Apologia - Trafalgar Studios

Saw this tonight and got a last minute ticket, as a social occasion got cancelled. So got a ticket in the back for £35 in row P, could of got a better ticket but the seats were together and I know ATG don't leave a seat unsold.

I thought nothing could get worse that Jamie Lloyd's 'The Maids' this came almighty close, plays on a family gathering that turns caustic has been done to death, with mixed results, this wasn't one of the better ones!!! Desmond Barrit made a telling remark that "he would rather have his leg amputated", so did I with the agony of the Trafalgar seating and I am rather tall and have arthritis in my knee, so had to apply a pain killing gel, to get through the first half, in the second half I moved down to the loge, which was unsold.

Second grumble is the appalling decision by Jamie Lloyd not to have his cast mic'd, from row P it sounded that they were mumbling and with people fidgeting the cast were inaudible, even when I moved down to the loge things didn't improve, Joseph Millson has a virtual monologue in the second half, Which I struggled to hear.

To paraphrase from Game of Thrones, you know nothing Phantom of London. The ATG site had a tweak a while back now which allows internet buyers to leave single seats.



I think the decision not to get them to actually project is surely worse? I saw it from row C the other night and there were points when I was thinking "blimey this is a little quiet isn't it?" and it's not like Millson and Channing don't have a stage career behind them, is it? Freema Agyeman and Laura Carmichael both have less stage experience I think and they both boomed it out perfectly. And really, only Freema's character can really get away with being loud enough for that to be an excuse. Lloyd needs to spend some time sitting in Row P shouting "sing out, Louise".

That aside, I actually really enjoyed it. Once I grew accustomed to Channing's face, that is. For the first 5 minutes, I found it quite distracting. It's not the most groundbreaking of plays, but it was mostly smartly written and neatly acted. Some really killer lines in there. Stockard Channing is of course delightful and revelling in the role but for me, the revelation of the night was Laura Carmichael. Having seen her twice before and been, to put it mildly, underwhelmed both times, she isn't someone I flock to see. But she was properly wonderful here, delivering the rare performance of a character who is clearly super annoying to the other people in the play, but doesn't have the same effect on the audience (unlike Freema's performance, for example). I always think it's a difficult line to tread and she did it superbly. Who would have thought?

Surely actors should be taught to project I've never really seen plays where performers are mic'd up but I haven't been to the Trafalgar for a few years so don't know if the layout has changed so it makes projecting harder.

I liked this, the strength is the dialogue. I completely got Channing's character of Kristen. A woman who came to Europe to get away from people like Laura Carmichael's character but ultimately is the only one who gets her. I struggled with Channing's face, in many ways it suited the character but it did not suit her. It is a real shame to see these beautiful and talented actresses resort to such shoddy face lifts. Joseph Millson as Peter and Simon, both affected by their mother's absence but coping in different ways was a fantastic and subtle dual performance. Channing was probably at her finest during that late night kitchen scene. I love Desmond Barritt's Hugh; kind and humorous but ultimately his biggest contribution feels like a letdown. Why are they all so reluctant to discuss how toxic the marriage she had was. It was never explained why, despite the sons' hostility, they were even in touch with her?

Freema is just not a good actress. I saw her post press night so maybe she will warm into the part. I found her character believable and well written but her acting very one note, which is a shame because had Channing had an actress that was her equal those scenes could have been glorious. It also didn't make sense why she was with Simon in the first place, he seemed to be bring nothing or very little to the relationship.

Q&A after tonights performance, cast & writer. An enjoyable half hour of anecdotes to finish off the night

Just had a look at rush tickets for this on TodayTix. There are still rush tix available for tonight and they are not just in the front two rows - I was offered row M for £15. So looks like they are putting more unsold seats out this way. If so possibly you'll get a better deal by waiting till later in the day before trying for a rush ticket

I have seen similar before with other plays that had to fill seats

Saw this last night and very much enjoyed it. Stockard Channing and Laura Carmichael were excellent but agree with others that Freema Agyeman was the weak link. Sat at the end of row K and had no problems with sound, there was no-one in the seat next to me either so had plenty of room! At the interval four people on the front row were complaining to the usher that they couldn't sit there any longer as the stage was far too high and they had sore necks, so they moved to empty seats a few rows back.  Has anyone from here sat there yet? 

I was actually speaking to the person who was sat behind the four at the end of the show, she paid £12 for her seat and said that after they'd moved she had a perfect view for the whole of the second act.

Saw this last night and absolutely loved it. This was definitely a play of 2 halves, the first half better than the second. I really wasn't expecting it to be so funny.

I'd never heard of Freema Agyeman, apart from what I'd read on here, so wasn't expecting much. Well, we all thought she was perfectly cast and played the full-of-herself soap, sorry, serial drama star to perfection. Whilst I may not flock in my drove to her Desdemona, she was spot-on for this. The people I was with thought the 2 girls carried the show - they weren't so keen on Joseph Milson, finding his depiction of the 2 brothers too similar.  I actually really liked him, though it was a shame that he played virtually the whole of the scene as Simon with his back to anyone in the low numbered seats. I thought his performances were well pitched and, whilst I'd been questioning the use of one actor to play the two brothers, thought it worked. Just.

Agree that Laura Carmichael was tremendous, playing the annoying vegetarian/religious zealot with an understated degree of annoyance.

Loved, loved, loved Desmond Barrit. Perfect timing and some absolute gifts from the writer.

For all of us (and I do realise I may be carted off to the tower for this) the weak link was Stockard Channing. I'm not going to comment about her face, except to say that I was half expecting her to bring on a budgie under a cloche. Quite why they cast a person whose face doesn't move in a play that doesn't have much action is beyond me.  She looked like a waxwork standing there with words coming out of her mouth. I don't know how people at the back could hear her (or Joseph Milson at times) and I would have much preferred Dame Julie, Barbra, Joan Cusack, Lindsay Duncan, Cher.......hell, even Dame Barbara - at least she'd have tottered around...... nope, I really didn't think she did a good job.

We loved the script and the direction, though the ending felt a bit weak and someone else has already mentioned the relationship between severe angsty brother Simon and Freema's celeb character, which did seem a bit strange.

A great show and I love the Trafalgar studios - even if they didn't let me use my new ATG card at the bar, despite my ticket saying ATG on it. I've no idea why, but the lovely bartender did try to explain with such a sweet smile I really didn't care!

ATG only handle the ticketing for Trafalgar Studios now, I wouldn't be surprised if like the Donmar, they switch to a different ticketing system in due course.

Ha ha! Ok, maybe not everyone would have done a better job....