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Post by teamyali on Mar 23, 2023 2:57:57 GMT
Lead casting announced! Stephen Campbell Moore as John Reith Adrian Scarborough as Winston Churchill http://instagram.com/p/CqGBzz3siRy The title has a lot of W’s and alliteration (W x5?), but anyway, it seems a good show and a potential hit. Another Jack Thorne writing this year (NT’s The Motive and the Cue will be opening next month). |
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Post by youngoffender on Mar 23, 2023 9:48:51 GMT
As with The Motive and the Cue, the subject matter seems too niche to promise any lasting resonance, but we have to trust that Jack Thorne knows what he's doing.
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Post by londonpostie on Mar 23, 2023 11:46:44 GMT
Promo >>
In this case, Thorne and the Donmar are gatekeepers of truth.
Given disgraced former PM Johnson's admiration for Churchill, I wonder if there might be allusions. Or, on the 20th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, might it vaguely reference disgraced former PM Blair ..
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Post by teamyali on Apr 24, 2023 14:03:49 GMT
Full cast and creatives
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Post by lynette on Apr 24, 2023 18:42:14 GMT
Sold out.
What is ironic is that whatever happened at that time, in WWII Churchill mastered the medium par excellence.
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Post by londonpostie on Apr 24, 2023 18:51:21 GMT
I just booked! You need to go deep into the run, though. I booked the last week.
Donmar throwing the kitchen sink at this one ..
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Post by Rory on Apr 24, 2023 21:19:36 GMT
I just booked! You need to go deep into the run, though. I booked the last week. Donmar throwing the kitchen sink at this one .. Wouldn't it be great if Mike Longhurst got a transfer before he heads off? |
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Post by theatrelover123 on Apr 24, 2023 21:21:41 GMT
Sold out. What is ironic is that whatever happened at that time, in WWII Churchill mastered the medium par excellence. The run is not in any way sold out |
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Post by londonpostie on Apr 24, 2023 21:49:01 GMT
I just booked! You need to go deep into the run, though. I booked the last week. Donmar throwing the kitchen sink at this one .. Wouldn't it be great if Mike Longhurst got a transfer before he heads off? Dream scenario. I'm rooting for him ..
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Post by teamyali on Apr 24, 2023 22:04:38 GMT
First thought that it’s Private Lives that is transferring to the West End, but after the mixed reviews came out, so transfer is unlikely to happen. But I think they’ve sold out most of the dates anyway because of the star cast.
Hoping that both of new Jack Thorne plays will be hits this year.
Aren’t there rumors that The Band’s Visit will transfer to the Ambassadors? Is it still happening? Also have good hopes for N2N. Haven’t read or listened to the material so I don’t really know.
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Post by Jon on Apr 25, 2023 20:49:47 GMT
I'm not sure why a lack of transfers is considered a bad thing, it's not a failure if a show doesn't transfer and technically Michael Longhurst has had a Donmar West End production with Constellations
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Post by profquatermass on Apr 26, 2023 9:23:35 GMT
Sold out. What is ironic is that whatever happened at that time, in WWII Churchill mastered the medium par excellence. It's selling very well but it's definitely not sold out. I checked 5 dates to find cheap seats and every one I checked had *some* seats available |
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Post by lynette on Apr 30, 2023 22:38:10 GMT
Sold out. What is ironic is that whatever happened at that time, in WWII Churchill mastered the medium par excellence. The run is not in any way sold out My bad I’ll look again |
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Post by theoracle on May 25, 2023 10:40:51 GMT
open.spotify.com/episode/3PsomWpom8RBr2FTsFeTqi?si=IHAl-E2oR8S7jei5tp2DwAVery interesting new interview with Laura Rogers talking about the show and playing Clemmie Churchill, but also goes into the future of the Donmar post-Longhurst, the state of the BBC today and parallels between 1926 and today. This show wasn’t high on my list of things to see but after loving Motive and the Cue and listening to this, I’m now definitely interested!
