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Post by nottobe on Mar 18, 2024 16:52:32 GMT
This is running from May 3rd to June 15th and the cast already seems top notch. Vicki Pepperdine, Kiell Smith-Bynoe and Dan Skinner, all at the top of their game in terms of TV comedy so will be good to see how they are onstage. And the play itself is one I have wanted to see for some time. www.marylebonetheatre.com/productions/the-government-inspector
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Post by Jan on Mar 18, 2024 17:34:31 GMT
I have seen it a few times. It is a good play but the more they try to make it funny the less funny it is. Richard Jones managed to kill it stone dead at the Young Vic.
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3,301 posts
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Post by david on May 4, 2024 11:09:48 GMT
Is anybody booked in to see this anytime next week or before the 17/05? I am trying to finalise my theatre weekend and this is one I am considering as I have never seen it and also it’s an opportunity to visit a different venue I have never been to before. I would love to read if it is worth a worth or to stay clear of. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks.
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Post by Jan on May 4, 2024 11:19:53 GMT
Is anybody booked in to see this anytime next week or before the 17/05? I am trying to finalise my theatre weekend and this is one I am considering as I have never seen it and also it’s an opportunity to visit a different venue I have never been to before. I would love to read if it is worth a worth or to stay clear of. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks. I’m waiting for reviews. Vicki Pepperdine seems to have left the cast which is not necessarily a good sign.
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1,086 posts
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Post by alicechallice on May 4, 2024 12:47:00 GMT
Is anybody booked in to see this anytime next week or before the 17/05? I am trying to finalise my theatre weekend and this is one I am considering as I have never seen it and also it’s an opportunity to visit a different venue I have never been to before. I would love to read if it is worth a worth or to stay clear of. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks. I’m waiting for reviews. Vicki Pepperdine seems to have left the cast which is not necessarily a good sign. Personal circumstances, it was announced a couple of weeks ago that she'd been replaced by Martha Howe-Douglas.
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Post by mrekko on May 4, 2024 13:11:23 GMT
I see Nikolai Gogol, I click buy. Hope they’ll do a good work with this.
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2,047 posts
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Post by Marwood on May 4, 2024 16:22:25 GMT
I saw the version at the Young Vic (with Julian Barratt) and also thought it was 🫤, will be passing on this.
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Post by Jan on May 4, 2024 17:57:21 GMT
I saw the version at the Young Vic (with Julian Barratt) and also thought it was 🫤, will be passing on this. That production was hopeless but only because the director Richard Jones has no talent for comedy. The Richard Eyre NT version years ago was pretty good with the irritating Rik Mayall quite well cast in the lead and Jim Broadbent very amusing as the mayor. The Almeida did it too I think and that was good.
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Post by hound on May 7, 2024 18:27:01 GMT
Going to see this on Saturday evening. Looking forward to it, although disappointed that Vicki Pepperdine is no longer involved. Sales look a bit slow, although I'm not sure what's normal for this theatre.
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Post by Jan on May 9, 2024 13:50:56 GMT
2* from the Guardian. Sounds like it confirms my view that the more you try to make this play funny the less funny it is.
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4,171 posts
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Post by anthony40 on May 9, 2024 14:29:46 GMT
I caught the bus to Baker Street on Tuesday night which took me right past the theatre
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Post by lt on May 9, 2024 15:03:36 GMT
2* from the Guardian. Sounds like it confirms my view that the more you try to make this play funny the less funny it is. 4* from What's On Stage, who seemed to like it quite a bit: "The script is unrelentingly hilarious and linguistically delicious".
"Gogol purists may come away mulling over questions of power, delusion, or some other impressive profundity. But everyone will leave with a face aching from grinning".
But others not quite so keen:
3* from West End Friend, Reviews Hub and The Stage
2 1/2 * from Chortle
2* from The Times, Broadway World
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Post by rmechanical on May 14, 2024 4:20:19 GMT
Saw it last night in an unfortunately half full house. The cast works hard to deliver a performance physically based which sometimes means the dialogue gets lost. Kiell Smith-Bynoe of Ghosts fame is a revelation revealing a talent for physical comedy. The theatre is new to me and is 5 minutes from Baker Street. Certainly, worth a visit.
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Post by joem on Jun 15, 2024 22:12:21 GMT
The matinee was at least two-thirds, maybe three-quarters full today. Despite, or perhaps because of, the drenching most people had received before entering the theatre, people were in the mood to be entertained and indulgent towards the performers. They put on a good show, in a very physical interpretation of Gogol. Whilst I am not normally a huge fan of rewriting works by other authors and billing them as the original this was quite funny and the topical mentions just about tolerable. It drifted into Ubu territory in its grotesque absurdity at times.
Kiell Smith Bynoe as the phony inspector and Dan Skinner as the governor stole the comic honours - the former was at times positively Grouchoesque -but it was good ensemble acting and the timing and tempo were both good.
It takes a while for theatres to work themselves into the London circuit so I wouldn't give up on this just yet. Any new addition to the theatres on offer is always welcome. This is functional rather than glamorous but there's nothing wrong with it and it's not badly located.
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