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Post by Deleted on Apr 27, 2016 22:42:09 GMT
I must admit, Dawnstar's seagull reference had me baffled, but now I totally get it :-)
It took me a few minutes to get into the play tonight, but I think that was entirely down to me being flustered after discovering, 5 minutes to curtain up, an agency had also sold the stalls seat I bought from the theatre back in December! Had to run up to dress circle on opposite side of theatre to find a FOH person. Very helpful chap checked our tickets, ran to box office, got me an alternative seat...on the other side of the auditorium. Scooted round to new seat, to discover it wasn't on an aisle. Had to ask nice couple to move to let me in. Just got backside in seat as lights went down. Arghhh!
Then lights came up - to reveal the guy in front of me was about 6ft4 and built like a tank. Double arghhh!
On the plus side, next season I'll be auditioning for a #GoesWrong show...
Anyway, due to said panic and not being able to see the centre of the stage owing to Mr Tall's head, I think I missed some of the early funnies. But once everyone started running around (and I found a good spot to peer round Mr Tall's head), I barely stopped laughing. I don't know how they sustain that level of frantic activity, show after show. It's incredible. So many brilliant, inventive moments. (The line "She was...crucified!" floated into my head on the tube on the way home and made me giggle; my Central line compatriots were probably edging away from me!) Funny also to hear the audience rooting for Sam - Dave Hearn's just got one of those faces, right?
As ever with Mischief's shows, I'm already planning a return trip...
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Post by stefy69 on Apr 28, 2016 10:30:08 GMT
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Post by freckles on Apr 28, 2016 10:31:28 GMT
Now booking through to April 2017 I am so pleased for them, well deserved. Yes, fantastic news.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 28, 2016 12:12:35 GMT
So happy to hear about the extended booking, gives us all plenty of opportunities to go back as well :-)
Theatremonkey - yes, I'd have expected that, too. In fact, when the nice FOH guy walked me round to the other seat, he said apologetically something along the lines of, "Agencies often mix up the seats" - at which point I said, "But I bought the ticket here" and he looked really surprised. Date of sale was clearly marked as something like 8 Dec - I bought it just a day or two after I'd seen Peter Pan Goes Wrong and they announced from the stage that booking was open. The other lady had an American (or Canadian, sorry, I can never tell the difference) accent, so I assume she probably picked up her ticket at an agency.
But I'm guessing, given at that point we had all of about 3 minutes to go, the box office just wrote an alternate seat number on the first ticket they could reach and it happened to be mine. And since there was no time to argue - and I'm a (relatively) nice person who thought it might be better not to force the foreign visitor to run round the auditorium, I figured I'd just move.
I daresay I could have had a grumble at the interval and maybe got a free programme out of it or something, for the inconvenience, but it seemed churlish given that they reseated me in the same part of the theatre and I saw the show I'd paid for.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 28, 2016 17:59:53 GMT
Though I fear the couple who had to get up to make way for me 30 seconds before the play started may disagree with you, Monkey. ;-)
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Post by Dawnstar on Apr 29, 2016 17:15:58 GMT
I must admit, Dawnstar's seagull reference had me baffled, but now I totally get it :-) Funny also to hear the audience rooting for Sam - Dave Hearn's just got one of those faces, right? Yes, my seagull mentions make no sense until you've seen them. Even the first time I saw the show I was thinking what's with the seagulls until the payoff near the end. I do love {Spoiler - click to view} "Simon. It was his birthday." & "Deborah. She was just getting over Simon." I think it's the deeply reproachful way in which Chris Leask says it! I agree with your comment on Dave Hearn. He manages to get sympathy just by standing there looking at the audience sometimes. I was interested to be told that when the cast were doing early readings of the pics they were swapping around the roles & he read Mitch. I can't really imagine that working on stage, he just comes over as too nice! I have seen him playing baddies in some of the Lights Camera Improvise shows & most of them still ended up being sympathetic! I see via Twitter that Quentin Letts has sort-of reviewed it for the Daily Mail. I guess it's good that he's positive but one or two of the more personal comments made me raise my eyebrows. www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/reviews/article-3564725/All-aboard-fun-trip-Ol-Man-River-Boat-classical-Kern-make-names-stars-writes-QUENTIN-LETTS.html
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Post by Deleted on May 3, 2016 22:18:25 GMT
OMGosh. That's it. I've finally decided, I have but two ambitions in life.
