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Post by vernongersh on Jul 9, 2022 23:01:26 GMT
sorry to hear about covid in the cast. saw this last week and while I was a major fan of CYRANO (one of my favorite theatre going experiences ever - truly believe Jamie Lloyd is a genius) I had a tough time with this. Thought Indira, Daniel and Emilia were all excellent. I agree about the monotony of the entire production. The scenes with Indira and Daniel brought the show to life - it just was missing something for me. I have never seen or read The Seagull so had no baseline on the plot or characters. I wanted to leave at intermission but my friend wanted to stay so we stayed - glad I stayed though if only to see a very tight second act.
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Post by theatrekiwi on Jul 11, 2022 19:15:55 GMT
Cancelled tonight due to "unforeseen circumstances" - received email just under 2 hours in advance!
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Post by Jan on Jul 12, 2022 6:38:02 GMT
Cancelled tonight due to "unforeseen circumstances" - received email just under 2 hours in advance! Just as well given the complaints here about how hot the auditorium was even before this heatwave ! |
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Post by floorshow on Jul 14, 2022 18:01:01 GMT
No Indira tonight  |
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Post by peggs on Jul 15, 2022 13:43:05 GMT
There are lines about mobile phones and movies? It's THAT updated?!
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Post by NeilVHughes on Jul 15, 2022 14:14:35 GMT
It has been updated to current times, it only impacts a few lines, acting and writing is equally valid for Theatre, Film & TV, the most jarring was the reference to the cars but if you didn’t know the play it would not really be noticeable.
I was disappointed that Indira (the draw for me) was not there last night but her understudy did a great job and must have been prepped in rehearsals and COVID issues must have been assumed to occur.
I enjoyed it, the minimalist staging made the language carry the full weight and did make me notice a few new things especially Nina’s musing on fame through Emilia’s eyes. It worked best before the interval as we were getting to know the characters and their relationships, after the interval (Act IV) the minimalist setting made it difficult to determine that two years have passed diminishing the the denouement and it became more of a narration and could leave you cold if you hadn’t seen the play before.
One thing that was under developed was the unrequited love between Konstantin and Masha which made her relationship with Semyon more comic than tragic.
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Post by floorshow on Jul 15, 2022 15:30:22 GMT
Yep, I'd second all of that.
Tina Harris played Arkadina and didn't put a foot wrong all night, she was great.
The modern updates weren't bothersome (all the mobile phone stuff wouldn't be missed in any way at all if removed), the most noticeable update is the first anecdote about the low C which definitely puts it in a certain timeframe.
I thought they gave up with the choreography a bit in the second half, it felt quite static compared to the first and that was hardly ripping along like Cyrano.
Pitch of the dialogue was perfect for the production despite the noisy fans and air-con. In stalls B everything was perfectly audible without the mics.
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Post by david on Jul 20, 2022 22:33:27 GMT
Having a spare theatre slot this afternoon, I took a punt on this with a TT £25 rush ticket that by a great seat in row B of the stalls. My viewing if Chekhov plays is some what limited (about 3 plays in total) and I was going into this viewing without any prior knowledge of the play so despite this issue I could follow what was happening quite easily. The creative decisions by JL in staging this play certainly threw up some issues for me. Whilst I knew I wasn’t going to get a big set production based on his creative style, I did think the bare box set whilst useful in allowing the audience to focus on the text and the relationships between the different characters (though I’m sure I may if missed a lot if stuff from the text due to the way it was staged) . The absence of kind of information about the passage of time (especially between Acts 1 and 2) and different locations for each scene was for me was an issue. The use of some projections at the back of the box to indicate time and location would of been a useful addition. I wasn’t really sure of the point of the cast in bare feet. Did JL just not have the money to buy shoes or was there some deeper point he was trying to make by this choice that completely passed me by? Whilst I liked the entire cast and there where some nice comedy moments (I think we had Tina Harris this afternoon who I thought was great. I couldn’t see any visible cast board or info about understudies could see ) Act 1 flew by but I really did struggle with Act 2’s much slower pace and lack of any movement from the cast. I’d certainly agree with joem in that having been sat in a theatre or listening to this particular version of the play on the radio I think I would of had the same experience. It was certainly an interesting afternoons viewing, though maybe not the best introduction to this play for a newbie like myself. Rating - 3⭐️ |
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Post by andrew on Jul 20, 2022 22:36:15 GMT
Whilst I liked the entire cast and there where some nice comedy moments (I think we had Tina Harris this afternoon who I thought was great. I couldn’t see any visible cast board or info about understudies could see ) It was Indira - and the full principal cast. |
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Post by david on Jul 20, 2022 22:38:16 GMT
Whilst I liked the entire cast and there where some nice comedy moments (I think we had Tina Harris this afternoon who I thought was great. I couldn’t see any visible cast board or info about understudies could see ) It was Indira - and the full principal cast. Thanks for that. I wasn’t really sure TBH. She was definitely worth watching. |
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Post by jm25 on Jul 27, 2022 21:50:00 GMT
I thought this was truly dreadful. Not seen any Chekhov before and am not familiar with any of his plays, so going in I wasn’t bothered about how faithful to the original text this was or wasn’t going to be. I’d seen pictures of the staging beforehand too and, whilst it didn’t look like my cup of tea, figured there’s no point going in without an open mind.
