Rosmersholm

[crowblack]

Jun 8, 2019 11:00:29 GMT nialld said:

£15 when they put the unsold ones online?

I just looked at the official website one Monday and there were several front row tix at £15. Maybe there's a booking fee on top of that, maybe it's cheaper earlier in the week, I haven't checked back and didn't book (I don't live in London).

[zahidf]

Saw this today. I'll echo everyone else in saying it's excellent and well worth watching

[Deleted]

Agreed, I thought this was very good - great performances all round (even viewed from the cheap seats!) and the ending was very effective. Yes, the audience laughter was annoying in parts but at times you did just have to laugh as the dialogue is so prophetic of the political mess we are currently in.

[happytobehere]

I saw this tonight, without any prior knowledge of the story, and it honestly feels like it could’ve been written yesterday. It’s uncannily accurate.

The entire thing flew by & it was all so engaging. The whole cast were fantastic but it’d be a crime not to give a specific mention to Hayley Atwell. I’ve long thought her to be an underrated actress, and now i’m even more sure. She’s incredible.

Was sat on the far side of row D, restricted view. Only cost £25 on Todaytix & was a total bargain. You do miss a bit on the right side of the stage, but not very much, basically just a door & a window. Well worth it to be that close to the stage.

[edi]

I saw it last week and it was excellent.

I got one of the online day seats. Each day around 11 am the unsold day seats are available online. These are £15 plus around £3.65 booking fee. So for two tickets it cost  £16.83 per ticket. Bargain for this play. The day I booked there were 6 such tickets available.

[David J]

It was crazy watching the final scene after reading the news about Oberlin University being charged at least 33 million dollars for accusing a local bakery of racism and inciting protest and vandalism on the company. A family business that has lasted decades surviving the great depression and so on

Boy does Ibsen seem to resonate today

[David J]

Tom Burke and Hayley Atwell give first class performances. So naturalistic and they play off each other beautifully

Giles Terrera not so much but he’s still enjoyable to watch. Peter Wright was straight up acting with big hand gestures and so on. Great performance from the lighthouse publisher and the housemaid though

But otherwise a play that even 100 years ago could predict the current political climate were in. Great production values and acting all round

Go see

[mallardo]

I'm hard pressed to think of a better, more powerful production of any Ibsen play I've seen. As of this morning this ranks at number one for me.

BTW we watched it from a Circle box. Price £30, just £10 more than a day seat. It's a side angle view, of course, but we didn't miss much and one can lean out without blocking any one else. Plus, at the Duke of York's, they throw in a goody basket - sparkling wine, chocolates, crisps, etc. I'd sit there again in a heartbeat.

[Someone in a tree]

Add me to the list of lovers of this production and who is awe of how topical this.

[lichtie]

My first TodayTix ticket for this last night, and worth it for a very good row C view. Good performances, but as with much Ibsen, the characters feel rather forced in their rigidity when viewed with modern eyes...

[hedda4897]

I love Ibsen. I thought this was the best play I have seen so far this year.

[showgirl]

I went yesterday on the strength of the favourable comments here: was able to book F1 stalls for £15 the day before - well, supposedly £15 apart from the ATG booking fee battle - which was presumably dynamic pricing working in my favour. Great seat as it's on the aisle and though sold as restricted view, isn't really for this production.

Seeing this meant breaking (or bending, as my first Rosmersholm) my "No more Ibsen" rule, which for this production was probably worth it as it was indeed so good. I did however find Rebecca West's views almost implausibly modern compared to some of those around her and the ending left me wondering what the point of the play was. I wasn't too keen on Tom Burke's interpretation either but can't claim he wasn't suitably lugubrious.

[vdcni]

Loved this, comfortably the best thing in the West End right now.

Though the play itself is perhaps not quite as strong as his more famous works as it gets a little muddled at times it's astonishingly topical and the production itself is top notch.

There's not really a weak link in the cast, Burke is good in the less interesting of the main roles and Giles Terera and Lucy Briers both shine in support, though it took me longer than it should have to recognise her from the BBC Pride & Prejudice!


But the stand out has to be Hayley Atwell. An actress I've always admired but one who, despite some strong stage roles, I thought better suited to TV and Film where she lights up the screen. Here though she brings all that charisma while finding new depths in performance, you can't not watch her.

[ncbears]

Just to confirm that this is not a translation of Ibsen - it is an adaptation so some of the more "topical" references are not actually Ibsen.

[schuttep]

Jun 26, 2019 13:54:34 GMT ncbears said:

Just to confirm that this is not a translation of Ibsen - it is an adaptation so some of the more "topical" references are not actually Ibsen.

