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Post by Deleted on Dec 9, 2017 8:29:15 GMT
Both circles were closed last night and the stalls had chunks of empty seats throughout. I suspect this won’t survive until the end of its booking period, but I’m ready to be proved wrong.
I enjoyed it, for what it’s worth. The expected effects were done well, but with no great surprises - the head turn was done very well, and very simply, but it was effective. I was hoping for a better levitation to be honest, but you can’t have everything I guess. Overall though I was impressed, and would like to see this again should it tour.
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Post by TallPaul on Dec 9, 2017 13:23:41 GMT
Sir Ian and Jenny will be pushing it on Graham Norton's radio show next Saturday. That should help sales!
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Post by ellie1981 on Dec 12, 2017 16:38:32 GMT
I saw this a few weeks ago with possibly the strangest audience ever.
There were a lot of men there alone which was unusual to say the least. One on the other end of the aisle was asleep for most of the time and kept jumping up whenever there was a loud sound - which was quite often. I was sat behind one man there alone who spent the entire interval FaceTiming with his family as they were in a bathroom getting ready for bed (the sound of their electric toothbrushes were very prominent), and continued to speak to them for the first minute of the second act.
During the play when there’s a joke about sodomy, for the next minute I could hear various audience members around me mumbling, trying to explain the meaning of the word to others.
Behind me was a young couple and as soon as the interval started, the woman spent about 5 minutes loudly complaining about how awful she thought the play was just because of the differences to the film. She was seriously expecting an actual 12 year old actress to be playing Regan and for there to be a large, steep staircase! My friend went out for a cigarette and she followed - apparently she still wouldn’t shut up about how much she despised the play, but still came back for the second act.
Overall though, *I* enjoyed it!!
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Post by bob2010 on Dec 12, 2017 17:29:40 GMT
I saw this a few weeks ago with possibly the strangest audience ever. There were a lot of men there alone which was unusual to say the least. One on the other end of the aisle was asleep for most of the time and kept jumping up whenever there was a loud sound - which was quite often. I was sat behind one man there alone who spent the entire interval FaceTiming with his family as they were in a bathroom getting ready for bed (the sound of their electric toothbrushes were very prominent), and continued to speak to them for the first minute of the second act. During the play when there’s a joke about sodomy, for the next minute I could hear various audience members around me mumbling, trying to explain the meaning of the word to others. Behind me was a young couple and as soon as the interval started, the woman spent about 5 minutes loudly complaining about how awful she thought the play was just because of the differences to the film. She was seriously expecting an actual 12 year old actress to be playing Regan and for there to be a large, steep staircase! My friend went out for a cigarette and she followed - apparently she still wouldn’t shut up about how much she despised the play, but still came back for the second act. Overall though, *I* enjoyed it!! Showfilmfirst have been offering free tickets for some of the showings, so you may have been unlucky and attending one of those, which usually get a number of attendees who feel like they can misbehave as it's a free night out |
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Post by ellie1981 on Dec 12, 2017 18:19:20 GMT
Ah, that would explain it. I’m always trying to get my non theatre friends to come along to something one day - one of them saw a Panto when he was a child and that’s the extent of his experience in a theatre. Maybe it’s best they stay away.
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Post by Rory on Dec 12, 2017 18:51:44 GMT
^Unlikely, as all the comp clubs get detailed reports of audience behaviour by their members. One negative and you are off the list permanently. And so you deserve to be! |
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Post by Snciole on Dec 14, 2017 11:25:43 GMT
It also sounds like a lot of the audience were non-native English speakers so flogged to tourists looking to see a show also seems likely!
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Post by Backdrifter on Dec 18, 2017 18:25:20 GMT
I saw it last week and quite enjoyed it, it certainly had some good moments and on balance deserves better audiences than the ones it's been getting. I like that it was adapted from the novel rather than being based more on the film; the latter I've never thought was that good but the novel is excellent and really stayed with me. In particular I appreciated the hypnotism scene getting a better showing here than it does in the film; it's such a tense and key moment in the novel. "Nowonmai" still gives me chills.
As a production it was designed and worked really well. I can see how IMcK made it quite fruity and funny for some. It could've done without throwing in the Tubular Bells theme at the end though.
Pity that so many audience members were selfish inconsiderate gits, audibly talking, rustling crackly bags, using their phones, etc. There was also an interval brouhaha between three horrible shrill cackling women and some people behind them who had evidently got them moved for their constant disturbances, leading to the former evidently feeling aggrieved and letting their feelings and wounded innocence known. It was all bollocks though and they deserved to be moved - preferably to outside the entire theatre.
I hadn't known about the no-there-isn't-yes-there-is interval, though oddly enough it felt to me that it should run straight through. If nothing else it would have spared us the cackling harpies' hurt routine.
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Mar 16, 2019 8:54:27 GMT
This is touring. Why did no one tell me? My friend saw it and only stayed for the second half for the laughs.
Boooked!
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Mar 16, 2019 9:01:08 GMT
Hmm, can only see the Manchester Opera House dates so far.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 19, 2019 13:54:57 GMT
Hmm, can only see the Manchester Opera House dates so far. 15 to 19 October, The Alexandra Birmingham (surprisingly not the REP this time) |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 19, 2019 20:07:27 GMT
When this was on at the Brum Rep, there was an accompanying immersive theatre type ‘show’ called Seance,outside the theatre in a shipping container (yes, really!).A colleague of mine went to experience it.It cost him £8 for 15 minutes in the truck and he said that it was dreadful.He said it mainly consisted of sitting in the dark and listening to strange noises through headphones.Scariest thing I have ever seen on stage has to be ‘The Woman In Black’ at the very atmospheric Fortune Theatre in London.As scary as Susan Hill’s source novel and so much better than the inept and frankly silly movie of the same name.
