1,265 posts
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Post by mkb on Jul 23, 2022 23:06:57 GMT
I am beyond astonished to see the negativity in the professional reviews and this thread. That was not what I expected to find when leaving the Olivier, especially given the rapturous reception with which Jack Absolute Flies Again was received by tonight's audience.
I haven't enjoyed a show this much in a long while. Maybe I'm on the right wavelength, but this for me was even funnier than the five-star One Man, Two Guvnors, side-splittingly funny in fact at times.
The whole cast were magnificent with pitch-perfect performances, and it was pleasing to discover that Kerry Howard is as brilliantly comical on stage as she is on tv. I loved the set design and painted backdrop, with its bright hues and Boys-Own-Adventure stylisation. The sequences projected across the ceilings and rear and side walls were immersive and impressive from the third row of the Stalls.
I had no complaints about the poignant ending, which felt entirely right and appropriate.
I rarely see a show more than once, but I can't wait for a return trip.
Five stars.
Act 1: 19:33-20:43 Act 2: 21:08-22:08
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3,081 posts
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Post by david on Jul 23, 2022 23:24:20 GMT
As the last show of my London trip and what a great way to end it. A really funny script from Richard Bean and Oliver Chris that kept tonight’s audience in stitches for the entire 2hr 40 minutes. As someone who is a big fan of the Carry On films and “Allo Allo”, it’s a show that really appealed to my sense of humour with its word play and at times physical humour and allowed me to just switch my brain off for a bit and have a very much needed night of comedy at the theatre. With so much serious stuff at the NT recently, it really made for a refreshing change to those types of productions. Certainly the show was well received by our audience tonight. It was just a nice experience to hear a room full of people laughing at the NT for the entire night again. The breaking of the 4th wall in this production worked a treat, thanks mainly to the wonderful Kerry Howard as Lucy the maid. I would definitely agree with Steve in that whilst in OMTG, the men get the laughs, in JAFA, the humour definitely belongs with the ladies with Caroline Quentin giving an absolutely hilarious turn along with some amazing flexibility as Mrs Malaprop and who is obviously having a great time on stage with the script. For the gents, Peter Forbes as Sir Anthony was another scene stealer and a shout out to James Corrigan as the Aussie pilot Bob Acres, another scene stealing performance (the bees and boxing scenes especially). Whilst the humour landed well, I’m not too sure that the ending did as it was a massive tonal shift from everything that had been built up up to this point whereas I think with OMTG, the ending worked well with that play and maintained a similar tone to the rest of the play. The dancing scenes were fun and certainly a nice nod to Caroline and Kelvin’s SCD appearances. The projections looked great from my front row stalls seat, though I imagine from further back or from the Circle they would look even better. Rating - 4⭐️
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131 posts
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Post by blobble84 on Aug 5, 2022 22:45:59 GMT
I thought this was an absolute mess. A poorly written script - mildly amusing in parts but not clever in the slightest. Laboured direction. A brilliant cast who gave it their all, but they couldn’t save it for me. Considered leaving after the first act.
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3,059 posts
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Post by Dr Tom on Aug 6, 2022 14:59:10 GMT
I quite enjoyed this last night with a second row Friday Rush seat. The plot isn’t perfect but there are enough witty lines and there’s a certain charm to all this. I don’t see a long life for this though, but who knows? Glad I got to attend.
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443 posts
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Post by theatreliker on Aug 6, 2022 18:28:58 GMT
Enjoyed this but agree with what another poster said - I've seen better by the same creatives involved here.
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110 posts
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Post by Sotongal on Aug 7, 2022 15:11:57 GMT
Saw this yesterday evening. Olivier about 2/3 full maybe (it was a captioned performance).
Enjoyed it though we thought the verbal sexual references may have been funnier if they’d been a bit more subtle than obvious. Likewise, there were a lot of swear words, which used sparingly can be very funny and meaningful, but used excessively lose their edge.
