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Post by Dr Tom on Feb 19, 2019 10:07:29 GMT
Bare: A Pop Opera - LAMDA
Another new (to me) musical and new location ticket off the list.
The venue is right by Barons Court tube station (really Hammersmith), so easy to get to.
This took place in the Sainsbury Theatre at LAMDA, with the room set up to look rather like a gym, with much of the equipment forming the set. It was mostly full for the Monday night show, with a few empty seats (fold down tiers of padded benches, one bench shared between two people).
The view from the front row was good and the opera (really just a sung through musical) was performed with gusto. This is an emotional show, the lady next to me was crying badly during the concluding moments and the leads came across as believable.
This is one of those early 2000s shows that is much of its time, channeling a story of sexual exploration, teenage anxiety, drug exploration and religious tolerance. The music is good, although sometimes the loud band made it difficult to hear the lyrics. A lot of potential with the students as well, who I presume are Acting rather than Musical Theatre students.
Running time around two hours thirty minutes, including the interval. This runs until Wednesday.
As is often the case, this is as good as anything running as a fringe production elsewhere in London.
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Post by duncan on Feb 21, 2019 9:20:00 GMT
3 - The Lady Vanishes - Kings EdinburghIris is catching the train from Austria back to England and meets retired governess Miss Froy and shares a compartment with her. But after Iris wakes from a snooze Miss Froy has vanished and no one onboard remembers seeing her - why is the Nun wearing high heels? Where is Miss Froy? Is Iris suffering from a brain injury? Can one woman outwit the Nazi regime? And most importantly will Charters and Caldicott get back to London for the test match?Stoild is the word - a show that is never boring but which never rises above a general feeling of "this'll pass muster". An adaptation of the legendary film directed by Roy "Sandbaggers" Marsden and starring the usual suspects within the "Classic Touring Company" - former soaps stars, CTC regulars Robert Duncan and Ben Nealon BUT this time we have Juliet Mills as the titular Lady and Maxwell Caulfield as a Doctor on the train. I'll admit here that I've always found Caulfield (The Colbys, Grease 2, Emmerdale) to be an utterly awfully wooden actor but here he's actually passable, which is damning with faint praise but honestly watch an episode of The Colbys and wonder how he ever worked again. Maybe its the German accent he's affecting but on stage he comes across as a lot more natural than his screen performances and is part of an engaging ensemble. Mills gets the easy part, owing to her vanishing she is on stage for mere minutes across both acts and its left to former Eastender Lorna Fitzgerald to carry the plot. And its the plot that drags this to the middle ground, there isn't enough here for 100 minutes without some padding, the adulterous couple could easily be excised without any major changes to the plot, someone else could fill the "oh yes I remember seeing her" role that the female half of the couple plays. The final shootout is laughably staged with one of the characters narrating what is happening off-stage. Also I don't think there is one single mention of the word "Nazi" which considering we have swastikas on display and one of the supporting characters on the train is just called "The Official" despite the fact he's clearly in a Gestapo uniform. ...and what does happen to the husband of the Nun? A big thing is made about her helping out the Nazis as her husband is being held hostage and will be killed unless she complies and yet she switches sides rather easily. RIP Mr Nun  A perfectly entertaining show that fails to hit the heights - 6/10
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Post by duncan on Feb 21, 2019 9:38:40 GMT
4 - Ulster American - Traverse American Oscar winning actor Jay is ready to begin rehearsal tomorrow for a new play relating to the troubles in Ireland and is having a meeting with director Leigh and screenwriter Ruth. The director finds Jays "I'm over my addictions" personality over powering and over bearing and when the screenwriter arrives and she and Jay get into a discussion around motivation and eyepatches that trouble flares.BUY, BEG, BORROW OR STEAL a ticket to this one. An exceptionally dark comedy/drama looking at the world of entertainment, abuse of power/fame, the troubles in Ireland, Americans not understanding Ireland and its relationship with the UK, cultural identity, Brexit, Leftie luvvies and probably most importantly its a scathing look at gender equality (or more importantly the lack of it). Essentially its the tale of how a powerful male wants to make changes to the work of a female with the aid of someone who is too afraid to stand up to power. Its