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Post by iwanttix on Oct 26, 2024 17:39:28 GMT
I enjoyed the show and thought Naoko Mori performed it well tonight, but jesus christ, what the hell was the problem with the audience? Constant heckles from the opening minutes right to the end, theatrical gasps and giggles during the more serious bits, and one guy getting removed from the auditorium near the end who just started shouting something incoherently during the bit with the audience member reading the final scene (who handled it brilliantly and got a lot of sympathy) and threatened to go up on stage until the ushers ran towards him - I did wonder if this was all set up and it happened every night, but reading this thread apparently not. And if that sounds bad, even worse in the spoilers below: One of the ‘rabbits’ immediately went straight to the two glasses and drank from one of them as if to ridicule the entire thing. Shouts of “Down it!” and “Neck it you (something)!” during the final scene. All suspense and tension completely ruined. I left the theatre genuinely hating people a bit. Were they disinterested seatfillers who’d got a TodayTix bargain, a rowdy guestlist who’d abused the bar a bit too much before the show, or just a Friday night city crowd who’d come after work and thought they were watching some standup? I’m going again next week and I hope it’s more well behaved than tonight. Wow, thats terrible! What a horrible way to behave and I feel bad for Naoko. |
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Post by lilgirlbigcity on Oct 26, 2024 18:10:34 GMT
Definitely picked a good one with Adjoa Andoh. A great story teller and had the audience both on her side and eating out of the palm of her hand from the off. Slightly awkward when she knocked over one of the glasses of water, but I think it just added to the experience and the concept as a theatrical piece. One question {Spoiler - click to view}
Is the person at the end a plant? As they got up to leave half way through and then didn't come back till they strutted onto stage! American dude, beard, graying hair |
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Post by Steve on Oct 26, 2024 18:32:37 GMT
Definitely picked a good one with Adjoa Andoh. A great story teller and had the audience both on her side and eating out of the palm of her hand from the off. Slightly awkward when she knocked over one of the glasses of water, but I think it just added to the experience and the concept as a theatrical piece. One question {Spoiler - click to view}
Is the person at the end a plant? As they got up to leave half way through and then didn't come back till they strutted onto stage! American dude, beard, graying hair Not a plant. Not seen someone disappear like that when I've been. Maybe stomach problems or maybe seen it before and knows the final volunteer gets to keep the actor's script as a souvenir, so positioned himself in a place where he'd be able to bumrush the stage to guarantee taking home Andoh's script. |
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Post by matttom0901 on Oct 29, 2024 22:16:57 GMT
This “play” was an hour of my life I’m never going to get back.
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Post by theatreloverlondon on Oct 30, 2024 7:43:50 GMT
LOOOOL. Who did you watch
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Post by matttom0901 on Oct 30, 2024 15:44:01 GMT
LOOOOL. Who did you watch I had Jason Watkins who did his best with what he had. The best actor in the world cannot make whatever this was any good. |
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Post by matthew90 on Oct 31, 2024 21:16:34 GMT
My goodness. Miriam this evening was so charming, delightful and witty, but even she by the end was clearly thinking what is this tripe.
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Post by ruthieh on Oct 31, 2024 22:52:07 GMT
Loved Miriam. But a real mixed bag of a play…17 yro daughter’s still milking the fact she was picked to go on stage though, so memorable for that!
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Post by PineappleForYou on Oct 31, 2024 23:31:14 GMT
Also saw this tonight with Miriam Margolyes and she was naturally fantastic. Being the second time seeing this, I would say the success of the play and it's contents is certainly down to the actor on stage. While Miriam was great in the conversational parts of the script, I do think the story/conceptual parts got lost in her reading. I certainly connected more with these parts when seeing Ralf Little, especially the title story.
Either way, Miriam was hilarious but I'm glad I've seen two totally different readings of the play.
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Post by theatre22 on Oct 31, 2024 23:35:47 GMT
I was also there tonight. Enjoyed seeing Miriam but not the material. Found it interesting that it lasted 90 mins tonight when the running time was meant to be around 65 mins. Does anyone know who has seen it tonight and before this what made it longer with her?
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Post by matthew90 on Nov 1, 2024 0:00:15 GMT
Others have mentioned 90 mins. Found the ending so odd as well, where the person from the audience was either a plant or had seen the script previously and was keenly trying to play to the crowd. I was so baffled as to what was going on.
