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Post by Forrest on Oct 15, 2021 14:06:56 GMT
londonpostie, ah, I booked again for tomorrow! I look forward to resuming the discussion, with you and the rest of the Board. :)
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Post by londonpostie on Oct 15, 2021 14:40:06 GMT
Rude not too @forrest - enjoy!
I might tie mine with a 6pm visitation to Caryl Churchill, which I haven't yet seen (and a pleasant cycle to the Donamr after).
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Post by Dave B on Oct 18, 2021 8:25:29 GMT
Saw this on Friday night and enjoyed it a lot. Two great performances from both Abigail Weinstock and Tom Mothersdale.
{Spoiler}{Spoiler - click to view}
The first hour or so is a lot of fun and occasionally quite funny. The short transitions work nicely (and this section shares a lot with Constellations) though the voiceovers I thought detracted rather than added anything. Less enamored with the extended epilogue though it does tie in with the generational scars that we (might) carry and it does nicely dovetail with the earlier conversation about their families coming from the same area and the comment that goes straight over His head. Quite gripping to watch, was really impressed coming out of the theatre but I have to say that the more I thought about it, the less I found it held up. Still, it's two excellent actors doign their thing really well and aside from any offers, the Donmar often has £10 tickets and that would seem very worth while to me. |
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Post by orchidman on Oct 19, 2021 1:12:35 GMT
Not a good play.
Like Camp Siegfried felt like an idea a playwright thought they could pitch successfully to a theatre (and they were right), rather than an idea they had to write because they actually had something to say.
I might just be tired of unprofound plays affecting importance by covering this ground. Both those two, Leopoldstadt and the utterly gratuitous scenes in Indecent ('let's invent a character and add them to this historical story to give it an unearned tragic coda') were not on the same level as films like The Pianist or The Counterfeiters and if you are going to write these stories please please please bring something to the table. Something new, something true.
Spent a lot of time thinking, 'is she really going out with him?' (Camp Siegfried was 'is he really going out with her?') It is almost never a good idea to write a character as irritating as the main guy in this and make your audience live with him for most of the evening.
Didn't believe the central relationship, didn't believe the dystopia, didn't believe the 1918 scenes. First class acting and effects can't salvage that.
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Post by londonpostie on Oct 19, 2021 7:46:42 GMT
Quite gripping to watch, was really impressed coming out of the theatre but I have to say that the more I thought about it, the less I found it held up. Still, it's two excellent actors doign their thing really well ..
Having revisited - to get it as straight as I'm likely to - I felt similarly.
I was happy enough for Him to be a cypher and to explore the consequences of a particular history through the emotions of a young woman, but the depiction of present day/near future, for me, undermined the whole. Yes, I can understand it as a warning but, also yes, it was overwrought.
I really wanted to be more positive.
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Post by Forrest on Oct 19, 2021 20:09:06 GMT
Spent a lot of time thinking, 'is she really going out with him?' (Camp Siegfried was 'is he really going out with her?') It is almost never a good idea to write a character as irritating as the main guy in this and make your audience live with him for most of the evening. Didn't believe the central relationship, didn't believe the dystopia, didn't believe the 1918 scenes. First class acting and effects can't salvage that. This made me smile, because for me it was quite the opposite, the male character in the play is kind of the man of my dreams: sweet, smart, arty, passionate about something, kind, even if a hint too insecure, and yes - slightly awkward. Nobody's perfect, eh!? But then again, the introductory scenes reminded me of Paul Rust's brilliant series "Love" on Netflix, and while watching that I had a total crush on his character (also very awkward), so... Perhaps I simply fall for strange kind of men. :) My personal silliness aside... {Spoiler - click to view}
I too - as much as I did enjoy the play, because I found Mothersdale and Katz just terrific - struggle a little with the main premise (intergenerational trauma), and the weakest part of the text for me is definitely the climax of the totalitarian world outside, at times I didn't quite feel that the world outside is crumbling, so I partially see where you are coming from.
But also, if I was Him in "Camp Siegfired" - very deeply insecure, despite wanting to appear macho - I'd also go out with someone like Her, bookish and warm, unintimidating and - yes, here comes the seemingly common denominator to all the characters I love - slightly awkward. :) |
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Post by NeilVHughes on Oct 19, 2021 20:55:54 GMT
Interesting premise on the cyclical nature of history.
The modern slide into fascism is maybe overstated but always in the back of my mind was that I now live in a Country where we would propose giving immunity to prosecution to someone whose action led to a child drowning.
Do we as a society sleepwalk into atrocious acts which as an individual we would find abhorrent but as a mass we would be indifferent and where and how is the tipping point reached.
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Post by Mark on Oct 22, 2021 20:41:52 GMT
Have finally read all of the comments in this thread having seen the play tonight and I’m inclined to concur with the thought that the last 20 minutes or so don’t hold up as well as it perhaps should. It is pretty full on for the first hour, quite thrilling to watch actually the two actors go back and forth - really fantastic acting from both. And then when the pace and tone dramatically changes it didn’t work as well for me.
Overall I enjoyed it, but mostly for the acting in the first hour, that could have gone for another half an hour and explored that “near future” a bit more and that would have been fine for me.
