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Post by Deleted on Apr 9, 2018 21:54:26 GMT
Well. There's so much conveyor belt action going on in this play, I had to check I wasn't at a recording of 'The Generation Game'. Sadly, no sign of Mel & Sue though or a cuddly toy. The play goes on a bit too long but someone has gone a bit crazy on the old set design front, which is nice. And the sight of an ironing board being yanked off stage rather roughly lightens things up when the play starts to get a bit serious.
On the plus side, Mark Bonnar is a bit of a silver fox and Brian Vernel is delightful, a really marvellous performance I thought.
I'll bet some of the sightlines from the circle are a bit of a bugger at the beginning though.
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Post by Stephen on Apr 9, 2018 23:21:47 GMT
I’m seeing this tomorrow evening as my first visit to the Royal Court! Very excited! Any loud noises in this that you can warn me about @ryan ?
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Post by Deleted on Apr 10, 2018 6:18:04 GMT
I’m seeing this tomorrow evening as my first visit to the Royal Court! Very excited! Any loud noises in this that you can warn me about @ryan ? No loud noises as far as I can remember. Other than the sound of the stage hands getting stuff on and off the travelators of course. Mind you, Jane Horrocks struggled once or twice herself so I didn't hold it against them. |
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Post by argon on Apr 10, 2018 8:08:03 GMT
Oil can ready and waiting for any tech hitch - so many moving parts.
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Post by jason71 on Apr 10, 2018 10:49:48 GMT
According to the RC website the show runs at 110mins with no interval. Is this correct?
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Post by Deleted on Apr 10, 2018 11:58:23 GMT
No they are lying
It’s 5 hours
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Post by Deleted on Apr 10, 2018 12:02:38 GMT
Do you get to the last few minutes and realise that there’s a part missing?
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Post by Deleted on Apr 10, 2018 12:07:26 GMT
According to the RC website the show runs at 110mins with no interval. Is this correct? Yes, that sounds about right based on what they were telling us yesterday. |
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Post by Stephen on Apr 10, 2018 12:35:59 GMT
Hoping they might trim ten minutes off tonight! My bladder starts to struggle at this length of performance without interval!
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Post by TallPaul on Apr 10, 2018 12:49:36 GMT
Hoping they might trim ten minutes off tonight! My bladder starts to struggle at this length of performance without interval! Then don't drink so much. You don't want to end up like @ryan, surely?  |
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Post by foxa on Apr 10, 2018 21:16:42 GMT
Was there tonight and echo Ryan's opinion. And they are still yanking that ironing board off - made me laugh.
It's perfectly pleasant, there's lots to look at design-wise, some good lines and engaging performances. But it's a bit bonkers - not always in a good way. They do these funny little jumpy steps during some transitions; there are a couple of meaningless movement sequences and some odd directorial choices. Brian Vernel is wonderful - particularly in the dinner party scene - the play didn't really have anywhere to go after that. The logic of the play seemed a bit muddy, but there were some astute points (do we shape our children?) and I think it would be a great play to bring A-level/university students to - lots to discuss.
On a side note - one of the themes is about things being broken. We received an email telling us that the theatre's lift was being repaired and when we got to the theatre the printer was broken and they couldn't print the tickets (they had to write them out by hand!) So that was all a bit meta.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 10, 2018 22:07:43 GMT
Oooooh I almost forgot! There's a really smashing scene where . . . {Never mind the horrocks . . }
. . Brian Vernel's head is on a table and HE'S STILL SPEAKING! I may have been tipsy but I couldn't see how they did it. Don't tell me, I don't want to know. It was marvellous! |
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Post by Stephen on Apr 10, 2018 22:08:20 GMT
Also there tonight. B3 in the Dress Circle was a bargain for £15 on under 26 ticket!
I agree with what is said above. I really did enjoy this. It made me want to phone my mum and tell her I miss her (I live away from home) It was lovely to see Brian Vernel in a terrific performance. I've seen him in different things a while ago back in Glasgow and he's really come along!
It started about five minutes late and ended up around 1hr 45 mins long. I was engaged throughout and didn't feel that it was overly long. Perhaps one short scene could be cut.
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Post by Stephen on Apr 10, 2018 22:09:26 GMT
Oooooh I almost forgot! There's a really smashing scene where . . . {Never mind the horrocks . . }
. . Brian Vernel's head is on a table and HE'S STILL SPEAKING! I may have been tipsy but I couldn't see how they did it. Don't tell me, I don't want to know. It was marvellous! It's an effect i've seen before and I do know how it's done. I have to say the way they did it here is the most effective use of the trick i've seen. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 10, 2018 22:12:32 GMT
Hoping they might trim ten minutes off tonight! My bladder starts to struggle at this length of performance without interval! Then don't drink so much. You don't want to end up like @ryan , surely?  |
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Post by foxa on Apr 10, 2018 22:17:00 GMT
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Post by drmaplewood on Apr 11, 2018 8:37:42 GMT
Was also there last night, a night for the badges.
