2,481 posts
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Post by zahidf on Aug 22, 2022 10:16:50 GMT
£15.00 tickets for this on todaytix
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5,694 posts
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Post by lynette on Aug 26, 2022 16:55:02 GMT
Looking forward to this. Hope SRB will play this straight, he sometimes gets a laugh with a look or a gesture which is great when appropriate but I think it would be hard, and kind of pointless, to get a laugh out of this grimmest of Ibsen plays. I think I saw the Paul Scofield/Eileen Atkins production but I have little recollection of it, need to sift through programmes. Finding it difficult to remember everything I've seen now. SRB. That's the problem. I don't think he can play entirely unsympathetic characters, or at least his audience won't let him - he got laughs as Leontes. I saw the Paul Scofield/Eileen Atkins/Vanessa Redgrave one a couple of times - Michael Bryant was also really great as Foldal. Also good was the Donmar Michael Grandage production with Iain McDiarmid/Deborah Findlay/Penelope Wilton. Funny how Shakespeare gives his villains the connection with the audience, the ‘laughs’ as with Iago for example. Leontes is laughable. But that aside….SRB is a fine actor and I am expecting a fine performance. |
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Post by Distant Dreamer... on Sept 1, 2022 22:24:30 GMT
Some fantastic actors in this, may be worth the visit to this venue again (far from my favourite)
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Post by bordeaux on Sept 25, 2022 7:17:15 GMT
First performance of this last night. A friend saw it and said it was already excellent with SRB superb. Looking forward to hearing posters' views.
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Post by Someone in a tree on Sept 25, 2022 7:31:40 GMT
Some fantastic actors in this, may be worth the visit to this venue again (far from my favourite) Hey dreamer! Why don't you like it ? I've visited it once and wasn't impressed either. |
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Post by Distant Dreamer... on Sept 25, 2022 10:56:47 GMT
Some fantastic actors in this, may be worth the visit to this venue again (far from my favourite) Hey dreamer! Why don't you like it ? I've visited it once and wasn't impressed either. It felt like an art cafe, not a theatre. Plus not good to get to. What about you? |
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Post by alessia on Sept 25, 2022 11:35:22 GMT
Saw first preview last night- I enjoyed it and the acting was very good esp Simon Russel Beale. I wasn't a fan of the set design, but maybe I was still thinking of the excellent set for Blues for an Alabama Sky, and this one left me unimpressed by comparison. I agree with above comments re the venue- it has a strange vibe and I don't know why.
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Post by Someone in a tree on Sept 25, 2022 12:24:07 GMT
Hey dreamer! Why don't you like it ? I've visited it once and wasn't impressed either. It felt like an art cafe, not a theatre. Plus not good to get to. What about you? It was the cramped dark corridors between foyer and auditorium. Plus I was so bored watching Young Marx! |
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Post by lonlad on Sept 25, 2022 12:56:19 GMT
Interesting. I think it's a wonderful venue -- spacious and airy with a hugely welcoming bar/foyer. YOUNG MARX was the first thing they produced and also the worst (well, rivaled perhaps by that dreadful McDonagh play), so things have improved since then! Hopes are high for JGB which has an utterly astonishing cast.
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Post by foxa on Sept 25, 2022 16:25:53 GMT
Young Marx was a very hard watch - I had a little involuntary shudder just being reminded of it.. I like the foyer at the Bridge a lot and the food is good.
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Post by Forrest on Sept 26, 2022 10:05:23 GMT
I'm surprised to see how many people don't like the Bridge: I love the space, both the theatre itself and the foyer.
On a different note, I've unexpectedly booked for this for tomorrow. I adore Lia Williams, so am kind of excited. (Also will be glad to be back at the Bridge, it's been a while!)
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Post by cavocado on Sept 26, 2022 10:30:13 GMT
I'm surprised to see how many people don't like the Bridge: I love the space, both the theatre itself and the foyer. Me too. So many London theatres are uncomfortable, have horrible loos with long queues, no foyer seating, overpriced bar, restricted views, etc. I haven't enjoyed every show I've seen at the Bridge, but the building is a pleasure to visit. Great place to meet friends beforehand - seating, bar, friendly staff. It's probably the only theatre I've visited where there are enough women's loos. And the sightlines, seat comfort, legroom and ticket prices are all pretty good. |
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Post by David J on Sept 26, 2022 10:35:23 GMT
I like the layout of the theatre but it looks bland aesthetically and dark in the corridors and auditorium. Not enough variety of colour. Cold and uninviting
Maybe too modern
I mean the National may look like a concrete bunker but they’ve put the effort in to add flourishes to it over the years. That’s what I think this theatre desperately needs. More character. Make you feel more welcome there
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Post by cavocado on Sept 26, 2022 10:55:45 GMT
I suppose it is a bit bland, but I'll take functionality and comfort over beauty.
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Post by lynette on Sept 26, 2022 12:17:14 GMT
Who doesn’t like the Bridge? Great staff! Plenty of loos and some on ground floor. On a recent visit we sat outside the theatre 9cos there were seats) for a bit before going to eat somewhere else. On our return to the theatre to go in we were accosted by a security guy who had seen us when were sitting down ( from inside ) and saw that we had dropped a travel card which he duly returned. Talk about observant.
