587 posts
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Post by Polly1 on May 1, 2019 13:09:54 GMT
The original documentary film, featuring the interviews with Frau Pomsel, will be shown on BBC4 on Monday May 13 at 10pm. Thanks, having seen the play last night, this will certainly be an interesting watch. Perhaps hearing the lines from the woman herself might give us more clues to her mindset. Not that DMS was less than magnificent, of course. I think your response to this might depend on your emotional connection to the war, specifically if like me you had parents who were involved. I found the play very interesting, although it took a while to get engrossed due to horrendous coughing! Dreadful. No phones though, which surprised me as the Bridge sent my ticket to my phone on the day, meaning I had to keep it on until I got into the auditorium and no reminder to switch off, so it doesn't surprise me that there has been problems. Actually the audience was pretty awful and probably the least diverse I've been in for a while. I hope its position doesn't make it just a corporate night out from the City, it is so lovely down by the river and Tower.
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Post by andrew on May 1, 2019 15:14:30 GMT
This seems to be attracting a fairly awful standard of patron, when I was there a week or so ago there were numerous alarms and ringtones going off, a heavy nose-breather to my right, and the most heinous thing of all, someone in the stalls tried to take a photograph and forgot to turn the flash off, so we got a brief addition to the lighting plot for a few seconds.
We talk about this all the time but truly I believe that phones will never be solved in an auditorium. People will always demand to have in their pocket, people will always forget or demand that they be left on during a performance, people will always not give a fig about lighting up in their row when they get a bit bored mid-play.
Dame Maggie was rapturous, I'm intrigued about where the line between her accidentally stumbling/forgetting lines and deliberately stumbling/forgetting lines lies. Really glad to have gone.
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Post by Fleance on May 1, 2019 17:08:23 GMT
The original documentary film, featuring the interviews with Frau Pomsel, will be shown on BBC4 on Monday May 13 at 10pm. I found the play very interesting, although it took a while to get engrossed due to horrendous coughing! Dreadful. No phones though, which surprised me as the Bridge sent my ticket to my phone on the day, meaning I had to keep it on until I got into the auditorium and no reminder to switch off, so it doesn't surprise me that there has been problems. Actually the audience was pretty awful and probably the least diverse I've been in for a while. I hope its position doesn't make it just a corporate night out from the City, it is so lovely down by the river and Tower. The coughing was a problem last night, although it did seem to quiet down after a bit. Amazing performance. I liked the subtle sound cues as well.
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2,389 posts
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Post by peggs on May 1, 2019 21:10:55 GMT
Pre performance a very persistent usher stopping people taking photos of the set, it's copyright apparently. She was very polite but very firm and I asked since we had exchanged your busy tonight type conversation, if I could rely on her being as hot on any phones going off. She said it was a real problem and in general the problem of phone or watch phones not only irritating the audience but very visible to actors and causing issues for lighting cues etc. It was quiet fortunately tonight and an older lady ask me if I could check her phone was off as it was new and she wasn't sure how it worked. I'm choosing to believe she asked me as I looked youngish. DMS just great, it's subtle but captivating. Never thought I'd see her on stage, very glad I have. They sold out of programmes so we're giving out their email address to mail and apparently they'll ring you up to take payment and post, bit of an oversight there, they had to know people would buy them.
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Post by Fleance on May 1, 2019 21:15:03 GMT
They sold out of programmes so we're giving out their email address to mail and apparently they'll ring you up to take payment and post, bit of an oversight there, they had to know people would buy them. I was surprised to see that the programme does not have even the tiniest photo of DMS. But it does have some interesting articles.
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Post by lynette on May 1, 2019 21:19:52 GMT
Me there too tonight. All I can say is Wow! A masterclass. Very interesting material which I was vaguely aware of but given life by this tremendous actress. The Olivier Award right there and every other accolade they can chuck at her.
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Post by peggs on May 1, 2019 21:46:57 GMT
I missed you lynette? Damn. Imagine meeting Lynette and seeing DMS in the same evening.
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Post by lynette on May 1, 2019 21:51:11 GMT
I missed you lynette ? Damn. Imagine meeting Lynette and seeing DMS in the same evening. I was the woman stuffing a big hankie into her mouth three quarters through to stop a cough. In row D 21. Sorry to miss you.
