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Post by Jon on Jul 2, 2022 23:02:29 GMT
Just come back from the first preview of Jack Absolute Flies Again and have to say I enjoyed it a lot. It's in a way, a companion piece to One Man, Two Guvnors and if you don't like the fourth wall being broken, you won't enjoy this as it's not only broken, it's demolished. The cast are excellent but the stand outs are Caroline Quentin as Mrs Malaprop who uses a lot of Malapropism much to the audience's delight and Kerry Howard as Lucy. Kelvin Fletcher was good in the role of Dudley and there's a lovely dance sequence which is a wink to both his and Caroline Quentin's time on Strictly Come Dancing. The set is quite effective and I was really impressed with the use of projections especially since there is a air battle towards the end of act 1 and also act 2 and not only is the back of the set used but also the walls of the Olivier, it's kind of like a theatrical version of ScreenX. It is a little long, it ended just after 2230 but it did start 5 minutes late so I'm guessing they'll be trying to get it down to 2 hours 40 minutes by press night. If you want a night out where you get to laugh a lot and have a rollicking good time then I do recommend this. |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 3, 2022 6:12:28 GMT
Oh damn I have tickets to this but at that length I may have to forget it in order to make train home.
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Post by vernongersh on Jul 3, 2022 13:16:32 GMT
Looking forward to this although 3 hours seems daunting. With the exception of August: Osage County, Jerusalem and The Inheritance - often feel the length of the show. I did buy tickets already so curious to further opinions
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Post by meister on Jul 3, 2022 13:51:53 GMT
Was there last night and felt it did need some tightening so will probably end up around the 2h 45m mark. Didn’t think it as good as 1M2G - never quite reached the delirium of the physical comedy in the restaurant scene for me. Caroline Quentin & Peter Forbes are very good and work well together although some of the other performances seemed a little underpowered (but it was a first preview). Also the ending didn’t work for me. Am going back at the end of August so will see how it has bedded in by then. Overall, an enjoyable evening - 7/10
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Post by anita on Jul 4, 2022 8:04:42 GMT
I have booked to see it next Monday on the strength of the trailer.
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Post by anthony40 on Jul 4, 2022 10:37:08 GMT
I am there tomorrow night
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Post by vernongersh on Jul 4, 2022 14:44:49 GMT
Just read that the show has been trimmed to 2hr 30min with interval
Looking forward to hearing more thoughts
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Post by edi on Jul 4, 2022 15:31:28 GMT
Just read that the show has been trimmed to 2hr 30min with interval Looking forward to hearing more thoughts Where did you read it? Will be there on Thursday |
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Post by vernongersh on Jul 4, 2022 16:23:07 GMT
Just read that the show has been trimmed to 2hr 30min with interval Looking forward to hearing more thoughts Where did you read it? Will be there on Thursday on the NT website |
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Post by Dave B on Jul 4, 2022 22:48:12 GMT
It was still just a tad over 3 hours this evening. Signs going in and cast sheet read 2.40 including 20m interval.
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Post by Dave B on Jul 5, 2022 8:30:30 GMT
A few thoughts.. so even going in and this is why you may want to read on with a pinch of salt... this was not normally my thing. There was a offer, we had a free evening and I expected (and there was!) a certain level of quality from the NT. {Spoiler - click to view} So you had better like malapropism after malapropism after malapropism. Like every line she has throughout the entire thing and yes a couple are funny but it soon becomes tedious. The cast are all pretty good, but it felt like the audience wasn't the right place for me as every scene, every speech had to be cheered and people were almost cheered everytime they left the stage... until later on and they weren't and it became obvious and so they were then cheered. Ugh. It meant that some moments where there is a particularly excellent scene (Peter Forbes has a couple) feels kinda undercheered as everything gets a perfunctory cheer. Really enjoyed the fourth wall breaking, I thought a lot of that worked well. Being the third or so preview there are a couple of moments where it goes a little wrong and the close to corpseing is the funniest moments of the show. Did anyone else get 'c**nt of Monte Cristo' or was that an actual slip last night? It took Forbes and Quentin almost a minute to settle and allow the audience to settle after that one. The story is all over the place, the impersonations and mistaken identity is boring and nothing like as funny as it thinks it is but the overall ending is strong, I liked that. Not afraid to not have a happy ending. The projections and lighting are fab, the two air battles are really well done and from the second row of the circle, the whole room looks great. Be interesting to see what else they might be able to do with this. I enjoyed it more than I expected and surprisingly the three hours didn't feel like three hours (although an empty seat next to me meant I had some legroom which always helps). Reasonably full and I think it was 22.35 by the time we were down and outside afterwards.
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Post by anthony40 on Jul 5, 2022 18:13:16 GMT
I am selling this tonight and here now. If anyone from the board is here and sees me, say hello 👋
I am in the Circle C40
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Post by anthony40 on Jul 6, 2022 8:40:55 GMT
Well that was fun!
