Fellow Fangirl and Grati’s THAUJ 3D HFR Squeeeing companion Judiang of the 
Confessions of a Watcher blog attended the Thursday, January 16, 2014 production of the Pinter/PROUST play “Remembrance of Things Past” performance at the 92Y in NYC starring British actor Richard Armitage in an ensemble cast (right) under the direction of Di Trevis and Ed Sylvanus Iskandar.
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Please visit Judiang’s blog for her impressions of this amazing event:
1) Part 1 posted January 18, 2014: http://www.jagrant.com/watcher/richard-armitage-and-pinterproust-a-watchers-and-fangurls-review-part-1/ ;
and
2) Part 2, Update January 22, 2014: http://www.jagrant.com/watcher/richard-armitage-and-pinterproust-cast-party/
Please enjoy Judiang’s essays and make comments on her blog. Cheers!
P.S. And this video of the kissing scene between Richard Armitage as Swann and Lara Hillier as his love interest Odette is mesmerizing. Oh to be Odette! Or, oh to be lucky Lara! Sighhhh!
“Richard Armitage as Swann – 2” a video by Chrissy Lampard
P.S. Several RA Fangirls were able to attend the event (not me, boo hoo) and have shared their thoughts and pictures on their blogs and tumblrs so far. So if you have a link to your blog or tumblr detailing your experiences, please share your link below in a comment. Thanks ladies!
P.S. Jan. 19, 2014–For a different “perspective”, when I heard that Judiang was at the 
performance, I checked on the 92Y website and they had a generic shot of the stage view of the theatre.
So this generic audience shot from a previous event is akin to what Richard Armitage might have seen as he performed that night.
Image link:
http://www.92y.org/Uptown/Support-Us/Special-Fundraising-Events.aspx
Something About Love (A) 
Jan. 19, 2014–And Perry of Armitage Agonistes blog shares her account and pix of being there:
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Jan.19, 2014–And Perry of Armitage Agonistes also shared a link to a video with most of Richard Armitage’s Pinter/PROUST scenes from “Remembrance of Things Past” in it:
And Perry’s post link: http://armitageagonistes.wordpress.com/2014/01/18/pinterproust/
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Jan. 19. 2014–And Perry (Armitage Agonistes blog) shared her thoughts about attending this event:
and a picture of where she sat:
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Jan. 19, 2014–Perry also liked the 3rd Chrissy Lampard video highlighting RA at the close of the performance of “Remembrance of Things Past”:
And here is that direct video link:
P.S. Does anyone else find the accompanying music for the performance?
1) too loud and drowning out the actors’ voices; different placement of microphones (including lavalier mikes on the actors), and sound level adjustments would have helped;
2) seemingly more cheerful than seemed appropriate for the the serious tone of the actor’s serious scenes;
3) but nicely played on the piano.
*I’m ducking now*
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The music was too loud at times. I think the reason it didn’t always match the mood of the scene is that it was the fictional Venteuil sonata, Swann’s and Odette’s anthem, so they played it whenever the two were together. Lack of run-through time probably -not time to tweak it. And hey, it’s okay to be critical. I’ve learned with RA related happenings, as time goes by the more critical elements are expressed more often or more easily. There seems to be an unspoken agreement to keep the afterglow going for a while before we dig in.
Thanks for your links to my posts, here, there and everywhere.
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Hi Perry,
Thanks for your note! Glad to share your links–they were fab! Thrilled that you had such a great time!
Cheers! Grati ;->
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Jan. 21, 2014–Here is Perry’s link to her followup musings:
1) Part 2: http://armitageagonistes.wordpress.com/2014/01/18/i-saw-something-fine-from-the-second-row-and-more-more-more-pinterproust-part-2/
2) Part 3: http://armitageagonistes.wordpress.com/2014/01/21/i-saw-something-fine-from-the-second-row-and-more-more-more-pinterproust-part-3/
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Jan. 19, 2014–Zan shared a picture of her with Richard Armitage at the PP after party (Lovely! Gorgeous!–the both of them!):
I’ll also add her essay link here when I see that she has posted it.
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Jan. 19, 2014–Zan has now shared essay about her Pinter/PROUST experiences:
P.S. Thanks to Servetus’ blog for noting that Zan had posted and providing the link again.