dark, it'll offend people with its talk of raping Princess Di but its also cuttingly funny as Jay and Ruth argue over motivations and his complete and utter lack of understanding of Northern Ireland - he proclaims to be Irish Catholic and yet has never been to Ireland and the scene where he fails to comprehend what his character murdering fenians actually means is both buttock clenchingly cringy but pant wettingly funny as we see the pomposity and knowledge of the Hollywood bubble being fatally pricked. A cast of three perform this on one set and all three are putting in great performances - Darrell D'Silva is chewing the scenery as the award winning actor looking for respect on the stage, Robert Jack is the nervous director who is ready to do anything to keep his star happy and Lucianne McEvoy is the writer who speaks the truth and starts the evening spiralling out of control. As a Northern Irish protestant she identifies as British and Jay cant comprehend this as he's wanting to work on an Irish play from an Irish playwright and is now faced with a British playwright. It culminates in an act of violence as the men attempt to cut the writer out of the production and put on a production as they think it should be rather than what the actual writer wants it to be. Its off the New Zealand and Australia after it ends its run in Edinburgh. Wonderful stuff - 9/10
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Post by showgirl on Mar 15, 2019 5:04:38 GMT
The Lady Vanishes - Touring - Richmond Theatre
I saw this last night and it may be a creaky old and familar plot but as with the matinee which preceded it (see Rough Crossing thread), the cast gave it their all and the audience lapped it up. Originally I hoped to see it in Guildford but held off booking due to my op and was then unable to get anything except an expensive return; however, in Richmond I had 2 hours of fun, front row dress and only £12 - bargain!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 15, 2019 14:53:22 GMT
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Post by raider80 on Apr 12, 2019 19:10:05 GMT
I caught the Oklahoma! revival on Broadway last night and this is a MUST SEE! The show is so dark , sexy, and amazingly different. Seriously, if you are going to NYC this summer you must see this show! I've posted more of my thoughts on the international board.
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Post by duncan on Oct 15, 2019 12:47:08 GMT
Love Song to Lavender Menace - Lyceum
The Lavender Menace bookshop is closing down, its 1987 and after 5 years of being the first LGBT bookshop in the Capital its time for two members of staff to pack away the books and reminisce about the times they've had in and around the shop.
I'm not sure on this one, I didn't find it particularly funny or really have anything new and interesting to say. It goes for Section 28 with all guns blazing but the other big issue of 1987 is glossed over with a couple of throwaway lines.
At least it had the young uns for who this is ancient history talking as we all left the theatre but this needed something else for me - if you are going to look back at LGBT life in the 80s then you need to attack all of the issues of the time.
6/10
The Stornoway Way - Festival Studio
Roman Stornoway is a singer, songwriter and hopeless drunk who lives in Stornoway. His friend Eilidh hopes to get him to record songs in a studio in Edinburgh but Roman is on a path of self destruction
Utterly hopeless.
The first show I've seen since 2008 that gets a 1 from me. Just so wrong on every single level. If I hadn't been sat right in the middle of full Row G I'd have left during the atrocious first act. I've never left any show before and this is the first time I've ever seriously considered it. Things picked up a tad in the second act when the show concentrated on the drama involved in drinking yourself to death and how it destroys your relationships but by then the damage had been long done.
I'm assuming we are supposed to think of Roman as this wonderfully charismatic character who can sing and charm the birds out of the trees but who likes a drink. But as is spelt out at the end he's a horrible selfish gobsh*te who uses others for his own ends so its pretty hard to actually like or care about your central character when he doesn't have a single redeeming feature. Caking the actors face in inches of white make-up to show us how ill he is a particular "highlight" in the sledgehammer subtlety that this show continually includes.
Acted with the ability of a Primary school nativity, directed with the panache of a wet weekend in Barrow (its got the cast breaking the wall as they come on stage to introduce themselves and the characters they play!!!!!!) and written as a bizarre musical tragicomedy that has forgettable songs, no comedy and the tragedy being its doesn't end 2 hours earlier. And lets not get started on asking a member of the audience to throw in the feed lines for a joke in the second act.
