When We Have Sufficiently Tortured Each Other (NT)

Not had an email yet either way

I was unsuccessful but my theatre buddy was successful! She seems to have the ballot luck. So we’ll give it a go I suppose just to see what the fuss is about.

I’ve sent an email to the NT suggesting that some understudy performances would be a way of ameliorating the problems of access that they are having.

Not much use to me as the only days I can make are already scheduled but it would help others.

Most people here, I think, are savvy enough to know if Crimp/Mitchell are their sort of thing and it would give people interested in the play* and director a chance to maintain that interest.

* Twitter commenters referring to ‘the Cate Blanchett play’ being particularly irksome, it’s a Martin Crimp play! Nobody went on about Hamlet being the Andrew Scott/Benedict Cumberbatch play did they?

Hamlet is usually referred to as the leading actor's play. Shakespeare probably big enough not to mind.

It isn't, and it's really annoying for a national theatre subsidised by the nation, not just those within an easy/cheap commute.

Mosquitoes sold out in minutes and wasn't, despite rave reviews and national-treasure-future-dame Olivia Colman, though I was told by someone who worked on it that this was possibly because it was a US co-producion or something.

How will this work with returns?

Will they be relisted on The National ticket portal as with other productions?

Will be interesting to see how winning the ballot translates to actual purchases.

A lot of people will only be interested in a limited number of dates and also very easy to enter a ballot, another thing to get the Credit Card out.

Assume this will have been taken into account and is already over subscribed.

You aren’t taking into account the crazy blanchett fans coming from home and even abroad to try to get daily tickets .
they won’t care about reviews .
who do you think crashed the website as soon the registration ballot went live ?? Lol 

Your post is ridiculous

There are less than 20 000 tickets

(Bear in mind the Spice Girls
Sold over 650 000 tickets for their reunion tour in less than a week)

For the NT debut

Of an actress

Who has been nominated for

7 Oscars
7 BAFTAs
9 Golden Globes

She is a major fashion icon

And has rarely appeared on the UK stage

For people
To have interest in such a major player within the arts
Is hardly obsessed

And I think you are probably a film “buff”
In the most amateur sense




Second to Meryl Streep

Cate Blanchett is the second most Oscar nominated actress for her acting roles who is still alive

The same number as Judi Dench
Who is much her senior

4 of her nominations have been for
Best actress

“Not
Regarded as one of
The greats”

🤣🤣🤣


She has had more nominations

Than the likes
Of

Maggie Smith
Jane Fonda
Glenn Close
Audrey Hepburn
Elizabeth Taylor
Jessica Lange

There is more to life than the Oscars

But that many nominations

Isn’t something that can simply be ignored

Actually I think what's ridiculous is a major, publicly-subsidised, supposedly "national" theatre behaving in this way. I'm sure it's great publicity for the NT but it was bad enough when they whipped up such a fever about Bryan Cranston and Network - which imo wasn't entirely worth the fuss.

I'm sure the NT doesn't care what I think - indeed, they showed that by refusing even to consider my suggestions for tweaks to the new season booking arrangements when I complained for the third time about the dire user experience - so they're hardly going to listen to a (now) ex-member if I raise this with them.

But is this the way we want the NT to go, and should it even be able to go down this route? Unless there is a huge commercial gain (which would still clearly be at the cost of annoying a lot of existing patrons, members or not), what justification is there?

Furthermore, I'll say again that I'd really rather not have "names" either dominating a production or the audience. Yes, it's great knowing that cast members have done good work in the past but the better-known and more recognisable actors are, the harder it is to suspend disbelief, and as for the prospect of fans possibly not observing theatre etiquette - well, the combination is enough to put me right off.

Yes, as I think I've whinged previously on this thread, you can either hang on to artistic integrity by doing the show in a small theatre, or cast a big name star, but not both. I would have booked for Crimp + Mitchell, but now can't because of Blanchett.

I’m fairly confident that the vast majority of people who booked just to see Blanchett will hate it