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Post by parsley1 on Jul 10, 2024 23:02:57 GMT
4 stars all round
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Post by iwanttix on Jul 11, 2024 22:20:39 GMT
Saw this tonight.
I went into it knowing absolutely nothing about it, and the first few scenes were eye opening to say the least - then it changed into a different play altogether.
Have to say I really enjoyed it and it's something I want to go and see a second time so I can take it all in.
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Post by saul on Jul 12, 2024 14:55:14 GMT
"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."
As an American who was very underwhelmed when he first saw the show off-Broadway at New York Theatre Workshop, I want to note that it received all of those nominations in the pandemic year when very, very few shows were eligible.
Whereas Stereophonic just broke the record for most Tony nominated play because it was actually enthusiastically received, Slave Play had a lot of detractors at home as well, and notably, it lost in all of its categories, mostly to two wonderful productions (The Inheritance and A Christmas Carol) that arrived from your shores!
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Post by blaxx on Jul 13, 2024 5:53:35 GMT
"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." As an American who was very underwhelmed when he first saw the show off-Broadway at New York Theatre Workshop, I want to note that it received all of those nominations in the pandemic year when very, very few shows were eligible. Whereas Stereophonic just broke the record for most Tony nominated play because it was actually enthusiastically received, Slave Play had a lot of detractors at home as well, and notably, it lost in all of its categories, mostly to two wonderful productions (The Inheritance and A Christmas Carol) that arrived from your shores! Your comment is completely biased to your dislike of the production. The piece caused a stir in the New York theatre scene that no play has caused since. I am not a fan of the playwright's arrogance, but it is a huge risk to produce this commercially, whether you love it or hate it. |
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Post by parsley1 on Jul 13, 2024 10:16:35 GMT
"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." As an American who was very underwhelmed when he first saw the show off-Broadway at New York Theatre Workshop, I want to note that it received all of those nominations in the pandemic year when very, very few shows were eligible. Whereas Stereophonic just broke the record for most Tony nominated play because it was actually enthusiastically received, Slave Play had a lot of detractors at home as well, and notably, it lost in all of its categories, mostly to two wonderful productions (The Inheritance and A Christmas Carol) that arrived from your shores! Your comment is completely biased to your dislike of the production. The piece caused a stir in the New York theatre scene that no play has caused since. I am not a fan of the playwright's arrogance, but it is a huge risk to produce this commercially, whether you love it or hate it. “Risk” Or arrogance Depending how you looking at it And have seen many more controversial and unsettling plays Slave Play is hysterical writing at its worst The Nether had a WE transfer Chilling and very disturbing |
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174 posts
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Post by dillan on Jul 13, 2024 15:19:34 GMT
The Guardian 4/5
Evening Standard 4/5
The Independent 4/5
London Theatre 4/5
WhatsOnStage 4/5
Express 4/5
Time Out 4/5
The Telegraph 3/5
The Times 2/5
Generally, very good reviews for this
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516 posts
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Post by theatreliker on Jul 13, 2024 15:54:29 GMT
Just out of the matinee of the biggest losing play in Tony history.
For a play that's meant to be outrageous and subversive, I was a bit bored.
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Post by Being Alive on Jul 13, 2024 15:58:01 GMT
I just feel like we've been making plays here that are far more outrageous than this for nearly 2 decades, so I too was bored.