Even though this was a preview the cast have well and truly got these characters down.
This is very clever. Although I followed the story and plot line I fear there were one or two throw away lines that I missed.
Kudos to both Kerry Howard and James Corrigan- I'm Australian and he had me convinced that he was too- so much so that I had to google him this morning.
There's lots to laugh at, mistaken identities, physical comedy. They even make a mockery of Kelvin Fletcher's Northern accent.
Look out for the duck- you can't miss it.
The set is very cleverly designed, costumes are great and the jitterbug dancing dynamic!
For me the three hours just flew by.
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Post by oxfordsimon on Jul 6, 2022 9:10:47 GMT
Well that was fun! Even though this was a preview the cast have well and truly got these characters down. This is very clever. Although I followed the story and plot line I fear there were one or two throw away lines that I missed. Kudos to both Kerry Howard and James Corrigan- I'm Australian and he had me convinced that he was too- so much so that I had to google him this morning. There's lots to laugh at, mistaken identities, physical comedy. They even make a mockery of Kelvin Fletcher's Northern accent. Look out for the duck- you can't miss it. The set is very cleverly designed, costumes are great and the jitterbug dancing dynamic! For me the three hours just flew by. have known James for years and he is very much British! He was the Dakin to my Hector when he was a student |
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Post by anthony40 on Jul 6, 2022 9:32:39 GMT
Well that was fun! Even though this was a preview the cast have well and truly got these characters down. This is very clever. Although I followed the story and plot line I fear there were one or two throw away lines that I missed. Kudos to both Kerry Howard and James Corrigan- I'm Australian and he had me convinced that he was too- so much so that I had to google him this morning. There's lots to laugh at, mistaken identities, physical comedy. They even make a mockery of Kelvin Fletcher's Northern accent. Look out for the duck- you can't miss it. The set is very cleverly designed, costumes are great and the jitterbug dancing dynamic! For me the three hours just flew by. have known James for years and he is very much British! He was the Dakin to my Hector when he was a student I guess it's just that our accent is so hard t imitate- we tend to be very nasaly- especially younger females. (For what it's worth) anyone from the Board who's met me will attest to the fact that- although it's there- my accent isn't that strong |
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Post by orchidman on Jul 6, 2022 22:47:03 GMT
It's worth seeing for Peter Forbes' turn but shouldn't be compared to One Man Two Guvnors which was more of a physical comedy, this relies on wordplay, too much of which is rather tired
Would be better if it ran to the advertised running time of 2 hrs 30 rather than 2 hrs 50. Or indeed 1 hr 30.
The ending is spectacularly ill judged and should be changed
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Post by drmaplewood on Jul 7, 2022 21:40:50 GMT
2 hrs 50 tonight so a bit tighter.
It's good fun, very VERY silly and initially I was worried the humour was too old fashioned and repetitive (if you're a fan of malapropism then this is the play for you.) But I did settle into it I got a lot out of it.
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Post by nottobe on Jul 7, 2022 21:42:09 GMT
Just got out of this and thought it was a load of crap. Did not find it's luvvie humour very funny and just didn't get why this should be staged. There were some moderately watchable moments, like end of act one but first hour I would have walked out of. I only stayed because I didn't have anywhere else to be. May post more thoughts tomorrow.
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Post by zahidf on Jul 7, 2022 22:25:31 GMT
I thought this was hilarious! Me and my friend had a lot of fun with this. Some great wordplay and laugh out loud moments.
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Post by jr on Jul 8, 2022 6:23:25 GMT
Saw this last night. It is mildly entertaining. Actors are fine and have good timing with the comedy. The plot is silly and thin, the humour quite old fashioned, the tally-ho's and righty-oh's are tiresome and the malapropisms are repetitive. I found the projections too long and difficult to follow, far too long and noisy and they don't add much.
By far the best are Caroline Quentin and Peter Forbes. One of the funniest things was that a piece of the set fell off the wall, Caroline Quentin improvised and both she and Peter Forbes got the giggles. They also laughed at one of the gags, they seem to be having a good time and they pass it on to the audience.
The worst is saved for the end - a load of nationalistic crap that has nothing to do with the rest of the play, and far too long, slow and overly sentimental. If it were 90 minutes and they stick with the comedy it would have been much better.
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Post by Jan on Jul 8, 2022 6:34:29 GMT
One of the funniest things was that a piece of the set fell off the wall, Caroline Quentin improvised and both she and Peter Forbes got the giggles. That sounds suspiciously like something that will happen every night. A question for older members - how closely does it follow the plot of The Rivals ? |
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Post by Someone in a tree on Jul 8, 2022 6:39:08 GMT
jr Nationalistic? I'm surprised this is happening on RN's watch
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Post by edi on Jul 8, 2022 8:05:19 GMT
I found it funny. Yes old fashioned but that's fine with me. I hate audience participation but I was in stitches when a character told me I should use a mirror when getting ready 😅
Really don't like the ending. For a starter it's too long. But the change in tone is just not fitting the story. Completely unnecessary, and fell flat.
