834 posts
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Post by stuartmcd on Jul 25, 2018 18:30:09 GMT
Managed to get a ticket for Saturday afternoon last night night. Very much looking forward to it.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 25, 2018 23:46:17 GMT
For me this is yet ANOTHER
Case of good actor in sh*t play
It’s not a car crash
But for me it’s over long
The tone is weird
Not really comedy nor really drama
The dialogue is poorly written
And the whole falls far short of the sum of its potential parts
Then again
I think the lead actress is the draw
The reality of the playwright
Is she had one successful play
Over a decade ago it must be?
Tried milking it
And failed
With a poorly received film version
And hasn’t really done anything
Worthy of any attention
Until this piece
She just isn’t a very good writer
I stayed for the whole show
And was indifferent
Wouldn’t have missed anything major if I had left
Katherine Parkinson
Does the same strained
Facial expressions
As she did
In the last two shows I saw her in
Grimacing like she is constipated
However
Both the Terry Johnson
And Ayckbourn
Are far far superior to this rubbish
For a domestic drama and exploration of relationships it felt superficial and really dated
The introduction of the #metoo
Felt forced
But is done as a plot point which also feels stupid and out of character
But this is never addressed properly
And comes more than 75% of the way into the play
It’s amazing that playwrights
Can’t get basic plot and structure right
For me this play
Is about as exciting
And culturally important
As an episode of Midsomer Murders
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Post by theatrelover123 on Jul 26, 2018 6:49:11 GMT
Was there last night and couldn’t disagree with your review more, parsley. As ever  |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 26, 2018 9:25:09 GMT
Thanks for your review, @parsley. While I am looking forward to seeing this, I have found the reviews in the national papers and on here a bit mystifying: nobody responds in a way that suggests a Five star production - it all feels a bit lukewarm and the focus of the play isn’t very clearly conveyed. People don’t say, for example, that it was incredibly moving or extremely funny. Parsley’s is one of the few write ups that contains an impassioned response.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 26, 2018 10:22:25 GMT
I didn’t feel
That any of the characters had any intelligence
The Katherine Parkinson role
Didn’t really behave like someone who had been to university
The manager of the estate agent
Had apparently been to LSE
Yet she was now working in property sales (management)
The roles were not written like real people or adults
Did the play raise some minor themes?
Yes it skirted over gender roles
And marriage in the most generic sense of the meaning
But the plot is so clumsy
And the characters so unconvincing
Although Sian Thomas is an excellent actress
She is lumbered with a massive stereotype
Of a feminist mother
It’s positively cringeworthy
Lightweight plays can be funny and relevant
Look at Nine Night
And looking back into the past
Jumpy was a comedy drama about family
But it was really a good engaging play
This isn’t a disaster by any means
But for me it’s 3 star material
And again if you compare this to a
TV show
Like Big Little Lies
Or even Good Girls
The writing appears anaemic and flimsy
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Post by Deleted on Jul 26, 2018 10:27:02 GMT
Thanks for your review, @parsley. While I am looking forward to seeing this, I have found the reviews in the national papers and on here a bit mystifying: nobody responds in a way that suggests a Five star production - it all feels a bit lukewarm and the focus of the play isn’t very clearly conveyed. People don’t say, for example, that it was incredibly moving or extremely funny. Parsley’s is one of the few write ups that contains an impassioned response. It’s not funny at all There is some mild comedy here and there There were a few scenes which are well acted and therefore were moving But this was due to KP amazing talent The dialogue is pedestrian at best I was never convinced The two leads had a meaningful marriage Even in the past The other couple We’re also weird and didn’t fit into some of the scenes And that incessant pathetic dancing Between scene changes So annoying and forced I also found the set quite wanting The house is tiny About 5-6 rooms Even accounting for a few we might not be able to see So I am not sure how or why it takes The lead a full time role To clean such a tiny house Ridiculous |
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Post by stefy69 on Jul 26, 2018 10:35:15 GMT
Thanks for your review, @parsley . While I am looking forward to seeing this, I have found the reviews in the national papers and on here a bit mystifying: nobody responds in a way that suggests a Five star production - it all feels a bit lukewarm and the focus of the play isn’t very clearly conveyed. People don’t say, for example, that it was incredibly moving or extremely funny. Parsley’s is one of the few write ups that contains an impassioned response. It’s not funny at all There is some mild comedy here and there There were a few scenes which are well acted and therefore were moving But this was due to KP amazing talent The dialogue is pedestrian at best I was never convinced The two leads had a meaningful marriage Even in the past The other couple We’re also weird and didn’t fit into some of the scenes And that incessant pathetic dancing Between scene changes So annoying and forced I also found the set quite wanting The house is tiny About 5-6 rooms Even accounting for a few we might not be able to see So I am not sure how or why it takes The lead a full time role To clean such a tiny house Ridiculous You obviously haven't witnessed how long it takes me to clean my house !  |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 26, 2018 10:36:20 GMT
To be honest, I think it speaks MOST for the play that parsley seems to have sat through the whole thing. Clearly it wasn't his jam in the end, but it must be doing *something* right if he stuck around after the interval. I know that might sound flip, but there it is.
