Power of Sail - Menier Chocolate Factory

[zahidf]

[greenandbrownandblue]

Reviews of the US run starring Bryan Cranston of all people aren't very positive regarding the play itself...

[mrbarnaby]

Sounds terrible.

What has happened to this theatre? Have they all given up?

[zahidf]

starring Julian Ovenden & Tanya Franks

[longinthetooth]

I had an email about this earlier today. The first thing to strike me was the advice bar running across the top of the booking page, which states the running time is 1 hr 45 mins without an interval. No latecomers, no readmissions and no refunds to latecomers.

[tmesis]

Giles Terera now confirmed for this.

[aspieandy]

Barely compliant with the Equality Act. They are free of ACE so their choice. Miserable policy.

[Dave B]

A lot of offers flooding in today for this through the end of the month.

[Deleted]

I saw it in LA. Even met the cast. Still two stars from me. Dull. Already outdated. Baffling decision by Menier. The kind of play people who don't like plays think plays are like.

[Jan]

Feb 26, 2024 10:47:07 GMT aspieandy said:

Barely compliant with the Equality Act. They are free of ACE so their choice. Miserable policy.

How is the Equalities Act relevant ?

[jaggy]

Mar 18, 2024 20:14:54 GMT Dave B said:

A lot of offers flooding in today for this through the end of the month.

Where are the ticket offers? I hate how expensive the Menier is.

[chameleon1]

this play makes no sense at all. starts of looking like it might be some kind of debate about free speech (though set in a harvard like no harvard the usa has ever known) and then wanders off down some strange plot rabbit-holes, with a couple of unlikley reversals and pointless flash-backs, and ends with a joke about a pirate. why? good question. the acting is ok, given the characters act in ways that make no sense. the set needs a lot of pushing around. one star, for luck.

[Dave B]

Mar 20, 2024 19:23:52 GMT jaggy said:

Mar 18, 2024 20:14:54 GMT Dave B said:

A lot of offers flooding in today for this through the end of the month.

Where are the ticket offers? I hate how expensive the Menier is.

Several of the seatfilling companies instead have 'Discounted' tickets available through the end of the month. Central, AC and SFF.

[tmesis]

I found this pretty tedious and a waste of an excellent cast.
It’s all about the fall out from inviting a white supremacist to talk at a Harvard symposium. Frankly I couldn’t give a toss.

[aspieandy]

In time, there will be interesting analysis of this period in USA history - when younger generations were compensating and over-compensating for the reluctance of previous generations - but from this side of the water, I'm inclined to let them work through all this and read scholarly reflections in a decade or two.

In a sense, it is apropos to this side of the pond insomuch as the Menier is putting this on while practising ignorance and arguably bigotry towards people like me.

Anyway, I have said enough about that now.

[Dave B]

I was entertained enough throughout for it not to be tedious but I can very much see how someone else might have found it tedious.

The plot and parts of the script are tedious and I don't think the play realises that the audience are not laughing along with it but laughing at it in more than once place. A lot of the dialogue works pretty well and zips along but the twists through the time jump explanations just feel a bit dull and formulaic. Like this had to be written as a thriller to get made rather than an exploration of free speech on its own.

The set is pretty impressive for the space, distinct changes to bring in 5 locations and lots of things smartly just turning or reversing to show something else.

The cast are mostly highly enjoyable and Giles Terera has a couple of excellent scenes, his final scene in the bar was enough fun that I was happy enough with my ticket.

It is clearly not selling hugely well with a lot of £15 offers around. I ended up second row about a third of the way in and so I can't really complain.

At that price and with the cast, I'm going with three stars.

[tmesis]

Apart from a first rate cast - Terera was, as ever, hugely charismatic - the best thing about this was the set.

[joem]

I'm going to go against the grain here - I enjoyed this. I thought the plot, if it stumbled a bit, tried to frame the story in such a way that it could engage in a debate of relevance to today's society - within the constraints that such a society imposes on debate. Yes, it does end up being more thriller than play of ideas but not completely. There is enough meat on these bones to justify the play's existence and staging.

Good cast all round but Giles Terera shines in everything he does. He must be well on course to getting towards the top echelon of active theatre actors. Go Giles go!!!

[luvvie23]

Apr 13, 2024 20:36:06 GMT joem said:

I'm going to go against the grain here - I enjoyed this. I thought the plot, if it stumbled a bit, tried to frame the story in such a way that it could engage in a debate of relevance to today's society - within the constraints that such a society imposes on debate. Yes, it does end up being more thriller than play of ideas but not completely. There is enough meat on these bones to justify the play's existence and staging.

Good cast all round but Giles Terera shines in everything he does. He must be well on course to getting towards the top echelon of active theatre actors. Go Giles go!!!

I am with you in agreement here. Really enjoyed it. Tanya Franks is underrated as an actress. Brilliant in this. Julian Ovenden great. Giles always outstanding,

[BurlyBeaR]

I’ve moved the posts discussing disability access to a new thread in General theatreboard.co.uk/thread/11824/disability-access?page=1&scrollTo=512763

[mkb]

I can't say I didn't enjoy this, but it is lazily plotted with much suspension of disbelief required and the occasional cringe-worthy line. It benefits from good performances and a set that is quite extravagantly detailed.

The essential problem is that the play sets out to be about the limits of free speech, but very quickly gives that up for a sort of low-key, who-did-what? thriller. If you are going to explore whether people with extreme views should be given a platform in academic circles, then do so. Don't suddenly shift the goalposts by

SPOILER: Click to show

changing the motivation of the person hiring the speaker from being about free speech to actually being about a self-serving interest.

Three stars.

One act: 15:00-16:36
(Seen Saturday 20 April, 2024)
The script appeared to have a natural break where an interval would have (a) boosted Menier funds at the bar, and (b) meant we had to sit through one fewer scenery change, aside from the courtesy of providing a toilet break of course.

[galinda]

Anyone know if the playtext for this has been published?

[theatrelover123]

May 9, 2024 20:17:49 GMT galinda said:

Anyone know if the playtext for this has been published?

I don’t know, no

[anthony40]

Try the National Theatre shop.

Usually, whatever play is currently running, regardless of which theatre- if it'd been published, it will be displayed.

[galinda]

May 9, 2024 20:29:04 GMT anthony40 said:

Try the National Theatre shop.

Usually, whatever play is currently running, regardless of which theatre- if it'd been published, it will be displayed.

Thank you I’ll check there!