Stranger Things Spoilers Only

I spoke to house staff tonight and they said this week they’d cut 30 minutes off the show, some of which was the demogorgon scene which really, I’m not too upset about not seeing but yes very very strange to cut it after using it to advertise

From seeing it 3 weeks ago and then again on Tuesday, I'm pretty sure nothing in the first act is cut, it was still 90 minutes on Tuesday.

My memory of every scene isn't amazing but yes, the demogorgon is gone as we all know (really don't know why but anyway) and I think a few scenes from the play/ musical the school does has been cut.

I have so many thoughts on this after seeing it. And I’m finding myself in that weird place of coming out having enjoyed it but also being overly critical of it. For the most part I think a lot of my criticism boils down to the fact that it’s feeling like it has a bit of identity crisis in trying to appeal to both traditional theatregoers as well as avid fans of the tv show. For example the pacing and the staging does a massive shift between the first hour set predominantly in the school and then the last 30 mins of act one set in and around the house. For me it was the slower paced school scenes that worked better.

I’ve been disappointed with the lack of staging spoilers on here so trying to be explicit there are plenty of spoilers ahead so stop reading now if it’s not your thing.

The opening ship scene actually left me disappointed given the comments on here and essentially there’s a sudden reveal of the bow of a ship that appears to come from nowhere. Other than that there’s some projection work around the ship and there is a demogorgon in the form of someone in a costume hidden amongst the smoke. It’s over in a few mins.

A more effective set piece for me was the appearance of the shop with the cat in it. It genuinely does look like it comes from nowhere and follows a build up with the projection of a second Henry prior.

The big finale in act one takes place in the house attic. Honestly this fell pretty flat for me, with lots of obviously filler littered between the tense scenes that gave them chance to swap actors with stand-ins and get people on wires. The problem was that the filler well and truly killed the vibe. I also found it mildly irritating that they abandoned the atmospheric attic scene used prior for a completely different set piece in the name of making the effects easier to achieve. The most frustrating thing for me on this was the appearance of the people in hazmat suits in the audience straight after, which literally did nothing other than to give them time to reset the stage - it’s pretty inexcusable pacing imo. And randomly the only scene that comes after is a single one of Henry and his mum on a bed which could easily have done differently to avoid the filler being required.

In terms of narrative the second act is where I can only assume the cuts have been made as it just felt like it was jumping all over the place. It also seemed to have fewer wow moments. There’s a scene where Henry goes into dark mode and parts of the proscenium open to reveal tendrils - but they come and go in virtual darkness and I’m sure parts of the audience probably didn’t even notice they were there if they couldn’t see the very top of the stage. Were they perhaps used at another point as well as they seemed to add little for the effort involved.

Outside of that there’s a nice moment when Henry sends the doctor flying through the ceiling of his cell, though that is ruined somewhat when you then see the doctor climbing back down the rear of the truck. And the last big moment using powers sees a main character fall in slow motion from a bridge which is actually quite nicely done because they tease you and make you think it’s going to play out differently with standard wire work. However, as per act one it’s completely ruined by the fact that they then have well over a minute of projection on the curtain to give them time to reset the stage.

All in all, as others have said there’s lots to enjoy in the staging but just nothing very new and by the end I got a bit bored of projection and screen work being used to create the more atmospheric scenes. I also really didn’t like a lot of the lighting design with some scenes coming across quite under-lit and not in the name of stage trickery. It’s a very enjoyable show and there’s plenty to enjoy and plenty done well but the book feels like it either needed massively trimming back before making it to the stage or to be given more time for all of the points to develop by making it a two parter. I moaned on the main thread that the tv series suffers from having too little editing but I can’t help feel that more exposition would actually have helped here.

Does Vecna feature in the show?

I went to see last Sunday’s matinee (11th February). I am a fan of the TV show, and have seen all four seasons (Season 4 is brilliant).

Visually, it is incredible. The opening sequence is breathtaking, and sets the scene perfectly for what is to come. The whole first act zips along.

However, the second act is not quite as strong. The slow motion element near the end is brilliant though.

Based off of this, I have some theories for Season 5 (hence why I have put this in the spoiler thread).

I am assuming that Patti will show up at some point in Season 5. She seems to be Vecna/Henry‘s only weakness, and so could hold the key to defeating him.

Does the blood-type play an important role, as this is a piece of information that we have not had before? It is certainly not mentioned in the TV series.

The same goes for the cave mentioned in Nevada. Could this be some sort of clue to the denouement of Season 5?

All in all, this was still a 5 star experience for me.

Right can someone explain to me how they did the mouse? I could have sworn it was real. I was literally sat there wondering about the logistics of using a real animal night after night and then it exploded.

My assumption was that it’s a mirror and the lighting switches from allowing you to see the real mouse to instead seeing the blood and guts. Does it count as pepper’s ghost if there’s no ghost?

I definitely think there’s a real mouse for the majority of the scene, from Row E stalls, there was a very slight lighting change I spotted right before it exploded.

With both Cursed Child and Stranger Things a subtle change in lighting usually indicates when the ‘trick’ kicks in.