Have to admit I was hoping for something that would tell the mainland about my home and the people that reside there and instead I got this irredeemable pile of garbage.
1/10
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Post by duncan on Oct 17, 2019 15:11:38 GMT
The Night Watch - Kings Edinburgh
Its 1947 and in post war London we meet several characters - a wandering lost soul, a young man helping an arthritis ridden elder gentlemen, a newspaper reporter and two women running a dating agency. What has led them to their current place in the world?
I read and enjoyed the book of this several years ago and pleasingly this matches the backwards narrative of the novel. We start in 1947 with 2 characters visiting the house where a third character rents a room and from there we move backwards to 1944 to visit some of our characters enjoying the freedom that war work gave to females whilst others are in prison and then finally its 1941 and we see the very first meeting between two characters who will split up in 1944 and which will lead to complications in their life in 1947.
The first 5 minutes or so are bizarre as the cast stand on stage handing out chairs to each other, my expectations dropped considerably during this section as I sat there thinking that we were about to get an abstract take on the source material but thankfully after this things picked up considerably.
What we've got here is a 110 minute play that takes the main themes from the book and successfully, for the most part, transfers them to the stage. Its a very basic set with a backdrop of St Pauls etc having a part staged house sat in front with the sides of the stages being some rubble heaps that increase in size as we move back to the blitz.
My main concern is that it actually took me to the interval to realise that Kay and Julia were actually being played by different actresses - I honestly couldn't tell them apart and it wasn't until they were on stage together (although not together) that I realised they were different actors. I think I was thrown by another actor playing two roles in the introductory sequences with nowt more than a change of jacket so figured that they were having the love rivals for Helen played by the one actress in a sort of "look at us, isn't this a clever rouse" but alas no it was just two very similar performances from two very similar looking actors.
Kay is our weak link in the cast, I've no idea where the accent this is played in has come from but by jiminy I hope its not her real voice. Its odd. That's the only way I can describe it, well maybe a sort of female impersonation of Cary Grant crossed with Hugh Grant and for me it just didn't work. There is a decent performance in here but its lost in the voice.
The rest of the cast were good value, we have characters who are like onions with their story being revealed layer by layer as the one with the happiest ending in 1947 is in the worst place in 1941 and the character of Helen (the love interest of both Kay and Julia) who easily wins hearts with her stunning good looks but who as we discover isn't the sort of person you want to be in a relationship with. And for me the cast brought them to live in a perfectly fine fashion.
The direction is nice enough once we get beyond the chair acting, although the end of Act 1 threw a bit too much dry ice out into the audience for my liking. I'm not sure about the sound design as I was struggling to pick up the noises that were going on behind the voices of the actors - not helped by a couple of talkers a row or so in front who got shushed several times but kept talking anyway.
A very pleasant evening and a very solid 7/10. Don't expect the intricacies of the book, its very chaste, but as a starting point this is splendid enough effort.
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Post by Dr Tom on Nov 1, 2019 9:27:56 GMT
Guys And Dolls - Mountview
One of the classics, although it may not be that well known, as I overheard a Mountview student sitting next to me asking his friend if there were "any famous songs in this one"?
The new Mountview Theatre is a nice space. The seating is unallocated, but I managed to sit front row, cramped slightly by having an orchestra in front. Excellent view, but this theatre has been designed for good views all around.
I saw Cast 2, for what I think was the last show of this 3rd year student production. Thankfully no tomfoolery for a change, unlike the last two Mountview productions I've attended. This was performed and sung well, although it is a show that suits an older and more experienced cast. I think the highlight was Abii Strudwicke as Miss Adelaide.
The production values were high, some flashy dances, lots of energy and yes, some famous songs! A great night!
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Post by Deleted on Nov 1, 2019 9:30:46 GMT
I overheard a Mountview student sitting next to me asking his friend if there were "any famous songs in this one"? That is surely grounds for being kicked out of theatre school! |
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Post by Dr Tom on Nov 14, 2019 8:34:41 GMT
The Stunners' Opera - Mountview
One of the first performances of this new one act musical. It is sung through by an all female cast, apart from a brief spoken appearance by a single man at the start.
