562 posts
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Post by jadnoop on Aug 11, 2019 9:12:32 GMT
Finally saw this on the last night. Staging and performances were amazing but I found it all a bit disappointing. It's FAR too long - could have dropped most of the early childhood stuff for Hortense which had no real bearing on what came next, and also most of Queenie's back-story about pig-farming in Lincolnshire and working in a sweetshop. That would have shaved a good half hour off. And also if it's 3 hours 20 minutes, start the evening show at 7 not 7:30. And as noted above I have reservations about the fact that a story about black experiences of immigration written by a black novelist has been filtered through a white playwright. Presumably Andrea Levy was OK with the choice (although not sure at what point her health problems started so she may not have been particularly involved) I don't know about cutting the backstory I think it's pretty important character stuff and cutting it down to just saying essentially "Hortense was in love with this guy" and "Queenie really wanted to move away from home" wouldn't be enough to fully understand their motivations or perhaps fully appreciate would be the better term since they're very simple motivations. I don't think that simply saying would be enough to show why Hortense has grown up so prim and proper and pretty rude (and her unrequited love would be less tragic) or why Queenie would be so desperate to marry. I agree. For me, Hortense & Queenie’s childhoods were important for providing context on things like their views on, and experience of, love, and the expectations put on them by family. Those scenes were also v important to showing why they wanted to move to England / a bigger town, and what they expected to find there. While it didn’t register hugely for me at first, those early scenes also set up the topics of adoption and parenting, that the play wrapped back to at the end. Perhaps these scenes could have been shortened and had the same effect, but I enjoyed them anyway and I liked that boarding the Windrush was more-or-less the play’s halfway point. |
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Post by NorthernAlien on Feb 4, 2020 20:24:00 GMT
Saw this last night on an NT Live - Encore! showing at my local cinema. I was one of four people in the audience.
As this was the cinema, we got a little pre-show talk, and an interval BTS piece about the music and how it was put together.
I managed to completely miss this when it was actually on at the NT, and didn't realise it had quite such a long playing time. That said, it didn't feel like it was over three hours, and at no point did I even vaguely feel like it was dragging (not something that can always be said for a one-hour fringe show!).
I really, really enjoyed this. I haven't read the book, so I don't know if that tells you what happens to all the characters, but I came out so totally wanting to know what happens next. Some of the language *was* quite shocking, but in the pre-show bit they did specifically point out that they'd done research, and were being accurate. Great night, amazing piece of theatre, brilliant story.
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2,481 posts
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Post by zahidf on Feb 19, 2020 10:04:36 GMT
It's back at the national from October.
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632 posts
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Post by ncbears on Jun 25, 2020 14:24:19 GMT
So happy to have caught this on the NT @home streaming before it disappeared. I'm now kicking myself for not knowing about this when I was in the UK last summer. While it looks great on TV - it must have been even more impressive live. And, while I read the comments above about the size of the Olivier stage- at least in the filmed version, this felt plenty "intimate".
This is not a complaint - but after three hours (which flew), I was so invested in the characters that I wanted to know what happens next. It is not that the story doesn't have a stopping point - or that where this production stops isn't an appropriate stopping point - it is just that I felt like I was at the end of a chapter - and there was so much more story to be told. I'll be buying a copy of the novel - even if the novel doesn't go beyond where the play ends.
Just a wonderful production and Leah Harvey was just astoundingly good.
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1,861 posts
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Post by NeilVHughes on Jun 25, 2020 15:21:24 GMT
I saw Strange Fruit at the Bush Theatre at around the same time, an excellent companion piece as it reflected the life of the children of the Windrush generation in the 80’s.
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1,306 posts
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Post by londonmzfitz on Jun 25, 2020 15:59:48 GMT
I loved this, felt the screening worked very well and was absolutely drawn in from start to finish. I've been so easily distracted with many screenings but I was glued to this.
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2,389 posts
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Post by peggs on Jun 25, 2020 20:55:29 GMT
Yes very glad to see this having not being able to get a ticket I could afford and see from when it was on. So uncomfortable to watch in places and how little distance travelled sadly it seems in these times. Lovely use of the Olivier.
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2,680 posts
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Post by viserys on Jun 26, 2020 5:09:15 GMT
I loved this, too, brilliantly written and great performances. I do have one question though, which I'll try and put in spoiler tags... What happened to Michael? Where he did he go after his affair with Queenie and fathering the baby? I understand the symbolism of her giving the child to Hortense and Gilbert, but I'd still like to know where he had gone to and if he ever found out and was reunited both with his cousin Hortense and his own son? Couldn't help thinking there was still a great sequell in this! |
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Post by londonmzfitz on Jun 26, 2020 11:10:32 GMT
{Spoiler - click to view}
Micheal went to Canada, didn't he? It poses an interesting scenario though, doesn't it - present times with DNA testing and it could be proven that the baby and Mum are in fact related. I'm the daughter of Irish immigrants who moved to London from County Kerry in 1948, and settled in Kilburn (the No Blacks, No Irish, No Dogs is something M&D would talk about). I've recently been contacted by my Mum's oldest sisters grandson through DNA testing, gave up her illegitimate son. |
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Post by teamyali on Jan 12, 2022 11:29:12 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jan 12, 2022 23:22:00 GMT
Oh Leonie Elliot is excellent, I will definitely be looking to see this now, having missed the show I'd booked in the first run. |
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1,133 posts
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Post by Stephen on Jan 13, 2022 0:45:42 GMT
Nice to see Mirren Mac being cast as Queenie. She was excellent in the great BBC Scotland Drama 'The Nest' I might see this again!
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Post by edi on Mar 5, 2022 10:11:51 GMT
I've just got some front row tickets for small island and when i paid i noticed it says restricted view.
