Jitney - Leeds Playhouse / Old Vic & Tour

[Deleted]

For anyone (like me!) trying to see the rest of August Wilson's Pittsburgh Cycle after King Hedley II and Two Trains Running last year ..

headlong.co.uk/productions/jitney/

Leeds Playhouse from 05/09/20 - 19/09/20

As its Headlong I presume more venues will be added?

Edited to add .. apparently so - www.playbill.com/article/new-headlong-seasonjeremy-herrins-lastto-include-jack-thorne-premiere-august-wilsons-jitney-more

Later in the year, a U.K. touring production of August Wilson’s Jitney, directed by Tinuke Craig, begins in September at Leeds Playhouse, which serves as co-producer

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[bordeaux]

The production at the National in 2001, brought over from the US was superb. Looking forward to this. Would love to see some more too: Seven Guitars sounds great.

[Mark]

Did anyone see this in Leeds during its run last October? I hadn't realised the Old Vic production was a transfer until searching for a thread.

PWC £10 tickets for previews 9-14th June will go on sale tomorrow (26/4) at Midday.

[Mark]

Straight in and row H stalls booked for first preview today.

[Dave B]

Yup, easy booking for me too. Row G for third or fourth preview.

[cavocado]

I'm still 571 in the queue, 21 mins to go...

EDIT: there were still plenty of tickets available when I got in.

[edi]

Some good PWC tickets appeared on the website.

[zahidf]

May 26, 2022 9:54:31 GMT edi said:

Some good PWC tickets appeared on the website.

Thanks, just got one

[showgirl]

Still seems to have lots of seats unsold (at least for matinees, which I checked as no way can I do 2 hours 30 in the evening), which may explain why the Old Vic is offering such a good deal for bookings made this weekend. Suited me since apart from the fact that PWC dates go live during working hours so I can't queue then, they never include any matinees. So now I have a top-price (£65, which I'd never pay) stalls seat for £10 and no booking fee. Worth a chance at that price.

[Mark]

Was at the first preview tonight. My first time seeing an August Wilson play - had only seen the film of Fences prior.
I thought it was very good overall. Wil Johnson in particular I thought delivered the performance of the night - exceptional.
It took a while to “tune in” to the show and it does start very quiet, and the accents are quite strong. Once it gets going though it really gets going! Another strong outing at the Old Vic

Runtime: 2 hours 55. They are advertising it as 2:30 plus a 20 minute interval so maybe a few minutes to tighten.

[edi]

I saw this yesterday, liked it a lot, interesting snapshot of the lives of these people. I didn't like what happened to the chap who owns the jitney, I thought it could've been done differently, but hey-ho, that's how the playwright wrote the story.

Anyways, I was wondering about something. I had real trouble to understand the play to start with, the accents were very strong, as Mark above has already said, and I worried that I won't enjoy it at all. However after a short while I had no problem at all, everything was clear. I was wondering whether my ears were getting used to the accents as I eased into it, or is it that the actors lose their (assumingly) fake accents as they ease into it? I cannot judge it because English is not my first language so I am not good with recognisig accents.

[lichtie]

I saw it on Friday too. I think I just tuned into the way they were speaking. I thought it was a good production of a play I was unfamiliar with, but would agree the ending is a bit weak (even if it's telegraphed earlier in the play).

[Forrest]

I liked this too, and particularly enjoyed it for the performances. Sule Rimi was my absolute favourite (but I might be biased, because I have loved him in everything I've seen him in so far), followed closely by Nnabiko Ejimofor (who looked so familiar for reasons I could not explain, before I realised he was recently in "For Black Boys... " at the Court!).

It isn't an amazing play, but it is definitely an enjoyable night out at the theatre, as for me it managed both to be entertaining and to give me something to think about (I very much enjoyed observing the clashes of generations, and the how-s and why-s behind these, and the interesting picture that it painted of men and expectations from men at the time when it was written).

[Steve]

I loved this. A terrific slice of life character play, beautifully performed.

Some spoilers follow. . .

At a Jitney (unlicensed) cab office, that serves an area where licensed cabs won't go, in Pittsburgh in the Seventies, we follow the lives of the drivers and everyone who passes through. . .

The characterisations are beautifully done, the language needs tuning in to (it happens fast), and the dramas of each character are movingly realised.

I've now seen four of August Wilson's Pittsburgh plays (and read one other), and would rank this one third of the four I've seen.

What this one lacks, that say, "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" (the National's version was nigh on perfect, with its visual hierarchy of status, from the top to the bottom of the stage) does better, is a fully climaxing central plotline and a fully realised social context that drives that climax.

