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Post by zahidf on Jul 15, 2019 11:24:18 GMT
I'm taking a date next week: I'm thinking there wont be time for a post play drink alas...
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Post by Snciole on Jul 15, 2019 13:59:37 GMT
I hope it is shorter, there are things I would cut or I would ensure it had more pace (Lia Williams's slow delivery works in certain plays, not sure it is working here)
It would have been fine if it started at 7 but it will die a death if it doesn't get to sub 3 hours.
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Post by westendgurl on Jul 16, 2019 8:03:56 GMT
I hope it is shorter, there are things I would cut or I would ensure it had more pace (Lia Williams's slow delivery works in certain plays, not sure it is working here) It would have been fine if it started at 7 but it will die a death if it doesn't get to sub 3 hours. I really wish it had started at 7 - I regretted booking for a Monday night when I found out how long it was! It could definitely be cut, the first part in particular dragged for me.
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Post by londonpostie on Jul 16, 2019 9:49:49 GMT
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Post by Someone in a tree on Jul 16, 2019 10:51:18 GMT
Interesting. I'll check it out. Thanks The performance length of this production is putting me off. I've seen St Car twice and found it overlong, the cuts made for the excellent meet my approval. Isn't Cat on a hot tin roof really long when you see it live? I like the shortened film!
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Post by mistressjojo on Jul 16, 2019 11:04:28 GMT
Isn't Cat on a hot tin roof really long when you see it live? I like the shortened film! I saw a production last month and it came in at 3h05, including interval. There were a few drawn out passages where I felt the time dragging.
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Post by lonlad on Jul 16, 2019 23:21:31 GMT
Liked it A LOT tonight though it will be too discursive for some -- but Owen is entirely and very movingly invested in the role and he and Williams and Gunn all suggest varying degrees of damage but also endurance, which is the abiding theme of the play: it got standing O at the end and benefits from a major supporting turn from Julian Glover who bats the role of Nonno out of the park.
The reviews so far seem all over the place -- 2 (Times, Metro), 3 (Telegraph and Guardian), and 4 stars (Whatsonstage, The Arts Desk) -- and I suspect audiences may be similarly divided. But it certainly worked for me and the friend I was with and in its way rivals the '92 NT staging (Gunn much better than Frances Barber, who barked her way nonstop through the role of Maxine.)
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Post by Sotongal on Jul 17, 2019 11:23:39 GMT
Gunn, Williams and Glover all excellent and a great cameo from Finty Williams, but we thought it showed that Clive Owen hasn't been on the UK stage for eighteen years and is mostly a film and TV actor. Had a look at a YouTube trailer for the film, starring Richard Burton and he does exude the traits you'd expect to find in Shannon, which we didn't feel Owen got to grips with in this stage production.
Have to mention the set which is stunning.
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Post by lonlad on Jul 17, 2019 21:57:27 GMT
All this stuff about Owen's absence from the London stage omits the fact that he was on Broadway twice in recent years and was excellent both times (OLD TIMES and M BUTTERFLY) even if neither production took the town, to put it mildly -- which certainly wasn't his fault.
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Post by bordeaux on Jul 19, 2019 8:01:17 GMT
I enjoyed this, though I think it is not up there with his best plays. Good performances, great set, an interesting variation on the usual Williams themes. Those Germans were odd, though. I certainly didn't resent paying under £20 for side slips Grand Circle - AA17 just fine for vision and audibility. I've rather fallen in love with the West End again after a four-play trip, getting half-price rear stalls for Rosmersholm, second row stalls for Sweat (booked on first day of booking, it's true) and a good semi-restricted circle seat at the Old Vic - some tiny bar in the way which didn't affect my enjoyment at all. And quite a few young people at the Ibsen and Coward in particular.
