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Post by oxfordsimon on Mar 19, 2018 4:42:46 GMT
The story is actually very straightforward, Two men thrown together in a prison cell - one a gay window dresser charged with interfering with a younger man and one a straight activist who has been fighting to overthrow the regime. They fight, share stories and find common ground. But others have an interest in manipulating them.
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Post by alece10 on Mar 19, 2018 7:41:12 GMT
The story is actually very straightforward, Two men thrown together in a prison cell - one a gay window dresser charged with interfering with a younger man and one a straight activist who has been fighting to overthrow the regime. They fight, share stories and find common ground. But others have an interest in manipulating them. I might just learn that by heart as when people ask me what the plot is i kind of waffle through it and end up confusing myself more. |
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Post by crowblack on Mar 19, 2018 16:00:57 GMT
I saw it yesterday afternoon and loved it. I thought Samuel Barnett was captivating, vivid and vulnerable, the other actor a bit flatter - I'd have liked more of a sense of brooding political passion, though in both the performance and storyline he opens up as the play progresses. It's my first time at the Menier, and I had an excellent seat - central row B and (as there was a non-arrival in front) no-one in front of me. The staging was excellent - both in that and the setting/characters it reminded me of the Printroom's Deathwatch a couple of years ago, though this was tender where that was sharp and cruel. Btw, the production stills by Nobby Clark don't really do it justice.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 19, 2018 16:32:23 GMT
How flexible is the Menier space? It felt like the perfect place to do a. Play set in a prison, all low ceilings and darkness. How much of the set was built for the play (specifically the runways with the cell doors?) and how much is standard Menier set? Are plays there always performed two side on (not sure of the specific term. Husband wanted to call it “in the round” but I said it couldn’t be because audience was only on two sides)?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 19, 2018 16:37:36 GMT
Hmmm... "thrust" is probably closest, I reckon, though usually a thrust stage has audience on three sides. And the space is pretty flexible; Barnum was done in the round, Assassins was traverse, Into the Woods was end-on. Love in Idleness and Travesties were the same sort of set-up as Spider Woman appears to be, so maybe they reserve the flexibility for the musicals and the plays are all done the same way.  |
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Post by alece10 on Mar 20, 2018 0:02:39 GMT
How flexible is the Menier space? It felt like the perfect place to do a. Play set in a prison, all low ceilings and darkness. How much of the set was built for the play (specifically the runways with the cell doors?) and how much is standard Menier set? Are plays there always performed two side on (not sure of the specific term. Husband wanted to call it “in the round” but I said it couldn’t be because audience was only on two sides)? The whole set was built for the play including the runways. The Menier is very flexible as its basically 4 walls with completely moveable seating. Ive seen it used in a number of ways over the years but cant remember the set being positioned as it is for Spider Woman before. Sometimes is proscenium, sometimes in the round and sometimes traverse. They have even the whole place decked out like a den and some of the audience sitting on the stage for What's it All About (The Bacharach show) Pippin had quite advanced projections and you entered the theatre through Pippin's bedroom. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 20, 2018 15:59:20 GMT
Well. I thought it was smashing. Not 'The York Realist' smashing but smashing all the same. In fact I enjoyed it so much that I forgot to sing the songs where the songs should have been.
The movie projections were very well done and really worked beautifully, especially as there were no set changes, Samuel Barnett is a very charismatic lead and there's a bit of a racy scene later on which was a pleasant surprise. I did quite fancy some dulce de leche and a crumpet afterwards though for some reason. I wasn't so convinced about the prison guard, she seemed a bit too nice. I had in my mind that she would have been more like she'd stepped off the set of 'Prisoner Cell Block H' really.
Barnett and Bennett (Bennett and Barnett) were marvellous though, Barnett a bit better than Bennett but Bennett was brilliant too.
Try saying that after a few technical difficulties.
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Post by Phantom of London on Apr 5, 2018 0:53:38 GMT
Anyone know the running times please?
