Beginning - Dorfman

[stevemar]

Unusually for me, I saw this in preview, without knowing much more than the short summary on the website. Usually I see plays later in the run. I couldn't recall why I booked, other than it was written by David Eldridge - Market Boy, but it was certainly nothing like that. 

What could be quite embarrassing or poorly done in the wrong hands - an extended scene with a single woman and man at the end of the house-warming party into the early hours - was written, directed and performed exquisitely. Justine Mitchell and Sam Troughton were completely believable as their characters. This doesn't have an epic sweep, but without giving too much away really touched a chord. Whilst i think the characters possibly became ciphers for certain themes by the end of the play, by then, having spent an hour or so in their company, I really understood where they were coming from and sympathised. I was rooting for them. Would they take that step forward together? 

Topics including dating, wishing for children, marriage, going through single life and loneliness. Well, basically, relationships.  This was also very funny in parts, as well as sad. A big thumbs up from me - tears, laughter, believable characters. 

The references to Strictly 2015 (Jay and Aliona) were quite typical of water cooler moments in the office or with friends. Unintentional bad behaviour from an audience member when "Marigolds" (gloves) were referred to (a particularly funny scene) and repeated back by the old dear behind us, which us laugh (and the actress, who heard, too I think).

Running time - 1 hour 50 (says 1 hour 55 on the website). No interval.  

Surprised no no one has mentioned this (moderators, apologies, if there is another thread).https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/shows/beginning

[MrBunbury]

I saw it Friday night (too?). The actors are very good and I completely agree with stevemar about the play. I had a restricted view seat so I could not see the heads (or the body) of the actors for at least one third of the play...

[stevemar]

Oct 8, 2017 11:22:10 GMT MrBunbury said:

I saw it Friday night (too?). The actors are very good and I completely agree with stevemar about the play. I had a restricted view seat so I could not see the heads (or the body) of the actors for at least one third of the play...

Saturday night for me. A few empty seats particularly at the sides, but I guess with a low key cast and play, this is to be expected. 

Played "end on" with a wide stage, I did think that people at the sides would have had long periods looking at the back of the heads, and quite a lot of the action took place at the sides of the stage (by the sofa, or fireplace/table) or the back (in the kitchen alcove). Some lighting issues but I expect this will improve.

So pretty much only directed front on. Fortunately, that was where I was sitting.

[Deleted]

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Restricted view tickets are for seats with a restricted view.

[Deleted]

The Dorfman restricted view tickets are distinctly below par. There are some seats, regularly priced at £15, where if you were to sit as a person would sit in a seat for an end-on production, you would see maybe 1/5th of the stage, a solid metal pillar, and the people next to and in front of you. For £15 I'd want at least 1/3rd of the stage.

[popcultureboy]

I saw it on Friday night last week, from a side view £25 pit seat, which was totally fine. Could see both performers the whole time, regardless of where they were on the stage.

I was so not looking forward to it, given that I loathed Knot of the Heart more than I can put into words, and swore off Eldridge ever after. And I really enjoyed it. It felt very natural and believable, helped no end by the cracking performances. Troughton particularly really nails his character's physical discomfort with the situation, barely standing still for the first hour. Some of it did feel a little forced and it most definitely could have been shorter (I think one key bit of dialogue is repeated twice, other moments are raked back over as well). That's not saying it dragged, it didn't, it coasted by nicely on charm. But I did think "we need to hear this again?" a couple of times.

Worth seeing for the dancing alone though.

[Rory]

Eldridge's In Basildon at the Royal Court a few years ago was excellent and quite underrated. It was funny, moving and had a cast to die for, so my hopes would be high for this too as it has two excellent actors also.

[peelee]

I was delighted to get tickets and am seeing the play this week. I'll report back on it.

[mallardo]

Laura has had a housewarming party in her impressive new flat in Crouch End. Danny has stayed behind and is now embarrassed at finding himself alone with the woman he has been eyeing all night. He needn't worry - she wants him there. But he's incredibly anxious and fretful, cringingly so. Why? It's not as if he has to make a move on her. She does it for him, letting him know in no uncertain terms that she's his for the taking. Yet still he dithers.

All this is in the first ten minutes of the play. The rest of the play, another 100 minutes or so, is one long stall. Danny will do or say anything not to have sex with the woman he says he wants to have sex with. As a male I can sympathize to some extent. Performance anxiety is always lurking in such situations. But Danny takes it to new levels of insecurity forcing Laura to spend all her time as the goddess of reassurance. She calls him a dick - and he is. So why is she so determined to have this quivering bundle of nerves? What does it say about the other men in her life?

Nearing the halfway mark playwright David Eldridge senses he's gone as far as he can go with this setup and introduces a new and more serious theme which allows both characters to open up their lives to each other - and this is an improvement. But still, it's all so drawn out and repetitive.

