John Gabriel Borkman - Bridge Theatre

[lichtie]

Wasn't the attrocious Very Very Very Dark Matter in a proscenium configuration? I had the sense of being far away from the stage which didn't actually hurt in that case given how poor the play was - so it may just be memory playing up. Certainly the couple next to me on Saturday seemed to feel they'd been cheated sitting in stalls C61-62 as it was a very side on view (actually fine for this production) and kept on about how they were front on the previous time. Everything the Bridge have had recently has been in the thrust staging though I think.

[NeilVHughes]

The very first play Young Marx was as near as damn it a proscenium production if I remember rightly.

[Jan]

The RST can be converted to a proscenium stage. The RSC new team should just get on and do it and admit the main house thrust stage configuration was a failed experiment.

[TallPaul]

If it's not too much trouble, Jan, could we please have a list of all 35 productions...either in this thread or a new one.

[Jan]

Oct 24, 2022 15:42:15 GMT TallPaul said:

If it's not too much trouble, Jan, could we please have a list of all 35 productions...either in this thread or a new one.

I will put them in a new thread at some point - I actually missed quite a few of his famous roles that I could easily have seen: Richard III, Hamlet, Humble Boy, The Lehman Trilogy, Jumpers and no doubt several others.

[Jan]

OK I put the list over in the Performers & Creatives section.

[lynette]

Oct 24, 2022 13:27:49 GMT Jan said:

Oct 23, 2022 21:16:18 GMT londonpostie said:

I was pondering the stage configurations of The Bridge, am I right in thinking it's either the full thrust or the somewhat inaccurate immersive option?

In my mind I have thought it more flexible, perhaps like the Young Vic or NT Dorfman, but I'm not sure it is. I'm not even sure they can unthrust, to use a technical term - perhaps the Stalls sideways seats are either in or out.

Not entirely sure what point I'm trying to make. There was something in the back of my mind about occupying the stage acreage and that .. creating dissonance or separation (or something)? .. from events (stage area also goes way back, almost to SE17, almost). Or maybe I'm thinking of the shape forcing choices - The Southbury Child and the absurdly-sized table, or Back and Son, again, with unused acreage.

Am I just waffling nonsense on a Sunday evening? Is there a director in the house?

Yes I was wondering if they could convert it to a proscenium configuration too. I don’t know. The Young Vic is by far the most flexible space, or at least they’ve used it that way. I’ve seen all possible configurations there: in the round, thrust stage, promenade, proscenium, traverse, and several unique combinations of those.

The Bridge is very flexible. Did you seen the walkabout productions? Or the Maggie Smith piece? 

[londonpostie]

Not "walkabout" it's 'immersive', don't cha know. I covered that. German Maggie Smith was on the slowest emerging thrust ever.

I'm not convinced it is flexible, anymore.

[NorthernAlien]

I saw this at the matinee today (Saturday). I knew absolutely nothing about it before I went in, other than that it was by Ibsen, and had SRB in it.

First thing - Gallery 2 was showing on the website as 'sold out', and was described by the FoH staff as 'closed'. Given that when I was looking at tickets yesterday, some seats up there had sold, I suspect there were some members of this afternoon's audience who had played "Matinee ticket roulette" and won!

I agree with other comments that the plot, or lack thereof, let this down. It felt like there were big chunks of something missing, and by the end I wasn't sure that anything had actually happened during the 1hr and 45 minutes.

I thought SRB was great, as was Lia Williams. I also thought the pianist was excellent.

I can see what they were trying to do with the set design, and maybe also with the costumes.

But mostly, this felt like it kept on approaching making a point, about corruption, or greed, or the inability of a certain sort of man to take responsibility for anything, or the strain on a relationship when one partner goes to jail (and is then released), or any one of a number of other things that it seemed to be dancing around the edges of. But it never seemed to actually get to any insightful or interesting commentary on any of those things.

A missed opportunity, I think.

But I only paid £15, so it could have been worse

[tommy]

Thought the acting of the 3 leads and the directing was brilliant!m. Glad to have seen it and what a unique venue this theatre is!

[bee]

I saw this yesterday afternoon and thought it was excellent. Great acting from the three leads, and also from Michael Simkins as Vilhelm. For some reason I found the moment towards the end,

SPOILER: Click to show

when he found out his daughter had run off without saying goodbye, and he accepts it meekly, to be tremendously sad.

The younger actors had less of an impact, but their scenes didn't really give them much opportunity.

I'd agree with the general feeling here about about the modern update. I couldn't see why anyone would think it was necessary.

[jm25]

Oct 29, 2022 22:50:26 GMT NorthernAlien said:

I saw this at the matinee today (Saturday). I knew absolutely nothing about it before I went in, other than that it was by Ibsen, and had SRB in it.

First thing - Gallery 2 was showing on the website as 'sold out', and was described by the FoH staff as 'closed'. Given that when I was looking at tickets yesterday, some seats up there had sold, I suspect there were some members of this afternoon's audience who had played "Matinee ticket roulette" and won!

I agree with other comments that the plot, or lack thereof, let this down. It felt like there were big chunks of something missing, and by the end I wasn't sure that anything had actually happened during the 1hr and 45 minutes.

I thought SRB was great, as was Lia Williams. I also thought the pianist was excellent.

I can see what they were trying to do with the set design, and maybe also with the costumes.

But mostly, this felt like it kept on approaching making a point, about corruption, or greed, or the inability of a certain sort of man to take responsibility for anything, or the strain on a relationship when one partner goes to jail (and is then released), or any one of a number of other things that it seemed to be dancing around the edges of. But it never seemed to actually get to any insightful or interesting commentary on any of those things.

A missed opportunity, I think.

But I only paid £15, so it could have been worse

I think this pretty much exactly sums up my view. Saw it on Friday and didn't really think anything really happened throughout the entire thing, save for a lot of shouting and pacing!

I'd only booked to see Simon Russell Beale and wasn't at all disappointed in that respect. He really made the most of what I thought was pretty terrible dialogue. I think a sure sign of a good translation is when you can't tell that it is a translation. With this, I wasn't at all familiar with the original or with any other translations of it, but there was just something about it which wasn't flowing right. I had a similar feeling when I watched The Dance of Death at the Arcola earlier this year.

I had an £18 seat for practically a front row seat. Really felt like I was on the stage so I enjoyed my evening for that alone!

The gallery was closed and lots of other free seats dotted around, though the stalls were reasonably full.