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Post by Polly1 on Feb 20, 2018 18:57:28 GMT
Also booked for that Friday, row Q. Hope it's a good one - will be a long one for sure. Still regretting not have seen the last version at Dramaten in Stockholm. That version was 3:15 and the director is usually quite good with cutting. I have warned you concerning the length! Had already decided that I was giving this a miss on Fri (had a better offer!) But definitely happy now I've seen that running time! |
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Post by foxa on Feb 21, 2018 11:32:34 GMT
We're going tomorrow £10 Row P seats - will report back.
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Post by peggs on Feb 21, 2018 11:48:35 GMT
Due there tonight in I think what is a bad pillar seat, bought in phone while out and site kept crashing, not yet sure if I'll make it or not but will report back if go.
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Post by peggs on Feb 21, 2018 20:13:32 GMT
Started late, maybe a third if audience decided to wait til 7 to come in. Lots if audience set moving, we've had a camel and I really thinking just been oases by Danny de vito on th stairs but a part from the fact that seems to be slowly through time not sure how this will fill so long a time.
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Post by justinj on Feb 21, 2018 21:16:19 GMT
£5 tickets for tomorrow with code FIVER
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Post by peggs on Feb 21, 2018 21:46:14 GMT
Oh dear it really can't be selling well if ticketing for a fiver. Well it's rather surprising me and do want to see how it all ends. Think going to end later than 10.45 though as running slow. Scebe changes are pretty swift but there is a lot of talking to fit in.
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Post by peggs on Feb 21, 2018 23:11:33 GMT
I was wrong finished 10.45, so if they started on time and kept the intervals to 15 could shave 15 mins off I reckon. I don't really know to say. I did not expect what came in the second part from the first or the third from the second. Will have to wait for someone to explain quite what went on and pretty sure I haven't quite got is sussed. I drifted off a bit in some of the speeches but it didn't feel particularly long. Lots of swearing mostly from a child, lots of swishing off curtains, atmospheric lights and music. Very funny in parts. Penelope wilton for whom I booked looked to be enjoying herself and didn't disappoint. Not sure which child actor we had for Alexander but I was impressed, there's a lot to do and it's quite dark and twisty.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 22, 2018 7:36:58 GMT
Oh dear. I'm due to see this tonight but I'm so tired. But I love Penelope Wilton.
Maybe I'll give it to interval number one and see how I feel.
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Post by peggs on Feb 22, 2018 9:17:04 GMT
If it's any help Abby I was half asleep yesterday but it kept me awake, zombie today of course.
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Post by Marwood on Feb 22, 2018 9:47:35 GMT
Looking at those comments, I'm not feeling any enthusiasm for this at all - thinking I'll probably do a Parsley and not bother going.
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Post by NeilVHughes on Feb 22, 2018 10:11:57 GMT
I believe there is something in every play (exception Obsession at the Barbican last year)
There was a similar feeling about The Divide, the play may have been long, lacked depth but would see it again for the mesmerising performance of Erin Doherty who is now on my must see list.
Have not seen the film, not really sure what it is about but will be there on Monday and with the 7:00 start will still finish earlier than Long Day’s Journey Into Night.
As already stated there are two opportunities to leave, which is easier (depending on where you live) than re-booking if opinion becomes positive.
In addition there does seem to be an opinion that long plays are intrinsically a chore, looking forward to a similar thread on Lehman Trilogy in the near future.
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Post by dani on Feb 22, 2018 11:38:29 GMT
In addition there does seem to be an opinion that long plays are intrinsically a chore, looking forward to a similar thread on Lehman Trilogy in the near future. I find long shows are often amazing, because they can be so richly layered and because the demands they make involve a special level of intellectual and emotional investment. I'm thinking of things like The Roman Tragedies and Angels in America. I won't deny that I have seen shows that vastly outstayed their welcome, but some of those haven't really been that long, they've just felt that way. |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 22, 2018 11:48:49 GMT
Long shows that earn their running time are wonderful. Alas, not every 3+ hour show has 3+ hours worth of story to tell...
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Post by Deleted on Feb 22, 2018 12:47:20 GMT
I'm not opposed to long plays inherently and some feel shorter than a 90-min-straight-through job. But theatres have got to remember that their audiences have other things in their lives - they might have had a really long week already, they need to get trains, get up early the next day, etc. After a full day sitting down at work, I don't necessary feel like I have the arse-endurance to sit for another four hours... For most people, going to the theatre is approached as an enjoyable leisure activity not a feat of endurance. It just feels indulgent sometimes. I mean it might be absolutely necessary and wonderful for this but I understand why they are having to give their tickets away.
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Post by crowblack on Feb 22, 2018 13:27:01 GMT
long plays are intrinsically a chore I think they are at the Old Vic because of the women's toilet situation! The run up to the start and/or the whole interval can just be queuing on the stairs, if you're a woman. |
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Post by foxa on Feb 22, 2018 13:32:06 GMT
I haven't broken it to my husband yet how long this play is. I think I'll just let that be a fun surprise for him tonight.
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Post by couldileaveyou on Feb 22, 2018 14:03:37 GMT
I'm going tonight and I'm quite excited, in the worst scenario at least I'll tick Penelope Wilton off my list of great actors to see before it's too late.
