All About Eve - Noel Coward Theatre

Friends in Leigh have given up and gone to Dumbo instead.

What a terrible experience.

Goodness, I just had to leave the NT Live screening, mainly because I was concerned that my falling asleep would distract fellow audience members.

What a phenomenal misfire.

My cinema ended up refunding literally everyone who went to see Follies after the picture cut out during the last scene. But the NT believes that people really enjoy the live experience more than they enjoy actually watching the show they paid for, so they don't really care what complaints they get...

I was back in Scotland for the screening tonight and it all went ok in Glasgow besides the fact that I didn't realise it was a 7.15 start so missed the first few minutes. I enjoyed it overall but really didn't rate Lily James. I felt as though she was very unsure until the last twenty minutes. Gillian Anderson excellent. Some of the filming made sense and other parts felt unnecessary. Very ugly staging. Glad that I saw this but happy that I payed to see it on screen rather than in the theatre.

I thought it was interesting and entertaining, but it didn't make me "feel" that much.  Glad I didn't pay for a ticket to see it in London.

Not sure if Lily James is really good enough to truly lift that role off the page.

I liked the video footage at times, but that and the exposed wing-space became fussy to me after a while.

I too saw the NT Live of this last night. Despite all the negative reviews for the show on here, I thoroughly enjoyed it. The time went by quickly and I was never bored.

The script is excellent. I love the film, and this follows that extremely faithfully. I can see some people’s issues with it - it is true that we don’t really get to know Eve, and it would have been nice to see what made her tick, maybe in a speech towards the end of the play when she is talking to Anton Du Wit about what truly drives her? I suppose this does make her more enigmatic though, as we view most celebrities nowadays. The fan club thing I don’t really have an issue with - the point of this is that this girl that has made her way into Eve’s room, and basically is trying to do exactly the same to Eve, as Eve did to Margo, so quite simply this whole thing could be a lie, and Eve is just going along with it, as she recognises what is happening.

I do believe the play goes deeper in some ways than the film did, and that is through the direction. I have seen nothing of Ivo Von Hove’s previous work, except the touring production of his HEDDA GABLER from the National Theatre at the beginning of last year. That was alright, but for me, this was better. He seemed to bring the themes of the piece to the fore, making it extremely relevant to today’s society - how society views women, in regards to ageing, celebrity culture and the pursuit of, and obsession with fame. The use of projection, particularly in the mirror close-ups was an ingenious touch, and highlighted Margo’s obsession with her age even more, particularly in that excellent sequence where the audience see how Margo truly views herself. Gillian Anderson’s performance also helped in this regard. It altogether seemed a more contemplative and softer performance than Bette Davis in the film. This is a woman who is crippled with anxiety, not only that she is getting older, but also with a feeling that Bill would leave her for someone younger and prettier. The scene with Bill after the audition was excellently done. The dialogue throughout the play was delivered at such a fast pace, which I liked as it kept the energy up never allowing the drama to sag. At this point in the story however, Von Hove slowed everything down, and allowed silence to speak instead, highlighting the sadness of this impactful moment. With all that being said, Anderson still made sure that Margo still had that dry wit and fire that the role is known for though. I also enjoyed the use of the wing space, and didn’t find the use of this at all distracting. It was at times nice to see what the characters truly felt about a situation when they were “off stage”.

I am still unsure about Lily James. I found her Eve very one-note, except near the end, from the bathroom scene onwards when she finally showed us the schemer that Eve really was. I do think that she could have made more with the role. Was Eve really just a schemer, or did the whole thing come out of a true devotion for Margo? Again, I believe this was shown in the direction in a mirror sequence, where Eve morphs into Margo, showing that Eve thinks she has reached her peak by becoming her idol. Also, like others have said, the playwright and his wife were a very unbelievable couple.

So, flawed, but still very much a worthy evening out.

Thank you! At least we won't miss it completely

I thought this was both throughly enjoyable and quite problematic. I'm only going on the NT Live screening.

I loved Ivo Han Hove's direction of A View From The Bridge a few years ago but I thought this was ill conceived on many levels with regards to the staging. The use of the wing space was interesting but the whole thing was just ugly and busy and the stuff on the cameras was just unforgivably bad. The stage was so dark and the screens seemed too low res. The whole concept had the whiff of art student production in its execution and it just didn't cut the mustard.

Gillian and Monica chewed the scenery beautifully. I really thought Gillian did a wonderful job and was such a different Margo to Bette Davis. It must be hard to take on such an iconic role and build the character from the ground up again to bring a different perspective. Lily James, likeable as she is, wasn't up to the job here, sadly. There were some flashes of excellence, such as in the bathroom scene it was virtually impossible to see, but she just didn't have the range (darling). Monica as Karen was just brilliant. You cut the tension in the air with a knife when she snapped at Margo during the party scene. Julian Ovenden was lovely, as always.

Late to the party on this one, at least I behaved myself.

A lot to like especially the performances, fortunate to watch it from row C in the stalls so could focus on the acting rather than the filmic episodes, maybe Van Hove needs to move on from his incorporation of film and focus on the stage as in this production I found it rather distracting rather than enhancing and could be why it left me cold.

Only one lady bossed the red dress and it was not the younger, found Eve/Lily to be two dimensional, one face for scheming and one for charm whilst Margo/Gillian was a complete character as she came to terms with entropy is the most powerful force to which we all succumb.

Lucky you! I thought she was pretty dreadful.

The two gentlemen next to me tonight repeated the word "overused" several times after the lights went up, and whether or not they were talking about the video, I think it applied. It wasn't as distracting as I'd feared from reviews/comments, and a couple of times it was jaw-dropping brilliant and completely added a different dimension to the scene. But a lot of the party shots were superfluous, especially when the camera held on the kitchen counter or the phone in order to not distract from the scene on the actual stage. Why leave the camera on, at that point?

And once it was decided to do the play without an interval, they should have cut 20 minutes.


Those same folks must have been at "A German Life" last night... I thought one gentleman was going to hack up a hairball.

Finally got to see this, very mixed bag - expected it to be be a bit fresher I s'pose..

The party scene was awful but it got a lot better after that. Think Van Hove got more wrong than right and I usually like him. Use of space was poor and more often distracting than dramatic. Performances were lost and the majority of camera stuff was just poor staging.

I thought big Stanley was one of the best things about it Gillian was a bit wasted (ha ha etc.) but Lily got better as it went on, she carried the last act.