459 posts
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Post by drmaplewood on May 19, 2017 5:39:13 GMT
Thought this was dreadful and left at the interval.
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219 posts
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Post by PalelyLaura on May 19, 2017 9:04:09 GMT
Kind of bored by this. I thought there was a lot of padding. Shame as it could have been really good.
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Post by zahidf on May 19, 2017 9:23:01 GMT
I wasn't convinced by him. Felt he hadn't quite got under the skin of the character and was going through the motions. It might have been the fact that he seemed to be in shadow for most of his big scenes, making it hard to properly see the details of his performance, that gave me that impression. I couldn't see his facial expressions. My friend commented that he didn't seem to know what to do with his hands. We both thought it would have been better in a smaller, more intimate, space than the Old Vic. It did pick up after the interval, I thought. It was the very long scenes between him and his girlfriend that sagged. Maybe if they trim them a bit it'll work better. I was a bit bothered by the lack of soldierly body language. Slouch, slouch, slouch - none of them looked like they'd ever stood to attention, let alone on parade.
I wouldn't disagree with it being better in a smaller space. I had good seats in the 5th row, so I saw more of it. I also quite liked the set, but overall I thought it was deeply average ( at best). It didn't compare to Angels in America or The Ferryman which I saw this week as well!
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485 posts
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Post by wiggymess on May 19, 2017 10:38:55 GMT
Was really looking forward to this, now I'm slightly worried... Thought Thorne/Boyega combo would at least be pretty solid.
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Post by foxa on May 19, 2017 14:04:54 GMT
I was really disappointed by this. We considered leaving at the interval but stuck it out. We had slightly restricted view seats in the dress circle, but could easily see pretty much everything, whether we wanted to or not. It left us cold, but obviously others liked it and I think there were a half dozen people or more giving it a standing ovations at the end.
Thorne tried to flesh out why Woyzeck was in such a state - and boy, he came up with a lot of reasons: abusive mother, something upsetting while serving in Belfast, lack of money due to a barracks situation, pills.....but by supplying all this realism what was lost was the poetry and raw symbolism of the original: the circus with its numerate horse; the moon and hunting imagery, the woods, the Drum Major, the blind woman, the nihilistic fairy tale ....And the lack of all this wasn't satisfactorily replaced by having actors marching around with over-sized boxes of laundry detergent.
I don't think Boyega is a bad actor - but he wasn't very interesting and the scenes between him and Sarah Greene were almost painfully dull. I felt sorry for Nancy Carroll - what a terrible role. To me, it seemed a strangely unimaginative production - but as I said, others clearly liked it.
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Post by emicardiff on May 19, 2017 14:15:16 GMT
Oh dear I was mildly curious to see this but I don't think I'll go out of my way based on the feedback here! I was mainly curious to see what the fuss about Boyega was (as I've never seen a Star War) but I think I'll wait for something else for that!
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Post by Deleted on May 19, 2017 14:18:51 GMT
I'm due to see this tomorrow. Not enthused by the reviews on here so far but there is a promise of some nudity which might balance it all out. At my time of life I take what I can get.
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4,028 posts
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Post by kathryn on May 19, 2017 15:51:46 GMT
To me, it seemed a strangely unimaginative production - but as I said, others clearly liked it. I thought the audience reaction was comparatively muted. I didn't spot people standing at the end and there was a notable lack of reaction to moments that were presumably meant to be shocking.
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4,028 posts
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Post by kathryn on May 19, 2017 15:53:57 GMT
I'm due to see this tomorrow. Not enthused by the reviews on here so far but there is a promise of some nudity which might balance it all out. At my time of life I take what I can get. Full frontal man-bits were probably the highlight of the play.
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Post by Deleted on May 19, 2017 16:07:02 GMT
I don't understand how Woyzeck can work without the Drum Major... but I guess I'll find out soon enough! (Tempted to ditch the £10 ticket on the basis of these reviews but, hey, will give it a go.)
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Post by iamian on May 19, 2017 16:11:44 GMT
It doesn't (but go and see it for a tenner!)
