The Second Woman - 24 hour play at The Young Vic

[BurlyBeaR]

Merged

[TallPaul]

It sounds like one of those Comic Relief dance-a-thons, but with Ruth Wilson rather than Sara Cox.

[Jon]

I'm tempted to apply to be one of the 100 men, I wonder you get any dialogue or if you're essentially the verbal punching bag.

[mrbarnaby]

It sounds terrible. Easy pass.

[mkb]

Feb 9, 2023 0:36:48 GMT mrbarnaby said:

It sounds terrible. Easy pass.

If Brenda's casket-viewing queue taught us anything, it's that there's a market for fun-free endurance events. People will lap this up.

[Deleted]

Apologies for creating the other thread on this. I swear I tried a half-dozen search terms to see if one existed and got no results. Glad the mods locked my errant effort.

[foxa]

As Young Vic friend, just tried to book for one of the time slots. Not a long wait but, even give that by the time it was my turn, tickets only available for 4 a.m. so didn't book anything. Not too disappointed, because the times for the pre-booked slots weren't the best - but may try to rock up on the day and queue.

[londontg]

Managed to book a 24-hour ticket since I didn't think the time slots were too convenient. Looking forward to it

[londonpostie]

At this rate, if Ruth isn't careful, she's going to miss out a SECOND TIME! on performing with me ..

[londonpostie]

Well, she got lucky ..

Managed to get a late afternoon slot on Friday (19th May). Can always go to credit if I have a change of mind.

Public booking open, though not cheap at £37.50 inc. building renovation.

[zahidf]

Got a Sat morning ticket. 8am!

[alessia]

sold out- I'll chance it on the day I think..

[foxa]

Kwame Kwei-Armah and Lucy Davies  (Executive Director) just did a livestream with updates about upcoming work and mentioned that they thought there was a good likelihood of tickets available on the day for The Second Woman. They imagine it being quite fluid and especially at less popular times.

Another interesting thing he said was that they had planned to do a play about Chelsea Manning but it fell through so they decided to put Beneatha's Place on instead. They also spoke about the challenges post-pandemic including that people are booking much later and that event theatre was important.

[Jon]

Out of interest, have they said how you can apply to be one of the 100 men or has that chance passed?

[theatrelover123]

Apr 18, 2023 8:40:03 GMT foxa said:

Kwame Kwei-Armah and Lucy Davies  (Executive Director) just did a livestream with updates about upcoming work and mentioned that they thought there was a good likelihood of tickets available on the day for The Second Woman. They imagine it being quite fluid and especially at less popular times.

Another interesting thing he said was that they had planned to do a play about Chelsea Manning but it fell through so they decided to put Beneatha's Place on instead. They also spoke about the challenges post-pandemic including that people are booking much later and that event theatre was important.

Did they talk about any other work that hasn’t been announced yet?

[foxa]

Apr 19, 2023 6:10:12 GMT theatrelover123 said:

Did they talk about any other work that hasn’t been announced yet?

Not really. They were more discussing the process of deciding and that things can get quite far along and then not work out. Someone asked what they thought a 'Young Vic play' was and they gave examples of the breadth of their work,but also what would resonate in that space (which they praised for its versatility) and their audiences. There wasn't anything about how to apply to be one of the men, but suggested, if I caught this correctly, that the scene involved a kiss (!)

When so many artistic directors are jumping ship, I was pretty impressed with how upbeat they both were (but I have a soft spot for the YV anyway and go to see most things there.)

[samuelwhiskers]

Kwame IS an actor. But he's also extremely tenacious, so maybe he'll manage to hang in there.

[alessia]

There are some more tickets just released, for anyone who wants to go! I just managed to book for Friday 4pm!

[londonpostie]

May 17, 2023 10:48:02 GMT alessia said:

There are some more tickets just released, for anyone who wants to go! I just managed to book for Friday 4pm!

I booked on 6th March .. for 4pm on Friday

[alessia]

Queue for this is (4pm entry) all around the corner and people have turned up with provisions to stay for the whole 24 h…!

[Steve]

Got here at 3:15pm and was already round the corner. Queue started moving at about 3:35pm, and I just sat down in the centre stalls at 3:40pm.

I will definitely not be staying 24 hours. I'm aiming at 4 - 8 hours, and then leaving and sleeping, so I can attend a couple of other shows tomorrow.

Hopefully the televised show will be made available to buy and watch after the fact so we can all see what we've missed.

PS: there's gauze surrounding a small rectangular box of a stage, but at least you can see through the gauze, unlike that show at the Southwark.

[foxa]

Looking forward to hearing what you think! Decided in the end, despite my FOMO, couldn't do it because am going to the matinee of Guys and Dolls tomorrow and didn't want to be exhausted/rushed.

[londonpostie]

Arrived about 3.40. I had been thinking along the lines of the pre-covid version, so was taken aback. Chained up the bike, assessed the scene, returned the ticket, unchained the bike. Maybe I should have gone with the flow, not really at the races today.

[alessia]

This is just great, I’m loving it. The seating is a first come first serve so the people who turned up early got the best, but there is already quite a bit of shuffling as people begin to leave. I am enjoying all the interactions so far, some of the guys have been hilarious. I hope to see some who will play it serious rather than just for the laughs…won’t stay for much longer, aimed at 3-4 hours max. It was a nice surprise to see Jack Thorne show up as one of the men! And Jack Farthing is sitting behind me in the audience.

[Steve]

6:10pm and we've seen 8 guys, and it's the first 15 minute break.

This is not a normal scene, more like a David Lynch character locked in some sick circular fantasy, reliving some past trauma, and paying gigolos to act out a scene with her. For she gives them money at the end.

This is not at all like the play within the film "Opening Night," where Gena Rowlands rewrites the scene every time she plays it because she can't face playing an aging character.

Rather, Ruth Wilson is like a locked in rag doll, following a script formulaically, but willing to bounce off her partner.

Thus, it is the men who rewrite the scene, with one describing her as the PM, another as an Amber Heard to his Johnny Depp, another as a woman old enough to be his mother.

The men who gave little got little back. The men who gave more, got more back.

I am certain the actors lined up are watching the action on a screen, as Guy number 5 was hilarious, in that he knew just how psychosexually nuts the whole thing was, and got on his knees to her right at the beginning and apologised profusely, disarming Wilson's character, and then nattering on charmingly and disarmingly the whole time, defusing the endless awkward silences

He referred to wanting a "normal" night, which got huge laughs because it showed he was self-reflexively aware how impossible that would be.

EDIT: Someone working on the show told me the guys definitely do NOT watch what the other guys ahead of them are doing, and may not even know what Wilson looks like in this. One guy in it subsequently told an acquaintance of mine he had no idea she'd be blonde in this (blonde wig) and wearing a red dress.