621 posts
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Post by andrew on Jul 26, 2024 22:42:08 GMT
I really enjoyed this tonight. And so did everyone in the audience judging by the curtain call.
It surely has @sohoplace transfer written all over it, right?!
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7,050 posts
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Post by Jon on Jul 26, 2024 22:44:55 GMT
I really enjoyed this tonight. And so did everyone in the audience judging by the curtain call. It surely has @sohoplace transfer written all over it, right?! Finn Cole has filming commitments so it wouldn't be straight away. Probably would be a bit big as well since @sohoplace is 602 seats compared to OT's 180. |
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Post by bigredapple on Jul 27, 2024 21:24:24 GMT
Enjoyed the matinee today, mostly echo all the previous comments on here but…
The stupidly noisy and irritating siren between scenes? What are people’s thoughts? I get that it’s a diving noise, but it was super irritating. I’d say most of the audience around me would put their fingers in their ears when it happened, or when they anticipated it might happen.
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1,086 posts
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Post by alicechallice on Jul 27, 2024 23:16:01 GMT
Enjoyed the matinee today, mostly echo all the previous comments on here but… The stupidly noisy and irritating siren between scenes? What are people’s thoughts? I get that it’s a diving noise, but it was super irritating. I’d say most of the audience around me would put their fingers in their ears when it happened, or when they anticipated it might happen. It was completely unnecessary! My pal has tinnitus & did not enjoy those bits at all. He also jumped out of his skin every time it happened. |
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Post by iwanttix on Jul 28, 2024 0:33:26 GMT
The guy I was sitting next to jumped once or twice at the loud klaxon!
Saw this tonight and have to say I loved it. The cast were brilliant and you wouldn't know that for two of them - it was their professional stage debut.
Never been to the Orange Tree theatre before but I really liked it and would be interested in going to see something else there. The staging was brilliant and you really felt like you were in amongst the action.
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1,086 posts
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Post by alicechallice on Jul 28, 2024 5:00:42 GMT
The guy I was sitting next to jumped once or twice at the loud klaxon! Saw this tonight and have to say I loved it. The cast were brilliant and you wouldn't know that for two of them - it was their professional stage debut. Never been to the Orange Tree theatre before but I really liked it and would be interested in going to see something else there. The staging was brilliant and you really felt like you were in amongst the action. You weren't sat in B13, were you? |
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Post by iwanttix on Jul 28, 2024 7:50:54 GMT
No, B11, were you a jumper/sat next to a jumper too then? 🤣
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1,086 posts
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Post by alicechallice on Jul 28, 2024 21:13:36 GMT
No, B11, were you a jumper/sat next to a jumper too then? 🤣 My companion in B14 was the jumper. Bless him. |
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18 posts
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Post by ploverlover on Jul 31, 2024 20:34:15 GMT
Really enjoyed this. One of the best things I’ve seen at the Orange Tree for a while. Completely agree about the annoying klaxon though! A woman opposite us was really struggling with it and spent most of the play with her fingers near her ears ready to plug them!
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546 posts
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Post by drmaplewood on Aug 1, 2024 7:38:07 GMT
Pretty much sold out now, hoping for a transfer.
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174 posts
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Post by dillan on Aug 1, 2024 8:58:34 GMT
There seems to be standing tickets available - it might get extended due to its popularity.
Does anyone know if there's a stage door for this?
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Post by marob on Aug 1, 2024 17:48:26 GMT
Saw today’s matinee. Started nearly 10 minutes later than advertised but was still finished before 4.00pm.
Had a sinking feeling when it started as rapid-fire dialogue like that is one of my pet hates. Even though the timing is undeniably impressive, I just find it annoying.
But what a great little play this is. Ended up buying the playtext on the way out. Thought the rushed dialogue was down to the director but it’s in the script, as are the klaxons and the looped Roy Orbison. And speaking of the klaxons I was also sat by a ’jumper’ who clutched her ears every single time.
If this is Finn Cole’s first play, I hope it’s the first of many. I think his inexperience only really showed in that I felt like he made eye contact with me quite a few times, where the others were able to just act like the audience weren’t there. Hell of an outfit to make your stage debut in too. Never felt so much in need of joining a gym😂
The midweek matinees feature a post-show Q and A, which featured Finn Cole, Ciarán Owens and the executive director Hanna Streeter. Quite interesting. More information on how certain elements are achieved, fights, tattoos and whatnot. Someone asked about a transfer. Can’t remember the exact wording but was basically they can’t say “yet.”
