3,528 posts
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Post by Rory on Jul 8, 2024 22:55:08 GMT
It feels like there is a bit of a dearth of drama in the West End at present and it worries me that a new play like this, so lauded on Broadway, and with a big name lead, just doesn't seem to be generating big box office.
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Post by nancycunard on Jul 8, 2024 23:11:50 GMT
Was also there tonight (Grand Circle, albeit comped) and there were definitely a handful of notable people in — I saw Dale Vince outside the pub afterwards. I think they’re probably staggering it because of the football on Wednesday night.
It’s a show that doesn’t quite have the courage of its convictions. The third act in particular is exceptionally well acted but some of the really broad brush satire didn’t land with me, even as it seemed to draw significant laughter from those nearby. I think it’s well constructed conceptually but the execution just isn’t quite there, and it’s not nearly as provocative as it thinks it is, or maybe was when first staged.
For a show that is giving out stickers, I saw three phones out in my vicinity towards the end, which is a recent record.
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Post by parsley1 on Jul 8, 2024 23:31:57 GMT
It feels like there is a bit of a dearth of drama in the West End at present and it worries me that a new play like this, so lauded on Broadway, and with a big name lead, just doesn't seem to be generating big box office. There are plenty of massive box office hits in the last 12 months This play is way too niche lacking mainstream appeal To be a west end commercial hit Producers often put arrogance above common sense when planning things in the WE I said already it would have been a sell out at The Almeida but for some reason the playwright is not only deluded about his work but also the need to act as a producer for it It is also failing to attract the sort of amazing and vibrant audiences who I saw at For When Black Boys At the end of the day if the play is sh*t it will remain as such irrespective of casting (ask KST) And if there is not a true true A lister starring (Cate Blanchett, Nicole Kidman etc) It was always going to be touch and go and no guarantees |
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Post by marob on Jul 8, 2024 23:32:02 GMT
So I’m not alone in thinking it was underwhelming, but I do find that two days on I’m still mulling it over.
The comment about diction reminded me that I thought one of the actors was really overdoing their American accent. Turns out they’re one of the actual Americans in the cast. 😂
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Post by parsley1 on Jul 8, 2024 23:35:24 GMT
So I’m not alone in thinking it was underwhelming, but I do find that two days on I’m still mulling it over. The comment about diction reminded me that I thought one of the actors was really overdoing their American accent. Turns out they’re one of the actual Americans in the cast. 😂 The diction of the two people running the therapy was dreadful One in particular shocking It was sure it was like a lisp or an issue forming her words The clarity was poor |
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5,794 posts
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Post by mrbarnaby on Jul 9, 2024 6:04:21 GMT
So I’m not alone in thinking it was underwhelming, but I do find that two days on I’m still mulling it over. The comment about diction reminded me that I thought one of the actors was really overdoing their American accent. Turns out they’re one of the actual Americans in the cast. 😂 The diction of the two people running the therapy was dreadful One in particular shocking It was sure it was like a lisp or an issue forming her words The clarity was poor You really Loved This play Didn’t You ? |
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Post by parsley1 on Jul 9, 2024 11:06:05 GMT
The diction of the two people running the therapy was dreadful One in particular shocking It was sure it was like a lisp or an issue forming her words The clarity was poor You really Loved This play Didn’t You ? The idea isn’t bad I like controversial themes It’s just this playwright makes the common error of being obsessed with ONLY controversial issues and trying to provoke Usually indicates their own unresolved issues |
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3,528 posts
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Post by Rory on Jul 9, 2024 19:48:09 GMT
Was it really the press night last night as there hasn't been any reviews today? Reviews are embargoed until 11.59pm on Wednesday night, I think. |
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Post by Steve on Jul 9, 2024 23:02:02 GMT
Saw this tonight and thought it was TERRIFIC! Its complex, its topical, and its very funny. The 4 actors who originated their roles are excellent, and so are the 4 new actors! Spoilers follow. . . This reminded me of "Clybourne Park," in that it gets a lot of laughs out of serious issues to do with race. This also reminded me of "Daddy," in that you can't assume Jeremy O. Harris is playing favourites, and that one character is speaking for him. In fact, all the characters are complex and interesting, and have something to contribute. But first and foremost, this is funny. Its like "Clybourne Park" crossed with "50 Shades of Gray," in that the fault lines of race (and "shades") are addressed through some bizarre kind of interracial S & M therapy, which is evident in the way the characters address each other in the first ten minutes, and just keeps getting more obvious. So one layer of comedy is in the interaction between fantasy and reality, when one intrudes on the other, as when a character disrupts a fantasy that someone is enjoying, or when someone's reality is disrupted by the zeal of someone else's fantasy. Another layer of comedy is in the imposing of the over-civilised language of therapy speak (bordering on gobbledygook to British ears) on violent fantasies, violence and civility being such strange and strained conflicting bedfellows that laughter inevitably ensues. For those who imagine this play is "too American" (therapy of any sort isn't as big a thing here as in the US, for better or for worse), Kit Harington's character, Jim, is an absolute godsend, described in the text as "Oxbridge," and "foreign," and going practically Basil Fawlty ballistic about the adverse effects of the sort of therapy that deepens wounds to heal them. In a way, he is our voice, our comic way into this alien world but also, it follows that we feel implicated by his missteps lol. And even among the therapists, let alone the