Sideways, St James Theatre

[showgirl]

Mystified by lack of thread and comments - surely someone here has seen it by now?   Reviews have been quite mixed, but I'm still interested in seeing it if I can get a decent seat at an affordable price - which means not sitting in the very front or back rows.

[Deleted]

I've had a few friends go. The general consensus seems to be "fine, but not unmissable". You also seem to be able to get £15 tickets through TodayTix if you're willing to give over a tweet or Facebook post to promoting the production (bit weird but okay).

[showgirl]

Thanks Baemax. I did know about the TodayTix scheme, but apparently they are still front row tix. As there are so many better ones unsold, I'm thinking they'll need to offer some deals soon!

[tlt]

Hi,

Haven't posted here since the move from a certain theatre website and thought I might as well comment on this thread as there have been no posters who have seen it. I was one of the reviewers who wasn't blown away by this production.

There were some very clunky scenery changes which was peculiar because about half way through I realised, if I'm correct, the scenery flats were the key to the play but this aspect was so obscured, it hardly came through. If someone tells me how to do it, I'll put it as a spoiler paragraph here. At the moment suffice to say the scenery flats act as very theatrical devices to emphasise the obsessive nature of the leading character, a writer, and how he views the world.

Otherwise you can read my blog trafficlighttheatregoer.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/review-sideways.html?m=1

In summary, it is a decently acted odd couple play (with some tasteful nudity which I forgot to warn about in my blog review) but at least for three quarters of it lacks the subtlety (and stunning natural Californian backdrop) of the movie. The pair, a would-be writer and an actor with a minor career in voiceovers and TV directing, are doing a stag road trip through Californian wine country before the latter's mercenary marriage. The last quarter finally pushed away the memories of the movie for me when it became a play in its own right with some laugh out loud rueful moments.

There is a wine promotion also on - not a great drinker or conoisseur (!!!) but the wine was nice. So it's a pleasant enough evening without reaching its full potential.

[Deleted]

I rather enjoyed it. It's an entertaining evening out and has some nice comedic moments. It's worth seeing for Simon Harrison's performance really. In the wrong hands Jack could just be a bit of a douchebag, well I suppose he *is* a douchebag, but in Harrison's hands, a hugely likeable one.

[Phantom of London]

Any budding directors out there, here is a hint - if you are going to write a terrible mundane plodding play, don't start it off with you main character taking a dump, you leave your self wide open for some hash critiism like this, the first scene summed up the play really.

This really heightened my sense of monotony, what summed up the play was the constant scene changes and wine drinking and boy even wine drinking can get tedious, especially when I am coming to the end of a week of being on 24hr call, which I have to practice abstinence from alcohol for that period.

If you compared this play to a bottle of wine, you think cheap below £5 a bottle. That comes with a screw top and tastes vinegary.

This didn't wet my appetite,

1 star.

[joem]

Last performance tonight.

This was a hugely enjoyable film (adapted from a novel) but they haven't really done anything very different with it except try and figure out how to bring a roadmovie into a theatre.

Mlldly enjoyable, because it has some good lines lifted from the film, but no great shakes really.

I don't think I've ever seen so much movement in and out of the auditorium during the performance, in a play with an adult audience. Must have been the merlot.

[Phantom of London]

Really this film works on a visual level, going round vineyards and drinking great wine, which you cannot replicate on stage.

[joem]

Jul 15, 2016 14:36:35 GMT Phantom of London said:

Really this film works on a visual level, going round vineyards and drinking great wine, which you cannot replicate on stage.

I agree. But then sometimes that's why good theatre is so wonderful - it gets you to believe in utterly unbelievable stuff like replicating the battle of Agincourt or whatever on stage.

[Phantom of London]

I agree with and find it thrilling myself how a creative team can reconceptualise something and reimagine it for stage. However here it was an epic failure as I say seeing diffrent wines poured frpom their own vineyard sets the scene, which you couldn't do on stage.