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Post by crowblack on Oct 17, 2018 15:01:11 GMT
They could at least make the back row a bit cheaper - but I think better would be to raise the stage a bit. When characters sat or lay down in Aristocrats I couldn't see them - I wasn't aware one was even on stage, and that was from row D in the centre stalls block.
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Post by Fleance on Oct 17, 2018 15:10:08 GMT
One thing about the Almeida seating - the first two rows in the stalls have no rake at all and the third/fourth row have such a minimal rake that it makes the stalls seats really hard to see from including if you're of a normal height like I am. Everyone around me was craning to look at the action as the stage wasn't raised and I missed quite a lot of blocking that happened when people sat down onstage. Forgive my denseness, but I don't understand. I've been to the Almeida many times. If you are near the front stalls, you are pretty much on level with the action. How could a seat in the front row (which I am about to book) be better if the stage were raised? It seems to be it would be worse!
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2,962 posts
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Post by crowblack on Oct 17, 2018 15:37:32 GMT
How could a seat in the front row (which I am about to book) be better if the stage were raised? Front row Almeida would be fine I think (has been the couple of times I've sat on it) - my post was mainly about the Donmar btw. At the NT Olivier, I was debating whether to get row A or row C, all at £15 and after advice here went for A because opinion here was that the rake was so poor there was the heads blocking issue. When I took my seat, I heard the people in row C expressing their annoyance about it.
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Post by numtuckety on Oct 17, 2018 17:56:47 GMT
Yes front row is fine but the row directly behind that has no rake at all which means it's tricky for people on the second row to see even if you are normal height but have tall people in front of you. I think the rake starts on the 3rd or 4th row but it starts so shallow that it's almost negligible so it means that everything beyond the front row up until Row E has bad sight lines for actors on the floor.
Ruby Sue - I was a bit too excited after to check the time but I think it was 22:34 - this may have been a couple of minutes after it finished. Interval seemed long though so hopefully will be less.
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Post by Fleance on Oct 17, 2018 19:21:04 GMT
Yes front row is fine but the row directly behind that has no rake at all which means it's tricky for people on the second row to see even if you are normal height but have tall people in front of you. I think the rake starts on the 3rd or 4th row but it starts so shallow that it's almost negligible so it means that everything beyond the front row up until Row E has bad sight lines for actors on the floor. Thanks, I just booked A6 for a matinee next month. You never know what the Almeida will do to the configuration. I sat in the first row for Albion (a sort of U-shaped seating) and had actors potting and unpotting plants right in front of me.
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1,016 posts
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Post by andrew on Oct 17, 2018 20:24:17 GMT
I’m reading this from the Almeida stalls. I’m on my own with no one beside me and I’m bored. There’s a strange interval going on in front of me, the mother and daughter are both building more set but also hoovering and tidying he existing one. I can hear what they’re saying and they’re earnestly discussing where to place a table right now. The almeida seating is the same as usual as far as I can see. The reduced seats in rear stalls have the normal pillars in place. AA is the front row, I’m in centre A which has slightly less legroom than other rows. Ooh wow an audience member just went up to the little girl with her program and asked her something. That’s not allowed surely?! I’ll post in the bad behaviour thread later. Thoughts on the play later. Gotta go.
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Post by crowblack on Oct 17, 2018 22:34:42 GMT
The side stalls appear to have A as the front row, with AA the front in the centre stalls block. I rebooked earlier and booked row A in what seem to be newly released side stall seats (??) - at any rate, there seems to be a lot of availability there.
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Post by another100ppl on Oct 18, 2018 2:24:59 GMT
I saw it Wednesday night... can’t say I enjoyed it at all really. Anyone else?
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Post by andrew on Oct 18, 2018 14:11:49 GMT
Ok so the first and most important thing to note, as a big fan of ducks in general is that there is a real duck on stage, but not for nearly long enough. A few measly seconds of actual duck time, a disgrace, I’m writing to the almeida about it. There’s more bird on stage in that incidental bit with the goose in The Ferryman.
