1,013 posts
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Post by talkstageytome on Jan 21, 2016 23:27:37 GMT
Just caught the tour of An Inspector Calls at my local theatre and unfortunately, thought I still think the plot is brilliant, and left the theatre wracking my brains as to what actually happened at the end, the production as a whole was not very enjoyable unfortunately. I thought some of the symbolism was very heavy handed, the cast seemed badly directed (I couldn't fathom why the actress playing Sheila kept maniacally laughing all the time!) and overall there were so many bits of direction that didn't make sense.
There was a new character, a little boy, who ran around trying to get underneath the curtain at the beginning of the show, he kept appearing throughout the show and the end he stood next to the inspector while he delivered his final speech?! WHY? I didn't understand it.
The set design, while clever, was a bit over the top in my opinion. And the characters help to 'build' it at the start. Burling's walking cane becomes the handrail for the staircase. Again.. why? Plus it looked really odd!
Also at least the first 10 minutes of the action took place inside a house on stage with all the walls shut, so we could not only not see what was going on, we couldn't hear anything either because the house wall stopped the voices from traveling as much. I understood the symbolism but it just didn't work practically.
There were some redeeming elements. Some symbolism was clever (Mrs. Burling walking outside on a carpet to keep from getting dirty while the children all ended up a bit bedraggled etc. ) and some of the cast were very good (Mrs Burling and Gerald and the Inspector in particular. I'll have to find my programme for names). But yes, overall I wasn't keen on this production. Such a shame, and I really do love the play.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 22, 2016 11:02:24 GMT
Maybe the boy has been put into the production to represent all the school kids who are seeing it just because they're studying it? I'm in two minds about seeing this when it comes my way - on the one hand, I've already seen this production and although I missed a lot because I was surrounded by (surprise) a noisy school group, I don't think there's much more I could get out of it. But on the other hand, I understand Liam Brennan is the Inspector and I like him very much, so I'm still irritatingly undecided.
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152 posts
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Post by alnoor on Jan 22, 2016 22:59:27 GMT
Maybe the boy has been put into the production to represent all the school kids who are seeing it just because they're studying it? I'm in two minds about seeing this when it comes my way - on the one hand, I've already seen this production and although I missed a lot because I was surrounded by (surprise) a noisy school group, I don't think there's much more I could get out of it. But on the other hand, I understand Liam Brennan is the Inspector and I like him very much, so I'm still irritatingly undecided. Just think------you decide to go and are again surrounded by noisy school kids. How will you feel? If okay, then go If the thought is not pleasing, then spend your money on something else. Is the production with the same NT set? |
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526 posts
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Post by danielwhit on Jan 23, 2016 1:12:23 GMT
Good grief - does this mean it isn't the creaking NT set that's been wheeled out again for once and we've got something different?
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1,013 posts
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Post by talkstageytome on Jan 23, 2016 12:47:19 GMT
Never saw the production at the National but just googled it and it looks like the same set to me.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 23, 2016 15:22:40 GMT
After all these years, you'd think they'd have found a way to stop it falling apart at every performance.
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93 posts
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Post by avenueqresident on Nov 10, 2016 16:19:41 GMT
Anyone catching this at the Playhouse Theatre? Shall be attending tonight's press evening.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 12, 2016 15:52:07 GMT
Ha ha! Can you "catch" a production that's been running for most of the last thirty odd years? You could "catch" the mummies at the British Museum tomorrow afternoon and make a weekend of it. Anyone catching this at the Playhouse Theatre? Shall be attending tonight's press evening. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 12, 2016 17:28:22 GMT
Ha ha! Can you "catch" a production that's been running for most of the last thirty odd years? You could "catch" the mummies at the British Museum tomorrow afternoon and make a weekend of it. Anyone catching this at the Playhouse Theatre? Shall be attending tonight's press evening. You can "catch" a production if it is only doing a limited run in the West End that has been coming back every few years.  |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 12, 2016 17:37:10 GMT
Very excited to see this next year with my school
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1,057 posts
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Post by David J on Nov 12, 2016 18:31:02 GMT
Managed to see this after a disrupted train journey into Waterloo meant I couldn't see The Royale. Managed to get a £20.00 aisle seat in the balcony, and apart from the telephone box in the auditorium I had a clear view
Still it's another tick off the list of thing's I'd like to see
I like a bit of symbolism, but like talkstageytome I think its a bit heavy-handed. Even to the detriment of the running time. There's one point where Gerald and Sheila are arguing after he had revealed his relationship to the girl. All of a sudden the curtain came down, and the boy had to bang the radio to raise it again, and the play would continue from where it stopped about a minute ago.
It's the stage equivalent of having to nudge the satellite dish back in place halfway through your favourite programme
There were only a few moments of over-acting, and the Inspector was great to watch
Still I like the play, and I had a good time, but have no need to see this again
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Post by Deleted on Nov 13, 2016 17:12:59 GMT
Four stars today from Lyn Gardner (The Guardian)!