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Post by peggs on May 1, 2019 22:07:14 GMT
I missed you lynette ? Damn. Imagine meeting Lynette and seeing DMS in the same evening. I was the woman stuffing a big hankie into her mouth three quarters through to stop a cough. In row D 21. Sorry to miss you. I was row a and Latecomer bb so that means I must have heard you cough! I do appreciate your cough control, most considerate.
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Post by jamb0r on May 2, 2019 12:40:37 GMT
The Olivier Award right there and every other accolade they can chuck at her. I don't think Bridge Theatre productions are eligible as they aren't a SOLT member (someone please correct me if I am wrong!)
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Post by Rory on May 2, 2019 15:22:17 GMT
The Olivier Award right there and every other accolade they can chuck at her. I don't think Bridge Theatre productions are eligible as they aren't a SOLT member (someone please correct me if I am wrong!) I think you're right on both counts but then again I thought that about the Arts theatre also and it received nominations for Six.
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Post by popcultureboy on May 4, 2019 6:59:16 GMT
I think you're right on both counts but then again I thought that about the Arts theatre also and it received nominations for Six. If the venue isn't a member of SOLT, they can still pay SOLT for a production to be considered if they think it warrants it. The Young Vic did it with their revival of A Doll's House a few years back. I can't imagine The Bridge not sorting eligibility for this, though I also can't imagine that next Saturday will be the last we'll see of it.
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Post by Rory on May 4, 2019 7:34:02 GMT
Interesting. I didn't know they could do that.
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Post by lonlad on May 4, 2019 10:45:52 GMT
Dialogue? What dialogue?? :-)
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Post by theglenbucklaird on May 5, 2019 8:18:21 GMT
What a brilliant actress. So glad we got the chance to watch again on the London stage. Standing ovation last night was thoroughly deserved. What a performance
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Post by poster J on May 5, 2019 22:40:04 GMT
I can only echo what everyone else has said - what a privilege to see a Dame Maggie Smith acting masterclass live.
I agree the play is slight, and I found it rather imbalanced given the lengthy focus on her early life and the compararively brief, almost glossing over, precis of the post-war part, but that may have been deliberate. From a subject perspective, that was disappointing, but from an acting perspective it didn't really matter what the play was, the standard of performance was a privilege to watch.
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Post by orchidman on May 9, 2019 0:40:40 GMT
It's a weak play, and however glad people (myself included) are to see Maggie Smith, I couldn't say it was good theatre.
I don't like knowing too much before I see things and hadn't realised there's a documentary of the actual woman, filmed aged 105. Now, that is a much more promising concept. Firstly because it's not often you see someone aged 105 reflecting on their life. Secondly because that makes her one of the last people alive to have lived through these events. Thirdly to see her in close-up and judge for yourself how much you believe her.
But to see someone else play her removes the main elements that are interesting in the source material. Her life story isn't one of particular note given the many, many fascinating stories from that time. So telling it as a play is probably a bad idea but there are ways to bring it to life, none of which are taken. We just get one actress playing her and a monologue in continuous time. Seriously? This is the best adaptation they could conjure up?
Maggie Smith is captivating for about twenty minutes until you realise it's not really going to go anywhere, beyond that she does as well as anyone could with the material. Sometimes you know you aren't loving something but you can feel you are out of step with the audience (Come From Away recently), but here, I got the feeling a lot of the audience was politely bored.
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Post by bgarde on May 9, 2019 6:09:58 GMT
It's a weak play, and however glad people (myself included) are to see Maggie Smith, I couldn't say it was good theatre. I don't like knowing too much before I see things and hadn't realised there's a documentary of the actual woman, filmed aged 105. Now, that is a much more promising concept. Firstly because it's not often you see someone aged 105 reflecting on their life. Secondly because that makes her one of the last people alive to have lived through these events. Thirdly to see her in close-up and judge for yourself how much you believe her. But to see someone else play her removes the main elements that are interesting in the source material. Her life story isn't one of particular note given the many, many fascinating stories from that time. So telling it as a play is probably a bad idea but there are ways to bring it to life, none of which are taken. We just get one actress playing her and a monologue in continuous time. Seriously? This is the best adaptation they could conjure up? Maggie Smith is captivating for about twenty minutes until you realise it's not really going to go anywhere, beyond that she does as well as anyone could with the material. Sometimes you know you aren't loving something but you can feel you are out of step with the audience (Come From Away recently), but here, I got the feeling a lot of the audience was politely bored. Yes, of course Maggie Smith was so compelling but I definitely had a sense of "is that it?" afterwards.
