38 am |
I'm guessing everyone that's seen it, is as confused as me then, as no-one's told me who the woman in black was!  By the way, she was played by Susannah Harker, who's been in tons of stuff and she was awful, really hammy! |
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Sun Mar 04, 2007 9:40 am |
Sorry Sarah, I can't remember too many more details about the play, it's been years since I saw it. I was quite into the arty stuff in my student days, but it's been years since I saw anything even remotely representational. My tastes veer more towards immediate gratification now (too old to spend all that time analysing when it could be spent slurping wine and eating chocolate), and hubby would rather have needles poked into his eyes  |
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Sun Mar 04, 2007 9:44 am |
| Molly wrote: |
| catski wrote: |
Ha, Sarah, I think Fifi did a brilliant job in suggesting what to make of it.
It's probably not something to try to reduce, but something to sit with. ( Like a dream.) A lot of people find that frustrating. Like non - representational art. |
You make it sound so appealing Catski - I desperately want to see it now. Don't you just love frustration and sitting with things. |
Me too! But I have the same needle-poked-in-eye kind of husband as fifi. |
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Sun Mar 04, 2007 9:48 am |
| majorb wrote: |
| Molly wrote: |
| catski wrote: |
Ha, Sarah, I think Fifi did a brilliant job in suggesting what to make of it.
It's probably not something to try to reduce, but something to sit with. ( Like a dream.) A lot of people find that frustrating. Like non - representational art. |
You make it sound so appealing Catski - I desperately want to see it now. Don't you just love frustration and sitting with things. |
Me too! But I have the same needle-poked-in-eye kind of husband as fifi. |
I have pity for you marrieds, but I can see Catski's looking for the immediate gratification of chopping on nostrils these days too. I spose it's a bit like chocolate. |
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Sun Mar 04, 2007 10:22 am |
| Hmm...where on earth do you buy your chocolate??? |
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Sun Mar 04, 2007 10:44 am |
| I like the way this thread is heading. I can see a woman in black heading this way, attracted by the possibility of chocolate nostrils. |
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Sun Mar 04, 2007 4:19 pm |
| fifi wrote: |
| Hmm...where on earth do you buy your chocolate??? |
You mean there's a chocolate place I haven't tried! 
Aw, man, I'll eat anything with chocolate on it. |
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Wed Mar 07, 2007 3:24 pm |
I'm very curious about this play now! I love what I've seen of Harold Pinter but we don't get as much of him over here in the States. "Betrayal" is awesome but it's always the safe bet for theater companies. I generally like plays, books and movies that beg for a second or third viewing and Pinter definitely fits the bill!!!
BTW, Happy [belated] Birthday sarahb! Mine was a few days ago too! I'm jealous -- I wish I would've had tickets to a Pinter play. As it was, I had a lovely appointment with an oral surgeon. |
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Wed Mar 07, 2007 4:10 pm |
It was cr*p, the acting was awful, the story, confusing to say the least and the first half was 30 mins long, before a 30 mins break, which when you've paid full price for a ticket is a bit of a rip off, although in this case we were glad it was short!
There was a ripple of applause, probably from the actors families before the audience left, a majority of them looking annoyed and bewildered. You still want to see it? |
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Wed Mar 07, 2007 4:25 pm |
| well, maybe not with my husband, Sarah! Of course his usual snoring could perhaps be more entertaining for the audience, from what you've just said! |
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Wed Mar 07, 2007 4:32 pm |
Talking of snoring, the guy 2 seats down from me was snoring and the woman behind me was snoring, I had to nudge my hubby a couple of times!
We're seeing The Hound of the Baskervilles on Friday. At least it will be better than Old Times! |
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