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Post by catw on Jul 8, 2022 19:06:20 GMT
I’m also in the minority on this one as I didn’t enjoy as some others have. It’s weird how aesthetically it looked in a similar world to The Unfriend. I agree I enjoyed that much more, I don’t think there is maybe much to improve upon I just think I’m not that interested in restoration comedies
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Post by lonlad on Jul 8, 2022 23:59:06 GMT
>>The second time a character has a wooden duck to hide and hands it to an audience member near the front. The audience member has to shout pretending the duck is somewhere else. Later Kelvin Fletcher comes and finds the duck from said audience member.
Saw it tonight and that didn't happen at all. The running time is also down to 2 hrs 40 almost to the minute and the response at the end was very strong, with many standing. I didn't much like it and the poo joke is, sorry, execrable, but others seemed to love it and Caroline Quentin doing the splits has to be seen to be believed.
The ending is a blatant steal from love's labour's lost but then the whole show steals from better sources (including One man, two guvnors, which was INFINITELY better) so stealing from LLL is no big deal.
The Kelvin character btw is a total non-entity and doesn't register at all. The production is mostly about the oldies and about Kerry Howard, who shrieks her way through it unappealingly.
But I predict it will get raves.
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Post by lonlad on Jul 9, 2022 0:00:56 GMT
>> That sounds suspiciously like something that will happen every night.
Sorry, meant to add that the above "mishap" did not happen tonight
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Post by nottobe on Jul 9, 2022 9:36:15 GMT
Saw it tonight and that didn't happen at all. I think that cut will have served it a bit better as the gag did not work as well as it may have done. The audience were also meant to shout warmer or colder to Kelvin finding the duck and it seemed a muted response. Has the whole wooden duck subplot gone then or just this moment? |
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Post by Jon on Jul 9, 2022 9:40:58 GMT
>> The second time a character has a wooden duck to hide and hands it to an audience member near the front. The audience member has to shout pretending the duck is somewhere else. Later Kelvin Fletcher comes and finds the duck from said audience member.
Saw it tonight and that didn't happen at all. The running time is also down to 2 hrs 40 almost to the minute and the response at the end was very strong, with many standing. I didn't much like it and the poo joke is, sorry, execrable, but others seemed to love it and Caroline Quentin doing the splits has to be seen to be believed. The ending is a blatant steal from love's labour's lost but then the whole show steals from better sources (including One man, two guvnors, which was INFINITELY better) so stealing from LLL is no big deal. The Kelvin character btw is a total non-entity and doesn't register at all. The production is mostly about the oldies and about Kerry Howard, who shrieks her way through it unappealingly. But I predict it will get raves. I'm guessing they cut it because it doesn't further the plot. |
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Post by lonlad on Jul 9, 2022 10:32:48 GMT
>> Has the whole wooden duck subplot gone then or just this moment?
It's there and doesn't register at all and when Kerry H's character finds it at the end, you think, `so what?' Bean and Chris gave a joint interview to the FT where they banged on about the duck to great effect but they've clearly changed their minds. They should jettison it entirely.
Peter Forbes is wonderful in it.
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Post by sprampster on Jul 9, 2022 15:54:32 GMT
Just out of the matinee and absolutely l loved it all . I would say ignore the haters and go and see it ! This is going to be a smash hit
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Post by lichtie on Jul 9, 2022 16:12:48 GMT
Im also in the enjoyed this camp. It's not going to win prizes for subtlety but it's fun. Settled in at 2 hours 40 including the interval.
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Post by vernongersh on Jul 9, 2022 22:45:46 GMT
Fully enjoyed this. Highly recommend. Funny, wonderfully acted, directed and written - just so much fun. Totally entertaining. Wasn't familiar at all with any of the actors and was so impressed
****1/2
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Post by meister on Jul 10, 2022 6:10:44 GMT
This is providing a range of opinions- admin, could we have a poll?
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Post by alexandra on Jul 10, 2022 12:48:25 GMT
One of the funniest things was that a piece of the set fell off the wall, Caroline Quentin improvised and both she and Peter Forbes got the giggles. That sounds suspiciously like something that will happen every night. A question for older members - how closely does it follow the plot of The Rivals ? I don't suppose any members are quite that old. |
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Post by crabtree on Jul 10, 2022 15:06:18 GMT
again, that was a question i was going to ask, or does it take the characters and put them down elsewhere?
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Post by Jan on Jul 10, 2022 17:03:50 GMT
That sounds suspiciously like something that will happen every night. A question for older members - how closely does it follow the plot of The Rivals ? I don't suppose any members are quite that old. I saw it last at the Arcola in 2014 but I assume you never venture so far East. Before that the peerless 1983 NT production with Michael Horden, Fiona Shaw, Geraldine McEwan, Edward Petherbridge, and Tim Curry. |
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Jul 10, 2022 17:40:03 GMT
I saw it with Penelope Keith about ten years ago. I love that play.
Intrigued by the duck subplot?!
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Post by lichtie on Jul 10, 2022 18:23:24 GMT
I think the duck subplot reflects where they wanted to take it but now haven't. There are clear elements of panto in the way they've presented this, and the audience participation with the duck that has been dumped would have driven that home.
