990 posts
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Post by nash16 on Apr 3, 2018 11:55:56 GMT
They're loving their Spanish language based plays at the moment down at the Menier.
10th May opening.
Sounds a bit like a predecessor for Bartlett's Bull.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 3, 2018 12:09:30 GMT
They're loving their Spanish language based plays at the moment down at the Menier. Man of La Mancha for the next musical? |
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Post by theatrelover123 on Apr 3, 2018 16:10:27 GMT
I will never understand why the Menier think that a bottom price of £32.50 (in previews!) is acceptable for a fringe venue. I rarely tend to book anything there anymore.
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Post by dani on Apr 4, 2018 11:23:22 GMT
90 minutes, four actors, no band, so tickets ought to be cheaper than this.
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Post by jadnoop on Apr 10, 2018 22:55:19 GMT
The reviews for the play and film makes this seem like it could be good. One reviewer mentioned both Glengarry Glen Ross, and Nine Queens which definitely seems like an intriguing combination.
However, the ticket prices are probably a little steeper than I'd pay on a punt. Is the weekly cheaper tickets deal they have on for Kiss of a Spider Woman a regular thing?
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Post by alece10 on Apr 14, 2018 17:44:58 GMT
The reviews for the play and film makes this seem like it could be good. One reviewer mentioned both Glengarry Glen Ross, and Nine Queens which definitely seems like an intriguing combination. However, the ticket prices are probably a little steeper than I'd pay on a punt. Is the weekly cheaper tickets deal they have on for Kiss of a Spider Woman a regular thing? No they have never done it before. Guess it will depend on how it sells. |
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1,848 posts
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Post by NeilVHughes on Apr 14, 2018 18:03:30 GMT
Likely they will need the cheap tickets if the reviews are not stellar as it is totally unknown, currently not tempted as the price is a bit high for a punt.
Title for some may indicate that it is about how to drive Rally Cars, could be some very confused petrolheads in the audience.
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Post by dontdreamit on Apr 14, 2018 18:05:36 GMT
Today Tix have had reduced tickets for pretty much the whole of the run of KOTSW- maybe it’ll be the same if this sells like that has.
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1,189 posts
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Post by theatrelover123 on Apr 16, 2018 6:51:41 GMT
Jonathan Cake plays Frank. His theatre credits include Baby Doll (National Theatre / Albery Theatre), Medea (Queen’s Theatre / US tour), Coriolanus (Shakespeare’s Globe), A Flea In Her Ear (Old Vic), Antony and Cleopatra (RSC), Cymbeline (Lincoln Center, New York). Television credits include Mosley, Legends of Tomorrow, The Affair, Criminal Minds, Camping, The Killing, Desperate Housewives, Chuck, Extras and Empire. Film credits include Brideshead Revisited, Krews, True Blue and First Knight.
Greg McHugh plays Carl. He is best known for playing Howard in the TV series Fresh Meat. Other television credits include The A Word, Fresh Meat, Marvellous, Dates, Two Doors Down, Bad Education, Bob Servant and Gary: Tank Commander. His theatre credits include Celebrity Autobiography (Kings Theatre, Glasgow) & Will & Greg: A Sketch Show (Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh).
Laura Pitt-Pulford plays Melanie. Her theatre includes Barnum (Menier Chocolate Factory), Nell Gwyn (ETT, Globe and tour), Flowers for Mrs Harris (Sheffield Crucible), Oliver! (Leicester Curve), Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (Olivier nomination – Regent’s Park) and Mack & Mabel and Side Show (Southwark).
John Gordon Sinclair plays Rick. He returns to the Menier Chocolate Factory having previously appeared in The Invisible Man. Other theatre credits include Jeeves & Wooster (Duke of York’s Theatre), The Ladykillers (Vaudeville Theatre), Absurd Person Singular (Garrick Theatre) and The Producers (Theatre Royal Drury Lane). Film credits include Local Hero, World War Z, The Girl in the Picture and Gregory’s Girl. Television credits include Siblings, Frank Stubbs Promotes, Your Cheatin' Heart, and Mad About Alice.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 16, 2018 8:04:48 GMT
Oooh, I'm booked. Jonathan Cake is FOXY!
