The Invention of Love - Hampstead

[Dave B]

Casting just out - Simon Russell Beale leads.

www.hampsteadtheatre.com/whats-on/2024/the-invention-of-love/

[mkb]

Booked, but discovered a bug in Hampstead's system if booking more than one show.

You are offered the option of a discounted programme on each show, but once you have selected the first programme, it seems to set an internal flag that programme selection has been done and will no longer offer you a programme for the second show.

Cancelling the tickets for the second show and buying them in a separate transaction works, but only after logging out and back into your account.

[bordeaux]

Favourite actor, favourite living playwright, booked first row. Delighted to see I had £43.00 credit I'd forgotten about too!

[lynette]

Well, what brilliant casting. My fave Stoppard ( not counting Arcadia which is classic) and a fave actor so suited to the part.

[nottobe]

I was only thinking the other day tha Simon Russell Beale was overdue a return to the stage. I'm booked for The Real Thing in August and am still very new to Stoppard. I know there are certain preconceptions about his work and being in the know about all the history/politics of a piece so how accessible would this be?

[bordeaux]

Jul 10, 2024 15:21:40 GMT nottobe said:

I was only thinking the other day tha Simon Russell Beale was overdue a return to the stage. I'm booked for The Real Thing in August and am still very new to Stoppard. I know there are certain preconceptions about his work and being in the know about all the history/politics of a piece so how accessible would this be?

I am a big Stoppard fan but I have to say I think this is one of his least accessible - though I am going again.  It is Oxford dons of the late 19th century arguing about translation and the arts, an unrequited love story between the poet/don A E Housman and a young sporty male undergraduate, some good jokes too.  Oscar Wilde makes an appearance, as does Charon.

I think The Real Thing is one of his best and, along with Arcadia, line for line the wittiest of his plays.  

[pledge]

Agree it's not his most accessible - but with greater familiarity I've come to rate it more and more highly and now value it as one of Stoppard's deepest works. So maybe try reading it first - it is very layered, and it's not as though there's a suspense-filled plot where you have to worry about spoilers - or try watching the author discussing it on Youtube...Looking forward to it, though SRB will have his work cut out to match, let alone surpass, the great John Wood...

[xander]

I listened to the radio broadcast of this some years ago and found it more accessible than some, in the sense that I knew nothing about Housman beforehand but nevertheless had no trouble following the play. Whereas, for example, when I saw the recent production of Rock ‘n’ Roll at Hampstead, I felt I was missing quite a lot through not having much knowledge of late 20th century Czech history and politics.

[harrietcraig]

Does anyone have any experience with the audio described performances at the Hampstead Theatre? I’m wondering whether (and, if so, to what extent) the audio descriptions distract from the experience of an audience member who doesn’t require them.

I’m thinking of planning a theater trip to London in January, and I would love to catch a performance of The Invention of Love, but the best time slot for me would be the matinee on 25 January, and that’s an audio described performance.

The description on the Hampstead Theatre’s website mentions that headsets are provided to audience members who want to access the audio descriptions, which makes me think that anyone who doesn’t want to use a headset will be unaware of the audio descriptions, but I’d like to be sure before I book.

Thanks for any advice.

[max]

Aug 30, 2024 23:20:02 GMT harrietcraig said:

Does anyone have any experience with the audio described performances at the Hampstead Theatre? I’m wondering whether (and, if so, to what extent) the audio descriptions distract from the experience of an audience member who doesn’t require them.

I’m thinking of planning a theater trip to London in January, and I would love to catch a performance of The Invention of Love, but the best time slot for me would be the matinee on 25 January, and that’s an audio described performance.

The description on the Hampstead Theatre’s website mentions that headsets are provided to audience members who want to access the audio descriptions, which makes me think that anyone who doesn’t want to use a headset will be unaware of the audio descriptions, but I’d like to be sure before I book.

Thanks for any advice.

I may get whipped for this, but I tend to avoid audio description performances due to the possible sound bleed from wearers.  This was after an incident at the NT - I think a headset was dropped on the floor unused and so not 'blocked' by anyone's ears wearing it. 

Not specific to 'audio description', but the Hampstead Theatre really needs to provide more help (aka toughness) to its matinee audiences which are often packed with older people who don't know how to switch their mobile phones off. Excruciating experiences of an actor in 'Rock 'n' Roll' giving a hard stare to an audience member twice; and Will Young in 'Song From Far Away' stopping the show more than once.

[Steve]

Aug 30, 2024 23:20:02 GMT harrietcraig said:

Does anyone have any experience with the audio described performances at the Hampstead Theatre? . . makes me think that anyone who doesn’t want to use a headset will be unaware of the audio descriptions, but I’d like to be sure before I book.

Thanks for any advice.

I've attended an audio description performance at Hampstead and couldn't hear anything even though someone wearing the earphones was sitting next to me. He politely (and unnecessarily) apologised in advance to me that his earphones would make a noise and then I couldn't hear a thing from them lol.

Obviously if those earphones aren't attached to ears, as in the post above, there could be disturbance.

[Latecomer]

Aug 31, 2024 10:12:23 GMT max said:

Aug 30, 2024 23:20:02 GMT harrietcraig said:

Does anyone have any experience with the audio described performances at the Hampstead Theatre? I’m wondering whether (and, if so, to what extent) the audio descriptions distract from the experience of an audience member who doesn’t require them.

I’m thinking of planning a theater trip to London in January, and I would love to catch a performance of The Invention of Love, but the best time slot for me would be the matinee on 25 January, and that’s an audio described performance.

The description on the Hampstead Theatre’s website mentions that headsets are provided to audience members who want to access the audio descriptions, which makes me think that anyone who doesn’t want to use a headset will be unaware of the audio descriptions, but I’d like to be sure before I book.

Thanks for any advice.

I may get whipped for this, but I tend to avoid audio description performances due to the possible sound bleed from wearers.  This was after an incident at the NT - I think a headset was dropped on the floor unused and so not 'blocked' by anyone's ears wearing it. 

Not specific to 'audio description', but the Hampstead Theatre really needs to provide more help (aka toughness) to its matinee audiences which are often packed with older people who don't know how to switch their mobile phones off. Excruciating experiences of an actor in 'Rock 'n' Roll' giving a hard stare to an audience member twice; and Will Young in 'Song From Far Away' stopping the show more than once.

Yes, I had a poor experience. Woman in front just used one half of the set and left the other end dangling, so we could all hear the audio description! Of course by the time you realise it’s too late to mention! And you do feel bad complaining about it as it feels extra rude (although it clearly isn’t!) I went to the box office at half time but they couldn’t move me (people had moved into empty seats!) , so in the end I plucked up courage and told the woman before the second half. She was apologetic and put in both sides in the second half, which solved the problem.