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Post by Being Alive on Aug 24, 2018 21:50:03 GMT
Well, I never thought I’d say this, but I’m with @parsley on this one.
It all just felt incredibly confused. I couldn’t work out whether it was trying to a comedy or drama, and I don’t think it actually succeeded at either. Quite what Laura Wade has written I’m not sure.
Katherine is a great actress, no denying that. But she didn’t show how good she was! I thought she was good, but that final scene when they start to have a fight, t felt like she needed more of a moment to just let rip at him! I thought the best performance was her mother, who was on stage for less than 20 mins and was great.
But I was annoyed at the end. None of the characters felt like they were accountable for their actions. Couple of things towards the end that just got swept under the carpet and I just rolled my eyes.
No one stood, no one cheered, and the applause wasn’t particularly loud at the curtain call.
I’d give it a generous 3 out of 5
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Post by Deleted on Aug 24, 2018 22:26:39 GMT
Well, I never thought I’d say this, but I’m with @parsley on this one. It all just felt incredibly confused. I couldn’t work out whether it was trying to a comedy or drama, and I don’t think it actually succeeded at either. Quite what Laura Wade has written I’m not sure. Katherine is a great actress, no denying that. But she didn’t show how good she was! I thought she was good, but that final scene when they start to have a fight, t felt like she needed more of a moment to just let rip at him! I thought the best performance was her mother, who was on stage for less than 20 mins and was great. But I was annoyed at the end. None of the characters felt like they were accountable for their actions. Couple of things towards the end that just got swept under the carpet and I just rolled my eyes. No one stood, no one cheered, and the applause wasn’t particularly loud at the curtain call. I’d give it a generous 3 out of 5 I thought my playdar was seriously off after reading all the love on here for this play because the more I think about it the more I think it's really bad. I have a feeling that a lot of people have been seduced by the set (which is wonderful) the costumes and the (not all that impressive) dancing. Granted, I didn't watch the whole thing but during the interval the audience didn't seem as animated as people who've attended a funeral. And yet I assume a number of them have come on here to sing the praises of the play. Weird. I have this conspiracy theory that a lot of theatres choose to stage the worst plays written by women to prove their point that women can't write for theatre. B*@!^*s! |
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Post by Being Alive on Aug 24, 2018 22:36:44 GMT
@cleoskryker glad it wasn’t just me. I did like the set - couldn’t see the top right room due to where I was sat, but thought it was lovely, as were KP’s array of costume!
But yes, it’s a clever sort of thing to write a play about if someone’s acthally going to write a good play. Which hasn’t happened.
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Post by lynette on Aug 26, 2018 16:14:13 GMT
Well, the moment has passed now cos this is nearly at end of run, if not ended, but for me it was a beautifully dressed domestic drama about a relationship. Just that. Delusion, non communication, jealousy etc within a relationship. I liked it.
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Post by n1david on Aug 29, 2018 16:51:11 GMT
At Katherine Parkinson's platform today at the NY, she said she had heard "whispers" of a future life but at the moment absolutely nothing concrete for any transfer (or adaptation).
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Post by Deleted on Aug 29, 2018 18:58:52 GMT
At Katherine Parkinson's platform today at the NY, she said she had heard "whispers" of a future life but at the moment absolutely nothing concrete for any transfer (or adaptation). I know this might seem to contradict what I've said about this play, but I have a feeling that it might play much better in the WE than squashed into the Dorfman. The light comedy might take on more gravitas when given air to breathe. Certainly Dame Parkinson deserves a transfer. The absolute cheek of stuffing her into the Dorfman. |
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Post by crowblack on Aug 29, 2018 21:42:05 GMT
"whispers" of a future life I can see it ending up on TV, maybe a straight play like the King Charles broadcast or chopped up and expanded as a sitcom like Fleabag. |
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Post by kathryn on Aug 29, 2018 22:00:40 GMT
Well, this was rather good! And those row B pit seats are great - you really don’t miss anything significant on the upper floor.
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Post by floorshow on Aug 29, 2018 22:25:04 GMT
Yep, saw this tonight and thoroughly enjoyed it. Well cast and liked the tone/pace. If I was going to pick holes then there are a couple of stretches that work mainly cos of the performances rather than the writing.
Expected to miss a lot of upstairs stuff when we first saw the set cos we were in C but no issues at all.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 30, 2018 8:55:09 GMT
Responses to this may well be based on expectations - mine were managed in advance by this thread and I really enjoyed it. It's not life-changing or ground-breaking but it is hugely enjoyable and a good evening out, and does make some interesting points in a light way. I thought all the performances were very good and it was expertly written and staged to push and pull the audience in the required direction. I didn't think there was anything at all to dislike so interested in some of the more negative reactions.
