Xanderl
Member
Not always very high value in terms of ticket yield or donations
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Post by Xanderl on Jun 1, 2017 17:05:41 GMT
Just received this from the National: Common: performance cancelled on Friday 2 June With regret, we have taken the decision to cancel Friday's preview performance. Please accept our sincere apologies for the inconvenience caused by this late change. Common is an ambitious and technically complex new play, and the company need additional time on stage to work on the production during the preview period. Check the email headers and the IP address it was sent from. This might be another of Mr Foxa's elaborate ruses.
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1,465 posts
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Post by foxa on Jun 1, 2017 17:12:33 GMT
Ha! I must say, he could barely hide his glee.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 1, 2017 17:12:41 GMT
I keep seeing Anne-Marie Duff in tedious productions at the NT, where she is stunning to watch. She must be doing it on purpose. Better to be the corn in the pooh than the pooh in the corn
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92 posts
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Post by chameleon on Jun 1, 2017 17:40:16 GMT
Just received this from the National: Common: performance cancelled on Friday 2 June With regret, we have taken the decision to cancel Friday's preview performance. Please accept our sincere apologies for the inconvenience caused by this late change. Common is an ambitious and technically complex new play, and the company need additional time on stage to work on the production during the preview period. Because the performance has been cancelled at short notice, we will automatically refund the cost of your tickets. If you would like to attend a performance later in the run, our Box Office will be happy to arrange tickets for you. Please see dates and current availability for future performances here. To book for a different performance please call the Box Office on 020 7452 3000 or email boxoffice@nationaltheatre.org.uk, including your preferred dates. I think this is code for 'the entire play is being re-written right now..'..
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1,064 posts
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Post by bellboard27 on Jun 1, 2017 17:44:56 GMT
a 2.15 pm start is annoyingly early Matinees are at 2.00. 14.00
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3,470 posts
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Post by showgirl on Jun 1, 2017 19:09:49 GMT
I keep seeing Anne-Marie Duff in tedious productions at the NT, where she is stunning to watch. She must be doing it on purpose. Indeed - see St Joan. It's not as though I go for A-M D either, but her name and Cush Jumbo's made me think the work itself stood a fair chance of being decent or better.
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1,119 posts
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Post by martin1965 on Jun 1, 2017 19:47:17 GMT
I keep seeing Anne-Marie Duff in tedious productions at the NT, where she is stunning to watch. She must be doing it on purpose. Indeed - see St Joan. It's not as though I go for A-M D either, but her name and Cush Jumbo's made me think the work itself stood a fair chance of being decent or better. Im going to this on 24 June, will be interesting to see next weeks press night. I have to say i booked ages ago pretty much solely on A-M Duff's name. I thought St Joan was amazing.
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638 posts
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Post by theatremiss on Jun 1, 2017 20:21:16 GMT
Friday night's performance is cancelled. I got an email this afternoon
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Post by Honoured Guest on Jun 1, 2017 22:15:00 GMT
Echo.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 1, 2017 23:09:42 GMT
Just got home from seeing this tonight and I enjoyed it. I thought it was good and not as terrible as people have said it was. I did not really know what to expect but was willing to be openminded. I liked the staging of it and the direction was very good. I also liked the use of ensemble and the staging was good. The acting was also good but for me the script really let this down. Lots of what they were saying seemed a bit nonsensical and some of it got quite confusing but what annoyed me quite a bit was the amount of unnecessary swearing. It felt like it was just put there for no real reason and there are only a certain amount of times you can say the c word before it becomes a bit boring and a cheap laugh. Other that the actual script the rest of the production is quite good. Some others moments that were a bit odd included the not very real guts, stuffed toy dog, urination and weird crow animatronics. All the cast were very good and Anne Marie duff good leading lady as well as some other good characters but thought Cush Jumna could have had a bigger part. Overall I feel it is quite a good production of a not as good play
hust now I have looked at people's review on to edit ame they have all given it one star, yes it is not the best play but I have see worse. The points they make are valid and I agree with things they say but this is by far not a one star show ,maybe I am just being optimistic about the show. I wonder what they will be changing as they have canclled tommorows preview,
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1,196 posts
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Post by theatrefan77 on Jun 1, 2017 23:37:27 GMT
Just got back from seeing this mess. Not as awful as Salome but close. Nothing wrong with the acting, staging and direction but the play is truly awful, so there's no much anybody can do to save it. The play is just a pile of pretentious nonsense and the plot is far too confusing. The author seems to love the c word and has decided to use it almost constantly for no reason whatsoever.
