Allelujah! by Alan Bennett (Bridge Theatre)

My email just says "Thank you for booking to see Allelujah! which we opened on the 18th.

We’ve had the chance to review the sight-lines from Row A and the stage is a little higher than usual so your angle of view is a little steeper than we’d ideally like it to be. Thus we’ve taken the precaution of reducing the price of those seats to £15, and have credited you £10 per ticket to your Bridge Theatre account to use for a future booking with us.

If you have any enquiries about this please do get in touch by emailing us on boxoffice@bridgetheatre.co.uk and we will assist you.

We look forward to welcoming you to The Bridge."

Nothing whatsoever about how to use it. Believe me, if they had explained it in the email, I wouldn't have been asking the question! (Though I would eventually have emailed them if no one here had the answer either.)

Alan, o Alan, this is not how you wish to be remembered is it? With this muddled and repetitive rehash of your History Boys formula? I don’t want to spoil it for anyone who hasn’t seen it yet but unless you have already paid and can’t get a refund, then don’t bother. Or give your tix up to someone else. So I won’t go into the main plot device here. ( it is signalled so broadly in the first five minutes anyway) Just a few notes though that won’t spoil it: you get 80% of the dosh for almost seven years survival, people whose loved ones die as we see regularly on the telly, are usually grief stricken and certainly do visit, he could be a doctor anywhere as not being in U.K. doesn’t stop you being a doctor. And so on.

Dramatically and despite knowing that Alan does like a linear and soap opera style approach, it was a mess. The funny lines were Saturday night at the Appollo level. The acting was as good as it could be given what they had to say. Tell me why we suddenly had talking to the audience in the second half? Because he couldn’t work out how to present what he had to say in dialogue form? I think so given the monologue that Posner had to deliver whist talking to the hospital chairman. The set was terrible, reflecting the poor state of our hospitals perhaps, the moving around clunky and ...worst sin of all...the whole shebang was boring. I was looking at my watch before the interval, my legs were jiggling about ten minutes in and I was fidgeting all through. The sinking feeling started before the interval. It was painful. Sorry if you disagree.

O and the singing..well I enjoyed hearing our dear History boy again. Otherwise pointless.

Risking this and seeing with a friend on Saturday as we are such Alan Bennett fans.

Can anyone comment if we can have a drink in the lovely bar after the show? Have been before but never stayed after. The times on the website aren't too clear...

Saw this tonight. Only Alan Bennett could get away with that curtain call for a play on this topic - though I’m not sure the irony of it quite landed for the audience, who were happily clapping along.

It’s not vintage Bennett. But it was clearly resonating with the mainly older audience tonight. Parts of it are clearly inspired by events in the news, and he does fall into lecturing the audience, but I rather suspect there’s some painful personal experiences wrapped up in the political inspirations.

The cast are wonderful - some luxury casting going on here.
Overall I appreciated it, rather than loving it.

Saw this tonight. The History Boys it is not. It is however an entertaining evening overall.

The jokes in the play seemed to resonate more with the older (and very posh) audience at the Bridge tonight. For me most fell flat and besides Sam Barnett singing (lovely) the songs were cringe to me.

The first half felt long and padded out but it really picked up for me from the interval (gin always helps) and made some interesting points in the second half.

Barnett is wearing very tight bicycle clothing for the first half which I enjoyed.

The standout performance for me was Sacha Dhawan also of History Boys fame.

3* from me.

Yes, Bennett knows his audience and I think is trying to get under their skins. Not sure it *quite* works for much of the play - the ability of the cozy singalong to paper over uncomfortable truths is something he is highlighting, but it also seems to work on the audience that way.

Couldn’t agree more. For me it was the worst part of a bad play. I probably was sitting there in the Centre stalls with my arms crossed, but not for the reason that nash16 thought...

Folded arms is one of the 'classic' body language cues for feeling defensive/disapproving, and it typically a subconscious thing, but like all such psychological observations it's not correct all the time - you have to allow for confounding factors.

Personally I fold my arms a lot when I'm a) cold and b) sitting in a seat I find uncomfortable and trying to make myself fit into it better c) bored (that will usually involve folding and then unfolding and folding them again).

But if you are watching the audience and notice that a lot of people fold their arms at the exact same moment in the play - yeah that is probably a reaction to what is happening on stage.

I do for much the same reason. Well, moobs.

Boobs are a great source of heat - that's one of the reasons why crossing my arms when I'm cold warms me up! 

PS. Loving all the analysis of folded arms in a theatre that have been raised too.