I agree it was muddled and found the jumping / shuffling/ dancing / whatever you want to call it irritating. Brian Vernel is brilliant, though and makes the evening worthwhile.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 13, 2018 12:42:46 GMT
I enjoyed it although (I know, I'm like a broken record) I felt the writer could have produced a few more drafts as some of the writing is clumsy and the ending hasn't been earned at all. I liked the fact that you were seeing a play at the Court whose characters could quite happily have come from a sitcom. The physical theatre interludes are very poor because the actors just aren't up to it. I had an idea of what they were trying to achieve because I've seen it done elsewhere, but they fell far short of their aim; the actors seemed very uncomfortable at these points, and quite rightly so. I doubt we'll see a play by this writer on the stage in the future because my guess is that they'll be snatched up by film and/or TV companies, for which the work is probably far better suited. This would make a terrific film/TV series.
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Post by nash16 on Apr 13, 2018 13:45:53 GMT
There last night. It's fine, but it's not great. It feels like he's re hashing a lot of old ground with the robots taking "human" role. Black Mirror and umpteen tv shows have done this.
The performances are good. Brian Vernal gets some great moments. The problem is repetition: especially with the comedy, he repeats the same "joke", ie robot learning the ways of the human. The audience lapped it up though, especially in the "invite the neighbours around dinner scene" where it all goes craaaazy... We want it to go somewhere beyond what we've seen, and it never does. For 1hr 50mins.
What he's failed to do in his writing is really dig deep. If this couple were replacing their son with a robot version, we want to see the despair and the real grief when the reality strikes that this can't replace what they've lost. We kept waiting for a, maybe cliched, breakdown scene where the mum or dad would do this. But nothing. We felt there were never any scenes where their loss was honestly felt or shown.
As a result it all bumbles along for the first 30mins, and then just repeats itself until the end.
If you've seen Humans, Black Mirror, Electric Dreams, etc no need to rush. Pleasant.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 13, 2018 17:03:11 GMT
I've seen Metal Mickey so don't think I need to bother with this one
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Post by Stephen on Apr 14, 2018 1:47:41 GMT
I found the scene with the train set quite poignant...especially in the moment when the Harry tells Jån to leave the other train set alone. I felt that overall the play didn’t really dig deep into the parent’s emotions but there were moments when I felt Harry’s grief for what had happened with his son in isolation to the rest of the action.
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Post by bellboard27 on Apr 17, 2018 21:49:29 GMT
Agree with the earlier comments. Interesting enough, but not particularly special or really gets to grips with the themes that it raises. A few funny moments, but could not fathom the shuffling!
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Post by Deleted on Apr 17, 2018 22:00:41 GMT
Agree with the earlier comments. Interesting enough, but not particularly special or really gets to grips with the themes that it raises. A few funny moments, but could not fathom the shuffling! The "shuffling" is an attempt to make it look as though the actors are on a conveyor belt. When dancers do this it is incredible. I saw a performance piece by DV8 where they did it and it was jaw dropping because the dancers looked as though they were gliding across the stage - their movements were so smooth that you didn't see the "shuffling". I think they should have cut this from IFCA because the actors don't have the physical skill and it just looks awkward. EDIT: I'm now wondering if they mean for it to look awkward like that, making some sort of comment about robotic humans or human robots (jeez, no matter how much I try to make sense of it, the shuffling still doesn't work). |
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Post by bellboard27 on Apr 17, 2018 22:04:05 GMT
Agree with the earlier comments. Interesting enough, but not particularly special or really gets to grips with the themes that it raises. A few funny moments, but could not fathom the shuffling! The "shuffling" is an attempt to make it look as though they're on a conveyor belt. When dancers do this it is incredible. I saw a performance piece by DV8 where they did it and it was jaw dropping because the dancers looked as though they wee gliding across the stage - their movements were so smooth that you didn't see the "shuffling". I think they should have cut this from IFCA because the actors don't have the physical skill and it just looks awkward. Thanks. Seems slightly redundant given that they have a conveyor belt! I think you may be right that if this was delivered more smoothly it may be impressive. |
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Post by graham57 on Apr 22, 2018 6:50:54 GMT
We saw this play at yesterday's matinee and enjoyed it. But does anyone know why they cut out about 6 pages of dialogue from the published script toward the end of the play (from p86 to p93)? This meant we lost some context and it did feel like a cut and paste job. Was it just at that specific performance? We sensed something had been missed out and when we read the play on the train home we found out why ! Any ideas ?
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