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Post by Dawnstar on Jan 14, 2020 11:40:02 GMT
I saw it last night and while I enjoyed it, it was a little bit hit and miss, which is odd for a show that's been in development for a good long while now. I did wonder if there was a darker ending originally {Spoiler - click to view}considering the backstory of the contested will, the dead doves being heirs, the mother being sawn in half, the half sisters repeatedly attacked by a bear. I was expecting them to reveal Henry Shields was bumping them off deliberately. The happy ending felt a bit tacked on at the end.
Originally, when they tried out material as part of the Mischief Movie Night tour 18 months ago, there wasn't a backstory & none of the other characters possibly related to Henry S's character existed. Could anyone who saw the try-out at the Lowry confirm what the ending was like there? i absolutely agree about Nancy Z too who was criminally underused in Magic Goes Wrong. I wonder if they had difficulties deciding how to use Bryony & Nancy in the show? Given that in the try-outs 18 months ago (which Nancy didn't do due to being on maternity leave) Bryony played a completely different character & in the Children in Need appearance Nancy played a completely different character. |
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Jan 14, 2020 15:34:41 GMT
Anyone going to see Charlie Russell’s improv thing at the Boulevard?
I wonder if we’ll start to see the core team members increasingly doing more outside of Mischief.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 20, 2020 10:39:50 GMT
Extending until 30th August. Does that mean there won’t be a third show?
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Post by djdan14 on Jan 20, 2020 10:39:59 GMT
Extended through to August 30th
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Post by Deleted on Jan 20, 2020 10:41:13 GMT
Extended through to August 30th Jinx |
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Post by marob on Jan 21, 2020 16:44:29 GMT
Can't help feeling a little bit disappointed by this news if it means that we're not getting a third show. Makes the residency seem a little bit of a missed opportunity.
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Post by properjob on Jan 21, 2020 18:10:27 GMT
I wonder when they knew they were getting the TV series? Six half hours of TV must have used up a lot of potential ideas and writing time that they might have been hopeing to spend on a third show.
I get the impression that they have had the central concepts for Groan ups and Magic goes wrong for quite a while but I don't think there have been any whisper at of what if anything they were thinking of for a third show.
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Post by Dawnstar on Jan 21, 2020 20:05:49 GMT
I'd rather they stuck with 2 shows than try to write a third. "Groan Ups" really split the audience - and for those who didn't like it, caused a fair amount of reputation tarnish, I fear. Certainly I know a few who didn't want to see MGW on the strength of it. Now MGW has proved competent if not quite up there with the other "Goes Wrong" plays, I think giving them months to work on it is a good idea. Who knows, come August they may have something so good they extend again and again, which would give the season a real significance, perhaps. I can imagine MGW extending again, if ticket sales continue to be good, but whether they do significant work on it between now & August seems more doubtful. It surely must be more or less locked in for most of the key scenes because of the magic equipment available. I find it hard to envisage it going though all the re-writes that TCAABR did. Whereas with MGW the acts that survived from the original try-outs - the Mind Mangler & the doves - hadn't been much changed in the intervening 18 months. |
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Post by gregsp on Jan 21, 2020 20:43:25 GMT
Another thing about MGW is that, due to its nature, it will be more difficult to replace the performers, as it's not as simple as recasting for a play.
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Post by properjob on Jan 21, 2020 22:27:06 GMT
With high profile US involvement in Penn and Teller there must be some thoughts about taking it to Broadway. Especially as it is in many ways similar to "Play goes that wrong" which I believe did well on Broadway.
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Post by mortal on Jan 22, 2020 11:37:08 GMT
Booked for March. Can anyone confirm the running time? Have seen various times from 2hrs to 2hrs40min
Thanks
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Post by Dawnstar on Jan 24, 2020 18:33:58 GMT
The video linked to in this tweet answers some of the questions that people have raised previously on this thread.
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Post by lonlad on Jan 26, 2020 23:04:03 GMT
Two understudies tonight, for Henry Shields and also Bryony, both of whom were fine. The "play" itself barely exists but the audience seemed to eat it up and it looked full on all levels. What happened to Charlie Russell?
