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Post by Deleted on May 3, 2018 8:51:06 GMT
I do wonder about this theatre The need for another venue Which they can’t fill They filled it with Julius Caesar. The answer is obvious - let it out to the RSC for their Stratford transfers for 6 months of the year, it could be configured to closely match the RST, much better than the Barbican can. The run of Julius Caesar was not sold out It was very full But nowhere near sold out during the run
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Post by mrbarnaby on May 3, 2018 20:43:25 GMT
They have a ridiculous number of seats to fill. I’ve no idea why they built it so big.
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Post by Deleted on May 3, 2018 20:56:55 GMT
They have a ridiculous number of seats to fill. I’ve no idea why they built it so big. This play is a massive error To schedule in such a large space I only read the first page of this thread today and noted that the intended run of this play was curtailed I did think a 3 week stint seemed really short The reality is it isn’t a good piece And the writer is only capable of a narrow sort of self reflective play And refuses to move out of his comfort zone What seems amazing in The Arcola Doesn’t cut in an auditorium of 900 seats Where half of them are empty Even a lavish large set Can’t disguise things In fact it shows the play up all the more The themes in it are standard for a play Grief loss and family It’s so predictable it’s painful The problem is we have 4 characters Who we don’t care about And are all weakly written
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Post by learfan on May 3, 2018 21:21:37 GMT
The number of seats was always going to be the main problem with this venture. That and the new play policy.
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Post by NeilVHughes on May 3, 2018 21:46:01 GMT
The size of the Theatre is an irrelevance, the relationship with its target audience is key.
If The Bridge considers itself a ‘West End” Theatre then the relationship does not matter and it will need to program safe productions and rely on it comfort and facilities to lure people away from Covent Garden.
If not it needs to build a relationship similar to The Almeida, Donmar and Royal Court...., where there is a loyalty and Kudos to seeing a play there.
From the initial productions The Bridge comes over as the Old Vic in the commercial sector and predictably from Hytner’s perspective The National, risky plays alongside revivals of old favourites to balance the books, a star led Ibsen or Chekov in the next season? personally I prefer this model.
At the moment willing to cut The Bridge some slack as it finds its feet, seeing this on Saturday and have booked for all productions this year, expecting to see good bad and indifferent productions as I would for any other Offie.
Next year will be critical (difficult second album), if it cannot build a relationship with its audience, TodayTix will be able to resurrect their loyalty scheme as there will be plenty of The Bridge tickets available for them to sell, the West End crowd will not bother with the hassle of getting there and the Theatre Board crowd will drift back to our old favourites.
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Post by foxa on May 4, 2018 10:35:38 GMT
This sounds cynical, but I think to sell a new play in a big space like The Bridge, they needed some bigger, more exciting names in the cast (possibly they tried and others passed on it.) Of the two actors in this whose work I knew, one, I think is fine but not a draw for me, and the other is someone who I last saw really not rising to the occasion, so was a negative. Someone like Nicole Kidman can sell out in a new play (Photograph 51) but this was always going to be tough. But I admire them for trying it. It's good they're not going to just play it safe.
I think Jan might also be onto something about it being a good space for limited runs for shows transferring in from elsewhere - RSC or others.
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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 May 4, 2018 10:59:42 GMT
As I looked into my crystal ball and said a year ago ... Does sound like an interesting season but I can't see any of these selling out a 900 seat theatre. Nightfall in particular sounds like the kind of thing the Royal Court (capacity 380) would put on. So Julius Caesar sounds like there will be 250 promenade tickets + 650 seated tickets? I like the warning for the Barney Norris play - "May contain moderate language" I'm also amazed they are not apparently discounting - given Nightfall has been on sale for a year and is clearly tanking, they are unlikely to sell the swathes of unsold £65 tickets in the next couple of weeks.
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Post by lichtie on May 4, 2018 13:05:45 GMT
They did offer heavy discounts to Nightfall for those who had been to both the previous shows. Which is why I'm going to it in 2 weeks - OK seat for less than 20 quid I'm willing to give most things a try. Wouldn't have touched it otherwise...
