Rutherford and Son (The Nash)

[Being Alive]

Went yesterday. I didn't hate it, but I didn't really like it either. Allam is obviously good as ever, and I enjoyed Anjana Vasan as Mary, and the brilliant Justine Mitchell as Janet.
It had it's moments, but when virtually nothing had happened in Act 1, I felt they spent an hour and twenty minutes Act 2 trying to make something happen. The ending coup was nice, but unnecessary.
Oh, and i hadn't noticed the singers were live till the interval because i didn't look up.... 2 stars from me. It's just not a good play.

[theatrelover123]

Showing as 2 hours 35 at the mo. What are the Act 1 and Act 2 running times looking like?

[sfsusan]

Jun 5, 2019 21:25:55 GMT theatrelover123 said:

Showing as 2 hours 35 at the mo. What are the Act 1 and Act 2 running times looking like?

"Perceived time"... Act 1 is at least 2 hours long, Act 2 is maybe 90 minutes.  "Actual time"... if they kept the 20 minute interval, I would think Act 1 is just over an hour, Act 2 around an hour.

[Deleted]

I love the idea of perceived running times, that would have made Ivo van Hove's Obsession officially three years long, while The Ferryman would have simultaneously come in at 60 minutes and 14 hours.

[wickedgrin]

Yes, love “perceived” running times.

To balance it out though, Death of a Salesman at the Young Vic recently made an actual running time of 3 hours seem like 30 minutes!!

[Being Alive]

Act 1 ran at 55 mins, 20 min interval, hour and 20 second half.

[peelee]

Very 1890s this concern theatregoers have with Bradshaw and trains running across Tyneside.

To change the subject, though, did you like the play that was set around then?

[lynette]

Ended 10.20 if that is helpful

I loved this: acting aristocracy, Allam, a Troughton and an Armstrong and Justine Mitchell who smashed it in her two big speeches. I enjoyed the play too and the three act structure. Nicely directed I thought. I especially enjoyed the establishing of the baby as a real character so the ending worked well.
Nice to see how it would have worked in the old days cast wise with older man, older woman, three men and two younger women with opportunity fir ingenue.

[orchidman]

Lots of £15/18 tickets available, some front row.

[peggs]

Jun 17, 2019 19:32:55 GMT orchidman said:

Lots of £15/18 tickets available, some front row.

Are they selling the whole front row? was there sat and there were 8 empty seats there, though since they came and warned us just before it started that not to worry the stage would move towards us but would stop before it decapitated us perhaps they are scaring people off!

I spent a lot of time looking at furniture picking whether I wanted to see an actor's mouth or eyes, both wasn't an option if they sat down and disappeared behind chairs or that wretched stool. When not behind furniture the acting was brilliant.

Being southern and having spent three years at uni in the north being told I was soft I feel I should go add some butterfly ribbons to the headgear of the youngest member of the family as soon as possible.

[lichtie]

Don't think I missed much have dozed through a fair chunk of the first half hour. Definitely livelier after the interval, and worth it for Allam playing emotionally constipated ogre if nothing else. Not one I'd be rushing to see another version of.

[dlevi]

I had seen the Northern Broadsides production directed by Jonathan Miller of this a few years ago at The Other Palace and pretty much loved it. I booked a ticket for the NT production way in advance and was happy about it. Then I started reading all the negative comments on this board and thought : Oh I'm in for a boring evening. However, having seen it last night I have to say I thought it was pretty stunning - not perfect - some of those accents were so thick I doubt even if subtitles could help. I'm all for authenticity but ...

I thought the performances by and large were terrific ( Ms Vasan being the exception ) and the design was everything we come to expect, want and demand of the the NT. It's a richly rewarding evening and while I don't recommend it to everyone, for those serious drama lit majors among us , it's unmissable.

[andrew]

I really liked this, was never bored, and am disappointed to hear that people left at the interval. Great acting, great atmosphere.

I would personally like to rip the stool off the stage and throw it under the drum revolve though, what a heinous piece of set decoration for anyone in the first few rows.

[Latecomer]

Jun 23, 2019 11:37:38 GMT andrew said:

I really liked this, was never bored, and am disappointed to hear that people left at the interval. Great acting, great atmosphere.

I would personally like to rip the stool off the stage and throw it under the drum revolve though, what a heinous piece of set decoration for anyone in the first few rows.

I was SO angry about the stool that I wrote a strongly worded letter to the national box office. To their credit they sent me a credit note for the £30 I had spent on my two tickets. I am used to “slightly restricted” in the first few rows but this was just too much (I was in A19 so just below the stool!) 

[andrew]

Jun 23, 2019 11:54:03 GMT Latecomer said:

Jun 23, 2019 11:37:38 GMT andrew said:

I really liked this, was never bored, and am disappointed to hear that people left at the interval. Great acting, great atmosphere.

I would personally like to rip the stool off the stage and throw it under the drum revolve though, what a heinous piece of set decoration for anyone in the first few rows.

I was SO angry about the stool that I wrote a strongly worded letter to the national box office. To their credit they sent me a credit note for the £30 I had spent on my two tickets. I am used to “slightly restricted” in the first few rows but this was just too much (I was in A19 so just below the stool!) 

So I was in B19, and it's not nearly as bad obviously, although there was an entire section of the play where I could not see one of the two people having a very intense conversation. The 3 seats in front of me were unoccupied, which to me suggests the patrons had been moved to different seats. Perhaps they've stopped allowing anyone to sit there.

[Gwendoline]

I saw this on Saturday matinee, and I quite liked it. Probably because I only paid £20 for row F stalls. As the Monkey says it’s wayyyyy too long, lots of shouting and my other complaint was that the auditorium was freezing. It was very warm outside so the difference in temperature was huge.

I like Roger Allam so I’m pleased I saw this , but I would have been very dissapointed if I paid £66 like my neighbour.

[pledge]

A rather soft-grained and underpowered production, I'm afraid, of a fierce and embittered play. I was lucky enough to see Jonathon Miller's production for Northern Broadsides a few years ago, which crackled with tension from the first line, and in which Barry Rutter gave the performance of a lifetime as an authentic Old Testament patriarch spitting fire and fury, every bit the equal of any of Ibsen's conflicted heroes. For me the rather twee folk-singers in the wings summed it up - a sentimental soft-focus on a play which is anything but sentimental - rather a fight to the death about money power and survival.

[theatrefan77]

I really enjoyed this. Great acting in general but I thought Roger Allan wasn't sinister enough. Loved the set too.

A very interesting play written by a playwright I wasn't familiar with. Githa Sowerby's views on feminism, capitalism and patriarchal society come across quite strongly.

I read that the play premiered originally in 1912 at the Royal Court and later transferred to the Vaudeville theatre. That must have been quite an achievement for a female playwright at the time.