Cock - Ambassadors Theatre

[BurlyBeaR]

ATG stopped refunding for Covid when the “you must isolate” rule was dropped I think.

[youngoffender]

Perhaps there's no single answer as to why Egerton left. There are 'personal reasons' that might be battled through if the production had won universal critical love - but it didn't, so he didn't.

[A.Ham]

Apr 6, 2022 11:10:20 GMT BurlyBeaR said:

ATG stopped refunding for Covid when the “you must isolate” rule was dropped I think.

Crikey… that’s pretty poor. The message this sends out is ‘we’d rather you turn up and breathe over loads of other audience members than offer some form of customer service by permitting an exchange…’ 😡

[Being Alive]

At the end of the day though, they're a business and have followed the Government guidelines all the way through. The guidance is no longer to isolate, so they no longer need to offering refunds for people doing so.

Sorry if that sounds harsh or unsympathetic, I work in a theatre and we've stopped doing refunds as isolation is no longer a thing. We can't afford to keep refunding people - it's just not financially viable as a long term solution...where does it end?

[A.Ham]

Apr 6, 2022 19:46:27 GMT Being Alive said:

At the end of the day though, they're a business and have followed the Government guidelines all the way through. The guidance is no longer to isolate, so they no longer need to offering refunds for people doing so.

Sorry if that sounds harsh or unsympathetic, I work in a theatre and we've stopped doing refunds as isolation is no longer a thing. We can't afford to keep refunding people - it's just not financially viable as a long term solution...where does it end?

Yes I get that they’re a business, but wasn’t saying they should refund. However, ‘doing the right thing’ would be to exchange tickets to an alternative date if someone is unable to attend due to having Covid.

And whilst isolating is no longer a legal requirement, it IS still government guidance. Regardless of any of that, staying home when you’re ill so as not to spread it to others is the socially responsible thing to do, surely?!

[Being Alive]

Yes, the socially responsible thing is to isolate, but theatres can't be expected to continue operating on a loss (because offering a credit/exchange last minute - most likely on the day - is most likely losing income as trying to resell on the day will be slim).

I know it's probably not the popular opinion but there has to be a point where we start functioning under normal circumstances again. Like, do we do this every winter? As that's going to be one of the worst times for it all I'm sure - so do theatres operate on a refund/credit basis from November to Feb every year? Sorry I'm not trying to to be difficult, I just don't see at what point we return to normal if not now

[Jon]

Places like the National and the Bridge can offer exchanges and credit notes because they self produce their work and the revenue will still be within the company itself. It's not viable for commercial producers to be able to offer the same.

[sweets7]

Apr 6, 2022 16:24:28 GMT youngoffender said:

Perhaps there's no single answer as to why Egerton left. There are 'personal reasons' that might be battled through if the production had won universal critical love - but it didn't, so he didn't.

I don't know...I think ots pretty poor. If the personal reasons were the job itself then really he should have stuck it out. Its a short term commitment. If its a potential physical and/or mental health issue then he was right. He did fsint on stage and any employer would insist you are checked out. They may well have discovered a physical isdue or advised him against emotional stress.

[marob]

I’m afraid I found this a bit of a disappointment. Good performances, but I just didn’t connect with it. I don’t think it helped that while I thought it was mildly amusing everyone else was roaring with laughter.

Was struck when I was watching it that I’ve never actually seen Phil Daniels in acting anything, other than the video for Parklife.

[Jonnyboy]

Apr 5, 2022 20:09:02 GMT BurlyBeaR said:

Apr 5, 2022 17:38:49 GMT Jonnyboy said:

I’ve been watching the seating plan for my performance of Cock like a hawk as if it sells out, *then* ATG will resell two of my tickets (my parents can no longer attend due to ill health). To my dismay a whole raft are now on sale for that date so it’s unlikely my performance will fully sell out. What options do I have? Ill have to sell them on a third party website? I just don’t want to waste £170. It’s a pity ATG won’t take them back as if they listed them for the price I paid they’d be snapped up straightaway, given the mark up of seats since they went on sale.

You’re welcome to try selling them in our Noticeboard. Create a thread here and once approved it will be published.

theatreboard.co.uk/board/28/submit-notices

Might be a hard sell if there are plenty of seats still available though! 

