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Post by Marwood on May 5, 2017 8:54:44 GMT
Saw Lettice and Lovage last night and thought it was OK without being anything amazing. I didn't find it as funny as some of the people sat around me (it was the sort of thing that made me smile on a couple of occasions rather than roar with laughter) but for something that ran for the best part of three hours (a quick five minute interval less than an hour in and then a proper, 20 minute interval another 30-40 minutes after that) it didn't drag, and for a first night of something this long, not too many line fluffs (Sam Dastor got the two main characters surnames mixed up at one point, and Felicity Kendal needed a prompt the best part of two hours in but otherwise things seemed to run smoothly)
Lipman seemed to have the meatier of the two roles (and I thought was marginally better acting wise), but given the promise of what happens up to the end of act 2, with talk of bomb plots, ageing and the loss of family and loved ones, it just didn't really seem to come to much by the time it ended.
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Post by Deleted on May 5, 2017 11:24:40 GMT
Lipman seemed to have the meatier of the two roles (and I thought was marginally better acting wise) !! Must be bad! |
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Post by wickedgrin on May 5, 2017 11:34:48 GMT
I too was there last night at Lettice & Lovage!
"It will get better" ...said the person behind me after it had ended at 10.50pm!
I would agree, first preview and the play is basically a two hander between Lipman and Kendal - the latter having 65% of the lines - a truly massive role to learn. The first 20 minutes or so is a monologue by Kendall as a tour guide at a dull stately home and in order to make it more interesting for the visitors embellishes the facts with each successive tour. Tricky to learn I would imagine.
Both actresses I felt struggled with the lines all evening at the expense of character and pace but this will improve. The play is slight and not as funny as I remember it with Maggie Smith in the Kendal role back in the day. They must be hoping for a transfer into town with this. A converted warehouse is hardly glittering Shaftesbury Avenue for Lipman and Kendal.
The sets were inventive and it always impresses me how they achieve such production values in such a tiny space.
But the Menier is uncomfortable with the bench seating on which they have squeezed an extra seat per row too many. You become very intimately acquainted with your neighbour - not necessarily a good thing. The 8.00pm start does not help us out of towners get our trains home either. I will have to try and avoid this venue in future.
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Post by Deleted on May 5, 2017 11:38:01 GMT
The 8.00pm start does not help us out of towners get our trains home either. I will have to try and avoid this venue in future. The Sunday matinees are a treat. |
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Post by wickedgrin on May 5, 2017 13:53:11 GMT
The Sunday matinees are a treat. Yes, at my age I shouldn't be out after dark anyway! |
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Post by Marwood on May 5, 2017 14:09:26 GMT
I was sat in the front row and thankfully whoever had booked for the two seats to the left of me didn't turn up so I had a bit of space, the 'genteleman' sat half in my reserved space made no effort whatsoever to budge up when I arrived - I now remember why it's been five years since I last went to the Menier.
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Post by alece10 on May 5, 2017 18:21:19 GMT
Trevor loves his long plays and musicals doesn't he.
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Post by Deleted on May 17, 2017 8:27:48 GMT
Well. Whoever put Felicity Kendal in that horrendous wig needs to be taken out and publicly flogged. It's bad enough for poor Flick that she has a gargantuan amount of words to remember without having to deal with that too.
It's rather amusing and Flick does have that wonderful slightly drunk voice that manages to wring comedy out of certain phrasings. I did find myself wistfully wondering just what Maggie Smith was like in the original as much as La Kendal gives it her everything.
I must admit that I almost signed up to the E.N.D. at the end. Someone needs to sort out The Shard for a start.
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Post by Tibidabo on May 17, 2017 8:47:18 GMT
I did find myself wistfully wondering just what Maggie Smith was like in the original as much as La Kendal gives it her everything. Saw Mags. Will be seeing Flick. Will let you know.... (though I can already guess..  )
Edit. Just dug out the old programme. Apparently we could have had 2 courses at Le Renoir (from their a la carte menu) on Charing Cross Rd for £7.50! I honestly don't remember food ever being that cheap. But then again, I don't actually remember partaking of much in 1987 that wasn't liquid based.... |
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Post by mrbarnaby on May 17, 2017 21:46:51 GMT
Oh dear this is one painful night in the theatre.
One of the worst shows I've ever seen- and Felicity Kendalll is an absolute disaster in this. Putting aside how bizarre she looks now, she plays it all wrong and kills any laughs stone cold.
Lipman is better but looks like she regrets ever appearing in this turkey.
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Post by nash16 on May 17, 2017 22:58:38 GMT
Abandon your tickets and watch this amazing clip of MS and MT instead:
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Post by wickedgrin on May 17, 2017 23:15:44 GMT
An amazing clip. That is how to do it of course!
