3,307 posts
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Post by david on Apr 15, 2019 12:33:13 GMT
I can’t believe I was in the same room as @theatremonkey.com and Dame Maggie Smith. I feel truly honoured to have had this experience!
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49 posts
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Post by kjb on Apr 15, 2019 17:28:01 GMT
Also noted that "high numbers" side is the place to be - and considering I didn't pay premium prices, I ended up closer to the stage than anyone in the centre block did, which was rather nice, LOL. Are "low numbers" OK? I got a Restricted View return today for tomorrow night in the low numbers. Obviously beggars (which I was - i missed tickets when they were released and I was having serious FOMO) can't be choosers, but is there anything I'm likely to miss? |
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1,256 posts
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Post by theatrelover123 on Apr 15, 2019 21:26:31 GMT
Anybody know where the TodayTix lottery tickets are in the theatre?
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Post by kjb on Apr 16, 2019 7:02:21 GMT
OK. The fact you are in at all is the main thing. Reason for favouring high numbers if you are down the side is: she spends the entire show at a table, seated on the stage on the high numbers side. Those on the low numbers side have the table, then her. On the high numbers, it is her in her chair, then the table. HUGE SPOILER AS ALREADY ON HERE: the stage moves forward as the evening progresses, so those in the very highest and lowest numbers in the stalls see her back for a lot of the time. SPOILER ENDS. If you are in one of the other galleries, then being up high gives a far better view if you are on the low side. Basically that you are going to be in the room at all should be enough, for sure. Thanks theatremonkey. Sounds like I won’t get the best view, but it’s still better than no view! |
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8,107 posts
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Post by alece10 on Apr 16, 2019 15:34:09 GMT
Just had to share this with you all.
Had a dream last night that they were offering free tickets to people in the industry. You just had to go to the box office. So along I went and they kept serving everyone but me so I snuck in. Oh forgot to say you also got a scone with clotted cream! But strangely enough no jam.
Theatre was set out in the round and the seats were arm chairs looking down onto the stage. It was half empty and people kept wandering in and out as DMS was performing. Then a man came and sat next to me and he had this old fob watch and the alarm kept going off. DMS comes over and tries to turn it off.
Oh and she was topless but had no chest. Then thankfully I woke up.
Can someone interpret this for me please or should I just get sectioned?
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3,539 posts
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Post by Rory on Apr 16, 2019 15:59:16 GMT
I'm sure Martin McDonagh could stage that at the Bridge next!
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Post by Deleted on Apr 18, 2019 13:20:57 GMT
Does anyone know if the box office are being strict when people pick up tickets? I'm seeing this soon but my friend booked for me, and I've suddenly been struck with dread by the idea of this being the one production where they're going to insist on seeing ID belonging to the ticket booker, and rocking up with just the booking reference isn't going to be enough.
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Post by talkingheads on Apr 18, 2019 21:16:24 GMT
Difficult to find the words. For two hours, the entire audience was spellbound. Maggie Smith had us in the palm of her hand, every subtle nuance and quiver of the voice jolted us. It floored me. The level of performance when she faltered on a particular word, the rage she infused into another. Yes this is probably overpraise but it certainly isn't hyperbole. It was a privilege to see and something I will never, ever, forget. In fact my only complaint was that it took so bloody long to find The Bridge Theatre. It isn't on the street maps! Only made it with five minutes to spare!
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1,485 posts
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Post by Steve on Apr 18, 2019 21:49:37 GMT
Also saw this tonight, and agree with talkingheads and abby and everyone else who thought this was mesmerising and marvelous. Some spoilers follow. . . Hampton's script avoids the dramatic twists every fifteen minutes that would have sunk a piece like this, based as it is on a real woman's account of her close encounters with Nazis and Jewish people, and her experiences in Goebbel's propaganda office. It is in its faithfulness to the rambling source material that Hampton's script acquires its power, the unreliability of the narrator creating a thrilling conundrum regarding how much truth we're getting, and the normalcy of this person ever pointing the finger at us that we would have acted no differently. Dame Maggie Smith finesses the line between self-deprecation and obfuscation, normalises the abnormal, creates an electric frisson of mystery around her character, while simultaneously implicating us with her banal inclusive "you knows" and endearing yet confounding "I'm just a stupid woman mes." The piece succeeds both as a chilling warning against blithe ignorance about politics, as well as a warning about how blithe ignorance will always be an impenetrable defense. Needs recording and release as a film, as Smith and Hampton beautifully shape, enhance, humanise and universalise the impact of the original documentary. 5 stars from me too.  PS: With regard to seating, don't worry if you have low numbers. I had A5, Second Gallery, £15 seat, and while DMS initially favoured the high numbers with the angle of her glance, tonight she favoured the low numbers at the end. There's democracy in the staging, and I felt A5 was a fantastic seat! |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 19, 2019 18:16:16 GMT
I'm currently at the Bridge Theatre and Dame Maggie is doing her bit for sustainability. If you want to take your drink into the theatre, they charge you one British pound for a plastic cup and if you return the cup to them after the show they'll give you the pound back.
I don't know if Dame Maggie gets a cut from any of the profits but I did spy a rather fancy car outside with the numberplate DMS.
