4,560 posts
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Post by Mark on Dec 6, 2019 14:31:33 GMT
Snagged one of the last preview £15 seats in the stalls for Manor, I got bleeding lucky there. I do miss my Entry Pass though Growing out of Entry Pass is certainly very upsetting. Majority of the times now I use Friday rush or keep an eye on the website for £15 returns at the front.
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Post by londonpostie on Dec 6, 2019 15:04:55 GMT
Excellent £15 front of Stalls availability for The Welkin. A number of dates in early to mid-May.
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3,472 posts
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Post by showgirl on Dec 7, 2019 5:11:24 GMT
So ironic: I was dreading the ordeal of online booking yesterday, having had so many dire experiences and needing to leave 40 mins after it opened to catch a train.
In the event it was my best experience ever: number 30 in the queue (I have had a number in excess of 1,000 and don't understand how others use multiple browsers to obtain different queue numbers as the system always knows it's me so I'm in the same position) and had to wait less than 5 minutes for my turn.
That said, NO £15 tix left in the front stalls for any date for Jack Absolute, which was what I really wanted to book for. There were some at the back of the circle but I'd rather wait for a return or Friday Rush.
All I actually booked was the other play for which I wanted a ticket: Manor, for which as others have said, there were £15 front stalls tix left. Shame it's in the blasted Lyttelton as I loathe that space and love the Olivier, which rarely houses the productions I wish to see.
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354 posts
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Post by lichtie on Dec 7, 2019 11:32:01 GMT
Was 1000 or so in the queue yesterday, expecting to not get in before i had to leave for work, and it cleared in 5 minutes. Got a cheap centre front row for the Manor, and a more pricey slips for Jack Absolute, so reasonably happy overall.
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3,472 posts
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Post by showgirl on Dec 8, 2019 5:24:21 GMT
have had a number in excess of 1,000 and don't understand how others use multiple browsers to obtain different queue numbers as the system always knows it's me so I'm in the same position If you open Chrome and Firefox and Internet Explorer on the same machine, each has a different cookie, so each gets a different number in line. If you just open say, chrome, and several windows, then it's more likely to detect you as one person. Thank you, @theatremonkey. I don't know what I'm doing wrongly, then, as what I've tried is using different browsers on the same device, eg Chrome, Edge and Firefox, but the NT system still recognises me and leaves me in the same position. It didn't matter this time anyway and if I wait for the reviews, I will at least know whether Jack Absolute is worth seeing and whether I need to book for a matinee only due to the running time.
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Post by raiseitup on Dec 8, 2019 15:43:51 GMT
If you open Chrome and Firefox and Internet Explorer on the same machine, each has a different cookie, so each gets a different number in line. If you just open say, chrome, and several windows, then it's more likely to detect you as one person. Thank you, @theatremonkey . I don't know what I'm doing wrongly, then, as what I've tried is using different browsers on the same device, eg Chrome, Edge and Firefox, but the NT system still recognises me and leaves me in the same position. It didn't matter this time anyway and if I wait for the reviews, I will at least know whether Jack Absolute is worth seeing and whether I need to book for a matinee only due to the running time. Perhaps try going into incognito/private mode on each browser next time?
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Post by londonpostie on Dec 22, 2019 8:35:36 GMT
A few of those £15 gems available early doors this morning for The Visit
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723 posts
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Post by Latecomer on Dec 22, 2019 12:48:46 GMT
A few of those £15 gems available early doors this morning for The Visit Thanks for this!