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Post by Steve on Jul 13, 2024 17:31:44 GMT
how bad was Daddy then... I thought "Daddy" was really excellent, both as a play and as a production. As a play, the crux was whether the protagonist (Terique Jarrett) loved his sugar Daddy (Claes Bang), or was only in it for the connections to get his art career going. Similarly, did Bang's character relate to the protagonist or did he just enjoy being called "Daddy?" The degree to which relationships can be transactional vs affectionate vs both is a really interesting theme, and the play really got to grips with that, I thought, with Claes Bang's performance of George Michael's "Father Figure" to the protagonist generating a real frisson, because it teased that everything about their relationship may be role play, or was it that the role play was just a bit of fun they engaged in to heat things up. Anyway, the level to which the easygoing protagonist may be selling his soul, Faust-like, felt pretty dramatic too. The production, which put a 'real' swimming pool in the Almeida, and had them swim about and hang out by the pool in the 'sun,' really scored for me in generating that feel of sensuous seductive superficiality that really brought out the themes. It was a harder hitting play than "Slave Play," for having one main character. "Slave Play" is NOT outrageous, and is not effective at outraging. It is best viewed as a pretty funny S&M comedy, generating laughs through interchanging power dynamics, while illuminating difficulties of being in interracial relationships, in the unfortunate instance that race is playing too heavily (or too lightly) in the psychology and preoccupations of one or the other partner. In a way, just like in "Daddy," the worry is "you don't like me for me," and "how corrupted are the relationships" because of that. The play is quite grown-up because it doesn't answer all the questions it raises, and it suggests that there are in-between states, where even if race is going to be a big thing, even if your psyche or your society won't let you forget it, you can still negotiate relationships anyway. I definitely wouldn't see this to be outraged. It simply isn't outrageous at all. For those who like a laugh, there are laughs. For those who like complexity, there's food for thought. For those who neither like laughs nor complexity, and want provocation, the play's got nothing. In my opinion lol. |
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Post by bram on Jul 14, 2024 15:32:27 GMT
A loud evening! Is it really necessary to have the sound at that level? An interesting play a bit like an improvised play. Which is not necessarily a bad thing but goes get bogged down at times. Well performed throughout but ultimately interesting rather than arresting.
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77 posts
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Post by avfan on Jul 17, 2024 14:59:37 GMT
Really enjoyed this last night. I thought the writing, performances and design were all great. Only thing I thought didn't work as well was the amount of sitting down in the therapy scene but apart from that found it to be a thought provoking, well executed play and very different to other things I've seen in the West End recently. Solid 4 stars from me.
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1,826 posts
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Post by Dave B on Jul 18, 2024 22:38:44 GMT
Seems to have been Royal Court.
During the post-show talk for Echo this evening, Jeremy O. Harris said he wanted and planned it for Royal Court but then it didn't happen and with a bit of a laugh said we should ask Vicki why.
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Post by parsley1 on Jul 18, 2024 23:29:27 GMT
Seems to have been Royal Court.
During the post-show talk for Echo this evening, Jeremy O. Harris said he wanted and planned it for Royal Court but then it didn't happen and with a bit of a laugh said we should ask Vicki why.
Probably better he focuses on shifting tickets Despite quite good reviews This is gonna bomb Particularly dumb programming over the summer holidays as well |
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Post by beanbag85 on Jul 19, 2024 2:55:11 GMT
Average at best. Very little shock factor but just about worth the £20.00 day ticket price. Don't pay more.
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204 posts
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Post by argon on Jul 19, 2024 7:40:42 GMT
Acts 2 & 3 highly repetitive and a high level of waffle, far to long due to the above. In its current format it needs an interval for the simple reason to provide an outlet for those that want to leave. If distilled down to 80 - 90 min straight through, I'd have come away thinking more favourably of a play in the vanguard of American theatre. Certainly, there were things to like in this.
2 Stars
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Post by SilverFox on Jul 19, 2024 9:25:18 GMT
The Nether had a WE transfer Chilling and very disturbing
Agreed - one of the most insidiously (as opposed to graphically) shocking plays I can remember.
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Post by A.Ham on Jul 23, 2024 10:06:31 GMT
Empire Productions have tweeted a photo of Madonna with the cast, having seen this whilst in London. Wow!
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Post by Rory on Jul 24, 2024 16:42:00 GMT
I loved the performances in this, really strong from everyone but especially Fisayo Akinade and James Cusati-Moyer. I thought the therapy scene dragged on a little too long. Without spoilers, the final scene reminded me of when Kit was down the road in Dr Faustus with Jade Anouka. A very full audience, all four levels looked packed. At the end, a lady who worked in the Noel Coward was quite rightly giving an absolute bollocking to some girl who had been filming with her phone apparently.
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Post by Dr Tom on Jul 24, 2024 18:21:50 GMT
To me, this is a fairly typical New York fringe production. I've no idea what the background to the play is, but I rather picture this as an improvised long therapy scene, then they've bolted on short scenes at the start and the end to make it seem more complete.