Also Posh was 2010, so not quite "over a decade ago".
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Post by Phantom of London on Jul 26, 2018 11:16:53 GMT
I was there last night too.
I have to say I found the play to be enjoyable, I couldn't second guess how it was going to end up, the premise of the play may of been a bit on the tepid side of a woman leading an alter ego lifestyle, as set down by a manual about how to achieve domestic bliss in the 1950's. However to achieve the said lifestyle brings about debt, where the mortgage cannot be met and that lifestyle demands you remain a housewife.
Katherine Parkinson is worthy of a ticket alone, Sian Thomas is great and does a great impassioned plea of how terrible the 1950's was, for instance a husband had complete subjugation of his wife, that it was lawful for the husband to rape his wife and the wife had no grounds for a divorce. oddly enough I also loved Sara Gregory.
Okay this may not be Posh, which is one of the best play I have seen from this less than prolific playwright, but is still an valiant attempt and makes for a enjoyable evening.
Anyone going to revive Tribes, which I really want to see.
4 Stars.
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Post by addictedtotheatre on Jul 26, 2018 11:20:15 GMT
Was there last night and couldn’t disagree with your review more, parsley. As ever Agree with you on both points. I thought it witty and incisive and an enjoyable night out. 4 stars. |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 26, 2018 11:25:02 GMT
Curb your enthusiasm
Is witty and incisive
Compared to this play
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Post by jadnoop on Jul 26, 2018 13:07:33 GMT
Curb Your Enthusiasm is witty and incisive compared to this play In another thread there was a discussion about how it can be difficult to gauge how one's taste compare with other commenters on messageboards like TB. I suspect that this is statement, about such an iconic and polarising show, means that most readers will immediately be able to gauge how your taste in comedy sits with theirs. For me, I've not seen Home, I'm Darling yet, but Curb is fantastic. |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 26, 2018 15:56:02 GMT
What interests me is that people on here who have seen it say it was “enjoyable”. They don’t say they love it. I’m guessing that it’s a great production: beautiful set design, great leading actor etc. No one has said that this is a great play.
