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Post by Deleted on Jul 12, 2023 15:02:47 GMT
Very few plays the 4th wall is broken really. The Mouse That Roared sprang to mind but that is probably more improvisation. Even in the Rocky Horror Show we get the Narrator responding generally to heckles or well known responses to certain lines. Really it is panto where the Dame, Ugly Sisters or main comedy protagonist will react with people in the front few rows.
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Post by robertb213 on Jul 12, 2023 15:34:25 GMT
They've asked press not to attend until 27th July now so perhaps they're realising it's not working and need some time to re-work it.
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Post by musicbox on Jul 12, 2023 15:56:36 GMT
The overall show quality aside, actors breaking the fourth wall to pick on audience members gives me severe anxiety, so I won't be going to this! This is exactly how I felt, had I known that it was an interactive show I wouldn’t have booked, never mind sit in the front row as I also have pretty severe anxiety. I was literally on edge for the whole evening and had a headache after with the sheer panic that Al was going to pick me. He actually selected the person sitting next to me and made fun of his glasses (Hilarious I know) and I almost had an aneurysm thinking he was looking at me at first. I had in my mind that if he did select me then I would simply ignore him until he gave up, but during the part where he asked a man to stand up and recite his name and where he was from, Carrie was also on stage as the kings mistress, and was also chanting cmon get up and waving her hands as if to suggest get out of your seat to the man, so I can imagine the pressure would be too much to say no! Basically it’s someone who suffers from anxiety’s worst nightmare and it really should be advertised as being that kind of show - call me naive, but I honestly thought I was going to see a lighthearted historical play with some singing, not a borderline offensive Al Murray stand up show with a plot thrown in. |
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Jul 13, 2023 6:48:32 GMT
The overall show quality aside, actors breaking the fourth wall to pick on audience members gives me severe anxiety, so I won't be going to this! but during the part where he asked a man to stand up and recite his name and where he was from, Carrie was also on stage as the kings mistress, and was also chanting cmon get up and waving her hands as if to suggest get out of your seat to the man, so I can imagine the pressure would be too much to say no! Some years ago at a Priscilla tour, and that bit at the start of act 2 where they would get members of the audience up on stage to dance. I was in a stalls aisle seat so I knew I was at risk, but I also knew I wasn’t going to be dragged up onto that stage. Needless to say I was picked. The actors have a really short amount of time to get the victims up and after realising I was staring straight ahead not making eye contact she physically grabbed my arm with two hands and tried to pull me out of the seat. The sight of this very slight female trying to pull very large me out of the seat while I made myself into a dead weight must have been...interesting. In the end as she wasn’t taking the hint I made eye contact and the the panic on the poor woman’s face as time was running out was such that shook my head and said “NO” very firmly. She gave up and tried the man in front who was apparently gagging to do it because he leapt up so all was well. |
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Post by Steve on Jul 13, 2023 22:28:57 GMT
The overall show quality aside, actors breaking the fourth wall to pick on audience members gives me severe anxiety, so I won't be going to this! Saw this tonight, and it's not very good, though there are enough laughs that it isn't a total washout, and Carrie Hope Fletcher is a saving grace of the production. As regards the interactivity, only the front row was seriously harassed (though for the less anxious, there are two excellent comedy moments that victims will be dining out on for years), and nobody behind Row B was picked on at all. For safety's sake, if you are Row D of the stalls, or behind that, I'd think you can rest easy. As far as that shrivelled knob of shrunken humanity that stuck his leg out, in the anecdote above, is concerned, it's a shame Al Murray didn't see it and roast him the entire night. It's not just that it's totally uncalled for to make somebody feel bad, like that, but as the ladies is on the left side of the theatre, and the gents is on the right, there are actually good reasons to cross from one side of the auditorium