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Post by peggs on Jan 27, 2019 9:44:06 GMT
Thanks @xanderl
On that basis you'd have to cut most of got us andronicus! People are funny.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 27, 2019 10:00:01 GMT
Oh, forgot to mention - someone else on my row (20 something woman) didn't bat an eyelid about any of the goings on until Stephen Dillane said to Mrs Jukes "Why are you so fat??" at which point she audibly gasped in shock. Interesting how different things offend different people!
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Post by crowblack on Jan 27, 2019 10:05:36 GMT
Interesting how different things offend different people! They said the same on Saturday Review, though they shared the shock - everything else is performance except your bodyshape. |
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Post by shelbee on Jan 27, 2019 10:22:29 GMT
I enjoyed this a lot, so there! Exactly like you'd expect a Mitchell/ Crimp production to be, and not exactly like you'd expect a Hollywood star vehicle to be, which is probably one of the reasons for the poor reviews. Although the audience last night seemed generally pretty appreciative. I was sitting in the side circle, at the far end from the stage, which had a clear view of everything other than the extreme corner of the stage. Stephen Dillane was excellent (people who have seen his previous performances will be amused by the point where he tells Cate Blanchett to "stop mumbling") as was Blanchett. But TBH I would have preferred to see a version with someone less high profile so people who want to see Crimp / Mitchell would have been able to get tickets more easily. Regarding ticketing - I could see around 10 empty seats. Unsold returns perhaps, as people aren't bothering to try for returns due to expectations of long returns queues? Or tickets which have vanished into the secondary market and remained unsold? On the blood question above:
Didn't seem to be too much. A scene early on where Blanchett's forehead is cut, she is then cleaned up by the rest of the cast. And a couple of fight scenes where one of the characters gets his head bashed against the car leading to some bleeding, but not a huge amount.
Woman on my row was holding forth beforehand about the fact that a scene had been cut out due to the person who fainted on the first night. OK, sure! This is a different take on the play. Most reviews came in with positive reviews for the acting...not the play. |
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Post by sayers500 on Jan 28, 2019 20:02:12 GMT
There are a load of tickets on general sale for this on the website for the performance tomorrow and the Thursday and Saturday matinee!
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1,861 posts
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Post by NeilVHughes on Jan 28, 2019 20:21:30 GMT
After all the fun of the ballot, normal service has been resumed.
Not surprised following a discussion with the couple next to me at the Donmar on Saturday, they were planning to return their tickets now that they knew what they had actually bought tickets for.
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Post by lynette on Jan 28, 2019 21:14:54 GMT
There are two more tickets for you courageous guys for Wednesday night.
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Post by shelbee on Jan 28, 2019 23:02:50 GMT
Feel sorry for the people who wasted their time with the ballot. All About Eve would have been a better choice for Cate Blanchett.
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Post by wannabedirector on Jan 28, 2019 23:46:08 GMT
I managed to see this on Saturday, and I don’t think it’s anywhere near as bad as the reviews have made it out to be.
The play itself I don’t think is the best, but I can see some of the points that it is trying to make despite the lack of narrative structure . The set is well designed, I felt the claustrophobic nature of it all. Above all, the acting is stellar. I found Blanchett especially captivating.
I’m happy I went, it wasn’t the easiest night of theatre I’ve had at the theatre, but it’s not one that I’ll forget anytime soon I’ll say.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 29, 2019 9:02:10 GMT
Feel sorry for the people who wasted their time with the ballot. All About Eve would have been a better choice for Cate Blanchett. It was hardly wasting time though was it so I don't imagine they need you to feel sorry for them. You put your name down and if selected, then you get a chance to buy tickets. And I imagine that Cate Blanchett felt that 'All About Eve' wasn't the "better choice" for her. You really seem very down on this particular production. |
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Post by crowblack on Jan 29, 2019 9:27:08 GMT
It was rather annoying though - far more hoops than the usual booking process, and, for those like me who didn't get 'lucky' and live hundreds of miles away so day seats were never an option, really alienating. All in all, bad PR and something I hope they never repeat. All About Eve was the more vanilla option but it's a great role and she'd have been perfect for it. I'd have preferred to see her in that than in something that does (and ok, I haven't seen it) sound a bit like a male sex fantasy fanfic. |
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Post by MrBunbury on Jan 29, 2019 9:37:11 GMT
I saw it last night and now I will need to write a review for work... I think it is an interesting play and reading the programme helped me to understand better the references to the original "Pamela" and some of the debate among different feminist groups. Cate Blanchett and Stephen Dillane are both very good.