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1,338 posts
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Post by Dave B on Dec 22, 2019 13:40:40 GMT
A few of those £15 gems available early doors this morning for The Visit Lovely thank you! Row C for us
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3,472 posts
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Post by showgirl on Jan 4, 2020 4:53:21 GMT
Link to a long and interesting article (from US publication Atlantic, hence the spelling) about the funding and purpose of the NT. Mods, apologies if this isn't the right thread and if so, please move it to wherever you think appropriate, but though it isn't about individual plays, it is partly about the type of work the NT produces and whether minorities of all types are sufficiently involved and represented. www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2020/01/britain-national-theater-politics-challenges/603973/
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5,586 posts
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Post by lynette on Jan 4, 2020 14:22:30 GMT
I staggered through this piece and was amazed. Norris seems to think that Macbeth was rubbish because it was on a large stage and that it had to be done because of the GCSE syllabus. I expect it put off a whole generation of young people from Shakespeare and the theatre. The very first comment was funny: bar staff leave at 3 am do they? Well, lots of work to do but why can’t you get a drink after a show then? Or a cup of tea? You have to go out into the bleakness of the south bank....I’m sorry but so much of this article was off the mark, off the point. Only quality counts. If it is rubbish we won’t go and word gets round very fast. It says the Arts Council wants 'relevance' but I think the even the Arts Council are taking for granted that a piece of theatre is good enough for public consumption. I started being wary when they did so much of that Hare stuff back in the day, the railways and the Bush thing. Ok, just passable but this seemed to let in a load of preaching to follow. They even managed to ruin the latest production of Translations by pushing the point to absurdity at the end. Please, NT assume some level of intelligence in your audience. We can add up, two plus two and we like to make our own conclusions. The best dramas allow for that. Many times I have felt that the NT is poking fun at its middle class, middle brow, middle aged audience, you know, the punters who have paid for their seats.. you can’t go on doing this and expect people not to look elsewhere for their theatre. The NT was always first point of call for me and my pals, now not so much. And do young people really like to be talked down to? Mr Gum was good because it was devoid of anything do goody or messages. It was fun and it was funny. The Bridge isn’t always brilliant but you can’t argue that it is simply the commercial aspect that produced those great Shakespeare’s and A German Life and other stuff I didn’t see but was told was good. If Hytner managed to do that unquestionably amazing Othello at the NT was he constrained by anything? No. I saw recently a superb production of All's Well at Jermyn Street, absolutely 'relevant'. I’m wondering if now they will looking for plays that preach to the working class about identity and who to vote for! Mind you, in London, the plays could simply make a laughing stock of those Midland and Northern folk - irony here.. Maybe it was the writer of the article but the tone of Norris came over very whingey and hard done by. Tbh I think it is judgement that is at fault. The NT just doesn’t spot the good 'uns when offered to them and perhaps writers don’t offer anymore.
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2,347 posts
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Post by zahidf on Jan 4, 2020 18:23:44 GMT
FWIW, I result enjoyed three sisters and ocean end of the lane in the last week, and thought 2019 had some great productions. New 2020 season looks super promising as well.
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Post by Jan on Jan 4, 2020 20:21:27 GMT
I staggered through this piece and was amazed. Norris seems to think that Macbeth was rubbish because it was on a large stage and that it had to be done because of the GCSE syllabus. I expect it put off a whole generation of young people from Shakespeare and the theatre. The very first comment was funny: bar staff leave at 3 am do they? Well, lots of work to do but why can’t you get a drink after a show then? Or a cup of tea? You have to go out into the bleakness of the south bank....I’m sorry but so much of this article was off the mark, off the point. Only quality counts. If it is rubbish we won’t go and word gets round very fast. It says the Arts Council wants 'relevance' but I think the even the Arts Council are taking for granted that a piece of theatre is good enough for public consumption. I started being wary when they did so much of that Hare stuff back in the day, the railways and the Bush thing. Ok, just passable but this seemed to let in a load of preaching to follow. They even managed to ruin the latest production of Translations by pushing the point to absurdity at the end. Please, NT assume some level of intelligence in your audience. We can add up, two plus two and we like to make our own conclusions. The best dramas allow for that. Many times I have felt that the NT is poking fun at its middle class, middle brow, middle aged audience, you know, the punters who have paid for their seats.. you can’t go on doing this and expect people not to look elsewhere for their theatre. The NT was always first point of call for me and my pals, now not so much. And do young people really like to be talked down to? Mr Gum was good because it was devoid of anything do goody or messages. It was fun and it was funny. The Bridge isn’t always brilliant but you can’t argue that it is simply the commercial aspect that produced those great Shakespeare’s and A German Life and other stuff I didn’t see but was told was good. If Hytner managed to do that unquestionably amazing Othello at the NT was he constrained by anything? No. I saw recently a superb production of All's Well at Jermyn Street, absolutely 'relevant'. I’m wondering if now they will looking for plays that preach to the working class about identity and who to vote for! Mind you, in London, the plays could simply make a laughing stock of those Midland and Northern folk - irony here.. Maybe it was the writer of the article but the tone of Norris came over very whingey and hard done by. Tbh I think it is judgement that is at fault. The NT just doesn’t spot the good 'uns when offered to them and perhaps writers don’t offer anymore. The RSC are worse. After the recent truly dismal Taming of Shrew they sent me a questionnaire which asked me whether the diverse cast had “looked like Britain”, as if somehow that was their main objective. Well, sort of, though I doubt 43% of them voted Conservative, but the production was boring and feeble and a waste of money so that wasn’t much compensation really.