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Post by harry on Jan 28, 2020 10:54:11 GMT
Classic 'fraidy-cat question but is anyone able to give me a quick rundown of loud noises/pyrotechincs/things likely to make me jump in spoiler tags so I can go prepared/relax into it a bit more? Thanks!
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Post by Dawnstar on Feb 1, 2020 23:21:25 GMT
I saw this for a 2nd time tonight. I enjoyed it more this time, knowing what to expect. I still dislike the end of Act 1 - and it didn't help that, thinking the sawing in half was finished, I opened my eyes only to see Bryony Corrigan throwing up right in front of me, which I don't remember from the 1st preview - but apart from that I found most of the rest of it enjoyable to varying degrees. Probably having lower expectations helps.
I was very pleased when I got to the theatre to find that the two understudies I most wanted to see (because of seeing them in other Mischief shows) were both on: Laurence Pears as Sophisticato & Natasha Culley making her debut as Bar. I though Laurence was terrific, but I was expecting him to be as he was in all his previous Mischief roles & this one suits him. Natasha made a great debut & I certainly wouldn't have known it was her first show from her performance.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 2, 2020 20:01:11 GMT
I’d like to maximise my chances of seeing the core Mischief cast for this one - especially given the prices! I think someone mentioned the extension would mean a cast change - if so, does anyone know roughly when that will happen?
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Post by Dawnstar on Feb 2, 2020 21:15:33 GMT
I’d like to maximise my chances of seeing the core Mischief cast for this one - especially given the prices! I think someone mentioned the extension would mean a cast change - if so, does anyone know roughly when that will happen? I was told by Jonathan Sayer at the stage door last night that, while it has yet to be finalised, changes in the cast could start happening as soon as April. It sounded as though the cast might change gradually rather than all the original cast finishing at once (although this was once mooted for I think it was TCAABR then didn't happen so whether it will actually happen this time is another matter). |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 2, 2020 21:23:14 GMT
Thanks Dawnstar, Feb is a busy month so I’ll probably aim for March in that case...
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Post by Dawnstar on Feb 7, 2020 12:17:48 GMT
They have now tweeted all the leaving dates. It's not the order I was rather expecting them to leave in!
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Post by Dawnstar on Feb 7, 2020 13:18:09 GMT
Are they actually going to leave... or just disappear... Hopefully just the former, as I for one am hoping that at some point the originally-promised 3rd show may eventually materialise. |
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Post by gregsp on Feb 9, 2020 17:28:45 GMT
On the way home after seeing it again (a birthday present!).
It was... fine.
Better than the first time I saw it (which was admittedly early in the run), but that's more due to the performances than the content.
Henry Lewis was given a bit more room to improvise and work the audience, and the guy standing in for Jonathan Sayer was actually an improvement.
But it's just... fine - and I can't see how it can ever be better than that without massive changes.
Still not enough Nancy .
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Post by Dawnstar on Feb 9, 2020 17:50:52 GMT
the guy standing in for Jonathan Sayer was actually an improvement. But it's just... fine - and I can't see how it can ever be better than that without massive changes. Was that Sydney Smith? If so then that's good to hear that he's good in the role, given he'll be taking over in April. (I would expect him to be good, given his previous Mischief experience.)
I agree, and I don't see them making massive changes given the constaints of the magic acts. Oh and that it's selling very well as it is!
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Post by theatreliker on Feb 9, 2020 19:43:39 GMT
Love Mischief Theatre. This feels very different to their other pieces, perhaps not as strong because of it. Some nice bits of magic and comedy, and audience interaction.
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Post by talkingheads on Feb 16, 2020 10:48:49 GMT
Does anybody know what the view is like from the side box? It's quite reasonably priced at £45 but then is spending the extra seven quid and getting 4th or 5th row stalls actually better?
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Post by zahidf on Feb 16, 2020 13:45:21 GMT
Any day seats for this?
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