1,064 posts
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Post by bellboard27 on Dec 9, 2017 8:45:05 GMT
Don't worry about the French, there's not much in it. Zack makes a few comments to Amina in French at one point. In the last scene there is very little dialogue. {Spoiler - click to view} This is effectively Alioune apologising and Amina saying that it's not a catastrophe.
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5,585 posts
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Post by lynette on Dec 16, 2017 14:44:25 GMT
There is a nice article about James Norton in The Telegraph colour support today. For Ryan.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 16, 2017 17:41:38 GMT
There is a nice article about James Norton in The Telegraph colour support today. For Ryan. In the meantime the Donmar have also been treating us with their Instagram this week...this sort of thing is boderline indecent. http://instagram.com/p/BcsCCJSAkbP
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1,316 posts
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Post by tmesis on Dec 16, 2017 22:07:23 GMT
James Norton and Imogen Poots are superb in this. It's largely a two-hander and the tense 100 mins fly by. I also found the dialogue particularly natural.
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748 posts
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Post by rumbledoll on Dec 17, 2017 22:31:47 GMT
James Norton and Imogen Poots are superb in this. It's largely a two-hander and the tense 100 mins fly by. I also found the dialogue particularly natural. Is the running time 100 mins with no interval?
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1,197 posts
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Post by theatrefan77 on Dec 17, 2017 23:07:58 GMT
That's correct. It's a good thing that it's not too long.
I felt that this was easy enough to watch but overall a bit meh. A bit like Heisenberg. For me both plays are a tad pretentious but they are saved by the excellent acting.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 18, 2017 8:56:31 GMT
I saw this on Friday night.
It is an interesting play and Potts shines throughout though I found Norton hit and miss to be honest. I didn't see the point of the landlord and his girlfriend and think it had the potential to be an excellent play if just a two hander. The last scene, for example further highlights the pointlessness of these two characters. If the play ends after the scene before it ends on a poignant note but the last scene totally detracts from it.
It received polite applause at the end which seemed to confuse/irk a couple of the cast who clearly expected something a bit more enthusiastic.
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60 posts
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Post by skullion on Dec 20, 2017 0:13:41 GMT
I'd agree with that, im not sure that final scene added a great deal and the audience reaction might have been more enthusiastic if it had ended there.
James Norton's flies were undone for quite a bit of the performance tonight, was that deliberate or just an old fashioned wardrobe malfunction?!
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885 posts
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Post by lonlad on Dec 20, 2017 0:29:54 GMT
Flies? How many does he have? :-) (He looked fully zipped last Thursday.)
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371 posts
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Post by popcultureboy on Dec 20, 2017 10:17:03 GMT
I really like the last scene, the issue is it being in French will alienate people who don't understand what they're saying to each other (as highlighted earlier in the thread).
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Post by Deleted on Dec 20, 2017 10:50:45 GMT
James Norton's flies were undone for quite a bit of the performance tonight, was that deliberate or just an old fashioned wardrobe malfunction?! Oh stop it.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 20, 2017 12:48:07 GMT
I really like the last scene, the issue is it being in French will alienate people who don't understand what they're saying to each other (as highlighted earlier in the thread). I'm not sure that the scene being in French is the problem.
Even with my GCSE (fail) French it was easy enough to understand what was happening and there isn't much dialogue anyway.
The problem for me, as outlined above, is that it follows a beautifully poignant scene which affected the audience and after which the play should have ended.
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35 posts
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Post by welcometodreamland on Dec 20, 2017 16:35:20 GMT
How hard is it to get tickets for this. Would like to see this after the festive period.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 20, 2017 16:44:26 GMT
How hard is it to get tickets for this. Would like to see this after the festive period. Most dates are showing as "limited availability" so you will have a decent pick of dates to choose from :-)
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371 posts
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Post by popcultureboy on Dec 21, 2017 8:12:37 GMT
I'm not sure that the scene being in French is the problem.
Even with my GCSE (fail) French it was easy enough to understand what was happening and there isn't much dialogue anyway.
