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Post by showgirl on Sept 2, 2018 17:10:46 GMT
But isn't it interesting that the play has actually led to a discussion about serious current issues such as the shortage of affordable housing?
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Post by stevemar on Sept 2, 2018 17:26:24 GMT
I saw this on Saturday, I guess at the same performance as Andrew. Having written all of the comments above, I think we’re on the same page. I enjoyed this a lot - a very real slice of New York/American life, as the family gathers round with all their imperfections, and individual struggles, but getting together with their family traditions, and spending time together. Even though it might seem quite “American”, my party could certainly identify with many of the themes here, and we could see a bit of their/our own families in this play. So, the themes are pretty universal I think. The acting was very good - particularly the mother and all that she had gone through. The rapport and the way in which the family members spoke to each other - certain tensions, history, judgements and speaking over each other were very real. There was much food for thought here - children making their way in the world, their frustrations and parents’ hopes, as well as lack of understanding of something outside their immediate sphere of experience as the kids “go off to the city.” The disappointments of the American dream where hard work can be undone by circumstance (some made by themselves), the difficult relationship between the two parents, and strain of taking care of an elderly relative. There was a lot of comedy too, particularly in the earlier part of the play. I quite liked the “other worldly” feel. I’d agree that the hype re the Tonys might give an unrealistic level of expectation though. 1hour 35m whizzed by, and I think this worked well in one act rather than just adding an interval for bar takings... A very solid 8/10 for me. A sort of spoiler about the ending below, please don’t click if you are seeing the play. {The ending spoiler}
The ending was a little drawn out, but I quite liked that there was no real conclusion, just like life as families just trundle on after each family gathering/Thanksgiving or Christmas. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 2, 2018 17:58:25 GMT
It’s concerning to me People buy and wear utter sh*t from the high street And rent a property instead of buying one And eat in places I wouldn’t take a dog As I have said before It depends on how low you are willing to drop your standards And just reassure yourself This is as good as it gets I'm pleased to hear that you are concerned about people who perhaps have less than you and can only afford high street sh*t or have to rent a property because they are priced out of the market so that they aren't able to buy so I'd be interested to hear what you are doing about that concern P? Are you perhaps campaigning for more affordable housing or to force everyone to pay the national living wage? Are you the bane of your MPs life? Clothes from the High Street can cost a bomb depending on where you shop. Eating junk can be more expensive than cooking from scratch (nail soup anyone?) I’m not sure about the renting vs buying comment as the way things are going - especially in London - most of us soon won’t be able to do either. As for Parsley’s criticisms of plays: I have a sincere wish that Theatre practitioners were smart enough to push writers to do better and to ask them the hard questions before we (and @parsley) do, by which time it is far too late. I agree with @parsley that I have seen too many plays this year where producers seem to have said ok that’ll do or relied on directorial tricks to whip audiences into standing ovations...quite an easy trick when you know how - ask any politician. |
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Post by theatrelover123 on Sept 2, 2018 19:02:27 GMT
But isn't it interesting that the play has actually led to a discussion about serious current issues such as the shortage of affordable housing? No  |
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Post by jadnoop on Sept 2, 2018 19:21:46 GMT
The internet seems to have amplified our opinions to the point where reviewing is practcally a binary thing. Every play is either 'the greatest thing ever' or 'so bad I'd rather crawl across broken glass than watch another second'.
The reality is that theatre, like most things in life, sit on a bell curve. In any typical year, there will be a few future classics, a few true duds, and the vast majority will sit somewhere in the middle. The argument could be made that it's 'letting off' mediocrity to accept the vast majority of plays that are simply 'good' or 'fun' or 'enjoyable' without being 'fantastic'. However, I'm not sure that being overly critical is necessarily a 'better' response. Not least because most of us will, by definition be 'only' average in almost everything we do.