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Post by Phantom of London on May 4, 2018 16:55:36 GMT
As I looked into my crystal ball and said a year ago ... Does sound like an interesting season but I can't see any of these selling out a 900 seat theatre. Nightfall in particular sounds like the kind of thing the Royal Court (capacity 380) would put on. So Julius Caesar sounds like there will be 250 promenade tickets + 650 seated tickets? I like the warning for the Barney Norris play - "May contain moderate language" I'm also amazed they are not apparently discounting - given Nightfall has been on sale for a year and is clearly tanking, they are unlikely to sell the swathes of unsold £65 tickets in the next couple of weeks. The first 2 rows are allocated to Todaytix for Rush, which I think is £15. I couldn’t get a seat on the Rush, so looked at the main website and snagged a decent side seat for tonight for £15 a bargain, so dynamic pricing in play here. Even so these could be the most expensive Madeleines I have had. Anyone know the run run time please?
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Post by MrBunbury on May 4, 2018 17:13:57 GMT
As I looked into my crystal ball and said a year ago ... I'm also amazed they are not apparently discounting - given Nightfall has been on sale for a year and is clearly tanking, they are unlikely to sell the swathes of unsold £65 tickets in the next couple of weeks. The first 2 rows are allocated to Todaytix for Rush, which I think is £15. I couldn’t get a seat on the Rush, so looked at the main website and snagged a decent side seat for tonight for £15 a bargain, so dynamic pricing in play here. Even so these could be the most expensive Madeleines I have had. Anyone know the run run time please? I saw it last night. It lasts 2 hours and 20 minutes with one interval. A bit of a mixed bag for me. The actors are good but there is something missing. I had never seen a farm where people have nothing to do all day as I did last night...
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Post by bellboard27 on May 4, 2018 17:23:54 GMT
I am going tonight. I do hope the theatre has the appropriate smells for a farm. I want a true sensory experience.
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Post by Phantom of London on May 4, 2018 17:58:57 GMT
The first 2 rows are allocated to Todaytix for Rush, which I think is £15. I couldn’t get a seat on the Rush, so looked at the main website and snagged a decent side seat for tonight for £15 a bargain, so dynamic pricing in play here. Even so these could be the most expensive Madeleines I have had. Anyone know the run run time please? I saw it last night. It lasts 2 hours and 20 minutes with one interval. A bit of a mixed bag for me. The actors are good but there is something missing. I had never seen a farm where people have nothing to do all day as I did last night... Thanks
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Post by Phantom of London on May 4, 2018 18:02:35 GMT
I am going tonight. I do hope the theatre has the appropriate smells for a farm. I want a true sensory experience. If you see someone with a greenish shirt on, quite tall and a black rucksack and will be drinking coffee out of my own plastic tartan cap, that would be me. Say hi.
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Post by Phantom of London on May 4, 2018 18:07:08 GMT
Bad news Uppermost level closed off for this evening Rest of house maybe 60% full Not good I do wonder about this theatre The need for another venue Which they can’t fill Why not concentrate on those already existing And fill them With people and quality work Come on Parsley, you know how theatre works and it’s a total crapshoot, especially for a theatre that is a producing house, they need to be risk adverse, by what I mean they will have plenty of duds, for that one show that will hit the sweetspot and get the next War Horse, Curious Incident or 39 Steps, that takes in millions.
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Post by bellboard27 on May 4, 2018 18:35:53 GMT
I am going tonight. I do hope the theatre has the appropriate smells for a farm. I want a true sensory experience. If you see someone with a greenish shirt on, quite tall and a black rucksack and will be drinking coffee out of my own plastic tartan cap, that would be me. Say hi. I’ve failed in my tracking skills. Want to suggest an interval meeting point?
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Post by Snciole on May 5, 2018 9:57:48 GMT
I am going to one of the many press nights (You know things aren't selling well when bloggers get an invite) and my biggest issue is who is this even aimed at?
Unless the play comes from abroad with a fantastic reputation you need big names to fill such a cavenous space. The Bridge just doesn't have the NT'S rep to take these risks and I think the Nicks have forgotten that. I think Nightfall is a huge risk that unless the reviews are amazing that cannot pay off.
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Post by Jon on May 5, 2018 15:58:27 GMT
I think the two Nicks probably knew this wouldn’t be a smash hit hence the short run, they’ll be able to suck this up as the next three plays will likely be successful.
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Post by Cardinal Pirelli on May 5, 2018 19:25:46 GMT
It's good that they are putting good early career playwrights on in a large auditorium, it's about time they were given such opportunities somewhere.
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Post by NeilVHughes on May 5, 2018 21:47:50 GMT
A set deserving of a better play.
Excruciating before the interval, only painful afterwards.
