Post by Dr Tom on Nov 29, 2019 9:45:54 GMT
This has been touring for a while now and I believe it's on its second cast.
For a Bill Kenwright production, the standards are high. A large cast for a play and a decent fold out set, covering a railway station and railway carriages.
This has been adapted from the Hitchcock film rather than the book, with a few changes to reduce the number of locations. It holds together remarkably well.
Croydon yesterday wasn't terribly full, unfortunately, despite the good pricing and excellent view of the front row (only ruined slightly by the elderly gentlemen next to me who seemed to think he'd paid for three seats, he moved reluctantly to let one lady sit down and I had to be more forceful than I'd like to claim back my seat). It was generally an older audience, perhaps attracted by the TV names.
The cast is filled mostly with names from TV soaps and old pop stars. They did a good job playing many roles and this could easily transfer for a limited run in the West End. There are a lot of senior members of the cast, including Gwen Taylor, and it was great to see them on the stage again. Andrew Lancel does tend to play many of his stage roles in the same way, but this worked for his character of Dr Hartz. And Scarlett Archer stood out as the lead.
The downside? 11 gunshots, most of them unnecessary, and not a gunshot warning in site. The only positive is they did announce which one would be the final gunshot, so I could relax after that point.
The audience seemed to enjoy it. A great laugh for a joke about Thomas Cook (which I presume didn't get that same laugh earlier in the tour). There is also an unintentionally funny staged fight, which is not terribly convincing and one of the weaker points of the evening. That one also got a good laugh from the audience. There are quite a few jokes that must have been added for the stage version.
This one is worth a trip if you have a spare evening. It's is relatively short (2 hours 15 minutes including the interval) and starts slowly, but builds. Like many thrillers, it won't work so well on a second viewing, but there's enough there to capture your attention for an evening.
For a Bill Kenwright production, the standards are high. A large cast for a play and a decent fold out set, covering a railway station and railway carriages.
This has been adapted from the Hitchcock film rather than the book, with a few changes to reduce the number of locations. It holds together remarkably well.
Croydon yesterday wasn't terribly full, unfortunately, despite the good pricing and excellent view of the front row (only ruined slightly by the elderly gentlemen next to me who seemed to think he'd paid for three seats, he moved reluctantly to let one lady sit down and I had to be more forceful than I'd like to claim back my seat). It was generally an older audience, perhaps attracted by the TV names.
The cast is filled mostly with names from TV soaps and old pop stars. They did a good job playing many roles and this could easily transfer for a limited run in the West End. There are a lot of senior members of the cast, including Gwen Taylor, and it was great to see them on the stage again. Andrew Lancel does tend to play many of his stage roles in the same way, but this worked for his character of Dr Hartz. And Scarlett Archer stood out as the lead.
The downside? 11 gunshots, most of them unnecessary, and not a gunshot warning in site. The only positive is they did announce which one would be the final gunshot, so I could relax after that point.
The audience seemed to enjoy it. A great laugh for a joke about Thomas Cook (which I presume didn't get that same laugh earlier in the tour). There is also an unintentionally funny staged fight, which is not terribly convincing and one of the weaker points of the evening. That one also got a good laugh from the audience. There are quite a few jokes that must have been added for the stage version.
This one is worth a trip if you have a spare evening. It's is relatively short (2 hours 15 minutes including the interval) and starts slowly, but builds. Like many thrillers, it won't work so well on a second viewing, but there's enough there to capture your attention for an evening.