I cannot figure out how someone can have fainted because there is not much violence or blood on stage.
I think Cate Blanchett made the right choice to do this instead of "All about Eve" because it looks like a more challenging role. Thumb up from me!
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Post by jampot on Jan 29, 2019 9:54:50 GMT
Odd...if you are not logged in you can go to the various dates with tickets available for thurs eve...log in and you cant even get to the dates page and it just says it sold out...at least for me anyway....
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Post by shelbee on Jan 29, 2019 10:03:12 GMT
Feel sorry for the people who wasted their time with the ballot. All About Eve would have been a better choice for Cate Blanchett. It was hardly wasting time though was it so I don't imagine they need you to feel sorry for them. You put your name down and if selected, then you get a chance to buy tickets. And I imagine that Cate Blanchett felt that 'All About Eve' wasn't the "better choice" for her. You really seem very down on this particular production. It was a frenzy the first day to enter the ballot, so much so, that the system crashed. Then people were complaining about the wait time online to get tickets. I'm sure there are some who are returning their tickets, feel it was a waste. Of course for her personally she can do whatever she wants. But her as an actress, selling a product, All About Eve would have been better choice...because it has a broader appeal. |
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Post by shelbee on Jan 29, 2019 10:11:37 GMT
It was rather annoying though - far more hoops than the usual booking process, and, for those like me who didn't get 'lucky' and live hundreds of miles away so day seats were never an option, really alienating. All in all, bad PR and something I hope they never repeat. All About Eve was the more vanilla option but it's a great role and she'd have been perfect for it. I'd have preferred to see her in that than in something that does (and ok, I haven't seen it) sound a bit like a male sex fantasy fanfic. I agree. Because of the ballot system there were a lot of fans left out in the cold. People wanted to see Cate Blanchett act on stage...not this play. |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 29, 2019 10:35:00 GMT
It was a frenzy the first day to enter the ballot, so much so, that the system crashed. Then people were complaining about the wait time online to get tickets. I'm sure there are some who are returning their tickets, feel it was a waste. Of course for her personally she can do whatever she wants. But her as an actress, selling a product, All About Eve would have been better choice...because it has a broader appeal. To be fair though, that isn't specific to this production though or even this particular theatre for that matter. There are threads and threads on this very board about websites crashing on ticket release day and people complaining about the length of time to wait in the queue to get tickets etc. I'm sure there are people who have returned their tickets and felt it was a waste of time. I felt the same about 'Hamilton' but hey ho, this is the theatre. You pays your money, you take your choice. And it does sound almost rather insulting to an actress like Cate Blanchett, who has made a career out of mixing smaller scale work that won't attract large audiences with the big budget blockbusters, that people are criticising her for not taking the mass appeal route (perhaps just because they wanted to see her in that particular role) and instead taking something that sounds like a bit of a risk and might nourish her professionally even though it might not be a success or critically acclaimed. It would seem a shame that if an actor reaches a certain level of fame that we should just expect them to simply do mass appeal work from then on. |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 29, 2019 10:37:35 GMT
I cannot figure out how someone can have fainted because there is not much violence or blood on stage. Yes, I suspect the person fainted because they were ill, not because of anything on stage! |
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Post by shelbee on Jan 29, 2019 11:16:20 GMT
It was a frenzy the first day to enter the ballot, so much so, that the system crashed. Then people were complaining about the wait time online to get tickets. I'm sure there are some who are returning their tickets, feel it was a waste. Of course for her personally she can do whatever she wants. But her as an actress, selling a product, All About Eve would have been better choice...because it has a broader appeal. To be fair though, that isn't specific to this production though or even this particular theatre for that matter. There are threads and threads on this very board about websites crashing on ticket release day and people complaining about the length of time to wait in the queue to get tickets etc. I'm sure there are people who have returned their tickets and felt it was a waste of time. I felt the same about 'Hamilton' but hey ho, this is the theatre. You pays your money, you take your choice. And it does sound almost rather insulting to an actress like Cate Blanchett, who has made a career out of mixing smaller scale work that won't attract large audiences with the big budget blockbusters, that people are criticising her for not taking the mass appeal route (perhaps just because they wanted to see her in that particular role) and instead taking something that sounds like a bit of a risk and might nourish her professionally even though it might not be a success or critically acclaimed. It would seem a shame that if an actor reaches a certain level of fame that we should just expect them to simply do mass appeal work from then on. I've never implied it never happened before. I'm specifically talking about this play and people's experience with the system. Let me remind you, a lot of people outside the UK never had a chance of getting tickets. It's laughable how it went from the hottest ticket in town before the play and two weeks into the play tickets are available online. Why wouldn't a fan want access to her work? Smaller scale means less people see it. |
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Post by jadnoop on Jan 29, 2019 11:42:20 GMT
What on earth is NT's rationale for quietly throwing a few tickets onto the site? Don't get me wrong, I think selling remaining/returning seats online is great. But they should use some sort of formal system, like Friday Rush, rather than randomly passing out a few odd days without any notice. I mean, does this mean that anyone looking for tickets should be refreshing the site whenever possible during working hours on the off chance that a few tickets become available? I wonder if it was an IT/sales error or something, or perhaps testing the waters for a more formal online sale.
