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Post by adrianics on Dec 1, 2017 11:20:50 GMT
I noticed this last night too
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Post by adrianics on Nov 29, 2017 11:54:30 GMT
Thanks for the heads up, got his first book as a birthday present and loved it.
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Post by adrianics on Nov 29, 2017 11:49:02 GMT
We also saw it last night.
The seats in the upper circle of the Playhouse are incredibly narrow, luckily the person next to my wife didn't show up so she moved over and I could tuck my legs to the side.
Like others I was very taken aback at how short the show is, particularly Act 1 which runs at a princely 35 minutes; the audience were pretty audibly shocked when the lights came up which was funny. The interval lasted nearly as long as Act 1, which is a first for me.
The production is extremely good; the cast, to a man, a phenomenal and it's hard to single anyone out. I'm a big fan of Christian Slater's performance in the tv series Mr Robot and he channeled his manic charisma very well into Roma, although he was clearly struggling with a sore throat and at one point had to rather hilariously clear his throat in the middle of a monologue. Kris Marshall probably gets the least to do but is nigh-unrecognisable as Williamson and deserves the plaudits that he's getting.
As a big fan of the film but newbie to the show, it surprised me how little Moss is in the show but Robert Glenister more than makes up for it with a terrific, powerful performance; his interplay in Act 1 with Don Warrington (also excellent) was the highlight of the show for me.
Ultimately I guess I'd settle for Stanley Townsend as the star of the show; his Levine is desperate, pathetic and utterly heartbreaking. Townsend did such a great job of capturing a once-great refusing to accept that his time is up and resorting to increasing humiliation and desperation. I can't find the name of the actor who played James Link but he was great as well.
A few minor nitpicks here and there, I agree with Marwood that Warrington's accent veered into the bizarre a few times and during one particularly passionate monologue he became almost completely unintelligible but I accept this is probably the point. The direction was good and the cast handled Mamet's rapid-fire dialogue very admirably, but I did feel at times that they needed to pick and choose when to slow the pace down; Roma's famous monologue was nowhere near as effective as it should be because Slater rushed through it, ditto Williamson's famous "f*** you" to Levine. The set was very good, particularly in Act 2.
A lot to recommend, I would say. A very good production of an excellent play with one of the best ensemble casts you'll see in a while.
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Post by adrianics on Nov 24, 2017 8:01:56 GMT
The only mistakes I've seen (or at least noticed) were both in Act 2 of I Can't Sing and involved that absolutely insane revolve. A couple of times the stage started revolving unexpectedly, once a potted plant fell over and Nigel Harman bellowed, in character, at one of the ensemble to pick it up. The second time, it started moving during Harman's monologue and he just stared at the stage until it stopped. Both very funny and well handled by Harman, who was pretty great throughout the whole show.
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Post by adrianics on Nov 21, 2017 11:17:25 GMT
Glengarry Gen Ross, tonight. Couple in stalls, end of row, next to me. They chat through the first act, I don’t say anything. Second act, chatting continues. 10 minutes in, woman (next to me) spits out a full mouthful of drink over me. Start saying how sorry she is. Gets something out of her bag to wipe me down. I say “I’m fine, but please just shut up”. Male companion, on the end of the row the sto me and says “YOU shut the f**k up, or I’ll make you shut the f**k up”. Chatting continues for the rest of the act. I wait until I am certain that they have left and take another exit. Have never felt so uncomfortable in a theatre. This is terrible; I concur that you ought to contact the theatre and the police, if you feel strongly about it.
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Post by adrianics on Nov 14, 2017 12:31:34 GMT
More Mischief Theatre is a-okay in my book.
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Post by adrianics on Nov 14, 2017 9:59:07 GMT
Last night was Gary Trainor's final show as Dewey, did anyone go?
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Post by adrianics on Nov 9, 2017 14:34:06 GMT
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels comes to mind, a twist so big they actually have a track on the cast album with John Lithgow warning not to listen any further if you haven't seen the show:
{Spoiler - click to view} Catherine is The Jackal, and she's been conning Lawrence and Freddy the entire time
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Post by adrianics on Nov 2, 2017 16:37:23 GMT
I knew that looked familiar!
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Post by adrianics on Oct 25, 2017 14:51:42 GMT
I've been in amdram groups that have enquired about WSS and I think they send DVDs outlining the required choreography over with the librettos.
