Slave Play – Noel Coward Theatre

[dillan]

This was everything I wanted and more from a play - I absolutely loved it! The tension, the shock value, the funny moments, the acting; I'm still processing it all in and feel like I need to go again to understand it even more. The 2 hours flew by.

Regarding the curtain call and lack of standing ovation.. the curtain call is honestly about 10 seconds, it's so quick, barely any time for people to even get up and stand lol

If you want to stage door - the cast come out very quickly and Kit will take selfies too!

Day tickets seem to be quite easy for this and include the front row - they're on sale everyday at 10.30am - www.delfontmackintosh.co.uk/whats-on/slave-play/day-tickets

[parsley1]

This play is a waste of stickers

Too tight to arrange the secure phone pouches

Jokers

Maybe better off trying to shift tickets for the run

Instead of micromanaging people

Sometimes the theatre is such a sh*t, patronising and degrading experience

People presumably go there to escape these attitudes and experiences

Not to be treated like children

Pity the person who has to give the stickers out and passively aggressively apply them to peoples phones

Wish I had that on my CV

[Being Alive]

Nothing about this is shocking.
I laughed less than 5 times.
It was a long 2 hours.
We need better plays than this.
Thanks.

[parsley1]

Jul 5, 2024 21:19:07 GMT Being Alive said:

Nothing about this is shocking.
I laughed less than 5 times.
It was a long 2 hours.
We need better plays than this.
Thanks.

The audience reaction is very odd

It would have been so much better at Almeida

Sits uncomfortably in the WE all round

[Being Alive]

Almeida/Young Vic/Royal Court.

But we've been doing stuff as 'shocking' or 'experimental' as this (or more so) at the RC for years.

I just found it mind numbingly dull.

[andthelight]

Saw this tonight, found the first half hour provocative, funny and sexy. Then it’s just an hour and a half of aimless talking and psychobabble. I know that it makes good points and some of them get the chance to shine through, but it’s all so static that it’s hard to truly care about any of them. Was so disappointed as I loved Harris’s “Daddy” at the Almeida and the cast is great.

[parsley1]

Jul 5, 2024 21:34:50 GMT Being Alive said:

Almeida/Young Vic/Royal Court.

But we've been doing stuff as 'shocking' or 'experimental' as this (or more so) at the RC for years.

I just found it mind numbingly dull.

Do remember it is from the USA

They may be more easily shocked and/ or provoked

Where matters of race are challenged

The issue is that is tries to provoke in a very dated and obvious and inelegant way

[c4ndyc4ne]

Jul 5, 2024 18:26:22 GMT parsley1 said:

This play is a waste of stickers

Too tight to arrange the secure phone pouches

Jokers

Maybe better off trying to shift tickets for the run

Instead of micromanaging people

Sometimes the theatre is such a sh*t, patronising and degrading experience

People presumably go there to escape these attitudes and experiences

Not to be treated like children

Pity the person who has to give the stickers out and passively aggressively apply them to peoples phones

Wish I had that on my CV

cabaret does stickers too no

[jm25]

Watched this earlier tonight and don't really know what to think. There are definitely interesting ideas in the text somewhere but it seems to lose itself somewhere in the second half. The first half is certainly much stronger. Kit Harington is excellent.

I must admit, I was glad to have read up on the plot beforehand as I'm really not sure what I'd have made of it had I gone in totally blind. There were two women near me who obviously hadn't done their research. They arrived some time after the end of the first scene and within minutes one of them had her head in her hands and was muttering "Oh dear god!"

On balance, better than I thought it was going to be but I'm hesitant to say that I liked it.

[marob]

Jul 5, 2024 23:11:20 GMT jm25 said:

Watched this earlier tonight and don't really know what to think. There are definitely interesting ideas in the text somewhere but it seems to lose itself somewhere in the second half. The first half is certainly much stronger. Kit Harington is excellent.

I must admit, I was glad to have read up on the plot beforehand as I'm really not sure what I'd have made of it had I gone in totally blind. There were two women near me who obviously hadn't done their research. They arrived some time after the end of the first scene and within minutes one of them had her head in her hands and was muttering "Oh dear god!"

