The Normal Heart at National Theate

[jgblunners]

Jul 30, 2021 8:04:13 GMT couldileaveyou said:

The 16-25 tickets are currently on sale btw.

I just purchased what is probably my last under 25 ticket, how soon hath time, the subtle thief of youth etc etc

I know how you feel, today’s public booking is the first set of shows that I can’t get 16-25 tickets for… the end of an era.

[theoracle]

Jul 30, 2021 8:04:13 GMT couldileaveyou said:

The 16-25 tickets are currently on sale btw.

I just purchased what is probably my last under 25 ticket, how soon hath time, the subtle thief of youth etc etc

Good shout! Thanks for this. I have just under 2 years left. Let us bid you farewell when your time has come.

[romeo94]

Has anyone managed to get the £20 tickets in the stalls/stage seating yet? I can only find them in the circle

[Dave B]

Jul 30, 2021 10:08:09 GMT romeo94 said:

Has anyone managed to get the £20 tickets in the stalls/stage seating yet? I can only find them in the circle

Only circle available at that price for the various dates I just looked at.

I assume they'll be the Rush tickets closer to the time.

[MrBunbury]

Jul 30, 2021 10:08:09 GMT romeo94 said:

Has anyone managed to get the £20 tickets in the stalls/stage seating yet? I can only find them in the circle

Yes, I just bought two.

[drmaplewood]

Yes just ordered £20 in stalls for 6 October

[jgblunners]

Jul 30, 2021 10:08:09 GMT romeo94 said:

Has anyone managed to get the £20 tickets in the stalls/stage seating yet? I can only find them in the circle

Most dates I looked at had a few £20 on the stage seating, but that was it for the stalls. I assume they all went in the presales and/or were allocated to 16-25, that's what usually happens.

[Dave B]

Jul 30, 2021 11:12:59 GMT Dave B said:

Jul 30, 2021 10:08:09 GMT romeo94 said:

Has anyone managed to get the £20 tickets in the stalls/stage seating yet? I can only find them in the circle

Only circle available at that price for the various dates I just looked at.

I assume they'll be the Rush tickets closer to the time.

Correcting myself, I did find (and booked!) stalls at £20 for later in the run

[JJShaw]

managed to get an on stage seat during October, there still seemed to be a few scatted across a few dates, but fairly sparce.

[prophet]

I was thinking of getting press nights tickets. I don't know what press nights mean? Do I get free champagne?

[Forrest]

prophet , no, if you are not press it is exactly the same as any other night at the theatre. :) (Either that, or I've had bad luck with press nights!)
It is simply the night that critics come in to review the production, which is performed in the way that it will be performed for the remainder of the run (i.e., the final version "tweaked" during previews).

I just got an on-stage £20 ticket for this, and one for Manor, and am feeling really happy and also impatient for the Autumn to arrive now.
(I have been avoiding crowds - and, hence, theatres - because I travel home for a month in a few days, so better safe than sorry and all that, but I am really missing it by now.)

[fiyerorocher]

Jul 30, 2021 16:41:19 GMT prophet said:

I was thinking of getting press nights tickets. I don't know what press nights mean? Do I get free champagne?

Occasionally you get a free programme but more often than not, it's no different than a regular performance. In my experience if you're after free champagne, you have to go to anniversary performances of Phantom :')

[harry]

Couple of boring questions regarding the current Olivier layout…

- does anyone know if the £20 bench seats have a back? I don’t mind sharing a bench with someone I don’t know and no armrest, but I don’t think I’ll make it through without a backrest - I find the Globe cripplingly uncomfortable!

- does anyone know why the seat plan is all multicoloured in a seemingly random way when you choose “select your own seats”? The colours seem to bear no correspondence to different price bands. Without clicking on each individual seat it’s nigh on impossible to know which seats cost what!

Thanks!