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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 Jul 20, 2019 9:48:59 GMT
TodayTix rush seats are easy to come by for this - suspect they are stealth discounting by adding extra seats during the day
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Post by Dawnstar on Jul 20, 2019 11:57:23 GMT
The reviews so far seem all over the place -- 2 (Times, Metro), 3 (Telegraph and Guardian), and 4 stars (Whatsonstage, The Arts Desk) -- and I suspect audiences may be similarly divided. But it certainly worked for me and the friend I was with and in its way rivals the '92 NT staging (Gunn much better than Frances Barber, who barked her way nonstop through the role of Maxine.) I'm very disappointed that the reviews don't indicate that an iguana is actually featured in the production. Why call a piece The Night of the Iguana if there's no iguana?!
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Post by TallPaul on Jul 20, 2019 12:07:01 GMT
Why call a piece The Night of the Iguana if there's no iguana?! Perhaps animal welfare now trumps trade descriptions? Cats aren't allowed on hot tin roofs anymore either
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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 Jul 21, 2019 8:31:40 GMT
Saw this last night with the TodayTix rush - £25 for row Q of the stalls which was a great view.
Amazing set, bit of a pity there isn't a curtain as revealing that at the start would be impressive.
Thought all the cast were fine. No problem hearing Lia Williams. It has got a bit tighter - finished about 10:30 last night.
Never seen the play before so it was a bit of a surprise that its not just a metaphor and there actually is an iguana.
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Post by TallPaul on Jul 21, 2019 11:59:17 GMT
There you are, Dawnstar. Seems there is an iguana after all!
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Post by Dawnstar on Jul 21, 2019 18:04:56 GMT
There you are, Dawnstar . Seems there is an iguana after all! In which case I'm disappointed that the reviews I've read didn't review its performance!
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Xanderl
Member
Not always very high value in terms of ticket yield or donations
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Post by Xanderl on Jul 21, 2019 19:35:00 GMT
There you are, Dawnstar . Seems there is an iguana after all! In which case I'm disappointed that the reviews I've read didn't review its performance! It's performance can probably be best described as rubbery although the two people carrying it (I didn't know iguanas were that big but apparently so) did their best to inject some energy into proceedings as they waved it around.
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Post by david on Jul 21, 2019 21:21:03 GMT
I hope the iguana has its photo and cast member bio in the programme (unlike the snake in the NT’s Ant and Cleo). Also, is there an understudy reptile in case of illness or being unavailable for certain performances?
I’m hoping to see the play next month. There seems to be plenty of offers floating around at the moment for the production as I’ve held off purchasing a ticket when it 1st went on sale.
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Post by vickyg on Jul 23, 2019 11:01:12 GMT
I saw this last night and agree with others that the set is fantastic, particularly during the storm. Booked my usual seat at the Noel Coward, in the balcony as it's such an expensive theatre, and ended up being upgraded to row Q in the stalls which was obviously great. I imagine the balcony was closed but as I was beyond the overhang couldn't actually see what was going on up there but the stalls were not at all full beyond about row P. I know it was only a Monday but still a bit of a shame. I really do think a 3hr running time puts a lot of people off and I would have been deterred if I hadn't been specifically booking because Lia Williams is the best thing since sliced bread, as far as I'm concerned.
As for the play itself, which I have never seen before and don't know the story, I didn't really connect with it. I'm not sure whether it was the play, this production or some of the cast, but I didn't 'get it' other than to feel the terrible loneliness experienced by the main characters. It didn't really build towards the madness as other Williams plays do, it's quite plain from the beginning and the breakdown was a bit of a letdown. Again, I couldn't tell if this was the acting or the character as written. Some parts were pretty farcical, the discussion between Hannah and Shannon was beautiful and when the grandfather read his final poem I wanted to throw myself under the nearest bus. A mixed bag, but Lia Williams and Anna Gunn were real standouts.