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Post by ladidah on Nov 1, 2024 11:19:02 GMT
I am so curious about this show I am close to paying someone outside the theatre to tell me what it's about  |
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Post by Steve on Nov 1, 2024 12:24:13 GMT
I am so curious about this show I am close to paying someone outside the theatre to tell me what it's about You're a member of this board. You shouldn't have to pay. I'll say what it's about in spoilers without describing the action lol: A white rabbit is a member of society not lifting her head above the parapet. A red rabbit is a preening involved action-intensive member of society getting involved in impacting the world around her.
Even in our own liberal democratic society, raising your head above the parapet can put you in danger (eg if the Daily Mail calls you "an enemy of the people" or whatnot, calling on white rabbits to attack this audacious red rabbit).
How much scarier to put your head above the parapet in Iran, a theocratic despotic society that deals with its internal enemies!
Our author writes from Iran 12 years ago speaking to everyone who will ever hear this play, whether he is alive or dead, possibly punished for merely writing this oblique play.
He seeks to show us that there are pressures on us NOT to intervene, never to become red rabbits, but to stay in our cosy white rabbit holes, "good men doing nothing," even if we might possibly save a life by doing so, and asks us to think what the pressures must have been like for him and his family at the time of his writing this play in dictatorial Iran. |
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Post by theatre22 on Nov 1, 2024 14:15:39 GMT
Others have mentioned 90 mins. Found the ending so odd as well, where the person from the audience was either a plant or had seen the script previously and was keenly trying to play to the crowd. I was so baffled as to what was going on. Yes I found the end very disappointing. I don’t think anyone was really understanding what was going on at that point. I don’t think the audience member was a plant but did wonder if it was someone who had already seen the show and was keen to have their moment at the end. |
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Post by PineappleForYou on Nov 1, 2024 14:25:20 GMT
Yeah unfortunately there are so many people that are seeing this and coming back to be "pick me girls" because they know the play and want their moment. There are no plants apart from the stage manager. I think it totally works better if everyone is in the dark about the play. However, the writer guessed that returning audiences would want to try to influence the play - they are the crows in his words so I guess he gets the last laugh.
As for the 90 minute running time from last night, Miriam just delivered the script with more gravitas and interacted with the audience more. She also wasn't afraid to take a breath.
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Post by Bunnyboiler on Nov 2, 2024 23:34:31 GMT
Sheila Atim this evening was really engaging and did well with the text but the ending was frankly ridiculous.
Two people had grabbed the text and were doing a tug of war over it. Honestly, they were pushing and pulling worthy of a village fete. They then decided to say it together which was unintelligible. After the audience began to shout “we can’t understand you”, they then took turns, one was too fast and the other didn’t have English as a first language.
I have NO idea how this play actually ends.
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Post by thistimetomorrow on Nov 3, 2024 11:19:57 GMT
I thought Sheila was far better than Jason Isaacs, but have they changed the material or did she skip a few pages accidentally? {Spoiler - click to view}
She didn't have the whole section about how when the white rabbits got replaced and not sprayed with cold water, they still attacked the red rabbits regardless
Also the fight at the end for the script made me cringe so much. I was watching through a gap in between my fingers. |
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Post by Steve on Nov 3, 2024 11:30:59 GMT
I thought Sheila was far better than Jason Isaacs, but have they changed the material or did she skip a few pages accidentally? {Spoiler - click to view}
She didn't have the whole section about how when the white rabbits got replaced and not sprayed with cold water, they still attacked the red rabbits regardless
Also the fight at the end for the script made me cringe so much. I was watching through a gap in between my fingers. I suspect she accidentally skipped that bit because it's too important for it to be deliberately removed from a 12 year old play.
{Spoiler - click to view}
The conditioning of a society to do as authorities want is revealed in those lines. |
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Post by rumbledoll on Nov 4, 2024 22:04:06 GMT
Rory Kinnear tonight.
Lucky us that he is so quick witted and genuinely funny, showed very good command of the stage and supporting ‘actors’, eloquent and intelligent as always. Not sure if it would work at all in the wrong hands..