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Jan. 19, 2014–Zan has now shared Part 2 of her Pinter/PROUSt experiences:
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Jan. 20, 2014–Zan has now shared Part 3 of her Pinter/PROUST experiences:
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Jan. 19, 2014–Servetus has a guest post by a lady who sat two seats over from Richard Armitage during the director’s discussion before the show:
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Jan. 20, 2014–and here’s another link:
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Jan. 19, 2014–Yet another attendees’ impressions (with some lovely pix):
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Jan. 19, 2014–And Servetus has earlier shared a tweets compilation about the event:
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Jan. 19, 2014–And Serv had Michelle Forte’s tweet and autographed program earlier:
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Jan. 19, 2014–A thoughtful essay from Ancient Armitage (Obscura) about the social media reactions to Richard Armitage performing in “Remembrance of Things Past”–and RA’s relaxed interactions with fans:
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Jan. 19, 2014–Michaela Servetus (Thanks!) shared a link for a TORN forum post about attending the Pinter/PROUST RA theatre event:
http://newboards.theonering.net/forum/gforum/perl/gforum.cgi?post=704541;sb=post_time;so=DESC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unread
And Serv’s blog link: http://meandrichard.wordpress.com/2014/01/19/torn-thread-on-richard-armitage-in-pinterproust/
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Jan. 19, 2014–Ania’s blog shares a picture of RA after the play that I hadn’t seen before:
http://zrysiowana.blogspot.com/2014/01/richard-armitage-podczas-pinter-proust.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ZrysiowanaJa+%28zRYSIOwana+ja%29
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What a lovely idea to put all the links in one place. Thank you for the link to my blog.
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You’re welcome, Ania! And I just like to have related links in a handy spot. Ha! And I think there are a few more Part 2s or 3s yet coming from some of the attendees. Cheers! Grati ;->
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Jan. 19, 2014–Thanks to the following people who liked this post:
Herba
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Jan. 20, 2014–RAFrenzy shared the experiences of Armitage Besotted:
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Jan. 22, 2014–Judiang has her Part 2 posted. So I put the link in my post above and here it is as well:
http://www.jagrant.com/watcher/richard-armitage-and-pinterproust-cast-party/
Enjoy!
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Jan. 23, 2014–Not sure how I missed linking MarieAstra’s Obsessive Behavior blog’s Pinter/PROUST post about RA and his fans at that event. I had read and liked it earlier. But here it is now:
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Jan. 25, 2014–Perry at the Armitage Agonistes blog shared a review link (from Micra) and a photo (shared by Peter Clement’s instagram, he played Marcel, from Tossed Around’s Tumblr) of Richard Armitage and the Pinter/PROUST cast sitting around talking:
And here is the direct link to the review (note that the reviewer is unflattering to Pinter’s script as a “Cliff Notes” of Proust that he found distasteful and went home to his “inhaler”, the reviewer did not necessarily single out the actors and the staging as being wanting,though Pinter’s implied staging was mentioned):
http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2014/01/23/the-past-is-a-mist-pinters-proust/
P.S. Servetus has also shared a link to the photo on Tossed Around’s tumber:
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Jan. 25, 2014–Here is my comment about the review that I posted on Perry’s blog post:
I concur, [another commenter]–re the reviewer’s critique of Pinter’s “Cliff Notes” approach to Proust and the reviewer needing to speed home to his inhaler and his own copy of PROUST. LOL!
This is a telling excerpt:
“At first glance, a writer [Pinter] known for menacing silences, clipped phrases, and testosterone-fueled brutality—all of it rife with ambiguity—hardly seems the obvious candidate to adapt Proust. When I think of Proust, I think of long and mellifluous sentences, lush, discursive scenes, and linguistic precision—all of which are at odds with a playwright [Proust] who is perhaps best known for his use of the pause.”
With that level of frankness, perhaps we should be glad that the reviewer didn’t focus on the actors–other than to say that the actor (Peter Clements) playing Proust was a dead ringer for him.
Of course, with this being a one off performance, any review will not affect future audiences–because at this point, there are no future performances scheduled. Though a possible limited Broadway run was hinted at.
So, what is the point of the reviewer saying that he likes “real” Proust better than Pinter/PROUST? Personal preference? Elitism? Lack of oxygen? (He did mention that inhaler.) I have no clue. So I’m asking. Besides, it’s fun to speculate. Ha!
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Jan. 26, 2014–Michaela Servetus muses upon the role of the arts–theatre in particular–in Richard Armitage’s life:
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Jan. 26, 2014–Perry shares Lara Hillier’s copy of the official Pinter/PROUST cast photo (great shot!):
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Feb. 1, 2014–Servetus shared a link for Badassbksara who is starting a blog, with a link to BAK’s RA encounter at the Pinter/PROUST play (I had read this encounter post earlier when Serv shared it, but I don’t think I had linked it here–and it is a charming story.):
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