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Post by Dawnstar on May 6, 2016 18:01:39 GMT
Does Charlie Russell have a tattoo on her leg? Couldn't tell if she did, or if it was a scab from a rehearsal accident. I've never noticed one before. I'm seeing the show again tomorrow & I'm now going to be spending the whole time looking at the cast's tattoos/lack of tattoos! Radio interview about The Comedy About A Bank Robbery with Charlie Russell & Dave Hearn here www.mixcloud.com/Resonance/ Currently the top item on the page but I guess it'll move down so it's the Curtain Up show from 6th May & they're about 40 minutes in. |
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Post by lynette on May 15, 2016 17:16:15 GMT
Great fun. The part on the wall introduced the concept from the previous plays of the acting and production being a problem rather than the plot of the play. I thought this was a shame as the play then lost focus. The pace slowed in places towards the end and I wasn't sure about the ending at all. But hey, well done people.
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Post by Deleted on May 22, 2016 19:51:50 GMT
Thought I'd give this a go with a good offer for stalls on Sundays. Never seen any of their other shows
Laughed a couple of times in act 1, decided to leave everyone to it for act 2. Just a lot of shouting, crap accents and cobbled together vaudeville routines (Abbott and Costello sprang to mind)
Still the rest of the audience loved it and I'm sure it will clog up the West End for years, like Stomp with knob jokes
Best laugh I got all evening was from this badly worded sign on the way in
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Post by westendwendy on May 26, 2016 11:30:01 GMT
Saw this last night.. What a super night out and great fun.. The wall scene in act two is worth the money alone!!
I shall return!! Go go go people.
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Post by Dawnstar on Jun 5, 2016 19:49:42 GMT
I don't know if anyone other than me is interested but the script is now on sale at the theatre. It's pretty much in the form the play was around press night so it has the amended opening scene but not the rewrites to the first bank scene. I was amused to find a coupe of lines in the script that I never saw delivered on stage so they mustn't have been in there for long! I wish the publisher would buck up their proofreading standards, yet again there are typos. However at least Prince Ludwig is spelt correctly, unlike onstage!
Again I don't know if anyone but me is interested but all 3 understudies have now been on. Gareth Tempest & Steven Rostance were both on last weekend & Ellie Morris was on this weekend. I thought they all gave good performances.
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Post by danielwhit on Jun 5, 2016 21:35:10 GMT
It's a shame we aren't getting any form of advance notice about who's off when - I'd quite like to see a couple of covers in position now but there's no way of sensibly predicting. It sounds as if the final scene has been tweaked slightly, with the final moment scrapped. Can anyone confirm? {Spoiler}{To avoid ambiguity.. here's what I mean:}
She now doesn't pour alcohol and show a lighter at the very end. |
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Post by Dawnstar on Jun 6, 2016 7:30:07 GMT
It's a shame we aren't getting any form of advance notice about who's off when - I'd quite like to see a couple of covers in position now but there's no way of sensibly predicting. It sounds as if the final scene has been tweaked slightly, with the final moment scrapped. Can anyone confirm? {Spoiler}{To avoid ambiguity.. here's what I mean:}
She now doesn't pour alcohol and show a lighter at the very end. The only way I've found of getting advance notice is buttonholing the understudies at stage door & asking them, which is only really practical if you're already seeing the show. {Spoiler - click to view}
Yes, that's right. She handcuffs him to the bed & nicks the diamond but no alcohol is involved. I was thrilled to see it - I've been hoping for a less gruesome ending! |
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Post by danielwhit on Jun 6, 2016 9:37:17 GMT
It's a shame we aren't getting any form of advance notice about who's off when - I'd quite like to see a couple of covers in position now but there's no way of sensibly predicting. It sounds as if the final scene has been tweaked slightly, with the final moment scrapped. Can anyone confirm? {Spoiler}{To avoid ambiguity.. here's what I mean:}
She now doesn't pour alcohol and show a lighter at the very end. The only way I've found of getting advance notice is buttonholing the understudies at stage door & asking them, which is only really practical if you're already seeing the show. {Spoiler - click to view}
Yes, that's right. She handcuffs him to the bed & nicks the diamond but no alcohol is involved. I was thrilled to see it - I've been hoping for a less gruesome ending! I'll have to get you to nudge me in the future then  Ah, good. Agreed - the ending was too much of a tonal shift for me. |
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Post by Dawnstar on Jun 6, 2016 21:42:03 GMT
I'll have to get you to nudge me in the future then Ah, good. Agreed - the ending was too much of a tonal shift for me. Same here. It is meant to be a comedy! {Spoiler - click to view} For me Ruth unexpectedly stealing the diamond from Shuck & leaving him to be found by his colleagues with some explaining to do is funny. Ruth stealing the diamond & leaving him to be burnt alive is pretty horrific & seems too far out of character for her. |
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Post by DuchessConstance on Jun 7, 2016 0:09:31 GMT
Omg that was the original ending?? So glad now I waited to see it.