The writing is chunky to be honest. Some bits I liked and found engaging, mostly philosophical stuff and the core of the experiment, can relate to it living in Russia for 30+ years.
Overall just stocked to see Rory on stage again, been ages.
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Post by rumbledoll on Nov 4, 2024 22:05:15 GMT
Had a quick chat with Rory afterwards (just to make sure he’s alright lol) about two glasses - he drank both of them (do they all do that, just wondering? Do they all go through with that at all? When the reader ask if we’d want to intervene a lot of folk shouting in load voices (me included) ‘Don’t drink it!’ which made him smile, he seemed moved by it. He also mentioned it was later revealed to him by the stage team that it was vitamin D so good choice for lack of sun in November  |
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Post by billy on Nov 4, 2024 22:46:28 GMT
Sheila Atim this evening was really engaging and did well with the text but the ending was frankly ridiculous. Two people had grabbed the text and were doing a tug of war over it. Honestly, they were pushing and pulling worthy of a village fete. They then decided to say it together which was unintelligible. After the audience began to shout “we can’t understand you”, they then took turns, one was too fast and the other didn’t have English as a first language. I have NO idea how this play actually ends. That sounds all the world like two people who’d seen a previous performance who’d booked again specifically to try and do that bit, neither betting there’d be more than one of them attempting the same. In all honesty I was absolutely ready to get up there on the day I went (in the front row), but the successful audience member literally ran on stage *before* the actor had said their last line, so before any of us waiting patiently had a chance. Ironically the second time I went people did wait for the cue line, and even then there were a couple of seconds before someone braved going on stage, but I was on one of the higher floors that time. And regarding the spoiler above, the two endings for me were *very* different: Naoko Mori played it completely seriously, drank from one glass and then fell down ‘dead’, not moving at all until after everyone had left the room. Tracy Ann-Oberman played it as a comedy, drank both glasses and jumped up very quickly proving she was alive and well and took her bows, leaving the stage normally. |
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Post by rumbledoll on Nov 4, 2024 22:56:04 GMT
And regarding the spoiler above, the two endings for me were *very* different: Naoko Mori played it completely seriously, drank from one glass and then fell down ‘dead’, not moving at all until after everyone had left the room. Tracy Ann-Oberman played it as a comedy, drank both glasses and jumped up very quickly proving she was alive and well and took her bows, leaving the stage normally. Thank you for these bits of info very curious how different actors treat it in their own way. Can anyone please comment on what Michael Sheen did in the end? I would love to catch him as well, I could just picture him performing it with his wonderful warmth and energy. Rory did exactly as instructed, he drank it and just normally lied on the stage, very relaxed, closing his eyes as if thinking about something (as the text suggests). He would not get up until everyone left, no bows |
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Post by thistimetomorrow on Nov 4, 2024 23:02:02 GMT
He would not get up until everyone left, no bows Both Sheila Atim and Jason Isaacs did this too |
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Post by fiyerorocher on Nov 5, 2024 0:51:21 GMT
{Spoiler - click to view}
No bows from Michael Sheen. He drank from one glass (after the earlier additional drama of knocking one over and it having to be replaced), then lay down and didn't move as the audience left. Which I think is what you're 'supposed' to do, based on what the script says. And regarding the spoiler above, the two endings for me were *very* different: Naoko Mori played it completely seriously, drank from one glass and then fell down ‘dead’, not moving at all until after everyone had left the room. Tracy Ann-Oberman played it as a comedy, drank both glasses and jumped up very quickly proving she was alive and well and took her bows, leaving the stage normally. Thank you for these bits of info very curious how different actors treat it in their own way. Can anyone please comment on what Michael Sheen did in the end? I would love to catch him as well, I could just picture him performing it with his wonderful warmth and energy. Rory did exactly as instructed, he drank it and just normally lied on the stage, very relaxed, closing his eyes as if thinking about something (as the text suggests). He would not get up until everyone left, no bows |
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Post by rumbledoll on Nov 5, 2024 10:33:00 GMT
A bit shocked at the spoiler content for some shows in terms of audience behaviour. Had a very well behaved crowd last night, did what they were told and mostly seemed to be having fun on stage but not overpowering the author or the actor in any way.
The announcement before the show made me smile: ‘please be reminded that throwing items on stage is strictly prohibited’. Did that really happened during the run?..
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