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Post by Deleted on Aug 20, 2019 7:40:31 GMT
24 hour offer on this through todaytix (started yesterday so presumably will end sometime this morning) - stalls seats for £15 (back few rows) or £25 (I went for £25 seats and got central seats in row G).
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Post by crowblack on Aug 20, 2019 8:29:29 GMT
Btw, a couple of the cast were interviewed on Sunday Brunch yesterday - a three hour cooking show is now one of the few places on TV where you see actors talking about plays they're in.
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Post by NorthernAlien on Aug 28, 2019 21:29:40 GMT
Saw this tonight at press night. As the lights went down at the close of the play, someone behind me was heard to say 'thank goodness'. I have never known a response so quiet from a Press Night crowd, or seen them so quick to vacate the building. Perhaps it was all just a bit too serious given everything that's gone on in the UK today?
I thought the set was amazing though - love a Grand Piano in the background!
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Post by popcultureboy on Aug 28, 2019 22:09:36 GMT
Saw this tonight at press night. As the lights went down at the close of the play, someone behind me was heard to say 'thank goodness'. I have never known a response so quiet from a Press Night crowd, or seen them so quick to vacate the building. Perhaps it was all just a bit too serious given everything that's gone on in the UK today? I thought the set was amazing though - love a Grand Piano in the background! Press night is this coming Monday, 2nd September. Fleabag press night is tonight. If the person exclaiming was expecting Fleabag, I can see why they were so pleased it was over... |
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Post by lonlad on Aug 28, 2019 22:30:01 GMT
Hah, yes, maybe they had wandered into the wrong theatre by mistake (!)
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Post by NorthernAlien on Aug 29, 2019 1:33:27 GMT
Saw this tonight at press night. As the lights went down at the close of the play, someone behind me was heard to say 'thank goodness'. I have never known a response so quiet from a Press Night crowd, or seen them so quick to vacate the building. Perhaps it was all just a bit too serious given everything that's gone on in the UK today? I thought the set was amazing though - love a Grand Piano in the background! Press night is this coming Monday, 2nd September. Fleabag press night is tonight. If the person exclaiming was expecting Fleabag, I can see why they were so pleased it was over... Ah yes sorry, checked the email again - this was a 'preview performance'. Response was still incredibly muted... |
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Post by edi on Aug 29, 2019 6:58:01 GMT
Saw this tonight at press night. As the lights went down at the close of the play, someone behind me was heard to say 'thank goodness'. I have never known a response so quiet from a Press Night crowd, or seen them so quick to vacate the building. Perhaps it was all just a bit too serious given everything that's gone on in the UK today? I thought the set was amazing though - love a Grand Piano in the background! What did you think of it? Was "thank godness" your sentiment, too? |
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Post by Jonnyboy on Aug 29, 2019 7:07:36 GMT
It was a muted response when I saw it at the Kiln but that’s more a reaction to the gut-wrenching bleakness of it. A muted response doesn’t always indicate a poor evening at the theatre. It’s a good play.
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Post by NorthernAlien on Aug 29, 2019 14:21:38 GMT
Saw this tonight at press night. As the lights went down at the close of the play, someone behind me was heard to say 'thank goodness'. I have never known a response so quiet from a Press Night crowd, or seen them so quick to vacate the building. Perhaps it was all just a bit too serious given everything that's gone on in the UK today? I thought the set was amazing though - love a Grand Piano in the background! What did you think of it? Was "thank godness" your sentiment, too? I think my mood was deeply influenced by what happened in UK politics yesterday. It was obviously very difficult subject matter, and I thought it was very refreshing to see Pierre demonstrating his emotions. I also think it's relatively rare to see father/son relationships on stage - at least with that level of people *trying* to communicate their feelings, but being unable to do so. But the whole thing felt, I don't know, almost too restrained at points? Like some of the emotional beats in the script had been mis-judged in the direction/performance of some of them? I just can't quite determine my response. I didn't hate it, but I'm honestly not sure I could recommend it to other people? Did I feel anything? Only that the outcome was fairly predictable from about half-way through, at which point it almost felt like you had to endure the inevitability? Maybe that was the intent? I do know that I didn't feel emotionally engaged with it at all, although again, I'm not sure why? {Spoiler - click to view}
I feel like Pierre was a pretty unsympathetic character, and also, actually, the main focus of the narrative. Because I just didn't like him from fairly early on it was difficult for me to feel anything for him - I think I was supposed to feel sorry for him, to see that everything was tragic - but he came over as a spoiled, entitled man-child. Now, I'll fully admit that I might be being influenced by personal associations here, but 'I had to revise for my exams at a small table in the hospital whilst my mum died' didn't adequately counter the sh*ttiness of his behaviour in later life for me.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 31, 2019 17:42:41 GMT
Thought this was great although I agree the (presumably) deliberately restrained acting style maybe worked against the content. Thought both parents (and the stepmother) were dreadful people!!
