The Flick (NT)

I enjoyed the play. It got some negative reviews over Act 1 but I thought the time flew past. Glad I got a ticket now, great play.

Hope you enjoy it, Andrew. I saw a mid-week matinee and loved it.

Hello. First-time poster here, long-time snooper!

So managed to scoop a ticket for this from a friend & was hoping it would live up to my expectations and by golly, it did!

I have never felt like I related to something so much as I did this. As a person of a similar age to the characters, as somebody who spent 6 years working in a cinema & as somebody who started their adult life thinking their best attribute was extensive movie knowledge, I just lapped this up. 

Superb performances & absolutely gorgeous writing, I think Annie Baker is going to be one of my absolute favourites for many years to come (adored Circle Mirror Transformation a few years back too).   

P.s. Met up with 'Andrew' before hand for a bevvy & cake in the National which was lovely. Impressed he went for the Rocky Road slice, I did my usual subdued Carrot Cake routine.

Funny. I loved LOVED The Flick so much. Saw Ma Rainey yesterday matinee and hated it with the burning passion of a thousand suns. Considered leaving at the interval and then spent all of second half fervently wishing I had. Whereas I could happily sit through The Flick again. And I might just do that before it finishes.

I don't think I've ever identified with the characters in a play as much as I did with this one. And I mean all the characters, even though each of the three protagonists is a deeply unique individual played here by deeply unique actors. Playwright Annie Baker has found the perfect setting and the perfect tone for a long look at life as we, or at least I, know it.

The Flick is as contrived and carefully plotted as any other play but it doesn't feel that way. It feels organic. It feels like it moves at the speed of life, real life. And, yes, life often moves slowly and in tiny increments and with long intervals of brooding silences. And they are all here, to the apparent consternation of those who prefer a play that "keeps things hopping".

But what I noticed last night at the Dorfman was the attentiveness of the  audience. No coughing, no shifting, no rustling of candy wrappers. People around me were sitting rapt, totally captivated by two guys, Sam and Avery, sweeping the floor of an empty theatre, making small talk (very good small talk), while ever so gradually unpeeling their lives. And, of course, Rose, the projectionist, the only female (and thus the key to everything) who arrives in bursts of manic energy but soon settles into the established rhythm. Watching life unfold at its own pace turns out to be riveting, even thrilling.

There is a story. Characters develop, things change and in a big way. There is a theme - each of the three is a solitary, unable to connect, with each other or with anybody. Hence the movie theatre setting. They love movies but cannot love life. The big emotional outburst of the play is a declaration made to a movie screen, the character never once looking at the person he's talking to. Rose reveals at another point that her sexual fantasies are all about herself. They're all locked up tight. But, as happens, they deal with it, make accommodations, make excuses, move on.

The three main actors are superb, true in every moment. One can understand why Matthew Maher and Louisa Krause were brought over from the original New York cast - they are singular performers who embody the people they're playing. But special kudos to Jaygann Ayeh, the local guy, who steps into the mix so perfectly and so seamlessly. And to director Sam Gold for a pitch perfect production.

This is an utterly original piece of theatre that feels - and is - utterly familiar. It's one of a kind.

I am so happy people are liking/loving this as much as I did. Mallardo makes a really good point about the importance of the setting. I wonder if this play does have something to say to those of us who spend a lot of time of our time watching.

Any chance of this following People, Places and Things into the Wyndham's, I wonder, now that Lady Day at Emerson's has been postponed? Timing would be perfect - PPT closes on 18 June, three days after the end of The Flick's Dorfman run.

Excellent play. Thought-provoking and amusing, and surely some of the tersest dialogue for such taciturn characters ever presented on stage.


It's saying something important about contemporary life and the situations people find themselves in, and I suspect that many people 'out there' would acknowledge that were they ever to see this.

The next performances are for the first two weeks of June, so maybe a Friday Rush opportunity nearer the time?

I picked up a last minute return ticket on the website two days ago. Maybe keep checking?

I absolutely adored this tonight, connected with it on so many ways. I'm definitely going to try and revisit it before it shuts shortly!