2,706 posts
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Post by Cardinal Pirelli on Oct 21, 2017 9:11:14 GMT
Albion is effectively about Brexit and our current national malaise, without ever specifically referring to it, and it's also an excellent new play.
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Xanderl
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Not always very high value in terms of ticket yield or donations
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Post by Xanderl on Oct 22, 2017 10:40:30 GMT
Saw this last night. Total sh*t with no redeeming features.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 22, 2017 11:08:19 GMT
Saw this last night. Total sh*t with no redeeming features. Ha! Far more succinct than me!
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748 posts
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Post by rumbledoll on Oct 22, 2017 12:18:20 GMT
Saw this last night. Total sh*t with no redeeming features. Not even The Heff?!
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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 Oct 22, 2017 12:36:23 GMT
Even The Heff was off form. Bit cruel to make him keep doing his entrances and exits through the stalls, walking past rows of empty seats.
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716 posts
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Post by theatre-turtle on Oct 22, 2017 12:36:55 GMT
Is this bad enough to trek all the way to the NT to return my ticket?
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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 Oct 22, 2017 12:38:29 GMT
Is this bad enough to trek all the way to the NT to return my ticket? Well, your alternative is to trek all the way to the NT to watch it so I'd say yes
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717 posts
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Post by Latecomer on Oct 22, 2017 13:18:23 GMT
Well I rather enjoyed it, like Ryan! It was completely mad and the ending didn't really do the job but I liked the central idea and it was great fun seeing the journey! I thought it was good value for my nice cheap £15 front stalls ticket. Loved the Heff and Julian Bleach as the dragon and had fun afterwards discussing how I would have changed the ending! [Corbyn may have vanquished May in my version}
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519 posts
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Post by jek on Oct 22, 2017 13:23:58 GMT
Have to admit that we did what we very rarely do the other night and left this at the interval. I quite enjoyed John Heffernan doing a kind of Disney Knight - that kind of pantomime arrogance - but not enough to stick around for the second half. The first half felt like a very long hour and a half and I couldn't muster up any interest in the fate of any of the characters. It says something that I haven't given any thought since Friday night to what might have happened to anyone in the play after the interval. Such a shame - had booked this when priority booking opened with some sense of expectation.
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4,028 posts
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Post by kathryn on Oct 22, 2017 13:56:53 GMT
It wasn't awful, but it wasn't really good either. As much as we enjoyed The Heff's turn as a Lancelot-inspired Saint George, none of the characters felt real and it really didn't know where it was going. The latter is the inherent problem with writing an allegorical play about the problem of the human condition - there is no satisfactory answer to be had, and the play knows it.
Ho hum.
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Post by Honoured Guest on Oct 22, 2017 14:00:15 GMT
The latter is the inherent problem with writing an allegorical play about the problem of the human condition The play is about England.
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2,502 posts
Member is Online
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Post by n1david on Oct 22, 2017 14:50:46 GMT
Is this bad enough to trek all the way to the NT to return my ticket? I post my tickets back. That way you don't have to feel embarrassed about it...
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3,458 posts
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Post by showgirl on Oct 22, 2017 17:02:08 GMT
Saw this last night. Total sh*t with no redeeming features. What, it was that bad and still you sat through all of it, Xanderl? Or were you just giving it every opportunity to redeem itself? In any case, I think Parsley now has a rival in the succinct skewering stakes...
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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 Oct 22, 2017 17:06:38 GMT
Yes, sat through the whole thing. It was 90 minutes, no interval.
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3,458 posts
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Post by showgirl on Oct 22, 2017 17:23:29 GMT
I'm confused - or missing an obvious joke - as the NT site says 2 hours 45?
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Post by profquatermass on Oct 22, 2017 17:25:28 GMT
Is this bad enough to trek all the way to the NT to return my ticket? I post my tickets back. That way you don't have to feel embarrassed about it... This is why I never get my tickets sent to me. That way you can return them online (very useful if you've picked up a comp as so often happens with NT productions now)
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2,389 posts
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Post by peggs on Oct 22, 2017 17:29:19 GMT
Well I spent the first ten mins or so thinking well this is mad but quite nice mad and I like a bit of pyrotechnics and hair flourishing. The line that amused Ryan similarly amused me and I quite fancied Dragon outfit part 2. Oh a bit of revolve action as well. So yes the end didn't really work and it wasn't my normal play of choice but it entertained and I had a nice lunch catch up with friend so ok from me.
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Post by emicardiff on Oct 22, 2017 17:42:34 GMT
Having returned to this thread, I feel less guilt about offing the Dragon for The Ferryman. I may have heartily disliked Ferryman but I feel I possibly got more from that than I would have this.
Shame though, poor Heff, poor NT.
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4,028 posts
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Post by kathryn on Oct 22, 2017 22:07:17 GMT
The latter is the inherent problem with writing an allegorical play about the problem of the human condition The play is about England. It's obviously not just about England. It says nothing particular about Englishness at all.
