Trouble In Mind - NT

[david]

Having watched this tonight, this latest offering in the Dorfman Theatre is certainly a big improvement on my visit to the NT last week for Manor. Running at around 2.5hr with an interval tonight I wasn’t really familiar with the 1955 play by Alice Childress. During the interval I wondered if it was meant to be a comedy or a satirical piece as Act 1 played out. However as Act 2 developed it really shifted to a more serious tone culminating in a powerful last 20 minutes of drama. Certainly when comparing TIM with Manor, I felt TIM actually hit the mark in trying to get the plays subject matter across to the audience far more clearly and sharply than Manor did. 

As a production there isn’t any flashy sets here, just a set to represent a 1950s theatre and cast dressed in period clothing. With respect to the cast Tanya Moodie I felt was excellent as Willeta Mayer striking a nice balance between comedy in Act 1 and showing her more frustrated and eventual eruption towards Director Al Mannars treatment of her. 

Certainly with the play written during the US Civil Rights era provides a powerful message about race and the treatment and representation of people within the theatre and one that still resonates today. 

[foxa]

This is the play at the National I most want to see - thanks for the review.

[jgblunners]

Saw this tonight - my partner and I both thought that while the play itself is clearly very good, this production doesn’t really do it justice. There’s too many bells and whistles in the staging - it needs to be more grounded and distilled. The performances are decent, but for me it didn’t quite hit the mark. I’d probably give it 3 stars - press night is tomorrow so I’m interested to see what the critics think.

[cavocado]

This has been cancelled until 4 January. I think that's all three theatres closed now. So sad when the NT only recently reopened fully.

EDIT: Manor is on until 23rd, but then the building is closed until 4th.

[londonpostie]

Been selling so badly anyway - and *freely available* since the 4th preview - it must be a relief as it now has some chance of limping to the current finishing line on 29th January.

Same for Hex, though that only has to struggle on from the 5-22nd January.

Manor has gone already, as we know.

On the upside, the heating bill will be lower 

[teamyali]

Is it just me or the NT just really sucks at marketing? Even on social media. I do get that The Normal Heart is their awards contender, as it should (it even managed to get three nominations for the WhatsOnStage Awards, and most likely dominate the Olivier next year), but we never get to see so much energy or enthusiasm to promote their other shows recently. I’m quite bothered especially that given they aim to promote diversity and give more voices to untapped/overlook sectors, but it’s becoming lip service. I saw little social media engagement count for Rockets and Blue Lights (and the play is currently at NT at Home!), another black-centric play similar to Trouble in Mind. Small Island was massive because of RuNo. Even Hex will have more noise despite initial mixed reviews simply because it’s a musical and RuNo is in charge (as he’s the NT’s Artistic Director). I also noticed how they buried Manor quickly after it flopped.

Any thoughts about this?

[edi]

I saw this a few nights ago and whilst it was very sweet and sadly relevant still today, there is no way it will pull the crowds at times of omicron scare, when cases are shooting up.

Shame...

[cavocado]

Dec 18, 2021 4:19:38 GMT teamyali said:

Is it just me or the NT just really sucks at marketing? Even on social media. I do get that The Normal Heart is their awards contender, as it should (it even managed to get three nominations for the WhatsOnStage Awards, and most likely dominate the Olivier next year), but we never get to see so much energy or enthusiasm to promote their other shows recently. I’m quite bothered especially that given they aim to promote diversity and give more voices to untapped/overlook sectors, but it’s becoming lip service. I saw little social media engagement count for Rockets and Blue Lights (and the play is currently at NT at Home!), another black-centric play similar to Trouble in Mind. Small Island was massive because of RuNo. Even Hex will have more noise despite initial mixed reviews simply because it’s a musical and RuNo is in charge (as he’s the NT’s Artistic Director). I also noticed how they buried Manor quickly after it flopped.

Any thoughts about this?

I'm not sure. The Lyttelton and Olivier will obvs have bigger marketing budgets because they have a lot more seats to sell. 

I've seen a lot of publicity for Trouble in Mind on FB and Instagram, but a bit more for Manor and Normal Heart, less for Rockets, not much for Hex, but I think that means the algorithm probably knows I don't go to many musicals. It's hard to tell with SM, because the targeting is based on individual likes, posts, search histories etc.