If it actually entertains for a great deal of the time it's down to the actors. Justine Mitchell and Sam Troughton are both superb. She has the advantage of playing a character who acts in a credible way and makes sense and she fills the role with a radiance and an inner anguish that is irresistible. What a marvellous actress she is. Troughton works hard and gets the laughs and, to his infinite credit, makes Danny a sympathetic character in spite of himself. The two work brilliantly together although the underlying passion which is the excuse for their connection is not particularly evident.

I'm perhaps underrating the play a bit - the audience I was with clearly loved it and identified with it. Danny's excruciating self doubt obviously hit home with many. But, for me, it was one of those evenings where I kept checking my watch. In so-called "real life" the situation would have been resolved in those first ten minutes. That it isn't in this case seems more about artifice than life.

[Deleted]

(Psst, pretty sure it's Sam Troughton, not David. )

[mallardo]

Oct 11, 2017 8:00:18 GMT @baemax said:

(Psst, pretty sure it's Sam Troughton, not David. )

Damn, I was hoping I'd caught it before anyone saw! Now changed.

[showgirl]

Early posts here persuaded me this was worth the risk; lucky to spot & bag a single Friday Rush ticket (presumably a return, and great that the price stays at £20) in the central front stalls for this evening.

[Deleted]

Oct 11, 2017 7:50:43 GMT mallardo said:

But, for me, it was one of those evenings where I kept checking my watch.

You still wear a watch?

[showgirl]

I'm glad I had the chance to see this and decide for myself, but as mallardo said, "for me, it was one of those evenings where I kept checking my watch."

That's not my overriding impression, i.e. that it dragged, though it did a bit and my concern was partly because I had started to feel really unwell shortly before the start and having a centre-row seat, was aware that if I started watching, I'd need to continue or create a disturbance by leaving. However, though the cast did well (and the set was tremendous), I did feel both that the whole premise was wildly implausible and that the male character, Danny, because he was woefully inarticulate and played as pretty gormless, was unlikely to have appealed to the educated and loquacious Laura. Yes, there were reasons, eventually drawn out, for Danny's reluctance to talk about his feelings and relationship history - though I'd have thought this would be true of any man on a first encounter and faced with a woman clearly far readier to unburden and to probe - but they still seemed glaringly mismatched.

Still, as mallardo also said, the rest of the audience was clearly engaged and entertained, so I'll be interested to read other views here and, idc, the critics' views.

[showgirl]

Critics' views very mixed: Theatrecat (Libby Purves, but reviewed by a young male in this case) 4 stars; Whatsonstage 5 stars but British Theatre Guide less enthusiastic. Some have said one character is underwritten, whereas for some it's the other; some have said it's too slow and drawn-out, resulting in a loss of interest, whilst others find it engrossing but painful to watch in its soul-baring accuracy.

[Deleted]

Oct 11, 2017 22:03:41 GMT @honouredguest said:

Oct 11, 2017 7:50:43 GMT mallardo said:

But, for me, it was one of those evenings where I kept checking my watch.

You still wear a watch?

I got one purely for being able to discreetly check the time in the theatre... 

[showgirl]

I too take my digital watch, which has a backlight, solely in order to be able to check the time in the cinema and theatre. I do so discreetly as I keep it in my bag, so no-one else will see the light, let alone what I am doing - I don't want to offend any actors if I'm sitting close enough for them to see.

[peelee]

Wonderful theatre: spellbinding, serious enough to have the audience hushed when it wasn't laughing at things said, or awkwardness, or recognition of what life can be like when people yearn for something but fear that for them it might not prove possible. Really good writing, good stage and sound design, direction intelligent and presented by two actors who were so good. With a bit of luck it'll get one, two or three stars, making it easier for you to buy tickets. 1 hour and 40 minutes and no interval, not that I noticed or cared much while being absorbed by this tale of our time. And don't read all about it before you go, because you'll spoil your experience of this, when after all it's the experience you're going for.  

[showgirl]

Maybe worth a thread of its own but I think the read/don't read reviews, posts, etc, in advance is a personal preference. I like to read as much as possible (and I always look at spoilers), partly to help me decide whether to book if I haven't already done so and partly because I don't always follow the plot (e.g. in the case of a Stoppard) from the performance itself so appreciate any insights others provide.

Plus I look out for mentions of things I would prefer to avoid, e.g. mime, puppetry, audience participation.

