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Post by Deleted on Aug 6, 2018 9:19:37 GMT
Out of interest, does anyone have a programme handy and does it have understudies listed? Some of the performers were extremely underused, and I wouldn't mind knowing if some of my understudy theories are correct.
The play was fine. Meandering and under-baked, but well-performed and enough amusing lines to keep people occupied for a couple of hours.
Oh, and while we're here, does anyone know *how* we're to redeem our £10 credit for sitting in row A? I can't see it on the website anywhere, nor did I get any sort of credit voucher with my ticket, so although I wouldn't be using it until Alys Always goes on sale, I wouldn't mind knowing in advance rather than having a bit of a panic on booking day.
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Post by n1david on Aug 6, 2018 9:37:17 GMT
I’ve got a programme, but it doesn’t list understudies. There are 12 patients, 7 staff members and 6 visitors listed, with “other parts played by members of the company”.
Also, I had a credit at the Bridge for returned JC tickets. Why I made the next booking, signed into my account, it popped up saying “do you want to use this credit” - like you I had no way of checking in advance that the credit had been processed, but it was there and available when I next booked.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 6, 2018 11:36:40 GMT
My email just says "Thank you for booking to see Allelujah! which we opened on the 18th.
We’ve had the chance to review the sight-lines from Row A and the stage is a little higher than usual so your angle of view is a little steeper than we’d ideally like it to be. Thus we’ve taken the precaution of reducing the price of those seats to £15, and have credited you £10 per ticket to your Bridge Theatre account to use for a future booking with us.
If you have any enquiries about this please do get in touch by emailing us on boxoffice@bridgetheatre.co.uk and we will assist you.
We look forward to welcoming you to The Bridge."
Nothing whatsoever about how to use it. Believe me, if they had explained it in the email, I wouldn't have been asking the question! (Though I would eventually have emailed them if no one here had the answer either.)
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Post by sf on Aug 6, 2018 16:35:51 GMT
Oh, right. I admit I thought it was a bit odd that you asked, Baemax. I must have had a later version of that email, because mine has that extra line in it. Looking at the email again, it must have been inserted later as it is in a different font, now you mention. I thought it was for emphasis, but apparently not.
Mine has it too, but I received the email some weeks after the first one reported here.
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Post by lynette on Aug 8, 2018 23:00:57 GMT
Alan, o Alan, this is not how you wish to be remembered is it? With this muddled and repetitive rehash of your History Boys formula? I don’t want to spoil it for anyone who hasn’t seen it yet but unless you have already paid and can’t get a refund, then don’t bother. Or give your tix up to someone else. So I won’t go into the main plot device here. ( it is signalled so broadly in the first five minutes anyway) Just a few notes though that won’t spoil it: you get 80% of the dosh for almost seven years survival, people whose loved ones die as we see regularly on the telly, are usually grief stricken and certainly do visit, he could be a doctor anywhere as not being in U.K. doesn’t stop you being a doctor. And so on.
Dramatically and despite knowing that Alan does like a linear and soap opera style approach, it was a mess. The funny lines were Saturday night at the Appollo level. The acting was as good as it could be given what they had to say. Tell me why we suddenly had talking to the audience in the second half? Because he couldn’t work out how to present what he had to say in dialogue form? I think so given the monologue that Posner had to deliver whist talking to the hospital chairman. The set was terrible, reflecting the poor state of our hospitals perhaps, the moving around clunky and ...worst sin of all...the whole shebang was boring. I was looking at my watch before the interval, my legs were jiggling about ten minutes in and I was fidgeting all through. The sinking feeling started before the interval. It was painful. Sorry if you disagree.
O and the singing..well I enjoyed hearing our dear History boy again. Otherwise pointless.
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Post by lynette on Aug 8, 2018 23:41:58 GMT
I notice David has given us a detailed opinion on the inheritance question, so sorry to repeat.
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Post by Stephen on Aug 9, 2018 11:36:06 GMT
Risking this and seeing with a friend on Saturday as we are such Alan Bennett fans.
Can anyone comment if we can have a drink in the lovely bar after the show? Have been before but never stayed after. The times on the website aren't too clear...
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Post by lichtie on Aug 9, 2018 18:50:38 GMT
Clearly a series of vignettes pinched from various local papers and cobbled together to make a mess. There are some quite enjoyable bits in there, and others I definitely recognise having an elderly parent with carers, but the political lines are driven home with a pile driver,, any of the jokes are stale retreats, and having praised the Bridge in the past for their set design, this one seems to be done to minimise all costs.... The best bit was that the Wednesday matinee audience made me feel distinctly young (I'm not).
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Post by kathryn on Aug 10, 2018 23:06:47 GMT
Saw this tonight. Only Alan Bennett could get away with that curtain call for a play on this topic - though I’m not sure the irony of it quite landed for the audience, who were happily clapping along.
It’s not vintage Bennett. But it was clearly resonating with the mainly older audience tonight. Parts of it are clearly inspired by events in the news, and he does fall into lecturing the audience, but I rather suspect there’s some painful personal experiences wrapped up in the political inspirations.
The cast are wonderful - some luxury casting going on here.
Overall I appreciated it, rather than loving it.
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Post by talkingheads on Aug 12, 2018 0:43:30 GMT
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Post by Stephen on Aug 12, 2018 0:57:33 GMT
Saw this tonight. The History Boys it is not. It is however an entertaining evening overall.
The jokes in the play seemed to resonate more with the older (and very posh) audience at the Bridge tonight. For me most fell flat and besides Sam Barnett singing (lovely) the songs were cringe to me.
