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Post by Deleted on Apr 4, 2017 21:39:14 GMT
Saw this tonight and it's seriously good. It's dramatically and emotionally rich and creates powerful atmospheres from beginning to end. And it's utterly comprehensible, if you go in having read just the three-line official introductory publicity. In fact, it would spoil it to know anything more in advance, so best to avoid all reviews and comments before seeing it.
The person right next to me broke down emotionally for a minute or so at one point, which I can't remember ever experiencing so naturally before. The actors seemed genuinely affected too.
It was lovely to see this in the Sherman Studio with a genuine audience including quite a lot of young people and others from the local community, mixed in with regular theatregoers. One of the weaknesses of seeing a play Upstairs at the Royal Court is that very often the audience is almost exclusively composed of seasoned, professional theatre industry people and so the response can feel a bit sterile, clinical and blase. Our audience tonight was real.
The Sherman Studio, like Upstairs at the Royal Court, has a different stage and audience configuration for every show, and it is perfect for this one. It is bound to be different at the Royal Court because the room there is a different shape but I'm sure it will still be a great experience, although I can't imagine it being better than at the Sherman.
I'm now slightly regretting hacing booked to see Rent at Wales Millennium Centre tomorrow night because I want to stay in the Killology zone for as long as possible.
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Post by fuzzbomb on Apr 4, 2017 23:47:39 GMT
I understand completely where you are coming from with regards the Killology zone. I saw this on Friday night and I couldn't stop thinking about it for days. I'll usually think about a performance for a chunk of the following day, then it'll fade and I'll get on with things. Killology refused to go that way. It kept on cropping up in my thoughts - a bit from this part of the play, then a bit from another, chipping away at me a couple of times a day. And like you said - the actors seemed to be genuinely affected by the whole experience, an emotion that was shared by the audience on the night I attended. A very special experience.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 5, 2017 6:52:36 GMT
Oooooooooo goodie! Seeing this when it moves to the RC
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Post by Deleted on Apr 5, 2017 7:33:14 GMT
A colleague and I were just talking about this- a shame I'm going to miss this (the busiest two weeks in 'real life' intervenes, which happens sometimes...doesn't mean I'm any less of a theatre person  ) |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 5, 2017 8:30:27 GMT
Blimey. I've booked to see this at the Royal Court, even though I really have gone off the Upstairs as a venue (I mean, the venue's fine, but the punters are aggressively terrible about queuing), I'm properly intrigued now. Sounds like I shouldn't have gone for a matinee performance with something else in the evening but I guess it's a bit late now.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 5, 2017 9:02:44 GMT
Excellent, my one RC booking for years turns out to be a good one! It's a really convenient theatre for me, but it always feels so youthful and cliquey - does anyone else feel totally badly dressed and intimidated in there, or is it just me??
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Post by lonlad on Apr 5, 2017 9:19:17 GMT
It's just you LOL. "Cliquey"  Hmmm ..... nor have I ever noticed a commonality to the dress code there (except that they are all wearing clothes!) But Gary Owen is a really GREAT playwright -- VIOLENCE & SON and IPHIGENIA IN SPLOTT both superb - so this sounds like he has completed a personal trifecta. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 5, 2017 9:36:00 GMT
I liked Jeramee, Hartleby and Oooglemore too. More than Iphigenia in Splott, actually...
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Post by Deleted on Apr 5, 2017 9:36:02 GMT
There's no need to be that way to someone's genuine question... feeling intimidated by theatre crowds is a common reason for not going, and even us seasoned types have our spaces we don't like going to because of the 'crowd' there. Personally I've never felt too bothered by the RC but funny enough the Sherman where this is in Cardiff has that exact effect on me!
Side note, Gary Owen once read 'Goodnight Moon' to me (and others, it's not that creepy a story) and even with his hard-hitting writing I can never get that image quite out of my head now...
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Post by wiggymess on Apr 5, 2017 9:45:03 GMT
There's no need to be that way to someone's genuine question... feeling intimidated by theatre crowds is a common reason for not going, and even us seasoned types have our spaces we don't like going to because of the 'crowd' there. Personally I've never felt too bothered by the RC but funny enough the Sherman where this is in Cardiff has that exact effect on me! Side note, Gary Owen once read 'Goodnight Moon' to me (and others, it's not that creepy a story) and even with his hard-hitting writing I can never get that image quite out of my head now... Same. Royal Court doesn't intimidate me so much, but plenty of other theatres do. I, for some reason I can't quite fathom, always feel like I shouldn't be there. Guess that's part of the buzz for me... |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 5, 2017 9:51:07 GMT
I've always been heartened by the ushers at the Royal Court. Young, confident, able, welcoming, informal - they really set the tone of the place in the best way.
The Sherman also now has a meticulously prepared team of volunteer ushers and staff. Last night they were unobtrusively approaching each individual audience member still eating at the end of the interval and telling them, pleasantly but firmly, not to eat during the show.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 5, 2017 10:00:42 GMT
The Royal Court ushers are brilliant and I won't hear a word said against any of them.