It will be interesting to hear what changes they will introduce, but unless the play is completely rewritten this is going to be another stinker.
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2,345 posts
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Post by zahidf on Jun 1, 2017 23:47:17 GMT
I saw it today. 2 hours 45 mins.
It was very odd, most of it didnt work, but anne marie duff was very good, and i thought her character was fascinating. Its got potential, with some reworking i think
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5,268 posts
Member is Online
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Post by mrbarnaby on Jun 2, 2017 6:33:53 GMT
Thanks all. Was going to book this, and you've saved me the money. Cannot be doing with 2hr 45 of pretentious rubbish.
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1,103 posts
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Post by mallardo on Jun 2, 2017 6:49:13 GMT
It's a strange experience watching a show that's about to be shut down for a day in order to... what? Fix it? One inevitably sits there wondering just what's going to change. It can't be a set issue. There's nothing technically challenging in that department. It must be about cuts and revisions. But it seems already to have been cut. It came in at 2.45 - a welcome 15 minutes less than expected. As for revisions, where to begin?
First of all, it's not a play about enclosures, the fencing off of common land by the landowning elites in order to consolidate their own hold on property and drive the peasantry into the cities to become grist for the Industrial Revolution's mills. That's all there but, really, it's a backdrop, a dramatic and violent setting for the main story which is a kind of She-Demon's Progress featuring a fascinating but bewildering creature called Mary (or is it Catherine?) returning home from London with plans for redemption and revenge. Mary is played by Anne-Marie Duff and she is so watchable - she is our hostess as well as our leading lady, chatting to the audience and telling us her plans like a female Iago - and interesting in herself that we might almost overlook the fact that she's in a play not quite worthy of her.
I used the word Demon because others in the play call her that and there seems to be something to it. She knows things she couldn't know - she's taken to be a fortune teller by some, and with reason - and there's a kind of magic to her that (without giving too much away) renders her virtually unstoppable. The magic element hangs over the whole play, a kind of Wicker Man thing, pagan rituals playing out in a world of superstition, brought to the surface by the turmoil and social upheaval. Mary is part of that but something more. She is also the Modern (in 1809) Woman. A woman using her brains and her willpower and her sexuality to extract what she wants from life - especially from men.
In fact, she has little use for men. She has come back to the downtrodden countryside to hook up once again with her half-sister (Cush Jumbo) and take her away from all this. That is her quest and the plot, such as it is, is how she goes about it. Ms Jumbo is excellent, btw, and the scenes between the two ladies crackle. But there are complications. There is a brother - incest is in the air - and there is also the feckless local Lord (Tim McMullan), hopeless at dealing with peasants, leaving the dirty work up to his brutal enforcer (Trevor Fox). McMullan is terrific, as always, but one wonders what there is about the part that made him want to play it.
So it goes. It's written by DC Moore in what passes for early 19th century jargon which makes it not always easy to follow, especially the case with a contingent of Irish labourers brought in to build the enclosure fences. One must pay very close attention which, in this case, is wearying.
And if Ms Duff is fascinating, as noted, she is also inscrutable. We can't, in truth, believe anything she says - her actions, at times, belie what she says - so we can't empathize, can't make a connection to her. At the end it all feels unresolved and the question becomes... so what, really, was the point?