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Post by zahidf on May 14, 2018 23:44:13 GMT
i saw this today
its well acted and funny in places, but has an incredibly misjudged 10 mins of naked transphobia in the middle which made everyone very uncomfortable and killed the crowd.
its a little sub mamet as well. at 90 mins its definitely short at least!
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Post by dontdreamit on May 16, 2018 12:22:44 GMT
I’ve noticed that they now seem to have some £19.50 tickets for this on the website, if anyone was holding off booking because of price.
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Post by bingomatic on May 19, 2018 7:50:30 GMT
an incredibly misjudged 10 mins of naked transphobia in the middle That part was quite funny and wasn't too badly received by the audience when I saw it. Loved the play but the seating was soooo uncomfortable. Does the Menier win the award for least welcoming bar area ? |
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Xanderl
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Not always very high value in terms of ticket yield or donations
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Post by Xanderl on May 19, 2018 16:00:22 GMT
i saw this today its well acted and funny in places, but has an incredibly misjudged 10 mins of naked transphobia in the middle which made everyone very uncomfortable and killed the crowd. its a little sub mamet as well. at 90 mins its definitely short at least! Agree on the transphobia- jaw dropping. The fact sections of the audience found this amusing made it even worse |
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Post by zahidf on May 19, 2018 16:02:49 GMT
i saw this today its well acted and funny in places, but has an incredibly misjudged 10 mins of naked transphobia in the middle which made everyone very uncomfortable and killed the crowd. its a little sub mamet as well. at 90 mins its definitely short at least! Agree on the transphobia- jaw dropping. The fact sections of the audience found this amusing made it even worse yeah. it was only a couple when i saw it, but the way they presented it in a jokey way was really tin eared |
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Xanderl
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Not always very high value in terms of ticket yield or donations
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Post by Xanderl on May 19, 2018 17:56:11 GMT
Think it really shows the extent to which attitudes on this issue have changed since 2003 when the play was written
Wouldn’t have had a problem if it was justified or there was some resolution to it. But basically a frothy comedy before and after that scene
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Post by popcultureboy on May 20, 2018 8:55:10 GMT
My hot take on it is that it is not a transphobic play. One character is hideous to and about everyone and everything, so when transgender comes along as a topic, he continues to be vile about it. He's shouted down a lot by the other three characters, who tell him how hideous he and his opinions are. I really do not think that makes the play transphobic any more than it makes it homophobic, sexist or racist when the same character trots out his caveman opinions on those matters either. This didn't feel like the playwright was shoehorning his opinions into the character's mouths like it does in The Writer, for example.
We aren't supposed to side with or like the character who is so everything-phobic, so the fact that I didn't and that I enjoyed his takedown by the other three in this and all other scenes where's spewing bile to me means the tone and the direction was actually in the right ballpark. Compare it to something like Mood Music, where Joe Penhall purports to be telling us how terribly men in power can treat women, but is actually giving all the best lines to the men and making them seem pretty funny and cool and really, aren't women just a bit whiny and spineless? That is the perfect example of a tone deaf, tin eared, jarring play as it's put a sociopathic misogynist at its core, but is a tediously misogynistic play. I don't think the same can be said for this one. Personally.
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Xanderl
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Not always very high value in terms of ticket yield or donations
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Post by Xanderl on May 20, 2018 9:16:38 GMT
A good point! Possibly my reaction was more of a reaction to the reaction of the audience members around me!