 

Thanks, Burly and inthenose. I don’t understand why a load of tickets is suddenly available for the date (maybe Taron’s guests?!) but it is what it is!

[thistimetomorrow]

Thought the cast were all amazing - Joel Harper-Jackson especially. Thought the play itself was frustrating though.

[stevemar]

I enjoyed this a lot. The play itself is quite limited, but Mike Bartlett I believe wrote it more as a “concept play” focussing on the dilemma and situation, rather than the actual real characters/relationships. A bit like his “Bull”, where the characters are subservient to the points being made.

I thought all the actors were good, but Jade Anouka outstanding. I do like Jonathan Bailey rather a lot from his previous work, and though his character was rather unlikeable, he certainly brought a wonderful muscularity to his performance. I’m afraid I did think once or twice how Taron Egerton would have played M.

I agree that the play really isn’t that funny, but I have seen it advertised as “hilarious” and those words were used on the Radio 2 interview with Johnny Bailey, so much so that the almost non-stop laughter in parts of the stalls seem to be catching… Witty maybe, and one scene between John and W was very amusing.

I actually enjoyed the extra movement sections - they broke up the scenes well and were kind of different, and emphasised the artificially of the situation or even how we are not in control really, who knows? I think Marianne Elliott has once again done a great job, and brought something different to the play, whilst remaining faithful to it. Good staging and revolve (I believe the original stage directions are for no props or scenery).

I watched this in 2009 originally with Ben Whishaw, Katherine Parkinson and Andrew Scott in a tiny wooden “cockpit” in the round at the Royal Court Upstairs. I have to say, I couldn’t remember much of the play other than the general situation. At that staging, they simply had a stage operator pressing a ding/buzzer to denote the end of each scene, which emphasised the artificial situation. It was quite interesting reading these old reviews given how things have moved on since 2009.

www.theguardian.com/stage/2009/nov/18/michael-billington-review

www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/reviews/cock-theatre-upstairs-royal-court-london-1825738.html

4 stars.

[andrew]

Quite a lot of shouting for comedic effect. I could have done with a bit less shouting. Sometimes a line can be funny without being yelled. Or maybe if the only way that it's funny is that it's screamed, you should write a better line. The last moment, predictably, was Jonathan screaming, I rolled my eyes.

It's a fun night but I got strong "gay people are loud and hilarious" vibes which is a bit simplistic. The Theatreboard collective will of 4 stars is probably about right.

Also, hats off to the young touristy group who had obviously bought up a bunch of single seats across the auditorium, collectively signalled about an hour in that they had to leave for a train/plane/different experience and all walked out together. Our best guess is they were Bridgerton fans wanting to get a glimpse of JB, with not even a passing interest in the play that he's in, so if you couldn't get a reasonably priced ticket to see some theatre you can blame them.

[A.Ham]

To be quite honest if someone had signalled to me that I could leave an hour in I probably would’ve done… if only to get out of the increasingly-uncomfortable seat I was in!

[couldileaveyou]

[n1david]

And then there were two (of the original cast)

[marob]

It’s a very shouty play and there was a lot of spittle flying through the air the other night the other night, so I’d expect that to change in the coming days…

[chadexx]

The production at the Minerva at Chichester a few years ago was certainly NOT shouty! It had a quiet sincerity which made for heartwarming, memorable production. With its provocative title, it was a brave play to stage in conservative Chichester but that risk was rewarded with large, appreciative audiences

[circelily]

Apr 7, 2022 6:59:37 GMT Jonnyboy said:

Apr 5, 2022 20:09:02 GMT BurlyBeaR said:

You’re welcome to try selling them in our Noticeboard. Create a thread here and once approved it will be published.

theatreboard.co.uk/board/28/submit-notices

Might be a hard sell if there are plenty of seats still available though! 

 

Thanks, Burly and inthenose. I don’t understand why a load of tickets is suddenly available for the date (maybe Taron’s guests?!) but it is what it is!

16 April is Easter Saturday. I suspect a sizeable minority scrambled to buy tickets then realised they had family/friend group commitments. There's the same theme for that date across all the most popular shows.

