Juliet Letters, Peckham, in October

Pretty self-explanatory
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Neil.
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Juliet Letters, Peckham, in October

Post by Neil. »

Hi all,

Elvis's song cycle is being performed at Mountview Theatre School.

According to the brochure (page 5) https://issuu.com/mountview/docs/autumn ... e_19_issuu, the dates are:

9, 10, 11 (7.15pm)
12 Oct (2.15pm & 7.15pm)

Looks as though the booking page hasn't gone live yet, but the brochure says it's here:

https://www.mountview.org.uk/shows
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Man out of Time
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Re: Juliet Letters, Peckham, in October

Post by Man out of Time »

Thanks for this "heads up" Neil. The booking page is now live.

I will add the Mountview performances to the log of other artists performing The Juliet Letters on the Wiki here:

http://www.elviscostello.info/wiki/inde ... et_Letters

Curiously I saw Jon Boden and the Sacconi Quartet perform "The Juliet Letters" also in Peckham (CLF Art Cafe) almost a year ago. There was "No Dancing" though, on that occasion. Obviously a local favourite, or perhaps the Director at Mountview saw that performance last year and was inspired?

I would be up for seeing the Mountview production, if anyone else is interested?

MOOT
Neil.
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Re: Juliet Letters, Peckham, in October

Post by Neil. »

Yes, definitely up for seeing this. I can't go on Weds 9th or the Saturday matinee.

So for me it's any of the evenings of 10, 11, 12 Oct. I'm tempted to say the Saturday eve, but people with families might find that harder.

Booking:
https://www.mountview.org.uk/whats-on/s ... t-letters/
sheeptotheslaughter
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Re: Juliet Letters, Peckham, in October

Post by sheeptotheslaughter »

I would like to see this on maybe the Friday or the Saturday. I will see what day Maura wants to go, if of course she does want to go. :D :D
sulky lad
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Re: Juliet Letters, Peckham, in October

Post by sulky lad »

Bad enough seeing this with EC, without seeing someone else butcher it - count me out :shock:
Of course, I only saw Elvis with The Brodskys 3 times in 2008 :wink:
sheeptotheslaughter
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Re: Juliet Letters, Peckham, in October

Post by sheeptotheslaughter »

Turned out to be a really great evening.
Neil.
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Re: Juliet Letters, Peckham, in October

Post by Neil. »

Yeah, it was really impressive - not a string quartet, there were about 20 actors all playing out different scenarios, with solo singing and very impressive choral harmonies. The quality was high throughout but standouts were This Offer Is Unrepeatable, Damnation's Cellar, Dear Sweet Filthy World and This Sad Burlesque, which showed that things have got even worse in politics since Elvis wrote it!
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Man out of Time
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Re: Juliet Letters, Peckham, in October

Post by Man out of Time »

Mountview - The Juliet Letters
Mountview - The Juliet Letters
IMG_0747.JPG (69.29 KiB) Viewed 10110 times
Thanks again to Neil for spotting that this production was happening. It exceeded my expectations. It was an ensemble staged performance of every one of the The Juliet Letters. The instrumentation was varied with piano, percussion, strings, flute, saxophone, accordion, guitars and probably something else I've forgotten. Each song had a different setting, appropriate for the subject. The cast wore costumes appropriate to each song - so suits and briefcases for "This Offer Is Unrepeatable" and military uniforms for "I Thought I'd Write To Juliet". For "This Sad Burlesque" the cast wore face masks of contemporary political leaders including a recumbent Jacob Rees-Mogg. The whole was very well staged, performed and lit.

We spoke afterwards to the Director, Julie Atherton and the Musical Director - Steve Markwick, as well as to many of the young cast. Julie said that the idea to stage The Juliet Letters had come from the Principal of Mountview - Stephen Jameson, and that she had not been familiar with the piece until then. Paul Cassidy and Jacqueline Thomas (of The Brodsky Quartet) had met the cast last Wednesday and talked to them about the writing of the songs and given some insights into particular themes and the background to songs like "Jacksons, Monk And Rowe" and "I Thought I'd Write To Juliet". This was generous of Paul and Jacqueline.

Steve Markwick wrote the arrangements specifically to make use of the musical talents of the Mountview cast, using the instruments that they could individually and collectively play. These worked very well. The cast members seemed pleased to have attracted an audience of Elvis fans. One cast member (wearing a Rush T-shirt) was happy to confess that Elvis Costello was not an artist he had ever listened to before and that he understood that this piece was also atypical.

Overall a great evening and great to meet other forum members again. Interesting to talk to Ian about Fretsore records and the recording of "Country Darkness Vol 1", but that belongs on a different thread...

MOOT
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