to the other, and back again. Some spoilers follow. . . At the beginning of this, we are told it's a true story, and that's undoubtedly the reason this production isn't funny enough. Conformity to the facts of the story of Colonel Blood's notorious attempt to steal the Crown Jewels results in the cardinal sin of the principals lacking comedy characterisation. Blood and his gang are just not funny, in themselves, even if the facts of their true life plot are absurd and astonishing. Most good laughs come from comedy characterisation: the audience learns the character, predicts how they will behave, and laughs when they do it, or don't do it. Luckily, there are some good comedy characters on the periphery of the robbery plot:- (1) Carrie Hope Fletcher's brat who loudly disrespects her parents, but fawns over potential suitors, is a comic archetype that Fletcher plays to the hilt. Couple that with the fact she sings 4 and a bit ok-ish songs beautifully, and she's the show's highlight; (2) Adonis Siddique's wide-eyed yes-man Footman, with a funny moustache, who lives in terror of the King's whims, and barks out instant agreement with everything the King says, is a hoot every time he does it; (3) and one of the peripheral plotters is an actress, characterised as an egotist obsessed with her own performance, so Tanvi Virmani scores some big laughs every time she indulgently demonstrates her larger-than-life acting skills. Al Murray, as King Charles II, should be funnier than he is, given his established stand-up persona, as a bigoted blunt instrument who cuts through flowery targets, but here, the fact of the real Charles II's fondness for France undercuts Murray's typical anti-French shtick, and the substitute of his supposed hatred of the Dutch doesn't really work as we just don't understand any reasons he would hate them, so the joke is too thin for big laughs. Indeed, Murray has two very funny moments, and one is anti-French after all (the French may go in for handrails, but we English don't do "safety"). The other funny moment is the funniest moment in the whole show and involves a member of the front row and Al Murray at his punchy stand-up best! Mel Giedroyc gurns wonderfully, but in a part with no established character traits, so it's in her secondary more minor part, as a French Noblewoman, that she gets good laughs out of her comic skills, culminating in the other front row victim with a happy story to tell, and the second biggest laugh of the show. All in all, the unfunny plotters do what the real Colonel Blood did, and it just isn't funny or entertaining, yet the laughs on the periphery, coupled with Carrie Hope Fletcher's singing, lifted this to a worthwhile 2 and a half stars for me.  PS: We got out at 9:40pm tonight, making the current running time (including one interval) 2 hours and 10 minutes, but I think by press night, the plan is to get the run time down to 2 hours total, as advertised. |
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Post by Jan on Jul 14, 2023 6:35:33 GMT
The overall show quality aside, actors breaking the fourth wall to pick on audience members gives me severe anxiety, so I won't be going to this! Just out of interest has anyone ever seen audience interaction/participation listed amongst the trigger warnings ? Because it absolutely should be, it ranks way higher than sudden loud noises and gunshots in my view. In the 1980s I was right at the front of the stalls for a Dame Edna show - you could literally feel the anxiety in the audience. Same feeling, though for an entirely different reason, at the Deborah Warner/Brian Cox "Titus Andronicus", we knew what was coming. |
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Post by musicbox on Jul 14, 2023 10:26:22 GMT
The overall show quality aside, actors breaking the fourth wall to pick on audience members gives me severe anxiety, so I won't be going to this! Saw this tonight, and it's not very good, though there are enough laughs that it isn't a total washout, and Carrie Hope Fletcher is a saving grace of the production. As regards the interactivity, only the front row was seriously harassed (though for the less anxious, there are two excellent comedy moments that victims will be dining out on for years), and nobody behind Row B was picked on at all. For safety's sake, if you are Row D of the stalls, or behind that, I'd think you can rest easy. As far as that shrivelled knob of shrunken humanity that stuck his leg out, in the anecdote above, is concerned, it's a shame Al Murray didn't see it and roast him the entire night. It's not just that it's totally uncalled for to make somebody feel bad, like that, but as the ladies is on the left side of the theatre, and the gents is on