Family of four in front of us, parents, teenage daughter and son of about ten. Could see them cringing at times and the father and son left in the interval.
We felt it needed more work - not as funny, well written or developed as One Man, Two Guvnors.
Also, hadnt been to the NT since pre Covid and were surprised how tatty round the edges it’s getting. It used to be a great experience going to a Peter Hall production at the NT, full of expectation of seeing some big theatrical names or Productions. Times and audiences change, I guess.
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Post by mattnyc on Aug 7, 2022 16:59:40 GMT
Saw this about 3 weeks ago and I’m still laughing, thinking about it. Really one of the funniest things I’ve seen in a long time so I’m shocked people are hating it.
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893 posts
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Post by vdcni on Aug 11, 2022 7:38:17 GMT
I thought this was good overall and it was a fun night out but would agree it wasn't anyway near the level of One Man. There was so much going on that enough of it was funny and even when they overused certain points like the fourth wall breaking and the two Dudley's nothing overstayed its welcome too much as the whole thing kept moving.
As others have said Caroline Quentin and Peter Forbes were the stand outs with the younger cast members more of a mixed bag; James Corrigan's broad Aussie stereotype (even funnier when you're sitting next to your Aussie husband) and Helena Wilson as Julia the strongest.
Asked only to be hunky and northern Kelvin Fletcher just about managed it but only really came into life during the dance sequence where suddenly he was the most watchable person on stage.
And yes the ending doesn't really work that well, trying to inject realism into farce isn't easy and they didn't quite pull it off though I would say the main issue was the sequence was just too long.
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3,762 posts
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Post by anthony40 on Aug 13, 2022 19:27:41 GMT
Being screened live and for free outdoors to the general public at the National Theatre tonight
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Post by cartoonman on Aug 18, 2022 6:58:27 GMT
I saw this last night. I would say it's as funny as One man two guvnors. The back projection effects were good. Every member of the cast was excellent. The dance was really well done. It is quite long but I enjoyed every minute. The ending surprised me. Well done NT on a great show. I have been theatre going for over 40 years and for laugh out loud moments this ranks as up with the very best. It might be difficult to transfer to the West End as the Olivier stage is so big and the projections might be beyond most theatres but it does deserve to do well.
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67 posts
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Post by ruperto on Aug 18, 2022 7:22:00 GMT
Yes, I saw this a couple of nights ago, and for me it was a five-star show. I absolutely loved it, though it helps if you like smut! A masterclass from Caroline Quentin, but I didn’t think there were any weak links.
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1,316 posts
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Post by tmesis on Aug 18, 2022 9:43:56 GMT
Another rave from me - loved it. I found it just as funny as One Man Two Governors. Nice to see The Nash splash some cash on a tip top set and at last we have a production that fills the problematic Olivier space not just well but with total confidence. Kelvin was good but the guy has no comic timing and he was shown up a bit by everyone else who were just fizzing. I also loved how the play develops at the very end - it totally worked for me and the writing and acting changed gear very effectively and skilfully at that point.
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216 posts
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Post by galinda on Aug 18, 2022 12:24:45 GMT
I’m looking to see this but the date I’m looking at is a dementia friendly performance- anyone know what that would involve? It says the performance will be slightly adjusted.
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216 posts
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Post by galinda on Aug 18, 2022 15:49:24 GMT
Thanks so much for the reply. Might try a different performance then.
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4,038 posts
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Post by kathryn on Aug 21, 2022 12:30:33 GMT
Really enjoyed this yesterday! Particularly liked what they did with Mrs Malaprop - I don’t think I’ve seen her actually be properly funny before.
Mixed feelings on the ending - it kind of worked in that it was touching but it did lead to a rather down ending.
