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Post by imstillhere on Sept 19, 2022 12:49:07 GMT
I just had to see The Snail House out of morbid fasintination. What a percululiar bad play this is. A satire which doesn’t have any bite, characters which don’t have any heart or depth, dialouge which never sparkles. This I all expected tbh but even the staging is pedestrian at best.
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Post by Dave B on Sept 23, 2022 8:06:43 GMT
Hampstead again being very broad with their on sale times. Next season meant to go live at 10.30 but already on sale for anyone who might be interested. Downstairs has been great for a while (in fact heading there this evening) so a fiver for tickets is an absolute steal in our books.
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Post by Jan on Sept 23, 2022 8:43:23 GMT
Has anyone been to see the Snail House yet? There's a tone deaf feature with Eyre in The Stage where it says "Eyre actually had three ideas for plays during the pandemic: The Snail House is an amalgamation of two of them, he explains, and the third is scheduled to be produced next year.". disclaimer - I have a chip on my shoulder as someone who didnt go to Cambridge and understands how hard it is to get a play produced in this country so I'm very jealous he has two in two years. Hampstead have always hosted the odd vanity project by the theatre establishment, remember (or rather don’t) that Doran/Sher piece about Michelangelo. However they face stiff competition from the Riverside Studios whose schedule has been full of them recently. |
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Post by artea on Oct 15, 2022 11:33:04 GMT
Better late than never ... The Radio 3 production of Folk has been repeated and is on BBC Sounds but only for 3 more days - www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000vwq2 . It's unmissable and the accompanying bbc text intro is fascinating. SRB is excellent - overbearing, arrogant self-centred and generally unpleasant - but without his folksong collecting, a lot of stuff would surely have been lost. Interestingly, he doesn't get the best speech. The intellectual/emotional heart of the play goes to Louie Hooper (maybe sounding a bit too articulate) in her description about how the songs come out of very land on which they were composed. Affecting stuff with more than enough visuals in the sounds and voices. |
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Post by alessia on Oct 28, 2022 9:58:29 GMT
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Post by Dave B on Oct 28, 2022 10:08:23 GMT
Going next week, hoping it's good. Would be nice to have some quality on the main stage. Also going to Blackout Songs downstairs next week, always seem to end up upstairs and downstairs in Hampstead in the same week for some reason.
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Post by Latecomer on Oct 28, 2022 14:58:49 GMT
There for the matinee tomorrow!  |
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Post by jacklondon on Nov 15, 2022 8:44:09 GMT
Not seen anything much written about Blackout Songs yet, but I thought this was seriously good. Slightly surprised to find myself thinking that it was possibly the most enjoyable play out of the 30 or so I have seen so far this year. The two leads, Alex Austin and Rebecca Humphries, were just superb in conveying this disrupted, destructive and misremembered love affair. At times incredibly funny and at others quietly heartbreaking. A small queue after the show buying playtexts suggests I was not alone in enjoying the show.
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Post by jampot on Nov 26, 2022 23:52:37 GMT
Not seen anything much written about Blackout Songs yet, but I thought this was seriously good. Slightly surprised to find myself thinking that it was possibly the most enjoyable play out of the 30 or so I have seen so far this year. The two leads, Alex Austin and Rebecca Humphries, were just superb in conveying this disrupted, destructive and misremembered love affair. At times incredibly funny and at others quietly heartbreaking. A small queue after the show buying playtexts suggests I was not alone in enjoying the show. Couldn't agree more.. number 139 for me and its easily in my top 20...Cracker of a play... |
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Post by showgirl on Nov 27, 2022 5:30:12 GMT
Not seen anything much written about Blackout Songs yet, but I thought this was seriously good. Slightly surprised to find myself thinking that it was possibly the most enjoyable play out of the 30 or so I have seen so far this year. The two leads, Alex Austin and Rebecca Humphries, were just superb in conveying this disrupted, destructive and misremembered love affair. At times incredibly funny and at others quietly heartbreaking. A small queue after the show buying playtexts suggests I was not alone in enjoying the show. Couldn't agree more.. number 139 for me and its easily in my top 20...Cracker of a play... A wholehearted endorsement from me, too: saw this at last Thursday's matinee which, astonishingly for anything at Hampstead Downstairs and especially for this play, was nowhere near sold out. I couldn't improve on jacklondon's review but the range of emotions the play evokes is surprising and quite visceral at times and the outcome - if you can call it that given the time-shifting structure and same events replayed from different viewpoints - was poleaxingly unexpected. |
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Post by lonlad on Nov 27, 2022 11:25:01 GMT
Why there aren't queues around the block for BLACKOUT SONGS is a mystery to me: and total raves from the Telegraph and the NYTimes, amongst others, should help with some sort of longer life. Don't miss it ! Alex Austin confirms his status as one of this country's finest young actors and the entire production brims with vitality, poignancy, and a sense of occasion.
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Post by alessia on Nov 27, 2022 12:55:05 GMT
I will go see on Tuesday 6th, looking forward to it now.