This is performed in an innovative way in the Backstage Theatre. Very visually impressive for a student production. The downside is the seating is some of the most uncomfortable I've ever sat on. Essentially step format, with very low steps, where you can't lean back or move your legs forward because other people are sat there. Thankfully, only a 72 minute run time (plus about 20 minutes waiting around).
This is a tale with a feminist edge, asking who the women were immortalised forever in paintings. The team behind it are impressive, Joanne Harris and Howard Goodall, and I'm sure this is intended for professional productions. There isn't an elaborate plot and I probably missed some intricacies, but it's performed well, has showcase songs for all of the talented ladies involved and there's a lot of potential there.
There was rather a lot of water splashed around the floor performance area last night, so it's lucky no one slipped or was injured. Something to watch out for.
Very few tickets left for this one (some for Saturday evening at present), but if you like to say you've been at the original production of a new musical, this is one to try for.
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Post by Dr Tom on Nov 22, 2019 9:51:24 GMT
Saturday Night Fever - Italia Conti
Made my first visit to Italia Conti last night, to their premises in Clapham. It's a quick walk from Clapham North station, right next to the Landor Theatre. Not quite the luxury of the modern surroundings of some other theatre schools, but nice enough once you actually get inside (and the front of house staff have worked out how to process tickets).
The theatre is raked, although the seats seemed to extent a long way back. It is shared seating (no arm rests), sit anywhere apart from the front row, which seemed to be reserved for latecomers. The view from centre second row was excellent. This was full, so I'd recommend getting there half an hour before to get a good seat. Unusually for a theatre school, they had glossy programmes for sale at £4 each. I didn't buy one, as they had a cast board with photos.
Saturday Night Fever was billed as new production. It is much closer to the original version than the one that's currently touring (no Bee Gees). I don't know the musical that well, so I couldn't spot many changes. Tony's boss was a woman. They were also heavily teasing Tony being gay in the first half (lots of staring past the women who were interested in him to look at the men etc), but Tony went for the girl in the end.
The staging for this was simple, largely just four large boards, mirrored on one side, turned around at various times. Performances from the third year students were mixed. Some people with great potential, with Brease Woolley as Annette standing out to me. I think Paul French as Tony had the role almost by default, being much taller than the typical male theatre ensemble member, nicely built (briefly taking his shirt off) and having the handsome tanned look. He danced very well and did a good job and I wouldn't be surprised to see him in West End roles in the future.
The main area to improve is the sound really wasn't right. Mics that weren't turned on at the right time and various harmonies that just didn't gel. One accent that went from reasonable New York when speaking to Irish when singing. On top of that, various people in the audience were talking to one another, which is unusual as theatre school shows are normally completely respectful.
Two more shows today if anyone wants to attend. There are still tickets available for 2pm.
They are also presenting Little Women next week. I don't think I can make it unfortunately, but I know it's a favourite musical of many.
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Post by Dr Tom on Dec 6, 2019 9:37:07 GMT
The Sandman - A Christmas Fairy Tale - Mountview
I believe this is another new musical that has debuted at Mountview. I got to see the first performance from Cast 2, at Mountview's homebase in Peckham, performed by their actor-musician students.
This is a musical for all the family bringing together so many plot points from children's books and shows that it almost becomes a parody. It tells the tale of a group of orphans in the period after World War 2. These poor children don't get to celebrate Christmas and there's a wicked Matron to contend with. But they can escape in their dreams - if only they can keep the nightmares away.
It is all rather cheesy and overacted by the students playing 10 year old children, but that's to be expected with this style of family show (there were a few young children in the audience, but mostly adults and other Mountview students, who found some parts hilarious). There is gold glitter that gets everywhere. There is a gunshot warning which was more annoying than helpful (it got me worked up for what turned out to just be very quiet recorded gunshots during a dream cowboy sequences and no visible guns).
For an actor-musician performance, this one is subtlety done, with the musicians generally based largely out of sight on the upper level (with rotating people playing different instruments), only occasionally needing to bring them on stage with them. Most of the cast played multiple instruments, a good choice now that actor-musician musicals are so much in vogue. The standout to me was Abigail Rogers and her dastardly Matron.