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Post by lynette on May 9, 2019 14:28:36 GMT
I disagree guys. I 'saw' the action being described very well. I think it was well written and did justice to the performance. The Jewish girl sitting on the wall outside the office where her best friend was signing up to the Nazi Party? Many other details were loud and clear. Astonishing acting and writing that enabled it. One person performances are drama just as much as regular plays.
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Post by jgblunners on May 9, 2019 15:24:07 GMT
Saw this on Tuesday - 5 stars, absolutely incredible performance from Her Royal Highness Maggie. I don't care whether she was acting the forgetfulness or genuinely losing her place, because she was riveting. The material is indeed pretty average, but in her hands it is elevated to a captivating and thought-provoking evening during which a woman in a chair conjures up vivid images of a time and place that is miles away from anything I've ever known. For me, the most intriguing aspect was the ambiguity of whether she genuinely felt guilt-free about the part she played or whether she simply buried the guilt for her own protection. After all, she goes to great lengths to tell us how intelligent and hard-working she was, but then claims that many things simply passed her by because it 'wasn't her place' to know them or because she was simply 'too stupid' to notice. And then there's the whole 'I had no choice' argument, which is another kettle of fish...
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Post by andrew on May 9, 2019 16:24:18 GMT
General warning information for the last few day seats: 4am is the first arrival, by 6.30am your chances are getting very dodgy indeed, probably nil unless the house find a few extra seats. Instead of star ratings, maybe for high profile shows we should say how early we'd be prepared to queue for? 4am is not something I'd be prepared to do...
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Post by Dr Tom on May 10, 2019 7:22:21 GMT
Report from last night. This was a rather fascinating story and I'd be keen to read a fuller account in a book someday.
I've only ever seen Maggie Smith on stage once before, in The Lady from Dubuque. She owned the stage then, as she did for A German Life.
As a play, this is powerful, but slight. I suspect, without a star name attached, it would struggle to attract an audience. But the performance, the mannerisms, the seeming forgotten moments and stumbles, were all masterfully done.
I did get the impression that a lot of the audience didn't really want to be there. I was in the top level, 2nd row, one of the high £15 seats. A bargain! A clear view (there was a rail, but you didn't even need to lean forward due to where Dame Smith was positioned on stage) and much closer than the rear Stalls. Clear sound too (obviously helped by amplification). But, you could see every phone screen lighting and every sneaky photograph being made. And, you could hear every cough.
I heard one gentlemen complaining as he was leaving about the lady next to him continually checking her emails on her watch. It must be a time for announcements to remind people to turn their smartwatches off, just as they do for phones.
My other annoyance is the usual one about the small number of people who decide to laugh loudly at the most inappropriate times. I just can't understand about how hearing about the death of Jews prompts that type of reaction in people.
For one actor to hold my attention for 1 hour 40 minutes without a break is quite a feat. I can't see this production as anything other than deserving of a load of awards.
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Post by d'James on May 10, 2019 10:21:46 GMT
Report from last night. This was a rather fascinating story and I'd be keen to read a fuller account in a book someday. I've only ever seen Maggie Smith on stage once before, in The Lady from Dubuque. She owned the stage then, as she did for A German Life. As a play, this is powerful, but slight. I suspect, without a star name attached, it would struggle to attract an audience. But the performance, the mannerisms, the seeming forgotten moments and stumbles, were all masterfully done. I did get the impression that a lot of the audience didn't really want to be there. I was in the top level, 2nd row, one of the high £15 seats. A bargain! A clear view (there was a rail, but you didn't even need to lean forward due to where Dame Smith was positioned on stage) and much closer than the rear Stalls. Clear sound too (obviously helped by amplification). But, you could see every phone screen lighting and every sneaky photograph being made. And, you could hear every cough. I heard one gentlemen complaining as he was leaving about the lady next to him continually checking her emails on her watch. It must be a time for announcements to remind people to turn their smartwatches off, just as they do for phones. My other annoyance is the usual one about the small number of people who decide to laugh loudly at the most inappropriate times. I just can't understand about how hearing about the death of Jews prompts that type of reaction in people. For one actor to hold my attention for 1 hour 40 minutes without a break is quite a feat. I can't see this production as anything other than deserving of a load of awards. Admittedly I have only had a Smartwatch since Christmas and it’s always on Theatre Mode anyway (yes, that’s a thing). I made an exception for Dame Mags though and switched it off for the first time in a show.