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Post by wiggymess on Sept 2, 2018 21:49:01 GMT
But isn't it interesting that the play has actually led to a discussion about serious current issues such as the shortage of affordable housing? Well it would be if it was the play that led to the discussion, it really wasn't. |
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Post by wiggymess on Sept 2, 2018 21:51:35 GMT
Anyway. I saw the play last night as promised and it was actually alright. Not perfect, but good. I really enjoyed the performances, I enjoyed the sound of the cast talking with each other, over each other, I enjoyed how 'lived in' their performances felt. Real people, a real family, with all their weirdnesses and problems. I won't say too much, but I didn't have any problem with, and quite liked the concept and development regarding the 'noises'. The problem for me with the play was just that there wasn't enough in it to elevate it to the Tony award heights that were advertised, which is essentially what most people on here are saying. If this hadn't been hyped up from it's initial US run, I wonder if the immediate British reception to it would have been slightly more favourable. Even if it isn't the greatest play of the decade, it's a solid bit of modern american writing that I'm quite happy to have wandering into one of our smaller theatres with a great cast for a few months. I'm glad I went. And hence my point Some people want more from life Than “It was alright” Yes and some people don't refuse to enjoy something if it is not absolute perfection. And apparently some people refuse to engage with the idea that anyone should have a different opinion to theirs. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 3, 2018 6:33:34 GMT
The nature of theatre (the spectacle, the aesthetic values) is such that you CAN enjoy something that doesn't quite work, but that doesn't stop one wanting to discuss the flaws or shortcomings of a particular piece. I've enjoyed almost everything I've seen this year (even thoughI thought quite a few were unfinished and needed to be redrafted) and only found one play so tedious that I had to leave at the interval. I wrote briefly about this experience, but usually try not to be too negative, although I am aware that I've been more negative than usual this year. This discussion begs a question about the purpose of this forum. Are we an extended marketing arm of the theatres we frequent, unable to say anything negative for fear of affecting ticket sales or offending Rufus Norris? Or are we allowed to say whatever we want and in whatever way we choose to do so, knowing that our views are our own and that others are able to make up their own minds? This forum alerts me to interesting productions - although I find that there isn't enough information about Off-West End theatres as we tend to focus on the mainstream. I don't make my choices about what I see based on other people's reviews.
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Post by oldstager on Sept 3, 2018 21:03:03 GMT
I am rather shocked by the negative reaction to this play here. I loved it. The writing is beautiful and the acting is sublime. I laughed and I cried and 90 minutes flew by. Yes, the specifics are American but the general theme is international - the way many (probably the majority) of families function - the heartbreaking ways we screw up our kids lives with only the best of intentions - the devastating way our children have to make their own mistakes as we look on helplessly. And, of course, so many other topics and themes are touched on and treated with humour and sadness and despair. This little play will stay with me for a long time I know. And the majority of tonight's Hampstead audience seemed to tune in to the style very quickly and laughed and reacted vociferously. The cast were visibly delighted by the warm and vocally appreciative reception at curtain call. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 3, 2018 21:52:06 GMT
I am rather shocked by the negative reaction to this play here. I loved it. The writing is beautiful and the acting is sublime. I laughed and I cried and 90 minutes flew by. Yes, the specifics are American but the general theme is international - the way many (probably the majority) of families function - the heartbreaking ways we screw up our kids lives with only the best of intentions - the devastating way our children have to make their own mistakes as we look on helplessly. And, of course, so many other topics and themes are touched on and treated with humour and sadness and despair. This little play will stay with me for a long time I know. And the majority of tonight's Hampstead audience seemed to tune in to the style very quickly and laughed and reacted vociferously. The cast were visibly delighted by the warm and vocally appreciative reception at curtain call. My issue was The entire family are failures And no one had achieved anything I felt embarrassed to have to watch such awful people portrayed Sitting round a plastic table In a sh*t hole Eating food off paper plates The family had little to be shouting about Perhaps if there was even one positive role model Or a character who wasn’t emotionally stunted I might have been more generous |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 3, 2018 21:55:13 GMT
I am rather shocked by the negative reaction to this play here. I loved it. The writing is beautiful and the acting is sublime. I laughed and I cried and 90 minutes flew by. Yes, the specifics are American but the general theme is international - the way many (probably the majority) of families function - the heartbreaking ways we screw up our kids lives with only the best of intentions - the devastating way our children have to make their own mistakes as we look on helplessly. And, of course, so many other topics and themes are touched on and treated with humour and sadness and despair. This little play will stay with me for a long time I know. And the majority of tonight's Hampstead audience seemed to tune in to the style very quickly and laughed and reacted vociferously. The cast were visibly delighted by the warm and vocally appreciative reception at curtain call. You are easily shocked perhaps?? |
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Post by stevemar on Sept 3, 2018 22:00:24 GMT
I am rather shocked by the negative reaction to this play here. I loved it. The writing is beautiful and the acting is sublime. I laughed and I cried and 90 minutes flew by.