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Post by kathryn on Aug 31, 2018 14:45:13 GMT
Treating myself to a piece of cake on the seafront this afternoon made me think of all the cake shenanigans in this play! Particularly how wrapped up in status the baking got - the disdain for the bake-off competition at work and the confidence that her cake would win it if she had baked one, the one-upping with the chocolate cake, the ostentatious decanting of flour and sugar into those jars. There’s some deep insecurity underneath the surface of that smug pride in her baking, perhaps because it was her only visible achievement? As her husband says, he wouldn’t notice if she didn’t vacuum the living room and clean behind things every day.
By the way, was anyone else bothered by the cloud of flour that was caused by decanting it, which drifted to the floor and was not actually swept up? Can’t imagine a 50s housewife not sweeping the floor after doing that!
Of course her vision of the 50s was a distinctly middle-class American one - working class families wouldn’t have had a tv and a fridge and a car. Indeed, many working class women would have had some form of part-time or Home-based work.
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Post by kathryn on Aug 31, 2018 14:59:49 GMT
Yep a better evening than Allelujah. I really enjoyed this. Best description of the 50s I’ve heard - almost as good as my own. I think there was a lot in this play about marriage more than the clear cut equality question. Well not that clear cut. I liked the dialogue between them. I feel it is contemporary and unstagey. I’d like to read it and I can see this having a bit of a life because there is enough there to carry it forward. I do think the West End beckons. I thought it was really interesting the way it dealt with the effect on the husband of being in a marriage where your wife takes the top off your egg for you. They are, in effect, playing house - like children - and he finds it infantilising. |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 31, 2018 15:33:06 GMT
This play is what it is and I am happy for its success, but I am so longing for the NT to stage a substantial thought-provoking play about women’s lives today (or in the past).
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Post by lynette on Aug 31, 2018 16:33:53 GMT
This play is what it is and I am happy for its success, but I am so longing for the NT to stage a substantial thought-provoking play about women’s lives today (or in the past). Yes, as long as it isn’t written by David Hare or Mike Leigh or the other one..o yes, Bean. Shakespeare has some good plays. And we could do with another production of My Fair Lady 😉 |
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Post by Jon on Aug 31, 2018 17:10:36 GMT
The Dorfman has a strong track record for transfers with Nine Night coming in December, Consent which recently closed at the Harold Pinter, Beginning at the Ambassadors at the beginning of the year to name but a few so it wouldn't be a surprise if Home, I'm Darling ends up transferring next year
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Post by anthony40 on Aug 31, 2018 18:18:47 GMT
Am at tonight’s performance
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Post by anthony40 on Aug 31, 2018 18:29:13 GMT
Update: The Producer has just come out to announce that the lead actor has has an accident and has been rushed to A&E and Rufus Norris is going to stand in #gottalovelivetheatre
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Post by Jon on Aug 31, 2018 18:45:39 GMT
Update: The Producer has just come out to announce that the lead actor has has an accident and has been rushed to A&E and Rufus Norris is going to stand in #gottalovelivetheatre I'm guessing it's Richard Harrington or Barnaby Kay. Does Rufus even have acting experience? |
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Post by anthony40 on Aug 31, 2018 18:53:45 GMT
(I think) Richard Harrington. I will update you. Going in now.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 31, 2018 19:14:13 GMT
Update: The Producer has just come out to announce that the lead actor has has an accident and has been rushed to A&E and Rufus Norris is going to stand in #gottalovelivetheatre I'm guessing it's Richard Harrington or Barnaby Kay. Does Rufus even have acting experience? Wow! Now, I would love to see that. Let us know how it went. |
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Post by anthony40 on Aug 31, 2018 20:20:29 GMT
It’s going okay, except Rufus Norris walking round with a script in hand. Apparently 25 minutes rehearsal time.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 31, 2018 20:56:52 GMT
His acting
Is about as good as his directing
Seriously
Couldn’t they have found someone more credible
Or cancelled the show
This way they can get away without offering refunds
Tight
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Post by anthony40 on Aug 31, 2018 22:55:35 GMT
No Parsley.
And (because it's late and I have to get up early to do overtime tomorrow) in further detail.
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Post by lou105 on Aug 31, 2018 23:23:30 GMT
I thought he did a perfectly serviceable version, and put more detail in than might have been expected. There were a few comical elements when, for example,he didn't know how the fridge opened, or when he had to refer to the script to answer the question How are you feeling. But overall I didn't feel we lost too much, though it's a shame he couldn't be in costume, as it was a little confusing to hear lines about his fifties clothes when he wasn't wearing them. I agree with floorshow above, that the performances outshone the writing in places- the mother's long speech being one. A different experience, anyway! |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 31, 2018 23:41:45 GMT
I thought he did a perfectly serviceable version, and put more detail in than might have been expected. There were a few comical elements when, for example,he didn't know how the fridge opened, or when he had to refer to the script to answer the question How are you feeling. But overall I didn't feel we lost too much, though it's a shame he couldn't be in costume, as it was a little confusing to hear lines about his fifties clothes when he wasn't wearing them. I agree with floorshow above, that the performances outshone the writing in places- the mother's long speech being one. A different experience, anyway! Perfectly serviceable Is hardly what people pay for |
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