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Post by lonlad on May 17, 2017 23:21:55 GMT
Painful beyond words. I hope Dame Maggie is steering WELL clear. Mo Lipman plays it with a German accent that comes and goes and a vague sense of embarrassment. Fizzy Kendal is simply ghastly. The solicitor in the third act didn't seem to have been rehearsed. Poor Trevor, he is just SO desperate these days .....
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Post by lonlad on May 18, 2017 0:22:28 GMT
That idiot in The Times liked it so it MUST be awful.
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Post by mallardo on May 25, 2017 8:30:45 GMT
Can we return to Love in Idleness for a moment? I saw it at the Apollo last night and my first thought was how did that set ever fit onto the tiny stage of the Menier? Suffice to say it looked right at home on a West End stage.
There has been one cast change. The part of the frivolous Diana Fletcher is now played by Charlotte Spencer, still remembered for her Christine Keeler in the misbegotten Stephen Ward. She did well. The rest of the cast is excellent with Eve Best's Olivia and Anthony Head's Sir John quite magnificent. But the play really hinges on the returning son, Michael, and Edward Bluemel makes the most of the role, an extremely entertaining performance. The problem for me was that he was directed by Trevor Nunn to be a bit too cartoonish and over the top, at times, and that undercut the play's big moment of decision. We need to understand the choice that Olivia makes and in this case it was difficult to do so.
Similarly the twists and turns of the final scene lacked some focus because Olivia is never given that moment of recognition when she sees Michael with his new flame and understands the hypocrisy of the situation. This one is down to Rattigan, I think, who never quite comes to grips with his characters in the way he does in his better plays.
Still, second tier Rattigan in a (generally) fine production is certainly worth seeing.
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Post by wickedgrin on May 25, 2017 11:39:17 GMT
Yes, return to Love In Idleness and ignore Lettice and Lovage - how this has got such good reviews completely bewilders me from the performances I saw. They must be hoping for a transfer into town too.
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Post by joem on May 25, 2017 19:23:56 GMT
I have to say it's extremely annoying to read so many disgruntled comments about Lettice and Lovage when I was unable to get a ticket for it myself. Bad karma.
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Post by Tibidabo on May 25, 2017 19:33:16 GMT
I have to say it's extremely annoying to read so many disgruntled comments about Lettice and Lovage when I was unable to get a ticket for it myself. Doesn't that make you feel better? I'm half thinking of selling mine if it doesn't pick up. |
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Post by joem on May 25, 2017 20:27:16 GMT
I have to say it's extremely annoying to read so many disgruntled comments about Lettice and Lovage when I was unable to get a ticket for it myself. Doesn't that make you feel better? I'm half thinking of selling mine if it doesn't pick up. It doesn't. It makes me feel worse. But you're probably right, not worth your going to it...... can I buy them off you? |
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Post by Tibidabo on May 25, 2017 21:14:17 GMT
I haven't made my mind up yet....was just thinking out loud. |
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Post by loureviews on May 27, 2017 13:19:06 GMT
I'm here for Lettice this afternoon. Open-minded about it.
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Post by wickedgrin on May 27, 2017 13:39:15 GMT
It may have improved since the first preview (when I saw it) where the cast seemed to have only had a fleeting acquaintance with the script! The solicitor in the third act (yes three acts!) should have gone on with the book!! It was painfully slow as they groped for the lines.
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Post by loureviews on May 27, 2017 18:23:42 GMT
It may have improved since the first preview (when I saw it) where the cast seemed to have only had a fleeting acquaintance with the script! The solicitor in the third act (yes three acts!) should have gone on with the book!! It was painfully slow as they groped for the lines. I think he must have improved because I thought he was very good, and funny. For me Kendal played her part in the right style for the piece and Lipman was also fine, and any Germanic accent appears to have gone. Not an earth-shattering play but a perfectly acceptable few hours of entertainment. |
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Post by johng on May 29, 2017 10:27:39 GMT
At this for the sunday matinee and thought it had a couple of fantastic moments but as a whole was more a makes you smile than a makes you laugh out loud comedy. Haven't yet decided whether I'll go again on July 2nd so I might have a spare front row ticket if anyone's keen.
It ran 2hours 30 minutes and it certainly didn't drag.
Maureen Lipman played the uptight character very well, and Felicity Kendall was suitably eccentric as Lettice. As an aside I don't really get the nasty remarks about her appearance as for a 70 year old she looks fine.
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Post by lonlad on May 29, 2017 23:35:02 GMT
Winsome to a faretheewell, La Kendal now looks like a dwarfish chipmunk. Sorry to say it but it's true.
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