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Post by Jon on Mar 3, 2019 0:11:23 GMT
Saw it tonight and it's a decent play, I do think it's more of a black comedy than a thriller, I enjoyed how the plot unfolded and how Jo Froggatt transforms from timid to ruthless over the course of it.
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Post by Snciole on Mar 4, 2019 15:11:39 GMT
Hytner's NEVER been good with new plays that aren't by Alan Bennett (and even then his success rate is far from 100%). Anyone remember TRAVELLING LIGHT at the Nash? The only time I have seen an audience member heckle writer and director about a play during an NT Platform. Mortifying for everyone there. |
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Post by mrbarnaby on Mar 5, 2019 23:35:36 GMT
Hytner's NEVER been good with new plays that aren't by Alan Bennett (and even then his success rate is far from 100%). Anyone remember TRAVELLING LIGHT at the Nash? The only time I have seen an audience member heckle writer and director about a play during an NT Platform. Mortifying for everyone there. I went to the press night tonight and I’m still in shock at what I saw. The most pointless, boring play I’ve seen for a long time. Great actors wasted. This theatre is really the pits. Hytners choices are absolute stinkers and I think this may be the last time I ever waste minutes/hours of my life there again. Avoid like the plague. |
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Post by lonlad on Mar 6, 2019 0:08:53 GMT
Review so far range from 1 star to 4 stars ..... for some reason, I trust Sam Marlowe's 1 star one the most !!
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Post by crowblack on Mar 8, 2019 11:35:20 GMT
This theatre is really the pits. A bit harsh! But yes, there have been some really disappointing productions there. It does strike me as a theatre with a very well-heeled, very white older audience and they seemed to enjoy the plays I sat there hating. Maybe they are enough to keep it ticking over, especially in that very monied, rather sterile part of London - come out of your City offices or waterside apartment, meal at the Ivy, take in whatever's on offer (the people going into the stalls before me a the last play I saw there said "what's the name of this thing we're seeing?" as they walked through the doors!) |
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Post by lynette on Mar 8, 2019 12:21:55 GMT
O come on, the loos are good, the lighting in the foyer v cool. Shame about the plays. Well, no, I did enjoy the JC. Not a new play though was it?
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Post by lichtie on Mar 8, 2019 12:28:02 GMT
I thought the Young Marx one was entertaining enough, but that's the only one of the new dramas that even rates abve average that I've seen. Sad really as it is a really well set out venue and a lot of their stage design work has been excellent.
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5,691 posts
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Post by lynette on Mar 8, 2019 12:38:40 GMT
That Bennett play done it for me. Was it a care home or a hospital? The legal errors were laughable. Like AB too something or other to actually ask a solicitor to check the details and nobody had the nerve to tell him to. The plot was obvious and unsubtle and but for the acting, it would have been a walk out for me. So why didn’t Hytner see this? Hytner, who staged the best Othello I've ever seen.
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3,040 posts
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Post by crowblack on Mar 8, 2019 15:26:17 GMT
That's the only one I enjoyed too. There seems to be a quality control issue, or maybe as I said they're just plays aimed at a very narrow section of society and I'm not it? It's a well-designed theatre but the venue vibe and the whole area it's set in feel quite alien to me. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 8, 2019 22:27:44 GMT
Slightly embarrassed to admit it given the weight of opinion, but I've just had a really enjoyable evening watching this. It's not revolutionary but it's a decent story told well, didn't outstay its welcome, some decent laughs, some good performances. I've had a couple of nice glasses of wine and I've been entertained; sometimes that's all you need.
Also nice, and rare, to see a female led piece that doesn't make a meal of being female led. It's not about "women's issues", it's just got women in key roles because, you know, the world has women in as well as men. That's so rare in the theatre that I'm tempted to describe it as unique.
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Post by lightinthedarkness on Mar 8, 2019 22:39:59 GMT
I saw this last weekend and I'm really surprised to read most of the above! I agree with Abby - I thoroughly enjoyed it and was incredibly entertained throughout.