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Post by emicardiff on May 19, 2017 18:05:35 GMT
(as I've never seen a Star War Whoa!!! Hold Everything!!!! You mean none of the original trilogy? None of the modern ones? What? We need to know - and correct it as soon as possible!!! Ok no to the original...I *may* have seen one of the newer ones (ie the Anakin/Jar-Jar ones) but I have no memory of it. Given I am incredibly nerdy in the vein of Sci-Fi in every other way, it's odd to me too. Theatreboard movie night?
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60 posts
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Post by skullion on May 19, 2017 19:36:23 GMT
I'm due to see this tomorrow. Not enthused by the reviews on here so far but there is a promise of some nudity which might balance it all out. At my time of life I take what I can get. Full frontal man-bits were probably the highlight of the play. This doesn't bode well
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Post by Deleted on May 20, 2017 15:52:52 GMT
Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.
And you can take that either as my opinion of the play, or my opinion of the half a dozen people who shot to their feet at curtain call...
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Xanderl
Member
Not always very high value in terms of ticket yield or donations
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Post by Xanderl on May 20, 2017 17:51:06 GMT
Glad I ditched my ticket for this, even if it didn't resell! Had to get back for a birthday party this evening, could just about have done it but seemed too much effort for this!
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60 posts
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Post by skullion on May 20, 2017 18:20:07 GMT
I cant say this did much for me either, I certainly couldn't see much to justify the level of whooping and standing up at the end. Each to their own I suppose!
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371 posts
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Post by popcultureboy on May 20, 2017 21:53:15 GMT
The first half is crass, dull, shallow, blighted by ugly design, unconvincing performances and zero chemistry among the cast. The second half is ten minutes shorter but it felt about 8 hours longer and made act one seem like The Godfather by comparison. There is a dream sequence where Steffan Rhodri sings a dance song. There is a scene where Darrell D'Silva speaks German, none of which is translated for the audience. John Boyega pours washing powder into his mouth. It got even more ludicrous than that too, but I can't even be bothered to try and explain how. I couldn't bring myself to applaud it this afternoon, and when it was greeted so rapturously, I was sorely tempted to boo.
I wonder whether the reviews will come down on the side of the handful of people that gave this an ovation or on the side of the likes of me, who loudly exclaimed "why? they were f***ing TERRIBLE" when John Boyega and Sarah Greene came on for a separate curtain call. They want to hope for great reviews since this really isn't selling. You can drive a truck through the upcoming bank holiday Monday performance....
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2,545 posts
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Post by viserys on May 21, 2017 5:12:50 GMT
For Heaven's Sake, I'm starting to think I should tear up my ticket for June...
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Post by emicardiff on May 21, 2017 7:57:47 GMT
Theatreboard movie night? Mia sofa et original VHS box set, est sua sofa et original VHS box set, emicardiff. It's an invitation I'd only accept if original VHS was involved.
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Post by Deleted on May 21, 2017 7:58:12 GMT
Well. At least I know how the title is pronounced. "Wot-A-Cheek". As in what a bloomin' cheek to charge money for this rubbish.
Ugly set which looks like an insulated loft that hasn't been finished and mediocre performances I'm afraid. John Boyega manfully emoting like crazy while shoving washing powder down his throat which was I think, a suggestion to the audience as to how to escape quicker and Sarah Greene was unfortunately not the glorious former Blue Peter presenter and Saturday morning TV star but someone altogether more whiny and wooden.
And the script? Ooooh, let's be edgy and put lots of swear words in it. Won't that be "cool" or whatever the kids are calling it nowadays? However, if you like the idea of Nancy Carroll frequently dropping the C-bomb in her cut glass accent then this is the show for you.
On the plus side. Ben Batt's nudity was a welcome addition to the banality though (he clearly works out a LOT) so I'd like to thank Matthew Warchus for that small (well not really, fnar fnar) mercy anyway.
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Post by Honoured Guest on May 21, 2017 9:47:56 GMT
so I'd like to thank Matthew Warchus Directed by Joe Murphy.