But my god did I struggle. The minimalist staging felt pretentious and like something a bunch of GCSE drama students would have come up with - absolutely no sense of time or place. And whilst I get that the point of the mics was to allow the actors to deliver their lines in a soft, intimate manner, the constant whispering just made me feel like I was stuck in some weird whispering ASMR video. If anything I found the languid delivery of the lines totally took me out of it, and frankly the glazed over looks on the actors’ faces matched mine all throughout.
Pacing wise this felt very uneven - the first ‘half’ dragged and the second ‘half’ felt far too short. And what was perhaps most surprising of all for me was how unimpressive the cast were. Again, it might just have been because I wasn’t sold on the staging or delivery of lines (in which case it’s a directorial issue), but I thought the acting was really sub par. Indira Varma was the one stand out and the chap playing Trigorin was decent. But on the other hand the lady playing Masha looked totally out of her depth and even Emilia Clarke came across as rather one-note, save for her big scene at the end. That said, I’ve found her quite one note in most of her post-Game of Thrones roles - though I feel terrible saying that because she seems like the most lovely person in real life! (Incidentally, at the curtain call a chap at the front was reaching up onto the stage to try and shake her hand, and even when she swiftly departed without obliging he carried on calling after her, practically crawling on the stage, shouting how much he loved her. The second hand embarrassment for him was one thing but how awful if that’s what she has to put up with on a regular basis.)
Anyway, just wasn’t for me. Definitely seems like a marmite production and I’m glad that some people have loved it. But frankly I’m struggling to think of a night at the theatre I’ve enjoyed less.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Jul 27, 2022 22:16:03 GMT
Ooh, shaking hands at a curtain call is so awkward. Half the front row of Prima Facie tried to shake Jodie Comer’s hand and she shook a few, but what a thing to ask for when she’s just seconds before finished such an extraordinary feat!
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Post by jm25 on Jul 27, 2022 22:37:40 GMT
Ooh, shaking hands at a curtain call is so awkward. Half the front row of Prima Facie tried to shake Jodie Comer’s hand and she shook a few, but what a thing to ask for when she’s just seconds before finished such an extraordinary feat! With Prima Facie, I think I'd sort of understand the hand shaking if the person doing it was the one she chucks the crisps at. When I went I was front row and the poor girl next to me got pelted! I don't think a good-natured handshake at the end would have felt as weird in that context, even if poor Jodie would presumably still have been wiping her tears away at the same time! Obviously The Seagull has a slightly less intense ending, and Emilia was of course her usual, lovely, smiley self during the bows. But I don't know, it felt like crossing a bit of a boundary - and that was before he started clambering over the front of the stage! I get that big name actors will always have their superfans, and there's nothing wrong with that, but I think that sort of thing would be slightly more appropriate at the stage door. |
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Post by Rory on Jul 28, 2022 6:00:50 GMT
If he was clambering over the stage, the Harold Pinter needs to urgently review the security measures.
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Post by Jan on Jul 28, 2022 6:45:26 GMT
If he was clambering over the stage, the Harold Pinter needs to urgently review the security measures. What security measures do you suggest ? |
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Post by Rory on Jul 28, 2022 6:51:43 GMT
If he was clambering over the stage, the Harold Pinter needs to urgently review the security measures. What security measures do you suggest ? If you have a 'star' and over zealous fans, then you need to ensure the former's safety. How the theatre team and producers adequately does that is a matter for them. |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 28, 2022 7:56:02 GMT
If he was clambering over the stage, the Harold Pinter needs to urgently review the security measures. What security measures do you suggest ? It wouldn't take much to have security guards at each end of the stage for the curtain call. If they're at the end of the aisles they wouldn't be blocking any audience members. Or else have them in the wings able to rush on quickly. That isn't difficult. |
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Post by Jan on Jul 28, 2022 8:03:36 GMT
What security measures do you suggest ? If you have a 'star' and over zealous fans, then you need to ensure the former's safety. How the theatre team and producers adequately does that is a matter for them. I've seen someone from the audience actually get on stage a couple of times - what happens is that a suitably burly member of the backstage staff immediately comes on stage and leads them off. As no-one actually got on stage this time we don't know what arrangements they have in place at the Harold Pinter so calling for "an urgent review" is unwarranted. As you suggest, let's leave it to them. |
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Post by Jan on Jul 28, 2022 8:05:51 GMT
What security measures do you suggest ? Or else have them in the wings able to rush on quickly. That isn't difficult. That's what they have. |
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Post by Rory on Jul 28, 2022 9:20:27 GMT
