3,086 posts
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Post by Rory on Apr 19, 2023 9:17:25 GMT
Baz in Deadline reporting a revival of Lucy Prebble's play in August with Paapa Essiedu and Taylor Russell, directed by Jamie Lloyd.
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Post by alessia on Apr 19, 2023 9:23:22 GMT
This is great- I wanted to see it wherever it was I can't recall and then Covid happened.
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1,037 posts
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Post by jgblunners on Apr 19, 2023 9:23:56 GMT
I've wanted to see this play for a while now, so very pleased with this programming. Essiedu and Russell are both fab.
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486 posts
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Post by drmaplewood on Apr 19, 2023 9:26:41 GMT
Surely it was only yesterday that the Billie Piper and Jonjo O’Neill production happened.... Oh. 11 years you say?
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Post by teamyali on Apr 19, 2023 9:26:48 GMT
Hours ago I was thinking about Shaun of Theatre Fan’s hint of James McAvoy theatre news on Twitter, and it had me like, what if he’s back on stage again with Jamie Lloyd but at the National. My guess wasn’t so far-fetched - Jamie Lloyd is back in London but for a different project, and the McAvoy clue was for Starter for 10 Musical (one of his earlier screen projects).
Would this be the first time that Jamie would direct an NT production?
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1,037 posts
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Post by jgblunners on Apr 19, 2023 10:10:59 GMT
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368 posts
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Post by MrBunbury on Apr 19, 2023 15:33:40 GMT
Jonjo O’Neill was amazing in the original production (it was like falling in love in real time) so it is a hard act to follow. But the play is a great one so I will be there.
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Post by lolli on Apr 19, 2023 19:23:11 GMT
Website says - : The Lyttelton theatre will be transformed for The Effect, with raked seating on both sides of a central stage area.
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748 posts
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Post by rumbledoll on Apr 21, 2023 7:51:30 GMT
Jonjo O’Neill was amazing in the original production (it was like falling in love in real time) so it is a hard act to follow. It was exactly like that for me too! Jonjo is amazing, the other one that pops up to my mind is that little play about the director who want to capture the perfect light (forgot the name), at the Royal Court with Matt Smith some years back, when Mr O’Neil unexpectedly appeared from a random box lying on stage and everything after! Where is he now though? Haven’t seen him in anything in quite a while..
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3,086 posts
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Post by Rory on Apr 21, 2023 7:55:03 GMT
Jonjo O’Neill was amazing in the original production (it was like falling in love in real time) so it is a hard act to follow. It was exactly like that for me too! Jonjo is amazing, the other one that pops up to my mind is that little play about the director who want to capture the perfect light (forgot the name), at the Royal Court with Matt Smith some years back, when Mr O’Neil unexpectedly appeared from a random box lying on stage and everything after! Where is he now though? Haven’t seen him in anything in quite a while.. He was in Bad Sisters recently.
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Post by zephyrus on Apr 22, 2023 13:28:05 GMT
Hours ago I was thinking about Shaun of Theatre Fan’s hint of James McAvoy theatre news on Twitter, and it had me like, what if he’s back on stage again with Jamie Lloyd but at the National. My guess wasn’t so far-fetched - Jamie Lloyd is back in London but for a different project, and the McAvoy clue was for Starter for 10 Musical (one of his earlier screen projects). Would this be the first time that Jamie would direct an NT production? No, he directed She Stoops to Conquer there.
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652 posts
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Post by theatremiss on Apr 22, 2023 18:16:53 GMT
Is this worth booking? I’ve booked most of the NT productions this year but know absolutely nothing about this play.
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88 posts
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Post by anniel on Apr 22, 2023 19:51:36 GMT
Is this worth booking? I’ve booked most of the NT productions this year but know absolutely nothing about this play. It is a really excellent play. I saw a production at Sheffield Crucible & it was really first rate. I think it is one of the best contemporary plays I have seen. It’s about two really different -and not always likeable - people who fall in love whilst doing a medical research trial & the other characters are two people responsible for the trial. It is very very moving and thought provoking and I was totally in bits at the end.
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463 posts
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Post by djdan14 on Apr 25, 2023 8:15:36 GMT
Can anyone with members access tell me what date the first Saturday matinee is?
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Post by cavocado on Apr 25, 2023 8:45:45 GMT
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Post by alessia on Apr 30, 2023 6:31:36 GMT
In case it helps anybody: I asked Box Office when the first rows of stage seating and stalls seating would be going on sale, and they replied that those rows might not be added at all - I was hoping for the usual cheap £20 front row seat but doesn't sound like there will be any for this play, and now tempted to wait for Friday rush to see it as otherwise quite expensive for a good seat!
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Post by intoanewlife on Apr 30, 2023 9:08:38 GMT
In case it helps anybody: I asked Box Office when the first rows of stage seating and stalls seating would be going on sale, and they replied that those rows might not be added at all - I was hoping for the usual cheap £20 front row seat but doesn't sound like there will be any for this play, and now tempted to wait for Friday rush to see it as otherwise quite expensive for a good seat! There were £20 stage seats but they were the back 3 or 4 rows, I got them when they went on sale to members. The front rows on stage were pretty much full price, £55 I think.
