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Post by Jon on May 19, 2023 22:22:12 GMT
It would be interesting to see how Ruth is towards the end when she's tired and a little ratty, I think that makes a more interesting performance than at the beginning.
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Post by Being Alive on May 19, 2023 22:42:06 GMT
Has anyone else interesting been in this? I know Jack Thorne was mentioned but interesting to know if anyone else of note has popped up.
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Post by zahidf on May 19, 2023 23:00:06 GMT
I've got an 8am ticket. Be interested if anyone will be around then in terms of famous names
I did a 25 hour comedy show at the pleasance one, a Mark Watson thing. So I sympathise with those doing the full 24 hours tonight
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Post by Steve on May 19, 2023 23:20:37 GMT
I've got an 8am ticket. Be interested if anyone will be around then in terms of famous names I did a 25 hour comedy show at the pleasance one, a Mark Watson thing. So I sympathise with those doing the full 24 hours tonight Chap who works on the show told me Ruth Wilson got to invite 6 people (who knows, one or two may be known names, and may close out the show for a special finish, fingers crossed) though she was under strict instructions not to rehearse with anybody on the list of 100. She rehearsed only with people NOT in the show. This is part improv for both Wilson AND the men in it, though Wilson's improvs are principally in HOW she moves, her attitudes to the men, how she treats them, NOT in her actual lines. The men, by contrast, have much more scope for improv. Though they are mandated to learn lines and say them, they are allowed to add whatever they like, within that context. Specifically, Wilson asks one critical question at the beginning: "How are you! WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?" It is entirely for the men to improvise whatever they like in answer to that question, and what they say VERY MUCH dictates how Wilson's character will treat and react to them thereafter.
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Post by Jon on May 19, 2023 23:52:26 GMT
I would interested to know how many of the men play it for laughs or who want to do it more seriously. If it were me, I would lean towards doing it straight as you probably get more out of Ruth Wilson than trying to disarm her with jokes and silliness.
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Post by tal on May 20, 2023 1:14:36 GMT
Tom Burke showed up on stage at around 1am. It made for a nice scene!
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Post by nash16 on May 20, 2023 1:30:54 GMT
There are more names due towards the end of the marathon. What a feat she is doing.
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Post by tal on May 20, 2023 3:09:14 GMT
Aidan Gillen went on stage too.
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Post by alessia on May 20, 2023 4:34:34 GMT
I’d love to have seen Tom Burke! I’ll hopefully catch the recording…
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Post by alessia on May 20, 2023 6:17:21 GMT
Saw Ben Winshaw was also one of the Guys, from Twitter. Anyone saw him?
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Post by Steve on May 20, 2023 6:34:46 GMT
Tom Burke showed up on stage at around 1am. It made for a nice scene! I left at midnight, and I saw a very beardy guy, that might have been Tom Burke, who had her chasing him around the stage, just before I left. He made it clear he was leaving her, which would ordinarily trigger a mass splattering of noodles, etc, then moved away from her into the safety of the corner chair to escape her. He did dance with her quite romantically after that though. Was that the one lol?
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Post by zahidf on May 20, 2023 7:36:55 GMT
I dont know what the point of the priority tickets were if I still have to wait over 45 minutes from the start time to get in.
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Post by Steve on May 20, 2023 7:54:46 GMT
I dont know what the point of the priority tickets were if I still have to wait over 45 minutes from the start time to get in. Perhaps advanced tickets are admitted while Wilson is taking a break, and the breaks are occurring later than anticipated. This would make sense, as during these breaks there is a mass exodus of audience members. Since the main queue was waiting, on average 3 hours before being admitted last night, you could take solace that 45 minutes is less than 3 hours. Good luck, and can't wait for your report of what's going on in there now!
