Threaded Order Chronological Order
| Kate Nelligan in Plenty | |
| Posted by: bobby2 03:01 am EST 02/21/19 | |
|
|
|
| I've asked this before but..................was she really that extraordinary? Streep is good in the film I think (though Tracey Ullman steals it) but I love the final scene talking to the Frenchmen who there will be days and days and days like this. Streep expresses such joy and hope. (info on other Susans like Blanchett or Weisz) welcome too. |
|
| reply to this message |
| re: Kate Nelligan in Plenty | |
| Posted by: den 08:10 pm EST 02/21/19 | |
| In reply to: Kate Nelligan in Plenty - bobby2 03:01 am EST 02/21/19 | |
|
|
|
| Yes, she was, absolutely. How many years ago did I see this at the Public, and that final scene is as vivid in my memory as anything I’ve seen since. I remember the night I was there, the production was being taped for the Library of Performing Arts archives at Lincoln Center, so if you want to see what the fuss was about, arrange for a viewing. | |
| reply to this message |
| re: Kate Nelligan in Plenty | |
| Posted by: bobby2 01:00 am EST 02/22/19 | |
| In reply to: re: Kate Nelligan in Plenty - den 08:10 pm EST 02/21/19 | |
|
|
|
| Oh wow. Thanks for the tip. For some reason I always thought the Library didn't have it. | |
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
| re: Kate Nelligan in Plenty | |
| Posted by: Michael_Portantiere 12:44 pm EST 02/21/19 | |
| In reply to: Kate Nelligan in Plenty - bobby2 03:01 am EST 02/21/19 | |
|
|
|
| "I've asked this before but..................was she really that extraordinary? Streep is good in the film I think (though Tracey Ullman steals it) but I love the final scene talking to the Frenchmen who there will be days and days and days like this. Streep expresses such joy and hope. " Yes, Nelligan was extraordinary in the role, and the moment you cite was perhaps her greatest of all. Question: Why do you keep asking? Just to get more opinions? Obviously, none of us can prove to you how extraordinary Nelligan was in the role, and unfortunately, I assume there is no film of her performance. |
|
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
| re: Kate Nelligan in Plenty | |
| Posted by: bobby2 01:02 am EST 02/22/19 | |
| In reply to: re: Kate Nelligan in Plenty - Michael_Portantiere 12:44 pm EST 02/21/19 | |
|
|
|
| I asked again because I had forgotten what people said. I knew she was great but I always wondered how much Streep was able to do the role in comparison. I just like the topic and like hearing people's memories of theater that I was too young to see. | |
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
| re: Kate Nelligan in Plenty | |
| Posted by: aislestorm 11:22 am EST 02/21/19 | |
| In reply to: Kate Nelligan in Plenty - bobby2 03:01 am EST 02/21/19 | |
|
|
|
| Hers was an extraordinary performance. It remains indelibly seared into my memory. | |
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
| re: Kate Nelligan in Plenty | |
| Posted by: Jackson 08:39 am EST 02/21/19 | |
| In reply to: Kate Nelligan in Plenty - bobby2 03:01 am EST 02/21/19 | |
|
|
|
| Kate Nelligan in "Plenty" was one of the most unforgettable performances I have seen. No other actress came close to matching her. J |
|
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
| The role of Susan remains one of the most challenging. | |
| Last Edit: Delvino 12:08 pm EST 02/22/19 | |
| Posted by: Delvino 12:01 pm EST 02/22/19 | |
| In reply to: re: Kate Nelligan in Plenty - Jackson 08:39 am EST 02/21/19 | |
|
|
|
| I like the film a great deal (and own a DVD). Streep makes the early scenes especially engaging, and the adaptation, look, and sound design (that parachute, recurring) are all stunning. The film has an epic feel. But the play with Nelligan was simply unlike anything I'd seen. I was in my 20s and didn't fully grasp all of the post-war England issues, and did little to prepare for the play in advance. Didn't matter. I'd never seen a character like that, and when I finally read the play, multiple times -- and finally digesting all I didn't know about England and the humiliation of Suez -- I realized how brilliantly Nelligan portrayed Susan. I had high hopes for Weisz, truly the most logical casting imaginable. She was game, and often nailed the tone and detachment in the lines. It just didn't quite add up, and the end left me wanting some exploration I had not seen (I went early, but didn't hear reports that contradicted mine). But the secret of Nellligan's work, if memory serves, was the underlying emotional pull, the sense of this woman trying to marry her racing intellect-- filled with ideas and no place to use them -- and a constant gut-check that was all about loss. Never finding a world that lived up to the hope in that last flashback. Susan remains one of the most challenging roles in modern theater. An actor must make us invest, and care, long after the character behaves in ways that traditionally earn sympathy (some would argue, or empathy). That aspect of the character and play likely appealed to me in my late 20s. I have never lost my affection for the play, kept alive through Streep's expert handling (though Dance is not an ideal Brock, for reasons I cannot quite figure out. Too palpably pompous when the lines do all the work. As a trade-off we get a sublime Tracy Ullman and the late great Gielgud's embodiment of the rigid and bewildered Darwin) I fear we won't see it again anytime soon. |
|
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
| re: The role of Susan remains one of the most challenging. | |
| Posted by: bobby2 04:20 am EST 02/23/19 | |
| In reply to: The role of Susan remains one of the most challenging. - Delvino 12:01 pm EST 02/22/19 | |
|
|
|
| Thanks! That was beautifully written. I printed it out to save for next time I start to wonder about this play. | |
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
| re: Kate Nelligan in Plenty | |
| Posted by: jjhbb340 12:26 pm EST 02/21/19 | |
| In reply to: re: Kate Nelligan in Plenty - Jackson 08:39 am EST 02/21/19 | |
|
|
|
| Totally agree! I was astounded that year when she lost the Tony to Jessica Tandy in Foxfire-a worthy performance, but nowhere near as stunning as Nelligan's. Streep and Weisz were not half as good either. Nelligan was always magical whether she was in Spoils of War,Serious Money or her magnificent Josie in Moon for the Misbegotten with an equally brilliant Ian Bannen. Hope and pray she'll return to Broadway some day! | |
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
| re: Kate Nelligan in Plenty | |
| Posted by: bobby2 01:05 am EST 02/22/19 | |
| In reply to: re: Kate Nelligan in Plenty - jjhbb340 12:26 pm EST 02/21/19 | |
|
|
|
| I did see her in An American Daughter. I don't really have much memory of that performance. I don't think I experienced one of her best stage performances. I remember Lynn Thigpen being great though. | |
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
| re: Kate Nelligan in Plenty | |
| Posted by: EmeraldAisle 07:54 am EST 02/21/19 | |
| In reply to: Kate Nelligan in Plenty - bobby2 03:01 am EST 02/21/19 | |
|
|
|
| She was extraordinary. It was one of my favorite performances of that time. I believe she had been promised the film but due to illness could not make it. Meryl in the film did not capture the role the way Nelligan did. |
|
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
| re: Kate Nelligan in Plenty | |
| Posted by: Duke1979 08:16 am EST 02/21/19 | |
| In reply to: re: Kate Nelligan in Plenty - EmeraldAisle 07:54 am EST 02/21/19 | |
|
|
|
| One of the most stunning performances I have ever seen. That final image when the set changed to find her standing in a field of yellow flowers in France and she spoke those lines was magical. | |
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
Time to render: 0.035458 seconds.