No specific plot points but production spoilers below. This has been framed, relatively cleverly, in a sort of meta-theatre fashion, where the actors both portray their characters but at times comment from an outsiders perspective. They use handheld dynamic microphones to indicate that it’s a ‘meta’ line, which I think at first is quite off-putting and obnoxious. What’s especially nauseating at first is how characters will end every scene with “And scene” as the fluorescent house lights come up and they give some kind of commentary on events. A man walked out after 20 minutes, which I thought was a bit premature, but I presume was a reaction to this style. The first act is quite slow, and with the framing device tagged on, quite a bare set, an unclear plot, I can see why a few more people left at the interval. There was an unbearably long “family joy” 5 minutes of dancing which made me almost vomit. I was very unsure.
The second act though was a totally different experience. Suddenly there was drama on stage, an actual set, action, the themes the actors were professorially discussing in the first act actually started to be properly displayed and the explored. And it progressed in a manner I realise is Robert Icke’s “style”. Which I think I like.
The actors, especially Kevin Harvey and the young actress Clara Read were very good. It’s not the simplest child acting experience ever and she was very impressive. The design by the end makes sense, but the desire to appear hip and theatrical in the first act with minimal use of props or set or lighting was irksome.
For the forum readers who can’t stand loud noises: this definitely is not a play for you. Very loud bangs, unexpectedly, more than once. Slightly harrowing themes for anyone not familiar with the play.
But all that said, whilst problematic I enjoyed the evening, and would recommend those curious to get themselves a ticket. The themes of the play were well demonstrated and are rolling around my head today, which I think means the play has done its job. Not the raving review I gave Mary Stuart, but not bad at all. 4 stars.
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Post by mallardo on Oct 18, 2018 14:42:48 GMT
A very nice (and helpful) review, Andrew, but despite the four stars I'm afraid you've made this production sound quite unbearable.
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Post by partytentdown on Oct 18, 2018 15:09:35 GMT
I am so close to sacking this off tonight. Shall I go?
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Post by Deleted on Oct 18, 2018 15:24:52 GMT
Go, but give yourself permission to leave at the interval if you're not feeling it.
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3,086 posts
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Post by Rory on Oct 18, 2018 16:09:11 GMT
Appreciate your review, Andrew. I can't decide if it sounds interesting or ultra-irritating. I loved Icke's Oresteia, Hamlet and Mary Stuart and even The Red Barn (didn't see Uncle Vanya) so it might be worth a punt.
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Post by peggs on Oct 18, 2018 17:02:46 GMT
Thanks for the heads up andrew, can mentally prepare or probably would have been most unimpressed, will consider it as almost different play. Disappointing re duck.
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Post by andrew on Oct 18, 2018 17:24:59 GMT
Reading my own review back, I make it sound terrible, the first act was just very mediocre, and it really does pick up in the latter half. The problem with leaving at the interval is you’ve sat through the worst bit at the expense of the best one, but I suppose if you really can’t stand it then maybe your hope of a pleasant evening is lost. I really did like this. I promise.
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Post by partytentdown on Oct 18, 2018 17:36:50 GMT
Reader, I've gone home.
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Post by theatrelover123 on Oct 18, 2018 17:59:28 GMT
I had a fantastic ticket for tonight (middle of row F) but I finished work early and felt knackered so popped up to the Almeida at 5.30pm and the BO lady kindly swapped my ticket for a matinee ticket in a few weeks. Not nearly as good a seat (Row D side stalls) but she said it’s a completely open set and so nothing is missed (just a side angle obvs). So now I am home on my sofa in my pants and looking forward to dinner, TV and an early night. BOOM SHAKALAKALAKA!
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Post by another100ppl on Oct 18, 2018 19:37:00 GMT
I posted in here last night a long review and then, for some reason, got cold feet about it and deleted it. Now that a few others have shared distaste for it, I'll be honest: I found the first act so insufferably dull, unexciting, obnoxious and mind-numbing that I left at the interval (like someone else appears to have done tonight?) Thanks Andrew for the commentary on act two as I was intrigued as to what I missed, but no matter how much better act two was going to be, I still would've hated the evening due to the insufferable first act. So surprised because I've loved everything else I've seen by Icke, but this was insultingly bad.
I'm glad that some people could find stuff to like in it though! I envy you as I really wanted to love this... but I really didn't. Lol
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Post by Deleted on Oct 18, 2018 20:42:27 GMT
I had a fantastic ticket for tonight (middle of row F) but I finished work early and felt knackered so popped up to the Almeida at 5.30pm and the BO lady kindly swapped my ticket for a matinee ticket in a few weeks. Not nearly as good a seat (Row D side stalls) but she said it’s a completely open set and so nothing is missed (just a side angle obvs). So now I am home on my sofa in my pants and looking forward to dinner, TV and an early night. BOOM SHAKALAKALAKA!