Old Stager - nothing shocks me about the views here! I just checked back to the start of this thread, and there have been 2 negative reviews and 4 positive ones. It’s just that the negative ones (well one in particular!) get amplified a bit more...😇 |
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Post by stevemar on Sept 3, 2018 22:08:03 GMT
The entire family are failures And no one had achieved anything I felt embarrassed to have to watch such awful people portrayed Sitting round a plastic table In a sh*t hole Eating food off paper plates The family had little to be shouting about Perhaps if there was even one positive role model Or a character who wasn’t emotionally stunted I might have been more generous I’m sorry you felt embarrassed watching this Parsley. It’s true that if they had all been successful, it wouldn’t have been so interesting! Yes, the flat (duplex, don’t you know) was not great, but hey, people do live like this. The makeshift nature of the paper plates and cutlery certainly wouldn’t have been how many of us would wish to serve a Thanksgiving Dinner, but hey, the family were together, they had a lot of love and care for each other and that was worth celebrating. There were three generations together. Life isn’t perfect, far from it. Nothing embarrassing about that for me. |
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Post by daisy24601 on Sept 4, 2018 21:47:51 GMT
I saw this tonight and did enjoy it, although when something's this glum I don't tend to enjoy it 100%. The main thing I can is the acting was incredible. Every character felt very real and not cliched. The end was a bit dragged out and I may be a bit dense but I didn't really get it. {Spoiler - click to view} When the lights all went off a woman near me said quite loudly "Is that the end?"  |
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Post by nash16 on Sept 5, 2018 0:37:46 GMT
This is a dramatically dull play, but with excellent acting.
(Just to balance).
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Post by Deleted on Sept 5, 2018 15:02:08 GMT
I saw this tonight and did enjoy it, although when something's this glum I don't tend to enjoy it 100%. The main thing I can is the acting was incredible. Every character felt very real and not cliched. The end was a bit dragged out and I may be a bit dense but I didn't really get it. {Spoiler - click to view} When the lights all went off a woman near me said quite loudly "Is that the end?" I wasn’t going to see this so clicked on your spoiler and now I am intrigued. Contemplating buying a ticket. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 5, 2018 15:37:15 GMT
Everyone, please refrain from personal attacks.
The title of this thread is "The Humans". Treat others like that's what they are.
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Post by sherriebythesea on Sept 5, 2018 16:39:23 GMT
This sounds fantastic. I wish it was still going to be playing when I'm in town.
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Post by nialld on Sept 5, 2018 21:14:36 GMT
Well I personally thought this was outstanding. Can't remember the last time I saw a piece of theatre that felt so real and alive. It's quiet and there's not a whole lot in terms of drama but I was completely captivated throughout, the performances were just phenomenal and the relationships between each character so wonderfully crafted. A lot of it personally resonated with me which made it on the whole more poignant. I'd go as far as to say it's my favourite piece of theatre I've seen this year so far.
Seemed to get a positive reaction from the audience tonight, with lots of laughing at the right places and positive conversations upon exit.
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Sept 5, 2018 21:35:41 GMT
Posts removed. Please could you focus comments on the play rather than on other members, past or present. Thanks.