For some reason, I though this was only one act, but it was in two acts (running time 2 hours and 20 minutes, including the interval). Perhaps this changed during development as the interval was in an odd place? This has an early 7pm start for evening performances.
There are still tickets left for many of the performances over the next few days if this is your thing. It's an enjoyable enough evening out with a talented cast.
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Post by Dr Tom on Dec 10, 2019 11:36:19 GMT
An Evening of Eric & Ern at Christmas
- Fairfield Halls Croydon
A festive version of the touring show, which is in Croydon for one week.
Basically, it's a series of Morecombe and Wise sketches and songs performed by the two actors who presented the play Eric and Little Ern, which I saw a few years ago. The sketches and punchlines are all well known, but that doesn't stop them being funny (and many of them were also in the play).
They do ad-lib a bit. There was a joke about them staying in the Premier Inn in Croydon this week and a woman in the audience in absolute hysterics for at least 10 minutes which kept setting everyone else off.
It isn't really a Christmas version. I don't know the normal version of the show, but the only Christmas changes are a Christmas tree on stage, one brief mention of Christmas towards the end and the musical guest Becky Neale sang All I Want For Christmas Is You as her real song (and Send In The Clowns as her funny song). She has a pleasant voice.
Not too many people there last night, unfortunately, but that's always the case in Croydon. The non-seasonal version of the show is being performed elsewhere, including some dates in the Duke of York Theatre in February with Ruthie Henshall.
If you like old cheesy jokes and don't mind being picked on if you sit at the front, this is a lot of fun.
Running time is just over two hours, including an interval.
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Post by dippy on Jan 26, 2020 16:13:26 GMT
I'm surprised nobody seems to have mentioned watching "Singin' in the Rain" at The Mill at Sonning. I saw this recently and absolutely adored it. Singin' in the Rain was one of the first film musicals I ever saw and I've loved it since. Having seen that Philip Bertioli was playing Don was enough to entice me to go and see this version of it. For such a small theatre they have done an amazing job and make it work really well. I did think that some of the film sections went on for a bit too long but if that's my main complaint then that's not exactly bad! I thought Philip was perfect as Don and it was nice seeing him play the main character in a production. Brendan Cull and Rebecca Jayne-Davies were also both good in their roles as Cosmo and Kathy. I did enjoy Sammy Kelly's Lina but her voice didn't seem quite annoying enough, however I definitely wouldn't want to ruin my voice squeaking away so if she's doing something that means she's not harming her voice then that's fine! Even though I love the film I didn't miss it and was totally drawn into this version, the dancing was well suited to the small stage. Singin' in the Rain was of course wonderful with just the right amount of splashing around. Interestingly they slightly changed the story in the "Broadway Melody" section to actually give it a bit more story which I actually appreciated. Also the musical starts and ends in the modern day and I thought that was very cleverly done and I liked it even though when it started I wasn't sure I would.
It was my first visit to the theatre, can't see myself returning there any time soon unless there's a show or person I really want to see, as it's really on the expensive side but I decided to treat myself. It's good they have had a few Thursday matinees which don't include a meal meaning it's £20 cheaper.
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Post by Dr Tom on Jan 27, 2020 9:50:17 GMT
I'm surprised nobody seems to have mentioned watching "Singin' in the Rain" at The Mill at Sonning. Thanks for the review. I have already booked for this too, but unfortunately can only do an evening, so it is a rather pricey show when the train/taxi/hotel costs etc are taken into account. Also always a bit put off when you can't choose a seat. But glad to hear it's worth the money - and yes, the casting was the main reason I decided to attend. |
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Post by dippy on Jan 27, 2020 10:47:13 GMT
Thanks for the review. I have already booked for this too, but unfortunately can only do an evening, so it is a rather pricey show when the train/taxi/hotel costs etc are taken into account. Also always a bit put off when you can't choose a seat. But glad to hear it's worth the money - and yes, the casting was the main reason I decided to attend. Glad to hear someone else is going, hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Shame you couldn't do a cheaper matinee and get home again on the same day. With regards to not being able to choose your seat you can if you phone them up, however that was a hassle as I didn't care which show I saw, I just wanted a good seat. Also they are still in the past when it comes to seating plans, they are all on paper and nothing digital, so they can't just click through the shows and have a quick look they have to put the phone aside and go and look at the shows you're interested in seeing then report back as to what seats there are. However the theatre is tiny so wherever you are you'll be pretty close, fingers crossed you're not too far round to the side as even though it was made for that space they really seemed to play almost everything towards the centre. |
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Post by duncan on Jan 30, 2020 23:10:07 GMT
Well, here we go again...…
2020.01 Ragnarock - MAC, Stirling
A golden age is ending. There have been three years of winter. The sun hangs low in the sky, unmoving, there is little food and society is finished. The serpent spits poison all over the world, Fenrir attempts to shatter his chains and not even Odin can save the world...