The first half felt long and padded out but it really picked up for me from the interval (gin always helps) and made some interesting points in the second half.
Barnett is wearing very tight bicycle clothing for the first half which I enjoyed.
The standout performance for me was Sacha Dhawan also of History Boys fame.
3* from me.
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Post by nash16 on Aug 12, 2018 7:19:20 GMT
The best bit for us last night was seeing all the posh Centre stalls ticket holders laughing along with it, suddenly sitting upright, and one by one folding their arms, when Sacha Dhawan had his monologue about Britain not wanting foreign doctors anymore.
It was like an exposing of all the Daily Mail readers.
If you're side stalls or Gallery have a look at them during this speech.
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Post by kathryn on Aug 12, 2018 8:13:53 GMT
Yes, Bennett knows his audience and I think is trying to get under their skins. Not sure it *quite* works for much of the play - the ability of the cozy singalong to paper over uncomfortable truths is something he is highlighting, but it also seems to work on the audience that way.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 13, 2018 7:01:53 GMT
The best bit for us last night was seeing all the posh Centre stalls ticket holders laughing along with it, suddenly sitting upright, and one by one folding their arms, when Sacha Dhawan had his monologue about Britain not wanting foreign doctors anymore. It was like an exposing of all the Daily Mail readers. If you're side stalls or Gallery have a look at them during this speech. To be fair, I rolled my eyes at that but not because I disagree with the sentiment, I just hate it when writers use actors to hector the audience. If you can't say it as part of the drama you don't deserve to say it at all... |
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Post by n1david on Aug 13, 2018 9:27:23 GMT
The best bit for us last night was seeing all the posh Centre stalls ticket holders laughing along with it, suddenly sitting upright, and one by one folding their arms, when Sacha Dhawan had his monologue about Britain not wanting foreign doctors anymore. It was like an exposing of all the Daily Mail readers. If you're side stalls or Gallery have a look at them during this speech. To be fair, I rolled my eyes at that but not because I disagree with the sentiment, I just hate it when writers use actors to hector the audience. If you can't say it as part of the drama you don't deserve to say it at all... Couldn’t agree more. For me it was the worst part of a bad play. I probably was sitting there in the Centre stalls with my arms crossed, but not for the reason that nash16 thought... |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 13, 2018 9:31:42 GMT
Honestly, if I'm sitting with my arms folded in a theatre, it's because I need to put them somewhere that will diminish the possibility I start absent-mindedly flailing them around or fiddling with my hair or whathaveyou, not because I have decided to physically signal disapproval. (Another good place to put them is sitting on both your hands - surprisingly this can actually make an uncomfortable seat much more bearable, and if the play is particularly dreary then the sensation of blood flowing back into your hands when you remove them from under your backside can really liven up your afternoon.)
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Post by kathryn on Aug 13, 2018 9:58:48 GMT
Folded arms is one of the 'classic' body language cues for feeling defensive/disapproving, and it typically a subconscious thing, but like all such psychological observations it's not correct all the time - you have to allow for confounding factors.
Personally I fold my arms a lot when I'm a) cold and b) sitting in a seat I find uncomfortable and trying to make myself fit into it better c) bored (that will usually involve folding and then unfolding and folding them again).
But if you are watching the audience and notice that a lot of people fold their arms at the exact same moment in the play - yeah that is probably a reaction to what is happening on stage.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 13, 2018 10:00:50 GMT
Lest we forget the classic lady-reason to fold your arms: something to rest your boobs on....just me?
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Post by n1david on Aug 13, 2018 10:21:46 GMT
Lest we forget the classic lady-reason to fold your arms: something to rest your boobs on....just me? I do for much the same reason. Well, moobs. |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 13, 2018 10:40:36 GMT
Lest we forget the classic lady-reason to fold your arms: something to rest your boobs on....just me? I do for much the same reason. Well, moobs. I did think of including the men, but didn't want to cast judgment on body type  but boobs or moobs, they all love a bit of arm rest! |
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Post by kathryn on Aug 13, 2018 10:42:23 GMT
Lest we forget the classic lady-reason to fold your arms: something to rest your boobs on....just me? Boobs are a great source of heat - that's one of the reasons why crossing my arms when I'm cold warms me up! |
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Post by nash16 on Aug 13, 2018 15:56:44 GMT
To be fair, I rolled my eyes at that but not because I disagree with the sentiment, I just hate it when writers use actors to hector the audience. If you can't say it as part of the drama you don't deserve to say it at all... Couldn’t agree more. For me it was the worst part of a bad play. I probably was sitting there in the Centre stalls with my arms crossed, but not for the reason that nash16 thought... I can see why us dramaturgically aware peeps would react like we have to his politik bits, but it really is a treat seeing joe public getting angry at him. He still has the ability to lure them in, then shake them up. Gawd bless AB. |
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Post by nash16 on Aug 13, 2018 15:57:46 GMT
PS. Loving all the analysis of folded arms in a theatre that have been raised too.
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Post by lynette on Aug 13, 2018 16:59:54 GMT
AB switched from a soap to a documentary.
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Post by peggs on Aug 13, 2018 17:17:26 GMT
Personally I fold my arms a lot when I'm a) cold and b) sitting in a seat I find uncomfortable and trying to make myself fit into it better c) bored (that will usually involve folding and then unfolding and folding them again). That's me! And I do occasionally think that people will assume I am signalling my disapproval or dislike of something. Of course I do remember standing with arms firmly folded at a particular production I didn't like too. I have a ticket for this and really want to like it but it isn't sounding hopeful, can't say the trailer helped either. |
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but boobs or moobs, they all love a bit of arm rest! 