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3,475 posts
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Post by showgirl on Aug 25, 2022 4:49:06 GMT
For all its faults, I had a great time seeing this at yesterday's matinee; the other audience members also seemed to be enjoying themselves hugely and appplauded enthusiastically at the end. A replacement for the only recent booking I lost due to train strikes (staff from my own TOC didn't vote to join the earlier ones) and although I had a brilliant £20 end-of-aisle seat booked for that, for the new date I did even better with a £10 Friday Rush ticket very close to the aisle in the central stalls - not often I'm able to sit in such a good position so that added to the pleasure.
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Post by matty on Aug 27, 2022 6:04:19 GMT
I saw this on Thursday and I'm definitely in the "I loved it" camp. Yes there were some flaws, and that ending fell a bit flat (I feel like if they shortened it and it, it could work a but better), but this was a really enjoyable night at the theatre - it is the best thing I've seen at the National for quite a while.
I will say though, I definitely underestimated how uncomfortable the £20 stalls seats would be. My lower back did not like me by the end!
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56 posts
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Post by pws on Aug 27, 2022 20:49:19 GMT
I will say though, I definitely underestimated how uncomfortable the £20 stalls seats would be. My lower back did not like me by the end! It's a very uncomfortable theatre, not just the stalls.
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4,038 posts
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Post by kathryn on Aug 27, 2022 21:18:56 GMT
Yes, those seats are bum-numbing.
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3,762 posts
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Post by anthony40 on Aug 28, 2022 11:04:09 GMT
Kerry Howard on Sunday Brunch this morning promoting the show
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Post by pochard on Aug 28, 2022 21:37:23 GMT
Another positive from me - a little broad, I would have dialled down one or two of the performances (it would still be funny) but actually I really enjoyed it and Caroline Quentin was a great choice. If you get a chance (I think it's the last week?) I'd definitely give it a go. My 21 year old daughter loved it and talking about the ending on the way home, I thought she very sensibly pointed out it would have been cheating to stage it in this particular setting and not have a similar ending.
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2,149 posts
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Post by richey on Sept 1, 2022 8:40:49 GMT
Saw this last night and absolutely loved it. As has been said before, this is definitely Caroline Quentin's show. She really looked like she was having a ball up there. Had a slightly restricted view as I was on the extreme left of stalls but it was virtually next to the stage so not complaining. It did mean I missed a few visual gags, particularly the one where Roy was trying to get past Sir Anthony and also probably didn't get the full effect of the projections. Nevertheless a great night out and will definitely try and catch the cinema screening too.
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1,510 posts
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Post by anita on Sept 1, 2022 9:46:44 GMT
I wonder - What are the chances of a DVD?
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3,762 posts
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Post by anthony40 on Sept 1, 2022 13:56:35 GMT
I wonder - What are the chances of a DVD? Highly unlikely
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1,510 posts
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Post by anita on Sept 1, 2022 14:26:24 GMT
I wonder - What are the chances of a DVD? Highly unlikely Pity.
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3,762 posts
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Post by anthony40 on Sept 1, 2022 14:35:40 GMT
I know. If they did, I'd buy one myself!
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142 posts
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Post by meister on Sept 2, 2022 16:46:36 GMT
Trailer is out
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1,265 posts
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Post by mkb on Sept 3, 2022 0:19:22 GMT
Five-star show, but a one-star trailer. Very poorly done.
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177 posts
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Post by tal on Sept 8, 2022 12:21:46 GMT
I thought this was so much fun. I would see it for either Caroline Quentin or Kerry Howard alone.
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Post by crabtree on Oct 10, 2022 21:28:53 GMT
Being immune to the charms of James Cordon, One Man , Two Guvnors did little for me, but this certainly did - kick started by the idea of Oliver Chris rolling about in the bluebells (as referred to in the short film before the screenings), and being a great lover of The Rivals, this absolutely worked for me, with every Malapropism hitting home. I usually go by myself to such things and keep the laughter internal but this saw me laughing way out loud. such speed, such bawdy wit, such joy. And yes Ms Quentin - oh wow. One of the decisions a director must make with Mrs M is 'does she know?' it's funny both ways.
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