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Post by Deleted on Feb 7, 2020 11:32:18 GMT
Don't think we have a dedicated thread for this yet.
Anyway, running time is 45 minutes according to the Donmar's site, but possibly they'll manage to shave some of that off in previews.
I do wish theatres would do things this short as a double bill (eg with the similarly brief "A Number" rather than the two being on at the same time in different theatres!)
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Post by theatrelover123 on Feb 7, 2020 11:50:23 GMT
I knew it was short but not THAT short. Takes the pish to charge those prices for a play that short. Glad I only paid £20 but even that now seems to much.
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Post by Jan on Feb 7, 2020 12:29:52 GMT
Top price £40 for 45 minutes. At The Bridge, A Number top price £55 for 60 minutes. So technically The Bridge worse value in terms of £/min but they include Roger Allam in the deal. Makes the £30 I paid to see The Dumb Waiter at Hampstead (~60 minutes) look like a bargain.
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Post by drmaplewood on Feb 7, 2020 14:14:33 GMT
Glad I got one of the £10 cheap seats! Still, early home time.
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Post by theatrelover123 on Feb 7, 2020 16:11:54 GMT
Oh. The duration has now been updated to 2 hours. Oh. This is awkward
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Post by andrew on Feb 7, 2020 18:14:51 GMT
Oh. The duration has now been updated to 2 hours. Oh. This is awkward I'm pretty sure it's 45 minutes. |
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Post by theatrelover123 on Feb 7, 2020 18:46:35 GMT
Oh. That was a joke to make theatremonkey panic about not having time to get to Six. Tough crowd.
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Post by Jan on Feb 7, 2020 20:24:17 GMT
Last time it was on in London it was 35 minutes. Given the reverence with which they treat these contemporary texts it must mean they’re speaking more slowly - with Shakespeare they’d just write 500 new lines and stick them in, with Ibsen they’d put a dance interlude in it.
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Post by londonpostie on Feb 7, 2020 22:04:25 GMT
The intervals at The Visit are virtually as long as this.
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Post by andrew on Feb 8, 2020 10:25:20 GMT
Whatever I thought of the play, the length was a problem. Perhaps you're not supposed to book plays without looking up their previous running times, but I hadn't seen Far Away and it sounded great, and it was Ms Churchill, so I booked some thirty-something-pound tickets to get a decent view. Totally unaware. I can repeat to myself over and over again that it's quality not quantity that counts, but it's not a great feeling traipsing into Seven Dials and buying essentially full price tickets for a 45 minute show. They should have put this on with some other short play, either from Caryl or someone else, to sit either side of an interval. Had I realised I would have booked the £10 off-to-the-side seats, and felt better for it. I didn't, I got stung.
I thought the play was excellent, the right level of wit and slowly developing intrigue, and this revival doesn't make a meal out of trying to make it 'of the moment', it feels relevant without any effort being made. I really enjoyed a lot of Jessica Hynes lines in the final scene about how this war has developed, how nature itself is taking sides, the children under 5...
I liked the design too, a large metallic box that descends and ascends revealing different scenes, and I won't spoil it but a very stirring theatrical reveal in the second scene will stay with me for a while. I thought Jessica Hynes was great, but Aisling Loftus was especially impressive, which shouldn't be surprising given her turn in Small Island.
We seized the moment and went for a long dinner afterwards to make up for the short play, I just wish they'd stuck something else on with this.
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Post by NeilVHughes on Feb 8, 2020 10:38:37 GMT
Similar sentiment andrew should have been paired with something else as in Glass Kill Bluebeard Imp at the Royal Court. It is a month for short plays, wanted to catch all of it at the Royal Court and as it is advertised as a short show was able to pair it with Poet In Da Corner to make an evening of it and with the deals available on the latter the price for both shows is less than what I paid for Far Away. |
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Post by n on Feb 9, 2020 8:27:02 GMT
Saw this last night and finished on the dot of 20:10 (so running at just 40 mins now)
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Post by Dave B on Feb 19, 2020 9:18:25 GMT
We saw it last night. Having a drink in the bar before we went in, there was A LOT of grumbling about running time and prices going around. An occasional comment on quantity versus quality but more than one person overheard equating their full price tickets with £1 a minute! We had circle side seats, quite happy with that. I would note for anyone interested that the Donmar does do standing tickets and for this short a play, I'd very much suggest them as worth a look. Otherwise, I enjoyed the play. It's something to see how the humour is used to mask the horror going on. Cast are really good. A large number of very confused people afterwards including the lady walking out in front of me who went straight up to the FOH lady holding one of the doors and asked her to "explain the play". My better half was similarly a bit lost.  |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 20, 2020 10:11:54 GMT
So, looking around for what matinees you could see after Far Away finishes at 3:10, options are Six , Musik, Woman In Black, The Mousetrap all starting at 4PM on a Saturday. Any others? There are a few fringe shows elsewhere that start at 3:30 but too far from the Donmar.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Feb 20, 2020 11:06:33 GMT
Maybe some stuff at Vault?
