2,543 posts
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Post by n1david on Apr 2, 2019 10:25:25 GMT
The Park Theatre has some seriously impressive friends! A whodunnit featuring the voices of Ian McKellen and Judi Dench, and the lead will be played by a different actor every night, who will get their lines fed to them via an earpiece. Guest actors will include: Gillian Anderson, John Bishop, Jim Broadbent, Ronan Keating, Damian Lewis, Maureen Lipman, Joanna Lumley, Meera Syal, Catherine Tate, Ruby Wax, Tim Vine and more 15 - 27 July and then at the Edinburgh Fringe. Fundraiser for the Park so pricier than usual, £44-85, and the chance to enter a ballot for £10 to play "a small (but vital) speaking role". www.parktheatre.co.uk/whats-on/whodunnit-unrehearsed
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Post by oxfordsimon on Apr 2, 2019 10:26:27 GMT
How in any real sense of the word is Ronan Keating considered an actor???
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2,543 posts
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Post by n1david on Apr 2, 2019 10:27:36 GMT
Well he was in "Once", wasn't he? But I agree, if I get him I'm going to be rather disappointed...
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Post by Deleted on Apr 2, 2019 10:32:39 GMT
Bit more worried about the idea of Tim Vine as an actor personally, even though I like him enormously.
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2,543 posts
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Post by n1david on Apr 2, 2019 10:38:30 GMT
To be fair, given that they have no idea of the plot beforehand and will only be repeating lines fed to them through an earpiece, I'm not sure how much "acting" any of them will be able to do.
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395 posts
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Post by Distant Dreamer... on Apr 2, 2019 10:44:15 GMT
Could be rather random!!
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Post by orchidman on Apr 2, 2019 11:46:11 GMT
A murder mystery spoof, just what the world needs.
Feels like they didn't want to price the nights differently based on the relative pull of the stars, so are hoping the audience will take pot luck. But at those prices, and an unknown property in terms of the play, not a chance.
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Post by MrsCondomine on Apr 2, 2019 14:53:54 GMT
This is exactly the sort of idiotic stuff I LOVE.
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Post by talkingheads on Apr 2, 2019 14:59:00 GMT
I adore stuff like this, but too pricey for me I'm afraid. I'm at the Edinburgh Fringe this year though so will try to catch it there.
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5,597 posts
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Post by lynette on Apr 2, 2019 15:38:39 GMT
Sounds jolly. Do you think they got the idea from a very successful and now international hit play now on in the West End? Nah, totally original.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 2, 2019 21:07:02 GMT
Thought this was going to be linked to the marvellous tv series which was chaired by Edward Woodward and then my all time hero,Jon Pertwee on ITV many moons ago.Bought the complete box set recently.
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1,848 posts
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Post by NeilVHughes on Apr 3, 2019 11:45:11 GMT
The likelihood that the actor combination I want to see will be on a different night to the one I booked for and makes not booking the logical decision, as in both instances the outcome will be the same, I will not have seen the productions I wanted.
I’m sure all the actor combinations will work but the initial disappointment when the actor(s) aren’t the ones you wanted will be tough to dissipate during and impact your enjoyment of the evening.
In a similar scenario for Dear Elisabeth at the Gate earlier this year, Jade Anouka and Jonjo O’Neill the combination I would have wanted to see were there for the Press Night and it is likely the best combination will be reserved for the Press Night at the Park as well i.e. the names that piqued your interest in the endeavour.
Will monitor ticket sales and leave booking if I do until after the Press Night, the Park are on a hiding to nothing as revealing the actors beforehand would impact the booking pattern and the corollary is also most probably true.
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Post by talkingheads on Apr 4, 2019 8:45:35 GMT
Sounds jolly. Do you think they got the idea from a very successful and now international hit play now on in the West End? Nah, totally original. Also it's pretty much exactly a copy of the TV sitcom Murder in Successville
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3,078 posts
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Post by Dr Tom on Apr 4, 2019 12:36:39 GMT
Bit more worried about the idea of Tim Vine as an actor personally, even though I like him enormously. You have obviously never seen "Tim Vine Travels In Time"!
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Post by talkingheads on Apr 4, 2019 17:49:46 GMT
Bit more worried about the idea of Tim Vine as an actor personally, even though I like him enormously. You have obviously never seen "Tim Vine Travels In Time"! I was in the studio audience for the pilot of that and it was genuinely one of the most fun nights out I've had. Apart from sitting through take after take of the same puns! Tim entertained us with the rest of his act all evening between takes.
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Post by westendgurl on Jul 15, 2019 10:49:41 GMT
Did anyone try for standing tickets for today's show? I'm wondering whether to try later this week and wondered if it was an easy process.