Thank you ggersten for pointing out the difference between the two. I'd never thought about the choice of words having such a difference. I love that, even in my dotage, I can learn something new.

Loved this production btw; Hayley Atwell was a revelation, having never seen her before in anything. But a largely wonderful cast and with a great coup de theatre at the end.

[orchidman]

This was enjoyable, with stand-out performances from Atwell and Terera but the idea that it is topical mystifies me.

Okay, so we have a divisive election between conservatives and progressives in which we know absolutely nothing of the policies proposed or actual likely consequences. Which could be basically anytime anywhere across human history for as long as there have been elections. You would think Ibsen had invented the idea of equality as a political goal the way he is getting praised here. Whereas in the UK right now the most striking part of the milieu to me is that the self-declared conservatives are acting like cultish radicals, which is not the case in this play at all. A conservative politician says the people not voting for him have been duped to vote against their interests, wink at the audience, but again that's something politicians might say about voters whose vote they have lost at practically any time - and in our time it is more likely a liberal politician, here and in the US, who would voice that grievance. What is the relevant material then? That politics is divisive? Um, yeah.

First half of the first half very good and atmospheric, second half of the first half gets rather repetitive. First half of the second half it really kicks into gear, second half of the second half it tails off into melodrama.

In that section I found the character of Rebecca, her actions, declared motivations and psychology not very believable, unhuman in how she seems to be weighing up the balance between her ideals and emotions. Yes, of course there are such tensions but mainly on a subconscious level, the way she is processing them out loud just didn't ring true to me.

The idea that her admitting to him that she may have psychologically facilitated the suicide would thus rid him of any guilt is absolutely bizarre. He's still the husband who has been emotionally unfaithful with another woman under the same roof as his wife. That she would risk her standing with him to make that admission makes it even weirder. Then her explanation of why she refused his proposal of marriage lost me yet further, there is no tension between her ideals and emotions if she has converted Rosmer to her ideals, yet the play acts as if there is. I would also have liked a greater sense of the history of the relationship between Rosmer and his wife, whether they were ever truly affectionate, or it was simply a convenient marriage of social equals in a small society.

Still plenty to like but a long way from a 5 star show for me. Always pleased to see a classy production of a serious play in the West End without any stupid gimmickry.

[westendgurl]

I finally got round to seeing this last night and it was a bit blooming good wasn't it?! Loved how topical it was and thought the performances were brilliant. Absolutely loved the ending, I wish I'd have seen this earlier in the run now so I could go back and see it all again, and avoid the front few rows!

[juicy_but_terribly_drab]

I decided to see this along with Sweat today since it was their last days and I hadn't gotten round to it yet. For whatever reason I didn't think I'd enjoy either but I was pleasantly surprised in both cases. This was especially surprising in how funny it was. I was also swept up in the melodrama of it all and its chilling final moments when the water creeps in were very effective and unexpected. Brilliantly acted and far more engaging than I had expected (although the view was less than stellar as I was in D 21 in the Upper Circle so missed a lot of action on the right of the stage in Act 1 especially).

[Rory]

Now that it's over, could someone please describe the theatrical coup at the end, in spoilers if necessary. With much regret, I didn't get to see this, and would dearly have liked to.

[david]

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler - click to view}
In the final scene, the stage floor gets covered in water.

Jul 20, 2019 22:22:27 GMT Rory said:

Now that it's over, could someone please describe the theatrical coup at the end, in spoilers if necessary. With much regret, I didn't get to see this, and would dearly have liked to.

[Rory]

Thanks, I will try to obtain the script for this version.

[NorthernAlien]

Jul 20, 2019 23:09:01 GMT Rory said:

Thanks, I will try to obtain the script for this version.

The script should be available from Foyles or your favoured Online retailer. Look for the cover with Hayley and Tom in the poster design.

[NorthernAlien]

I saw this tonight for the second time. I thought Hayley was superb tonight, and I really liked that the stage crew brought on flowers for the *whole* of the cast during the bows.

[peggs]

Jul 21, 2019 0:26:03 GMT NorthernAlien said:

Jul 20, 2019 23:09:01 GMT Rory said:

Thanks, I will try to obtain the script for this version.

The script should be available from Foyles or your favoured Online retailer. Look for the cover with Hayley and Tom in the poster design.

The national book shop has it, it took me several attempts to get it as they said at the times, maybe a month ago, that only them and the presenting theatre were then stocking it and it kept selling out.

[Rory]

Thanks everyone.