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Post by adrianics on Oct 25, 2017 8:25:55 GMT
I try to be patient with latecomers; it's frustrating but you know, life happens and it's unreasonable to just assume that in 100% of the cases it's because of laziness, entitlement or bad planning.
We came within a hair's width of missing Wind in the Willows a few months back, we left with plenty of time and should have gotten to the theatre half an hour before curtain up but then our tube got halted for 20 minutes two stops away from Oxford Circus, just too far to bail at the next station and walk. Completely unforeseeable and could have easily resulted in us missing curtain up.
Is it really that hard to imagine that something similar probably happens every day, and that we should just give people the benefit of the doubt, especially if it's only a few minutes into the show? They're probably embarrassed enough having to clamber over everyone.
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Post by adrianics on Oct 16, 2017 6:39:55 GMT
Nice, but a happier ending would be if the attackers were caught and convicted. Still unimpressed at the lack of formal and public apology from the theatre, too
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Post by adrianics on Oct 12, 2017 11:09:24 GMT
"She added: “I haven’t heard a word from the Empire, they’ve not said sorry. I sat there with an ice pack that they’d given me but I ended up having to ask them to phone the police because it turned out no one had called them.
“The police said they were checking CCTV and that they would look into the booking record to find their names but it turned out they weren’t sitting in the right seats. They think they moved there from cheaper seats.”
Ellen spoke to the ECHO in the hope eye witnesses may come forward to police with information about the women."
This is absolutely pathetic. There cannot be any good or rational reason that no one on staff called the police or stopped the woman from escaping, and that there hasn't been an apology or recompense is unforgivable.
An awful thing to have happened and a truly unacceptable response from the theatre. Shameful all around, really. I hope she recovers well and feels able to return.
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Post by adrianics on Oct 10, 2017 18:30:29 GMT
{Spoiler - click to view} I wasn't a huge fan of that moment (very weird that everyone else broke character but Sarah), or the visible hand that knocked the lamp off the table. I loved the band and stage hands all coming on stage during the 'death scene' then starting to leave only to come back when the scientist yelled "UNLESS".
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Post by adrianics on Oct 8, 2017 10:12:53 GMT
Saw this on Friday and thought it was really damn great. It's a very funny show with a kick-ass score (although Sarah's songs ran together a little), and that cast... I was just blown away, really. A huge amount of energy and talent on stage, I was exhausted just watching White Guy and Black Guy. Particular props to Natalie Hope, her Bitch/Slut/Whore song was incredible and real standout.
I do agree with the above that the fourth wall humour goes a bit overboard in Act 2, otherwise I laughed beginning to end.
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Post by adrianics on Oct 6, 2017 13:21:00 GMT
Haha, yes. In fact, I'll extend that to ever asking anyone to reschedule anything just so they can come along. A phenomenon I wasn't familiar with until we sent out our wedding invites...
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Post by adrianics on Oct 6, 2017 9:08:17 GMT
I find I'm actively looking for things that qualify as bad behaviour now, just to report back to this thread! I find that there's so much bad behaviour I've come to accept as a given (talking particularly) that I only come to this thread if it's really notable.
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Post by adrianics on Oct 4, 2017 9:08:12 GMT
I really hope they leave the series now, "children are the ones who suffer when their parents feud" is a logical message and conclusion from this story and almost makes season two feel necessary.
Cavel was phenomenal in the finale, I think it's testament to his talent that you almost felt sorry for Simon by the end.
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Post by adrianics on Oct 3, 2017 13:16:07 GMT
I'm so happy that you're back and being as pointlessly nasty about personal appearances as ever, Parsley
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Post by adrianics on Sept 29, 2017 9:40:03 GMT
Just had a quick look on TodayTix and despite absolute swathes of unsold seats for tonight's show (go ahead and have a look for yourself, it looks desperate), they're still charging £32.50 per seat if you want more than one, or £20 for a single seat.
This site's tickets are £25 per seat for restricted view, £38 each otherwise. This is absolutely not a criticism of this site, to make myself completely clear. I also have it on very good authority that they're papering every show this weekend.
I used this show as an example in the Where Has the Audience Gone thread, and it's so sad to see that this naked greed is causing such pitiful audience numbers. I've heard nothing but amazing things about this production and am very eager to see it, but I refuse to pay such outrageous prices when it barely takes any effort at all to discover how low the demand is. It's such a shame that this will have such a negative effect on all the creatives, who I have no doubt are brilliant.