A young girl and her brother battle to seek a future in a promised land, moving through a fractured world as dreams and reality clash around them.
I don’t know, I really just don’t know. This was totally not what I was expecting - based on the blurb I was thinking it was going to be the story of two children attempting to survive the end of the world. But instead it was a video/aural/puppetry telling of the story.
4 performers building a set, lego style with shoebox sized houses, paper Mache mountains, paper trees etc then placing little plasticine figures in the set and filming it on a Go-Pro (projected onto a screen) whilst a voiceover and appropriate musical accompaniment told us what was going on. So our performers don't really get much to do despite being on stage for the whole show, there is a lot of moving small models about and pointing small cameras at them but that's almost it, we get a monologue from Odin about fate (see below) and Fenrir attempting to trick them into shattering his chains but aside from that its mainly a voiceover from children.
Bizarre, odd and at a brisk 65 minutes it didn't outstay its welcome BUT for me because I'm being asked to care for someone made out of Playdoh I just didn't connect with the story. I enjoyed all of the Norse mythology bits (various hats being used to represent the likes of Fenrir) but didn't actually care for the central thrust of the story. Also an odd decision about half way through to have Odin tell us who is going to die.
A the great ash tree trembles to its roots 6/10 and an odd start to the year.
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Post by duncan on Feb 1, 2020 23:06:55 GMT
2020.02 Heroine - Traverse 2
Danna Davis joins the US Army and becomes the only female in her platoon. It takes courage to lead a squad under attack in Iraq but its even harder when one member of that squad is one of the three soldiers in the platoon that raped her. Can you heal and forgive under fire? And what happens when you return to the real world as a civilian? How do you even begin to cope with Military Sexual Trauma?
Based on the true story of Danna Davis, this is an 80 minute one actor show.
And its tough going, as you would expect when the main themes are rape, PTSD, suicide attempts, loss and war. As its real life its not all wrapped up in a happy bow at the end, I mean how on earth do you even begin to come through the other side of what Danna had to go through?
Its a sparse stage with five stools on stage being the only "set" so with only one actor it may look sparse but there is some nice sound design here that builds the trauma and also helps to Pr**k the tension when required to try and level this out from being too depressive to give us some lighter moments. The arrival of the theme from the Titanic film brings about a big laugh.
Mary Jane Wells has written and stars in the production and whilst she can do a convincing American accent there were, sadly, several times when she stumbled over the lines. This didn't detract from the show as much as the complete idiot in the front row who thought that a show where someone is raped would be a good place to sit and eat a bag of Beef Hula Hoops rather noisily for the first 15 minutes or so.
Fascinating, chilling, inspiring and horrifying - a 7/10.
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Post by duncan on Feb 4, 2020 15:31:38 GMT
2020.03 Ten Times Table - Kings Edinburgh
Meetings bloody meetings! A group of residents in a small market town, form a committee to, look at boosting the towns standing by holding a fete complete with re-enactment of the deaths of 12 workers at the hands of the establishment 200 years previously. As we count down to the day the committee splits along worker/establishment lines and dangerous feelings come to the surface.
Welcome my friends to the "Classic Comedy Theatre Company", yes its Uncle Bill and his regulars but this time they have moved on from Christie, Drama and Film adaptations and moved to Comedy.
Which is nice.
But this just wasn't funny. I feel that I could write the exact same thing for every Ayckbourn I've seen - horrible people do horrible things to each other in a gently amusing way and then the quiet character will bring the house down with a pointed barb at one or two points.
