60 posts
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Post by skullion on May 20, 2017 18:20:07 GMT
I cant say this did much for me either, I certainly couldn't see much to justify the level of whooping and standing up at the end. Each to their own I suppose!
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371 posts
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Post by popcultureboy on May 20, 2017 21:53:15 GMT
The first half is crass, dull, shallow, blighted by ugly design, unconvincing performances and zero chemistry among the cast. The second half is ten minutes shorter but it felt about 8 hours longer and made act one seem like The Godfather by comparison. There is a dream sequence where Steffan Rhodri sings a dance song. There is a scene where Darrell D'Silva speaks German, none of which is translated for the audience. John Boyega pours washing powder into his mouth. It got even more ludicrous than that too, but I can't even be bothered to try and explain how. I couldn't bring myself to applaud it this afternoon, and when it was greeted so rapturously, I was sorely tempted to boo.
I wonder whether the reviews will come down on the side of the handful of people that gave this an ovation or on the side of the likes of me, who loudly exclaimed "why? they were f***ing TERRIBLE" when John Boyega and Sarah Greene came on for a separate curtain call. They want to hope for great reviews since this really isn't selling. You can drive a truck through the upcoming bank holiday Monday performance....
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2,676 posts
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Post by viserys on May 21, 2017 5:12:50 GMT
For Heaven's Sake, I'm starting to think I should tear up my ticket for June...
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Post by Deleted on May 21, 2017 7:57:47 GMT
Theatreboard movie night? Mia sofa et original VHS box set, est sua sofa et original VHS box set, emicardiff. It's an invitation I'd only accept if original VHS was involved. |
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Post by Deleted on May 21, 2017 7:58:12 GMT
Well. At least I know how the title is pronounced. "Wot-A-Cheek". As in what a bloomin' cheek to charge money for this rubbish.
Ugly set which looks like an insulated loft that hasn't been finished and mediocre performances I'm afraid. John Boyega manfully emoting like crazy while shoving washing powder down his throat which was I think, a suggestion to the audience as to how to escape quicker and Sarah Greene was unfortunately not the glorious former Blue Peter presenter and Saturday morning TV star but someone altogether more whiny and wooden.
And the script? Ooooh, let's be edgy and put lots of swear words in it. Won't that be "cool" or whatever the kids are calling it nowadays? However, if you like the idea of Nancy Carroll frequently dropping the C-bomb in her cut glass accent then this is the show for you.
On the plus side. Ben Batt's nudity was a welcome addition to the banality though (he clearly works out a LOT) so I'd like to thank Matthew Warchus for that small (well not really, fnar fnar) mercy anyway.
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Post by Deleted on May 21, 2017 9:47:56 GMT
so I'd like to thank Matthew Warchus Directed by Joe Murphy. |
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904 posts
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Post by lonlad on May 21, 2017 17:08:24 GMT
Sarah Greene was a 2014 Tony nominee for THE CRIPPLE OF INISHMAAN, directed by Michael Grandage
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Post by Deleted on May 21, 2017 18:05:50 GMT
I should probably expand on the reasons I hated this... My doubts started early, with the apparently hilarious (to those around me) statement that 'ich liebe dich' sounds like 'I lick dick' (it really doesn't, even when the cast's German accents are as crap as this lot's). By the time we got to 'deine Oma masturbiert...' I was looking at my watch (oh joy, still only 5 minutes in...) Act two opens with a vigorous sex scene and multiple instances of gratuitous use of the C word (at which point I really regretted deciding to give it a second chance and sticking around after the interval). My German is pretty good (she says modestly) but I only caught about 50% of d'Silva's section in German. If you're going to make an actor a German character, and then ask them to speak a bit of the lingo, it might be a nice idea to give them a bit of language training so they sound believable. I have no idea if he understood anything of what he was saying, but key words were muffled, which suggested no understanding of word order/sentence construction - you can't let a sentence trail off if the darn verb you need to make sense of it is placed at the end!). Weird not to have it translated but I seem to remember a similar thing happening in a play I saw at Hampstead. {Spoiler - click to view}
But mainly, I was just bored. Woyzeck's line that precedes his suicide is something like 'I don't know why I did what I did/I don't know what it was all for', and I was sitting in P5 thinking, 'I don't either, mate'. Why would you turn your back on a lot of the original's plot, borrowing a few characters and the overarching premise only, then try to explain Woyzeck's madness (but not very well) with a sort-of-hinted-at event in Belfast and childhood sexual abuse? It left me more confused than ever about the meaning of the play, and rendered it all rather pointless. |
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1,013 posts
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Post by talkstageytome on May 21, 2017 23:03:33 GMT
Oh these reviews are making me simultaneously sad that everyone seems to have come away disappointed, and relieved that I didn't get a ticket. I've liked John Boyega in a bunch of other things (most notably Star Wars, obvs, and Attack The Block in which I thought he was excellent!) so was extremely tempted to see this, but it kind of sounds like I dodged a bullet. Hmm..