This might be my golden opportunity to finally see the Mousetrap.
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Post by zahidf on Feb 20, 2020 11:06:39 GMT
Depending on the day, Soho theatre sometimes have shows on at 3.30, 4.00 and 5.00.
Ditto the lecister square theatre. If you like comedy, the museum of comedy in Holborn and Top Secret Comedy club in COvent Garden similarly have shows at 3.30 and 5.00 on occasion
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Post by Deleted on Feb 20, 2020 12:44:22 GMT
Thanks! @theatremonkey Jermyn Street might be doable - its about 10 minutes walk from the Donmar, depends how quickly you can get out of the theatre! As for Thriller ... well, timings don't work for "Witness for the Prosecution" so maybe ...! zahidf Yes, Soho Theatre has Omid Djalili at 4PM this Saturday. Leicester Square has Muzik. samuelwhiskers I had a look at the Vault, there are things that would work out timewise so yes, worth a look. I am also tempted by Mousetrap (or, for the same reason, Woman in Black). Might have a go at Mousetrap day seats  |
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Post by theoracle on Feb 20, 2020 14:38:56 GMT
I'm debating whether to have dinner before or after the show on Saturday. Should be less busy after I'm imagining.
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Post by talkingheads on Feb 20, 2020 14:54:57 GMT
Well I just got a Young and Free ballot email for this, so booked. I had no idea it was so short but happily I'm seeing Rachel Parris at the Boulevard at 22:30 on the 6th March so it fits in perfectly.
It sounds similar to the Andrew Scott Sea Wall situation. I don't care who is in the play or who has written it, charting over £40 for anything under an hour is obscene. In London you could see two films in West End cinemas for that
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Post by altamont on Feb 20, 2020 18:54:02 GMT
Jermyn Street might be doable Bear in mind that the matinees of the Tempest at Jermyn St start at 2.30, not 3.30 |
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Post by NeilVHughes on Feb 21, 2020 21:37:19 GMT
40 minutes in the mind of an audience member on Question Time, a metaphor stretched to extremes thereby revealing the absurdity of being suspicious of aliens.
Maybe not as far away as we would like to think.
Better the pride that resides
In a citizen of the world
Than the pride that divides
When a colourful rag is unfurled’
N Peart (RIP)
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Post by londonpostie on Feb 21, 2020 22:16:18 GMT
I'm debating whether to have dinner before or after the show on Saturday. Should be less busy after I'm imagining. With this production, you can have dinner before and pudding after. |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 22, 2020 18:33:07 GMT
Thought this was excellent and felt a lot more substantial than the short running time suggests. And you can see by the resources that have gone into it that the costs are the same as a longer play.
Nice couple in their 70s next to me, I made the husband’s day when I told him the running time - “Oh how marvellous! Most plays are FAR too long!” Although they did comment afterwards that they wouldn’t have made the trip to London if they’d known it was so short
It actually finished about 3:20 today so no way a 3:30 show would work. Got a good deal on TodayTix for Woman in Black at 4
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Post by theoracle on Feb 22, 2020 21:37:19 GMT
Well, I enjoyed this tonight. Finishes at 8:14pm and wasn’t quite sure what to expect in a 40minute play. I read the programme which described the piece as like a “horror” which I was sceptical about but oh my! Churchill’s words evoke the most nightmarish images and the revelatory themes presented the audience some genuinely frightening ideas. Lyndsey Turner’s direction is superb too as are the cast, fulfilling the potential of the intimate Donmar Warehouse space.
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Post by youngoffender on Feb 29, 2020 20:58:37 GMT
I got a £10 standing ticket for today's matinee, which seems the ideal way to see this. You could balance on one toe for the duration of this show without any danger of fatigue.
Putting aside the measurement of value in minutes, and what else to do with your afternoon/evening, I'm a great fan of concision. If only all plays or films took no longer than necessary to say what they have to say, and I'd have several days of my life back. As it is, Far Away packs more powerful images and bravura stagecraft into its 40 minutes than many other plays manage in four times the length, and the Orwellian menace it conjures lingers long after the curtain call. After the last week of rumour, dread and international suspicion all over the news, this felt very much on point.
One latecomer was ushered to his seat about ten minutes after the start. In missing the first quarter of a work and then catching up, perhaps he has a strategy. If anyone is at 'The Visit' tonight and someone comes to join you at the hour mark, that will be him after a leisurely dinner.
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