1. I want to join Mischief Theatre. I'll even sell the tickets and fetch their lunch if they want.
2. I want to be Henry Shields' sexy time play thing. This one is not negotiable.
I can't begin to list the things I loved about this show. It's simply hysterical. Some of the set pieces are astonishing and I really haven't laughed so hard and so long (tsk, there I am thinking about Henry Shields again!) in ages. There isn't a weak link in the entire cast - they are truly sensational. I can't wait to go again. And again. And again.
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Post by DuchessConstance on May 4, 2016 18:31:34 GMT
1. I want to join Mischief Theatre. I'll even sell the tickets and fetch their lunch if they want. Same
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Post by Dawnstar on May 4, 2016 18:40:42 GMT
OMGosh. That's it. I've finally decided, I have but two ambitions in life. 1. I want to join Mischief Theatre. I'll even sell the tickets and fetch their lunch if they want. 2. I want to be Henry Shields' sexy time play thing. This one is not negotiable. I imagine there's a very long queue for no. 1. And quite possibly for no. 2 as well!
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Post by Deleted on May 5, 2016 8:23:52 GMT
OMGosh. That's it. I've finally decided, I have but two ambitions in life. 1. I want to join Mischief Theatre. I'll even sell the tickets and fetch their lunch if they want. 2. I want to be Henry Shields' sexy time play thing. This one is not negotiable. I imagine there's a very long queue for no. 1. And quite possibly for no. 2 as well! Who'd have thunk he was so hot?
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Post by londonmzfitz on May 5, 2016 8:26:34 GMT
Last comment. Damn, Henry Shields in leather jacket is handsome! Handsome!Me. Damn!
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Post by showgirl on May 5, 2016 16:06:14 GMT
Which one was he? I don't know who any of the cast were - & prefer not to be distracted by that knowledge - but it was the women who made the greatest impression on me, though everyone worked very hard.
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Post by Dawnstar on May 5, 2016 18:44:20 GMT
I imagine there's a very long queue for no. 1. And quite possibly for no. 2 as well! Who'd have thunk he was so hot? Me. I've thought he was decidedly fanciable ever since I first saw him as Chris Bean, let alone in this one. Which one was he? I don't know who any of the cast were - & prefer not to be distracted by that knowledge - but it was the women who made the greatest impression on me, though everyone worked very hard. He played Mitch Ruscitti, the lead bank robber.
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Post by showgirl on May 5, 2016 18:48:51 GMT
Ah, the one with the tattoos then, I think? If so, you may have him with my blessing.
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Post by Dawnstar on May 5, 2016 19:58:20 GMT
I only noticed the one tattoo, on his arm. I agree that is a bit off-putting if, like me, you're not a tattoo fan, though it does suit the character. I didn't even realise he had it until this show as in the others his costumes all had long sleeves.
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Post by Dawnstar on May 6, 2016 18:01:39 GMT
Does Charlie Russell have a tattoo on her leg? Couldn't tell if she did, or if it was a scab from a rehearsal accident. I've never noticed one before. I'm seeing the show again tomorrow & I'm now going to be spending the whole time looking at the cast's tattoos/lack of tattoos! Radio interview about The Comedy About A Bank Robbery with Charlie Russell & Dave Hearn here www.mixcloud.com/Resonance/ Currently the top item on the page but I guess it'll move down so it's the Curtain Up show from 6th May & they're about 40 minutes in.
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Post by lynette on May 15, 2016 17:16:15 GMT
Great fun. The part on the wall introduced the concept from the previous plays of the acting and production being a problem rather than the plot of the play. I thought this was a shame as the play then lost focus. The pace slowed in places towards the end and I wasn't sure about the ending at all. But hey, well done people.
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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 May 22, 2016 19:51:50 GMT
Thought I'd give this a go with a good offer for stalls on Sundays. Never seen any of their other shows
Laughed a couple of times in act 1, decided to leave everyone to it for act 2. Just a lot of shouting, crap accents and cobbled together vaudeville routines (Abbott and Costello sprang to mind)
Still the rest of the audience loved it and I'm sure it will clog up the West End for years, like Stomp with knob jokes
Best laugh I got all evening was from this badly worded sign on the way in
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Post by westendwendy on May 26, 2016 11:30:01 GMT
Saw this last night.. What a super night out and great fun.. The wall scene in act two is worth the money alone!!
I shall return!! Go go go people.
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Post by Dawnstar on Jun 5, 2016 19:49:42 GMT
I don't know if anyone other than me is interested but the script is now on sale at the theatre. It's pretty much in the form the play was around press night so it has the amended opening scene but not the rewrites to the first bank scene. I was amused to find a coupe of lines in the script that I never saw delivered on stage so they mustn't have been in there for long! I wish the publisher would buck up their proofreading standards, yet again there are typos. However at least Prince Ludwig is spelt correctly, unlike onstage!