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Post by zahidf on May 20, 2018 10:30:40 GMT
My hot take on it is that it is not a transphobic play. One character is hideous to and about everyone and everything, so when transgender comes along as a topic, he continues to be vile about it. He's shouted down a lot by the other three characters, who tell him how hideous he and his opinions are. I really do not think that makes the play transphobic any more than it makes it homophobic, sexist or racist when the same character trots out his caveman opinions on those matters either. This didn't feel like the playwright was shoehorning his opinions into the character's mouths like it does in The Writer, for example. We aren't supposed to side with or like the character who is so everything-phobic, so the fact that I didn't and that I enjoyed his takedown by the other three in this and all other scenes where's spewing bile to me means the tone and the direction was actually in the right ballpark. Compare it to something like Mood Music, where Joe Penhall purports to be telling us how terribly men in power can treat women, but is actually giving all the best lines to the men and making them seem pretty funny and cool and really, aren't women just a bit whiny and spineless? That is the perfect example of a tone deaf, tin eared, jarring play as it's put a sociopathic misogynist at its core, but is a tediously misogynistic play. I don't think the same can be said for this one. Personally. Not sure i agree: in that particular scene, no other character was on the side of the person being abused. They disagreed with the way the transphobia being presented but not the sentiment. The whole thing felt sub mamet. Even Mamet is sub mamet nowadays! I agree about mood music as well but i guess thats what happens when its a guy writer and u cast the guy with such a charismatic actor |
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Post by theatrefan77 on May 20, 2018 11:22:33 GMT
I saw this yesterday. Interesting and enjoyable. For me, it's closer to Yasmina Reza than David Mamet. Well acted too.
The transphobia part was extremely uncomfortable though and I wonder if the writer would have handled it in the same way had the play been written nowadays. The main problem for me is that it's played for the laughs, fortunately the majority of the audience didn't find it funny.
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Post by popcultureboy on May 20, 2018 12:59:33 GMT
How is it played for laughs??? Cake's character is horrible about it and says many mean things HE thinks are funny, but it's clear that the other three characters (and on the night I saw it, the whole audience) didn't side with him, since we clearly aren't meant to. You can't single the play out for transphobia when the character being transphobic literally doesn't have one redeeming feature and doesn't solely choose to be awful about transgender people but a total sweetheart about everything else.
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Post by zahidf on May 20, 2018 13:06:36 GMT
How is it played for laughs??? Cake's character is horrible about it and says many mean things HE thinks are funny, but it's clear that the other three characters (and on the night I saw it, the whole audience) didn't side with him, since we clearly aren't meant to. You can't single the play out for transphobia when the character being transphobic literally doesn't have one redeeming feature and doesn't solely choose to be awful about transgender people but a total sweetheart about everything else. but the other character dont disagree with him or call him out Without spoiling it, the transphobic character 'wins' the arguement |
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Post by profquatermass on May 20, 2018 17:16:02 GMT
How is it played for laughs??? Cake's character is horrible about it and says many mean things HE thinks are funny, but it's clear that the other three characters (and on the night I saw it, the whole audience) didn't side with him, since we clearly aren't meant to. You can't single the play out for transphobia when the character being transphobic literally doesn't have one redeeming feature and doesn't solely choose to be awful about transgender people but a total sweetheart about everything else. but the other character dont disagree with him or call him out Without spoiling it, the transphobic character 'wins' the arguement Surely you discover at the end why they don't call him out. The audience aren't meant to side with him and it's not a requirement of every play that it should present opposing arguments for every issue. |
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Post by Deleted on May 20, 2018 18:12:43 GMT
Well. I didn't think much of the play but Jonathan Cake was hot hot HOT! Why doesn't he do more plays?