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Post by partytentdown on Mar 19, 2019 20:21:11 GMT
When this was on at the Brum Rep, there was an accompanying immersive theatre type ‘show’ called Seance,outside the theatre in a shipping container (yes, really!).A colleague of mine went to experience it.It cost him £8 for 15 minutes in the truck and he said that it was dreadful.He said it mainly consisted of sitting in the dark and listening to strange noises through headphones.Scariest thing I have ever seen on stage has to be ‘The Woman In Black’ at the very atmospheric Fortune Theatre in London.As scary as Susan Hill’s source novel and so much better than the inept and frankly silly movie of the same name. Seance was at the Vault Festival in Waterloo this month. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 19, 2019 23:00:53 GMT
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Post by itsabouttogdown on Mar 19, 2019 23:18:51 GMT
Wow I can't believe this is touring lol. This is genuinely one of the worst things I've ever seen. It's absolute trash.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 30, 2019 10:26:01 GMT
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Post by duncan on Aug 31, 2019 9:22:12 GMT
Your mother sucks c**s in hell
Nicholas and Ward have been on the advertising for several weeks.
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Post by Rory on Aug 31, 2019 12:26:59 GMT
Paul Nicholas certainly now has the look for Merrin.
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Post by duncan on Sept 18, 2019 8:47:54 GMT
The Exorcist - Theatre Royal
Well now, I'm utterly scunnered by this one.
On the one hand its a very entertaining night out but on the other hand its an utterly abysmal version of the story - your mother doesn't suck chickens in hell, the vomit is atrocious and the head spin is so laughably badly achieved that it makes you wonder why they even bothered.
As a big fan of the book (and Legion) and the film version (and Exorcist III and I even have a soft spot for the Richard Burton Exorcist II) so its interesting to see whats been excised - poor old Kinderman doesn't even get a mention, Sharon at least gets a couple of mentions but is relegated to off screen and despite the ending (of film and book) clearly being set up earlier on in the evening they flub it and use a nonsensically different one instead for no apparent reason. They Chekov's gun the window a couple of times and then ignore it.
The lack of Kinderman also places it firmly in the realms of one man attempting to regain his faith.
Sophie Ward does her best with a reactionary role, Ben Caplan is wooden as Karras and Paul Nicholas gets top billing despite only being in it for around 10 minutes and then coming in and reading from a book for most of the time he's on stage. Tristram Wymark is having the most fun as Burke, indeed its the showy non-possessed role, and he does get to be the one big actual shock of the evening.
The Regan role is always going to be problematic and here the main issue is a lot of the performance is McKellan voice acting off tape rather than the actor in question. She also had to chuck a pillow out of the way to ensure the levitation worked without any issues.
Entertaining vapid nonsense but certainly not one to go out of your way to catch up on and it surprised me how full the theatre was on a Tuesday night for this. Three levels open and all looking fairly full from Row B of the stalls. The idiot sat next to me who decided 20 minutes in was the best time to hake about in their handbag for a packet of sweets and then open them should be shot into the sun.
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Post by duncan on Sept 18, 2019 8:58:03 GMT
Hmmm, I thought the whole thing was a bit of a dogs dinner, to be honest - things didn't get off to a good start: in trying to emulate the films opening scene with Father Merrin in the Middle East, obviously any production would have problems trying to copy that, but I'm afraid Peter Bowles wearing a turban while picking at a kebab just brought on a fit of giggles for me, which took a long time to cease. I can confirm the tour does not have a turban. |
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Post by mammabat on Sept 30, 2019 5:46:36 GMT
i saw The Exorcist at Wimbledon on Saturday having seen it 3 times in London and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Set not as slick as London but then the show is only spending a few days at each venue so understandable.
The show is dark, as you would expect and focuses mainly on the torment of Regan’s Mother struggling to get help for her child. In both shows the portrayal of Regan has been stunning. This is an extremely challenging part with the constant evolving of a child being possessed by the devil. The second act focuses mainly on Regan and both girls have played the part nothing short of spectacular. Trying to think of an appropriate adj! Having to lip sync to the voice of Ian McKellen’s voice is mesmerising in itself without the phenomenal expressive actions required to portray an absolutely demonic child is mind blowing. You could hear a pin drop.
This show is graphic and it won’t be to everyone’s taste but to see the talented actresses portray Regan is something not to be missed.
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Sept 30, 2019 14:58:02 GMT
Merged
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Post by xanady on Sept 30, 2019 18:15:50 GMT
^I can think of an appropriate adjective...but I’d better not type it,lol 😀
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Post by crabtree on Oct 24, 2019 21:45:04 GMT
Just back from a Manchester performance, and the head spin alone makes it worth watching, but definitely underpowered and the big exorcism could have done with a bit more bed rattling. Paul Nicholas, well barely ten minutes of him, and they missed the chance to stage the iconic entrance. The light was there. It felt a bit ponderous but some good moments. A rather clunky adaptation.
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Post by crabtree on Oct 24, 2019 21:57:22 GMT
and the poor cast, all that running u[ and down the stairs, with the actual upstairs being down stairs was very clunky staging. I wonder what effects the tour is missing. We did get such an annoyingly talkative audience and two ladies with a box of sushi.....!
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