378 posts
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Post by Ade on Sept 9, 2017 14:14:17 GMT
Who's seen this most recently? What's the current running time looking like? Went last night and got out at 22:15 and started on time so it was about 2 hrs 45
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5,690 posts
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Post by lynette on Sept 9, 2017 17:36:24 GMT
So here I am in the foyer of the Dorfman. Is there a more wretched theatre foyer in England? You only need a vase of artificial lilies and it is the perfect funeral parlour. The food on offer is of the worst kind ie nonexistent but for a solitary brownie and some kind of sandwich which looks old. If the Park in Islington can offer such a buzz and good food why can't this place? They can carry stuff round from the Kitchen surely ? I'm not gonna start on the car park. Ok I will - no paying machines on the Dorfman side. Honestly this is like some kind of cultural desert reminiscent of the old Soviet buildings. Sorry to offend the Soviets amongst us. I'm early cos meeting someone. Let us hope the two Olivias make up for their incarceration in this dire apology for a theatre. It was better before Mr Dorfman emptied his piggy bank.
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Post by lynette on Sept 9, 2017 21:31:48 GMT
Finished 10.10
I would have liked to cut it to 9.30
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Post by lynette on Sept 9, 2017 23:03:21 GMT
I'm home now so a few thoughts. I agree with some of what has already been said - too many ideas. The play about responsibility, the dead child and taking the blame within a family context of two sisters who are different is a good one. The play about the collider and humanity creating a new world is not. We can all write the essay making the connections if we wanted to but in the end it is the drama that counts and she has undermined her actual dramatic instincts which are good by including the unnecessary science. We don't need to know what happens to the boy. We don't need the creepy mad scientist husband or the inexplicable screens or the circular thing that comes down or the end of the world stuff. It isn't dramatic. It is spectacle and frankly we can go to a decent disco for the coloured lights. Did anyone see The Herd, the Rory Kinnear play? It covered similar ground better. Arcadia anyone? Deeply superior and science woven in. Copenhagen anyone? Ok, nuff comparisons. If the words don't come from the character then why are they there? Narrators seldom work. When she got two people talking it was almost good. I think the boy, Joseph Quinn, was superb. His "you don't listen" best bit of the play, no? The Olivias were v good. OW had an underdeveloped character to perform which is hard and OC made it look easy which is also hard.
Incidentally there was a bit of a tone issue. The scene between the boy and the girl was funny and then shocking in a different way to the rest of the play. Good writing but not in the same play as the rest. Anyone agree? I left wondering why this was at the NT? It wasn't good enough. Having said all that, I'm glad I saw this.
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3,040 posts
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Post by crowblack on Sept 10, 2017 9:50:21 GMT
Having just come back from the meandering disappointment of 'Against', even the flawed parts of Mosquitoes had a verve to them which held my attention, but I agree that the Science Bits should have been hacked back or maybe cut altogether - they seemed very much influenced by a similar, more simply achieved device in Escaped Alone, but it was such a shift and barrage of information after the human, emotional scenes, and I'd have preferred it if they'd have let those more engaging scenes sink in. I liked the ambition of it, but felt they were dramatically misplaced (I think I made a comment a while ago that the obvious expense spent may have played against dramatic instinct here, when it came to editing!)
At the risk of being accused of o-level English essay stuff again, I thought the sexting part was very much of a piece with the theme of technology vs human contact and viruses that had been running since the opening scene - Jenny's preference for instinctive childbirth over interventions, Luke born by Caesarian then untouchable in an incubator, his attempts at human contact reduced to the internet and sex via mobile. I liked the shift from awkward and pathetically comic to shocking - I heard people going 'oh no!' and gasping behind me (ditto when he called Jenny a murderer) and thought the play could have had more of those moments - for example, in the messy cafe scene - if they'd stripped it back in places. Tonally, I think they'd upped the comedy since the slightly more naturalistically-played preview I saw, though the version you've seen is 10 mins shorter than it was last week, so maybe it has changed some more.
And yes, Joseph Quinn is excellent - one of the best young actors I've seen recently (the other is is co-star from Wish List, Erin Doherty, who is on at the Young Vic - sold out- and Old Vic soon). If you have Netflix, check out his debut in Dickensian - it's really something.
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3,040 posts
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Post by crowblack on Sept 10, 2017 14:24:26 GMT
Btw, I agree about the foyer. The coffee isn't great, either.
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1,245 posts
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Post by joem on Sept 15, 2017 23:35:20 GMT
I think this had more good than bad. I don't think it's a "womans' play" just because the two leads are female.
The mix of science and personal stories was at times awkward but, for me, made the science more palatable than say, Copenhagen, where the supposed drama of the context of the meeting between the two scientists was rather lost amongst the dry science.
Perhaps the difference in tone between the two halves was problematic, the Boson scenes a bit exaggerated which clashed with the realism of the battle of wits between the two sisters and their mum (quite Tennessee Wlliams in a way, that aspect).
I've read comments here that it has "too many ideas", which is perhaps a valid criticism, but on the other hand it is refreshing for a playwright to throw out ideas. Perhaps, I suggest, there were "too mnay stories"?
65% for me. Somewhere between 3 and 3.5 out of 5. I wouldn;t discourage anyone from seeing it.