[jampot]

Sept 19, 2021 10:29:29 GMT harry said:

Couple of boring questions regarding the current Olivier layout…

- does anyone know if the £20 bench seats have a back? I don’t mind sharing a bench with someone I don’t know and no armrest, but I don’t think I’ll make it through without a backrest - I find the Globe cripplingly uncomfortable!

- does anyone know why the seat plan is all multicoloured in a seemingly random way when you choose “select your own seats”? The colours seem to bear no correspondence to different price bands. Without clicking on each individual seat it’s nigh on impossible to know which seats cost what!

Thanks!

Yes..they had backs for Paradise...

[cavocado]

Sept 19, 2021 10:29:29 GMT harry said:

Couple of boring questions regarding the current Olivier layout…

- does anyone know if the £20 bench seats have a back? I don’t mind sharing a bench with someone I don’t know and no armrest, but I don’t think I’ll make it through without a backrest - I find the Globe cripplingly uncomfortable!

- does anyone know why the seat plan is all multicoloured in a seemingly random way when you choose “select your own seats”? The colours seem to bear no correspondence to different price bands. Without clicking on each individual seat it’s nigh on impossible to know which seats cost what!

Thanks!

Yes those seats do have backs. I was near the front of one of the side sections for Paradise and was interested to see how they'd adapted the theatre. The benches had backs but no arms. You can see them in the first picture here: www.whatsonstage.com/london-theatre/news/photos-40-years-olivier-theatre-national_41937.html

I can't see what you mean by the colour-coding. I just had a look and the colours all seemed to correspond to the prices in the key.

[juicy_but_terribly_drab]

Sept 19, 2021 10:29:29 GMT harry said:

Couple of boring questions regarding the current Olivier layout…

- does anyone know if the £20 bench seats have a back? I don’t mind sharing a bench with someone I don’t know and no armrest, but I don’t think I’ll make it through without a backrest - I find the Globe cripplingly uncomfortable!

- does anyone know why the seat plan is all multicoloured in a seemingly random way when you choose “select your own seats”? The colours seem to bear no correspondence to different price bands. Without clicking on each individual seat it’s nigh on impossible to know which seats cost what!

Thanks!

I think the colour coding thing must be a glitch. When I load in the seat plan the colours are wrong and placed seemingly randomly (and the price key lists each colour as Group 1) for a split second before correcting to the normal arrangement so I think for some reason yours isn't loading properly.

[peggs]

Is this a long play generally? Wondered if 1.15 matinee starts suggested that?

[couldileaveyou]

Sept 19, 2021 13:58:02 GMT peggs said:

Is this a long play generally? Wondered if 1.15 matinee starts suggested that?

I think the latest Broadway revival's running time was 2 hours and 30 minutes, so it's pretty standard 

[peggs]

Thank you couldileaveyou

[theatrelover123]

Sept 19, 2021 13:04:08 GMT cavocado said:

Sept 19, 2021 10:29:29 GMT harry said:

Couple of boring questions regarding the current Olivier layout…

- does anyone know if the £20 bench seats have a back? I don’t mind sharing a bench with someone I don’t know and no armrest, but I don’t think I’ll make it through without a backrest - I find the Globe cripplingly uncomfortable!

- does anyone know why the seat plan is all multicoloured in a seemingly random way when you choose “select your own seats”? The colours seem to bear no correspondence to different price bands. Without clicking on each individual seat it’s nigh on impossible to know which seats cost what!

Thanks!

Yes those seats do have backs. I was near the front of one of the side sections for Paradise and was interested to see how they'd adapted the theatre. The benches had backs but no arms. You can see them in the first picture here: www.whatsonstage.com/london-theatre/news/photos-40-years-olivier-theatre-national_41937.html

I can't see what you mean by the colour-coding. I just had a look and the colours all seemed to correspond to the prices in the key.

Does anybody know why those first couple of rows for that current configuration are marked as restricted view? I could understand it when it was in proscenium arch setup and super close to the stage but the stage in the round doesn’t seem high.