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Post by dontdreamit on Apr 5, 2018 5:02:54 GMT
Anyone know the running times please? It’s about 1 hour 40 mins, with no interval. |
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Post by Phantom of London on Apr 5, 2018 11:56:58 GMT
I still find it hard to pay £40 for a play, whether West End or Off. But thanks for the reviews alece10 and adventurer. I am tempted. You can buy a ticket for 24£ on TodayTix, there's a 30% discount You just saved me £15 for tomorrow night. |
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Post by jamb0r on Apr 9, 2018 11:08:19 GMT
Just got a £10 ticket for this for Thursday using the Menier's 'Spider Web Special', on Mondays at midday they release 4 tickets at £10, 8 tickets at £20 and 16 tickets at £30 for each performance that week. I thought the tickets would be gone instantly, but there's still even the £10 tickets for a lot of days available now (8 minutes past). Looks like they will be doing this every week, so a good chance to get a cheap ticket! |
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Post by Someone in a tree on Apr 9, 2018 21:08:08 GMT
Thanks for sharing
I guess it’s not selling and at those prices I am not surprised
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Post by jamb0r on Apr 10, 2018 7:40:53 GMT
Thanks for sharing I guess it’s not selling and at those prices I am not surprised Not selling well at all by the looks of it! And there’s still £10 tickets available now almost a day later - I think they were expecting a very high volume of people trying to get these cheap tickets based on their Facebook post. Am looking forward to seeing it though, based on the good feedback I’ve read on here |
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Post by crowblack on Apr 10, 2018 8:59:29 GMT
I was surprised at the prices, as it's the first time I've been there - similar spaces are much cheaper - but I think the Guardian's very mean-spirited two star review hasn't helped. I'd be interested to know, btw, whose reviews carry weight for various venues. I presume the Royal Court is very Guardian Reader, but what of the others? |
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Post by Someone in a tree on Apr 10, 2018 9:39:10 GMT
Oh dear first Barnum and then this.
I don’t know how the economics of theatre producing work but I can’t help thinking this venue has become a bit greedy with ticket prices
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Post by MoreLife on Apr 11, 2018 11:01:24 GMT
Oh dear first Barnum and then this. I don’t know how the economics of theatre producing work but I can’t help thinking this venue has become a bit greedy with ticket prices The problem is that they appear to apply roughly the same pricing policy to all productions. Now, if you put on a play with a grand total of three actors (one of which plays a minor role and is only on stage for a few minutes), and you've spent money on the set and some charming projections, but you must have got your props at a flea market or off ebay... charging as much as when you put on a musical with a decently sized ensemble, a large-ish orchestra, and you've had to devise a set with multiple "locations", costume changes, and all, just doesn't seem fair. (And that's without mentioning how uncomfortable those benches are... especially now that they've clearly tried to squeeze some extra bums on each of them!) |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 11, 2018 12:24:05 GMT
Oh dear first Barnum and then this. I don’t know how the economics of theatre producing work but I can’t help thinking this venue has become a bit greedy with ticket prices The problem is that they appear to apply roughly the same pricing policy to all productions. Now, if you put on a play with a grand total of three actors (one of which plays a minor role and is only on stage for a few minutes), and you've spent money on the set and some charming projections, but you must have got your props at a flea market or off ebay... charging as much as when you put on a musical with a decently sized ensemble, a large-ish orchestra, and you've had to devise a set with multiple "locations", costume changes, and all, just doesn't seem fair. (And that's without mentioning how uncomfortable those benches are... especially now that they've clearly tried to squeeze some extra bums on each of them!) Come on now... it's all part of programming a theatre. Often the limited costs of the one-room two-hander helps subsidise the twenty actor sprawling epic that comes after. Looking at each production individually - and trying to price tickets according to the show's respective costs - is not the policy at any in-house producing theatre (that I can think of anyway). |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 11, 2018 12:33:36 GMT
A very true and fair point. I paid the same amount for Beginning at the National as I did for Follies, and I paid the same amount for The Brothers Size at the Young Vic as I did for one part of The Inheritance. Setting the pricing according to each individual show is more fiddly (though might happen at the upper end of ticket costs, I guess?) than working out blanket costs across the venue that will allow you to break even at a certain percentage point, and I believe the idea is that the more successful productions will subsidise the less popular shows, rather than the small plays subsidising the large musicals. If the Menier were to do it that way round, surely they'd be less rigid in scheduling the musicals at the same points in the year and filling the gaps with plays!