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1,102 posts
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Post by zak97 on Sept 17, 2017 9:59:35 GMT
Absolutely loved this. I found the characters interesting and relatable, brilliant cast and good narrative. Liked the use of lightning and design and sound too.
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2,743 posts
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Post by n1david on Sept 18, 2017 10:37:15 GMT
Very short notice I know but I now have a spare ticket for today’s platform with the two Olivias today at 3pm. No payment necessary as the ticket would otherwise be going to waste. Please message if you’re interested.
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1,345 posts
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Post by tmesis on Sept 23, 2017 21:48:47 GMT
Didn't enjoy this much at all. It's been said before but it's WAY too long. The Olivia's were good but frankly I couldn't care less about any of the characters. The mother was extremely annoying and unbelievable and the 'teenagers' must be the oldest on the London stage. Kirkwood gives them really patronising dialogue that wasn't remotely credible.
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3,040 posts
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Post by crowblack on Sept 24, 2017 10:05:03 GMT
the 'teenagers' must be the oldest on the London stage A few of you have said this. The average age of stage 'teenagers' seems to be mid-to-late 20s - Luke Treadaway was 27/28 when Curious Incident started, the History Boys mid-to-late 20s, Pitchfork Disney's Tom Rhys-Harries 25/26, The Ferryman's Fra Fee is 30. Most Hamlets are nearer Uncle Monty's age than a student's. In Mosquitoes, Barclay is late 20s and Quinn is just 23. Kirkwood used to write for TV's teen soap 'Skins', and I thought Jenny and the teenagers were the most well-written characters (maybe that reflects my memories of being a teen and the sort of people I know?) - it was the old mother and the Quaker boyfriend I found least convincing (those two scenes before the interval).
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1,345 posts
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Post by tmesis on Sept 24, 2017 12:56:10 GMT
the 'teenagers' must be the oldest on the London stage A few of you have said this. The average age of stage 'teenagers' seems to be mid-to-late 20s - Luke Treadaway was 27/28 when Curious Incident started, the History Boys mid-to-late 20s, Pitchfork Disney's Tom Rhys-Harries 25/26, The Ferryman's Fra Fee is 30. Most Hamlets are nearer Uncle Monty's age than a student's. In Mosquitoes, Barclay is late 20s and Quinn is just 23. Kirkwood used to write for TV's teen soap 'Skins', and I thought Jenny and the teenagers were the most well-written characters (maybe that reflects my memories of being a teen and the sort of people I know?) - it was the old mother and the Quaker boyfriend I found least convincing (those two scenes before the interval). I've been teaching teenagers for 42 years and although I felt she captured some of the gaucheness and embarrassment it was way too 'broad brush' and unsubtle; also the acting of the two 'teens' was not nuanced enough.
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3,558 posts
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Post by showgirl on Sept 24, 2017 14:20:04 GMT
Also, there must surely be some teenagers who don't use that annoying "uptalk"?
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Post by tmesis on Sept 24, 2017 15:23:44 GMT
Also, there must surely be some teenagers who don't use that annoying "uptalk"? That does seem, at last, to be on the decrease.
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Post by crowblack on Sept 24, 2017 16:53:09 GMT
it was way too 'broad brush' and unsubtle; also the acting of the two 'teens' was not nuanced enough. I saw it in preview and then again three weeks or so ago. It was more naturalistic and darker in preview, and some lines have been altered and scenes tuned more for comedy after the August break. The second time I was there, Kirkwood was around and I think it may have been cut again (it was 2hrs 50 both times I saw it, but comments here say it now runs 2hrs 40). I think the preview version was a more interesting, jagged play with more of a sense of danger, but the audience definitely enjoyed the smoother, more broadly and physically comic later version more. (There's a lot of 'mores' in this comment!)
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Post by crowblack on Sept 26, 2017 18:01:15 GMT
Btw, the interview with the Olivias from last week is now on the NT's Youtube, and there's a nice little rehearsal video clip on their Facebook page.
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578 posts
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Post by michalnowicki on Sept 28, 2017 20:35:22 GMT
Finally saw it on Tuesday (matinee). Both Olivias were fantastic. They played sisters really well, brilliantly showing the chemistry of siblings. The play itself was a bit 'meh' but I liked how the stage in Dorfman is being used (never seen anything there). As for the teenagers, they were like, totally, like... I can't even like... OMG, WTF, etc... Cringed a lot watching them.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 3, 2017 13:25:34 GMT
So Dame Olivia Colman (it will happen mark my words) did have a touch of stage fright as suggested . . . I Can't Go On!!!
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3,040 posts
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Post by crowblack on Oct 27, 2017 9:44:16 GMT
...will regenerate into The Queen on Netflix. Imminent Damehood and Maggie Smith status ahoy. But who'll be her consort? And does that mean I'm going to have to watch it?
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3,040 posts
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Post by crowblack on Nov 4, 2017 18:00:46 GMT
Future Dame scheduled to be on Andrew Marr tomorrow morning, btw.
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3,040 posts
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Post by crowblack on Jun 5, 2018 13:07:19 GMT
Casting just announced for the Channel 4 Chimerica btw, so I presume filming has started - it includes Sophie Okonedo. The new series of Flowers with Olivia Colman starts on Monday.
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1,254 posts
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Post by theatrelover123 on Jun 5, 2018 13:08:36 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jun 5, 2018 14:27:58 GMT
Oooooh, Alessandro Nivola.
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