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Post by zahidf on May 20, 2018 20:06:29 GMT
but the other character dont disagree with him or call him out Without spoiling it, the transphobic character 'wins' the arguement Surely you discover at the end why they don't call him out. The audience aren't meant to side with him and it's not a requirement of every play that it should present opposing arguments for every issue. well yes but i felt it was mean and ruined the decent atmosphere it was building. but hey ho! |
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Post by asfound on May 21, 2018 6:49:25 GMT
How is it played for laughs??? Cake's character is horrible about it and says many mean things HE thinks are funny, but it's clear that the other three characters (and on the night I saw it, the whole audience) didn't side with him, since we clearly aren't meant to. You can't single the play out for transphobia when the character being transphobic literally doesn't have one redeeming feature and doesn't solely choose to be awful about transgender people but a total sweetheart about everything else. but the other character dont disagree with him or call him out Without spoiling it, the transphobic character 'wins' the arguement In my mind there is nothing wrong with a script that doesn't simplistically resolve every issue or argument based on current social trends and mores, or reflects the outlook/morals of the typical theatre-goer. In reality this isn't what happens so why should depictions of bigoted characters be any different? Sometimes the bad guys do win. I sometimes worry that our currents social media driven over-sensitivities and neuroticisms aren't engendering a rather sanitised and homogenised creative environment in theatre. But I'm just a layperson so I have no idea about that aspect really; it just seems like I'm hearing the same discourse in new plays. |
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Post by popcultureboy on May 21, 2018 7:12:11 GMT
but the other character dont disagree with him or call him out Without spoiling it, the transphobic character 'wins' the arguement The reason one of the other three struggles with the revelation is, I thought, well handled and made sense (and also wasn't transphobic). I also seem to recall that the transphobic diatribe is shouted down, a lot. The others hardly stand around and applaud while listening to a lecture on why trans people aren't really people. Let's also not forget that the play is about 4 candidates competing for a high profile job and at the start they are told if any of them leave the room for any reason, they're out of the running. So of course the ridiculous alpha male resorts to all kinds of name calling and button pushing to provoke enough of a reaction from the other three that they storm out in a fury or in tears. He's relentlessly awful to everyone. It fits for his character. It doesn't make the play transphobic. |
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Post by zahidf on May 21, 2018 7:22:08 GMT
but the other character dont disagree with him or call him out Without spoiling it, the transphobic character 'wins' the arguement The reason one of the other three struggles with the revelation is, I thought, well handled and made sense (and also wasn't transphobic). I also seem to recall that the transphobic diatribe is shouted down, a lot. The others hardly stand around and applaud while listening to a lecture on why trans people aren't really people. Let's also not forget that the play is about 4 candidates competing for a high profile job and at the start they are told if any of them leave the room for any reason, they're out of the running. So of course the ridiculous alpha male resorts to all kinds of name calling and button pushing to provoke enough of a reaction from the other three that they storm out in a fury or in tears. He's relentlessly awful to everyone. It fits for his character. It doesn't make the play transphobic. I suppose my problem is that the other characters didnt like the alpha males language, but they agreed with his bigoted conclusion. (and within the context of that scene outside the rest of the play, gave the same reasons for reaching that conclusion) If you are going to try and get humour out of the situation from a minority's situation, you need to be careful not the punch downwards. I dont think that scene succeeded Anyway, its all subjective to a degree. Id be interested in other peoples view once they have seen it! |
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Post by pochard on May 21, 2018 21:48:22 GMT
I agree that the transphobia section didn't sit well within the rest of the play - to me it didn't add enough to the play to make up for the jibes. I don't want to say too much for fear of spoilers, but I'm sure I read somewhere that it was a thriller..?
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Post by popcultureboy on May 22, 2018 6:59:55 GMT
I suppose my problem is that the other characters didnt like the alpha males language, but they agreed with his bigoted conclusion. (and within the context of that scene outside the rest of the play, gave the same reasons for reaching that conclusion) If you are going to try and get humour out of the situation from a minority's situation, you need to be careful not the punch downwards. I dont think that scene succeeded The conclusion is bigoted, but the whole point of the exercise is to get people out of the room/running for the job, so of course the others won't disagree with the conclusion as it keeps them in the running. I took this whole sequence to underline the prejudices and obstacles the transgender community face in the workplace, from the gross alpha male thinking feminising names and talking about periods is hilarious to HR's "concerns" about time off work for the operations etc. This absolutely does NOT make the play transphobic. As for it being a thriller, it's been referred to as taut and psychologically intense, but I really don't know where they got that from. There was a film adapted from the play in 2005, just called The Method, which ups the ante to seven applicants and sounds WAY more effed up and downbeat than the play, certainly as the quirky little oddity it's being presented as here. |
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