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Post by MoreLife on Apr 11, 2018 14:49:58 GMT
A very true and fair point. I paid the same amount for Beginning at the National as I did for Follies, and I paid the same amount for The Brothers Size at the Young Vic as I did for one part of The Inheritance. Setting the pricing according to each individual show is more fiddly (though might happen at the upper end of ticket costs, I guess?) than working out blanket costs across the venue that will allow you to break even at a certain percentage point, and I believe the idea is that the more successful productions will subsidise the less popular shows, rather than the small plays subsidising the large musicals. If the Menier were to do it that way round, surely they'd be less rigid in scheduling the musicals at the same points in the year and filling the gaps with plays! A very true and fair point, indeed. And I can totally see the point of planning a season rather than show by show because at the end of the day (well, the financial year...) you need to break even. Still, at the NT a portion of the tickets are at £ 15. Plus they have Friday rush, returns and day seats, which means that many audience members get to see both large-scale productions (like Follies) and more intimate plays (like Beginnings) for the same, very low price. At the Menier Chocolate Factory there's hardly a range of ticket prices to choose from, the cheapest ones being regularly around the £ 35 mark. Of course it pays off when the show sells out, and I'd be extremely happy to see them fully succeed all the time... but I'm not quite sure it's the most effective choice, when you end up having to rely on papering, TodayTix and alternative discount schemes to bring people in  |
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Post by bellboard27 on Apr 13, 2018 15:59:55 GMT
Went yesterday. £10 very well spent (thanks for the discount tip). Busy but not full, so I got moved up and had space to spread out. There was a technical hitch about 35 minutes in, so we had an impromptu interval of about 15 minutes. I enjoyed this a lot and concur with others on the performances and staging.
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Post by jamb0r on Apr 13, 2018 17:46:31 GMT
Went yesterday. £10 very well spent (thanks for the discount tip). Busy but not full, so I got moved up and had space to spread out. There was a technical hitch about 35 minutes in, so we had an impromptu interval of about 15 minutes. I enjoyed this a lot and concur with others on the performances and staging. I think it’s very possible we may have been sat next to each other! I was originally in row G last night with the other £10 ticket that was in that row, then got moved forward Enjoyed the play a lot too! Was my first time at the Menier and I loved the clever use of the space. |
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Post by bellboard27 on Apr 13, 2018 18:04:33 GMT
Went yesterday. £10 very well spent (thanks for the discount tip). Busy but not full, so I got moved up and had space to spread out. There was a technical hitch about 35 minutes in, so we had an impromptu interval of about 15 minutes. I enjoyed this a lot and concur with others on the performances and staging. I think it’s very possible we may have been sat next to each other! I was originally in row G last night with the other £10 ticket that was in that row, then got moved forward Enjoyed the play a lot too! Was my first time at the Menier and I loved the clever use of the space. That seems likely. Were you in a red shirt? |
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Post by jamb0r on Apr 13, 2018 22:32:14 GMT
I think it’s very possible we may have been sat next to each other! I was originally in row G last night with the other £10 ticket that was in that row, then got moved forward Enjoyed the play a lot too! Was my first time at the Menier and I loved the clever use of the space. That seems likely. Were you in a red shirt? I was! My first theatre board meetup and I didn’t even realise it was happening |
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Post by prophet on Apr 26, 2018 9:56:51 GMT
So, is this reccomended?
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Post by Steffi on Apr 26, 2018 16:16:11 GMT
I really liked this. I went in with no prior knowledge and was totally gripped by Samuel Barnett’s and Declan Bennett’s performances.
Definitely recommended in my opinion.
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