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Post by londonpostie on Jun 30, 2019 19:38:13 GMT
Wasn't sure about this 90s revival, and not seen it yet but having just noticed a bunch of £10 'S' (for Standing) places available for this week, I have booked.
Didn't see the run time. Fwiw, the final sentence of Aleks Sierz's review is pretty emphatic ..
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Post by londonpostie on Jul 3, 2019 7:31:48 GMT
Saw this last night for the proverbial tenner and found it a proper brain tease - with both wry and funny moments (thank you Donmar, I wouldn't have gone otherwise).
Probably not too helpful to peg parallels but I was a little reminded of Sweat if only in so much as the social landscape here is painted fully to the frame edge. And, to be fair, there is a lot of doom and gloom around this town as well.
The work bears a lot of thought, though my own feeling is so very, very much has happened in the intervening 25-years (Schengen, the euro, the 12-nation expansion eastwards, the EU itself) we need to tread carefully. In that way 'Europe' feels valuable as an aid in tracing a route back to both origins and simpler times. To me at least, things feel so very confused and knotted now, and very fraught.
Loved the staging (sound and staging), loved the cast, a very smart script, fine direction. Most excellent brain food. Couldn't argue with the broad consensus of 4 passports out of 5.
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Post by crowblack on Jul 4, 2019 15:44:52 GMT
I'm not reading reviews or the official trigger warnings because I really don't want plot spoilers, but I saw the Guardian were covering the trigger warning story and wondered is there any audience participation? I'm on the front row and it has happened to me before...
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Post by londonpostie on Jul 4, 2019 17:04:02 GMT
There is no audience participation. Enjoy!
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Post by crowblack on Jul 4, 2019 17:26:10 GMT
Thank you! That's a relief. |
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Post by crowblack on Jul 6, 2019 18:44:50 GMT
Well I thought this was excellent! Felt like a very timely (timeless?) revival and sits well alongside Sweat and Us Against Whatever. Cracking cast with no weak links. I got a great front row return though as the action takes place split level I think you’d get a decent view from the circle here too.
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Post by foxa on Jul 13, 2019 18:52:05 GMT
I don't know why, but I just couldn't get into this at all. I tried.
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Post by zahidf on Jul 15, 2019 23:41:42 GMT
I thought this was ace. I agree it was timely and moving in place. Great acting and dialouge
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Post by Deleted on Jul 20, 2019 16:12:23 GMT
Thought this was great. Amazing ending!
Some annoying sight line issues from the side stalls due to key scenes staged on the upper level. I was three seats from the edge on the high numbered side and could just about see but the two outermost people were having problems and needing to lean at weird angles
Reminded me of a dystopian version of Noel Coward’s “Still Life”
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Post by gazzaw13 on Jul 25, 2019 15:35:28 GMT
I was at the matinee performance today which was cancelled at the interval due to faulty ac. Ironically it was way cooler than most West End theatres that have no ac. What’s going to happen to Theatre land if this catches on?
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Post by Deleted on Jul 26, 2019 12:53:54 GMT
Spoilers for the ending of the second act ...
Wonder if this might be due to the flame effects used at the end of the play - eg if the equipment used is certified to be safe under certain temperature ranges?
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Jul 26, 2019 13:30:10 GMT
Mergd
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Post by crowblack on Jul 26, 2019 13:37:42 GMT
cancelled at the interval due to faulty ac Yes, agree with xanderl - there's something that happens that would mean it's probably more important here than it would usually be. |
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Post by missthelma on Aug 7, 2019 10:41:07 GMT
Caught this on Monday night, intelligent and thought provoking play. Reading bits and pieces after seeing it there were suggestions that the war in Bosnia was an inspiration (of sorts, that seems the wrong word) which makes perfect sense in retrospect as I think too much had been made in some quarters of the plays resonance in light of Brexit. I thought as an island nation that was a bit of a stretch and it is far more effecting if you throw out any obvious analogies to the current mess in UK. The themes though are still terrifyingly real and the casting of refugees/immigrants as 'the other' and thus to be feared and persecuted is way too current.
I thought Faye Marsay was excellent and seems to me to be a star in the making, I was convinced I had seen her elsewhere but reading her bio this seems unlikely. Agree with the above about the bad view from side stalls, it's almost a restricted view at times in fact.
Special shout out and thanks to the endless patience of the box office staff who rearranged my ticket twice as it appears I have the organisational capability of a new born foal on speed.
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Post by theatremad on Aug 7, 2019 14:31:50 GMT
Warning, possibly contentious comment  Caught this Saturday, found it contrived, hellishly infuriating and walked out at the interval. Didn't care for a single character and got annoyed by the whole design. |
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Post by theatrelover123 on Aug 7, 2019 15:11:30 GMT
Warning, possibly contentious comment Caught this Saturday, found it contrived, hellishly infuriating and walked out at the interval. Didn't care for a single character and got annoyed by the whole design. I'm confused. I can't tell what you REALLY thought of it. Stop sitting on the fence!  |
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Post by n1david on Aug 8, 2019 13:24:10 GMT
I thought this was OK last night. I saw a production of this a couple of years ago in Pitlochry, and enjoyed it very much, and was interested to see how a very different theatre presented the play. I found the first half very slow at the Donmar, and thought the staging confusing in not doing a great job of differentiating the locations, in particular identifying when the boys were in the pub. For the first time in many years I managed to nab a Central Stalls seat, and found the staging fussy and unattractive. In fact, I was so disappointed at the interval that I contemplated leaving. The second act picked up the pacing considerably, and I felt an emotional punch I hadn't expected given I struggled to engage with the characters in the first act. Agree with missthelma that this is not being presented as a "Brexit play", its echoes are much broader across the European continent. Having said that, I'm not sure it said very much other than people sometimes don't like incomers. Particularly good work in the second act from Theo Barklem-Biggs and Billy Howle. Think londonpostie 's observation of the parallels of this to Sweat were also well observed, in terms of how a community reacts to industrial decline. So a qualified 3 out of 5 for me. |
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Post by theatremad on Aug 8, 2019 16:06:49 GMT
Warning, possibly contentious comment Caught this Saturday, found it contrived, hellishly infuriating and walked out at the interval. Didn't care for a single character and got annoyed by the whole design. I'm confused. I can't tell what you REALLY thought of it. Stop sitting on the fence! Hehe, really |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 16, 2019 17:21:30 GMT
I thought Faye Marsay was excellent and seems to me to be a star in the making, I was convinced I had seen her elsewhere but reading her bio this seems unlikely. Agree with the above about the bad view from side stalls, it's almost a restricted view at times in fact. Have you not seen Pride (the film)? I can highly recommend it! |
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Post by londonpostie on Aug 17, 2019 9:06:57 GMT
I had the same feeling. Turned out she was in Game of Thrones.
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