Obsession

[Deleted]

You are in for a treat

The staging is quite something

👀

[theatrelover123]

A friend said:

If you haven't got tickets for Jude Law in Obsession, at the Barbican then it's not a problem. If you have, then it might be. It's 1hr 50 minutes of your life you'll never get back. Don't be thinking you can escape at the interval either. They're not silly, they haven't put one in.

[Deleted]

Apr 21, 2017 21:43:51 GMT theatrelover123 said:

A friend said:

If you haven't got tickets for Jude Law in Obsession, at the Barbican then it's not a problem. If you have, then it might be. It's 1hr 50 minutes of your life you'll never get back. Don't be thinking you can escape at the interval either. They're not silly, they haven't put one in.

I can only agree

1000%

For once

Ivo Van Hove

Has fallen from his pedestal

And by the looks of this car crash

He needs an ITU bed

It's utterly awful

Laughable

Surely they have only chosen Law due to his admittedly good upper body physique

The direction is terrible

The acting leaden

It's a massive mess

[Deleted]

BUT

It's almost sold out on the name of Law

And it's too late

People are stuck with tickets

What is even more hilarious

Is you can see the narrow scope of this "genius" director

Like he shat out all his ideas again in one go

There is much pouring of black liquid onto people

The sort of crowd coming to see Law

Are going to hate it

And be bored rigid

[bellboard27]

Good grief! That leaves me with 3 weeks of glorious anticipation before I go!

[zahidf]

you can get free credit for tickets. Thatll happen if its THAT bad

[Deleted]

Apr 21, 2017 18:42:02 GMT @parsley said:

You are in for a treat

The staging is quite something

👀

Apr 21, 2017 21:48:25 GMT @parsley said:

I can only agree

1000%

For once

Ivo Van Hove

Has fallen from his pedestal

And by the looks of this car crash

He needs an ITU bed

It's utterly awful

Laughable

Surely they have only chosen Law due to his admittedly good upper body physique

The direction is terrible

The acting leaden

It's a massive mess

I'm confused.

Are you twins?

Or did you drink the potion between posts?

[Deleted]

Apr 22, 2017 9:22:54 GMT @honouredguest said:

Apr 21, 2017 18:42:02 GMT @parsley said:

You are in for a treat

The staging is quite something

👀

It was being sarcastic

The staging is terrible

Really and truly awful

The best thing about it are Jude Laws pecs
He really is in excellent shape for his age

He is quite hairy

So they have waxed his back and upper arms

And you get this delineation where it meets the hairy lower arm from the elbow down

I was in the front row so could see clearly

[foxa]

Damn, Going on Friday.

[Deleted]

I don't know about anyone else but I'm dying to see this now after those glowing reviews.

[jadnoop]

On first reading through this thread I got the impression of a wave of near-unanimous negative comments, but on re-reading I see that there's just one poster's opinion spread over several separate posts, plus a post with a second-hand comment.

Obviously that doesn't mean that the play is any good, but I'm hoping that this is just a case of the show just not meshing with the early commenter(s) here, rather than the first steps of a truly terrible run. A few user comments are up on Time Out and they seem more positive (although still fairly lukewarm).

I have a few weeks to wait to see it so will keep my fingers crossed.

[foxa]

The little I have seen on twitter is very bad. Stuff like: 'play by committee.' 'Looks a dream team on paper but...' 'attempt to kill off theatre' 'spectacularly bad' 'portrayal of women is AWFUL' and (unusual this one) 'the audience left angry.' So more Song from Far Away than A View from the Bridge or Hedda, I reckon. My daughter was going to come with me, but I simply can't inflict this on her (it took her months to recover from Song from Far Away - I'm not sure still that she has.) At least I got relatively cheap seats.....

I have to say I'm surprised - I've always though Law was quite savvy in his theatre choices. Or (she says optimistically) maybe they are struggling during previews and then something magical will happen.

[kathryn]

I utterly loved Song From Far Away.

Having said that I'm usually 50/50 love/meh with Van Hove, and I loved Hedda, so due a 'meh'.

[foxa]

I know a couple of people on here loved Song From Far Away, but it remains a low water mark for theatre in my household ;-)

[Deleted]

Apr 23, 2017 6:45:40 GMT jadnoop said:

On first reading through this thread I got the impression of a wave of near-unanimous negative comments, but on re-reading I see that there's just one poster's opinion spread over several separate posts, plus a post with a second-hand comment.

Obviously that doesn't mean that the play is any good, but I'm hoping that this is just a case of the show just not meshing with the early commenter(s) here, rather than the first steps of a truly terrible run. A few user comments are up on Time Out and they seem more positive (although still fairly lukewarm).

I have a few weeks to wait to see it so will keep my fingers crossed.

Might want to keep toes, arms and legs crossed too

You will need it 

[jadnoop]

Apr 23, 2017 11:44:47 GMT @parsley said:

Apr 23, 2017 6:45:40 GMT jadnoop said:

I have a few weeks to wait to see it so will keep my fingers crossed.

Might want to keep toes, arms and legs crossed too

You will need it 

sounds like a line from an 80s Schwarzenneger film.

[aksis]

Got tickets to see this in Amsterdam. Am very curious after reading these reactions.

[edmundokeano]

I saw this on Thursday and liked - but not loved - it.

The set detracts from what is a good play because it is far too big and I felt the use of video images didn't work as much as van Hove thinks they do but, if you can overlook this, there is a good play in there.

Law, however, has never been one of my favourite actors as I feel he is lazy and I did feel a bit under-whelmed by his performance in this. I felt he was either holding something back or, even worse, just going through the motions when it was a chance to shine as the writing would have allowed him to do.

3 out of 5 for me.

[sadephram]

Thanks for your reviews.
May I ask where you sat? I'm in row D on the high number side and one seat (D35) is marked restricted view while the other (D34) is not. It has me a little worried about sightlines...

[edmundokeano]

Apr 24, 2017 13:22:04 GMT sadephram said:

Thanks for your reviews.
May I ask where you sat? I'm in row D on the high number side and one seat (D35) is marked restricted view while the other (D34) is not. It has me a little worried about sightlines...

Upper gallery, row B.

No problems at all except when the kitchen was used and you only saw the lower part of the actor's body.

Most action takes place outside this area though.

[sadephram]

Apr 24, 2017 13:34:19 GMT edmundokeano said:

Apr 24, 2017 13:22:04 GMT sadephram said:

Thanks for your reviews.
May I ask where you sat? I'm in row D on the high number side and one seat (D35) is marked restricted view while the other (D34) is not. It has me a little worried about sightlines...

Upper gallery, row B.

No problems at all except when the kitchen was used and you only saw the lower part of the actor's body.

Most action takes place outside this area though.

Thanks for reassuring me! 

[bamaboy]

Are are the side sections in the stalls?

[sadephram]

Apr 24, 2017 22:04:49 GMT bamaboy said:

Are are the side sections in the stalls?

Yes, my seats are in the stalls...

[Deleted]

D35 is at a slight angle to the stage - D34 is the last one that is directly face on to the stage. I think "partially restricted view" is a standard warning they give for these angled seats when they don't know what the staging will be like. I'd be very surprised if there's a problem.

[Deleted]

Apr 24, 2017 22:04:49 GMT bamaboy said: