The Duchess Of Malfi - Almeida Theatre

[Jan]

Sept 18, 2019 22:18:55 GMT Fleance said:

Regarding the Greenwich Theatre, I went there once (1985), to see Buddy Holly at the Regal, with David Thewlis and Pikey Butler (as Buddy Holly), with Nosmo King as one of the Crickets. I remember enjoying it and not much else about it.

There is a new theatre planned for Greenwich close to the existing one. How they think an area that can barely support a single theatre can support two I don't know. 

www.whatsonstage.com/london-theatre/news/greenwich-festival-theatre-2021-new_49317.html

[learfan]

Sept 19, 2019 6:46:48 GMT Jan said:

Sept 18, 2019 22:18:55 GMT Fleance said:

Regarding the Greenwich Theatre, I went there once (1985), to see Buddy Holly at the Regal, with David Thewlis and Pikey Butler (as Buddy Holly), with Nosmo King as one of the Crickets. I remember enjoying it and not much else about it.

There is a new theatre planned for Greenwich close to the existing one. How they think an area that can barely support a single theatre can support two I don't know. 

www.whatsonstage.com/london-theatre/news/greenwich-festival-theatre-2021-new_49317.html

Agreed, the plans seem hopelessly optimistic. Two auditoria!! As above there was an audience in Greenwich in the 70s and 80s but not now.

[foxa]

Booked for Almeida Duchess today at the start of Friends' booking. Very straightforward. Got usual cheap seats for a date in December.

[Forrest]

I logged into my account just to check (also a Friend) and tickets seem to be selling really fast... I'm still choosing a date, but will definitely book something in the cheaper category soon. (Their cheaper seats are excellent value, really, so I'm (luckily) not too tempted to splurge, as I sometimes am with other theatres.)

[showgirl]

Sept 13, 2019 11:13:36 GMT bordeaux said:

Sept 13, 2019 8:20:11 GMT learfan said:

Think he was Ferdinand in that production, back when Greenwich was quite a big player in the off west end sphere.

The other Greenwich theatre I loved and went to a few times in the 90s was above a pub.  I can't remember its name but it was run by a husband and wife team (Julian Forsyth one of them?) and specialised in translations of European classics, so I saw plays by Lessing and Marivaux, for example, and had my first sighting there of the great Eddie Marsan in Wolfgang Borchert's Outside the Door.  Good days.

This takes me back, not only as I too used to go to that theatre (can't recall its name and didn't know there was no longer theatre above but not surprising as I can't recall when I last visited), but also because I did the Borchert for A level.  How I loathed it and would have loved a stage version if that had made it more accessible to me.

[Dave B]

General tickets on sale today. A short queue (sub 10 minutes) and a decent selection of seats across prices. Generally find the stalls restricted view in the Almedia pretty good so that's what I got for us for £10

[Deleted]

I wasn't sure if I wanted to see it but my favourite "restricted" £10 ticket was available for a decent-looking date so I'll give it a bash.

[Deleted]

Somewhere else. If you're sat behind only one pillar and the staging is relatively central, then you can sometimes lose as little as absolutely nothing at all. There is only one seat that is so consistently fantastic though, and I'd hate the box office to realise what an unwarranted bargain it is, so I'm going to take you up on your implicit invitation to keep precise details secret.

[crowblack]

Sept 26, 2019 9:41:14 GMT @baemax said:

I'm going to take you up on your implicit invitation to keep precise details secret.

I think I know the one - I had it for Ink (where I also found myself sitting next to Andrew Marr and Amanda Platell, though not in the pillar seats obvs!) - but for some reason I can't access my past account details on the site to check the ones I booked today are the same.

[tmesis]

I also think I know to what you two are referring. I often book one of the £10 'pillar' seats. Each to his/her own but the presence the 'obstacle' has almost no effect on my enjoyment. In fact I recently saw The Doctor under such circumstances. Really anything is worth a punt there at such an amazing price.

[crowblack]

I was surprised they're still available, even on dates when most of the stalls seem to be sold - do they hold them back for public sale day? Very nice of them if they do!

[theoracle]

Got my ticket for A12 in the stalls. Won’t be too close will it? Very excited. Haven’t seen a Jacobean tragedy in a while

[Forrest]

I got my ticket as well. A £10 one, hopefully behind one of those good pillars that you are discussing.

theoracle, I don't think you need to worry about being too close to the stage at the Almeida. There's usually (from my limited experience at least) no need for head-tilting or anything like that there, it's a great space.

[theoracle]

Thanks eveyone. I think the front row is AA so Im in the second row. Seeing it for NYE, perfect way to end the year.

[Jan]

Sept 28, 2019 17:50:54 GMT @theatremonkey said:

If I go for the expensive seats, I always go front row (they may add a row in front of A - but will tell you so you can move if you want) or from E back when the seats are stepped. Never B to D as you can't see round people in front.

Normally the stage is very low, and A is worth it for the view. As they usually put the cross-aisle at the front, you get the legroom, too.

For this particular show front row of the stalls was pretty much sold out by the time public booking opened. However front row of the circle wasn't and I prefer that to some of those stalls seats further back where you often have a lot of coughers and talkers in front of you for some reason. 

[theoracle]

My bad, Row A is the front row after all. Hurrah for me!

[crowblack]

I've just returned some £10 stalls seats, one for the 2nd and two for the 6th in preview week if anyone's interested (I can't make it to London for either date) - I think they're those good pillar seats, F11 etc. Anyway, I've just called the theatre so hopefully they'll be on the website soon.

[learfan]

Ive booked for the matinee on 27/12 as I'll be in London for Xmas anyhow. Looking forward to seeing it.

[MrBunbury]

It surprises me that I am the first to comment on the play. Anyway, I saw it last night and it looks good. Very good acting from Leo Bill and Lydia Wilson, a flexible set that works well, and more focus on the actual power dynamics than on the gory bits. I had only seen an amateur production of the Duchess of Malfi before and this version made me understand why this is a good play.
It finished around 10,20 PM.

[foxa]

There are a few plays that I would have thought would have had more comments,including this one (also Ravens at Hampstead - anyone seen that yet?)

Anyway, seeing this tonight. It's a play that I've read but not seen before - and I hear Lydia Wilson is amazing.

[Jan]

Dec 12, 2019 16:05:26 GMT foxa said:

There are a few plays that I would have thought would have had more comments,including this one (also Ravens at Hampstead - anyone seen that yet?)

Anyway, seeing this tonight. It's a play that I've read but not seen before - and I hear Lydia Wilson is amazing.

It’s a great play. There are a couple of quotes in it about politicians that should get a laugh tonight. I’m seeing it later in the run.

[Dave B]

We saw it tonight. Lydia Wilson is particularly strong. Indeed a big laugh (or sob) at one particular line refering to politicians.

I found it quite gripping, I really liked the staging. It's deceptively simple and very effective. The music also works very well. There is, of course, some hand-held mics because they seem to be essential this year.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler - click to view}
I did find the ending slightly OTT, it just went on a little bit too long but that's a minor quibble.

[oxfordsimon]

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler - click to view}
I haven't seen this production, but the final act is and has always been over-extended. I have seen audiences laughing at the series of deaths. It is one of the difficulties with the genre for modern audiences

Dec 13, 2019 23:59:18 GMT Dave B said:

We saw it tonight. Lydia Wilson is particularly strong. Indeed a big laugh (or sob) at one particular line refering to politicians.

I found it quite gripping, I really liked the staging. It's deceptively simple and very effective. The music also works very well. There is, of course, some hand-held mics because they seem to be essential this year.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler - click to view}
I did find the ending slightly OTT, it just went on a little bit too long but that's a minor quibble.

[foxa]

Thanks to Jan's prompt about lines about politicians, I was listening for these. This one got a laugh the night I went (election night): 'A politician is the devil' s quilted anvil; he fashions all sins on him and the blows are never heard. '

Then we walked out towards Highbury & Islington and checked the exit poll results.

I go to the theatre so often, it's not surprising that key political events are connected to a theatre visit. We saw 'Threepenny Opera' at the NT the day of the referendum result. After the interval, Kinnear came out and said something like 'Ah, you are here. You could have chosen to leave and yet you REMAIN.'

[Jan]

Dec 15, 2019 12:00:13 GMT foxa said:

Thanks to Jan's prompt about lines about politicians, I was listening for these. This one got a laugh the night I went (election night): 'A politician is the devil' s quilted anvil; he fashions all sins on him and the blows are never heard. '

Then we walked out towards Highbury & Islington and checked the exit poll results.

I go to the theatre so often, it's not surprising that key political events are connected to a theatre visit. We saw 'Threepenny Opera' at the NT the day of the referendum result. After the interval, Kinnear came out and said something like 'Ah, you are here. You could have chosen to leave and yet you REMAIN.'

The other one is:

I would sooner swim to the Bermoothes on
Two politicians' rotten bladders, tied
Together with an intelligencer's heart-string,
Than depend on so changeable a prince's favour.

In a previous production McKellen spat out those lines with relish.