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5,597 posts
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Post by lynette on Jul 15, 2019 10:54:31 GMT
Going on Saturday and my worry is that I wont recognise the surprise celeb. Or even worse than I will just about but have to whisper to OH who he/she is...I don’t watch the soaps and I’m not up with the actors in all the musicals..should I be worried do you think? Other than that I’m up for a good farce whoever is in it.
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Post by zahidf on Jul 15, 2019 12:36:34 GMT
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Post by l0islane on Jul 16, 2019 12:29:26 GMT
I got standing tickets to this last night (they sold out in seconds and we were told there will only be 6 - 8 standing tickets per performance (the staff seem very confused about the standing tickets, we were told so many different things from they're available by phone only, only 1 per person, to they're available online and by phone and you can buy as many as you want- so who knows?!)). The play itself is a lot of fun when the 'mystery actor' is onstage (it was Jim Broadbent last night) but it drags a bit when they aren't. All in all a fun evening. I'll be going again tonight because I'm trying to catch the performance with Gillian Anderson, if anyone can help a girl out with any insider info on dates pleeeease do because I really don't want to sit through it a crazy amount of times and if I don't have to it will free up day seats for others!
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200 posts
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Post by l0islane on Jul 16, 2019 12:32:02 GMT
Going on Saturday and my worry is that I wont recognise the surprise celeb. Or even worse than I will just about but have to whisper to OH who he/she is...I don’t watch the soaps and I’m not up with the actors in all the musicals..should I be worried do you think? Other than that I’m up for a good farce whoever is in it. I wouldn't worry, whoever it is the fun comes from the actor being completely unprepared on stage and having to improvise/figure out the plot etc. Even if you don't know who they are the concept itself is amusing.
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Post by westendgurl on Jul 16, 2019 12:44:03 GMT
My friend and I tried for tickets this morning but didn't get them - I don't think I'd realised people would be willing to go to all of the shows to see their favorite! I'll try again later in the week but not sure I hold out much hope if there are so few spots available.
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Post by westendgurl on Jul 17, 2019 10:37:45 GMT
Anyone who's won standing tickets - is it best to phone, try online or just not bother?!
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5,597 posts
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Post by lynette on Jul 17, 2019 10:50:51 GMT
I received the invitation to be in the ballot for a chance to be in it and say a line. Aaagh I know how some of you would love that but I declined. 😳
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Post by l0islane on Jul 17, 2019 13:12:11 GMT
Anyone who's won standing tickets - is it best to phone, try online or just not bother?! There is no advantage to ringing, they only have access to the same website that you do, there isn't a separate booking system they have access to (from what we've been told). Getting standing tickets to the weekday matinees isn't very difficult, the evenings are tough.
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200 posts
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Post by l0islane on Jul 17, 2019 13:12:43 GMT
I received the invitation to be in the ballot for a chance to be in it and say a line. Aaagh I know how some of you would love that but I declined. 😳 It's way more than a line!!
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Post by westendgurl on Jul 17, 2019 14:17:20 GMT
Anyone who's won standing tickets - is it best to phone, try online or just not bother?! There is no advantage to ringing, they only have access to the same website that you do, there isn't a separate booking system they have access to (from what we've been told). Getting standing tickets to the weekday matinees isn't very difficult, the evenings are tough. Thanks, yes I didn't get them today either! Unfortunately I can only do evenings, so will continue to fight it out and hope for the best.