I think I have to admit that the Ayckbourn house style just isn't for me - yes its a pleasant enough evening but it lacks bite in relation to its social commentary and the vast majority of what jokes there are do appear to be dependent on delivery and thus Robert Daws gives us his all in the most consistently entertaining performance and wrings chuckles out of moments that really don't deserve them whilst Craig Gazey goes OTT a couple of times and overplays his minutes centrestage to an extent that we loose the amusement.
The rest of the cast include those Uncle Bill regulars Robert Duncan, Deborah Grant and Mark Curry plus the aforementioned Gazey, one time EastEnders Mrs Hewitt Elizabeth Power and Emmerdale refuge Gemma Oaten.
BUT its Harry Gostelow as Tim, the former soldier who wants to give the proles a taste of some cold hard steel, who comes on and steals the show right out from under Daws, in a 10 minute cameo at the end. Which led me to wonder what on earth Duncan was doing in this show, its a terrible part of a man being drunk (repeatedly) and not saying anything of note. I cant believe they hired one of the most well known faces simply to fall off a toy horse. Its a crying shame Gostelow isn't giving this performance from the start.
And the production also lets the play down, it wasn't until someone mentioned the death of Noel Coward in Act 2 that I realised I was watching something set in the 70s. It could be any fading hotel at any time, the set and costumes didn't scream 1970s BUT Grant playing Helen Dixon is styled as what can only be described as Mrs Thatcher garb and hair (complete with handbag) and Gazey as Marxist teacher Eric has clearly been modelled on Jeremy Corbyn.
Overall it passed the time but it just didn't deliver for me.
4/10 - a fete almost worse than death!
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Post by Dave B on Feb 8, 2020 10:14:59 GMT
On McQuillan's Hill - Finborough Theatre
Blackly funny comedy set around the release of an IRA man around 1999 under the good Friday agreement. A great cast showing a group of people damaged by themselves, by each other and by the circumstances of the time. A slower first half that really kicks into gear after the interval. Good use of the Finborough's small space, well directed and we enjoyed it a lot. Runs till the end of the month I think. Totally sold out on the first night.
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Post by duncan on Feb 14, 2020 23:14:31 GMT
2020.04 - Mouthpiece - Traverse 1
A woman takes a step forward into the air. A teenage boy pulls her back. Two lives are changed.
Libby whiles away her days in New Town and still calls herself a writer. Declan is a talented young artist struggling with a volatile home on the city's outskirts. As they form an uneasy friendship, complicated by class and culture, Libby spots an opportunity to put herself back on track, and really make a difference. She needs his story. But does she have a right to it?
A 95 minute one act look at a writer with severe block who finds her muse in a 16 year old NEET who stops her from committing suicide one night. Over the course of the play we find a writer using someone for her own ends as she goes on a Poverty Safari in terms of finding the language and situations that fire her imagination and will get her published again.
Its a look at the middle classes using other peoples misery for their own ends.
A sparse set represents the hills overlooking Edinburgh, a café, a bedroom and the Traverse Theatre whilst our cast of 2 give it their all - in a script which includes more uses of the C word than you'll hear down Govan Cross on a Saturday night at chucking out time- with one time Spooks actor Shauna Macdonald portraying the blocked writer and current student Angus Taylor is great as the NEET who sees a new world open up in front of him but who ultimately cant escape his place in the circle of life.
Its entertaining, its obvious, its well acted but even at 95 minutes it overstays its welcome by a good 10 minutes - the last half hour or so does see us seemingly going round in circles again and again and again once the relationship falters.