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Post by Dawnstar on Jun 7, 2016 7:29:19 GMT
Yes. I mean, it was implied rather than shown, it ended as Ruth flicks on her cigarette lighter so it's not as if you see him burning to death but that's clearly what was about to happen. And there's already quite an impressive body count before the last scene! Don't let me put you off seeing it, most of the show is brilliantly funny & I adore about 98% of it. There's just a few moments I'm less keen on! |
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Post by DuchessConstance on Jun 7, 2016 10:47:28 GMT
I've seen it! I meant, I'm glad I waited till after previews.
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Post by Dawnstar on Jun 7, 2016 12:56:07 GMT
The ending was only changed last week so unless you've seen it very recently then you will have seen the original ending.
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Post by DuchessConstance on Jun 7, 2016 16:37:52 GMT
Yes, like I said, it didn't have that ending when I saw it.
I wonder what they will do with the painting when the show ends or has a cast change. eBay?
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Post by Dawnstar on Jun 7, 2016 19:00:20 GMT
I think I may have read that the wrong way round. (Rather short on sleep today after Showstopper last night.) I can't work out which ending you saw vs which ending you were glad you didn't see.
I would have thought the obvious thing to do would be to present it to Henry Lewis! I found myself wondering, after first seeing it onstage the weekend before last, whether they've done similar paintings for the understudies. If so the TCAABR must have nearly as many nude oil paintings around as Mrs Henderson Presents!
ETA: Anyone interested in the understudies, note that there's been a swap compared to what's listed in the programme so Gareth Tempest is now first cover for Warren and Steven Rostance first cover for Shuck.
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Post by DuchessConstance on Jun 7, 2016 19:51:14 GMT
I saw the new ending that ends on her stealing the diamond and saying "everyone's a crook". That's why I was glad I waited and saw it later on during the run, because it means I missed the apparently rather unpleasant original ending. involving a lighter and implied burning to death? |
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Post by Dawnstar on Jun 7, 2016 20:09:17 GMT
Thank you for the clarification, as I said, lack of sleep on my part!
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Post by danielwhit on Jun 7, 2016 23:16:06 GMT
I will get back along to the Criterion soon.. probably by the end of the month at a guess. Slight business of a holiday in the middle.
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Post by Dawnstar on Jun 10, 2016 20:19:45 GMT
Anyone wanting to see this mid-September is going to be disappointed. It appears it is shutting from 7th-17th September and Nina Conti is doing a show at the Criterion instead. www.criterion-theatre.co.uk/whats-on. Not unprecedented for Mischief Theatre, as they shut TPTGW for a week in February 2015, but I am surprised as I had heard they had considered shutting TCAABR but decided against it. Evidently they've changed their minds! I wonder how this comes over to the general public, as it is unusual for a West End show to close for a bit like this. |
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Post by Dawnstar on Jun 11, 2016 15:45:09 GMT
Oh it certainly makes sense for those involved in the show. I just wonder if it makes sense to the general public, who are used to West End shows being open 6 days a week, 52 weeks a year. And I'm not sure it's saving on understudy rehearsals since all 3 understudies seem to have had/are having scheduled shows for most of their cover roles anyway.
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Post by Jon on Jun 11, 2016 16:39:54 GMT
Priscilla shut for a week during the quiet period as well, perhaps it's more cost effective to close the show when sales are going to be down rather than stay open and potentially lose money
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Post by Dawnstar on Jun 11, 2016 19:09:43 GMT
Oh, I didn't realise other West End shows had done it in the past, though I know tours do. I stand corrected.
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Post by danielwhit on Jun 12, 2016 20:10:21 GMT
It's rare but does make good sense to do. Priscilla, I think, shut down for over two weeks once?
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Post by Dawnstar on Jun 12, 2016 22:14:27 GMT
Crazy show tonight! To start with Steven Rostance was on for Cooper & Ellie Morris on for Caprice so they drafted in one of the new understudies, who apparently hasn't even rehearsed properly or got costumes, to do a few bits in the ensemble. Then in Act 2 the wall scene didn't work so we had the 4 actors crawling along the vent come onstage then nothing at the back. Cue some hilarious improv before one of the stage managers had to come on & stop the show. After a wait they had to re-start on the next scene, with more improv to try to fill in some of the missing bits. If you're going to have a show stopped due to technical difficulties it is a massive advantage having an improv group! A bit later on, just before Warren tries to commit suicide Jonathan Sayer got a massive laugh when he was cataloguing Warren's woes & ended up with something along the lines of "And my best scene got cut!" PS Anyone wanting to see understudies, Gareth Tempest will be on as Warren all next week. |
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Post by rumbledoll on Jun 28, 2016 9:26:53 GMT
Any piece of advice on dicent Restricted View Seats in Stalls for this? Seems to be many of them of various bands/prices, got me confused a bit (never been to Criterion before). Thanks! |
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