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Post by theatrefan77 on Jul 8, 2022 14:17:31 GMT
I found it funny. Yes old fashioned but that's fine with me. I hate audience participation but I was in stitches when a character told me I should use a mirror when getting ready 😅 Really don't like the ending. For a starter it's too long. But the change in tone is just not fitting the story. Completely unnecessary, and fell flat.
Could you please give more details about the audience participation please? |
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Post by nottobe on Jul 8, 2022 19:00:04 GMT
So my further thoughts on the play after my initial response. So I seem to be in the minority of people who have not liked this and to be honest I think this will struggle over the summer. To me this production and adaption of the play is catered very much to only the National Theatre audience, and not really a wider one. Many of the jokes relied on a luvvie like humour and the others were just childish but not actually funny (The brushing teeth with poo joke was the moment leaving crossed my mind). I am a big fan of comedy and this did not succeed in my opinion. I saw The Unfriend last week and while that was just as silly, it worked because it was more relatable and was a bit like a sitcom. Yes that did have toilet humour but it worked for the plot as it was more about how the characters reacted to the situation. Jack Absolutes toilet humour was just crude and pointless. The cast were all good and direction fine but I think it boils down to the adaption just not working. Relocating the action to World War Two did nothing to the story and it just felt like an unnecessary adaption. For me Rufus is back ti his usual self getting writers he knows to write crap. A shame as I was looking forward to it and the audience did enjoy it but it did not get rapturous applause at the end, no ovations. As for audience participation {Spoiler - click to view}
There are two moments. The first as stated. A character points to a audience member in the front row and states how they haven't used a mirror.This is not really participation as if wanted the audience member doesn't have to react.
The second time a character has a wooden duck to hide and hands it to an audience member near the front. The audience member has to shout pretending the duck is somewhere else. Later Kelvin Fletcher comes and finds the duck from said audience member. |
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Post by catw on Jul 8, 2022 19:06:20 GMT
I’m also in the minority on this one as I didn’t enjoy as some others have. It’s weird how aesthetically it looked in a similar world to The Unfriend. I agree I enjoyed that much more, I don’t think there is maybe much to improve upon I just think I’m not that interested in restoration comedies
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Post by lonlad on Jul 8, 2022 23:59:06 GMT
>>The second time a character has a wooden duck to hide and hands it to an audience member near the front. The audience member has to shout pretending the duck is somewhere else. Later Kelvin Fletcher comes and finds the duck from said audience member.
Saw it tonight and that didn't happen at all. The running time is also down to 2 hrs 40 almost to the minute and the response at the end was very strong, with many standing. I didn't much like it and the poo joke is, sorry, execrable, but others seemed to love it and Caroline Quentin doing the splits has to be seen to be believed.
The ending is a blatant steal from love's labour's lost but then the whole show steals from better sources (including One man, two guvnors, which was INFINITELY better) so stealing from LLL is no big deal.
The Kelvin character btw is a total non-entity and doesn't register at all. The production is mostly about the oldies and about Kerry Howard, who shrieks her way through it unappealingly.
But I predict it will get raves.
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Post by lonlad on Jul 9, 2022 0:00:56 GMT
>> That sounds suspiciously like something that will happen every night.
Sorry, meant to add that the above "mishap" did not happen tonight
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Post by nottobe on Jul 9, 2022 9:36:15 GMT
Saw it tonight and that didn't happen at all. I think that cut will have served it a bit better as the gag did not work as well as it may have done. The audience were also meant to shout warmer or colder to Kelvin finding the duck and it seemed a muted response. Has the whole wooden duck subplot gone then or just this moment? |
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Post by Jon on Jul 9, 2022 9:40:58 GMT
>> The second time a character has a wooden duck to hide and hands it to an audience member near the front. The audience member has to shout pretending the duck is somewhere else. Later Kelvin Fletcher comes and finds the duck from said audience member.
Saw it tonight and that didn't happen at all. The running time is also down to 2 hrs 40 almost to the minute and the response at the end was very strong, with many standing. I didn't much like it and the poo joke is, sorry, execrable, but others seemed to love it and Caroline Quentin doing the splits has to be seen to be believed. The ending is a blatant steal from love's labour's lost but then the whole show steals from better sources (including One man, two guvnors, which was INFINITELY better) so stealing from LLL is no big deal. The Kelvin character btw is a total non-entity and doesn't register at all. The production is mostly about the oldies and about Kerry Howard, who shrieks her way through it unappealingly. But I predict it will get raves. I'm guessing they cut it because it doesn't further the plot. |
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