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Post by couldileaveyou on Feb 14, 2019 0:08:15 GMT
Saw it tonight and really really enjoyed. It is a new version rather than a translation, deliciously unsubtle and delightfully funny. Which of course gets turned upside-down in the final, chilling ten minutes. Gorgeous set by Robert Jones and very good acting, especially from Kathy Kiera Clarke and Kevin Doyle. A wonderful evening.
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Post by missthelma on Feb 14, 2019 11:10:30 GMT
I am so sorry to be the one that asks, but can you give me a rough running time? I was so excited to see this (been on my bucket list for a while and Dennis O'Hare!!)and booked a cheap £15 ticket as soon as I could. BUT I want to actually enjoy it and your review makes it sound like I will so am thinking of upgrading from the hideously uncomfortable seats with no backs and no arms. Running time will be the decider. Thanks (and I know it will probably change a bit, I'm not going for a month)
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Post by couldileaveyou on Feb 14, 2019 11:19:32 GMT
2 hours and 40/45 minutes
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Post by missthelma on Feb 14, 2019 11:30:53 GMT
Thank you kindly. Now, a dilemma......
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Post by crowblack on Feb 16, 2019 18:39:07 GMT
Very short notice, but I've just returned a front stalls £15 for tonight if anyone's there!
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Post by cartoonman on Feb 20, 2019 16:18:44 GMT
Saw it tonight and really really enjoyed. It is a new version rather than a translation, deliciously unsubtle and delightfully funny. Which of course gets turned upside-down in the final, chilling ten minutes. Gorgeous set by Robert Jones and very good acting, especially from Kathy Kiera Clarke and Kevin Doyle. A wonderful evening. I saw it yesterday and thought it was great. The actor's were all excellent. It started slow but soon got lively and the final scene was very farce like. People did lose their trousers. I highly recommend it. Updating it to the present day worked a treat. I've seen period bits on YouTube and found it grim. Well done NT. |
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Post by mrbarnaby on Feb 21, 2019 23:11:20 GMT
Saw this tonight at the press night.
Speechless
Just the most unbelievable waste of talent.. resources.. money .. time.. and my patience.
The unfunniest thing I’ve ever seen, with some truly terrible performances.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Feb 21, 2019 23:27:29 GMT
This will be a Marmite one.
I thought it was one of the funniest plays I've ever seen, but loads of walk outs in the interval.
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Post by Rory on Feb 21, 2019 23:39:43 GMT
The National really needs to start hitting the bullseye again. There have been far too many marmite shows there recently (largely excluding the Dorfman).
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Post by showgirl on Feb 22, 2019 5:15:49 GMT
Reviews so far have all said the first half is a bit (too) slow but the second really cranks up the pace. Though some have also said it's tonally uneven, too.
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Post by horton on Feb 22, 2019 10:54:39 GMT
Tartuffe is tonally uneven. It's a real curiosity in Moliere's oeuvre.
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Post by Jon on Feb 22, 2019 22:56:32 GMT
The National really needs to start hitting the bullseye again. There have been far too many marmite shows there recently (largely excluding the Dorfman). That’s a bit unfair, they’ve had plenty of successful shows, one or two not working is par with the course |
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Post by Rory on Feb 22, 2019 23:37:25 GMT
I love going to the National and there have been some great shows recently but plenty of others haven't landed as well as they ought to have done, for example, Salome, Common, Saint George and the Dragon, Julie, Absolute Hell, Exit the King, Pinocchio, Macbeth. As many again and indeed more have been great but, maybe it's just me, at the minute I have a sense that when a show is announced there it could go either way.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Feb 23, 2019 0:33:08 GMT
With the exception of the community Pericles which only had three performances, this is the first decent thing non-Dorfman thing I've seen at the NT in at least a year. Some have done better than others but it feels like the NT is going through a rough patch.
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Post by David J on Feb 23, 2019 19:29:31 GMT
As mentioned the first half is slow a set up. Same problem as the RSC version but with less laughs
But it did pick up in the second act and the ending was a neat master stroke with a warning that London audiences should take to heart in my opinion
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Post by tmesis on Feb 23, 2019 22:17:41 GMT
Thank you kindly. Now, a dilemma...... The running time as of tonight (Saturday) is now down to 2hrs 30 mins. |
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Post by tmesis on Feb 23, 2019 22:34:06 GMT
I thought this was great. It's the first production of this I've seen that has been radically 'reinterpreted.' I previously saw the version with the excellent Martin Clunes also at the Lyttleton and some 25 years ago (?) the Peter Hall version with John Sessions, Paul Eddington and Felicity Kendal. Both of these, if I remember rightly, were pretty faithful to the original. To begin with I felt Denis O'Hare was a bit lacking compared to Sessions and, especially, Clunes (what a shame he doesn't do more stage work.) But as the production becomes more farcical he impresses more. It's an excellent supporting cast with Olivia Williams the stand-out for me. Strangely her performance reminded me, physically, vocally and comic timing wise of Janie Dee as Phyllis in Follies!