Again I don't know if anyone but me is interested but all 3 understudies have now been on. Gareth Tempest & Steven Rostance were both on last weekend & Ellie Morris was on this weekend. I thought they all gave good performances.
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Post by danielwhit on Jun 5, 2016 21:35:10 GMT
It's a shame we aren't getting any form of advance notice about who's off when - I'd quite like to see a couple of covers in position now but there's no way of sensibly predicting. It sounds as if the final scene has been tweaked slightly, with the final moment scrapped. Can anyone confirm? {Spoiler}{To avoid ambiguity.. here's what I mean:} She now doesn't pour alcohol and show a lighter at the very end.
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Post by Dawnstar on Jun 6, 2016 7:30:07 GMT
It's a shame we aren't getting any form of advance notice about who's off when - I'd quite like to see a couple of covers in position now but there's no way of sensibly predicting. It sounds as if the final scene has been tweaked slightly, with the final moment scrapped. Can anyone confirm? {Spoiler}{To avoid ambiguity.. here's what I mean:} She now doesn't pour alcohol and show a lighter at the very end. The only way I've found of getting advance notice is buttonholing the understudies at stage door & asking them, which is only really practical if you're already seeing the show. {Spoiler - click to view} Yes, that's right. She handcuffs him to the bed & nicks the diamond but no alcohol is involved. I was thrilled to see it - I've been hoping for a less gruesome ending!
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Post by danielwhit on Jun 6, 2016 9:37:17 GMT
It's a shame we aren't getting any form of advance notice about who's off when - I'd quite like to see a couple of covers in position now but there's no way of sensibly predicting. It sounds as if the final scene has been tweaked slightly, with the final moment scrapped. Can anyone confirm? {Spoiler}{To avoid ambiguity.. here's what I mean:} She now doesn't pour alcohol and show a lighter at the very end. The only way I've found of getting advance notice is buttonholing the understudies at stage door & asking them, which is only really practical if you're already seeing the show. {Spoiler - click to view} Yes, that's right. She handcuffs him to the bed & nicks the diamond but no alcohol is involved. I was thrilled to see it - I've been hoping for a less gruesome ending! I'll have to get you to nudge me in the future then Ah, good. Agreed - the ending was too much of a tonal shift for me.
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Post by Dawnstar on Jun 6, 2016 21:42:03 GMT
I'll have to get you to nudge me in the future then Ah, good. Agreed - the ending was too much of a tonal shift for me. Same here. It is meant to be a comedy! {Spoiler - click to view} For me Ruth unexpectedly stealing the diamond from Shuck & leaving him to be found by his colleagues with some explaining to do is funny. Ruth stealing the diamond & leaving him to be burnt alive is pretty horrific & seems too far out of character for her.
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Post by DuchessConstance on Jun 7, 2016 0:09:31 GMT
Omg that was the original ending?? So glad now I waited to see it.
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Post by Dawnstar on Jun 7, 2016 7:29:19 GMT
Yes. I mean, it was implied rather than shown, it ended as Ruth flicks on her cigarette lighter so it's not as if you see him burning to death but that's clearly what was about to happen. And there's already quite an impressive body count before the last scene! Don't let me put you off seeing it, most of the show is brilliantly funny & I adore about 98% of it. There's just a few moments I'm less keen on!
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Post by DuchessConstance on Jun 7, 2016 10:47:28 GMT
I've seen it! I meant, I'm glad I waited till after previews.
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Post by Dawnstar on Jun 7, 2016 12:56:07 GMT
The ending was only changed last week so unless you've seen it very recently then you will have seen the original ending.
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Post by DuchessConstance on Jun 7, 2016 16:37:52 GMT
Yes, like I said, it didn't have that ending when I saw it.
I wonder what they will do with the painting when the show ends or has a cast change. eBay?
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Post by Dawnstar on Jun 7, 2016 19:00:20 GMT
I think I may have read that the wrong way round. (Rather short on sleep today after Showstopper last night.) I can't work out which ending you saw vs which ending you were glad you didn't see.
I would have thought the obvious thing to do would be to present it to Henry Lewis! I found myself wondering, after first seeing it onstage the weekend before last, whether they've done similar paintings for the understudies. If so the TCAABR must have nearly as many nude oil paintings around as Mrs Henderson Presents!
ETA: Anyone interested in the understudies, note that there's been a swap compared to what's listed in the programme so Gareth Tempest is now first cover for Warren and Steven Rostance first cover for Shuck.
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