Height of the storm

[Deleted]

In some ways

This is worse than The Humans

It’s the same pretentious sh*t

From Florian Zeller

85 mins

Repetitive

Exploring the same old themes
As his other plays

You will forget it the moment you get up
And go to pass urine
At the end of the play

[Deleted]

Those who like mediocre things

Will probably love it

🤣🤣🤣

I found it shallow pretentious
Pointless
Boring
Annoying
Tedious
Stunted
Unmoving

[Deleted]

Is it more on the Father/Mother side of the spectrum or is it closer to The Truth/The Lie?

[Deleted]

Sept 3, 2018 21:39:33 GMT @baemax said:

Is it more on the Father/Mother side of the spectrum or is it closer to The Truth/The Lie?

Father mother

I loved mother

Didn’t mind father

Hated this

The playwright has limited scope

[Deleted]

Cool, thanks. I'd've DEFINITELY heeded your warning if it had been more like the other two, but I'm fool enough to fancy making up my own mind on this one.

[Deleted]

But it's also got a real life Dame and Martine McCutcheon's favourite leading man in it. Sometimes all I want from the theatre is someone famous from the telly and some wigs. Possibly a corset. And a tap routine. I rarely find being challenged heightens the experience.

Put me in the "easily pleased" camp. I can't wait.

[vdcni]

Well this is poor. Quite an achievement for such a short play to be so repetitive and long winded. The last 10 minutes perk up a bit but up to then it's a long and not very interesting slog.

Well acted across the board with some nice eating an apple acting from James Hillier though why they wanted to do it is beyond me. Glad I only paid cheaper Richmond Theatre prices than full West End.

[gazzaw13]

I agree with the above and can't see why 2 national treasures chose to take part. There's no reason to go and see this other than to sit back and enjoy their performances. Eileen Atkins does a great job peeling the mushrooms and Jonathan eating the biscottes with strawberry jam.

[Steve]

Saw this tonight, and it's far too reminiscent of "The Father," for my liking, with less empathy and more mystery. Consolation is the privilege of watching wonderful actors work.

All actors operate within their typical range, with Lucy Cohu looking suspiciously like someone who may have done something dreadful, Amanda Drew looking excited at the prospect of someone having done something dreadful, Anna Madeley looking vaguely disgusted regarding potential dreadfulness, Eileen Atkins looking like she'd carry on regardless of any dreadfulness, and Jonathan Pryce looking haunted by dread.

Needless to say, Eileen Atkins is particularly wonderful in an across-the-board sterling lineup.

But Zeller is off form. Always revelling in bamboozling his audience, but usually to the benefit of character and theme, here he not only repeats himself too much (retreading "The Father") but also overdoes the Agatha Christies to the detriment of emotional engagement.

Exiting Richmond Theatre, I discovered a gaggle of groupings, hovering about, asking each other what on earth was going on.

Zeller is most effective when his plays enter an emotional hysteria, which is why I agree with Parsley that "The Mother" is his most effective play, and "The Father" his second. But here, hysteria gives way to confusion and repetition.

The players are the thing.

3 stars.

[Rory]

Of Zeller's work, I've only seen The Father and found it very disappointing, despite good performances.

[Deleted]

Sept 5, 2018 21:38:30 GMT Steve said:

All actors operate within their typical range, with Lucy Cohu looking suspiciously like someone who may have done something dreadful, Amanda Drew looking excited at the prospect of someone having done something dreadful, Anna Madeley looking vaguely disgusted regarding potential dreadfulness, Eileen Atkins looking like she'd carry on regardless of any dreadfulness, and Jonathan Pryce looking haunted by dread.

This is an absolutely brilliant sentence. Thank you for writing it.

[nash16]

I'm not sure why people are surprised this is a dud.

The Father was great.

The rest (most especially The Truth, cripes) were bloody awful.

Hopefully this will put him to bed. (Although they've got to get through the West End run of it first, poor blighters).

[sherriebythesea]

Sept 5, 2018 8:59:09 GMT gazzaw13 said:

I agree with the above and can't see why 2 national treasures chose to take part. There's no reason to go and see this other than to sit back and enjoy their performances.  

As a tourist I don't know when I'll get a chance to see these actors again so I'm looking at dates to fit my schedule. Ready to sit back and enjoy the talent.
I'm looking at Balcony A26 so not sure how much I'll be able to sit back...............

[george123]

Went to the Richmond last night and am still thinking about this play. The stars brought me in and did not disappoint. It held my interest and I'm sure it will do well. Because tickets were scarce we paid the asking price to sit in the second row. Thinking about the mentioning of a couple going to a Paris hotel. The play isn't for everyone but I can't put it down either.

[talkingheads]

Sept 5, 2018 8:59:09 GMT gazzaw13 said:

I agree with the above and can't see why 2 national treasures chose to take part. There's no reason to go and see this other than to sit back and enjoy their performances. Eileen Atkins does a great job peeling the mushrooms and Jonathan eating the biscottes with strawberry jam.

Quoting this because that's pretty much my view too. Seeing Dame Eileen and Mr Pryce at work was a wonder and a joy. Pryce made the atnosphere electric with certain outbursts and Atkins is astonishing to watch, thrme intricacies of her facial expressions. However, it is a shame that actors of this calibre have been given such meagre material to work with. I found the plot, such as it was, pretty much pointless and even an hour after seeing it I'm struggling to remember any specific bits from it. So. Go to see the actors. Don't pay anything near full price if you can avoid it.

[NeilVHughes]

Revisiting the themes of Father without the subtlety and impact.

The repetitive nature comes with the subject matter of dementia as with the limited experience I’ve had conversations and scenarios do seem to repeat themselves.

As with the Father it comes down to the location, in this the comfort and continuity of the home is retained whilst in the Father the sufferer is put in an alien location adding to the disorientation of the dementia.

Found it held my interest whilst piecing it together, concentration was required to determine who is actually there and what were memories as timelines interweaved but lacking the crushing ending of the Father.

One positive, I now feel like a youngster, cannot recall being in an audience of such seniority, the average age of the actors on stage was significantly lower than that of the audience this afternoon.

[stefy69]

Sept 8, 2018 16:51:49 GMT NeilVHughes said:

Revisiting the themes of Father without the subtlety and impact.

The repetitive nature comes with the subject matter of dementia as with the limited experience I’ve had conversations and scenarios do seem to repeat themselves.

As with the Father it comes down to the location, in this the comfort and continuity of the home is retained whilst in the Father the sufferer is put in an alien location adding to the disorientation of the dementia.

Found it held my interest whilst piecing it together, concentration was required to determine who is actually there and what were memories as timelines interweaved but lacking the crushing ending of the Father.

One positive, I now feel like a youngster, cannot recall being in an audience of such seniority, the average age of the actors on stage was significantly lower than that of the audience this afternoon.

Very well said.