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Post by iwanttix on Aug 2, 2024 14:47:12 GMT
There seems to be standing tickets available - it might get extended due to its popularity. Does anyone know if there's a stage door for this? There isn't a stage door, but if you hang around in the bar after, the cast come out. |
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1,475 posts
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Post by Steve on Aug 3, 2024 12:48:33 GMT
I saw this Thursday matinee, and LOVED it. I agree with the positive views above that this is as much an insightful comedy as a thriller. Finn Cole's character, Ray, is a particular gem. Some spoilers follow. . . When this started, it seemed like it was all going to be a bit too David Mamet, predictably hard-boiled, with unlikeable, fast-talking, sly, self-interested men tearing each other apart. But Finn Cole's Ray is something else. He is just too funny. Where others would turn left, he will turn right. When others wear clothes over their bodies and intentions, he will hang around in a Red Speedo, an open book, confessing every damn thing a typical Mamet character would try to disguise. His naive openness seems unintelligent, yet somehow he deals with everybody else's obfuscating moral notions, in this play, like a savant counting cards. He always says the quiet part out loud. He's like Jim Carrey in "Liar Liar" but he's not unhappy about it. Everything really great about this show is about how he deals with the normies and their slippery norms. Ray is a hoot of a character, and Finn Cole brings the narcissistic lack of awareness, the deadpan reactions, the ever so reasonable sounding unreasonableness. His massive serpent tattoo on his back is so cameras will differentiate him from other swimmers in overhead shots ("good for publicity"), and he hopes to partner up to create limited edition serpent speedos. If the Orange Tree had been selling the serpent speedos as merchandise, I would have bought a pair, that's how much I love this character. Probably my biggest laugh was how he justified "jerking off" to his ex-girlfriend "18 times a day." You'll have to see the show to know what he says about that lol! Anyway, the actors are all great, bouncing off Finn Cole's extra-terrestrial with suitably dumbfounded and confounded shock and awe. Parker Lapaine, as Ray's ex-girlfriend, also brought a whole extra layer of righteous anger, beneath an apparently frozen affect, that really energised the production for me. I'd see this again if the run were longer. I preferred this to the author's later written "The Doll's House" sequel at the Donmar, though I liked that a lot. It's a shame that "Dana H" never transferred to the Royal Court in the end. I'd give this 4 and a half stars for one hour twenty minutes of humorous, provocative and insightful banter. PS: I did attend the post-show chat, and while most of it was about how the effects were achieved (it's better not to know, if you haven't seen it yet), I do recall that Finn Cole explained that he did a movie about underwater diving, which is why he finds staying underwater for 50 seconds totally doable, and he reckons he could do more. What he should do more of is this character.  |
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2,740 posts
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Post by n1david on Aug 3, 2024 22:46:29 GMT
Thought this was terrific tonight, fantastic acting in such a tight space, interesting writing that didn't go where I expected it to, definitely worth a life somewhere else.
A little grumpy as the bar staff were very slow while the 3, 2, 1 minute bells were ringing, we were in the auditorium just after the 1 minute call, but the show still did not start until about 10 minutes later (finished up around 9 so about 1h20)
However any bad feeling towards the theatre completely lost by getting to my seat and finding an envelope with my name on it, and inside was a postcard with a handwritten note that says:
"David, we welcome you as a first time booker at the Orange Tree Theatre for Red Speedo.
It's always nice to have a new face in the audience. Sit back, relax and enjoy the show. We look forward to seeing you again soon!
Team OT x"
I thought this was a really lovely touch which made me immediately warm to the theatre - I've never seen anything like this before but even before the show started, it made me feel I wanted to return and see something else there. Well done OT team!
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Post by iwanttix on Aug 3, 2024 22:54:19 GMT
Those notes were adorable and really made me feel welcome at the theatre. Ive never had that anywhere else and it was such a lovely personal touch.
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1,826 posts
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Post by Dave B on Aug 3, 2024 22:57:50 GMT
I've had a couple of notes at the OT, really does make me feel welcome. First one was perhaps my first booking, then when I booked an entire season I got a nice note at the first one. I was surprised and disappointed I must admit to not get one when I joined as a member last year. It is 100% a regular thing they do, there are always envelopes dotted around whenever we visit.
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Post by marob on Aug 3, 2024 22:59:03 GMT
Oh, I wondered what those were. There was one on my seat the other day, but assume someone got their wires crossed as it had my surname and seat number but a different first name, so I handed it back to the FOH.
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7,050 posts
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Post by Jon on Aug 3, 2024 23:31:53 GMT
Do we think Tom Littler does the notes or is someone paid to just write notes for newbies?
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Post by Jan on Aug 3, 2024 23:56:56 GMT
Do we think Tom Littler does the notes or is someone paid to just write notes for newbies? He signed the Xmas card they sent me last year along with the rest of the team - it featured a seasonal cast photograph from She Stoops to Conquer. |
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102 posts
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Post by pws on Aug 4, 2024 3:14:13 GMT
I was there Friday evening and there were a lot of cards on seats, meaning new visitors to the theatre.
It is always a nice place to visit. Their Friday lunchtime performances with wine for £15 have been great fun.
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7,050 posts
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Post by Jon on Aug 4, 2024 14:13:15 GMT
I'm alway impressed by the Orange Tree casting, I assume a lot of the actors do plays there because it's either a short commitment or live locally, maybe even both?
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Post by Jan on Aug 4, 2024 14:27:05 GMT
I'm alway impressed by the Orange Tree casting, I assume a lot of the actors do plays there because it's either a short commitment or live locally, maybe even both? Yes. Added to that I think (don’t know) Tom Littler has very good contacts within a group of mostly older actors maybe from the time he was working for Trevor Nunn and Peter Hall. Their Xmas production of Twelfth Night this year came about when he met Oliver Ford Davis at some sort of social event and Ford Davis mentioned to Littler that Malvolio was the one remaining Shakespeare part he wanted to play, I imagine his Tempest with Michael Pennington happened in a similar way. |
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Post by frauleinsallybowles on Aug 8, 2024 17:04:39 GMT
No one here happens to have a Saturday matinee ticket they want to get rid of, do they? Haven’t had any luck with returns so far…
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Post by iwanttix on Aug 8, 2024 17:37:40 GMT
I'm actually gutted it is such a short run and I've not been able to get another visit in. I was eyeing up Monday just gone, but you snooze you lose - and I waited too long to book a ticket.
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