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2,345 posts
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Post by zahidf on Jun 2, 2017 8:08:50 GMT
It's a strange experience watching a show that's about to be shut down for a day in order to... what? Fix it? One inevitably sits there wondering just what's going to change. It can't be a set issue. There's nothing technically challenging in that department. It must be about cuts and revisions. But it seems already to have been cut. It came in at 2.45 - a welcome 15 minutes less than expected. As for revisions, where to begin? First of all, it's not a play about enclosures, the fencing off of common land by the landowning elites in order to consolidate their own hold on property and drive the peasantry into the cities to become grist for the Industrial Revolution's mills. That's all there but, really, it's a backdrop, a dramatic and violent setting for the main story which is a kind of She-Demon's Progress featuring a fascinating but bewildering creature called Mary (or is it Catherine?) returning home from London with plans for redemption and revenge. Mary is played by Anne-Marie Duff and she is so watchable - she is our hostess as well as our leading lady, chatting to the audience and telling us her plans like a female Iago - and interesting in herself that we might almost overlook the fact that she's in a play not quite worthy of her. I used the word Demon because others in the play call her that and there seems to be something to it. She knows things she couldn't know - she's taken to be a fortune teller by some, and with reason - and there's a kind of magic to her that (without giving too much away) renders her virtually unstoppable. The magic element hangs over the whole play, a kind of Wicker Man thing, pagan rituals playing out in a world of superstition, brought to the surface by the turmoil and social upheaval. Mary is part of that but something more. She is also the Modern (in 1809) Woman. A woman using her brains and her willpower and her sexuality to extract what she wants from life - especially from men. In fact, she has little use for men. She has come back to the downtrodden countryside to hook up once again with her half-sister (Cush Jumbo) and take her away from all this. That is her quest and the plot, such as it is, is how she goes about it. Ms Jumbo is excellent, btw, and the scenes between the two ladies crackle. But there are complications. There is a brother - incest is in the air - and there is also the feckless local Lord (Tim McMullan), hopeless at dealing with peasants, leaving the dirty work up to his brutal enforcer (Trevor Fox). McMullan is terrific, as always, but one wonders what there is about the part that made him want to play it. So it goes. It's written by DC Moore in what passes for early 19th century jargon which makes it not always easy to follow, especially the case with a contingent of Irish labourers brought in to build the enclosure fences. One must pay very close attention which, in this case, is wearying. And if Ms Duff is fascinating, as noted, she is also inscrutable. We can't, in truth, believe anything she says - her actions, at times, belie what she says - so we can't empathize, can't make a connection to her. At the end it all feels unresolved and the question becomes... so what, really, was the point? Yeah, that nails my problems with it. I found it fun because of Duff and McMullan, but there isn't really a point or sympathetic focus to it.
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3,470 posts
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Post by showgirl on Jun 2, 2017 8:36:35 GMT
Apparently members may return tickets online; what a useful facility & saves a personal visit.
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1,186 posts
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Post by theatrelover123 on Jun 2, 2017 8:40:48 GMT
Yes you can return them for a credit note/ voucher but you still need to send the ticket/s back to the NT box exchanges in the post and they have to receive it 24 (or 72) hours before the date.
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562 posts
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Post by jadnoop on Jun 2, 2017 9:01:17 GMT
Given what a long and complex play this seems to be, it seems odd that they would only cancel a Friday performance. I mean, how much can they hope to alter in a single day, while ensuring the actors, stagehands, etc are all up to speed by Saturdays performance? I would have assumed that cancelling Saturday, in order to have an entire weekend, would make the task more manageable.
I really hope they manage to salvage this. Despite the apparent general consensus that this is poor, I can't help but be excited: in the back of my mind, the mix of an old world setting on the cusp of modernity, and a language that attempts to combine copious amounts of swearing with a Shakespearean poetry, brings to mind David Milch's magnificent DEADWOOD. While that show certainly isn't for everyone (not least for the ridiculous amounts of swearing), in my opinion it's up there with THE WIRE in terms of modern television quality.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 2, 2017 9:04:14 GMT
I can't wait to see it so that I can say in my best Kenneth Williams voice, "ooooh innit common, absolutely common".
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Post by Honoured Guest on Jun 2, 2017 9:15:14 GMT
And if Ms Duff is fascinating, as noted, she is also inscrutable. We can't, in truth, believe anything she says - her actions, at times, belie what she says - so we can't empathize, can't make a connection to her She is Parsley.