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Post by Rory on Feb 24, 2019 0:08:54 GMT
Why has the National changed their programmes to have such bland covers? Follies, Tartuffe etc.
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Post by juicy_but_terribly_drab on Feb 24, 2019 1:56:40 GMT
Why has the National changed their programmes to have such bland covers? Follies, Tartuffe etc. Yes! They're all the same size with blank covers and only the title on them. Only once you're inside do you get the proper artwork. It's a bizarre choice and a frustrating one since I had planned to frame my favourite programmes. Luckily I went to the first production of Follies before this one because that's definitely my favourite programme cover I own. |
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Post by cartoonman on Feb 24, 2019 12:23:34 GMT
I agree. I think the price has gone up as well. I can remember when they were a pound! The contents is still excellent.I wish they would sell of the programmes for old productions cheap like the RSC did when they were at the Barbican.
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Post by Fleance on Feb 24, 2019 14:40:43 GMT
The NT used the title-only covers once before, back in 2003-2006. The following productions have no specific designs on the cover, only titles:
Edmond, Jumpers, Power, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, The False Servant, Stuff Happens, Henry IV, The History Boys, Tristan & Yseult, Burn/Chatroom/Citizenship.
I like that the programmes are all the same size, so that they fit on the same shelf. The occasional larger programmes are not convenient.
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Post by juicy_but_terribly_drab on Feb 24, 2019 16:57:50 GMT
The NT used the title-only covers once before, back in 2003-2006. The following productions have no specific designs on the cover, only titles: Edmond, Jumpers, Power, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, The False Servant, Stuff Happens, Henry IV, The History Boys, Tristan & Yseult, Burn/Chatroom/Citizenship.I like that the programmes are all the same size, so that they fit on the same shelf. The occasional larger programmes are not convenient. I don't hate the standardised sizes but the fact that they have proper cover art inside as far as I can tell is what baffles me. |
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Post by crowblack on Feb 24, 2019 19:57:04 GMT
They're so bland - maybe it's for those dreadful people who like to shelve books with the spines inwards? I suppose you could take it apart, just keep the inner section and discard the adverts, and the ad sections may change over the run, but still, I don't see why the cover has to be so plain. |
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Post by gibbo1956 on Feb 24, 2019 22:46:29 GMT
I know the programme is supposed to give background stuff, but the long essay about whether Universal Basic Income was a good thing or not seemed a bit too tangential for me. TBH I'm not that well up on Moliere (as I suspect a lot of NT goers aren't) and could have done with a bit more about his life and times.
I saw this Sat afternoon and I give it a solid three stars - I got slightly fed up with all the characters - but once the 'who's-the-real-imposter' stuff kicked in it got a bit more intellectual ballast and became more interesting.
Is the stage tilt at the end a deliberate reference to 'An Inspector Calls'? I hope so.
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Post by jgblunners on Feb 26, 2019 16:59:36 GMT
This was a play of two halves for me - partly in that Act Two is overall much stronger than Act One, but also that any scene involving Denis O'Hare is significantly better than one without him. He is really quite brilliant - he has great comedic timing, throws himself into the physicality of the role, and is very good at blurring the line between Tartuffe playing the fool and actually being one. Unfortunately he rather overshadows the other male cast members, hence why Act One is slightly flat in his absence. I felt Kevin Doyle was nearly there with Orgon but he just needed a little more authority. Enyi Okoronkwo was mugging a little bit too much for my liking as Damis and Hari Dhillon did a decent job as the straight-man Cleante. Geoffrey Lumb's Valere was suitably overzealous and self-righteous. This show really belongs to the women though - Olivia Williams, Kitty Archer, Kathy Kiera Clarke, and Susan Engel all tread the line of caricature without ever crossing it, which is an impressive feat. Williams and O'Hare's farce scenes are the highlights of the play, they have their movements and timings perfectly honed.
I've not seen any version of Tartuffe before, so have nothing to compare this to, but I felt the writing was mostly very good but it was sort of let down by the direction. Too many comic lines didn't land - they either needed more energy, a faster pace, or a more direct delivery. Perhaps in trying to keep the characters from veering into caricature territory some of the comedy was sacrificed. John Donnelly should definitely be praised for his writing (adaptation? again I don't know how much is lifted from the original) of feminism and female autonomy in the #MeToo era - this is the first time I've seen convincing discussion of these issues without it seeming shoehorned in for the sake of modernity and seeming 'with the times.' I was also impressed by how he built the verse into the script and kept it in modern language without it being cringeworthy.
The set design was suitably ornate and garish for a family with more money than sense, but I'm not sure we really needed that little trick at the very end. I can see how it fits in with the message, but I just felt that it was being done for the sake of it.
I think it just scrapes 4* from me, mostly for O'Hare and the women and because I laughed a lot and was genuinely surprised by the ending.
Oh and the front row get a lovely little surprise as the show begins courtesy of Geoffrey Lumb...
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