The patrons though... I suppose there does seem to be a larger quantity of hipstery types in the bar, but I don't like to go in there if I can help it. If I'm buying a drink, I'll take it upstairs to the balcony-level bar to drink it. The only patrons I have an issue with at the Royal Court are the ones who think they're too important to queue for Upstairs, who'll merrily use the lift to bypass the people waiting patiently on the stairs, or who'll move the cord blocking the staircase so they can sit on the random bench just a little way down from the auditorium, or who'll start shouting rudely if they don't think they're being let into the auditorium quickly enough (like they're going to forget to let us in and just start the performance to an empty room or something?). None of the problem patrons I've encountered here have been youthful or cliquey, but they certainly behave aggressively and make the experience a misery if the play isn't good enough to wipe all the preceding tension from my brain.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 5, 2017 13:35:08 GMT
Ha! I think you're right, it's the hipsters who scare me - I feel like an old blue-stocking invading a student bar. I don't know why the Royal Court has that effect on me, nowhere else does.
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Post by showgirl on Apr 5, 2017 18:40:09 GMT
Interesting diversion; perhaps we need a thread on "Theatre Ambience" or similar? The RC is one of those venues which can seem to me loud and dominated by younger people (particularly the downstairs bar), even if there are plenty of older ones in the audience. In fact there are lots of theatres which appear to me either to have been colonised by younger people (especially Soho Theatre and the Young Vic, both of which I half-dread visiting because of the noise, dark foyers and lack of seating but where I persist because I want to see the work) or to be trying to appeal to them, possibly at the expense of older patrons. The Lyric Hammersmith is another which springs to mind.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 5, 2017 18:57:32 GMT
I'm older and don't mind the bars in the Young Vic, Soho, RC etc. Not that they tempt me to stay but, by making nice profits from having a bar separate to the theatre, it helps them to keep ticket prices down.
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Post by showgirl on Apr 6, 2017 5:12:21 GMT
I'm older and don't mind the bars in the Young Vic, Soho, RC etc. Not that they tempt me to stay but, by making nice profits from having a bar separate to the theatre, it helps them to keep ticket prices down. I see your point; my objection is that as there is no alternative waiting space (quieter, lighter and with seating), it gives the impression both that all the venue cares about is patrons who spend in addition to their ticket and that the older audience who don't care for the bar are disposable - that's neither inclusive nor welcoming. I'd probably be happy to have a hot drink instead if only there was somewhere suitable to sit down and enjoy it. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 6, 2017 6:59:19 GMT
The unicorn is another theatre that is disgustingly focused on the young crowd....I means it's programming is quite often just childish.....when oh when will theatre start catering for the more mature audience? WHEN?
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Post by wiggymess on Apr 6, 2017 8:31:21 GMT
The unicorn is another theatre that is disgustingly focused on the young crowd....I means it's programming is quite often just childish.....when oh when will theatre start catering for the more mature audience? WHEN? At the risk of sounding a complete tit, I assume this is sarcastic? |
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Post by showgirl on Apr 6, 2017 8:50:48 GMT
NB: As this was getting off-topic, for which I was in part responsible, I've started a new thread in General Chat
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Post by Deleted on Apr 6, 2017 9:14:06 GMT
The unicorn is another theatre that is disgustingly focused on the young crowd....I means it's programming is quite often just childish.....when oh when will theatre start catering for the more mature audience? WHEN? At the risk of sounding a complete tit, I assume this is sarcastic? I presume it's sarcasm, but I'm a grown adult who visits the Unicorn with a reasonable degree of regularity. I don't even wait for the designated adults-only performances, I just go when there's something I want to see, and I've never been disappointed by the quality of any of the shows. Good theatre is good theatre, just 'cos it's suitable for a 2 year old doesn't mean it's not also awesome for a *ahem* year old. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 6, 2017 10:19:57 GMT
^Only problem with that is if you are a lone male. Trust me, that is a very different experience until you explain you have a legitimate reason to attend as a reviewer. Even as a lone female it can feel awkward- a friend of mine is an academic specialising in Children's theatre and she's always asking friends to go with her because she feels really self-conscious about it. But I imagine it feels even worse for a lone male. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 6, 2017 10:39:42 GMT
Actually, that's pretty much the only time I've self censored seeing a particular show. I work with young people a lot of the time (with enhanced DBS checks et al) and have felt fine at the Unicorn watching plays like Girls Like That (excellent, by the way) but decided not to see the Hamilton Complex, despite my interest in Belgian and young people's companies. I sort of regret it now but elements of reviews suggested that I might feel uncomfortable.
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Post by PalelyLaura on Apr 6, 2017 10:58:55 GMT
I've also attended several shows at the Unicorn and at Polka aimed at children, and have never really felt that uncomfortable, but I've often thought that it would be different if I was a man.
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Post by bellboard27 on Apr 6, 2017 17:59:05 GMT
I happily go to the Unicorn and Polka as a lone male. If anyone has a problem that's their prejudice not mine!
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Post by altamont on Apr 6, 2017 19:42:16 GMT
Just a reminder that Showgirl has started an Ambience topic in General Chat - perhaps this topic can be reserved for Killology?
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) 
Hmmm ..... nor have I ever noticed a commonality to the dress code there (except that they are all wearing clothes!) But Gary Owen is a really GREAT playwright -- VIOLENCE & SON and IPHIGENIA IN SPLOTT both superb - so this sounds like he has completed a personal trifecta. 