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4,028 posts
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Post by kathryn on Oct 22, 2017 22:08:44 GMT
I'm confused - or missing an obvious joke - as the NT site says 2 hours 45? He left at the interval.
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404 posts
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Post by dlevi on Oct 23, 2017 3:47:31 GMT
I saw it Saturday afternoon and there were maybe 300 of us scattered throughout the house. I thought it was pretty awful. One of those plays which shouldn't have been let out of the studio. John Heferrnan tried valiantly ( as a Knight should) but all was in vain. The play had some funny moments and some witty ones but the rest I found to be a lot of work. Mr Mullarkey is still a promising playwright, but this nearly 3 hour opus could've been trimmed to just under an hour and offered us the allegory much more successfully and effectively as well as a sense of bouyancy which would make the whole enterprise go down well. This is a huge misfire on the part of the Norris regime. Not that Hytner was perfect but he could be tough and not allow sh*t to come from the studio to the main stage. There had to have been a point a few months ago when the plug needed to be pulled on this. Lyndsey Turner did nothing with the material and even failed in her usually successful collaboration with her design team. What a botch!
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3,458 posts
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Post by showgirl on Oct 23, 2017 4:26:12 GMT
Unsuccessful productions like this must be bad, not only for the audience and theatre but also for the playwright's development - how do they move on and which directors and venues will want to take a chance on their next work - assuming they continue writing? Trying in vain to think of examples. I know Richard Bean had a blip at the NT but not as bad and he was more established at the time.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 23, 2017 8:44:46 GMT
I do feel sorry for Norris.
I know he has the final say of what goes in during his tenure as AD but he has the weight of history on his shoulders and a quick look at the cluster of predecessors would be enough to put anyone ever taking on the position.
That said, he is the man at the top and although I strongly disagreed with the criticism aimed at Salomé and thought Common was better than most critics suggested, the truth is that they weren't well received and have been succeeded by a play so awful that I felt embarrassed to be a member of the National when I left at the interval at the first preview.
He is trying to build his own legacy but he is failing drastically and the new season could be the make or break for him. If it is received as poorly it surely makes his position untenable?
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Post by Jan on Oct 23, 2017 8:59:06 GMT
The new season looks mixed. “Exit the King” is the only sure-fire flop on paper.
Norris has never directed a comedy and doesn’t seem to have much of a sense of humour, maybe that’s why he struggles to pick good plays that are supposed to be funny.
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4,567 posts
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Post by Someone in a tree on Oct 23, 2017 9:18:26 GMT
300 in the audience ?
Will this play it’s entire run? Has the Nash pulled a piece mid run before ?
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Post by Deleted on Oct 23, 2017 9:24:50 GMT
300 in the audience ? Will this play it’s entire run? Has the Nash pulled a piece mid run before ? Again, I think Greenland ended earlier than intended...! Also didn't Afterlife by Michael Frayn crash and get a shorter run than intended? I really liked it but mine was a minority opinion.
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5,495 posts
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Post by Baemax on Oct 23, 2017 9:25:36 GMT
I know they've sometimes not extended a show, but I don't know about pulling one prior to the end of the currently announced dates. George never had the option for extension though, it was always going to close on 2nd December. Let's see if it'll last the next six(ish) weeks!
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Post by Deleted on Oct 23, 2017 9:28:11 GMT
I know they've sometimes not extended a show, but I don't know about pulling one prior to the end of the currently announced dates. George never had the option for extension though, it was always going to close on 2nd December. Let's see if it'll last the next six(ish) weeks! To be fair, if you look online (which I was bored enough to do on Friday afternoon), it's reasonably well sold - at least half the seats are gone for most performances. Whether people actually turn up/stay for the full performance is another thing, of course.
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2,389 posts
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Post by peggs on Oct 23, 2017 12:33:25 GMT
I was there sat afternoon and there were more than 300 there, isn't the Olivier capacity something around 1100? There were no where near 800 empty seats. The sides of the circle were pretty empty and the edges of the stalls and there were empty seats dotted around including even front row £15 ones (does the National have a policy of not moving people and say filling the stalls rather than leaving everyone dotted around?). It is probably the emptiest I've ever see it but I've been in much emptier a theatre.
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Post by Jan on Oct 23, 2017 13:02:26 GMT
I know they've sometimes not extended a show, but I don't know about pulling one prior to the end of the currently announced dates. George never had the option for extension though, it was always going to close on 2nd December. Let's see if it'll last the next six(ish) weeks! To be fair, if you look online (which I was bored enough to do on Friday afternoon), it's reasonably well sold - at least half the seats are gone for most performances. Whether people actually turn up/stay for the full performance is another thing, of course. I would not be sure that the availability you see on-line is the real availability - I know at the Barbican they show less seats available on-line than they do if you go to the box office in person - there's a discussion on it over in another thread somewhere.
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