On balance, better than I thought it was going to be but I'm hesitant to say that I liked it.

I thought there was supposed to be a strict no latecomers policy on this.

[theatre22]

There were two women near me who obviously hadn't done their research. They arrived some time after the end of the first scene and within minutes one of them had her head in her hands and was muttering "Oh dear god!"



The two women who arrived late near me were quite distracting in how much they then talked to each other once they had arrived.

[parsley1]

Jul 5, 2024 23:10:26 GMT c4ndyc4ne said:

Jul 5, 2024 18:26:22 GMT parsley1 said:

This play is a waste of stickers

Too tight to arrange the secure phone pouches

Jokers

Maybe better off trying to shift tickets for the run

Instead of micromanaging people

Sometimes the theatre is such a sh*t, patronising and degrading experience

People presumably go there to escape these attitudes and experiences

Not to be treated like children

Pity the person who has to give the stickers out and passively aggressively apply them to peoples phones

Wish I had that on my CV

cabaret does stickers too no

That show is also a waste of time

Perhaps more than Slave Play

[asfound]

I'm not seeing this version for a few weeks, but I did see it on Broadway a few years ago and didn't find it remotely shocking. It's worth a watch, but once the central conceit is revealed it goes nowhere. And let's be honest, this kind of thing has been explored so much that it already feels dated.

Jul 5, 2024 23:11:20 GMT jm25 said:

"Oh dear god!"

This weird habit of people expressing themselves out loud is ridiculous. The audience doesn't need colour commentary because some people can't handle a bit of sex. It's so bad in the US, everything is accompanied by uhming and ahing.

[drmaplewood]

Jul 5, 2024 23:26:40 GMT marob said:

Jul 5, 2024 23:11:20 GMT jm25 said:

Watched this earlier tonight and don't really know what to think. There are definitely interesting ideas in the text somewhere but it seems to lose itself somewhere in the second half. The first half is certainly much stronger. Kit Harington is excellent.

I must admit, I was glad to have read up on the plot beforehand as I'm really not sure what I'd have made of it had I gone in totally blind. There were two women near me who obviously hadn't done their research. They arrived some time after the end of the first scene and within minutes one of them had her head in her hands and was muttering "Oh dear god!"

On balance, better than I thought it was going to be but I'm hesitant to say that I liked it.

I thought there was supposed to be a strict no latecomers policy on this.

That definitely wasn't enforced when I went unfortunately. The same person also got up to go to the toilet twice.

[Someone in a tree]

Jul 5, 2024 18:26:22 GMT parsley1 said:

This play is a waste of stickers

Ha! Genius comment. Thank you for making me laugh

[marob]

Saw it today. Hilariously funny in parts but the drama of it didn’t hit home for me, which is how I felt about Daddy at the Almeida too. My mind wandered a bit during the group scene, it went on a bit too long for me. That ending should have been devastating, but wasn’t. Ultimately I’m not sure what to make of it all, and look forward to reading others opinions on it.

I can see why it caused a fuss but at the same time can see why it never won any of the 12 Tonys it was nominated for.

[mrbarnaby]

When is press night?

[Rory]

Jul 7, 2024 10:04:42 GMT mrbarnaby said:

When is press night?

I thought it was this Wednesday

[iwanttix]

There are no tickets on sale for Wednesday evening, so I assumed that was press night.

[mrbarnaby]

Jul 7, 2024 11:12:02 GMT iwanttix said:

There are no tickets on sale for Wednesday evening, so I assumed that was press night.

But they are doing a matinee on press day? There’s a perf at 2.30pm weds.

[Rory]

Jul 7, 2024 14:02:05 GMT mrbarnaby said:

Jul 7, 2024 11:12:02 GMT iwanttix said:

There are no tickets on sale for Wednesday evening, so I assumed that was press night.

But they are doing a matinee on press day? There’s a perf at 2.30pm weds.

I think they are.

[Dave B]

Appears to be press night tonight! At least there was a press desk with a large stack of tickets set-up on the way in.

[solotheatregoer]

Jul 8, 2024 18:10:20 GMT Dave B said:

Appears to be press night tonight! At least there was a press desk with a large stack of tickets set-up on the way in.