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Post by Steve on Jun 7, 2023 22:58:09 GMT
Saw this tonight and LOVED it! Some spoilers follow. . . This is SUCH an interesting story, 97 years old, yet as topical as ever, encompassing a general strike debilitating our Country, and a Tory Government (Winston Churchill serving as Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin's attack dog) putting pressure on the nascent BBC (in the year before John Reith solidified his position as the BBC's first Director General) to propagandise for the Government. The era - 1926, strikes, radio broadcasting, variety acts, background sounds created by foley effects, precise punctuation, drab grey clothing, male politicians holding sway in machiavellian meetings, backed up at home by intelligent but pliant wives - is all SO perfectly realised! The acting is fabulous across the board, but what really elevates the production is the complex writing of the character of the BBC's John Reith, and the concomitant contrary complexity of Stephen Campbell Moore's astonishing portrait of him: grandiose, tortured, idealistic, compromised, repressed, barely concealing an ever exploding fountain of emotions! Campbell Moore's intimate and revealing performance is very special, like Gatiss's performance in "The Motive and the Cue," but Campbell Moore has more to work with, and the story is more relevant and more important to our lives today. Campbell Moore is at once buttoned up, cupping his words in a deliberate throat, while suggesting a stammering agitation at the forces restraining his grandiose ambitions: at one point, in private, he practically screams out his desire for greatness. He is torn apart, in flashbacks, by his passionate and requited love for a man, Luke Newberry's Charlie Bowser (who he is willing subsequently to share his wife, Muriel, with!) and his religiosity, constantly on his knees praying at critical moments. He is torn apart by his pursuit of principle, of giving a fair airing on the new BBC radio service, to opposition politicians and the Unions, and his desire to kowtow to a Government that could wrest control of the BBC away from him. The electricity Campbell Moore breathes into this complex man is the lifeblood that lifts this show above a simple conflict between a Government and an Institution. There are laughs too, mostly provided by the variety acts that populated the Beeb in between news segments: Haydn Gwynne's singer's assertion that you shouldn't be "cruel to a vegetab(uel)" made me laugh, though the biggest laugh belonged to the versatile Luke Newberry, whose skit, about the lies he would tell his Mum to prevent her discovering he was an actor, was laugh-out-loud hilarious! It should be noted that half way through the interval, a quartet of actors, led by a mischievous Kevin McMonagle, rousingly perform such a variety skit, for those not queuing for the bathroom, in it's entirety. It's not all Stephen Campbell Moore: Haydn Gwynne, calm, collected, and knowing, plays an extremely wily PM, Stanley Baldwin, and having performed Winston before in a TV movie, Adrian Scarborough's staccato bulldozing ambitious Churchill is pitch perfect! And Kitty Archer (her enunciation as evocative of an era as her name would suggest lol), Laura Rogers, Shubham Saraf and Mariam Haque are all terrific in smaller roles, in a cast that is spoiled for rich talent in small parts. But, for me, Stephen Campbell Moore gives the career defining, destined-to-be-nominated, performance that makes this show so rich, elevating the show from an elegant entertaining 4 stars about a simple conflict to a majestic and mysterious 5 star memorial to a mercurial man torn apart by multiple conflicting desires!  |
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Post by foxa on Jun 8, 2023 9:56:57 GMT
Great to read this positive review Steve - this was something I had hesitated about but eventually booked for and am now glad I did. Seeing it on the 21st. |
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Post by lynette on Jun 8, 2023 22:29:36 GMT
Glad I booked.
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Post by mrnutz on Jun 10, 2023 9:51:13 GMT
I'm not having a good run at the Donmar lately because I saw this last night (Friday 9th) and for me it was only OK.
It started with impact, I loved the live foley on stage throughout and the performances were strong, but at multiple points I found my mind wandering and the play dragging. The first half stronger than the second, where all excitement seemed to be gone.
Ultimately, I just didn't think the story was deep enough. It was interesting, and especially the parallels between the situation in this play and the modern-day relationship between the Tory party and the BBC, but I don't think it needed two hours to tell it.
It received the most muted curtain call I've seen since pre-COVID, though this could in part be due to the average age of the audience being around 80+. I'm exaggerating, but I was definitely the youngest person there and I'm 38.
3/5
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Post by keyspi on Jun 11, 2023 20:01:41 GMT
Saw this last night and I couldn't agree more with Steve's review. Well worth every penny Two sidenotes: 1. First time seeing something at Donmar and was quite surprised by how comfortable their seats were. Probably the most comfortable of all West End venues I've been to and I've already ticked the fair majority off the list 2. I noticed that four people left during the interval which for a play of this caliber was just baffling (they had paid for good seats too! 🤭 ) |
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jay
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Post by jay on Jun 11, 2023 22:43:37 GMT
A decent enough 3 stars.
A clever, quirky, muddle of an evening. Decent performances (although some of the casting is alarmingly weak), Scarborough has a good stab as Churchill and Campbell-Moore excelling. The whole concept of sound-effects is good - but oddly dropped after establishing itself. Average age of audience : 80. The play doesn't know when to stop - with about three false endings. Came away thinking 'and the point of that was...."
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Post by lynette on Jun 11, 2023 23:13:07 GMT
A decent enough 3 stars. A clever, quirky, muddle of an evening. Decent performances (although some of the casting is alarmingly weak), Scarborough has a good stab as Churchill and Campbell-Moore excelling. The whole concept of sound-effects is good - but oddly dropped after establishing itself. Average age of audience : 80. The play doesn't know when to stop - with about three false endings. Came away thinking 'and the point of that was...." Got to laugh. I’ll be bringing down the average age then? 😂 |
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Post by justinj on Jun 13, 2023 7:27:03 GMT
It was ok. After seeing patriots last week, during which I was engrossed throughout, I was hoping for more of the same. Unfortunately I found my mind wandering during a lot of this. It felt quite amateurish especially the people wandering on and off stage screaming in the first act. There is also only so much fast walking around a stage I could take.
Stephen Campbell Moore was good, as was Kitty Archer.
The rest was all a bit meh.
2.5/5
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Post by mrnutz on Jun 13, 2023 16:43:29 GMT
This is really splitting the group! Poll please BurlyBeaR! |
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Jun 13, 2023 17:17:34 GMT
This is really splitting the group! Poll please BurlyBeaR ! Added! |
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Post by barelyathletic on Jun 14, 2023 10:41:49 GMT
The early reviews are all very positive. Four stars from The Times, Evening Standard and WOS.
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