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Post by Mark on Jul 26, 2018 21:43:53 GMT
What interests me is that people on here who have seen it say it was “enjoyable”. They don’t say they love it. I’m guessing that it’s a great production: beautiful set design, great leading actor etc. No one has said that this is a great play. Saw it tonight and exactly that, it’s an enjoyable night out at the theatre, but it’s far from a great play. I’m actually going to agree with parsley in that I didn’t find the characters believable. The design is beautiful and Katherine Parkinson is really excellent. I sat in the side circle N 10 and actually had a pretty decent view, having to perch over slightly during the kitchen scenes. Good value though at £15. |
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Post by Steve on Jul 26, 2018 22:05:20 GMT
What interests me is that people on here who have seen it say it was “enjoyable”. They don’t say they love it. I’m guessing that it’s a great production: beautiful set design, great leading actor etc. No one has said that this is a great play. Saw it tonight, and liked it very much. The reason I'd guess people don't say they "love" it, I expect (not having read the reviews, bar what's on here) is that the comedy-drama category is never hilarious enough to fulfil the genre needs of comedy fans (of which I am one), nor enough to fulfil the desires of drama fans, who want more of an emotive workout. Katherine Parkinson is perfect casting for this, as she has always had funny bones, and over the years has really taken huge strides dramatically. Some spoilers follow. . . She really gets her character here, someone who fetishes the 50s, and tries to live in the 50s, because her upbringing was so chaotic. The truth is this is a hugely high concept play, rooted in comparing the now with the then by creating an utterly unbelievable situation. And unlike what you would expect, it's not mugged up for laughs, as although it welcomes laughs when they come, it is a relationship drama at heart. Parkinson's character is difficult to sympathise with, since she chooses this fifties bed to lie in, but the miracle of Parkinson is that her hangdog persona wins sympathy and laughter despite, rather than because of the set-up. She is an expert at the comedy of slights, awkwardness, suffering bordering on masochism and slowly inflicted humiliations. Sian Thomas, as Parkinson's mother, has a gift of a role, because her job is to puncture Parkinson's fantasies by injecting heavy doses of reality. And Thomas takes that gift, and doubles it with her eye -rolling expertise. Make no mistake. None of this is anywhere near as funny as the Dorfman's previous "Nine Night," nor is it as dramatic. But what this production does do is pierce the lid of fifties mores with a precision that matches it's high concept, revealing plenty about the then and now, as well as functioning as a touching domestic drama about the quirks people develop, and how relationships survive them or not. Parkinson has a wonderful foyle in Richard Harrington, who plays her understanding but stressed out husband, in that he parries both her comedic as well as her sentimental moments rather effortlessly. So yes, this isn't electric, but it's rather fulfilling as a touching romantic drama, revealing people's foibles, amusing as a comedy, and utterly on point as a piece of high concept writing. 4 stars. |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 26, 2018 22:19:50 GMT
It’s interesting
That the other couple in play
Is barely mentioned by anyone posting
To me
This indicates a poor play
Where 2 entire characters
Are effectively surplus to requirement
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Post by Deleted on Jul 27, 2018 9:13:22 GMT
Fascinating to see the subculture of (literally) living in the past onstage, it’s quite a thing apparently with Goodwood and such. I pretty much echo Steve in his views (I was there yesterday evening, I wish I’d said I was there so that we might have met), it’s an excellent play with great characterful writing for each role. Fittingly Wade gives it a stylistic exaggeration to match the faux period setting and, as one audience member was heard to say on the way out, a lovely play for a summer evening, light yet thoughtful. Katherine Parkinson wonderful, obviously, but they nail the style throughout. I was particularly taken with Kathryn Drysdale as Fran (one of those actors I knew I’d seen before but couldn’t quite place where).
I’m catching up with eight plays over the last week or so and hoping to write something less sketchy, more personal, about them in the next week or so but this is well worth anyone’s time. The relevance of this when (too many) people want to go back in time to an imagined golden age is highly pertinent and, with this and the much angrier Pity, two productions that I saw yesterday show two differing surfaces that hide a highly political message beneath their skin.
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Post by addictedtotheatre on Jul 27, 2018 10:13:27 GMT
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Post by stevej678 on Jul 27, 2018 17:20:01 GMT
I was particularly taken with Kathryn Drysdale as Fran. Same. She was great as Louise in Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps back in the day and more recently as Meghan Markle in The Windsors so I really enjoyed the opportunity to see her on stage. After the dance-fused scene changes in this and The Country Wife at Southwark Playhouse, I've also decided that it should only be permissible for props to be moved or taken on or off stage when done so in time to music! |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 28, 2018 9:25:29 GMT
Well. That's it. If Dame Katherine Parkinson wasn't already a national treasure and the natural successor to Maggie Smith then she jolly well is now. She is completely and utterly glorious. It's a sensational performance in a not-quite-great play but a funny, witty and ultimately warm one all the same. I thought it was a delight. An Olivier award please, no one else needs to bother showing up.
