Marvellous - New Vic / @sohoplace

Not heard of the story or the film but I've just booked on the spot, tickets are affordable too...hope it will be good!

I'm going to book because it's a great true story but also to be visit @sohoplace.

The theatre hasn't opened so we won't know yet.

I've booked for the opening night , Saturday 15 October. £25 for row A has to be a bargain and to visit a brand new theatre on its opening night is an experience not to be missed. From the seating plan it looks like the stage is in the round and the website refers to perfect sightlines from every seat so should be okay.

The TV play starring Toby Jones is a delight and as a bonus the theatre is now so easy to get to on the Elizabeth Line.

Anyone having difficulty booking for this ? I tried several times over the weekend and kept getting error messages.

Just tired again, stalls front row was £24 and now it's £40.

"Best available seats for £25" ... "from 15 October to 26 November" ...visit sohoplace.org ... (book) using promocode RadioTimes25.

£25 front row is showing across the run (I couldn't see them other day either, but definitely there now)

Plus the promo code mentioned above:   "Best available seats for £25" ... "from 15 October to 26 November" ...visit sohoplace.org ... (book) using promocode RadioTimes25

I'd love to book for this and quite a few other current/forthcoming productions and was pleased to see the deals return as I'd waited too long for the original "£25 front row" tickets. However, it's now the prospect of further train strikes which deters me as since theatres aren't obliged to give credits/refunds for this reason, it's risky to book and then be uanble to attend.

I once dropped my phone down a theatre loo, so I always like printable tickets just in case! I also know a couple of people who don't have smartphones.

I did clean it but it didn't recover unfortunately and had to be replaced. At least now I have a new phone it's got enough storage and battery power so that I can keep tickets on there if necessary.

Lol I was there, and enjoyed myself a great deal, but didn't absolutely love it, cos it wasn't as good as the Toby Jones film for me, for a number of reasons that wouldn't affect the expectations of someone who hadn't seen the film. So I thought I'd leave it to someone else to say something first, whose expectations weren't skewed that way.

As far as the theatre is concerned, I felt it was lovely, like a slightly enlarged Dorfman Theatre, or a slightly shrunken Bridge Theatre. The programmes were not available, so we got a free downloadable one, which was especially nice as I wasn't going to buy one anyway lol.

I know you like to know how long things are, and I recall we got out at about 10pm, which would suggest a running time of around 2 and a half hours, so I suspect that in future, the advertised running time of 2 hours 20 minutes will be about right.

Some spoilers follow. . .

The expectations engendered by the film, which I absolutely LOVED back in 2014, were threefold: (1) that the focus was on a bloke who asks and always hilariously receives; (2) that the focus was on some beautiful bonding between Neil and Lou Macari (his footie boss), Neil and his Mum (an absolutely adorable Gemma Jones in the film) and Neil and Reverend Mark; and (3) that some wonderful cast communal singing (eg of Delilah and Enjoy Yourself) would be happening.

All three hopes were dashed, since:-

(1) the focus of the play is not the moments where Neil breaks taboos and audaciously asks for stuff from people that most wouldn't dare to, but is actually his whole life. This play doesn't even get to the film plot until the second half. The first half is mostly his parents getting together to have him, and him growing up, which is all well and good, but isn't what made Neil so unique, in my opinion, which was his grown-up, infectiously insistent, assumingly engaging yet demanding personality;

(2) since Lou Macari and Reverend Mark have much reduced parts in the play, the building of bonding scenes with them, over time, simply isn't possible in the play. And the possibility of bonding with the characters, per se, is also reduced as noone in the cast plays anybody but themselves, in a self-consciously Brechtian way, except for Michael Hugo, who is utterly charming and loveable as "The Real Neil." Basically, a lot of the plot involves the actors talking and arguing about who's gonna play who, and then sharing the roles around, lol, which veered between being very funny and twee, but again, not what I was craving;

(3) there was a tiny bit of singing at the end, but the anthemic prevalence of songs like Delilah and Enjoy Yourself was utterly absent.