It is a very long 2 hours 10 minutes without an interval (presumably because the audience would be a lot smaller if there was an interval). The only person leaving I noticed was someone who said very loudly "I can't stand any more" about 5 minutes before the end, then left with a lot of banging of chairs.
I got a day seat in mid Stalls, so am reasonably satisfied. Despite having the ticket number in my hand, I somehow managed to walk into the row in front, causing some confusion, but the correct seat owner was very polite. On the plus side, my real seat had several seats free at either side, so it was a comfortable watch.
There are some interesting aspects. A group of people in the rear Stalls found the whole thing hilarious. I didn't laugh. The fatal flaw is a really stretched act in the middle, which I guess lasted 90 minutes (without checking my watch), which is allegedly an academic research project, but there is absolutely no academic research project in the world which would get ethical approval to have two supposed qualified researchers and book authors continually adding their opinion, foreshadowing future tasks, and somehow avoiding to keep a single note about their research.
As others have said, watchable, not groundbreaking in the slightest, and in the 2024 context, rather dated. It needs to lose about 30 minutes. I can see why it would receive award nominations in the US, but I can't imagine that any will be forthcoming in the UK.
To give credit to the theatre, the label they put on my phone camera was still present when I got home. That has never happened with Cabaret.
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Post by salopian on Jul 24, 2024 21:30:25 GMT
Was also at the matinee today, up on the balcony. A few empty seats but fairly full.
I laughed more than I expected to and there were some really good sequences but as the previous posters have indicated the therapy scene just goes on far too long and repeats itself far too often. I was absolutely ready for an interval and it's hard to disagree with the suggestion that the reason why there isn't one is because so many people might just not come back...I didn't notice anyone leaving around me but two people fell asleep and there was a lot of fidgeting and checking of watches from a pretty early stage.
My previous visit to the Noel Coward was for The Motive and the Cue and in terms of enjoyment and quality it really isn't much of a contest. Don't regret seeing it but I doubt I'll remember much about it in a couple of weeks time.
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3,325 posts
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Post by Dr Tom on Jul 24, 2024 22:17:59 GMT
Just reminded me that the full length mirrors were a great way of seeing what was happening at the upper levels. There were certainly some fidgeters and some slumped expressions.
I did feel envious of the ushers as they were able to move around.
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1,046 posts
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Post by jgblunners on Jul 24, 2024 23:29:39 GMT
Saw this on Monday. Nowhere near as shocking as I was expecting - it only really comes close to anything that’s uncomfortable in the final scene. But from reading the programme notes, I’m not sure if the writer really intends for it to be shocking. It is most effective as a comedy, and indeed I found much of it to be raucously funny. Ultimately it does seek to provoke thought, and to me it’s the transition from the comedy to the earnest where things get rough around the edges. Fab performances from the three couples though!
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3,528 posts
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Post by Rory on Jul 24, 2024 23:51:55 GMT
Saw this on Monday. Nowhere near as shocking as I was expecting - it only really comes close to anything that’s uncomfortable in the final scene. But from reading the programme notes, I’m not sure if the writer really intends for it to be shocking. It is most effective as a comedy, and indeed I found much of it to be raucously funny. Ultimately it does seek to provoke thought, and to me it’s the transition from the comedy to the earnest where things get rough around the edges. Fab performances from the three couples though! A good summation of it. |
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Post by theatrefan62 on Jul 25, 2024 13:57:23 GMT
Jeremy O Harris trying to sell some tickets off the back of Kits body I assume with his recent insta post
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Post by lynette on Jul 25, 2024 14:02:12 GMT
Saw this on Monday. Nowhere near as shocking as I was expecting - it only really comes close to anything that’s uncomfortable in the final scene. But from reading the programme notes, I’m not sure if the writer really intends for it to be shocking. It is most effective as a comedy, and indeed I found much of it to be raucously funny. Ultimately it does seek to provoke thought, and to me it’s the transition from the comedy to the earnest where things get rough around the edges. Fab performances from the three couples though! A good summation of it. If this is the case then they have marketed it miserably. I was totally put off by the way it was presented in the media, on ads etc. |
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