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Post by oxfordsimon on Jan 4, 2020 20:41:48 GMT
Norris does come over as very entitled in that piece.
By the time I had finished reading it, I had even less respect for him and his choices than I did at the start.
ACE - similarly tainted by their attempts at using the arts for social engineering
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Post by learfan on Jan 4, 2020 21:26:57 GMT
Surely the bit at the beginning about them employing 4000 has to be wrong?!
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572 posts
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Post by princeton on Jan 4, 2020 23:53:20 GMT
Surely the bit at the beginning about them employing 4000 has to be wrong? Not according to their Annual Report - though I think that is everyone who was on the payroll, in any capacity, during a 12 month period - including those working on touring productions/west end transfers.
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Post by londonpostie on Jan 5, 2020 1:17:55 GMT
I did a partial tour cum chat a while ago and was mentioned about 1,000 are employed at the South Bank site. I believe many others are on short-term contracts.
tbh, I do wonder if the job has become too big. Given the developmental processes and up to 25 new productions a year, they must have north of 50 in the works at any point. It's over 50K bums a week, as well. No where else in the world comes close to that much creativity, does it?
Not sure how much influence Arts Council wallahs should have for their, still declining, 17%. Happier for them to focus of community accessibility and leave creativity to the experts.
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Post by Jon on Jan 5, 2020 2:52:29 GMT
I do think the idea as suggested by one writer that that the National would sell the building is ludicrous and TBH it's such a crucial part of the wider Southbank in terms of tourism and footfall that it's very unlikely to ever happen.
Norris does seem to get a lot of sticks from certain people here and it's a little tiresome at times. He's not perfect but he's done well during the first five years of his tenure.
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Post by learfan on Jan 5, 2020 7:54:00 GMT
Surely the bit at the beginning about them employing 4000 has to be wrong? Not according to their Annual Report - though I think that is everyone who was on the payroll, in any capacity, during a 12 month period - including those working on touring productions/west end transfers. If true, thats ridiculous. I think Norris should go, his time is up.
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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 Jan 5, 2020 8:08:09 GMT
Norris does seem to get a lot of sticks from certain people here and it's a little tiresome at times. He's not perfect but he's done well during the first five years of his tenure. Yes, some people seem desperate to find sticks to beat him with. The very first comment was funny: bar staff leave at 3 am do they? Well, lots of work to do but why can’t you get a drink after a show then? Or a cup of tea? You have to go out into the bleakness of the south bank The Understudy is open till 1AM Thursday to Saturday, which is presumably the reason for finishing at 3AM (although 2 hours after closing seems a bit odd?). I'd agree though that doesn't really give you somewhere for theatregoers to get a drink after a show as it's always busy with a different sort of crowd. Wonder what the difference in profit for the National is between four people spending an evening watching a play, and four sitting drinking in the Understudy? Regarding the 4000 people figure - as noted this must include short-term contracts for particular productions and also presumably a lot of the roles are part-time (eg ushers, bar staff, etc). I imagine this is not a new development in Norris' tenure and in any case creating employment opportunities seems an odd thing to object to. These are the comments I found most interesting . .. and Hope he does.