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Post by Mark on Sept 7, 2018 20:31:37 GMT
I really wasn’t taken by this. For a Tony winning play I had much higher expectations. The first 45 minutes or so just dragged along for me, and towards the end I thought it did pick up but could never quite build enough momentum and then the ending it just flaked out.
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Post by jadnoop on Sept 10, 2018 22:04:39 GMT
In many ways this reminded me of Annie Baker's The Flick at the National a couple of years ago. Both were very American plays with precise, but naturalistic dialogue, wonderful acting, and beautifully realised sets that were somehow simultaneously both completely real and yet surprisingly stylised.
Unfortunately however, for me that's where the similarities end.
Despite being slow, deliberate and 3 hours long, The Flick was masterful and held my attention the entire time. Despite feeling 'true' there was a wonderful arc to the story as well as for each of the characters, and the story made for interesting commentary on modern life. In contrast, despite often speaking at break-neck pace, overlapping and intercutting dialogue, The Humans' 90 minutes felt ponderous. Despite the apparent pace, much of the story seemed to meander aimlessly and didn't really grab my attention. The 'big' character moments felt forced, and by the time the largely unsurprising revelation occurs I simply didn't care enough about the characters.
This was a play I really wanted (and expected) to love. There were a couple of great moments, such as the beautiful & eerie lighting of a spiral staircase in the darkness, but in the end it really wasn't for me.
Having said that, I seemed to be in the minority, with lots of laughter and tears from audience members nearby, and a fair few giving a standing ovation.
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Post by squidward on Sept 11, 2018 0:38:34 GMT
I’m in the ‘disappointed and not sure what all the fuss is about’ camp.
Superb acting from most of the cast ( I wasn’t taken with the boyfriend). Thinly drawn characters, some great lines but it didn’t actually amount to much for me by the end.
It had the feel of a devised piece that needed a much tighter structure. Quite a few of the events in the play didn’t ring true and the very end was completely perplexing ( and not in a good way).
Other people have made comparisons with August Osage County which for me had everything that this play lacked.
It’s very hard to care about characters who we learn very little about (the biggest case of this being the daughter who has moved into the new flat).
At the start I thought it was going to be a great, witty observational drama about the various challenges, both practical and existential,faced by several generations of a family. By the end it seemed to have morphed into a cross between a soap opera and a horror film.
I’m absolutely baffled by how lauded this production has been. Perhaps the respect afforded to The Steppenwolf Theatre company name is enough to guarantee 5 star reviews even if some of the productions are under cooked.
Performances aside, this was a big case of Emperor’s New Clothes for me.
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Post by n1david on Sept 12, 2018 12:04:37 GMT
Seeing this last night, a quintessentially New York play on the anniversary of 9/11 perhaps gave it an extra resonance, but I mostly enjoyed this. Some mild spoilers follow, but no significant plot points. I agree with jadnoop 's comparison of this to The Flick (which I too thought was wonderful), in that the drama of this is small drama, but the joy is in the phenomenal acting - obviously these actors have been playing these roles for a long time but I really believed that these characters were sisters, and the challenges of Rich integrating with this difficult, flawed family. So for a long time I sat back and enjoyed watching the interactions, wondering when it would add up to a greater truth. ...and it never really did for me. I thought the last 20 minutes or so were strange and unsatisfying, in an attempt, perhaps, to give some stage presence to impending doom, whereas I would have enjoyed it more should the family's conversations continue, even if they ended up petering out - this would, oddly, have felt more satisfying than the intensifying psuedo-supernatural effects. Ultimately, I think it's worth seeing for the great writing and superb acting for about 80% of the play. The last 20 minutes or so really let it down for me. |
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Post by tmesis on Sept 15, 2018 18:13:21 GMT
I was at the matinee today. I tend to agree with the majority of views here; a good play, with some immaculate performances but definitely falls short of greatness.
Jayne Houdyshell as the mother is superb.
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