patients, trying to reign in violent emotions with exaggerated civility proves comically contentious. But as in "Clybourne Park," the laughs are only one precious part of it, because this play also makes a genuine attempt to mine people's identities deeply to demonstrate how real people tick, how dramatic tensions surface between partners, and the play is often authentically illuminating about this, sometimes at the expense of more Manichean dramatic possibilities. Anyhow, the acting is all-round fantastic! On the comedy side of things, Annie McNamara and Aaron Heffernan as a white woman and her mixed race partner are an absolute hoot, with Heffernan's Phillip reacting in the funniest and most unexpected ways to his partner acting like an uber-entitled out-of-control kid in an S&M candy store. On the dramatic side of things, the couple, Gary and Dustin, played respectively by the always brilliant Fisayo Akinade and role originator, James Cusati-Moyer, go toe-to-toe as the much much much whiter Dustin tries to get empathy for not being completely white. It sounds ridiculous but these two actors make a real intense authentic thing of it. Harington's Jim, and his black female partner, Kaneisha, played by Olivia Washington as a sharp cookie who knows her own mind, are the closest thing to main characters, and Harington, after some great comic bits, also gets some seriously great dramatic bits, as he objects to his whiteness being made a thing. And the way Washington reacts to his reaction makes for a superb conflict that rounds out the play. The other two actors, as the therapists, are also immensely entertaining, with the pithy, precise, policing of civility by Chalia LaTour's Tea particularly so. All in all, I felt this was just as good as "Daddy," which I loved, to the tune of 4 and a half stars. I'd be sad if something as funny and meaningful as this show struggles to sell, as although the subject matter seems niche, there is abundant humanity, topicality and originality in the depiction and portrayal of all the characters.  |
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5,794 posts
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Post by mrbarnaby on Jul 10, 2024 7:31:39 GMT
Damn I’m so sad I missed Daddy when it was on.
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Post by jr on Jul 10, 2024 8:05:29 GMT
Damn I’m so sad I missed Daddy when it was on. You didn't miss much. Very average play, good acting. |
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Post by parsley1 on Jul 10, 2024 8:21:09 GMT
Damn I’m so sad I missed Daddy when it was on. Good set design Very long play |
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Post by andrew on Jul 10, 2024 11:40:01 GMT
I didn't really like Daddy personally, thought Slave Play is miles better.
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Post by Being Alive on Jul 10, 2024 13:26:42 GMT
I didn't really like Daddy personally, thought Slave Play is miles better. Christ, how bad was Daddy then... |
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Post by alessia on Jul 10, 2024 13:35:05 GMT
I didn't really like Daddy personally, thought Slave Play is miles better. Christ, how bad was Daddy then... I liked it, but I agree that it was too long. Not sure I'll bother with Slave Play- comments here make me think of White Noise at the Bridge a few years ago which I felt was more bizarre than shocking. |
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Post by n1david on Jul 10, 2024 13:50:55 GMT
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Post by drmaplewood on Jul 10, 2024 14:03:50 GMT
Christ, how bad was Daddy then... I liked it, but I agree that it was too long. Not sure I'll bother with Slave Play- comments here make me think of White Noise at the Bridge a few years ago which I felt was more bizarre than shocking. White Noise was far more absorbing and exciting than this imo. |
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Post by Jon on Jul 10, 2024 14:07:40 GMT
Jeremy O'Harris comes off as really arrogant in interviews but that could be just me.
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Post by Being Alive on Jul 10, 2024 14:23:23 GMT
Jeremy O'Harris comes off as really arrogant in interviews but that could be just me. Hard agree |
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Post by alessia on Jul 10, 2024 14:40:01 GMT
I liked it, but I agree that it was too long. Not sure I'll bother with Slave Play- comments here make me think of White Noise at the Bridge a few years ago which I felt was more bizarre than shocking. White Noise was far more absorbing and exciting than this imo. Ah in which case I'm definitely going to stay away... |
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Post by alessia on Jul 10, 2024 14:40:27 GMT
Jeremy O'Harris comes off as really arrogant in interviews but that could be just me. Hard agree me three. |
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Post by parsley1 on Jul 10, 2024 14:51:08 GMT
Probably the bogs down the road |
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Post by andrew on Jul 10, 2024 20:47:24 GMT
I didn't really like Daddy personally, thought Slave Play is miles better. Christ, how bad was Daddy then... Hilarious that this is coming from someone who loved Plaza Suite. This board is one of the most unhinged places online and I love it for that. |
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Post by Being Alive on Jul 10, 2024 22:09:01 GMT
Christ, how bad was Daddy then... Hilarious that this is coming from someone who loved Plaza Suite. This board is one of the most unhinged places online and I love it for that. Plaza Suite knew what it was and I thought did it well and with charm and two great performances. The playwright for this thinks he's written something very edgy and he hasnt - I know which id prefer! |
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Post by parsley1 on Jul 10, 2024 22:59:26 GMT
Hilarious that this is coming from someone who loved Plaza Suite. This board is one of the most unhinged places online and I love it for that. Plaza Suite knew what it was and I thought did it well and with charm and two great performances. The playwright for this thinks he's written something very edgy and he hasnt - I know which id prefer! Fully agree Works from bitter playwrights who think everything is a battle and life is so hard for them and they are so different to everyone else Are always a turn off Interestingly I found the audience for this much less diverse than For When Black Boys If anything I suspect this will alienate or not attract the target audience in high numbers |
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