Anyway, best of luck to anyone still trying for tickets.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 29, 2019 12:02:03 GMT
What on earth is NT's rationale for quietly throwing a few tickets onto the site? Don't get me wrong, I think selling remaining/returning seats online is great. But they should use some sort of formal system, like Friday Rush, rather than randomly passing out a few odd days without any notice. I mean, does this mean that anyone looking for tickets should be refreshing the site whenever possible during working hours on the off chance that a few tickets become available? I wonder if it was an IT/sales error or something, or perhaps testing the waters for a more formal online sale. Anyway, best of luck to anyone still trying for tickets. I personally think what they're doing now is the best way to go about this. Any other system creates another issue with masses trying to get tickets and the way they are doing it now will, to some extent, allow us theatre 'buffs' grab a ticket. |
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Post by alexandra on Jan 29, 2019 12:04:15 GMT
"I mean, does this mean that anyone looking for tickets should be refreshing the site whenever possible during working hours on the off chance that a few tickets become available?"
Yes. That is how you get tickets for any sold out production. Why should this be different?
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Post by crowblack on Jan 29, 2019 12:13:44 GMT
That is how you get tickets for any sold out production. Why should this be different? Yes, that's what I normally do. It's also wha the NT usually do but hadn't been doing, for this play, until yesterday. |
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Post by shelbee on Jan 29, 2019 12:26:54 GMT
What on earth is NT's rationale for quietly throwing a few tickets onto the site? Don't get me wrong, I think selling remaining/returning seats online is great. But they should use some sort of formal system, like Friday Rush, rather than randomly passing out a few odd days without any notice. I mean, does this mean that anyone looking for tickets should be refreshing the site whenever possible during working hours on the off chance that a few tickets become available? I wonder if it was an IT/sales error or something, or perhaps testing the waters for a more formal online sale. Anyway, best of luck to anyone still trying for tickets. Looking at it as an outsider, it seems the bad reviews may have caused some to return their tickets. With the queueing being outrageous in the first week, NT may have thought they wouldn't have a problem selling the tickets the day of. With queueing dying down too, best put them up for sale on the site. |
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Post by peggs on Jan 29, 2019 12:51:05 GMT
I cannot figure out how someone can have fainted because there is not much violence or blood on stage. Yes, I suspect the person fainted because they were ill, not because of anything on stage! As an occasional blood fainter for me it's often not about the amount, I've had more problems with someone saying I've got a paper cut than someone actually having a scene in the red stuff on stage. If I know what to expect and how long it lasts it's often easier as I can focus on moving through those moments whereas if I don't know my mind can be off and running. It's a panic thing and anticipating what might cause you problems and at some point the body takes over and shuts down. But yes the person could just have been ill and the attention given to it seemed out of proportion to what was happening on stage. But if anything it'll probably fear of doing that myself that would make me return my ticket rather than the poor reviews. |
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Post by jadnoop on Jan 29, 2019 13:17:47 GMT
"I mean, does this mean that anyone looking for tickets should be refreshing the site whenever possible during working hours on the off chance that a few tickets become available?" Yes. That is how you get tickets for any sold out production. Why should this be different? Because they explicitly said that they wouldn't do that for this play. And then they decided, without telling anyone, to go ahead and do it anyway. I mean, as it stands we don't even know if they are intending to continue with online retuns sales or if that was a one-off. Don't get me wrong, I think this online sales method is better for returns, but iny my opinion they need to be transparent about what they're doing if they're changing plans after going for such an unusual means of selling the original seats. |
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