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3,470 posts
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Post by showgirl on Jun 2, 2017 10:16:36 GMT
Yes you can return them for a credit note/ voucher but you still need to send the ticket/s back to the NT box exchanges in the post and they have to receive it 24 (or 72) hours before the date. TY for this. Amazingly it's a rare case of an IT glitch working in my favour as every time I've tried to collect tix from the NT machine, it has mysteriously omitted this one - such that in the end I began to doubt myself. So I have no physical ticket - did the machines know something?!
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2,706 posts
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Post by Cardinal Pirelli on Jun 2, 2017 11:33:49 GMT
Thanks for the review mallardo, it's much more useful when people give background and a considered view (nothing against individuals but short confused/angry/ecstatic posts don't have any effect, especially when hardly anyone has seen what is commented on).
In fact, you explaiin how factors such as language, complexity and lack of empathetic characters might have engendered some of those earlier posts. None of these are insurmountable obstacles (and to be honest probably put me in the more likely to appreciate it camp, as with the 'supernatural' element). That they are using previews to make changes shows that they appreciate it isnt yet what they want and they feel they have the time to fix that, which is good.
I always find it confusing when people talk about needing to 'sympathise' though (per zahidf). It's something I don't really understand as to being important, I see it a lot on American sites when (more often than not) thay are moaning about British productions. Is it, here, that she is the protagonist and set up to be sympathetic but isn't or that she is set up to be unsympathetic? I don't know if anyone watched Harlots on TV, which I though was outstanding, but that was a perfect example of a show without any sympathetic focus working perfectly. Is that what they are aiming for instead?
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Post by Deleted on Jun 2, 2017 11:42:19 GMT
I love an unsympathetic character. Stick a great actor behind an unredeemable character and I'm happy as Larry. You can maybe take a little time to explain why they are the way they are, but don't ruin it by trying to excuse it, some of us just really want to enjoy a good horrible character.
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2,389 posts
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Post by peggs on Jun 2, 2017 11:50:40 GMT
So it shouldn't make me faint due to copious core but I may be confused and/or asleep? For me that is the lesser of two evils probably.
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2,345 posts
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Post by zahidf on Jun 2, 2017 12:03:50 GMT
I think the writing needs to be a lot stronger for their to be NO sympthathetic focus/hero/heroine. I appreciate something like House of Cards or Game of thrones for example with it's shades of grey, but it's harder to do when the plot/characters motivation are fuzzy.
Given the type of play this is as well, it helps to the 'whats the point' when none of the characters are likeable, so you don't care what happens to them
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1,103 posts
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Post by mallardo on Jun 2, 2017 13:01:32 GMT
The problem for me is that Anne-Marie Duff's character, Mary, is unclear. There is a radical change in her between acts one and two, a change motivated by traumatic events. Her response is to take the play in a new direction which, IMO, does not work. For me it makes it almost impossible to stay with her and this is where the "sympathy" angle comes in.
Still, it occurs to me that I may be looking at it from a perspective that, in terms of the storytelling, is too traditional and that what I'm objecting to is exactly what the playwright was going for. I'll be very interested to see how the play is received, both here and with the critics. There may be quite a divide.
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1,102 posts
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Post by zak97 on Jun 2, 2017 14:27:48 GMT
The one thing I enjoyed to begin with was the meta theatre, that said that even started to get old 1 hour 40 in.
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5,582 posts
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Post by lynette on Jun 2, 2017 16:43:08 GMT
I think this one might be filed under ' Life's too short'
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Post by profquatermass on Jun 3, 2017 9:44:26 GMT
Yes you can return them for a credit note/ voucher but you still need to send the ticket/s back to the NT box exchanges in the post and they have to receive it 24 (or 72) hours before the date. This is exactly why I never get tickets sent to me. Makes it so much easier to exchange or return them
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3,470 posts
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Post by showgirl on Jun 3, 2017 10:22:12 GMT
It's the extra cost which makes me avoid NT tix by post.
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