#victoria yeats

[misscissyturner]

So lovely to see them together !!

[holisticdirkmuppet]

posting SB content like my life depends on it

[ofbooksandteacups]

"Ben and Imo" - or: one of the most beautiful plays of 2024 - is coming back on stage, and closer to London! The Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond will present the show's Off West End première next year, starting previews on April 19th. The show's only staying for a month, closing on May 17th.

But what's this show about? I'm glad you asked!

Ben and Imo is a two-hander, telling the story of the not so easy collaboration between composer Benjamin Britten and musical assistant (and composer herself) Imogen Holst. The show is set in a composition room in Aldeburgh, a charming little coastal town in Suffolk. Music composition is - at times - just a background topic to the play's true centre: polar opposites Imo and Ben, whose relationship is just like the waves of the sea, with its highs and lows. The themes developed in the play can be touching to anyone who's worked in the music and theatre field: facing a writer's block, fearing no one might like your art, ultimately accepting rejection and an unsatisfactory result. Ben and Imo are incredibly different - one is led by rage and unfiltered emotion, the other is calm and loving - but they work beautifully on stage. I won't spoil the end of the play - but can you really spoil something that actually happened? - just, be warned: bring a handkerchief. Or a thousand of them. You'll need it.

Erica Whyman and Mark Ravenhill are theatre rockstars, managing to condense everything that happened during the creation of Gloriana in a show that's a little over two hours without losing its pace and its emotional value. The score is effective, a leitmotiv that accompanies the audience throughout the play. The piano was remote played live by Connor Fogel while the actors mimicked it on the silent piano on stage. The cast - aka Victoria Yeates and Samuel Barnett - is possibly one of the best I've ever seen on stage, one of those cases in which I could never be able to choose who I liked best, because they balanced each other to perfection. Five stars overall - and almost one year later my opinion hasn't changed.

Trust me - you don't want to miss this.

You can buy your tickets on orangetreetheatre.co.uk and if you're under 30 they are only 15 pounds!

[waistcoat35]

everyone's awake post ben & imo edit

[miss-ute]

[x]

[everydayblog]

Victoria Yeates

[procrastinatingalways]

[willstafford]

Facing the Music

BEN & IMO The Swan Theatre, Stratford upon Avon, Tuesday 2nd April 2024 Mark Ravenhill’s new play couldn’t be further from his first one (Sh*pping and Fucking), dealing with a rather rarefied moment in British musical history.  Composer Benjamin Britten has just nine months to come up with a grand opera in time for the coronation of Elizabeth II.  Along comes Imogen, daughter of Gustav ‘The…

[rosncrntz]

Imogen never stays late.

She stays too late only once.

[misscissyturner]

Always love a supportive cast

No other photos found at present

[holisticdirkmuppet]

more stills!

[ofbooksandteacups]

I had the chance to see Ben and Imo yesterday (and I'm going tonight as well) and I think words will never suffice to describe how wonderful this play is. It's moving and tender, yet you can't stop laughing at every little joke and remark. It's both comedy and drama, with two acting powerhouses who've never done better than this. I am completely in awe of their portrayal of Britten and Holst. The writing and directing are sublime. And kudos to the pianist! A 10/10 experience. If you can, go see it. You won't be disappointed (and you'll want to see it all over again just to feel something).

[magicalhideoutengineer]

You had more opportunities in the last film to work with Jude, because in Crimes of Grindelwald I don't recall we have scenes with Dumbledore and Bunty.

Victoria Yeates: No, there was more. They changed the script. There was more in the first one, and then it got moved, kind of me saving the day got moved to this film. So there was gonna be more, and then it changed more into this film, which was more about the goodies.

So those scenes from Crimes of Grindelwald, they got cut. Where would Bunty and Dumbledore have run into each other?

Victoria Yeates: I don't know. I didn't get to see them. Yeah, I just knew it like a vague something or other, because they were planning it all out. They were trying to also work out dates with Neal Street in Call the Midwife and trying to get me released so that I can do the film, and that was a bit complicated.