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Post by zahidf on May 20, 2023 9:28:24 GMT
I dont know what the point of the priority tickets were if I still have to wait over 45 minutes from the start time to get in. Perhaps advanced tickets are admitted while Wilson is taking a break, and the breaks are occurring later than anticipated. This would make sense, as during these breaks there is a mass exodus of audience members. Since the main queue was waiting, on average 3 hours before being admitted last night, you could take solace that 45 minutes is less than 3 hours. Good luck, and can't wait for your report of what's going on in there now! I'm in now! It's very good, lot of goofy energy. Had a woman which I think surprised Ruth. A lot of entertaining dancing. One guy with a really tense energy who made up a miscarriage Ruth's character had, which she did not want to play along with
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Post by ruperto on May 20, 2023 10:09:32 GMT
I did just over 90 minutes this morning - in at 8 and out at 9.40 as have a super-busy day today, and also thought I should let someone in the (very long) queue have a turn…
It was a lot of fun - lots of laughs in the audience. Felt a bit like everyone was a bit high on the occasion and/or had been glugging lots of Red Bulls!
Ruth Wilson was just amazing, and in some ways I wish I could have stayed for hours.
I wasn’t a fan of the staging TBH - a small box taking up a tiny chunk of the stage, with a wall and door at the back and surrounded on two sides by a gauzy screen, and on the right hand side (as you look at the stage) by curtains. Plus a big screen showing close ups etc to the right of the stage.
One thing - if you’re lucky enough to get in but end up in a seat with a crap view, it’s worth trying your luck with getting a better one. When I was first taken in, my seat was upstairs and at the side (the big screen side), so I had a great view of the big screen, but me and quite a few others around me couldn’t actually see anything that was happening on stage at all because the curtains were blocking the view. So after a bit, me and another chap went for a wander, found a member of staff and ended up being allocated much better seats a few rows from the front. They had a great view of the stage, but you couldn’t really see the screen, and the screen is great for the close ups, which are a key part of the experience.
So probably the best thing to do is to take it in from a few different vantage points…
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Post by jaggy on May 20, 2023 10:49:23 GMT
I saw Ben Whishaw. He was the first person after the 4am interval. Ruth appeared very excited to see him and sad when he had to leave. They were just goofing around rather than trying to do the scene.
I really enjoyed my experience. However…
I will say this - I thought the set design was rather poorly done. As someone has mentioned depending on where you sat could make or break the experience. They should have just done some kind of glass box to ensure wherever you were sitting meant you could see everything. Maybe they were worried that the camera people could accidentally be in shot.
Another thing - the sound design was bad, bad, bad, bad. There were many times when I couldn’t hear Ruth or the volunteers when they delivered their lines. They could have at least put a boom mic in the box or turned up the microphones especially as it could get very noisy in the auditorium with people coming and going and doors swinging (or if you sat in the centre in the first balcony in the stalls which happened to have a thin curtain dividing the back of the seats from the staff room or hallway where people were walking through and talking very, very loudly).
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Post by Steve on May 20, 2023 11:24:33 GMT
I saw Ben Whishaw. . . They should have just done some kind of glass box to ensure wherever you were sitting meant you could see everything. Maybe they were worried that the camera people could accidentally be in shot. Well done on seeing Ben Whishaw! And yes, if you were on the right side, where the projection was, you may well not have been able to see Wilson at all, as on that side, the box was not covered by gauze (as the left side and the front side were) but an impenetrable curtain! I do think you've solved the mystery though. The curtain was to prevent the cameras on the left filming their own images beyond the curtain, as well as to prevent backlight ruining their shots. And the thinking must have gone that, oh well, the people on the right side have the best view of the projection (and it's close-ups) even if they can't see the actors.
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Post by n1david on May 20, 2023 11:34:18 GMT
Sounds like the Young Vic might have underestimated how this would work (and you'll only see this in a break or if you're checking your phone during the show)
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Post by tal on May 20, 2023 11:43:07 GMT
Tom Burke showed up on stage at around 1am. It made for a nice scene! I left at midnight, and I saw a very beardy guy, that might have been Tom Burke, who had her chasing him around the stage, just before I left. He made it clear he was leaving her, which would ordinarily trigger a mass splattering of noodles, etc, then moved away from her into the safety of the corner chair to escape her. He did dance with her quite romantically after that though. Was that the one lol? I don’t think that was him. At least that’s not how I interpreted his performance. If it helps you figure out if you saw him, I think he was the only one (at least from the ones I saw) who put the chopsticks in his mouth as if they were fangs and then went to dance with her that way.
