Ink (Almeida and Duke of York's)

[Deleted]

Nice and easy on the phone, called 3 times until I got through and then only 2 people in q ahead of me. Got £10 tickets on the dates I wanted!

[peggs]

Once in, spent an age on 'you are next in queue page, we're re-directing' nice and easy and site working well, queue makes very difficult doing anything else but site working much better than in past. Couldn't remember where exactly pillars were so have probably bought a seat right behind one but never mind.

[martin1965]

Booked for sat mat on 5 August😊

[Deleted]

Initial cast announced...

[rumbledoll]

I was thinking whether I can miss this (limited number of days in London over summer) but now I know that I'd better go!

[samuelwhiskers]

Must miss for me. Glad I got fed up with the Almeida site and didn't get tix.

[harlow]

I had thought to miss this although I'm interested to see a new James Graham after This House but Richard Coyle and Bertie Carvel tipped it for me. Booked.

[martin1965]

All very topical following the latest farrago involving the City of Liverpool!

[rumbledoll]

For anyone short of a ticket - they've released more seats today (side of stalls, front rows).

[jason71]

Is anybody going to this tonight?

[profquatermass]

I saw it. I was underwhelmed but then I didn't think This House was as brilliant as most people thought. If you liked that, you'll probably like this too as it uses a lot of the same tricks. It's pretty long - over three hours though since it started late I'm not sure exactly. To be honest, I didn't think the story was that interesting...

[foxa]

I'm going to see this tonight - I'm not getting a sense of there being a lot of excitement about this play....

[crowblack]

The subject's quite interesting, but the cast looks great.

[Deleted]

Word on twitter is incredibly enthusiastic. Up there with Angels in America and The Ferryman. Do a search for 'Ink' 'Almeidatheatre'. Weird how nobody here has see it yet, though.

[crowblack]

Sounds good from Twitter. I'm off to see it later in July with the post-show discussion.

[foxa]

I was there tonight one seat over from Baz Bamigboye who is a very warm, supportive audience member.

I wouldn't put this up with Angels or Ferryman - there was terrific stuff in it, particularly in the second half, but it was very uneven - and the first half felt long (one scene in particular fell flat.) I felt I learned a lot about how The Sun newspaper became what it is, and about the editor Larry Lamb (good perf from Richard Coyle), but despite a sound performance from Bertie Carvel, Murdoch remained, to me, an absolute enigma, which was frustrating. The structure is quite odd - a very episodic first act and then the second act is dominated by two important news stories/features that caused the breakthrough in The Sun's circulation. The set is good and there is some inventive staging. There was a terrific moment from Geoffrey Freshwater.

I think I'd be around three and a half stars on this - but I imagine others will go for 4. It was warmly received at the end.

[dave72]

Jun 23, 2017 23:38:06 GMT foxa said:

I was there tonight one seat over from Baz Bamigboye who is a very warm, supportive audience member.

I wouldn't put this up with Angels or Ferryman - there was terrific stuff in it, particularly in the second half, but it was very uneven - and the first half felt long (one scene in particular fell flat.) I felt I learned a lot about how The Sun newspaper became what it is, and about the editor Larry Lamb (good perf from Richard Coyle), but despite a sound performance from Bertie Carvel, Murdoch remained, to me, an absolute enigma, which was frustrating. The structure is quite odd - a very episodic first act and then the second act is dominated by two important news stories/features that caused the breakthrough in The Sun's circulation. The set is good and there is some inventive staging. There was a terrific moment from Geoffrey Freshwater.

I think I'd be around three and a half stars on this - but I imagine others will go for 4. It was warmly received at the end.

I saw it on Monday, and agree completely with this. It felt more like a docudrama than a satisfyingly shaped narrative: lots of information, almost over-explanatory at times, and the various episodic subplots came and went without adding up to much. I enjoyed the performances, and the piece as a whole has lots of Gooldian razzle-dazzle, but I never felt particularly engaged emotionally. Surprisingly to me, Murdoch is a pretty subsidiary figure to Larry Lamb--I think Graham may have been going for a sort of Faustian-bargain take (with Murdoch as Mephistopheles), but it never quite paid off dramatically.

[foxa]

I think you are right, dave72, I think Murdoch as Mephistopheles is probably what he was going for - that makes more sense of his role and explains his ability to control others (shown explicitly at one point but then sort of dropped later on.)

[Deleted]

It's a terrible shame

Although James Graham is such a kindly person

His plays have become so boring

As people have commented

Like a docu-drama rather than a play

His early plays were so full of love and feeling and explored relationships so well

But I can't help think he has aged a bit before his time

And has settled comfortably into his armchair prematurely

I also think he would benefit from challenging himself

And writing about things outside of his comfort zone

Watching his plays is like seeing Miss Marple

It's all the same

And there is little real emotion

[crowblack]

I presume it'll be tightened up during previews (there seem to be a lot!)

[Deleted]

Docudrama was, long before it reached screens, a theatrical form called documentary theatre. A big influence on Brecht was Piscator in whose plays politics was dissected and represented whilst the US, for once, was up with the times (mostly as they were in dire straits in the thirties) and created 'living newspapers', partly prompted by Roosevelt's Federal Theatre Project. I hadn't thought of Graham as being the heir of this important strand of playwrighting but he does base his plays scrupulously on truth, not forcing unwarranted emotional identification.

Given that we seem to be replaying the thirties in a number of ways, it makes sense that we have Graham's approach rather than the judgmental certainties of Hare.

[foxa]

On a different subject - I think I had my first sighting of the Almeida usher who has been attracting some positive attention for some time - looks like a coltish Damian Lewis? Actually all the front of house staff were sharp last night and the box office folk were very helpful. I had an extra ticket and was wondering if I should bother trying to return it, etc, and they kindly suggested taking back both tickets and switching me to a much better seat - one over from Baz! Win-win for everyone. Well, maybe not BB.)

I am equal parts shy and friendly but I talked to Baz at the interval who, though perhaps a little surprised, was very nice - just as you'd expect. I think he's a good thing - I know it's his job - but he is genuinely so supportive of the arts.

[Deleted]

That's him, foxa.

[luna]

I saw this today. It's not something that would usually interest me and I only booked it for Bertie but I'm glad I did as I really enjoyed it.
I liked the use of levels in the set, there were a good lot of laughs and the cast were great.

[herculesmulligan]

Anyone got a running time for this at all? Thanks.