526 posts
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Post by danielwhit on Jul 11, 2016 15:27:12 GMT
And that elaborate stair thing at the front of the stage, only used the once. Eugh. I reckon they ran out of rehearsal time and just blocked it as best they could, there. Ha, I doubt that - unless those stairs were meant to be used for something else which was dumped and someone said "we've got the stairs, we need to use them". "Oh it's fine, we'll send Voldy down there, give the kids something to giggle at" - which is basically what happens now. |
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Post by Nelly on Jul 11, 2016 15:29:09 GMT
Anyone else think, as HWMNBN made his final exit, "oooh, bet he's just gone for a slash?" I nearly said it out loud. Needs deleting IMHO. I wasn't much convinced by the idea of him walking through the audience. I get it, so everyone can face out while we hear the next scene - but it strikes a bit too much along the line of the pantomime villain for my liking. My seats were at the back of the stalls so could see his whole, slow walk through. I just don't think it had the effect they were hoping for. |
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Post by Jon on Jul 11, 2016 15:38:09 GMT
Have to say I really liked the character of Scorpius, the fact he doesn't fit the Malfoy or Slytherin stereotype felt refreshing and also Draco was redeemed as a character, I'm not convinced he and Harry could be friends but I think they have a mutual respect for one another.
Albus was a bit harder to like but I could understand his plight, being Harry Potter's son and not living up to expectations is something I think a lot of people can relate to.
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526 posts
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Post by danielwhit on Jul 11, 2016 15:44:06 GMT
It was the way he vanished behind the curtain leading to the loos and bar that really creased me up. Could have been worse - at least he didn't have to ask an usher for the way out. Have to say I really liked the character of Scorpius, the fact he doesn't fit the Malfoy or Slytherin stereotype felt refreshing and also Draco was redeemed as a character, I'm not convinced he and Harry could be friends but I think they have a mutual respect for one another. Albus was a bit harder to like but I could understand his plight, being Harry Potter's son and not living up to expectations is something I think a lot of people can relate to. Yeah, I'd agree with that. I think it's a shame we didn't see any of James or Lily's school life, to have the comparison between their (presumably successful) schooling career and Albus' broken one. |
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526 posts
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Post by danielwhit on Jul 11, 2016 19:41:44 GMT
Speaking of exiting, anyone got any idea why the stalls didn't clear after the final act? Was stuck until finally some sensible FOH did the correct thing and opened the side fire exit. Nope, sorry - helpfully I was in the side of row S so I was out of there after about 30 seconds. |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 11, 2016 21:47:41 GMT
It was the way he vanished behind the curtain leading to the loos and bar that really creased me up. Could have been worse - at least he didn't have to ask an usher for the way out. Have to say I really liked the character of Scorpius, the fact he doesn't fit the Malfoy or Slytherin stereotype felt refreshing and also Draco was redeemed as a character, I'm not convinced he and Harry could be friends but I think they have a mutual respect for one another. Albus was a bit harder to like but I could understand his plight, being Harry Potter's son and not living up to expectations is something I think a lot of people can relate to. Yeah, I'd agree with that. I think it's a shame we didn't see any of James or Lily's school life, to have the comparison between their (presumably successful) schooling career and Albus' broken one. The whole young Lily/James thing was a problem, I think. On the one hand you've got Harry saying he's not sure how to be a good dad because his own father died when he was so young; on the other he appears to have a perfectly good relationship with James and Lily. It's only whiny, self-centred Albus that's a problem (for obvious reasons. If I was Harry, I wouldn't be beating myself up about that, frankly). Picking up on a couple of other points: there seems to be some confusion over what I said about Rose/Hermione - quite possibly my fault, it's been a busy few days, sorry! I don't think I ever bothered about what Rose's peers made of her - I only mentioned them when saying Hermione was softened a bit as a character by having an awareness of how her peers viewed her. And that Rose seemed to be without any softening quality/vulnerability, so came across as a cocky pain in the neck. I didn't have an issue with the delivery of the spells, but my goodness they need to practise putting their wands away. (Steady on Monkey, I know what you're like!) To a (wo)man, it seemed that they all had a couple of ineffectual attempts to look cool while fumbling by their sides, then eventually gave up and glanced down to find the right spot to stash it. Did Clint Eastwood step out on set before mastering how to replace his gun in his holster? I bet he did not. ;-) re Voldemort: I thought it worked really well the night I was there! Loved the way the stairs folded out from the stage. Normally in cases like that, stairs are there from the start so you know at some point, someone's gonna walk down them. The element of surprise this different approach allowed the show was great. There was a bit of a gasp when Voldemort walked out on stage. I assumed he would then just stop at the front of the stage, but to see the stairs appear...there was a genuine frisson among the audience. I didn't know what the collective sound of a couple of hundred people leaning forward in the dress circle sounded like until that moment, anyway! For me, I got that sense of how terrifying it would be in the wizarding world for Voldemort to walk amongst you. So it rounded off nicely all the other 'bringing the audience into the action' moments - Dementors, projections and all. |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 11, 2016 22:48:34 GMT
Surely enough of the cast have done Shakespeare that they know you find the top of your wand-holster with your non-dominant hand and pretend you're holding it steady rather than establishing where the hole is while you reholster your wand?
