When We Have Sufficiently Tortured Each Other (NT)

I'm the last person to buy into this self-righteous "[insert typically middle class art form] is for everyone" bollocks (which I suspect is 90% about PR and marketing) but hey, at least they seemed engrossed by Cate Blanchett and didn't talk and get their phones out once it started. To be honest it seemed that the overwhelming majority were there just to see her anyway, so I doubt you would have got a hardcore Martin Crimp fan in their place.

For the ones there to see Cate, they definitely see Cate, her performance on stage is astounding to behold, the rawness and uninhibited portrayal of woman is awe inspiring, her character changes in an instant as she traverses the multiple personalities along the continium between the male and female persona.

Not really seen much of her film work and therefore didn’t have any expectations and can now fully understand why she is such a draw when she treads the boards.

Whether her fans appreciate the play is another matter, at least they will have had an opportunity to see something different which may pique their interest in seeing something similar and the perplexion when listening to the conversations on the way out is very interesting as they try to make sense of what they saw.

Found the gift giving at the end a bit cringeworthy and could see she wasn’t particularly thrilled having given her all over the previous two hours but should be expected as an a-lister who is the primary reason her devoted fans booked.

And The One Show is the poorer for it. 

Indeed. Can you imagine it though?

Alex: "On tonight's show, living with dementia. We speak to families caring for a loved one as they deal with the disease followed by Jack Bridges, the only living survivor of the Boer War on his recollections of life at war".

Matt: "And before a live performance by Jane McDonald and the cast of 'Waitress', currently playing in London's glitzy West End, we talk dildos with Cate Blanchett and Alex and I will be trying a few out live on the show later".

Alex: "But first, are you getting the best deal from your electricity supplier?"

People used to do it in theatre though, didn't they? At least that's the impression I get from old movies.

Clearly, the language barrier will have led to misunderstandings about the nature of the play for the non-English speaking attendees. Those who do speak English have less of an excuse, though. It's not as though it was tucked away on the website because it was emblazoned across the press both when tickets went on sale and when performances started. From the perspective of the audience I was in, they were very much with the play however, although this may be because it was an extra performance so people were booking with a very good understanding of what they were booking for. Those who returned tickets would probably, on the whole, have done the right thing as they realised they had made a mistake. Those who just turned up, hadn't registered what was being said and didn't get what they were wanting only have themselves to blame. Caveat emptor. All in all, apart from the asinine way that the NT made it appear exclusive, the audience was there for the diverse reasons that it always is.

I'm pleased that a fair number (increasingly in evidence on here) will have had a good experience of something previously outside their usual theatregoing. Obviously, there are those who tried it out and didn't get anything out of it but that's the nature of art, there is no guarantee.

One small part of the audience is a group that always annoys me, however. The ones who blame everyone except themselves for them not enjoying it. You read about it, you book the tickets, you make the decisions. In future, make better choices and if you keep seeing things you dislike then maybe you need to realise that you are the problem. As I say, a small part of any audience but a frustratingly voluble part.

No I see your point on that- when it's balloted. I see cheating the system by two friends buddying up and taking one another as 'fair game' I suppose, as they're not taking up additional allocation. But it does seem unfair/poor manners.


*I say this with full disclosure that I *did* cheat the NT's rules for Angels tickets...

I mean this was my reasoning. 'I KNOW PEOPLE' was my other...

I don't - my issue is more with people who go half-heartedly because the money's no object and it's something to say you've seen and hated at your next dinner party. I think the couple to the left of me fell into that bracket (he asleep, her rooting noisily in her bag all the time), frustrating when you can see ticketless people on social media or craning from the upper gallery who would clearly love to be sitting where they were.

Related to that, I don't think any of the £15 seats at the NT should be put on sale until public booking opens.

A hair raising experience?

I'm curious, but it is frustrating to see theatres using the existence of these tickets as a symbol of greater accessibility when in reality they are probably mostly snapped up in advance by those with pockets deep enough to afford membership, which in the higher tiers for this and other theatres is pretty high.