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Comment by bridget keehan on May 22, 2012 at 22:51

some interesting debates about Three Kingdoms on here http://exeuntmagazine.com/features/critical-girl-on-girl-action/

Comment by National Theatre Wales on May 22, 2012 at 11:56

Carmen, yes we've chatted to Steve too, and I'm sure we will to Vicky F once she's at the Royal Court - it's important to keep these channels open and to help make connections for Welsh writers.

Tim - Madani is particularly keen to reach writers from beyond London, and to think about different ways that their new building can be used.  Also to reflect the world on the streets outside the theatre, which looks rather different to the audience inside at the moment.  He's keen to hear from writers individually, but would also be interested in some kind of 'Welsh wave' of writers doing something together.

All - I don't think the theatrical vision of Three Kingdoms was hugely new - it was a very good version of the world that Nubling and other directors from Gernamy and beyond have been creating for many years.  But it was new to see it this kind of theatrical vision applied to an English 'new play'.  I agree Tim, that on paper this play could be said to be a shallow take on the horrors of sex trafficking, but given that it was written by Simon S, knowing that Sebastian N would give it this kind of theatrical treatment, I wonder if something more complex was going on - a deliberate thin-ness to the world imagined on the page (the world of TV cops pursuing bad European men) which would then be turned into a dream world on stage. The thrust of the theatrical event as a whole was to imply that the way in which we usually view global problems such as sex-trafficking is via a xenophopic fantasy, and that we need to look more critically under our own noses.  So the text staged the story we tell ourselves, the direction the fantasy world lurking underneath...

Comment by Matthew Bulgo on May 22, 2012 at 7:47

I usually try and plan a long weekend to London once a month to take in a glut of plays but unfortunately my May plan fell apart and I ended up missing out on 'Three Kingdoms'. My back-up plan is usually to buy the playtext and glean what I can from that about the actual production, but I have a feeling that in this instance I'd be missing out on the audacity and boldness of what sounds like an extraordinary production. I've been keenly following people's reactions to it on Twitter and it has been fascinating to see how much it has polarised audience members, both those in the industry and Joe Public.

Here's hoping for a revival or transfer or even a download on Digital Theatre. Anything, so long as I can get to see this piece of work.

In the meantime, if you've seen the show, please keep talking about it and I'll certainly keep reading about it.

Comment by carmen medway-stephens on May 21, 2012 at 21:37

John, Bush sounds exciting and have you made links yet with Steve Marmion Soho, we were in Uni together and he spent a number of years in Wales

Comment by Tim Price on May 21, 2012 at 13:05

I saw it! As an interrogation of three different theatre traditions it was amazing and felt like a really significant moment for the UK theatre audience. As far as an interrogation of sex-trafficking it was at best thin, at worst exploitative. I didn't learn anything or have any new thoughts/ perspectives or insights into sex-trafficking but I was knocked senseless with the possibilities of what theatre can/should look like.

John glad to hear you've met Madani - Could you tell us a bit more about his vision for the Bush?

Comment by meredydd barker on May 21, 2012 at 12:38

I didn't see it but I have greedily looked for as many images as I can find and it reminds me very much of the work of Max Beckmann, Georg Grosz and others who were working during the Weimar Republic. New Objectivity I think they called it. It's a hazy time of day, I'll have to check that out. So, no, can't comment on the writing but the look of it was eerily familiar if you happen to know those painters and that time. They hated expressionisms focus on the individual - enter Brecht and his man equals man project - and which is where, I guess, Stephens is coming from by handing his world on the page to Nubling's world on the stage. Disappointed not to see it, but I did watch Fellini's Satyricon on youtube today. 

Comment by National Theatre Wales on May 21, 2012 at 11:47

On a different note - and to greedily set off two strands in one evening - Lucy and I had a really good meeting today with Madani Younis, the new Artistic Director at The Bush. He was keen to discuss what The Bush's relationship could be with NTW, and with Welsh writers in general.  Does anyone have any thoughts - I should add that Madani has an expansive vision of how a 'new writing' theatre can be imagined - beyond the traditional script reading approaches.  He is particularly keen to stage writing from outside London.

Comment by National Theatre Wales on May 21, 2012 at 11:45

Hi Med, did you see Three Kingdoms?  I saw it in preview and really liked it - my comment to a friend after who wanted to know whether to go was "It's got just about every cliche of German theatre in it - and it's brilliant!"  It was particularly exciting to see that kind of bold, almost flashily irreverent directing with a new English-language play - you usually only see it with classics, and even then usually in German, Ductch or maybe these days Portuguese.  I wonder what writers here think about the kind of collaboration Simon Stephens has embraced with Sebastian Nubling - where he has little idea what kind of a world will be conjured onstage for his writing.

Comment by meredydd barker on May 18, 2012 at 1:45

http://exeuntmagazine.com/features/the-end-of-new-writing/

Comment by meredydd barker on May 17, 2012 at 2:07

Interesting thread-

http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/theatreblog/2012/may/16/three-kingd...

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