A Shut it you See U Next Tuesday - 7/10
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Post by duncan on Feb 20, 2020 21:07:17 GMT
2020.06 - I Think We Are Alone - Kings EdinbughThe lives of six everyday people intertwine in small ways - a cab driver picks up an HR worker whose boyfriend has left her, her sister works in a hospice that is treating the cab drivers wife for cancer. Meanwhile the cabbie drops off a customer at the garage that Josie works at, who is smothering her son by placing her academic dreams of Cambridge on his shoulders. Over time these lives connect - some in big ways, some in small ways that they'll never notice but all will be about people not wanting to be alone. Frantic Assembly and Curve present a new play by Sally Abbott. And its the best thing I've seen this year and yet I couldn't help but come away with a sense that it could have been better. The first act flew by as we were introduced to the characters and their own particular quirks but the second act whilst attempting to build on this occasionally misses the mark and some of the character interactions become just a tad strained. The Nurse and the son going back to her place for a one night stand just seems off, especially as this is where the big reveal of why the sisters don't talk is given to us. And that final resolution of the sisters finally reconnecting is just too trite - its the happy ending, or at least one of the endings, that we don't really need. We come off the road of reality that we've been going down for 80 minutes or so and into the fairytale world of "and with one conversation all was soon to be well again" Which is a shame as at one point the realisation that what we are seeing is not linear for all of the characters is a great moment and knocks the feet out from under you. At one point we've been told a very specific plot point by Graham the cabbie and its only in the second act that we work out why he said what he did. We go from wondering if he's lonely because the wife and children he tells his customers about are actually real to the realisation that the character we've seen dying in the hospice is his wife and the reason she left him a couple of months ago is because she's actually dead. And that leads us to the Suffocating mother and her academically gifted son - a plot line that essentially glues the production together but which is one of those plots that you know from the first off how it will play out. He can't bring himself to tell her he doesn't want to be a Cambridge Uni graduate and she cant understand why he's being so odd. Its one of those plots that would be resolved if they actually spoke to one another right at the off instead of waiting until 10 minutes before the end as if they were characters in a drama rather than real people. Its a simple staging with four or so almost see through panels moved around the stage by the cast to represent various locations - two panels are the mothers front room, four panels are the hospice walls, various panels are part of a nightclub and several times they just represent the world coming together and effectively crushing our characters into isolation. Isolation is a big part of the play, or more not wanting to be isolated - wanting there to be someone in your life, be it the taped voice of your dead father or demanding that your partner goes indoor skydiving even though you know he's not the one. There is some very effective lighting to also highlight where we are. Several moans there but I did really enjoy it, sadly though if it hadn't been for the five school groups in attendance there would have been sod all people there. 6 people in our entire block of seats. An almost an 8 but just slightly let down by the ending 7/10
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858 posts
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Post by duncan on Feb 26, 2020 23:30:44 GMT
2020.07 - Oor Wullie - MacRobert
Wahid feels out of place at school, the mysterious librarian Dudley gives him an Oor Wullie book to read. Wahid soon finds Wullie and his pals are in town and looking for his bucket. Basher is also looking for the bucket as she is fed up of the stories being about Wullie instead of her.
Poor writing, poor direction, poor staging, poor me for sitting through this mince.
As subtle as a brick, the message isn't so much hammered home as launched with a full tactical nuclear assault - being an outsider is hard but you can still make friends.
Wahid and Basher being the same character in search of the same plot resolution. The difference being one is ostracised because of his race and the other because of her behaviour, and its just off in terms of what it does to the plot. They have almost the exact same character arc throughout but one is from the good side of things whilst the other is from the Basher side of things. It lop sides the plot into too many parts being almost carbon copies of what we've already seen. It just needs something different injected to push the plot along, as my goodness the second half drags - the child a couple of seats along from me audibly asked if it almost finished a good half hour or so before it finally crashed to a juddering stop.
Dull. Poor. Jings Crivvins and Help ma Boab it stank. 1 point for the Dudley reference, which I don’t think anyone else got this evening and 1 point for Jeemy.
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1,873 posts
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Post by Dave B on Sept 17, 2021 8:22:25 GMT
Two quick ones.
Lately - Lion & Unicorn.
Lately has just been extended and added some touring dates. We saw it earlier in the week and did enjoy it. It does deal with a lot of cliches without falling into too many of them. Two alternating casts and the young actors we saw, Matt Wake , Lauren Ferdinand were both very good and brought a lot to the script.
NW Trilogy - Kiln.
Taking the same approach as Out West in the Lyric and telling three stories rooted in the local area. Larger casts, shared between each story and adding music along the way. Really enjoyed this, there's a lot of warmth in the stories and it shines through on the stage.
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