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Post by Deleted on Jul 11, 2016 23:07:17 GMT
Preach, Baemax. ;-)
It did make me giggle because they were pulling off umpteen magic tricks rather well - it seemed odd it was a relatively simple thing that foxed them!
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Post by Deleted on Jul 12, 2016 10:07:37 GMT
Granted, maybe the duel played out better viewed from the dress than the stalls...
There really is a lot of stuff going on, from quick change all the way through to various ways of disappearing/reappearing. What with the secrecy around magic, and the secrecy around the whole project, I'm surprised the cast are able to have any kind of normal conversation with friends at all at the moment. ;-)
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Post by Deleted on Jul 12, 2016 10:54:27 GMT
They probably just talk about politics, you can derail ANY unwanted conversation at the moment by just bringing up the P word.  |
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Post by dippy on Jul 12, 2016 13:40:30 GMT
"Transfiguration" looked pretty awful from the front of the dress circle but I'm hoping it's currently a bit better than it was in the first preview even though it doesn't sound it. Polyjuice was way better but I guess they didn't want to do the same thing again (they were done slightly differently weren't they? I can't really remember). I know just saw a {Spoiler - click to view}
gaping big hole in the stage for transfiguration but the owl distracted me for most of the polyjuice transformations so didn't see them well. Oh and to whoever asked the owl question, there were no real owls in the owlery but since it's in part 2 they may have scraped any other owls they had planned. |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 12, 2016 13:43:55 GMT
Someone remind me what the Transfiguration bit was? Turns out seeing both in one day sort of chases out the brain's ability to remember clearly (or it does for me, anyway).
WAIT IGNORE ME I'VE FIGURED IT OUT yes, I agree it was WAY less smooth than the Polyjuice effect and didn't even look like it was just mishandled on the day, it looked clumsily designed too.
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736 posts
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Post by dippy on Jul 12, 2016 13:46:08 GMT
Someone remind me what the Transfiguration bit was? Turns out seeing both in one day sort of chases out the brain's ability to remember clearly (or it does for me, anyway). It was Harry into Voldemort. |
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Post by Jon on Jul 12, 2016 14:34:38 GMT
Polyjuice yes, dippy. From the stalls you didn't see the hole, but could see how the casings of the costumes were. The polyjuice scene was well done, I think I know how they did it as you could see that it wasn't the arms of the actors so I assume they're hidden behind them. I was impressed with the beginning sequence where they change from normal clothes to uniform. |
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Post by Nelly on Jul 12, 2016 14:45:11 GMT
All the transformations and illusions looked slick from the back of the stalls. I'd really love to either be a bit closer in the stalls or in the dress circle next time I go.