the right, there are actually good reasons to cross from one side of the auditorium to the other, and back again. Some spoilers follow. . . At the beginning of this, we are told it's a true story, and that's undoubtedly the reason this production isn't funny enough. Conformity to the facts of the story of Colonel Blood's notorious attempt to steal the Crown Jewels results in the cardinal sin of the principals lacking comedy characterisation. Blood and his gang are just not funny, in themselves, even if the facts of their true life plot are absurd and astonishing. Most good laughs come from comedy characterisation: the audience learns the character, predicts how they will behave, and laughs when they do it, or don't do it. Luckily, there are some good comedy characters on the periphery of the robbery plot:- (1) Carrie Hope Fletcher's brat who loudly disrespects her parents, but fawns over potential suitors, is a comic archetype that Fletcher plays to the hilt. Couple that with the fact she sings 4 and a bit ok-ish songs beautifully, and she's the show's highlight; (2) Adonis Siddique's wide-eyed yes-man Footman, with a funny moustache, who lives in terror of the King's whims, and barks out instant agreement with everything the King says, is a hoot every time he does it; (3) and one of the peripheral plotters is an actress, characterised as an egotist obsessed with her own performance, so Tanvi Virmani scores some big laughs every time she indulgently demonstrates her larger-than-life acting skills. Al Murray, as King Charles II, should be funnier than he is, given his established stand-up persona, as a bigoted blunt instrument who cuts through flowery targets, but here, the fact of the real Charles II's fondness for France undercuts Murray's typical anti-French shtick, and the substitute of his supposed hatred of the Dutch doesn't really work as we just don't understand any reasons he would hate them, so the joke is too thin for big laughs. Indeed, Murray has two very funny moments, and one is anti-French after all (the French may go in for handrails, but we English don't do "safety"). The other funny moment is the funniest moment in the whole show and involves a member of the front row and Al Murray at his punchy stand-up best! Mel Giedroyc gurns wonderfully, but in a part with no established character traits, so it's in her secondary more minor part, as a French Noblewoman, that she gets good laughs out of her comic skills, culminating in the other front row victim with a happy story to tell, and the second biggest laugh of the show. All in all, the unfunny plotters do what the real Colonel Blood did, and it just isn't funny or entertaining, yet the laughs on the periphery, coupled with Carrie Hope Fletcher's singing, lifted this to a worthwhile 2 and a half stars for me. PS: We got out at 9:40pm tonight, making the current running time (including one interval) 2 hours and 10 minutes, but I think by press night, the plan is to get the run time down to 2 hours total, as advertised. Yes, the reason for me crossing was exactly because I was at the toilets which are on the other side! Unfortunately it happened about 15 minutes before show time, but I have to admit I was very pleased when a massive drop of water from Carrie's bowl landed straight on the man's head in the opening minutes of the show - karma anyone? In terms of the interaction, Al pointed out and interacted with a lady in the front row of the circle on the night I was there. I felt that it was incredibly strange as you could barely hear her answers, so maybe he's been given notes to stop that and sticks to the front stalls now. I also found the constant anti French and Dutch jokes so incredibly unfunny as there was just no basis for them. I've seen CHF in a couple of more acting driven things where I've felt she was the weakest by far, but she totally saves this show from disaster. |
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Post by theatrefan62 on Jul 14, 2023 10:45:43 GMT
The overall show quality aside, actors breaking the fourth wall to pick on audience members gives me severe anxiety, so I won't be going to this! If Assassins transfers beware, that has some too and you wouldn't necessarily expect it. I do agree, of all the content warnings its amazing that audience participation isn't one of them. |
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Post by ladidah on Jul 18, 2023 6:51:56 GMT
A friend went to see this last night, said there is a lot of 'interaction' with the front rows still
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Post by Rory on Jul 18, 2023 7:58:17 GMT
Neil Morrissey was on Sunday Brunch and was talking about the audience participation. Sounded pretty full-on!