By contrast, this play simmers and bubbles rather than explodes. And this play sidelines the racism that is a major context of Wilson's plays, to focus on multiple plots, the foremost of which is about the dangers of gossip.

That said, Sule Rime is on fire as the strutting, dressed-to-the-nines, too-cool-for-school gossipper, Turnbo, and gave one of my favourite performances among a sterling cast.

Wil Johnson's performance as the man in charge of the Jitney office, all restrained dignity, is overwhelmingly moving when he lets loose emotionally!

And Geoff Aymer is so convincing as optimistic, huffing and puffing, Korean war veteran, Doub, that I honestly and rarely couldn't spot the actor beneath the character, not even once.

I wouldn't miss this wonderfully realised character study, even though I feel Wilson has written plays that succeed on more layers than this one.

4 stars from me.

[theatrelover123]

I, on the other hand, found it quite tedious. I was 8 rows back and it wasn't the speed or rhythm of the speech that was the issue, it was the lack of any real volume or projection, particularly in Act 2. I think the acting was a mixed bag but I tended to struggle to really care for any characters. It felt a lot longer than 2.5 hours, needs tightening up or small cuts and I found the ending an odd anti-climax - almost like Wilson didn't really know how to end it. I have seen about 5 Wilsons and I would probably put this play - and production - bottom. The understudy last night did a fantastic job though - I did wonder why they had cast somebody who looks in their teens/20s as a character who is 39

[partytentdown]

I saw this last night and enjoyed it. Random question, I googled photos of the show when it was in Leeds and it had the same set design, but with some subtle but interesting differences like a different furniture layout and different signs on the wall etc. I'm curious why they would make these small changes?

[nottobe]

Odd the Old Vic haven't announced any summer shows yet. This ends of July 9th and summer would be an optimum time to get bums on seats. Maybe this will extended but that seems fairly unlikely.

[lichtie]

The gap is presumably where 4000 miles was supposed to be running until it got canned.

[Dave B]

I saw this last night and really enjoyed it. I had to double check my tickets after I saw reviews, it seems strange that PWC Previews continued after opening night, I'm not sure I've seen that happen at OV before.

Anyways, while I thought the play didn't really do anything new or tread any new ground, I think that it did everything it wanted to *really* well. The cast were all excellent (including understudy Blair Gyabaah, tho as noted above, an age difference in the role!). I found each character to be distinct and ... the word I came up with on the way home is warm. They all felt real and understandable and very little felt contrived. Sule Rime is fantastic, has a shining role from the start. Geoff Aymer and Wil Johnson do top, top work especially as the play goes on and their stories move to the front. Frankly all of the cast were excellent and I really could pick them all out here for praise.

Solidly enjoyable evening. For a PWC preview, there were a small but surprising number of good seats empty. Covid increase + heat might explain it but I very much hope this one plays to full houses for the rest of it's run.

[alessia]

I went on the first day, had a cheap dress circle side ticket (PWC preview, had I known it wasn't going to sell well, I'd have waited and tried for a stalls ticket!). Maybe because I was tired, but I didn't enjoy it that much. I had real trouble hearing the actors, it felt very quiet, not sure if the microphones were turned too low. The heavy accents did not help either. As a non native speaker, I struggle with heavy accents and Shakespeare sometimes, but this was harder than usual.
Previous visit for the 47th also sat in the dress circle and had a bit of trouble hearing. This has only ever happened to me at the Old Vic, so in future I will avoid non stalls seats there...

[NeilVHughes]

Found it extremely powerful, one scene knocked me for six and needed the interval to recover.

Took a few minutes to settle into the accents but once familiar it was no issue.

With the deals available well worth a visit.

[jamb0r]

About 10 minutes in I was really considering just walking out of this. I couldn’t understand a word anyone was saying, one actor in particular I didn’t understand at all for the length of the play (the one that kept putting his feet up on the table - thankfully he wasn’t in it much). Once things got going either my ears tuned in or they relaxed with the accents and I ended up loving it. Very glad I persevered!

[alessia]

Jun 21, 2022 15:46:04 GMT jamb0r said:

About 10 minutes in I was really considering just walking out of this. I couldn’t understand a word anyone was saying, one actor in particular I didn’t understand at all for the length of the play (the one that kept putting his feet up on the table - thankfully he wasn’t in it much). Once things got going either my ears tuned in or they relaxed with the accents and I ended up loving it. Very glad I persevered!

Yes I think I also got used to the accents after a bit. the main issue was that I just couldn't hear very well from the dress circle. It's clearly just me though. 

[nottobe]

Looks like Old Vic will announce new show soon as a application for an assistant director on an unnamed show running from 7th September to 29th October is up.

[Being Alive]

Yep, they're closed over the summer, and then back in Sept with something before Christmas Carol