[andrew]

Apr 8, 2022 18:14:59 GMT chadexx said:

The production at the Minerva at Chichester a few years ago was certainly NOT shouty! It had a quiet sincerity which made for heartwarming, memorable production. With its provocative title, it was a brave play to stage in conservative Chichester but that risk was rewarded with large, appreciative audiences

It's either been directed that way, or the cast are choosing to play it that way. Having shouty scenes is not a problem, but the play has to wax and wane a bit, there needs to be quieter moments, characters with different moods on display. There wasn't a lot of that going on until JB gets a bit more pensive at the end for a few moments. The 'M' character never gets such a reprieve.

[theatrelover123]

Anybody know who is on/not on tonight?

[nottobe]

I have to say I saw this last night and was not convinced. For me the strongest bits were between Johnathan Bailey and Jessica Whitehurst, great chemistry together despite being the understudy. I was not as convinced by Joel Harper-Jackson at all, to me his lines where only ever exclaimed and I wanted more emotional depth. The production as a whole just lacked emoitinal depth and subtlety for me.

I never saw the original but listened to the radio version of it a short time ago and enjoyed it a lot so would recommend anyone to listen, as personally it is superior to this. soundcloud.com/delilahdevinkaufman/bbc-radio-3-presents-mike?in=user797490451/sets/reading

[Deleted]

I see from Instagram Tarons name has been removed from the theatre marquee and Jonathan Bailey is now the main headliner. Weirdly though tarons picture is still outside the theatre

[n1david]

Well this was disappointing tonight. Although it provoked a lot of discussion between us after the show, most of that was about how differently this performance was played compared to the original production. The original was in a very small, intimate space and amplifying the production to a West End theatre (albeit a small one) has I think coarsened the show. All of the characters were drawn 'bigger' and some of the changes, like JB's vamps to the audience were cheap and drew people out of the situation making it clear that this was a 'performance'. Although JHJ did a decent job, I could never believe the relationship between John and M. Jessica Whitehurst equally did a decent job but I didn't feel that she had the playfulness and the calculation to properly counter the character of M, although I agree her chemistry was great with JB.

I'm aware that I'm damning this by comparison with the original which not many people were lucky enough to see, but it's the memory of that show that led me to pay £125 for a too-close stalls seat to see the original cast. And maybe they'd have nailed it better than the cast I saw, or maybe they'd have been directed the same way, but a play that I remember as being very powerful and nuanced doesn't quite work in this environment. I still think that the 'dinner party' scene has some great writing, but I can quite understand why people who are new to the play aren't impressed. Looking forward to listening to the radio play tomorrow to see what I make of that, but of course part of the joy was the very subtle playing by a top-class cast.

[harry]

Apr 12, 2022 22:52:01 GMT n1david said:

Well this was disappointing tonight. Although it provoked a lot of discussion between us after the show, most of that was about how differently this performance was played compared to the original production.

We were also there tonight and had exactly the same experience. Perhaps rose tinted glass but that original production has lived in my memory as an all time great theatrical experience and I was so excited to see the play again but, my goodness, this is mediocre at best.

Joel Harper-Jackson does an astonishingly good Taron Egerton impression… but for me that doesn’t make it a good or believable performance. Andrew Scott in that role was astonishing. By the time John accuses him of always being catty because he’s insecure we should have seen and understood that for ourselves. In the show tonight it felt like the writing was explaining what the actors had failed to put across.

The understudy Jessica Whitehurst did a fine job and certainly didn’t let the side down.

But for me the biggest issue is that Jonathan Bailey just isn’t good enough an actor for this sort of thing. What was hilarious and electrifying as a 10min skit in Company starts to get very old very fast here. I started to wonder why anyone would want to spend time with this man, never mind fight for his love.

And it’s all played so big and everyone shouts so much. I remember the intimacy of the sex scene between John and W being almost too much in that Royal Court production, like we the audience had intruded and we’re witnessing something we shouldn’t be. Here it’s all gurning, gyrating stage revolves and played for laughs.

I agree the writing perks up a bit when everyone comes together and it’s not a total car crash of an evening, but I would completely understand anyone seeing this as their first production of the play wondering what all the fuss was about.