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Post by vdcni on Jan 5, 2020 8:42:15 GMT
At the National's drink prices I would have thought the bar by far makes them more profit!
But yes 4000 seems reasonable given tours, transfers, short term workers etc.
I would question his Macbeth comment but other than that I don't think Norris comes off too badly here, certainly not like Hare or Duffy who seem utterly divorced from reality.
Other than that it's a very muddled piece of writing and it's attempt to link things to Brexit falls flat.
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Post by learfan on Jan 5, 2020 11:11:27 GMT
Link to a long and interesting article (from US publication Atlantic, hence the spelling) about the funding and purpose of the NT. Mods, apologies if this isn't the right thread and if so, please move it to wherever you think appropriate, but though it isn't about individual plays, it is partly about the type of work the NT produces and whether minorities of all types are sufficiently involved and represented. www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2020/01/britain-national-theater-politics-challenges/603973/ [br Odd choice of publication for a lengthy interview like this. I mean no offence but the Atlantic? Would have gone under the radar here of course. Each to their own but i very much hope he doesn't sign for another 5 years.
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Post by Jan on Jan 5, 2020 11:32:26 GMT
Odd that Norris seems to think it’s his decision alone as to whether he does another 5 years.
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Post by zahidf on Jan 5, 2020 12:20:38 GMT
I do think the idea as suggested by one writer that that the National would sell the building is ludicrous and TBH it's such a crucial part of the wider Southbank in terms of tourism and footfall that it's very unlikely to ever happen. Norris does seem to get a lot of sticks from certain people here and it's a little tiresome at times. He's not perfect but he's done well during the first five years of his tenure. Yup. Each to their own of course, but after a tough first year or so, I think hes done a good job. Commercially seems fine
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Post by vdcni on Jan 5, 2020 13:07:05 GMT
Odd that Norris seems to think it’s his decision alone as to whether he does another 5 years. Well the quote is 'I think I probably will', the question could have been, will you apply for a second term?
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Post by zahidf on Jan 5, 2020 13:23:38 GMT
Odd that Norris seems to think it’s his decision alone as to whether he does another 5 years. Well the quote is 'I think I probably will', the question could have been, will you apply for a second term? I don't see why they wouldn't offer him an extension. A fee grumblings on here aside, his tenure has been critically and commercially well received.
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Post by Cardinal Pirelli on Jan 5, 2020 13:44:14 GMT
One of Norris’ pressing concerns has been to diminish the hegemony of the middle class, middle age audience it was relying on and I think he’s been very successful in that, whilst still maintaining overall numbers.
The NT live broadcasts go some way to overcoming its London-centric nature but there’s still scope for change in that area.
There are a few Northern cities that could become home to a regional producing theatre run as part of the NT and that would be a great addition, Manchester is the most central and a two auditorium venue would go some way to changing the arts deficit felt up here,
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Post by londonpostie on Jan 5, 2020 15:41:25 GMT
He's hit the most significant South/London minorities recently - Irish, Caribbean, Nigerian/west Africa, with LGBT coming up. Plus apartheid. If we don't get a Portuguese/South American themed piece in at least the Lyttelton this year, I'd be a little surprised. Norris has also been around England a bit, had a few female orientated pieces, a sprinkling of arty and politics. Working class and Middle class orientated works, as well. If you analyses the output, I think it's clear there is a masterplan. I wonder if the new Public Acts initiative might grow into a significant new arm of the NT - where was it this year Essex and Doncaster .. www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/about-the-national-theatre/our-national-work/public-acts
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Post by Someone in a tree on Jan 5, 2020 15:53:27 GMT
The public arts thing is a good idea but with 1 region per year it is very tokenistic. The NT is not national because of its output is in Zone 1 and its not theatre as its mostly plays
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Post by londonpostie on Jan 5, 2020 15:56:12 GMT
It's the first year, it only has a very few partners. It's mot tokenism, its developmental.
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