For those struggling with whether to go or not, imagine a Carry On version of a restoration comedy and you won't be a million miles off...
By the way, the projected bits probably only really work well if you're sat up in the circle, and I can't imagine they work at all really if you're down the front.
As for whether this is like the Rivals, I'd say first half not far off, second half starts to diverge and keeps going. And obviously the ending was tied more to the time this was originally supposed to open just before the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Britain than anything in Sheridan.
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Post by sprampster on Jul 10, 2022 18:59:49 GMT
Honestly there is no duck sub plot ! If you go and see it just appreciate it as a large scale well written and acted and very funny show ! It’s “based” on The Rivals in the same way OM2G was “based” on A servant and two masters
Honestly it’s entertaining and celebrates breaking down the fourth wall ! I was there on Saturday and happened to bump into four different groups of people I know a cross section of ages and backgrounds and everyone loved it and lots are going back to see it again !
Grab a ticket ! Make a day or night of it and just celebrate the National doing what they do best !
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Post by lonlad on Jul 10, 2022 20:39:46 GMT
>> Honestly it’s entertaining and celebrates breaking down the fourth wall
Hardly. Such moments are barely evidenced now and the few that remain (a guy in the front being called out for his appearance) suggested warmed-over Dame Edna. Virtually everything about this show has been done better elsewhere, often by the very same people. Oh well.
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Post by alexandra on Jul 10, 2022 22:42:05 GMT
I don't suppose any members are quite that old. I saw it last at the Arcola in 2014 but I assume you never venture so far East. Before that the peerless 1983 NT production with Michael Horden, Fiona Shaw, Geraldine McEwan, Edward Petherbridge, and Tim Curry. I was running with your implication that you had to be old to know the plot of The Rivals. As for the slur: I have heard there are places east of Chelsea. I’ve even been south of the river, but only to the National Theatre. |
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Post by anita on Jul 11, 2022 9:55:36 GMT
Seeing this tonight.
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Post by mrbarnaby on Jul 12, 2022 23:34:08 GMT
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Post by TallPaul on Jul 13, 2022 7:28:46 GMT
Ignore the waspishness, anita. What did you think? |
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Post by anita on Jul 13, 2022 9:18:57 GMT
Ignore the waspishness, anita . What did you think? I loved it. All the cast were terrific. It was very funny & after consulting my theatremonkey book I got a middle of the front row seat for £20.[A23]. Fabulous view. |
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Post by anita on Jul 13, 2022 9:45:33 GMT
Ignore the waspishness, anita . What did you think? And there was the added benefit that it was lovely & cool in there. I wanted to stay & sleep there! |
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Post by anthony40 on Jul 13, 2022 9:51:00 GMT
Did you like the Australian character? Especially when he was holding the bees and boxing.
Not the smarted bulb in the box, but lovable.
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Post by Steve on Jul 14, 2022 12:32:15 GMT
I loved it. Its less than the sum of its wonderful parts, as the multiple storylines fail to coalesce and build in hysteria, and it currently has a misguided ending, but it has some hilarious setpieces, and three belly-laugh-inducing female characters, wonderfully realised by Kerry Howard, Helena Wilson and Caroline Quentin. Some spoilers follow. . . "One Man Two Guvnors," perhaps unfairly, looms over this, as both Richard Bean (writer) and Oliver Chris (one of the funniest stage gangsters) did incredible work on that one, creating more laughs than I've ever heard in the National. What that one had that this one doesn't is a focused central storyline, following the low adventures of James Corden, and a peerless comic setpiece involving Tom Edden's hundred year old doddery waiter lol. This story is much less focused, with disparate characters in love, the story constantly resetting instead of building, and none of the comic setpieces are quite as funny as the one described above. However, there is SO much to love, with setpieces such as "talking while dancing," "flexible Caroline Quentin," and "who's the better boxer" having me laughing out loud. It should be mandatory that all expositional scenes in every play should be conducted while the characters do the "Slap the Baby" dance lol. Kerry Howard's maid, Lucy, is the play's fourth wall breaking monologuist, constantly mocking and undermining the structure and content of the plot, yet I loved just how much ferocious attitude she channels into every supposedly pointless plot point, thus getting not only the laughs that are at the expense of the plot, but getting even more laughs as the most fiery actor within the plot. Helena Wilson's Julia is one of the most loveable, well-meaning but vacant, hilariously enunciating posh nitwits I've ever seen on stage. And Caroline Quentin commits fully to every malapropism (eg "Algarve" instead of "alcove"), good and bad, but also goes full throttle with the winking saucy attitude as well as committing to an immense amount of physicality. One Man Two Guvnors got most of it's laughs from men (Corden, Edden, Chris and Daniel Rigby), but here the women are ascendant! The two funniest male turns are Peter Forbes as Sir Anthony Absolute, who triumphs over his underwritten part by channeling an ever-boiling inner kettle, and James Corrigan as Bob Wingnut Acres, a wide-eyed enthusiastic Australian caricature par excellence lol. Towards the end, the play suddenly thinks it's "Flare Path" and strikes some unearned notes, evidently with a view to have it both ways, and not be accused of mocking our war heroes, but if you go for "Allo Allo," just stick with it, I say lol. Four stars of laughter from me.  |
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