I sat front row in the national olivier numerous time, it's never restricted.
Would you know what is different with this production?
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Post by juicy_but_terribly_drab on Mar 5, 2022 10:30:01 GMT
I've just got some front row tickets for small island and when i paid i noticed it says restricted view. I sat front row in the national olivier numerous time, it's never restricted. Would you know what is different with this production? I sat front left when I saw the original run and they were apparently restricted view as well but I didn't have any issues whatsoever so I don't think you'll have anything to worry about. |
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1,471 posts
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Post by mkb on Mar 5, 2022 12:03:09 GMT
I've been to three different shows recently at the NT, and, at every one, my "restricted view" seat was unrestricted.
Unfortunately, it's become a case of boy crying wolf. On the occasion a seat really does have a partially blocked view, no-one will know in advance.
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Post by edi on Mar 5, 2022 14:32:55 GMT
I've been to three different shows recently at the NT, and, at every one, my "restricted view" seat was unrestricted. Unfortunately, it's become a case of boy crying wolf. On the occasion a seat really does have a partially blocked view, no-one will know in advance. Thank you. This is my first time back to the original Olivier configuration and I wasn't sure whether things changed. Also some productions have raised stage but so far my NT front row experience is good |
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Post by matty on Mar 5, 2022 17:46:38 GMT
I missed this the first time round, but saw it last night and loved it. One of the best productions I've seen at the NT recently.
What was quite distracting though was that someone had brought their baby along with them and throughout most of the second act said baby could be heard until the person left the auditorium near the end. (They were sat in the stalls, while I was up near the back of the circle). Like seriously?!
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Post by cavocado on Mar 5, 2022 19:00:08 GMT
I missed this the first time round, but saw it last night and loved it. One of the best productions I've seen at the NT recently. What was quite distracting though was that someone had brought their baby along with them and throughout most of the second act said baby could be heard until the person left the auditorium near the end. (They were sat in the stalls, while I was up near the back of the circle). Like seriously?! The NT terms and conditions say no children under 4, so I think it's reasonable to complain about this www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/your-visit/policies/terms-and-conditions (it's clause 18.7) |
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Post by theatremiss on Mar 5, 2022 19:35:09 GMT
I missed this the first time round, but saw it last night and loved it. One of the best productions I've seen at the NT recently. What was quite distracting though was that someone had brought their baby along with them and throughout most of the second act said baby could be heard until the person left the auditorium near the end. (They were sat in the stalls, while I was up near the back of the circle). Like seriously?! Oh I think the NT allows this unfortunately or they turn a bling eye. I had the misfortune a few years ago seeing Cate Blanchett in When we Have Sufficiently Tortured Each Other at the Dorfman. I was in the foyer and I saw a woman with her partner with a very small baby. I thought at first perhaps she’d come along to have a cuppa and her partner was seeing the show. Nope, in she schlepped to the front of Stalls where she got her baps out and started breastfeeding. Lots of murmurings and mumblings from the baby but in the whole didn’t make a huge noise, just distracting one’s. But on the whole thinking about how someone would believe it acceptable to bring a breastfeeding child into a theatre was more engaging than the play. |
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Post by wiggymess on Mar 6, 2022 10:01:32 GMT
I missed this the first time round, but saw it last night and loved it. One of the best productions I've seen at the NT recently. What was quite distracting though was that someone had brought their baby along with them and throughout most of the second act said baby could be heard until the person left the auditorium near the end. (They were sat in the stalls, while I was up near the back of the circle). Like seriously?! Oh I think the NT allows this unfortunately or they turn a bling eye. I had the misfortune a few years ago seeing Cate Blanchett in When we Have Sufficiently Tortured Each Other at the Dorfman. I was in the foyer and I saw a woman with her partner with a very small baby. I thought at first perhaps she’d come along to have a cuppa and her partner was seeing the show. Nope, in she schlepped to the front of Stalls where she got her baps out and started breastfeeding. Lots of murmurings and mumblings from the baby but in the whole didn’t make a huge noise, just distracting one’s. But on the whole thinking about how someone would believe it acceptable to bring a breastfeeding child into a theatre was more engaging than the play. You are David Brent and I claim my five pounds. |
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Post by fossil on Mar 6, 2022 18:48:13 GMT
If the baby had filled its nappy there would not have been just visual and audible distractions to deal with for this in the vicinity!
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Post by imstillhere on Mar 8, 2022 1:17:51 GMT
This is a stunning show. I would say it's Norris' highlight of so far of his time at NT.
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529 posts
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Post by jampot on Mar 8, 2022 2:03:37 GMT
This is a stunning show. I would say it's Norris' highlight of so far of his time at NT. Saw it on Sat .. Absolutely superb.. |
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Post by jojo on Mar 8, 2022 19:08:36 GMT
I've been to three different shows recently at the NT, and, at every one, my "restricted view" seat was unrestricted. Unfortunately, it's become a case of boy crying wolf. On the occasion a seat really does have a partially blocked view, no-one will know in advance. Might it depend how tall you are in some cases? I'm so pleased this is back, and I hope to see this in April. The book has been on my 'want to read' shelf on Goodreads for a while, but I'm not sure if I should read it before seeing the play. |
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Post by mkb on Mar 9, 2022 7:06:23 GMT
I've been to three different shows recently at the NT, and, at every one, my "restricted view" seat was unrestricted. Unfortunately, it's become a case of boy crying wolf. On the occasion a seat really does have a partially blocked view, no-one will know in advance. Might it depend how tall you are in some cases? I can't see how. I am 5'8 and my seats were all in the front three rows. Were I shorter, the only difference would be that a taller person in front could block my view, but this is true of nearly every seat bar the front row, and the further back you are, the greater the area of the stage that the taller person in front will obscure. |
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