[cavocado]

This was excellent - very enjoyable, absorbing and moving. And great to see an almost full theatre and a buzzing NT foyer with cafe and bookshop open. Only ticketholders allowed in and some areas and entrances still closed, but much more like the NT of old.

theatrelover123 I assume it's just because you might have to look up a bit to see the stage, and the second row is the same level as the first.

[ThereWillBeSun]

Catching this next week, I've really missed the NT.

[tmesis]

This is highly recommended and back to form for NT. Some wonderful performances from the whole cast with stand outs from, of course, Ben Daniels as Weeks but also Liz Carr as Dr. Brookner and Dino Fetscher as Felix Turner. Last night's performance was greeted with an almost total standing ovation. My only slight criticism was the dull set - in fact many productions in the Olivier of late (and I mean pre Covid) have been more or less a bare stage - but really it didn't matter as this was so engaging and moving.

Actually cavocado the main foyer area is now open to non-ticket holders from 10.00 am and apart from a bag search there's none of the previous kerfuffle.

[cavocado]

Sept 26, 2021 11:57:17 GMT tmesis said:

This is highly recommended and back to form for NT. Some wonderful performances from the whole cast with stand outs from, of course, Ben Daniels as Weeks but also Liz Carr as Dr. Brookner and Dino Fetscher as Felix Turner. Last night's performance was greeted with an almost total standing ovation. My only slight criticism was the dull set - in fact many productions in the Olivier of late (and I mean pre Covid) have been more or less a bare stage - but really it didn't matter as this was so engaging and moving.

Actually cavocado the main foyer area is now open to non-ticket holders from 10.00 am and apart from a bag search there's none of the previous kerfuffle.

I showed my ticket on the way in yesterday, but I'm pleased to hear it wasn't required. I've really missed being able to hang around the foyer, meet friends before the show, etc.

I agree about the performances, but I felt the sparse design worked really well for this.

[mkb]

Friday night's show was about 80% full in the stalls and 50% in the circle. Around half were masked.

At the end about 60% of the audience in the stalls stood to applaud. I think this will split audiences between those who love it and those underwhelmed. Sadly, I was in the latter, and, judging by comments overheard, I was not alone.

I was active on the gay scene during the period in question; I lost a few friends to Aids; I had a partner who was one of the first diagnosed who miraculously survives to this day, but we suffered from the expectation it would probably not work out so well. The Normal Heart should have spoken to me. It should have made me feel angry at the way people were treated, yet moved by the human suffering and lives cut short.

So why did it leave me completely cold?

Firstly, I couldn't hear any characters speaking their words; all I heard was the playwright putting his own thoughts in their mouths. Speeches describing events that really did take place would have worked better as monologues to the audience, but when delivered by one character to another, they were unconvincing dialogue. None of these people seemed real to me. I didn't recognise them.

Secondly, the play is essentially nearly three hours of internal in-fighting between one man and the rest of the group he belongs to. While the playwright has no doubt distilled several real-life activists (including himself) into his lead character, I didn't find the portrayal believable. It felt rather two-dimensional. It lacked any heart. To be clear, I'm blaming the writer; Ben Daniels makes the best of it.

The arguments evinced by the protagonists are too polarised. In particular, the case put forward by the gay characters urging a cautious approach painted them as uncaring collaborators, when the truth was surely more nuanced.

There's also little economy of writing. A better dramatist could have lost an hour but told the same story packing greater emotional punch.

I didn't care much for some of the directorial choices, such as the remembrance flame that burned throughout, or having characters announce the time and location of each scene; and, as a fan of intimate in-the-round theatre, I didn't see how anything was gained from that format in the huge Olivier auditorium.

I expected themes of this play to resonate in our current era of right-wing populist governments and pandemic, but I found nothing. It was simply a horror story of something bad that once happened, and which it's right not to forget. But Angels in America and tv's It's a Sin did this so much better.

Perhaps my expectations were too high, but I came away disappointed by this revival. Three stars.

Act 1: 19:19-20:25
Act 2: 20:49-22:09