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Post by Steve on Nov 27, 2022 13:31:05 GMT
Agreed. This is good. Constellations for alcoholics. Some spoilers follow. . . Back when "Die Hard," the movie, came out, everyone was doing a spin on it: "Die Hard on a ship," "Die Hard on a plane," "Die Hard in a McDonalds" lol. The best copy was "Die Hard on a Bus," which was "Speed," genuinely exciting in its own right. "Blackout Songs" reminds me of that, except it feels like an ingenious spin on "Constellations," which works in it's own right. Like "Constellations," this show flashes between many different iterations of a relationship; like "Constellations," this jumps backwards and forwards through time; like "Constellations," it constantly seems to start again, except in this show, the reason that the relationship keeps starting again is cos they're so constantly blotto that they keep forgetting meeting in the first place. That sounds funny but the humour wears thin cos these two damage themselves too much for it not ultimately to seem tragic. Alex Austin is indeed an amazing actor. He was terrific at the Royal Court in multiple things and at the Young Vic in "Barbarians," and he is again here, being the more tortured of the two, teetering constantly on the edge of redemption. Rebecca Humphries is pretty damn good too, brutal yet winning, as the catalyst and instigator of most of the drinking sessions, ever chasing oblivion. Ultimately, for me, this is too one-note to be as good as "Constellations," which was replete with endless possibilities for human beings to connect. But this is a fantastic spin on "Constellations," showing how every and all possibilities can be shut down if you have the wrong vice. 4 stars from me. |
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Post by tmesis on Nov 27, 2022 14:33:40 GMT
Not much to add except I was deeply impressed by this too. I’m not a fan of the two-hander but this, and The P word (Bush) are both exceptional examples of the type.
Yet again an example of Downstairs being the best bit at Hampstead.
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Post by wiggymess on Dec 1, 2022 22:37:45 GMT
Can I please just ask for those who have seen blackout songs, is it unreserved benches for the seating or a different layout?
Thanks
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Post by jaggy on Dec 1, 2022 23:03:52 GMT
Can I please just ask for those who have seen blackout songs, is it unreserved benches for the seating or a different layout? Thanks Unreserved benches. |
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Post by showgirl on Dec 2, 2022 5:37:23 GMT
Seating is against the 2 end walls, if you've seen that configuration Downstairs before?
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Post by wiggymess on Dec 2, 2022 8:45:06 GMT
Thanks both. Not been down there before. Want to see but not sure if I can sit on a bench for the duration
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Post by cavocado on Dec 2, 2022 8:51:29 GMT
Thanks both. Not been down there before. Want to see but not sure if I can sit on a bench for the duration They are pretty comfortable, with backrests, just no arms. |
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Post by alessia on Dec 7, 2022 7:20:26 GMT
Loved Blackout Songs last night. Not much to add to what's been said already other than I agree that this is one of the best I've seen this year, easily in the top ten of 2022 for me. Both actors are excellent. I bought the text and was reading it on the tube home, it is funny and very tragic at the same time, and very clever. I have nothing negative to say about it- loved it.
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Post by Dave B on Dec 7, 2022 9:40:36 GMT
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Post by alessia on Dec 7, 2022 11:53:50 GMT
Bad news :-( I know that the main theatre has been hit and miss but the downstairs space has had interesting things this year
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Post by cavocado on Dec 7, 2022 11:54:49 GMT
I have mixed feelings about this. It's been said in previous posts that, while Downstairs does a lot of brilliant new work, Upstairs has been very hit and miss recently, with some poorly chosen plays (and not all new writing either). I think maybe they needed a new direction, though sad that it's been forced by a funding cut. I hope they will find a way to continue with the good work Downstairs, and maybe some more crowd-pleasing work in the main house.
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Post by Jon on Dec 7, 2022 14:40:17 GMT
I have mixed feelings about this. It's been said in previous posts that, while Downstairs does a lot of brilliant new work, Upstairs has been very hit and miss recently, with some poorly chosen plays (and not all new writing either). I think maybe they needed a new direction, though sad that it's been forced by a funding cut. I hope they will find a way to continue with the good work Downstairs, and maybe some more crowd-pleasing work in the main house. I do think the decline of Hampstead happened towards the end of Ed Hall's tenure and Roxana Silbert was unable to stop it. I wonder who would want to take the job of AD? |
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Post by Mark on Dec 7, 2022 14:57:14 GMT
The programming recently has been rough. Memory of Water and Night Mother late last year I found very poor, and Fever Syndrome was also not great. I hope whichever direction they go in there is some better productions in the main house.
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Post by showgirl on Dec 7, 2022 15:23:56 GMT
Could someone please tell me what Dave B's post actually said? I assume from the responses that it was some bad news about Downstairs but his post is a blank space on my screen for some reason. |
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Post by TallPaul on Dec 7, 2022 15:34:06 GMT
Could someone please tell me what Dave B's post actually said? I assume from the responses that it was some bad news about Downstairs but his post is a blank space on my screen for some reason. I often have this problem too when someone posts a tweet. It's Time Out reporting that Roxana Silbert is stepping down as AD, and the theatre will no longer focus solely on new writing. |
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Post by n1david on Dec 7, 2022 15:34:42 GMT
Could someone please tell me what Dave B's post actually said? I assume from the responses that it was some bad news about Downstairs but his post is a blank space on my screen for some reason. From @timeouttheatre on Twitter: |
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Post by Dave B on Dec 7, 2022 16:38:07 GMT
Could someone please tell me what Dave B 's post actually said? I assume from the responses that it was some bad news about Downstairs but his post is a blank space on my screen for some reason. I often have this problem too when someone posts a tweet. It's Time Out reporting that Roxana Silbert is stepping down as AD, and the theatre will no longer focus solely on new writing. Ah, maybe one for the FAQ section, if you have Twitter cookies blocked (including through third party cookies) tweets show as black. I have to specifically change my ad-block and browser settings to allow embeds to load on this site and only on this site for some reason. |
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Post by showgirl on Dec 7, 2022 17:48:50 GMT
Thank you both' n1david and Dave B, both for the Hampstead info and the explanation for my being unable to see the original post. I have occasionally known this here before but never what the reason might be. |
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