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Post by peggs on Feb 22, 2018 16:13:38 GMT
foxa just make sure you hubby doesn't leave at the second interval. Queue for ladies took up whole stairs last night so getting back up was something of a challenge but as others have noted you could get to the young Vic and back in Time, timed it last night and it's doable without having to resorting to running. Well as long as you don't hit their interval I guess.
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Post by crowblack on Feb 22, 2018 17:55:22 GMT
you could get to the young Vic and back in Time We've done that at the Liverpool Phil where the bog situation is similar (listed building) - nipped over the road to the Phil pub, then to an off-licence to buy DRINK, and back in time for part 2... |
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Post by foxa on Feb 22, 2018 20:19:26 GMT
First interval. Enjoying it so far. Somehow filmic and theatrical. Husband is content and hasn't mentioned leaving. Haven't braved loos yet.
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Post by lynette on Feb 22, 2018 21:26:40 GMT
Obvs too late now but don’t forget next time if you are in the stalls, front left hand side , ladies' loo tucked away in the corner.
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Post by peggs on Feb 22, 2018 22:07:11 GMT
I did forget lynette and was sat that way, still was end of row so the sprint in each interval probably did me some good, must remember that next time though. |
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Post by foxa on Feb 23, 2018 0:10:46 GMT
Damn missed the magic front left hand side loo - people were complaining a lot about the queue and some women went into the men's.
But....I liked the show - found much of it engrossing. I thought it was an advantage going in knowing pretty much nothing about it (remember when I booked it I thought it was about the Russian Czars.) I was interested and surprised by some of the turns it took. There were more laughs in the first section than I had expected. As Peggs mentioned, the set changes - and there are a lot - are quick, smooth seamless - adding to a dream-like/filmic quality. It has a lot of Shakespeare in it (scenes from Hamlet and other allusions elsewhere), some Dickensian scenes of childhood torment and some Chehkovian family gatherings. Wilton was on fine form - her performance had resonances of her excellent Arkadina which she performed at the RSC some time ago. We were at Waterloo just a bit after 10.45, so it's not over-running the stated time. There are a few little bits that could be trimmed.
I think this would be an ideal matinee show, where you can just relax, not worry about catching a train or how late it is, and just soak it in. They talk about food A LOT, so don't go with an empty stomach. We were in P5 and 6 in the stalls for £10 which was a great value - and people who got the £5 did very well indeed.
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Post by Steve on Feb 23, 2018 0:29:18 GMT
Loved this tonight. Life vs Death, Imagination vs Rules, Theatre vs Reality, Free thinking vs Fanaticism, Earthly delights vs Heavenly Strictures, all the beautiful oppositions of Ingmar Bergman's 5 and a half hour masterpiece of a film distilled and reimagined as a wonderfully alive piece of theatre, beautifully acted. Some spoilers follow. . . Back in the day, I saw both the three hour, as well as the five and a half hour, versions of Bergman's film. The longer version is infinitely better, as crucial moments are missing from the three hour cut. I'm pleased to report that this theatrical presentation includes those crucial scenes, including Alexander's vision of the Grim Reaper in the Prologue (here played by Michael Pennington) and the fleshed out role of Alexander's father (here played by Sargon Yelda) as First Storyteller and conjurer of the imagination in the lives of Fanny and Alexander. Bergman loved the theatre as much as he loved film, and this story is very much about the theatre (a knowledge of Hamlet enriches this story ALOT), and the value of the theatre in life, so presenting this story IN a theatre makes absolute sense. Key plot threads involve young storyteller (and Ingmar Bergman's semi-autobiographical avatar) Alexander's tussle with an authoritarian Bishop (Kevin Doyle), and his actress mother's enigmatic and vacant search for her own identity. The fact that Doyle and Catherine Walker, who plays the mother, are both pitch perfect terrific (with Doyle doing his best creepily-reasonable-but-possibly-bonkers and Walker giving great human vacuum) is critical to why this piece works so well, as these are the characters who are dramatically developed over the course of the play. All other characters form a rich, rounded, grounded tapestry of naturalism, so I found it slightly jarring that the ghosts and visions of Alexander's internal world here break out and share scenes with other characters, in absence of Alexander himself. For me, this unnecessarily dilutes the meaning of these surreal visions, though I can see how these other characters are themselves fantasists and storytellers, which could justify them sharing Alexander's imaginative world. I loved the whole ensemble, and am particularly fond of Jonathan Slinger's Uncle Gustav, the most wild and crazy and moral of supposedly immoral men, and Thomas Arnold's Uncle Carl, a self-pitying other-blaming monster, who nonetheless can rise to an occasion, Penelope Wilton's self-important but caring grande dame of a matriarch, and Michael Pennington's warm and waning old storyteller, Isak. Gloria Obianyo also soars in multiple distinctively different roles. And kudos to the lighting person: the shimmering backlights, threatening half light, silhouettes, and what not, were incredibly atmospheric and effective. All in all, despite the dilution of Alexander's imaginative world, I think Ingmar Bergman would adore this show! Beautiful, human, necessary. 4 and a half stars.  |
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Post by foxa on Feb 23, 2018 0:49:59 GMT
Okay, so two hot takes on the play, side by side.
Steve's brilliant, informed, nuanced reaction (he's even seen both versions of the Bergman film.)
And then there's mine: loos/food/knew nothing - not even that there were two versions.
This board has something for everyone. ;-)
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