I'm not sure Norris was a huge selling point for Small Island. I loved the production, but I think it would have got a lot of bookings from people who aren't regular theatregoers because the novel was already very well known and is on the A level English syllabus and was probably easier to market because of that.

Manor seemed to have more posters around London than I've ever seen for a NT production, even on tube platforms at the far ends of the network. I wondered if the NT got a deal on vacant ad sites.

I don't think there was much they could do after Manor flopped. You can only be selective with quotes from reviews up to a point...

I do sometimes wonder if there's any old-style marketing happening e.g. did they email schools offering deals for Rockets and including info on exactly which bits of the National Curriculum it would be useful for. Occasionally my kids have been on school trips where it's obvious from the wording that it's the result of targeted marketing, something like "We've been offered a wonderful opportunity to take a group of students to see a play which will enhance their learning in art, drama, history, and citizenship, and enable us to deepen our study of Turner's painting, as well as explore racism and the legacy of slavery in our modern world..." It seems obvious to me that giving cheap tickets to sixth formers is a better investment than using papering organisations, but that's my perspective as an outsider and theatregoer who has no idea how these things work.

[n1david]

I'm still seeing Sponsored posts on Facebook for Manor.

[Dave B]

Via Mark Shenton. It had been papering but less so than Manor and Hex so perhaps inevitable?

[Dave B]

I had a matinee ticket for tomorrow - just been cancelled "Due to ongoing positive testing for Covid 19".

No word from the NT themselves yet but ouch, that is a horrible start to the new year for the NT

[showgirl]

Blasted NT as I too had a ticket for tomorrow's matinee- my 2nd attempt to see this after an earlier such cancellation- & they don't contact you for hours or offer help rebooking an equivalent seat/cost. I know they can't help it but the NT could handle it better.

[mkb]

This play concerns the untruthful representation of black characters in the play-within-a-play. The irony is that I didn't find the characters in the outer play particularly realistic. As directed, there is still some overacting when the characters are being themselves, rather than their grotesque inner-play stereotypes.

The writing is the main problem. It doesn't become engaging until the third act, apart from the scenes between the leading lady Wiletta and the caretaker which are delightful.

Overall, a disappointing two stars. With better direction, it could have been three.

Act 1: 19:37-20:31
Act 2: 20:52-21:28
Act 3: 21:29-22:00

Friday night's show was able to go ahead as Emily Barber stepped in at short notice as Judy Sears. She had script in hand (which was actually appropriate for the character!) but barely referred to it and gave a faultless performance.

[Mark]

I thoroughly enjoyed this with Tanya Moodie a particular highlight. Audience very much engaged with the piece.
Act one is slow to build but it really does pick up in the second and especially third act.

Glad to see the National isn't a total lost cause after seeing Hex and reading about Manor. I'm sure of the three productions December/January this is by far the best.

[dlevi]

I had seen this a few years ago when the Theatre Royal Bath production transferred to the Coronet. Tanya Moodie was Willetta in that production as well. Even though it ticks a lot of boxes for relevancy, casting opportunities, female author,etc. It's just not that good of a play. Ms Moodie is all over the place in terms of her performance and as a consequence I didn't know who the real Willetta is. There's also a very confusing audio montage between Acts Two and Three which references "Black Broadway". with Hello, Dolly ( Pearl Baily version) The Amen Corner and even Hamilton - Did that make any sense to anyone in the audience? It's a "worthy" play but it's not really a good one; however, it's having it's "moment" now .

[stevemar]

I saw this in early January and it was a well performed and thought provoking evening. Surprised at how satirical it was, I didn’t mind too much that some members of the audience thought it was a full on comedy in the first two acts. The laughter certainly died down in act 3. Exactly the sort of play the NT should be doing, so a shame it hasn’t sold out. Still as relevant now as in the 1950s.

[Dave B]

Struggled with this a bit last night. Fantastic performances, I think you could pick out the entire cast there.

I found the caricatures too much - as the satire may very well have intended - but I thought them at times so clunky that it undercut the play itself.

Sadly still very relevant with a lot to say now. Provoked very strong reactions in the audience and a good chunk of the reasonably full house on their feet at the end.