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3,557 posts
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Post by showgirl on May 22, 2017 7:18:33 GMT
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Post by Deleted on May 22, 2017 7:35:19 GMT
I didn't really care one way or the other on this one. Will I remember it fondly? Nope. Will I remember it as a wasted evening? Nope. Did I like it? Nope. Did I hate it? Nope. Between this and Cursed Child, I'm beginning to suspect that Jack Thorne is extremely overrated as a playwright; quantity =/= quality, and if he's ever written anything genuinely great then that's just what happens when you write and write and write and write for long enough. Occasionally those monkeys with typewriters are going to hit upon the complete works of Shakespeare, and occasionally Jack Thorne is going to write a genuinely good play. But I liked the performers, and was fairly ambivalent on the design and direction. If I were going for a star rating, I'd give it two, which here means "I wouldn't see it again and I wouldn't recommend it but it passed the time and it wasn't horrible".
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4,153 posts
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Post by kathryn on May 22, 2017 7:42:20 GMT
I'm pretty sure the Berlin Wall wasn't made of wood and insulation. It would have been a more interesting set if they had been Berlin Wall-like panels. |
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22 posts
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Post by iamian on May 22, 2017 8:04:12 GMT
I'm pretty sure the Berlin Wall wasn't made of wood and insulation. It would have been a more interesting set if they had been Berlin Wall-like panels. and it is not 'fairly faithful to the original' |
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Post by Deleted on May 22, 2017 10:00:07 GMT
I'm pretty sure the Berlin Wall wasn't made of wood and insulation. It would have been a more interesting set if they had been Berlin Wall-like panels. and it is not 'fairly faithful to the original' Yes I thought that was an odd thing to say, given the blogger is clearly conversant with the original... |
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Post by Deleted on May 22, 2017 18:00:10 GMT
Glad I ditched my ticket for this, even if it didn't resell! If it was row P end, it didn't, and nor did the seat next to it. Empty seats in front of me, the one time I didn't care about having a clear view...
And finally, they do check stalls tickets at the interval, but not in the dress circle.
Yes, they mailed me to say they hadn't resold it as the performance wasn't sold out (which it wasn't, I checked in the morning and there were a few seats left). Fair enough although my earlier point about the faff of printing and scanning the form still stands! To be honest I would have swapped my seat for another date but it was a £21 stalls seats and not many of those left, plus I didn't want to spend another £2 for the exchange based on the feedback here! Top quality research on the interval ticket check! |
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Post by Deleted on May 23, 2017 22:59:18 GMT
4 stars from WOS. 'Completely absorbing' and 'terrific performances', apparently. *rolls eyes*
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Post by Deleted on May 23, 2017 23:06:01 GMT
And 4 stars from the Arts Desk. *starting to get dizzy from eye rolling*
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3,557 posts
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Post by showgirl on May 24, 2017 3:48:57 GMT
And, as you'd expect, 4 stars from Libby Purves (Theatrecat) - though it was a guest reviewer but they seem cut from the same admiring cloth.
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Post by Deleted on May 24, 2017 6:06:50 GMT
Three from the Telegraph and Guardian. Guardian reviewer comes closest to how I felt about it, I think, though they're being generous with those stars - this is a 1 or a 2, I reckon!
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1,064 posts
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Post by bellboard27 on May 24, 2017 22:15:40 GMT
That was grim. Sure the actors are game, but the rest was a real let down. Loads gave it a standing ovation though!
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115 posts
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Post by Sotongal on May 27, 2017 15:31:10 GMT
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Post by Deleted on May 27, 2017 15:41:50 GMT
Was originally going to go today (rebooked for the end of June), so that's a lucky escape. |
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5,795 posts
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Post by mrbarnaby on May 27, 2017 15:45:34 GMT
Oh dear.. glad all is well though. Scary.
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2,743 posts
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Post by n1david on May 27, 2017 15:46:14 GMT
Old Vic tweeted 5m ago that the incident was found to be not suspicious, so expect tonight's performance to go ahead as planned, but I guess people there for the matinee will need to rebook.
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4,955 posts
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Post by Someone in a tree on May 27, 2017 18:21:04 GMT
Or if you didn't like the production use this as a chance to get some or all your money back
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