The problem for me, as outlined above, is that it follows a beautifully poignant scene which affected the audience and after which the play should have ended. I dunno, I think all the poignancy is in the quiet everyday nature of the final scene and how the events that led up to it are never explicitly stated. And the last line is particularly hard hitting in this context.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 22, 2017 22:51:40 GMT
Well. I think James Norton looked at me. It might have been my 'Phwoar & (Fancy A) Piece' banner.
But oh, those puppy dog eyes. That smile. Those arms. Those delicious buns wrapped in some skinny joggers. My man-o-pause went haywire.
The play goes downhill once the shirt went back on but prior to that James does some lovely lounging about on the sofa with his chest and arms out work which I think ranks among his best work to date. I was momentarily overcome. There were some other people in the play I think.
And I thank God I did my French GCSE teacher.
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36 posts
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Post by etceteranz on Dec 27, 2017 9:25:04 GMT
Who knew that the chemistry between James & Imogen was real....Mr. Norton seems to have a habit of dating his co-stars.....
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Post by Deleted on Dec 27, 2017 15:49:41 GMT
Note to self:
1. Get agent. 2. Get agent to put me in something with James Norton.
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6,310 posts
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Post by Jon on Dec 27, 2017 15:59:36 GMT
Note to self: 1. Get agent. 2. Get agent to put me in something with James Norton. The restraining order might put an end to that idea!
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562 posts
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Post by jadnoop on Dec 30, 2017 22:03:12 GMT
Just stepped out of my first trip to the Donmar, and I have to say I thought this was a great little play that will likely drill into my brain over the next few days. Aside from the generally excellent acting, I thought the first half did a brilliant job of ratcheting up the tension; slowly drip feeding problems & inconsistencies in the young marriage, and twisting the initial impressions of Abby & Zack. The final payoff might have been a little silly & melodramatic, but I thought the themes of expectation, pressure, depression and above all communication were really interestingly handled. It's interesting to read here that people felt the final scene with the landlord & wife was unnecessary. For me, the issue of communication, summarised with the line (something like) "It's fine for you to be insecure, just don't let me know." was reflected in that final scene. Aside from the treatment of the wedding photobook , I also thought this scene allowed the play to end on a (minor) happy note, while sticking with the theme of communication: In French, after the initial smalltalk, Alioune says "I'm really sorry." which Amina brushes off, simply saying "It's fine" which to me seemed to suggest Zack & Abby's approach to communication. At the end though, Amina says something like "It's bad. But it's not a catastrophe." which to me seemed to represent them being in a healthier marriage, which seemed a more pleasant, fitting way to end than simply ending on the suicide+breakdown . All in all this was a solid 4 stars for me, but I wonder if an extra 15 minutes might've been useful. A quick question to anyone who's seen this before, or has the text; the direction seemed to interestingly balance what was visible, and what was hidden through doors. Is this part of the writing, or a directors choice?
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382 posts
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Post by stevemar on Jan 2, 2018 14:52:42 GMT
I saw this last week - the acting was very good, but I don't think the story holds up very well. I think I understand what the writer was trying to do, but everything felt a bit too forced, and the characters were thoroughly dislikeable. I realise their likeability is quite subjective, and there are many shows where you don't need to empathise with the characters, but this affected my enjoyment of the play. I just didn't really care what happened to them. The tension was reasonably built particularly with the music, but the dialogue was quite perfunctory. I think more could have been made of their backstory.
Having said that, perhaps my expectations were too high given that I had enjoyed James Norton in Bug and the claustrophobia and paranoia of his character came across well there (as well as being at very close quarters to him - this might make you jealous Ryan) and the wonderful performance Imogen Potts gave in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. Both of those plays were 5* experiences, and perhaps it is unfair to compare - this was a solid 3 stars for me.
The gasps at one point of the story were quite amusing. And James Norton did look stunning (as usual...).
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Post by finalperformance on Jan 4, 2018 9:27:40 GMT
I returned two tickets for 8 December to a sold out performance and am still waiting for a credit card credit to my account. What gives ?