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Post by andrew on Oct 18, 2018 20:48:23 GMT
I had a fantastic ticket for tonight (middle of row F) but I finished work early and felt knackered so popped up to the Almeida at 5.30pm and the BO lady kindly swapped my ticket for a matinee ticket in a few weeks. Not nearly as good a seat (Row D side stalls) but she said it’s a completely open set and so nothing is missed (just a side angle obvs). So now I am home on my sofa in my pants and looking forward to dinner, TV and an early night. BOOM SHAKALAKALAKA! Picturing you now... Wild duck? Nah... When I can purchase tickets to that show?!
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Post by Deleted on Oct 18, 2018 20:56:43 GMT
😔😔😔😔
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Post by Deleted on Oct 18, 2018 21:43:31 GMT
AND SCENE
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Post by Deleted on Oct 18, 2018 21:54:08 GMT
Spring for premium seats to this show.
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Post by johnnyutah on Oct 19, 2018 20:32:08 GMT
Beware.The following take is from a self confessed Robert Icke acolyte. I saw this last night and was entranced. At first, we are greeted with a purposefully astringent opening. The artifice of what we're watching and how this translates to everyday life is well thought out. This introduction/lecture than leads to a deeply moving beautifully realised adaptation. The audience are made aware of Icke's writing process and Ibsen's personal life. We are almost looking at the workshop version. It reminded me of Vanya on 42nd St. However, as always, this staged version has his usual elegance. The visual delights that mark his productions are absent. This stripped back aesthetic gives this family drama a homely reality. The cast are uniformly superb. If you get the chance, please go and see this affecting production from a theatrical one off.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 19, 2018 22:29:00 GMT
I saw this last night too and I have to say that I think it is a brilliant adaptation. It was like a Freudian analysis of the play’s subconscious, revealing truths and connections with the author’s life that Ibsen may or may not have been conscious of. I was hooked from the word go. I loved the stripped back set and was interested by my initial response to that: a yearning for theatrical artifice that the production at first denies us because the audience is being exposed as much as the characters are. We are however let off the hook as the play progresses and given what we want - a beautiful production of Ibsen’s poignant play. At first I found some of the meta-theatrical devices a bit trite - the bare stage, the actors’ commentaries - but as this went on I felt i’d been given tools to understand such a production. Highly recommended.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 19, 2018 22:44:04 GMT
AND SCENE Oh my! Who's that? Me likey! 😈
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Post by dani on Oct 20, 2018 11:54:54 GMT
More wild duck, less tame cock, please.
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Post by lynette on Oct 21, 2018 10:05:29 GMT
I don’t mind a bit of 'meta' but this doesn’t appeal to me. I always think well, write an essay about your thoughts on this masterpiece, don’t sit on its back. But it is a trend, this 'adaptation' stuff so I will have to put up with it for now.
ps, thought I'd strayed onto quite a different kind of site for a mo, there. This is a family, in its broadest definition, site, so don’t over do it. Ahem.
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Post by learfan on Oct 21, 2018 10:56:15 GMT
I don’t mind a bit of 'meta' but this doesn’t appeal to me. I always think well, write an essay about your thoughts on this masterpiece, don’t sit on its back. But it is a trend, this 'adaptation' stuff so I will have to put up with it for now. ps, thought I'd strayed onto quite a different kind of site for a mo, there. This is a family, in its broadest definition, site, so don’t over do it. Ahem. Indeed L, this kinda thing seems to be viewed as acceptable, not quite sure why.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 21, 2018 12:38:10 GMT
I don’t mind a bit of 'meta' but this doesn’t appeal to me. I always think well, write an essay about your thoughts on this masterpiece, don’t sit on its back. But it is a trend, this 'adaptation' stuff so I will have to put up with it for now. ps, thought I'd strayed onto quite a different kind of site for a mo, there. This is a family, in its broadest definition, site, so don’t over do it. Ahem. I should add that it is also a very moving experience. I have never seen characters onstage react in such a realistic way to the play’s final moments. I have to say that most of my favourite theatrical experiences this year have been at The Almeida. They have really taken risks and encouraged writers who push the boundaries of form.
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