The acting was all incredible - Joanne Frogatt is amazing, her changes throughout the show came across brilliantly. The story also worked well, allowing for the acting to shine through alongside some amazing lines.
I sat in one of the cheap stalls seats at the side which weren't ideal - we spent a fair amount of time watching characters backs and listening to what they were saying, although it was great being so close to the acting the rest of the time. It mostly would have been fine but for the 'office' scenes it was really difficult to see anything due to the chairs!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 8, 2019 23:04:21 GMT
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Post by theatrelover123 on Mar 9, 2019 11:37:17 GMT
Ahh. Yes. The people who enjoyed it were either squiffy or they couldn’t see the stage and paid for a radio drama. Ahh yes. I see  |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 9, 2019 12:22:20 GMT
Ahh. Yes. The people who enjoyed it were either squiffy or they couldn’t see the stage and paid for a radio drama. Ahh yes. I see But I'm always squiffy and I don't enjoy everything...! |
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Post by mrbarnaby on Mar 9, 2019 18:11:19 GMT
I wish I was drunk when I saw it so I could have had a nice nap.
Absolute
Pile
Of
Rubbish.
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Post by jgblunners on Mar 10, 2019 9:53:07 GMT
I very much enjoyed seeing this yesterday afternoon. Joanne Frogatt was fantastic and the supporting cast all very good too. I really liked the set design but wasn't really a fan of the projections. I'm not sure I'd call the play a psychological thriller, but it was quite captivating and raised some interesting questions about the characters. It's not the most subtly written thing in the world, and occasionally I felt the first-person narrative style was being used as an excuse not to actually write the play rather than as a dramatic device. Nonetheless, I had a good time and sometimes that's all you want.
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Post by bramble on Mar 17, 2019 12:46:46 GMT
thoroughly agree with the above.A perfectly pleasant production. Sometimes its nice not to be challenged and just be entertained and this certainly does that.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 21, 2019 7:14:04 GMT
and Gayer is quite promising. Oh we usually are TM, we usually are... |
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Post by ruperto on Mar 21, 2019 14:19:06 GMT
I saw a matinee of Alys, Always a few days ago, and I have to admit that it slipped down a treat - it's a real crowd-pleaser. We were in £15 tickets that I picked up on the morning of the show - Gallery 1, J1 and J2. They are classed as "side restricted view," but I thought they were brilliant seats. Yes, you get a few bits where you're looking at characters' backs, but a lot of it is very much played to all three sides, and you are really close to the action, with no heads in front blocking your view. I would sit there again like a shot, and I'm pretty fussy about where I sit...
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Post by Phantom of London on Mar 30, 2019 22:50:06 GMT
The reviews were kind of lacklustre for this, but then again when the core subject is journalism, which points out the privilege position that journalists have and 50% of them went to fee paying school versus 7% of the population, no wonder that Mr Billington and Mr Cavendish felt wrong footed. As for me the play was not the only brilliant pleasure, but the cunning, manipulative and out and out brilliant Joanne Froggatt was out of this world, she had great chemistry with the suave upper class author Robert Glenister who I also enjoyed immensely.
Tonight was sadly the last performance, don’t think it will transfer though, but that didn’t stop me from loving it.
5 Stars
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Post by Stephen on Mar 31, 2019 16:51:05 GMT
I have an opinion closer to your own rather than the critics. This quiet drama was the perfect Monday night play for me.
Plodded along nicely and had me captivated for the duration.
Four stars
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Post by lonlad on Mar 31, 2019 22:48:22 GMT
Saw it Friday night and was, yet again, embarrassed by and for the Bridge and their total inability to vet new writing. Smug, phony codswallop, ill-served by the cast (and badly mic'd as well). Bring on Dame Maggie. To suggest critics didn't like it because it is about journalism is beyond hilarious. Um, INK anyone?  It might as well have been about forestry for all the authenticity on view (of which there was none) |
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Post by Phantom of London on Apr 1, 2019 0:53:52 GMT
Ink didn’t suggest jornalism was a product of the fee paying school system, Alys Always did.
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It might as well have been about forestry for all the authenticity on view (of which there was none)