255 posts
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Post by grannyjx6 on Mar 14, 2020 23:33:44 GMT
I saw this last week with about a thousand school kids who whispered/talked all through the first half and unwrapped sweets when not talking. They were much better in the second half, but maybe because they had fallen asleep. I found it very drawn out, although the ‘tree’ and the monster where very impressive.
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3,054 posts
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Post by Dr Tom on Jun 7, 2020 22:53:17 GMT
Haven’t seen the film or read the book and I missed this at the Old Vic. Something about the way this was billed at the time didn’t really appeal to me. Watched the archive recording tonight and thought this was very good, if a bit over-stylised in parts. Very Curious Incident in feel (or at least that’s how it came across on the recording) although I’m not convinced this will have quite the same long-term success. Disappointed now I didn’t see this in the theatre, although at least I escaped what seemed like a load of sudden loud noises (not something I enjoy). I did find the ending moving.
I think the tour had just started before the theatre shut down. They’d changed the ethnicity of many of the lead roles for the tour. Looks like it the remaining tour dates were unfortunately cancelled. The official website is suspended which is never a good sign. A shame for all involved and I would have made an effort to see this live on the strength of the recording.
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Post by originalconceptlive on Jun 8, 2020 8:56:05 GMT
I watched the stream the other day. It's fantastic to be able to watch a recording of this show at all, much less for free. The use of ropes in the staging was very creative, and the adult actors played the child characters well, along with managing some athletic feats with those ropes. But after all the build up, I found that Connor's final revelation didn't get to me in the way that it was meant to. It's possibly my own fault for not doing research beforehand and understanding that this story is about a child's journey, and so a stunning realisation for them may not be a new insight for me. But it felt as though there wasn't much else going on in the play, other than building up to that one moment. I also lost a bit of sympathy for Connor when... {Spoiler - click to view} he broke the other boy's arm and nose. Even if the other boy was a bully and Connor was dealing with trauma, it was a bit much. Especially as the bullying we'd seen earlier, nasty though it was, hadn't looked all that extreme. It felt weird that this other boy's injuries were just used as a stepping stone for our protagonist's journey of self-discovery about something else. Maybe it would have helped if, at some point, Connor had specifically acknowledged "the monster is me" or "it wasn't the monster who did it, it was me".
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5,262 posts
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Post by mrbarnaby on Jun 12, 2020 8:16:55 GMT
I found this very disappointing. Didn’t warm to the performances at all and the tree didn’t work for me, perhaps because the actor has no gravitas.
I’m glad I didn’t pay to see it. BUT it’s wonderful that it’s being made available like this.
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