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Post by Rory on Sept 26, 2022 12:55:12 GMT
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Post by bordeaux on Sept 26, 2022 14:11:08 GMT
Thanks for posting this. So Coward's The Vortex in the spring. Never seen that despite a couple of high-profile productions in my theatre-going life (30 years or so). Wonder where and directed by whom. |
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Post by frankubelik on Sept 27, 2022 6:50:25 GMT
Given the last time I saw this play was in 1996 with Paul Schofield (his last stage appearance I believe), Vanessa Redgrave and Eileen Atkins, the memories remain of Schofield's voice, Atkins superlative performance and that final scene, this production had a lot to live up to. The three leads do not disappoint with Clare Higgins taking the acting honours here. I was less impressed with the modern dress and one monumentally poor piece of casting but overall the leads are excellent. Lia Williams was wearing what looked like a hearing device or perhaps a head mike (to help with projection?) which the other two definitely weren't. Good to see some classy classic theatre at the Bridge.
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Post by alessia on Sept 27, 2022 9:24:34 GMT
Given the last time I saw this play was in 1996 with Paul Schofield (his last stage appearance I believe), Vanessa Redgrave and Eileen Atkins, the memories remain of Schofield's voice, Atkins superlative performance and that final scene, this production had a lot to live up to. The three leads do not disappoint with Clare Higgins taking the acting honours here. I was less impressed with the modern dress and one monumentally poor piece of casting but overall the leads are excellent. Lia Williams was wearing what looked like a hearing device or perhaps a head mike (to help with projection?) which the other two definitely weren't. Good to see some classy classic theatre at the Bridge. Interesting- who was monumentally poor? I thought everyone was v good. Been thinking about this play since seeing it on Saturday as I couldn't quite work why I did not love it. It was almost like the play has been abridged here and there as it felt like some bits weren't fully explored, (for example the relationship between father and son) but I am sure it is not the case (or is it?). I know this is more about the two sisters than it is about JG Borkman- so perhaps this was just me not knowing anything about the story and having expectations. |
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Post by Jan on Sept 27, 2022 17:22:23 GMT
What’s the running time ? Thanks.
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Post by cavocado on Sept 27, 2022 19:34:28 GMT
What’s the running time ? Thanks. Last night it was 1hr 40, although it started several minutes late. No interval, which I think was a mistake - lots of fidgeting and glances at watches in the last half hour. I could have done with a break after an hour or so. I liked most of the separate elements of this but somehow it doesn't yet spark together into something really good - hopefully the previews will sort that out. Some fine performances, especially Clare Higgins. I don't know which casting was monumentally poor? Fanny? I thought Ony Uhiara's interpretation worked really well with the modern setting - the Erhart/Fanny relationship made sense to me. I wasn't too keen on the design - the scene changes seemed to take a long time, and Daisy Ou playing piano alone on an upstairs platform made her feel too removed from the play. |
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Post by Dave B on Sept 27, 2022 22:06:51 GMT
Saw it this evening, enjoyed it. A lot of up front humour, quite a few laughs - not what I necessarily expect from Ibsen. Three great central performances. Really effective use of haze at the end, it's so common these days but this felt like a real addition to the production. A bit of a faff with the stage changes, they felt unnecessary and even allowing for the change of rooms, there was no need for the set at the back to be moving - felt like it was just done because it could be done. Slightly unlucky with our seats A53/52 - a LOT of backs to us as a clear marker set at the corner of the stage there and a lot of the three way interaction done in a triangle, so one with back also blocking another. Still, great seats for some moments.
Amused to spot crew member with script standing by in a corner but she looked pretty bored very quickly, three very old hands had no issues.
{Spoiler - click to view}Left pondering on just why JGB spent the 8 years isolated upstairs, guilt, shame, fear, all of the above? Not sure the relationship with Earheart lands at all, it's less impactful than his break with his mother and his aunt but we have more of their relationship (seen and told about).
No issues with any of the cast, thought all were good. Really distracted by Ony Uhiara's costume though, *so* different, so glaringly different. I assume this is more of a comment on how Fanny lives a different life with less concern for opinions than anyone else but it felt OTT. Good to randomly run into londonpostie once again - not at the NT for a change though - and to have a chat before and after  This was my last pre-Covid show that I had tickets for to actually come back, I'm glad it did.
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Post by bordeaux on Oct 1, 2022 8:51:29 GMT
Mix of three and four star reviews but all praise the acting especially SRB. Quite a few, surprisingly to me, seem to regard the play as minor Ibsen, though to my mind whenever it's on it gets very prestigious casts (Scofield, Redgrave, Atkins; Rickman, Shaw, Duncan; Piccoli, Ogier, Frot).
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Post by mkb on Oct 1, 2022 13:38:31 GMT
Not much to say. Worth seeing for the acting, rather than the play, which is pretty inconsequential. If there are deeper meanings and metaphors at play, they escaped me.
I don't particularly like Scandinavian architecture, so the set design captured that well.
To address previous comments, the casting of Fanny Wilton as a black character works fine in contemporary Oslo. Giving her a South London accent does not.
Three stars.
One act: 19:33-21:15
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Post by andrew on Oct 3, 2022 19:22:09 GMT
I was really disappointed by this. It was just boring. I felt like I could have written it. I don't know what I was supposed to take from it. I didn't really rate Clare Higgins, SRB did his best, Lia Williams is one of my favourite actresses alive and even she didn't really manage to elevate anything that happened. I dunno maybe just 2 stars? Bewildered that this has been put on, it's going to struggle through the next 2 months.
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