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Post by adrianics on Sept 20, 2017 11:54:03 GMT
Some extremely contrived "this happened because it has to happen" writing last night as well. Why exactly were the son and his friends hanging out at the dad's workplace and who was filming them??
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Post by adrianics on Sept 20, 2017 6:34:29 GMT
Yeah I got a very stark "we're making this up as we go along" vibe from this weeks'.
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Post by adrianics on Sept 13, 2017 8:07:32 GMT
This show reminds me a lot of Jane the Virgin for its dedication to melodrama, except with very little out-and-out humour. I agree that Surrane Jones and Bertie Foster are absolutely crushing it, they're dragging some pretty ropey material ever onwards and upwards.
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Post by adrianics on Sept 12, 2017 13:38:26 GMT
Now they're just being cruel...on an International level. Is it that bad? From the reviews here I was put off from a theatre visit, but think I'd do a cinema trip out of interest. As per my post I thought it was inoffensive and okay. Some were making it out to be a disaster but to me it was nowhere near that. I think you'll enjoy the cinema trip!
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Post by adrianics on Sept 8, 2017 13:18:55 GMT
I'm so excited for this. Network is one of my favourite movies and Bryan Cranston may well be my favourite actor on this planet, this is once-in-a-lifetime stuff and we paid far more for tickets than we normally would!
Foodwork sounds... Oh god. I'm normally up for audience participation but I don't understand the point of it or how it compliments the themes of the story? Plus as above I'd feel horribly self-conscious and exposed.
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Post by adrianics on Sept 8, 2017 13:09:07 GMT
We were sat in D20 & D21, as I said there's a pillar and it's also very difficult to see what's happening at the back of the revolve. Nothing show-ruining because they make an effort to ensure there's something going on at all angles!
To my shame, I didn't mention in my review how good Edward Baruwa was as Nomax. A role that could be easily upstaged by the constant energy of the Five Guys but he put in a very restrained, naturalistic performance (very Clarke Peters-esque, you might say) that held everything together perfectly.
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Post by adrianics on Sept 8, 2017 11:49:44 GMT
Check your ticketmaster accounts I had tickets for 21st Nov and 5th of Dec. They've magically changed to 6th and 13th Dec similar if not better seats. Good shout... Yep, mine have been moved without notice to the 8th December. Identical seats. Everyone waiting for an email: Check your Ticketmaster account!
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Post by adrianics on Sept 8, 2017 11:39:08 GMT
I have tickets to the original first preview and haven't heard anything :/
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Post by adrianics on Sept 7, 2017 15:42:23 GMT
Running next year. Cities are as follows:Northampton, Chichester, Cheltenham,Chester,Aylesbury, Bath, Glasgow, Darlington, Edinburgh, Coventry, Birmingham, Milton Keynes, Cardiff, York, Hull, Manchester, Liverpool, Bristol, Blackpool, Torquay and Brighton. Is this any good? Looks to be good fun but I really can't tell. It's a very funny show and also very tightly written, I think the script is genuinely intelligent. Plus there's some quite brilliant direction and staging too. Everyone I know who's seen it has raved about it, myself included. It also helps that I'm an amdrammer; I've seen pretty much everything that happens in the show happen in an amdram show (although obviously not as extreme), which added to the authenticity of it for me.
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Post by adrianics on Sept 5, 2017 11:28:35 GMT
Saw this last night.
The show itself is paper thin but the production is very imaginative and energetic, all of the Moes do a very admirable job with 'Four Eyes' and 'Big Moe' probably being the standouts. The songs are terrific and the band red-hot, and we both thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.
I loved the theatre, personally. A very convincing and authentic recreation of the small New Orleans/Chicago bars we loved so much during our visit to those cities, with a great drinks selection (name me another theatre where a guy can get a pint of Goose Island on tap). The warm-up act were sensational and I loved the band playing in the rafters.
I do agree with the earlier comments regarding the sightlines, we were sat in the outer stalls and had a large pillar blocking most of the right-hand side of the stage and also couldn't see anything that happened at the back of the room. The staging in general is pretty great so it's a shame this impacted that.
There's some *very* extensive audience participation, so make sure you sit on the raked seating rather than at the tables if that isn't your bag.
All in all I'd say plenty to recommend.
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