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5,597 posts
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Post by lynette on Jul 17, 2019 15:26:33 GMT
I received the invitation to be in the ballot for a chance to be in it and say a line. Aaagh I know how some of you would love that but I declined. 😳 It's way more than a line!! I made the right decision then 😂
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Post by Steve on Jul 18, 2019 11:01:55 GMT
I enjoyed this immensely at the matinee yesterday. Sandi Toksvig gave an astonishing performance, more tonally consistent (a gentle yet probing Hercule Poirot type) than anyone else in the show. You would have thought it was completely rehearsed, so good was she, demonstrating her skill as an improviser, used to thinking on her feet. When someone is as good at appearing rehearsed as Toksvig is, it is like a time-delayed miracle, (delayed for about a second by having to absorb lines from an earpiece), and you feel dazzled and proud of their performance, but at the same time delighted when they are thrown, especially if the person being thrown is as humble and witty and gentle as Toksvig is. Some of the biggest laughs were when Toksvig addressed her lines to the wrong person (who knows if she was misdirected, undirected or simply couldn't keep up lol)!? Other huge laughs came from the rare but wonderful moments when the guest star was told to "improvise" something, moments which Toksvig responded to with aplomb being in the improvising game. So it was like Poirot, with teasing, a little corpsing, a few wry asides, and a feeling of sharing a unique bond and adventure between performer and audience. Other performances were more variable, with the best comic performance by a league given by Patrick Ryecart as the stuffed up, bumbling, blurt-out-anything-you-like-whenever-you-like, wheezing, steaming, extreme-received-pronunciation posh head of household, Digby Dangle. He gets the most natural laughs per line of anybody, bar the special guest star. The best, most appealing naturalistic performance is by Natasha Cottriall as his precise and pleasing, precious and amusing daughter, Felicity Dangle. All rehearsed performers struggled with their material somewhat due to an impreciseness of tone and insufficient characterisation. This is unsurprising given the method of conception of the piece, which was created by first writing it straight, for five days, as a genuine Agatha Christie style mystery, focused on plot over character, and then adding jokes of all varieties here, there and everywhere, in a scattershot and inconsistent way. The very best possible laughs, which rely on an interplay of plot on defined characters, (such as in "The Play that Goes Wrong" when the brittle Henry Shields gets frustrated, or the ebullient Henry Lewis is overenthusiastic, or when the whinging Jonathan Sayer grates, etc) cannot be achieved here due to the lack of characterisation, and overemphasis on plot and mystery alone. To the bare bones of a pedestrian strait-laced mystery plot are added baser less effective laughs, such as double entendres (eg My name is Watt. What? Not What, Watt, etc), sound gags (eg French windows), and lots of mugging and jumping in and out of character. The human element is key to enjoying this show, and is very much provided by the guest star, with a show a kind of psychological test of who and what they are under pressure, that allows the audience to admire their skills, and relate to the underlying personality under pressure of performing and imrovising. Sandi Toksvig made for a marvellous subject, and the overall show was a 4 star delight. PS: Getting tickets: - I was in London anyway yesterday, and figured that it would be easier to get a £10 standing ticket for a matinee than an evening show on another day. That proved to be the case, as I got a ticket at 10.01 without a problem online. The site was sturdy, there was no Queueit, and when you click on your date after 10am, the site shows two standing areas, each of which had three tickets available to stand in the upper corners of the circle. I went for "Standing Left" because I read left to right, and saw it first, so perhaps it would be easier to secure "Standing Right," as you can only click on one or the other, and more people may click left. There was also available a "£10 Cameo Performance Ticket," which I avoided like the plague, though I suspect (in hindsight) it involved holding a telephone on your lap front row centre, which is a whole lot less embarrassing than what is required of the "lottery winner," which involves much stage time and ends with you sharing the bows(!).
I made one schoolboy error, which was picking Print-your-own-show-on-a-screen tickets, as this meant that I didn't get upgraded to a returned seated ticket on arrival. Of the 6 people with standing tickets, I was the ONLY one standing lol! In the second half, I did take a seat I spotted empty in the first half, so in the second half, noone was standing.
So far there have been 5 shows, and the evening shows have featured the acts that are the biggest and widest draws. They have been:- (1) Jim Broadbent - opening night (2) Gyles Brandreth - first matinee (reviewed by Billington) (3) Damian Lewis -second night (4) Sandi Toksvig - yesterday's matinee (5) Catherine Tate - yesterday night. If I was trying to see Gillian Anderson, I'd probably try for a Saturday night, as those tickets were the most desired, most expensive, and quickest sold, and probably feature the wealthiest audience willing to bid the most money for any special prizes (2 people bid £1000 each yesterday, after the show, to spend an evening at QI with Sandi Toksvig, and have a drink with her afterwards). The whole run is a Park Theatre fundraiser, so it would make sense to schedule the biggest stars for the keenest and wealthiest audiences, assuming of course that Gillian Anderson is actually available on a Saturday night and hasn't insisted on being tucked away into a matinee lol. Good luck, everyone.
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Post by westendgurl on Jul 18, 2019 12:37:04 GMT
Thanks for the update Steve and I'm glad the show was great! Love Sandi and I think she'd be a great one to see in this sort of show, she suits this kind of comedy. At the moment it's looking like I'll take a day off work to try for standing tickets for a matinee. Didn't get a look in again today - I tried online today but it constantly showed sold out despite constant refreshing, called yesterday etc but to no avail for evening performances. I need the people who manage to get tickets for every show to teach me their ways!1
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Post by westendgurl on Jul 19, 2019 12:51:27 GMT
Finally success today and managed to get a standing ticket! Really looking forward to it, I see quite a few of the 'big hitters' have already been but can't wait to see who our detective is!
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