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736 posts
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Post by dippy on Jul 12, 2016 14:54:25 GMT
I was impressed with the beginning sequence where they change from normal clothes to uniform. That's funny, that didn't impress me in the slightest, annoyingly I saw it coming before it happened because of how odd they looked with the excess material around their waists. Had I not spotted the odd looking costumes I am sure I'd have been very impressed though. However I was impressed with the first time we saw them going into the Ministry of Magic. Back to polyjuice vs transfiguration it just looked way smoother. |
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Post by moony93 on Jul 13, 2016 9:02:04 GMT
I'd definitely say the further back you are and centre on the better the 'magic' looks. From the back of the stalls it all looked great! Especially the ministry bit. But from the front down dress circle towards the right you can see into the back corners that they black out for the ministry bit, and can see the guys lifting them around during the duel, and yeah just a lot of it is spoiled in a way.
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Post by james14 on Jul 13, 2016 20:45:11 GMT
I went to see the play last Saturday and there was one joke near the end of part 2 that I didn't get.
When the adult characters travel to Godric's Hollow to go back in time to meet Albus and Scorpius, they start talking about how the village has become very popular with muggles and tourists. Draco then looks into the distance and says "Is that a farmers' market?!"
Cue HUGE laughter and applause. Probably the biggest audience laugh of the whole play.
But I didn't get the joke at all and neither did my brother who I was with.
Can anyone explain? It has been bugging me massively!
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Post by moony93 on Jul 13, 2016 22:10:08 GMT
I went to see the play last Saturday and there was one joke near the end of part 2 that I didn't get. When the adult characters travel to Godric's Hollow to go back in time to meet Albus and Scorpius, they start talking about how the village has become very popular with muggles and tourists. Draco then looks into the distance and says "Is that a farmers' market?!" Cue HUGE laughter and applause. Probably the biggest audience laugh of the whole play. But I didn't get the joke at all and neither did my brother who I was with. Can anyone explain? It has been bugging me massively! I was under the impression it was a dig at how quaint little villages always have farmers markets and that we 'muggles' flock to them as if they're the greatest thing ever. |
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526 posts
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Post by danielwhit on Jul 13, 2016 22:12:29 GMT
I went to see the play last Saturday and there was one joke near the end of part 2 that I didn't get. When the adult characters travel to Godric's Hollow to go back in time to meet Albus and Scorpius, they start talking about how the village has become very popular with muggles and tourists. Draco then looks into the distance and says "Is that a farmers' market?!" Cue HUGE laughter and applause. Probably the biggest audience laugh of the whole play. But I didn't get the joke at all and neither did my brother who I was with. Can anyone explain? It has been bugging me massively! Got to admit that made me wonder as well. There's certainly not a big in joke within "Potterverse" about farmers' markets.. I can only presume it's such a clash of worlds that it causes such a laugh (the idea that this fabled wizarding village has a muggle market it in). Possibly also at that stage the audience want something to laugh at as the tone has got darker, so people latch on to anything vaguely amusing. I'd happily hear better opinions than mine though! |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 14, 2016 4:38:33 GMT
It could be a thousand cases of "Crap. The pause after that line makes it sound like it was supposed to be a joke, but I didn't get it. I'd better act like it's the funniest thing I've ever heard so other people don't realise I didn't understand the reference."
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Post by Deleted on Jul 14, 2016 6:33:55 GMT
I assumed it was just mocking middle class life? I was a bit surprised by the reaction the night I went, too, though - no applause but a big laugh - so perhaps there's something I'm missing!
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Post by Deleted on Jul 14, 2016 7:33:54 GMT
Farmer's markets are such a middle-class thing right now that they're just inherently hilarious. Brooklyn Nine Nine gets it.
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526 posts
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Post by danielwhit on Jul 14, 2016 10:59:23 GMT
On another topic, do we think there is a small slide behind the fireplace, so that everyone using flue powder comes on at the same angle? Absolutely definitely - I would go so far as to suggest there is some kind of laser (or otherwise) sensor so the fire is appropriately cut before the person reaches it, then resumed by a pressure sensor being deactivated when they walk off. Strikes me as far too much of a potentially dangerous thing for them to not have deployed technology to prevent burns. |
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Post by Ade on Jul 14, 2016 16:02:51 GMT
On another topic, do we think there is a small slide behind the fireplace, so that everyone using flue powder comes on at the same angle? Definitely a slide. Not seen the plays yet but you could see a fireplace with a slide behind it in the rehearsal video they released. |
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