170 posts
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Post by paplazaroo on Feb 22, 2017 22:00:35 GMT
I saw the first preview of this tonight. It's 3 monologues delivered through a trendy binaural microphone much like the one used in Complicite's the Encounter.
You sit in the dark in a room for the first monologue then move to a different room to sit in the dark for the second and then you get to stand in a room in the dark for the last one.
Mostly it's just the audio, in number 2 there's some lights coming on occasionally and during number 3 you do get to see John Macmillan for 5 minutes at the end.
The monologues themselves don't seem linked and are Ridley at his most allegorical/abstract. Apocalyptic tales, a boy who joins a gang, a dowdy guy who looks after an old lady who becomes under siege from people growing sledgehammers from their hands and an ostrich farmer with a miracle healing ostrich on the run from a bad man.
As you walk out you can see the havoc the actor has wreaked around the microphone breaking melons etc like a foley artist which just makes you more annoyed that you didn't get to see any of it. I think I'd rather have listened to it in the dark in my bedroom rather than schlep to Shoreditch for the pleasure.
Overall despite it being a nice walk through the mood lit underbelly of the town hall it's a bit of an underwhelming experience
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546 posts
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Post by drmaplewood on Feb 24, 2017 11:39:15 GMT
Yes I was disappointed by this too. Although the settling is quite unnerving and Ridley’s dark humour is still as ripe as ever, it didn’t work as a piece of theatre and by the last third I was quite bored. For the prices they’re charging (up to £25) I expected a bit more.
Also, not one to encourage naught behaviour or such, but my ticket wasn’t checked once.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 19, 2017 8:07:20 GMT
Agree this was very disappointing. Wearing headphones you are placed in increasing levels of discomfort mostly in darkness. Found the first section effective but then it's diminishing returns as the other two setups are so similar
And you really get no sense you are hearing a live performance so as noted above you might as well be listening to a radio play in the comfort of your own home
The final monologue is the only one where you see the performer but even then half the audience won't see that as they are facing the wrong way. At that point the audience is in two rooms - if you are in the one furthest from the entrance, stand against the wall the opposite side from where you came in.
And the headphones are really uncomfortable!
I enjoyed another Ridley monologue (Tonight With Donny Stixx) recently so this was a big disappointment
One were the performers are having a much better time than the audience
Regarding tickets - when I arrived the box office ticked my name off and told me they'd "take a register" when the show started and lead everybody down. But as above, no check before the show and everyone who was in the foyer went in to the show
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Post by Deleted on Mar 19, 2017 11:41:34 GMT
told me they'd "take a register" when the show started and lead everybody down. But as above, no check before the show What about Health and Safety? Someone might still be lost or stuck down there, but no one will know.
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