So that's why my expectations, unfairly aroused by having watched the film, were dashed.

On the upside,

(a) I learned so much more about Neil Baldwin's background and life than I learned from the film, especially in the first half, which was almost all new to me;

(b) the aforesaid Michael Hugo is an unforgettably personable and loveable host, playing Baldwin hosting the play about his own life, and I found him joyous and genuinely funny;

(c) in the second half, Hugo gets to play Baldwin's grown-up self, and there is some marvellous (yep) clowning around with Suzanne Ahmet, temporarily playing his Mum, involving food, that had me in stitches;

(d) Gareth Cassidy's facility with accents, and impish and knowing sense of humour, no matter who he was playing at the time (he's credited in the programme as simply playing Gareth, himself lol) was terrifically engaging and entertaining;

(e) the whole wonderful cast generously give their absolute all to this play and towards entertaining the audience for the whole duration.

Overall, my disappointment at one of the very best (5 star) British films of recent years not having an encore (lol) was countered by other enjoyable things to make up for this, and though the general atmosphere did skirt tweeness a little more than I would have liked, I ended up having 3 and a half stars of laughs and memorable fun.

And I did enjoy meeting the "Baby Bridge" Theatre on it's first professional outing, and I'm intrigued to see it kitted out differently for less circussy productions in the future.

Hope that helps.

I was also there on opening night, having failed to realise that the Elizabeth Line was closed for the weekend and only taking my seat at 19.28 after a stressful hurried train and tube trip from Abbey Wood. I had my usual "bag for life" with a book, a few interval snacks and a flask of cold fruit juice - it's smaller than most handbags so was slightly surprised to be asked to hand it in the cloakroom because "we have a bag policy". There was a small queue there at 19.26 so I just doubled back and up the stairs to the auditorium.

I know the film well and was expecting a retelling of the story but it's presented in a much less structured way. For a minute or two I was fooled into believing the real Neil Baldwin was there at the start which seemed feasible on opening night - Michael Hugo is totally convincing in the role. I felt too much time was spent on Neil's childhood which wasn't really that different to everybody else's or if it was that wasn't brought out at all. As a play the story is reduced to bare bones and there's far too much pantomime-style slapstick comedy with flour being thrown around and water sprayed everywhere. There were a few children there and it's fine for a family audience.

At least eight people in my sightline from a front row seat didn't return after the interval. I was entertained, glad I saw it but wouldn't revisit. Three stars

So of the four aisles on the seating plan, only two are actually aisles? Which two are they? 

I deliberately booked an aisle seat so I'll be annoyed if it turns out it's not!

Seeing this the evening after Tammy Faye may have contributed to this comment...

The play:
I didn't enjoy this very much. It is full of slapstick humour and pantomime interactions and I enjoy neither of these things. Nor do I enjoy being splattered with water, flour and foam. Would have gone for first level if I had known. I also did not see the film beforehand and so didn't know anything going in. From the disjointed plot, I also wasn't able to gather completely what was going on. Had to read up afterwards. It's a bit like a student drama with the kitchen sink and then the whole house thrown at it. Any serious topics got lost in the shuffle and the bullying/not bullying topic was somewhat shied away from. The actors are mainly ok, though 'The Real Neil' actor had terrible diction. My comprehension wasn't helped by uneven sound depending on where actors were positioned on the stage.

I wouldn't give it three stars but if looking for a Christmas activity with children, this might be fun.

The theatre:
I thought this looked impressive at first glance, very bright from the outside and lots of light inside. However, the seats are narrow and uncomfortable and legroom in the front row is unsuitable if even moderately tall. It falls down further inside because of the low ceilings, narrow hallways and insufficient toilets. You'd think these could be done to a better standard in a modern-built theatre.

Final note: Neil Baldwin was there and signing programmes last night - queue organised in the foyer. Not sure if that's a regular occurrence.