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Post by Deleted on Nov 15, 2016 19:18:14 GMT
I think this must be the same production I saw in Sheffield early this year. It was ok, but like talkstageytome says, you can't hear much in the early scenes, and there are a few odd bits. I'd seen a production years ago with one of the McGanns - maybe 10 or 15 years ago perhaps? - and liked that one much more. It didn't help that I was surrounded by groups of school kids rustling sweets and reciting along with the cast, but this felt a bit flat and like it was going through the motions.
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105 posts
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Post by youngoffender on Dec 23, 2016 17:33:26 GMT
I had never managed to see this over the last quarter century so thought I should take the opportunity on a pre-Christmas afternoon in London. Goodness me, what a pious bore it is. The characters are chipboard archetypes, the plot schematic and pedestrian, and as if the moral hadn't been laid on with a trowel the Inspector goes and repeats it to us in a 'now listen children' lecture. Barbara Marten lifts proceedings with her face, and there's a bit more intrigue in the final quarter, but the much vaunted 'coup de theatre' seems modelled on a creaky provincial funfair.
This feels very much like 'improving' theatre pitched squarely at school groups, but I fear it could put any teenager off the stage for life.
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1,245 posts
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Post by joem on Dec 29, 2016 23:43:01 GMT
I was looking forward to this as I've enjoyed it the two times I've seen it before (including once in Spanish!), and this production, which I missed first time round, came with such high prise to recommend it. Yes, the play goes back a while but I saw no reason why it couldn't work today.
Well, I don't know if this is suffering from Mousetrap syndrome but this production is now at best quite flat and at worst totally melodramatic. The plot does have melodramatic elements but you overcome this by under-emphasising them, not by delivering lines (as some were) as if they came from a Greek tragedy.
The staging might have been great in the National but the Playhouse's stage is obviously smaller. The corner of the house stuck at the back of the stage where you strain to hear what the main characters are saying, while waifs and strays carry out a pointless dumbshow on centre stage - not in the text of course - simply does not work once the initital interesting effect fades. It carries on for far too long.
I wish I'd seen this 20 years ago.
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Post by Snciole on Dec 30, 2016 8:01:01 GMT
I wrote a review here viewfromthecheapseat.com/2016/12/29/an-inspector-calls-playhouse-theatre/ and I agree it has dated terribly as a production but still a mesmerising piece of work. I think the contrast in acting styles didn't help, I thought the younger male leads played it as if they were in a 1940s radio play which clashed with Brennan's cool and collected performance. There's a lot of unnecessary hysteria before they even found anyone had died. The ensemble cast add nothing to this and it is too heavy handed for what I think is a subtle text. Team Barbara Marten, who livens it up when it risks getting samey and dull. |
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1,102 posts
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Post by zak97 on Jan 26, 2017 9:35:58 GMT
Definitely closing at the end of its booking period. Will be replaced by David Baddiel - My Family Not the Sitcom (see ATG).
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115 posts
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Post by rosscoe on Feb 28, 2017 1:36:27 GMT
Ok was a little jet lagged when I saw this , so need some help!
What was the point of the children at the start?
Was the whole thing a set up for a murder to take place later ?
Can somebody explain, I was lost
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Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2017 8:50:49 GMT
But now I am found
Praise be
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Post by Deleted on Mar 18, 2017 18:10:16 GMT
Well. I'd never seen this before as I was *much* too young for the original NT version. It's a bit creaky I suppose but I can imagine just how sensational it was when it first opened. Some of the cast tend to want to show us that they're ACTING DARLING a bit too much but I like the message of the play so I'll overlook it.
Someone needs to sort out the set though. It all fell apart and it wasn't even The Play That Goes Wrong. Very shoddy.
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4,021 posts
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Post by Dawnstar on Mar 18, 2017 18:15:43 GMT
Someone needs to sort out the set though. It all fell apart and it wasn't even The Play That Goes Wrong. Very shoddy. Are you sure the Inspector wasn't being played by a certain Chris Bean? |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 29, 2018 1:47:20 GMT
Looks like this is touring again this year.
The only dates I've found are York Theatre Royal (14 - 22 September) and New Wimbledon Theatre (2 to 6 October).
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529 posts
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Post by jampot on Oct 5, 2018 9:50:44 GMT
Mayflower Sept 2019
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Post by Jan on Oct 5, 2018 12:26:00 GMT
For some reason I didn’t see this originally at NT so I will go and see it this time. It is a GCSE set text which explains its return I suppose.
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Post by Jan on Oct 7, 2018 9:24:18 GMT
I thought this was OK. The staging is clever with the Inspector and kids located in 1945 and the house and family in 1910 - highlighted Priestley's intentions. Not sure about the acting, the Inspector was naturalistic but the family edged towards 2-dimensional caricature, not sure if that was intentional or the result of short rehearsal time for the tour. Biggest disappointment was the big stage effect with the house - very feeble - probably because it has been hyped in every review of the production for the last 25 years. Diana Payne-Myers is in this, she has been in a lot of the revivals and tours of the play and she's now 90 years old. Good for her. Anyway, overall, a good 3*.
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