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Post by lonlad on May 21, 2017 17:08:24 GMT
Sarah Greene was a 2014 Tony nominee for THE CRIPPLE OF INISHMAAN, directed by Michael Grandage
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Post by Deleted on May 21, 2017 18:05:50 GMT
I should probably expand on the reasons I hated this... My doubts started early, with the apparently hilarious (to those around me) statement that 'ich liebe dich' sounds like 'I lick dick' (it really doesn't, even when the cast's German accents are as crap as this lot's). By the time we got to 'deine Oma masturbiert...' I was looking at my watch (oh joy, still only 5 minutes in...) Act two opens with a vigorous sex scene and multiple instances of gratuitous use of the C word (at which point I really regretted deciding to give it a second chance and sticking around after the interval). My German is pretty good (she says modestly) but I only caught about 50% of d'Silva's section in German. If you're going to make an actor a German character, and then ask them to speak a bit of the lingo, it might be a nice idea to give them a bit of language training so they sound believable. I have no idea if he understood anything of what he was saying, but key words were muffled, which suggested no understanding of word order/sentence construction - you can't let a sentence trail off if the darn verb you need to make sense of it is placed at the end!). Weird not to have it translated but I seem to remember a similar thing happening in a play I saw at Hampstead. {Spoiler - click to view} But mainly, I was just bored. Woyzeck's line that precedes his suicide is something like 'I don't know why I did what I did/I don't know what it was all for', and I was sitting in P5 thinking, 'I don't either, mate'. Why would you turn your back on a lot of the original's plot, borrowing a few characters and the overarching premise only, then try to explain Woyzeck's madness (but not very well) with a sort-of-hinted-at event in Belfast and childhood sexual abuse? It left me more confused than ever about the meaning of the play, and rendered it all rather pointless.
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Post by talkstageytome on May 21, 2017 23:03:33 GMT
Oh these reviews are making me simultaneously sad that everyone seems to have come away disappointed, and relieved that I didn't get a ticket. I've liked John Boyega in a bunch of other things (most notably Star Wars, obvs, and Attack The Block in which I thought he was excellent!) so was extremely tempted to see this, but it kind of sounds like I dodged a bullet. Hmm..
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Post by showgirl on May 22, 2017 7:18:33 GMT
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Post by Baemax on May 22, 2017 7:35:19 GMT
I didn't really care one way or the other on this one. Will I remember it fondly? Nope. Will I remember it as a wasted evening? Nope. Did I like it? Nope. Did I hate it? Nope. Between this and Cursed Child, I'm beginning to suspect that Jack Thorne is extremely overrated as a playwright; quantity =/= quality, and if he's ever written anything genuinely great then that's just what happens when you write and write and write and write for long enough. Occasionally those monkeys with typewriters are going to hit upon the complete works of Shakespeare, and occasionally Jack Thorne is going to write a genuinely good play. But I liked the performers, and was fairly ambivalent on the design and direction. If I were going for a star rating, I'd give it two, which here means "I wouldn't see it again and I wouldn't recommend it but it passed the time and it wasn't horrible".
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Post by kathryn on May 22, 2017 7:42:20 GMT
I'm pretty sure the Berlin Wall wasn't made of wood and insulation. It would have been a more interesting set if they had been Berlin Wall-like panels.
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Post by iamian on May 22, 2017 8:04:12 GMT
I'm pretty sure the Berlin Wall wasn't made of wood and insulation. It would have been a more interesting set if they had been Berlin Wall-like panels. and it is not 'fairly faithful to the original'
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Post by Deleted on May 22, 2017 10:00:07 GMT
I'm pretty sure the Berlin Wall wasn't made of wood and insulation. It would have been a more interesting set if they had been Berlin Wall-like panels. and it is not 'fairly faithful to the original' Yes I thought that was an odd thing to say, given the blogger is clearly conversant with the original...
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Xanderl
Member
Not always very high value in terms of ticket yield or donations
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Post by Xanderl on May 22, 2017 18:00:10 GMT
Glad I ditched my ticket for this, even if it didn't resell! If it was row P end, it didn't, and nor did the seat next to it. Empty seats in front of me, the one time I didn't care about having a clear view...
And finally, they do check stalls tickets at the interval, but not in the dress circle.
Yes, they mailed me to say they hadn't resold it as the performance wasn't sold out (which it wasn't, I checked in the morning and there were a few seats left). Fair enough although my earlier point about the faff of printing and scanning the form still stands! To be honest I would have swapped my seat for another date but it was a £21 stalls seats and not many of those left, plus I didn't want to spend another £2 for the exchange based on the feedback here! Top quality research on the interval ticket check!
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