The rest of the cast are great, especially Richard Harrington and Susan Thomas (who would have stolen the show if it hadn't been for Dame KP) and Kathryn Drysdale also gets some moments to shine. I wasn't sold on the Alex character to be honest and I'm not quite sure if all of the music came from the fifties but hey ho, small niggles. On the plus side I LOVED the set (it's an absolute smasheroonie, although I can imagine it's a bit of a sightline nightmare), there's some fabulous frocks and the dance breaks between scenes are fabulous. Plus Barnaby Kay has clearly been working out lately and that's something we can all be thankful for.
My poor mother. Frightened by a yoghurt.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 30, 2018 19:55:27 GMT
Managed to get a ticket for Saturday afternoon last night night. Very much looking forward to it. What did you think? |
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Post by stuartmcd on Jul 30, 2018 20:21:54 GMT
Managed to get a ticket for Saturday afternoon last night night. Very much looking forward to it. What did you think? Overall I really enjoyed about it. I didn't really know anything about it before I went so there were certain things that definitely took me by surprise. I thought it raised some interesting points around how we idealise and romanticise eras like the 50s but forget about how much discrimination there was. If you weren't a white straight man then life was tough. Whilst I did find it funny in places I would say I didn't laugh out loud all that much. But overall I thought it was well written just not as laugh out loud funny as I thought it was going to be. The set was cute but could definitely cause some issues if you're sat at the sides. Katherine Parkinson was of course fantastic and was a pleasure to watch but the stand out from the rest of the cast for me was Sian Thomas as Sylvia. She was the voice in the reason in the whole play and delivered some of the funniest lines. I'm glad I went and overall I enjoyed the play but it wasn't as strong as I thought it was going to be. |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 30, 2018 20:50:50 GMT
Okay....so I have something embarrassing to admit. I didn’t make it to the second act. Instead I found myself wandering along the Thames straight into a local eatery where I stuffed my face for the following hour. I just couldn’t go back. Not even for the adorable Parkinson. I found this a very weak play; the second scene did not pass the Bechdel test and Wade may be using irony in the first act but I checked out. It reminded me a bit of Ira Levin’s Stepford Wives. Now that would be a great novel to adapt for the stage in this #metoo era.
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Post by chameleon on Jul 30, 2018 22:18:44 GMT
Okay....so I have something embarrassing to admit. I didn’t make it to the second act. Instead I found myself wandering along the Thames straight into a local eatery where I stuffed my face for the following hour. I just couldn’t go back. Not even for the adorable Parkinson. I found this a very weak play; the second scene did not pass the Bechdel test and Wade may be using irony in the first act but I checked out. It reminded me a bit of Ira Levin’s Stepford Wives. Now that would be a great novel to adapt for the stage in this #metoo era. Why exactly did you find it weak? (Apart from those two points, which don't make a weak play in themselves).. |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 30, 2018 22:46:51 GMT
Okay....so I have something embarrassing to admit. I didn’t make it to the second act. Instead I found myself wandering along the Thames straight into a local eatery where I stuffed my face for the following hour. I just couldn’t go back. Not even for the adorable Parkinson. I found this a very weak play; the second scene did not pass the Bechdel test and Wade may be using irony in the first act but I checked out. It reminded me a bit of Ira Levin’s Stepford Wives. Now that would be a great novel to adapt for the stage in this #metoo era. Why exactly did you find it weak? (Apart from those two points, which don't make a weak play in themselves).. The characters are unbelievable And quite stupid as people Hardly high intellectuals Also the lead role Behaves like some sort of baby Or adult in transgression The husband is spineless The “other” couple are pointless The mother is the worst sort of feminist stereotype The plot is weak And there are several diversions Which lead nowhere It is not particularly funny Nor is it tense drama Or asks any deep questions The “dancing” Was laughable embarrassing and I had to close my eyes for it |
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