I was there tonight and don't know how I missed that!  There were plenty of empty seats in all levels it seemed and it didn't feel like a press night.  Not that I've ever been to one, but I would have expected there to be a bit more of a buzz and maybe to spot some familiar faces in the audience. 

I went in to this semi-blind and only read up very briefly on the premise beforehand.  I wasn't expecting so much humour but I do feel like this play is a bit all over the place.  I appreciate the complexity of the themes but I think it became a bit convoluted as it progressed and ended up losing the audience.  There were a lot of exasperated audience members around me toward the end.  Of course, that could also have been the terrible seating with poor leg room at the Noel Coward.  I swear the first 10 rows in stalls are not raked at all.  Had trouble seeing some of the actors during Act II when they're all sat down for the most part during the therapy session.  I also didn't feel there was enough of a resolution to the story arc for Phillip and Alana. 

As a side note, Kit Harington is excellent, especially in Act I.  He doesn't get anywhere near the credit he deserves.  He's an outstanding stage actor.  Seems he's still struggling to shake off his GOT persona (I wish they excluded the queen reference for cheap laughs) but I really hope he does more challenging and complex roles in future.  He's also one of only a few celebrities I have met that comes across as completely genuine and down to earth (he came out and met all audience members and signed posters when he was doing Faustus as it was cancelled 10 minutes before the start due to a burst water pipe in the theatre).  A friend of mine met him at stage door last week and said he was very generous with his time.

The rest of the cast are great in this but I did struggle with the diction especially in the therapy session.  There's a lot of fast dialog and it got muddled in some places and some mics seemed very quiet. 

Overall, 3 stars for me.  This will be very divisive as expected but for me it fell a little flat at the end after such a promising start. 

[harry]

“Press night” is Wednesday but they probably have some press in tonight and tomorrow too with a review embargo until Thursday morning. Nowadays the press themselves often seem to be invited a day or two earlier so they can write their reviews ready to publish on the stroke of midnight after the press night performance. The press night itself is a celeb-fest followed by a party where people in fancy outfits have their photos taken.

It’s quite a good one to know for big WE musicals where you hear of cast sometimes saving their voice for press night and alternate or understudies getting their first shows early, but you’re almost guaranteed the full principal company (barring genuine illness) the show or two beforehand.

Anyway that seems to be the case in the West End but less true at the subsidised theatres where reviews dribble in the following afternoon, suggesting reviewers were actually there that night and filed their copy the next day (and I imagine the parties are a little less celeb-filled and a little more shoestring-budget).

[Dave B]

So yes, there was press night tonight (or perhaps a press night), a number of theatre faces that I recognise - mostly younger actors but no-one I could immediately name. I also walked out just behind one critic I did recognise whose early verdict seemed to be to repeat to their companion 'it is experimental'.

Not a full house, at least a couple of sets of late arrivals and at least three sets of exits from the stalls. There was a very slow and perhaps even half hearted standing ovation but the applause was pretty muted (perhaps as it took an extra moment for the cast to return to the stage).

Perhaps slight spoilers to follow...

I kinda liked it. It's not all that funny and certainly not as funny as it is meant to be but there are some good laughs. I didn't find it particularly shocking though I knew the concept and what I was in for. I agree with comments above suggesting Almeida would be a better fit and I'd very much agree especially in tone. I do wonder how this is going to sell over three months.

The group scene was overly long and more than once I just could not make out what the therapists were saying, the speed and volume of the delivery just loosing lines (we were back in row P), I did find my mind starting to wander as it felt a little like it was dragging on. I also don't really understand the choice to focus on the outcome for Kaneisha and Jim at the expense of the other two couples. Given the various couples stories felt reasonably balanced throughout, I don't know why they become the final piece and I was more interested in the connection between Gary and Dustin - especially as unlike the other couples we get an emotional core to their relationship, it feels more real, we learn more about them and we can see at times their love/affection for each other.

I thought the cast of couples were all pretty decent with Fisayo Akinade and Annie McNamara as particular highlights. The therapists, well the delivery didn't work for me, but the moments Patricia interrupts Teá and La Tour's reactions was excellent so hints of really strong work.

3 stars.