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Post by Forrest on Oct 22, 2021 22:50:13 GMT
Sorry I missed you in the Donmar crowd Mark , but I'm really glad you enjoyed it. My flatmate who came with me agrees with you - plus she didn't quite pick up on the point of the last 20-ish minutes, so she found it all a bit strange - and she really enjoyed the acting in the first part of the play. We spent most of the walk home talking about how fascinating it is that someone can stand so close to the audience and yet distance themselves enough to be able to do what they both do really well, and to bring a character to life down to the tiniest of details. She loved Mothersdale in particular, because of how nuanced and meticulous his performance was (and you all know by now that I definitely agree with that judgement, I could watch him do the same thing many more nights in a row). |
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Post by edi on Nov 8, 2021 22:28:05 GMT
This play should have its own thread...
I really enjoyed this tonight. I found him totally believable, quite likable. If anything she came accross as odd from the beginning, but still very belivable for a couple. Their arguments were so relatable. I lost it a little when events around them turned bleaker, too surreal, but once I got over it I enjoyed it again. I wasn't sure of the voiceovers but maybe if I rewatched it they would click into place. I found the transgenerational pain unbelievable yet compelling.
The last 20 mins.... I actually found it so poignant that I forgive how farfetched the implications are.
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Post by couldileaveyou on Jan 20, 2022 14:15:09 GMT
They just announced the full cast and a very underwhelming artwork for Henry V. It will receive the NT Live treatment too
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Post by crowblack on Jan 20, 2022 14:57:13 GMT
God, you're not wrong about the poster - more Gareth Cheeseman than Henry V. How did that get passed?
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Post by cavocado on Jan 20, 2022 15:37:34 GMT
Yes, very odd artwork. The smoke clouds are ok, but KH Looks like a boyband singer who's lost his microphone.
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Post by Jan on Jan 20, 2022 17:38:25 GMT
They just announced the full cast and a very underwhelming artwork for Henry V. It will receive the NT Live treatment too Underwhelming cast too. |
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Post by jojo on Jan 21, 2022 14:36:46 GMT
Yes, very odd artwork. The smoke clouds are ok, but KH Looks like a boyband singer who's lost his microphone. It reminded me of Lucifer (the tv show). |
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Post by Forrest on Jan 24, 2022 19:23:16 GMT
Yes, very odd artwork. The smoke clouds are ok, but KH Looks like a boyband singer who's lost his microphone. OMG, this made me laugh aloud but so much yes! I'm mad at myself for booking for this on the one day that overlaps with Cult Of Luna's "Beyond the Redshift" festival (but it's sold out, so no possibility to exchange, plus my flatmate later booked on the same night so we can go together, so I cannot even just simply not go), and the poster certainly hasn't done much to convince me otherwise. Quite the opposite, in fact, looks just terrible. |
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Post by alnoor on Jan 24, 2022 19:45:31 GMT
Some tickets now available for the first week, maybe sightlines sorted
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Post by Dave B on Feb 10, 2022 10:55:28 GMT
First two previews of Henry V off due to Covid in the cast.
Again, zero sh*ts given by the Donmar to help rebook tickets. Second time this year and while Covid is totally understandable, the handling of it is really really putting me off the Donmar.
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Post by Dave B on Feb 10, 2022 17:10:13 GMT
First two previews of Henry V off due to Covid in the cast. Again, zero sh*ts given by the Donmar to help rebook tickets. Second time this year and while Covid is totally understandable, the handling of it is really really putting me off the Donmar.
I will withdraw my comment above after a phone call a very nice lady at the Donmar who told me they are calling around to reschedule people using the tickets they normally held back. She was able to do this for me on the spot, I said the first date we had free and she booked my tickets and I had them in my inbox within 30 seconds. She also could email me a link to a booking system which would have shown additional seats (something BO didn't have the ability to do when I asked a month ago!)
I did take the chance to tell her that while I had been disappointed when they were not able to do this for Force Majeure - that I was very pleased they were able do so this time around.
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Post by vernongersh on Mar 5, 2022 6:02:29 GMT
any sense when they will announce the new season? any rumours of what it might be?
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Post by marob on Mar 5, 2022 7:13:26 GMT
Before the pandemic they were supposed to be doing two plays about climate change, called The Contingency Plan, in a coproduction with Theatr Clwyd. Don’t know if that was just postponed or scrapped all together.
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Post by bordeaux on Mar 5, 2022 7:31:28 GMT
Before the pandemic they were supposed to be doing two plays about climate change, called The Contingency Plan, in a coproduction with Theatr Clwyd. Don’t know if that was just postponed or scrapped all together. Steve Waters' The Contingency Plan: Resilience and On the Beach will be on at the Sheffield Crucible this October/November. Donmar not doing them any more. |
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Post by zahidf on Mar 12, 2022 14:04:59 GMT
Overhead some chat in the auditorium pre matinee..
A dolls house part 2 making its UK premiere.
A musical in the round. Something 'business', wom several Tony awards and is its UK premiere.
Announced on Weds
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Post by n1david on Mar 12, 2022 15:54:30 GMT
Guessing "How to Succeed in Business without really trying"
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Post by mrbarnaby on Mar 12, 2022 16:30:45 GMT
Guessing "How to Succeed in Business without really trying" I highly doubt it’s that. Plus it’s been staged here before. |
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