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524 posts
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Post by callum on Apr 19, 2019 19:13:40 GMT
Does anyone know if the box office are being strict when people pick up tickets? I'm seeing this soon but my friend booked for me, and I've suddenly been struck with dread by the idea of this being the one production where they're going to insist on seeing ID belonging to the ticket booker, and rocking up with just the booking reference isn't going to be enough. They asked for my postcode each time I’ve been. |
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Post by d'James on Apr 19, 2019 22:30:16 GMT
I'm currently at the Bridge Theatre and Dame Maggie is doing her bit for sustainability. If you want to take your drink into the theatre, they charge you one British pound for a plastic cup and if you return the cup to them after the show they'll give you the pound back. I don't know if Dame Maggie gets a cut from any of the profits but I did spy a rather fancy car outside with the numberplate DMS. Wow! I was there tonight too. Luckily they had free paper cups for water. |
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181 posts
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Post by eatbigsea on Apr 20, 2019 2:14:53 GMT
I'm currently at the Bridge Theatre and Dame Maggie is doing her bit for sustainability. If you want to take your drink into the theatre, they charge you one British pound for a plastic cup and if you return the cup to them after the show they'll give you the pound back. I don't know if Dame Maggie gets a cut from any of the profits but I did spy a rather fancy car outside with the numberplate DMS. Wow! I was there tonight too. Luckily they had free paper cups for water. Yes, if you are in the stalls and go downstairs there will be paper cups by the water fountain next to the gents’. |
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Post by d'James on Apr 20, 2019 2:15:50 GMT
Wow! I was there tonight too. Luckily they had free paper cups for water. Yes, if you are in the stalls and go downstairs there will be paper cups by the water fountain next to the gents’. The gents’ caused a few problems tonight. |
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5,691 posts
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Post by lynette on Apr 20, 2019 11:03:37 GMT
Why do they bother with the plastic cups then? To make a bit on the side? Just put the paper cups on the bar.
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1,218 posts
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Post by nash16 on Apr 20, 2019 15:58:42 GMT
Why do they bother with the plastic cups then? To make a bit on the side? Just put the paper cups on the bar. It's the new Front of House manager's ideas coming in apparently. (The 3rd person to take the position since opening). They're starting to hire agency staff who are paid more than the in-house staff too thanks to her. London Bridge is falling down... |
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524 posts
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Post by callum on Apr 20, 2019 16:39:16 GMT
It does also mean if anyone has left any of the cups behind in the auditorium you can pick them up and take them to the bar and hand them in for £1 each.
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Post by d'James on Apr 21, 2019 0:52:05 GMT
By the way, on Friday night I was hoping to celebrity spot, and thought I saw Phyllida Law. Should’ve been looking for @ryan. Haha.
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5,691 posts
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Post by lynette on Apr 21, 2019 9:12:29 GMT
It does also mean if anyone has left any of the cups behind in the auditorium you can pick them up and take them to the bar and hand them in for £1 each. An opportunity for little urchins, eh? |
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2,744 posts
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Post by n1david on Apr 21, 2019 9:20:07 GMT
What I don’t understand about this is that normally deposits of this type are designed to change behaviour. If I don’t want to revisit the bar at the end of the show to get my pound back, can I bring in my own reusable cup like I can at coffee shops to save the hassle?
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Post by Deleted on Apr 21, 2019 10:08:52 GMT
It's a shame they can't let people take in glass with a deposit to ensure return, but given that every performance I've seen there is punctuated by the clatter of people kicking over plastic cups I can understand why they would view that as risky. People are generally useless...
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Post by Deleted on Apr 24, 2019 12:26:49 GMT
Well. Dame Maggie is a class act isn't she? Even when she's talking about, you know, Jews, waiting for her prompt to come through and using words like "sh*t" she's wondrous. It's all a bit slight and I'm surprised she didn't even have the teeniest inkling of what was going on but it was a well deserved standing ovation at the end.
I did like the travelator stage though which saved Dame Maggie having to get up and walk about but I did wonder if it was on a timer and if she went on for too long she'd get tipped over the edge of the stage like something out of a theatrical 'Jeux Sans Frontières'.
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2,056 posts
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Post by Marwood on Apr 25, 2019 18:18:33 GMT
You’re supposed to think the glass/cup/beaker is a ‘souvenir’ - they’re the same sort of thing U2 were selling on the Joshua Tree tour - I couldn’t be bothered bringing a plastic cup back halfway across London at the end of the night so dumped mine, to then see various desperados scrambling about collecting humongous stacks to get a few quid back : it all seemed a bit sad to me..
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2,056 posts
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Post by Marwood on Apr 25, 2019 21:57:41 GMT
A bravado performance from DMS tonight but ye Gods, what a sh*t audience in attendance tonight, I was sat in row A and a pair of twats came in about 2 minutes before the show was due to start and then proceeded to whack the back of my head with a crappy anorak several times while standing gloating and laughing at the people in the ‘crap seats’ (just a note ‘pal’, you’re not Bear Grylls, you’re a bellend who’s probably in charge of a stationery cupboard in some crappy office on the other side of the river, so leave the skiwear at home next time you venture to the theatre) and ok so we got the usual laughter at everything she said for the first 20 minutes or so but also great swatches of coughing through the first hour or so and all kinds of sh*t ring tones going off all night, in particular the emotional Krystalnacht speech ruined by sll kinda of sh*t whooshing and bleeping like some bargain bin Crazy Frog going off at the same time, but thankfully Her Magesty rose above such wanky behaviour and carried on regardless: and also for a play about the holocaust that (and this isn’t spoilering anything) features the death of Hitler and Goebbels (and his family), concentration camps and the deaths of friends and loved ones, I don’t really think this was suitable stuff to bring children to: there seemed to be a fair few people that had brought kids just because there was someone from Harry Potter in it.
Anyway: rant over, as you were...
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Post by Deleted on Apr 26, 2019 14:54:09 GMT
I don't have a child, but if I was taking a child to see A German Life, it would absolutely be because "come along, Valentine, this play isn't really for you, but I already thought I missed out on seeing Dame Maggie Smith live onstage forever, I'm not going to put you through that as well".
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