The great wave - National Theatre

Where did you hear that it might be transferring?

And yeah I thought the same. WHAT f*** THE?!

Also there tonight.

Definitely a play of two halves in terms of emotional involvement. A shame, as I think, unfortunately because of the acting standard from some and this lack of audience connection, people may leave at the interval, and moss the superior second half.

The first sets things up, but it doesn't really start to engage the audience until about halfway through the second. A very striking monologue is especially powerful, and from then til the end we finally feel for the characters.

The writing has a tendency to repeat and also to come across a bit soap-like. And the acting (from some, not all) results in a school play feel at times.

Also, does every Asian set play have to use a box set on a revolve? Is this a thing? #Chimerica

It's a story we both knew nothing about, so very interesting from that point of view. Also, we didn't have a clue how it would end so that kept us engaged.

But without an emotional involvement in the first half, and with time seemingly raced through (we got from 1079 to almost present day, although with little ageing) it's a tricky play to love.

Side note: Is the Dorfman now the only space at the NT allowed to showcase different ethnicities?

Barbershop...
The Great Wave...
Nine Night...
An Octoroon...

Was just at the matinee

I really enjoyed this a lot and I was quite affected by it. It’s very melodramatic and there were a lot of people weeping around me. There were a smattering of people giving a standing ovation at the end.

Agree with the comments that act 2 is far superior to act 1. I think that’s because it does take a bit of work to buy into the premise which is a hard sell. Act 1 takes some twisty directions and spends a lot of time setting the scene.

It very much comes together in act 2 though and it’s very intense and fast paced. The audience really seemed engrossed by the end.

For me it’s one of the best new plays I’ve seen for a while and I say this as someone that sees ~ 2 a week. I thought it was much better than Mosquitoes for example.

I found this interesting, but not as interesting as I was hoping for, but happy I went. The acting was variable in quality. I also felt there were some lost opportunities to explore North Korean and Japanese culture further.

The stage looked quite high. I was in the circle, but I wonder what view from the front row of the stalls is like. There are lighting effects that are projected onto the stage floor (which would not be visible from at least the front rows of the stalls), but these are not important as the lighting effects occur on the rest of the set.

I think the NT has the pricing wrong for this but other than tweaking the cost of a few of the seats below top price, I don't know what they can afford to do and/or which wouldn't upset those who had already booked at top price.

The reason I say this is that as others have noted, the stage is very high, meaning that those in the front stalls are below stage level and you'd have to be quite a way back to have a clear view.  On the other hand, those in the side stalls seats (rows L and M), as I was, have a good view, at the right height, albeit sideways on.  I was far happier with my (cheaper) seat there than I would have been in the front stalls - though I know people who have sat there have said it's OK.  However, something for people to bear in mind if they haven't yet booked but are considering doing so.

The stage is certainly high, but I felt that my £20 seat in the front row was priced about right.

I've got a £20 front row seat for this week, which I believe was a leftover Friday rush ticket. I'd been holding off on booking 'cos I could only find restricted view seats or £40 stalls seats and I wasn't into either of those.

I’m glad the reviews for this are good - it’s the kind of thing the National is perfect for and I’m always glad when they give a voice to quality new work and upcoming writers.

Aah I was there too! Really enjoyable and worth a watch. I was in one of the “flip” seats for £15, bargain.

I must say I'm deeply offended not to have got the memo about the group outing, I was there yesterday too but evening rather than matinee. As a not particularly tall lady, I'd just like to confirm that the stage wasn't problematically tall. You'd occasionally lose an actor to crouching or lying down but that wasn't a major issue for me. I agree that it started off messy but really tightened up as the evening progressed, and I will admit to some hearty weeping when it came to one particular scene near the end.

7 - The Great Wave - National Theatre - Dorfman - March 21st

Hanako is lost to the sea on a stormy night but her mother and sister refuse to believe she is dead. And indeed she isnt, she has been kidnapped by North Korea to become a teacher. Over the course of 24 years whilst one family falters with their loss another develops via that loss but in the end decisions will have to be made around love and loss.

A bizarre sounding plot but based on actual events of North Korea kidnapping Japanese people. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Korean_abductions_of_Japanese_citizens

Gripping!
Powerful!
Emotional!

An intriguing look at love, loss, devotion, sacrifice and survival.

A revolving set allows us to see both sides of the story, a cheap way to compare and contrast the emotions and actions of both sides however it works really well. Whilst Hanako is indoctrinated into the world of North Korea we revolve the stage to see her sister being indoctrinated into a obsessive quest to find her missing sibling. Whilst we see Hanako being introduced to the man that the government has decreed she must marry we revolve to see Reiko losing her chance of happiness owing to her obsessiveness and its the obsessiveness that drives the play - the obsession of finding your missing daughter/sister and the obsession of doing what is best for the glorious leader.

Coupled with some subtle lighting, Japan is orange and warm whilst North Korea is white and stark, the sparse set allows the characters to take centre stage. Hanako and Reiko being our eyes and ears into two vastly different cultures, Rosalind Chao takes centre stage for the first half hour or so as the girls mother but then over time moves into the background as the girls grow up and take more and more of the plot.

The whole cast are on top form.

I think the end is a bit contrived but the 100 or so minutes before hand are engrossing as we become embroiled in hoping Hanako and Reiko can survive their travails.

8/10

It is worse than the Lyttelton or Olivier, but it's totally bearable. And I'm several inches shorter than you are.