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Post by Deleted on May 5, 2018 21:47:53 GMT
It's good that they are putting good early career playwrights on in a large auditorium, it's about time they were given such opportunities somewhere. Completely agree. Unfortunately I do not think that Nightfall is going to make it any easier for The Bridge to continue taking such risks; I found it hard to engage in the play or care about the fates of the characters. It also does not help that (in my opinion anyway) Claire Skinner is woefully miscast. This play felt like it should have been in my sweet-spot - like many The York Realist was a recent highlight of mine - but while Peter Gill lets everything unfold slowly and gently and believably, Nightfall feels forced and heavy-handed - and for me lacked that vital ingredient of consequence. I was impressed by Ophelia Lovibond though; never seen her on stage before and she can really do it.
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Post by Phantom of London on May 5, 2018 23:03:38 GMT
Saw this yesterday and another great example why not to bolt at the interval, as the play really picked up, before the interval it was excurating.
3 Stars
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Post by Snciole on May 6, 2018 12:38:58 GMT
I think the marketing has been woeful as well. I want theatres in general to take risks, as said earlier successful plays will take th hit for those less so but I also think that you need to push these plays harder than the new Alan Bennett or Jim Broadbent in a Martin McDonagh play to fill the space. The truth is new writers won't bother with The Bridge if the Almeida, NT or even local pub theatre can market their plays better and get people in.
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Post by showgirl on May 6, 2018 13:46:53 GMT
It will also be damaging for new writers, both in terms of confidence and reputation, if they're initially hailed as the next big thing, yet when they progress from pub theatres and fringe venues, it's too great a step and their first work in a larger space with a higher profile is a flop. Mike Bartlett and James Graham seem to have made the leap successfully but others may need more nurturing or to make slower, more gradual progress, via medium-sized spaces.
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Post by barelyathletic on May 8, 2018 11:02:00 GMT
This was totally frustrating. Barney Norris can write. His last two plays were engaging and had merit. Here, he sets up every target, takes aim and then misses all of them. Every element of this is predictable from act one, but those elements should then at least provide a satisfactory pay-off. In a better play that would happen. Here every single dramatic setup is totally fudged in Act two.
It's very obvious that The Bridge does not have a dramaturg. I find it difficult to believe that none of the professionals involved remained unaware of the play's fatal problems during rehearsals.
The characters are all totally unbelievable, in their motivation and in their relationships, especially Claire Skinner's mother. She tries her best with what she's got but she's horribly miscast. By the time we got to her totally undeserved act two self-pitying monologue, I was screaming internally to be let out of the theatre.
Ophelia Lovibond and Ukweli Roach both do what they can with the paper-thin material they are given. Sion Daniel Young is the play's saving grace. As in Killology, he totally holds your attention when he's on stage. An absolute star in the making. Just a pity that so few people will see him in this. Or, maybe that's a good thing. He deserves so much better. A real dud of a play.
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Post by Deleted on May 8, 2018 22:23:21 GMT
Dreadful reviews
I was right
Yet again
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Post by Cardinal Pirelli on May 8, 2018 23:08:10 GMT
Dreadful reviews I was right Yet again So, by that yardstick, you’re admitting that you were wrong about ‘The Writer’ then.
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Post by showgirl on May 9, 2018 4:00:51 GMT
Actually Libby Purves (Theatrecat) has given it 4 stars (or her equivalent) - though I do find her reviews quite generous generally. However, the British Theatre Guide, without rating this, also sounds quite encouraging.
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Post by Deleted on May 9, 2018 7:47:52 GMT
I think the marketing has been woeful as well. I want theatres in general to take risks, as said earlier successful plays will take th hit for those less so but I also think that you need to push these plays harder than the new Alan Bennett or Jim Broadbent in a Martin McDonagh play to fill the space. The truth is new writers won't bother with The Bridge if the Almeida, NT or even local pub theatre can market their plays better and get people in. In this climate I think writers are happy to have their plays on anywhere. Most writers would be over the moon if they got the green light from Hytner.
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Post by Deleted on May 9, 2018 7:47:59 GMT
Seems to be around 2 to 3 stars for most. Personally I wouldn't be throwing a word like "dreadful" around unless the two star reviews were the best ones. "Distinctly average" seems far more accurate.
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Post by Deleted on May 9, 2018 8:32:40 GMT
Only seen the TO so far but was a positive 3*.
Seeing this next week, but the interview on WOS (I think) with B Norris was interesting - I know Hytner is a bit of an evangelist for young writers not getting stuck in the studio ghetto and writing for the big stages, so even if Norris hasn't quite managed it with this hopefully it will be a good positive stretching experience that gets him a step further.
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