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Post by TallPaul on May 20, 2023 11:46:27 GMT
The older balding northern fella who picked up Wilson's dropped noodles with his chopsticks intuitively got a cheer, and always felt like a real person throughout. You kept that quiet, BurlyBeaR . Those acting lessons really paid off. You even made those cynical Londoners believe you're a person!
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Post by zahidf on May 20, 2023 12:01:35 GMT
Andrew Scott just came on! Was very funny, they were goofing around, having long kisses and giving him a piggyback
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Post by Steve on May 20, 2023 12:17:27 GMT
I thought that the 8 hours I saw of this, from 4pm to midnight, 4 rounds (Wilson got a break of 15 minutes after each round) of 8 scene partners each, covering the first 32 of 100 scenes, were absolutely rivetting! The first two scenes felt stilted and unnatural, but Ruth Wilson swiftly became more loose, more surefooted about how to feel, and therefore how to react to her scene partners, based on how they answered her opening questions ("How are you? What are you thinking?"), especially once the third person came in, demonstrating some acting chops, and gave her moments to live in, rather than just plod through her movements and moments mechanically. The audience had to warm up as well, overcoming disorientation, and coming to understand and anticipate that opening moment, where the scene partner is free to improvise who they are, and understanding that Wilson's treatment of them from that moment on is defined by that moment. In many ways, I wish I had stayed for the whole thing as I can only imagine how bonkers things have become once sleep deprivation mania has set in lol!. But I had tickets to two other shows today, and plans with other people, before I ever scored a ticket to this. I console myself that the person who took my seat deserved it as he had been queuing 3 hours. The scene itself starts with Wilson gazing off to the left into the gauze (and the cameras), as her scene partner enters behind her, then, like "Married at First Sight," she turns around to see them for the first time: "Scene partner at first Sight" lol! Then she asks the question, "How are you?" (pause for answer), and then the determining question: "What are you thinking?" (pause for answer). These questions influence the course of the scene, informing Wilson's character's approach and attitude to relating: So, for example, the cocky young man who answered, that he was sorry he hit her in the face the night before, to the first question, then responded to the second that he was thinking about how tasty his pulled pork burrito he had just eaten was, teed up Wilson for the most aggressive of her first 32 scenes! It should be noted that there are two big setpieces in the scene: (1) she transfers noodles out of the takeaway box onto her scene partner's body in a manner befitting however he has made her feel; and (2) She performs a drunken dance with him, during which she suddenly slumps, and goes rigid, half way through, forcing her partner to carry her weight. With Mr. I-hit-you-in-the-face-but-I-care-about-my-burrito-more-than-you, she took those noodles, slammed them into his face with the palm of her hand, and rubbed them all over his face and hair. Then, in the drunken dance setpiece, in which she must dance with her partner, and halfway through, slump to the floor, she aggressively charge-danced him into a chair and ground herself full weight into him, bouncing repeatedly on top of him, full weight like a child on a bouncy castle, leaving him an exasperated and exhausted looking mess lol! Among the first 32 scene partners, all 32 struck me as he/him pronoun types, exuding various degrees of masculinity. 2 did alert my ever-flailing Gaydar, however, expressing utter disinterest in Wilson as a sexual being, turning her deep insecurities about her attractiveness into light-hearted camp repartee. Both these encounters were very funny, one predictably because his gossipy triviality in the face of her breakdown enraged her into noodling his face and viciously dragging him to the ground in the drunk dance, even as he continued to be nonplussed, but the second, was a genuine surprise, as Mr. Metrosexual-and-maybe-gay responded exceptionally originally to the central opening questions: When asked how he was, he said he was still overcome by how she had sexually devoured him against his will the night before, and when asked what he was thinking, he said he was worried she might try doing it again: Of course, he was then put in the position of begging a Betty Boop blinking, sexually full-on Wilson to leave him be, even as she flirtatiously loaded his mouth with noodles, grope-danced his entire behind, and slumped in such a way as to end up shagging his