If you have a 'star' and over zealous fans, then you need to ensure the former's safety. How the theatre team and producers adequately does that is a matter for them. I've seen someone from the audience actually get on stage a couple of times - what happens is that a suitably burly member of the backstage staff immediately comes on stage and leads them off. As no-one actually got on stage this time we don't know what arrangements they have in place at the Harold Pinter so calling for "an urgent review" is unwarranted. As you suggest, let's leave it to them. OK Jan, I may be being unfair to the Pinter staff, who I'm sure have had plenty of practice after Jodie Comer's run of dealing with punters getting carried away. |
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Post by andrew on Jul 28, 2022 12:13:08 GMT
If he was clambering over the stage, the Harold Pinter needs to urgently review the security measures. What security measures do you suggest ? An electric fence at the edge of the stage. Nothing obtrusive, just construct the front of the stage out of conductive material and electrocute people who touch it. Trying to climb up to get a hug from the dragon queen? Zap! Sitting on the stage at the interval (we've all seen it done at some point)? Zap! Putting your interval drink on the stage? Zap! Staging actors to be clambering up and down from the stage because you forgot to construct wings in your set? Zap zap zap! I was at the matinee yesterday on one of their special key workers discount days, which it turns out had a bunch of cameras for NTLive (or NTnot-so-live in this case) blocking many many peoples views, although they did their best to move the affected rows down. I was in stalls E so had a nice cosy view which felt very necessary for this. I would not recommend anything remotely far away, this is really a small black box play unfortunately presented in a large West End house. From my position though, it was great. The whispering actors aesthetic really appeals to me for some reason, it reminded me of Brendan Cowell in Verma, there can be a lot of power in dialogue spoken intimately. The combination of that and being close enough to see the fairly understated performances on offer from (most) of the cast and presumably the fact I've never seen The Seagull made for an intoxicating experience. It's about acting and writing and performance and is being played out in the most stripped down, least performative way. I found myself incredibly drawn in to some of the scenes, especially between Varma and Monks, and between Rhys Harries and Clarke. I am becoming a bit of a Jamie Lloyd apologist, and yes this could easily have been an Edinburgh fringe show above a pub instead of a West End premium priced event, but I enjoyed it a lot more than most people here seemed to! It probably helped that it was about 25 degrees and not 40 on this particular Wednesday afternoon. |
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Post by Marwood on Aug 5, 2022 21:31:44 GMT
Saw this tonight and wasn’t impressed: the first act seemed interminable and wasn’t helped by that crappy chipboard set, looking at the whole cast sitting in the background for the duration looking bored out of their minds waiting to say their lines (or just the one line on more than one occasion) didn’t help.
I don’t know what had been drunk or smoked when some genius decided it needed a version of Give Us A Clue to make this more ‘contemporary’ but it was just wrong…(I let the mention of helicopters, Jeeps and the like slide)
Nothing wrong with Emilia Clarkes performance but this really wasn’t the sort of play to put a big photo of her above the signs outside the theatre: there were long stretches where she didn’t have to do anything (must have been twenty minutes at least in the second act before she said a word) and Indira Varma carried the first act imho. But anyway, I got a reduced price ticket and I’m sure/hoping I will have forgotten all about this in a month or so’s time…
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Post by jr on Aug 6, 2022 6:58:04 GMT
I was at the matinee yesterday on one of their special key workers discount days.
ThinknI messed up the quoting thing...
I am a NHS worker and have previously got discount tickets for JL's productions. How does it work for The seagull?
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Post by andrew on Aug 6, 2022 8:02:13 GMT
I was at the matinee yesterday on one of their special key workers discount days. ThinknI messed up the quoting thing... I am a NHS worker and have previously got discount tickets for JL's productions. How does it work for The seagull? Just through the Jamie Lloyd Company website. You click book tickets and there's an option for key worker discounts. |
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Post by ruperto on Aug 9, 2022 23:00:43 GMT
Just back from this tonight. God, that was bad. That truly monstrous chipboard set, the school chairs (please, no more school chairs…), the monotone slooooow delivery by a number of the cast members, an unforgivable contemporary adaptation with references to mobile phone packages, Meat Loaf hits and blogs. If anyone sees me trying to book a ticket for another “stripped back” Jamie Lloyd production, I give them permission to put me in a headlock and wrench my credit card out of my hands.
It felt like a giant “f*** you” to theatre ticket buyers (OK, some theatre ticket buyers - I appreciate that some people seemed to like it!).
I seemed to have lots of restless people around me, and a few people bailed at the interval.
Thank god for Indira Varma as Arkadina, who was great. Her performance felt like it had been beamed in from another much better show across town. I really wish I’d been at that show.
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