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Post by lynette on May 10, 2019 12:44:34 GMT
Making us laugh at times in this piece is part of the dramatist’s brilliance. It breaks the tension which was tangible I thought and it makes us think. Wry laughter here I thought not a bad thing.
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Post by poster J on May 10, 2019 14:06:21 GMT
Yes, the smart watches were a huge irritant from the second gallery when I was there last week as well! I must have counted about 20 of them!
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Post by londonmzfitz on May 10, 2019 14:30:03 GMT
Saw this Monday evening with my 2 American friends. They wanted to see a Star on a stage – box ticked. I don’t know if the play meant anything to them other than that impressive performance by Dame M. I had mentioned earlier that the forgetfulness was part of the performance, the dithering thing likewise. I hadn’t mentioned the stage creeping forward; pointed it out just as we were leaving, neither had noticed. It is a slight piece but interesting - I'd been to Berlin in February this year, my first visit. Tied in nicely with the information amassed by the performance.
A pretty good audience, I saw a few lights from watches from my Gallery 1 Seat 54 (very comfy, little bar to lean on without disrupting view of Seat 53, excellent view). Most irritating was the staff member sat next to me on the little Staff seat “policing” the audience in her outdoor rustling coat. Leaning forward, leaning back, rustle, rustle, rustle. Before the show started the woman across the aisle had asked if the cold air blower could be turned down as it was blowing full blast and blooming cold! It wasn't ....
And as I put in the survey the Bridge sent to me after the show, there really must be another way of informing people that cameras must not be used rather than the waving of arms, pointing at the attending patron etc prior to "curtain up". Yeah, if you are a regular theatre goer you know, but for the people that don’t go often or are tourists, especially attending a show with a name such as the Dame, it’s inelegant, rude even, to point and gesticulate, with other audience members looking at the inadvertent wrong doer.
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Post by andrew on May 10, 2019 17:17:59 GMT
I hadn’t mentioned the stage creeping forward; pointed it out just as we were leaving, neither had noticed What?! She moves like 15 metres forward?! The set at the back blows slowly apart? They didn't even notice by the end?! I mean did anyone else not notice it? I have a smartwatch, I turn it off for every show. I left it in theatre mode once, and if I'm a bit bored I'll fiddle with my hands, and I brushed the watch once and it lit up. Never again.
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Post by poster J on May 10, 2019 17:54:23 GMT
I hadn’t mentioned the stage creeping forward; pointed it out just as we were leaving, neither had noticed What?! She moves like 15 metres forward?! The set at the back blows slowly apart? They didn't even notice by the end?! I mean did anyone else not notice it? I didn't notice until halfway through the play when the flickering light on the bookshelf momentarily caught my attention. I was focused on Dame Maggie and not what was around her.
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Post by juicy_but_terribly_drab on May 10, 2019 18:02:23 GMT
I hadn’t mentioned the stage creeping forward; pointed it out just as we were leaving, neither had noticed What?! She moves like 15 metres forward?! The set at the back blows slowly apart? They didn't even notice by the end?! I mean did anyone else not notice it? I have a smartwatch, I turn it off for every show. I left it in theatre mode once, and if I'm a bit bored I'll fiddle with my hands, and I brushed the watch once and it lit up. Never again. Went with my mum and she didn't notice either. I think once you're engrossed in her acting you kind of ignore what's happening around her. I noticed because I'd read about it here but I think it's entirely possible if I wasn't looking out for it my brain might have just ignored it.
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Post by andrew on May 10, 2019 20:56:17 GMT
I was focused on Dame Maggie and not what was around her. Am I weird for looking around at the set a few times during a one woman show? I can't stare at one spot for 90 minutes, but maybe it's part of the cursed syndrome of the mobile phone generation. I hadn't read about the set before seeing the show, but I'd noticed a change by about 20 minutes probably. Then I thought it was quite fun. Presumably there were people who watched Maggie slide right past their heads. Imperceptibly slowly. Hopefully they noticed they'd started off facing one way and ended up facing the other!
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