leg like a dog. The audience was in stitches, and so was I, so in contrast was this scene from Wilson's typically enigmatic, quizzical and standoffish persona. Indeed, at least for the first 32 scenes, comedy was the order of the evening rather than drama. Especially funny was a very chatty young man in Harry Potter glasses, who was so effusive and so genial yet sensitive to Wilson's massive (scripted) insecurities, that both Wilson and the audience fell in love with him, and she ended up feeding him noodles like she was his Mum, seemingly wishing he would never leave, resulting in a massive ovation from the audience at the end. Very few scenes I saw varied from the comedy genre, but I do recall two: In one, a very caring old man seemed like he was her Dad, and there was genuine pathos in how, in the drunk dance, she slumped forwards in such a way as to help him into a chair, rather than dragging him to the ground, or weighing him down in a coma dance. It was touching. In possibly the single most magnificent scene I saw, an absolute highlight of the first 8 hours, maybe scene partner number 20 or so, a deep voiced, slow speaking, sensitive confident man, resembling a "Let's Get it on" era Marvin Gaye, seemed crestfallen by the distance between the pair, and expressed such tenderness and soulfulness, that the two were drawn to kiss, and astonishingly, Wilson passed him her noodles chopstick to chopstick, a real feat given how many noodles there were, and the couple slowdanced as if it was the last dance on earth. This was the only scene I saw, that received a massive ovation from the audience, where laughter had nothing to do with it, only genuine feeling. Overall, this was a terrific and exciting project, full of surprises, loads and loads of laughs, infused with Lynchian repetitive psychological weirdness, and a little bit of love. I wish I could have stayed longer, and I hope film of the full 24 hours surfaces. At worst, there is a documentary coming, being edited in September. And in the short term, Arifa Akbar apparently attended the whole thing for the Guardian, so her review will be fascinating, and I saw Micky Jo Vlogger still in his seat when I left at midnight (though his sidekick with the camera, taking pictures and short video clips, departed at 10pm followed out by Jack Farthing, though they were not together lol). For me, this was an exceptional 5 star fascinating, funny, surprising and entertaining night.
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Post by Steve on May 20, 2023 12:24:13 GMT
Sounds like the Young Vic might have underestimated how this would work (and you'll only see this in a break or if you're checking your phone during the show) Andrew Scott just came on! Was very funny, they were goofing around, having long kisses and giving him a piggyback With guest stars like Andrew Scott (wow!) and Ben Whishaw showing up, and with an expected highlight finish, I can't see many more getting in now.
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Post by zahidf on May 20, 2023 12:34:05 GMT
I've left now. Got one more guest star, Toby Jones, who was very funny as well, though more sad than Scott
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Post by asfound on May 20, 2023 16:34:01 GMT
Kind of feel this worked a lot better in Brooklyn a few years ago. Much better staging and sightlines, more relaxed, more space, small queues, more prebooked tickets.
But the hypnotic, Lynchinan vibe was intact. The progression throughout the night into the early hours and into the next day felt similar.
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Post by alessia on May 20, 2023 16:45:20 GMT
Arifa Akbar tweeted that Idris Elba was the last man. What a conclusion!!
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Post by crowblack on May 20, 2023 20:10:19 GMT
I didn't see the show but there are images and a few bits and bobs of mobile phone footage on Twitter. Was there a good reason for the walls, rather than, say, just using something like a scaffolding cube to give the impression of a room so more people could see the actors?
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Post by teamyali on May 20, 2023 23:00:31 GMT
I hope the Young Vic releases a recording of this for their Best Seat in Your House livestream (I got to see Best of Enemies because of this offer). 😍
I don’t know if they plan to do something like this again in the future, perhaps another notable name and a different plot.
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Post by foxa on May 21, 2023 12:15:32 GMT
Really enjoyed reading the accounts of those who were there! I hope they release a recording of it.
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Post by mrnutz on May 21, 2023 19:20:02 GMT
I love seeing weird stuff, but this sounds awful.
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