Young Marx at the new Bridge theatre

Thank you, theatrefan77; helpful as though not ideal, I had to book an evening performance in Kingston as that was the only time I could fit in the Northern Broadsides touring production of For Love Or Money.

No, it was supposed to start at 7.45 but it was delayed.

The programme says 2 hours 20 minutes with a 20 minute interval. The show started late and there was a bit of chit-chat from Nicky H beforehand which made it longer. There were a couple of scene changes that seemed to take a bit longer than they should so I imagine that once it starts running properly, they'll tighten up and it'll probably sit at around the 2:20 time.

Also for those who were wondering about the directions to the theatre, the route I took was fairly straightforward. Come out of London Bridge at the Tooley Street exit and turn right. Keep walking in a straight line along Tooley Street until you get to LaLit Hotel. Turn left just before the hotel and keep walking straight on, you'll walk past some buildings in your right with a small 'park' to your left. You'll come to a path that winds to your left and you'll see City Hall in front of you and Tower Bridge to your right. The theatre is right in the middle of the two landmarks. Big red sign outside. I'm sure I've made that sound rather complicated but it really isn't.

McKellen said that one reason he didn't like having the audience on stage with him in the NT Coriolanus (participating in the crowd scenes - I perfected my Various Citizens in that) was that friends visiting him in the dressing room after the show would invariably open with "That dress !" and similar. 

Blogger Ian Foster (Thereoughttobeclowns) was one of those invited to the cheap pre-preview mentioned above; below is the link to his thoughts on the theatre, including photos - for as he says, he isn't reviewing the play itself (yet):

oughttobeclowns.blogspot.co.uk/2017/10/thoughts-on-visit-to-bridge-theatre.html#more

I'm not sure what I think about the Bridge Theatre. It's location is lovely, if somewhat out of the way. Something about traipsing to the both too-flashy and kind-of-grotty London Bridge and then walking along to a spot which was until now the preserve of local politicians and American tourists unsettled me somehow. I didn't have enough time to go to a sit down restaurant so I had to have a Pret (No Maccas, BK, KFC within a mile radius, and they call this London?!?!).

The foyer is to die for, appropriately large, lots of doors in, long (and exceptionally busy) bar. Someone's forgotten to take the wrappers off the lightbulbs though, I'm sure they'll get around to it. I love the bar taps dispensing water into plastic cups both on the ground level and the below ground stalls level - including one for sparkling water which caught me off guard. The toilets are very Young Vic in their "men over here, but gosh if you're not exclusively a man you can also come over here, or indeed you could choose to go over there, it's all the same isn't it, we're not judging, but also we don't want to upset anyone by having unisex toilets, just come in and pee for god sake" signage. I didn't try the cakes, I was full, everyone else had a plate of them though.

The auditorium is the Dorfman. I can sort of half see what people are saying about it being Olivier-esque, but it's not an amphitheatre really, it's the Dorfman with a slightly bigger stage and with the sidemost seats pointing helpfully in the right direction. There's nothing wrong with that, it's flexible, it's intimate, it's a proven formula, but I did a double take when I walked in at how Hytnarr (see what I did?) have just copied their lovely plans from the Cottesloe conversion and had another bash at it. How lovely it'll be to have Nick Hytner programming part of the NT again. The seats are quite comfy, we had excellent legroom in the stalls, and sightlines seem pretty preserved from all areas. It turns out, new theatre smell is like the new car smell. I had no phone reception in the auditorium, which is probably a feature rather than a bug.

My biggest gripe was the queue to exit the silly place. Both at the interval and at the end of the show, from row C we were standing around 7 and 10 minutes respectively to get out. There's only two stalls exits, one on either side, and it took ages to get out. People were muttering dramatically, but perhaps not without basis, about what it would be like in a fire. It's too late to fix this unfortunately, so bring a crossword if you're not in a gallery.

The show itself was fine, not my favourite, quite liked the set, particularly the chimneys, especially liked the children. It was a second preview etc etc.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madeleine_(cake)

Small sponge cakes (feeling hungry now)....

Thanks! I'm not really getting why they're so special but I'm willing to use the excuse to experiment.

I feel our replies as to what a madeleine cake is should be at least several pages long and refer back to our earlier lives and loves lost.

Def start a trend. Macaroons?

Saw this the other night from one of the side seats in the Stalls - bit packed in but at least the stools face the right way. View cut off these chimneys you speak of though.

Theatre is gorgeous and smells lovely, giant queue to collect tickets but I imagine this is because it was a last-minute preview show so everybody in the house was collecting. Couldn't get near the bars to sample the famous madeleines sadly.

Toilets are capacious. Took a long time to get in as the ushers were scanning every individual ticket instead of just quickly glancing, which took about 10 secs per person.

Quite enjoyed the wartime spirit of everyone asking everyone else if they were using the right door, on the right row etc.

Play was entertaining but not life-changing... some funny moments and an interesting story.

Is the baking smell of the madeleines to disguise the drains, being so near the river?

Wartime spirit? 😂😂

The Bridge Theatre website! You need to start writing to Nicky H right now.

To be fair, the ones I had last week weren't burnt at all. They were delicious.

Or perhaps that's what they want you to think. Lord knows I've eaten a madeleine or two in my time, and none that brown.