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| 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 | |
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| Kate Nelligan in "Plenty" was one of the most unforgettable performances I have seen. No other actress came close to matching her. J |
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| 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 | |
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| 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. |
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| 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 | |
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| Thanks! That was beautifully written. I printed it out to save for next time I start to wonder about this play. | |
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| 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 | |
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| 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! | |
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| 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 | |
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| 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. | |
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