[Deleted]

I loved this play
Until the

Desperate “I want a baby”

Story took over

The acting is lovely

Always rated Sam Troughton
He was chanelling
Only fools
And horses here

Justine Mitchell has such a pathetic character that she has an uphill struggle

In any case it is a sweet show

But a bit too narrow for me and small scale for me

I didn’t empathise with any of the characters

And if that’s have they have ended up in their 40s

No wonder they are needy and emotionally stunted

I also thought the issue of class difference was badly done

He was supposed to be “below” her

Socially and financially

As was mentioned again and again

Yet her flat was horrible

And not in keeping with what I would expect from an MD

It’s alwsys these inconsistencies

In plays like Consent
Mosquitoes
And now this

That piss me off

They are showing quite mundane characters

And normal social issues

So the need for the characters to be believable

Has to be real

The female character in this said or did nothing

To demonstrate she was capable of becoming a parent

And that she had the emotional set up to be a good mother

Like Yerma (done in the modern updating)

It just presents the need to have a child as a right like an extension of material possessions

And to patch up people’s own insecurities

I think from what I saw in the play

She would make a crap mother and that’s why it failed for me by the end

[stevemar]

Oct 13, 2017 14:11:26 GMT showgirl said:

Critics' views very mixed: Theatrecat (Libby Purves, but reviewed by a young male in this case) 4 stars; Whatsonstage 5 stars but British Theatre Guide less enthusiastic. Some have said one character is underwritten, whereas for some it's the other; some have said it's too slow and drawn-out, resulting in a loss of interest, whilst others find it engrossing but painful to watch in its soul-baring accuracy.

I would have said that the reviews were pretty positive. Actually, they need them to be, since there are still a reasonable number of unsold seats (no star names etc).


Standard 5 stars 
www.standard.co.uk/goingout/theatre/beginning-theatre-review-magnificent-twohander-about-loneliness-of-metropolitan-living-a3657591.html 

Whats on Stage 5 stars
www.whatsonstage.com/london-theatre/reviews/beginning-dorfman-national-theatre-troughton_4487https://www.ft.com/content/e6727078-aff2-11e7-aab9-abaa44b1e1300.html

Guardian 4 stars
www.theguardian.com/stage/2017/oct/13/beginning-review-national-theatre-dorfman-david-eldridge

The Times 4 stars (paywall)

Financial Times 3 stars but reads better than that. 

The reviews are pretty unanimous about the high quality of the acting. Interesting that the issue of the space (oops, sightlines) between the characters highlighted the physical and emotional gulf. 

I am so glad I went to see this before the reviews, since I am always tempted to have a glance and then inevitably read too much. Some of the articles give far too much away, but I guess they have to write something. But no need to spoil things. 

As for looking at watches, I did wonder how they would stretch things out to 1hr 45 (at the time). Despite being engrossed, I looked at my watch a couple of times. Having a " real time" (started in the early hours) clock on the wall of the set did probably set that off too!

Parsley - good to see you back. I wanted to see what you thought. I agree that the comparison with Yerma is relevant, but that play was dominated by one character in her ruthless pursuit of her goal,  whereas here it was much more even handed. Per my original post, I found this far more interesting and believable in terms of the characters. It sounds like you did too until that issue was introduced and you enjoyed some of the acting and writing though?! 🤔


9.5/10 for me. Lost half just in terms of the way in which the "issues" were introduced, but still worked because of the acting and characters.

[peelee]

'The Times' did give it four stars and the reviewer was clearly smitten by the play. For all the arts, culture, what's-on type of supplements that come as part of a Saturday edition of the paper, the review of this play was printed in the newspaper itself.

[dlevi]

I caught the matinee today and was pretty much blown away by the whole production. Like popcultureboy I had pretty much written off David Eldridge after Knot of the Heart, and I sort of hated In Basildon when I saw it a few years ago at the Royal Court. So I'm not even sure why I bought a ticket for this. But I'm glad I did. Unlike Heisenberg which seemed foolish and endless, this play has two lonely people at its center who are entering a period of their lives where their personal and professional prospects are narrowing. They've made some unfortunate choices and now are dealing with the consequences . This one night which could be casual and forgotten takes on an importance to both of them for different reasons and yet they find their common ground and take a chance on changing their lives. Pitch perfect performances and direction make this not only one of the most surprising plays of the year but also one of the most satisfying. I wouldn't be surprised ti see it produced throughout the country in the next couple of years and well remembered around awards time.

[Deleted]

Oh GODDAMNIT.

I hate the Dorfman, but you've all convinced me to book anyway. I hope you're pleased with yourselves.

[n1david]

I saw this tonight and really liked it - a bit flabby and could be cut down to 75 or even 60 minutes when it would be absolutely compelling, but the quality of the acting was fantastic.

As for Monkey's question

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler - click to view}I didn't read the question before, so can't be 100% certain, but tonight I believe I heard "My Facebook profile pic is me and my daughter, she is 7 years old" - so it wasn't actually saying the pic was of a 7-year old, it was a connected statement about his daughter and not the pic in particular. But can't be certain