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Post by alessia on Apr 30, 2023 10:26:08 GMT
There are still some £20 for the back of the stage seats but as I'm short, every time I sit at the back I suffer.
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Post by intoanewlife on Apr 30, 2023 10:33:32 GMT
There are still some £20 for the back of the stage seats but as I'm short, every time I sit at the back I suffer. Yeah I was worried if they would be raked or not, guess I'll have to wait to find out lol
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82 posts
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Post by G on Apr 30, 2023 14:25:25 GMT
There are still some £20 for the back of the stage seats but as I'm short, every time I sit at the back I suffer. Yeah I was worried if they would be raked or not, guess I'll have to wait to find out lol From memory the raking is quite good so I would not worry too much. Those are the seats I have gone for as well! I remember going on one of the National tours and thinking those seats should not be too bad after all.
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Post by nottobe on Jun 27, 2023 15:11:31 GMT
Saw on Instagram along with the new poster, Paapa Essiedu tagged Michele Austin and Kobna Holdbrook-Smith so I assume that they are playing the two other characters. I have to say with these four actors and Lloyd, that this is my most anticipated show of the year!
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3,086 posts
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Post by Rory on Jun 27, 2023 15:14:28 GMT
Saw on Instagram along with the new poster, Paapa Essiedu tagged Michele Austin and Kobna Holdbrook-Smith so I assume that they are playing the two other characters. I have to say with these four actors and Lloyd, that this is my most anticipated show of the year! They are in it, named in the NT brochure.
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Post by alessia on Jun 27, 2023 16:38:56 GMT
Still hoping for the front rows to be sold at some point, and cheaper...keeping everything crossed for this to happen
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Post by kate8 on Aug 2, 2023 7:36:04 GMT
I saw the first preview last night. I felt like all the elements were there, but somehow it doesn’t yet add up to a great production, and I found myself looking at my watch a lot - always a bad sign. But obvs hard to tell from a first preview - hopefully it will all come together in a week or two.
I found the two doctors much more interesting than the couple. They seemed like more real, fully realised, flawed characters, and Michelle Austin in particular gave a great performance.
Someone upthread wondered if the stage seating is raked. It is. They seem to have taken out the entire stalls seating and replaced it with two blocks of temporary seating either side of a transverse stage, which is (I think) where the first few rows of the stalls normally would be.
It started late last night but ran about 1 hour 45, no interval.
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Post by solotheatregoer on Aug 2, 2023 8:52:50 GMT
I'm seeing this in a couple of weeks. How is the set? Is it typical JL minimalist with mics? I was in two minds about booking but I'm a fan of Taylor Russell's work and I do love a JL production.
Also, when I booked it looks like the stalls seats are off centre. Is that right? I'm struggling to picture the seating set up.
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Post by kate8 on Aug 2, 2023 9:43:45 GMT
solotheatregoer no it’s not off-centre. Basically there’s a narrow stage across the theatre where the front stalls would normally be, and two banks of raked seating facing each other either side - what would normally be the stage and the back of the stalls. Yes, visible mics and a minimal design. A plain stage that lights up white, either the whole thing or a relevant section, the couple always in the centre, the doctors sitting on chairs at either end, just one prop. I thought the design worked well. I felt like Russell and Essiedu didn’t have the chemistry yet, so was hard to feel invested in their emotions, but that’s unfair to judge on the first preview. Russell’s performance was similar to Emilia Clark in The Seagull - whispery, anxious and that filmic intimacy you can get with microphones - very JL, but to me that doesn’t feel fresh any more. Although that’s not a criticism of TR. she and PE (who I loved in A Number last year) were both very watchable and I think the chemistry will improve with each performance. For the moment Michelle Austin seemed to be carrying a lot more of the emotional weight than intended.
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1,465 posts
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Post by foxa on Aug 2, 2023 15:20:48 GMT
I saw the original production with Billie Piper and Jonjo O'Neill l and loved it. Given that, I decided to wait to book for this one as unless it's great, I don't want to tarnish that memory.The original production(IMO) was really ALL about the couple and their intensity/intimacy/charisma (as well as Prebble's excellent writing and big ideas.) You were so rooting for them. If the doctor characters are making more of an impression, that seems off-kilter to me.
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Post by jr on Aug 5, 2023 7:18:26 GMT
And The Effect was boredom... I really struggled to stay until the end.
The premise of the play is plainly wrong. No researcher would know who is on placebo or given the real drug. After 20 minutes I disconnected and found the play a drag. The direction is very basic; and bad when they use pulsating noise to mark intense parts, not even a student would do that. I found the male actors weak, Paapa Essiedu particularly bad: constant twitching and moving around for no reason. A big part of the audience seemed to attend just to see him, lots of ohs and ahs every time he did something.
It got an standing ovation so it might be me.
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4,967 posts
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Post by TallPaul on Aug 5, 2023 7:56:45 GMT
There's blind, isn't there, and double-blind?
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Post by jr on Aug 5, 2023 8:53:00 GMT
There's blind, isn't there, and double-blind? Yes, and triple blind, which eliminate further bias. I don't want to spoil it for others but subsequent actions in the play are also ridiculous.
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