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Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2018 9:29:27 GMT
I would suggest you'd have better luck contacting the box office with that question rather than a discussion board...
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748 posts
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Post by rumbledoll on Jan 4, 2018 12:08:52 GMT
I returned two tickets for 8 December to a sold out performance and am still waiting for a credit card credit to my account. What gives ? I returned a ticket to a sold out show too, then checked with bo and they saied they weren't able to sell it. Happened twice with Donmar so far so it looks like they are not even bothered to sell on somebody's behalf when they have their money already.
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3,472 posts
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Post by showgirl on Jan 4, 2018 18:53:42 GMT
I returned one today & got an instant refund, but this was in person. I still want to see the play but my knee can't tolerate any more lurching around on rail replacement buses.
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748 posts
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Post by rumbledoll on Jan 5, 2018 7:42:43 GMT
The one I returned was in person as well..
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Post by foxa on Jan 5, 2018 9:08:23 GMT
This was sold out last night including standing room. Fairly early on - not long after the shirt removal scene referenced above by Ryan - there was a bit of a kerfuffle and two people left. It seemed a bit strange - someone wondered if they'd been caught taking photos. We liked this - Norton and Poots give terrific performances and your sympathies shift between them. The landlord and his wife add a lot to the tension of the piece. There were some genuinely frightening moments. However there was one plot point I found jarring. {Spoiler - click to view} Could she really not know that he hadn't qualified as a doctor? I would very much recommend this - it really suits the intimacy of the Donmar - and, to me, at least, is much better than some of the lukewarm reviews suggested. It's one of those plays that you are discussing and unpacking for a long time afterwards.
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482 posts
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Post by drmaplewood on Jan 5, 2018 9:21:23 GMT
I was at the matinee yesterday and the play was stopped around an hour in as a woman in the circle fainted (it was very warm tbf) though it was at a natural pause at the end of scene so didn't throw things too much.
Thought this was fine and Poots is great but have a lot of the reservations discussed above - I didn't care about the characters at all and foxa's spoiler jarred with me massively.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 5, 2018 10:41:47 GMT
Fairly early on - not long after the shirt removal scene referenced above by Ryan - there was a bit of a kerfuffle and two people left. It seemed a bit strange - someone wondered if they'd been caught taking photos. I'd like it to be made clear that I was not there last night. I was not taking photos of James Norton for my shrine. I was not thrown out by Vicky Featherstone. Honest guv'nor.
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984 posts
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Post by nash16 on Jan 5, 2018 11:19:17 GMT
This was sold out last night including standing room. Fairly early on - not long after the shirt removal scene referenced above by Ryan - there was a bit of a kerfuffle and two people left. It seemed a bit strange - someone wondered if they'd been caught taking photos. We liked this - Norton and Poots give terrific performances and your sympathies shift between them. The landlord and his wife add a lot to the tension of the piece. There were some genuinely frightening moments. However there was one plot point I found jarring. {Spoiler - click to view} Could she really not know that he hadn't qualified as a doctor? I would very much recommend this - it really suits the intimacy of the Donmar - and, to me, at least, is much better than some of the lukewarm reviews suggested. It's one of those plays that you are discussing and unpacking for a long time afterwards. We were there last night too, and sat near the two who left. From what my partner heard, one of them wasn't enjoying the play, so they decided to go. I thought this started well, nice chemistry between real-life couple Poots and Norton, but it lost it's way quite early on, in plausibility (for reasons you mentioned Foxa) and believability. Also didn't give a fig about the characters in it. The two supporting characters seemed to be red herrings ultimately. And Norton's final action was ridiculous as it didn't seem justified. I think strangely, considering the director, there's a better production of this play out there, where the issues being suffered by the two leads are mined more. Having said that, I don't think those issues are strong enough. He hasn't paid the rent and hasn't got a job. She's miserable in Paris. So? Poots having to go full frontal too...was that really necessary? Is it in the sccript does anyone know? it's like the author knew how to start her play, but didn't know where it was going or how to finish it, so it descended into a pretty poor melodrama.
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