Seemed quite full this afternoon, all levels open. Enthusiastic audience response with partial standing ovation
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Post by popcultureboy on Sept 5, 2019 7:30:36 GMT
Saw it this afternoon. Very elegant, but honestly nothing original to say. The fact that it's saying it all on a West End stage shouldn't be dismissed though. Original or not, its message is hugely important. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 5, 2019 9:43:07 GMT
Thinking about it in retrospect
I think the final scene would have had much more impact if the penultimate scene had ended more ambiguously
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Post by theoracle on Sept 14, 2019 21:18:17 GMT
Finally saw this after getting a prime stalls seat for £35. Never seen a West End theatre so empty before, had about 4 empty seats next to me. That being said, this is one of the most powerful plays I’ve seen this year. It’s a devastating portrait of teenage depression and the effect it has on the family as well as the individual. Laurie Kynaston’s beguiling performance really is a must see for me. I’m just annoyed I didn’t make myself aware of Florian Zeller sooner as I would’ve loved to have seen The Mother and The Father too. 5 unabashed stars from me
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Post by Forrest on Sept 15, 2019 17:34:32 GMT
I saw this on Friday night (in excellent £15 TodayTix offer Circle seats), and also thought it was a very good production. It is indeed powerful, owing most of it to Kynaston's superb performance. He is truly captivating and utterly convincing as a young man suffering from depression. Overall I also felt that the production had an honest feel about it: it is true that it is not particularly inventive in terms of the plot as some people here noted (in that respect, it is actually quite predictable), but I did get a strong sense throughout that I was watching a family struggle and fall apart under the weight of depression, not really knowing what to do, and for me that was quite enough. (Admittedly, I was a bit divided on John Light's performance: at times he was quite good, but occasionally he seemed a bit... too theatrical.)
The only thing i kind of disliked about the production was the choice of music in the scenes that carried particular emotional weight. It struck me as unnecessarily dramatic, and perhaps a bit of a cliche. As if the director didn't trust his actors enough that they would manage to convey all the emotions, and sort of decided to highlight these scenes to tell us (the audience) that we are meant to find them particularly tragical. I would have preferred something more subtle; this way it just seemed like an unwelcome distraction from the acting.
But I think that it is definitely worth seeing, for Kynaston's performance alone. (And I, too, now sincerely regret not having seen The Father.)
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Post by intoanewlife on Sept 15, 2019 17:43:24 GMT
The Father was phenomenal. SO devastating. I saw it with Langella on Broadway and was very chatty with the woman beside me before the show started. When it finished neither of us could even look at each other we were both so shattered.
I hope this sticks around long enough for me to catch it, but I have a feeling it might close early.
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Post by edi on Sept 17, 2019 6:01:57 GMT
I saw this yesterday and I can only repeat what everyone else said. It was a good play which never deviated from racing towards the inevitable and predictable ending. I took me a little time to get into it but it just got stronger and stronger. Good job they didn't break it up with an interval.
I agree with someone who didn't like the music played during one of the emotive scenes. It was silly.
I didn't like initially the way the father was played. It felt I wasn't watching the father but rather the actor playing the father. He sounded false. But it went as the play progressed.
Finally I wasn't always sure of the way depression was portrayed. I've never had any kind of depression and yes I am prone to believing people should pull themself together. I know it's wrong but I kept thinking it really cannot be like this.
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Post by Jonnyboy on Sept 17, 2019 8:01:36 GMT
I saw this yesterday and I can only repeat what everyone else said. It was a good play which never deviated from racing towards the inevitable and predictable ending. I took me a little time to get into it but it just got stronger and stronger. Good job they didn't break it up with an interval. I agree with someone who didn't like the music played during one of the emotive scenes. It was silly. I didn't like initially the way the father was played. It felt I wasn't watching the father but rather the actor playing the father. He sounded false. But it went as the play progressed. Finally I wasn't always sure of the way depression was portrayed. I've never had any kind of depression and yes I am prone to believing people should pull themself together. I know it's wrong but I kept thinking it really cannot be like this. Depression and other mental health issues come in a million different shades. Please try to shake off the ‘pull yourself together’ thoughts as it really is the same as a broken leg. You can’t heal a broken leg with thought, just as you can’t cure mental illness by telling yourself to pull yourself together. It’s incredibly complex and if it were that simple, people wouldn’t have the illness in the first place. |
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Post by edi on Sept 17, 2019 8:20:22 GMT
I understand and appreciate it. But I only understand because I was "told". It is very hard to really understand what people go through without having any experience with it
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Post by talkstageytome on Sept 17, 2019 16:15:34 GMT
Funnily enough, when I saw The Son, the part where Nicholas' parents ask him to tell them what's wrong and he can't put into words exactly what it is that's making him feel the way he feels resonated massively with me (very similar to an experience I had a fair few years ago). That's one aspect of this play that I really liked.
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Post by lightinthedarkness on Jan 5, 2022 14:05:50 GMT
Old news, but I just found out that they're adapting this as a film! Already in post production and set to come out this year. Starring Hugh Jackman, Laura Dern and Vanessa Kirby - www.imdb.com/title/tt14458442/ |
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Post by crowblack on Jan 5, 2022 15:12:45 GMT
Aw, I was hoping there'd be an archive recording released with the London cast. I couldn't make it to Kilburn and the central London transfer was too expensive (I'm sure there were cheaper last minute ticket options but I couldn't do that having to book advance travel from the North-West).
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Post by couldileaveyou on Aug 30, 2022 18:51:30 GMT
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