At the end of Secrets of Dumbledore, even if she is kind of the hero who saves the day, the way that she talked about Tina at the end, we feel like, "No, it can't be end of the story." We need more because she's still in grief for what should have been.

Victoria Yeates: That was what got decided when we got to that scene. I said to Eddie, I said, "I want the audience to know that I'm letting you go. I don't want this to continue", and I think that's a really beautiful thing when you love someone, seeing the other person's photo and saying, "That's who you should be with." Sometimes you just know that's who you're supposed to be with, and I think that again shows you a depth of emotional maturity, just an incredible aspect of her person, to look at someone and go, "You know, you love Tina. You know, go for it. You know you do." Yeah, I thought that was really a lovely way to finish that arc for her, and then it opens up for everything.

What a shame that we missed out on girlboss, hyper-competent Bunty.

Victoria Yeates: I know. I know. It was like a really good scene about character, which I suppose why they wrote it in. It was long enough as it was, things have to go. But she really gives it to the Nifflers. She's really strict with them, and she really tells them off. She just absolutely has it, like, "I'm not having any more of your nonsense. She's really like, "Look, get back in the case, now." David said, "I love how you shout at the Nifflers." I'm really like strict.

So obviously we've talked a lot about Bunty's character. Why do you think she is the right choice to carry the real case? Why was she the chosen one in that situation?

Victoria Yeates: Because she's completely unexpected. So who's gonna be trying to chase Bunty? It's a good choice, isn't it? It's like when you pick spies or people like that, you are not gonna go for someone that's really loud-mouthed and obvious, and I think that there was a bit that was cut where Dumbledore and Newt are talking, and Dumbledore says that Bunty, she's incredible, your assistant, and he says, "I chose her because she's like the Qilin, because she's pure of heart." Yeah, and so that is the essence of the whole film, is that her and the Qilin represent each other and she's pure of heart, and only someone pure of heart can say to the person they love, "Go and be with someone else." Because that's real love, isn't it? When you really want someone to be happy. Yeah, so that was why she was chosen, and obviously the Qilin would be comfortable with her.

So when it actually comes to Bunty's crush, do you have any idea about that backstory, about how she became so attached, how it was so intense? Obviously she lets up by the end, but it was like...

Victoria Yeates: Yeah, it's been eight years, isn' it? So she idolised him at school. This is what I think. So, yeah, she's admired him from afar and then she goes to the book signing, and I think there's a photograph of that in the first movie, and so she goes to the book signing and it's just like really gauche, such a big fan, and just says, "Do you need an assistant? I'll come and help you. I'll just come and help, you know. That's fine, whatever you need." She just imposed herself on him, and that's it, and she just goes in, and that's it, just get herself a job. So that's the thing, isn't it? This is where you start to piece things together. She's that kind of person. She goes for what she wants also. There's gotta be a part of her where she goes, "Right, I'm gonna not only goes to the book signing, I'm gonna go up to him and say, 'You need an assistant. I'm gonna be an assistant. Can I be your assistant?'" He doesn't know what to do because he's probably like, "No." His type of character is not just gonna let someone in. She'd have to be quite persistent, I think, to get in. He's not just gonna go, "Oh, yeah, here we go. Come on down." He's really socially inept. He doesn't want someone around. She's got to become indispensable to him. So another knock on the door, turns up again, "Just thought you might need some help," and then he's like, "Look, this girl keeps coming. I just feel now she just stayed."

So you said that you were supposed to go film in Portugal for what scenes?

Victoria Yeates: So it was gonna be set in Brazil. So we were all gonna get three months or something in Portugal, yeah, and then that old Covid bug put an all stopper on that. I know, we were so excited. We were like, "Oh my God, I bet we get an amazing hotel. We would have time off to go to the beach. Oh, wow. Be wild."

[miss-ute]

[everydayblog]

Victoria Yeates

[scamanderishredmayniac]

Would have loved to seen this scene, maybe a whole scene at the book signing.

Newt’s book signing.