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Post by zahidf on Jul 23, 2019 17:00:26 GMT
I saw this last night and agree with others that the set is fantastic, particularly during the storm. Booked my usual seat at the Noel Coward, in the balcony as it's such an expensive theatre, and ended up being upgraded to row Q in the stalls which was obviously great. I imagine the balcony was closed but as I was beyond the overhang couldn't actually see what was going on up there but the stalls were not at all full beyond about row P. I know it was only a Monday but still a bit of a shame. I really do think a 3hr running time puts a lot of people off and I would have been deterred if I hadn't been specifically booking because Lia Williams is the best thing since sliced bread, as far as I'm concerned. As for the play itself, which I have never seen before and don't know the story, I didn't really connect with it. I'm not sure whether it was the play, this production or some of the cast, but I didn't 'get it' other than to feel the terrible loneliness experienced by the main characters. It didn't really build towards the madness as other Williams plays do, it's quite plain from the beginning and the breakdown was a bit of a letdown. Again, I couldn't tell if this was the acting or the character as written. Some parts were pretty farcical, the discussion between Hannah and Shannon was beautiful and when the grandfather read his final poem I wanted to throw myself under the nearest bus. A mixed bag, but Lia Williams and Anna Gunn were real standouts. Going on sat, wonder if it's worth asking at the B/O for an upgrade if possible...
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Post by edi on Jul 26, 2019 12:28:44 GMT
Any offers on this one that can be posted on this forum? The best I can find is todaytix rush.
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Post by david on Jul 26, 2019 12:32:20 GMT
Any offers on this one that can be posted on this forum? The best I can find is todaytix rush. If you haven’t already, check out theatremonkey.com. There’s a few offers on there.
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Xanderl
Member
Not always very high value in terms of ticket yield or donations
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Post by Xanderl on Jul 26, 2019 14:00:12 GMT
Any offers on this one that can be posted on this forum? The best I can find is todaytix rush. The rush seats are generally in the stalls, and also quite easy to get (at least they were last week - I didn't book till 11 for Saturday evening). So suspect this may be your best bet.
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Post by NeilVHughes on Jul 27, 2019 18:43:57 GMT
Found this enthralling this afternoon, one of those rare occasions when low expectations were misplaced.
The whole cast were excellent, being in the front row and the way the stage is set as intimate as it can be in the West End can be.
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Post by zahidf on Jul 27, 2019 22:20:59 GMT
Closed the balcony today, as transferred to much better seats in the royal circle.
As a play, I thought this was meh. Nothing really happened and it dragged. Set was excellent though.
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Post by NeilVHughes on Jul 31, 2019 12:31:15 GMT
One of those plays that lingers.
As @zahdif says not much of a plot, only a really engaging character centric play, a lost boy plagued by his past to repeat the same misdemeanours, a vivacious lively woman constrained by an elderly husband now deceased and the most intriguing of all the Lia Williams stoic if not saintly Hannah as they spend a tumultuous evening together.
Two of the lost lonely souls are given a route to redemption and hinted at in the poem.
Gone past forever, and from thence a second history will commence.... O courage will you not as well select a second place to dwell....
Hannah though, how her life will pan out is a mystery and one of the most intriguing (even the accent is unplaceable) of any character I have come across, how I would have liked to have bumped into her as she monastically traversed the world.
In the words of Tennessee
“She had to pass through the tunnel of despair. She is a Blanche purified of confusion and sensuality. She is nearly detached from life. She feels for others. She accepts everything from others...Hannah is right. One should attain her level...But I don’t think that I can. She is alone, but she says that she is prepared to face it.”
All in all one of my plays of the year and can see why Clive Owen wanted to bring it to the West End.
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Post by Latecomer on Aug 5, 2019 8:41:01 GMT
Special offers today only on Today Tix....have nabbed two in Royal Box row H for £15 for me and (hopefully!) Peggs!
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Post by david on Aug 5, 2019 9:25:09 GMT
Special offers today only on Today Tix....have nabbed two in Royal Box row H for £15 for me and (hopefully!) Peggs! Thanks for the info. Just nabbed myself a £15 Royal Circle ticket for next Saturday night.
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Post by andrew on Aug 5, 2019 9:43:24 GMT
Used the offer and am going to go tomorrow night. It's a pretty good offer isn't it?
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Xanderl
Member
Not always very high value in terms of ticket yield or donations
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Post by Xanderl on Aug 5, 2019 9:52:28 GMT
The rear stalls seats they have for £25 in this deal are where I got rush seats a few weeks ago - great view from there!
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