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Post by mrbarnaby on Jul 28, 2023 15:29:38 GMT
Well this sounds as terrible as it looks- judging by the reviews I’ve read so far
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Post by Rory on Jul 28, 2023 19:13:12 GMT
Some of the worst I've read in a long time. Eek!
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Post by Jan on Jul 28, 2023 20:32:52 GMT
Some of the worst I've read in a long time. Eek! They should have involved the critics in the audience participation, that would have surely converted some of those outlier 2* reviews into 1* with all the rest. I fondly remember a Guardian review Billington wrote once of a promenade fringe production where they had thrown a bucket of water over him. |
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Post by Rory on Jul 28, 2023 20:58:07 GMT
Simon Friend might have been better off transferring his production of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel in this slot.
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Post by ladidah on Aug 2, 2023 7:24:10 GMT
Surely the tour dates will be cancelled?
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Post by marob on Aug 2, 2023 8:23:39 GMT
Why? Doesn’t look like it’s sold too badly at the Lowry, with over a month to go until it opens there.
Rough Crossing toured there and that sold terribly. Was also a terrible play, where the only saving grace was Charlie Stemp doing a comedy turn as a waiter. If that went ahead I don’t see why this wouldn’t.
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Post by ilovewemusicals on Aug 5, 2023 18:49:34 GMT
Kieran Brown is on tonight but not as the footman or his other cover roles as King Charles II or Colonel Blood. If anyone is there, please let me know which role he plays as he’s keeping it under wraps.
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Post by danielwhit on Aug 9, 2023 21:11:14 GMT
Good grief.
I've come out of it this evening and am borderline speechless about how bad it is. However I'll put that speechlessness aside and cobble together some thoughts.
Firstly - audience. It's not your traditional West End audience. That is to the production's credit, it's just a shame some of them would have been put off by the quality of what was on stage.
In a bizarre way I'm pleased to see this, for at least now I have confidence that bad theatre is truly still alive. It's been a while since I've seen something that rose to these levels.
I'm amazed to hear this show was running long and, according to comments above, trying desperately to get down to 2hrs running time, mainly because there are so many dead moments on stage that you feel they're trying to pad the thing out! For examples there's a full 30 seconds of Al Murray grunting his way off stage with Mel doing a bizarre finger tapping gesture each time he steps/grunts. I could name several other moments which could only have been saved by literal tumbleweed.
I genuinely felt sorry for the cast. One person has to do a bizarre faked orgasm for no obvious reason except for a slim attempt at comedy. And of course there's the "three blokes in a prison cell, let's have one of them comically urinating into a bucket and turning sideways occasionally" cheapest of all cheap gags.
Audience interaction is the same as described above, although I did see warnings of this either on the ticket or somewhere else prevalent, so it looks like feedback has been taken on board here.
French and Dutch jokes are still in. Al Murray even has been scripted to make half the front row individually say they "hate the Dutch".
Ironically (or at least, I hope) there's a catchphrase for Charles II calling things "so funny". That's probably the best joke in the whole thing, at least it shows a slither of self awareness...
Avoid like the plague (there's a "joke" about that too).
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Post by ladidah on Aug 19, 2023 18:24:00 GMT
Was in London today and was offered free tickets for this!
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Aug 19, 2023 19:03:34 GMT
Sounds horrific.
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Post by starlight92 on Aug 19, 2023 21:09:35 GMT
Was in London today and was offered free tickets for this! I'd still pass 😂 |
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Post by ladidah on Aug 20, 2023 8:57:35 GMT
I did! Not my thing at all
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Post by Mark on Aug 20, 2023 9:34:57 GMT
I actually found this very enjoyable. Certainly a lot of laughs. Much better than Bleak Expectations had been.
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Post by d'James on Aug 31, 2023 22:21:15 GMT
I saw this tonight. The first half is better than the second - which was a bit of a mess.
I love Mel and she was funny, but I thought she’d do more improv with the audience; there didn’t seem to be any.
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