Kiss of the Spider Woman - Menier

This play takes place in Argentina. According to Wikipedia "most Argentines are descendants of these 19th and 20th century immigrants, with about 97% of the population being of European or partial European descent", which means they are Caucasian...

Pah. And I had money on Ricky Martin too.

I thought this was a musical?

No-one seen this yet?

Saw it tonight too.
Staging and set are excellent.
Well acted.
I'm not really a play person so my mind wandered a few times but that's me rather than the play.
Be interested to hear what others think when they see it.

I still find it hard to pay £40 for a play, whether West End or Off. But thanks for the reviews alece10 and adventurer. I am tempted.

Glad to hear it’s getting positive reviews. Initially wasn’t going to book for this, but I thought I would take a punt on it. Made up that it is a no interval play meaning I can zip back up to Euston straight after and get my train back up north.

I was there last night, and I appreciated this greatly, but I do think it was a production I respected rather than loved. I thought the two performances were fantastic, and it's a compelling story (somehow I have managed to avoid previous productions of the play and the musical, the film and the original book).

It's beautifully done, the set is impressive and the staging is perfect - the evocation of the movies that Molina relates is marvellous - but for some reason I didn't fall in love with it.

It may be a problem with the Menier - I haven't been for a while, and I was back in row G, which felt like a long way from the performance (although it's only 7 rows), and boy those seats are tight, so if you're my size (not a waif but not huge either) you're spending the whole production silently negotiating with your neighbours about where to put your arms.

But this is really very good.

Agree 100%. I was also on row G but with four spare seats either side of us. If I had known, we would have shuffled down!

I struggled to connect emotionally with it even though I thought it was beautifully staged and acted. I did find the guard a weak link, and her performance was notches and notches below the leads.

Hadn’t been to the Menier before, I thought it was an interesting space (if very hot!)

Having seen part of The Inheritance a couple of days before, seeing this and reading about Jose Rivera’s creative process, I could ‘t help but wish that Lopez had taken the same approch!

The story is actually very straightforward, Two men thrown together in a prison cell - one a gay window dresser charged with interfering with a younger man and one a straight activist who has been fighting to overthrow the regime. They fight, share stories and find common ground. But others have an interest in manipulating them.

I saw it yesterday afternoon and loved it. I thought Samuel Barnett was captivating, vivid and vulnerable, the other actor a bit flatter - I'd have liked more of a sense of brooding political passion, though in both the performance and storyline he opens up as the play progresses. It's my first time at the Menier, and I had an excellent seat - central row B and (as there was a non-arrival in front) no-one in front of me. The staging was excellent - both in that and the setting/characters it reminded me of the Printroom's Deathwatch a couple of years ago, though this was tender where that was sharp and cruel. Btw, the production stills by Nobby Clark don't really do it justice.

Hmmm... "thrust" is probably closest, I reckon, though usually a thrust stage has audience on three sides. And the space is pretty flexible; Barnum was done in the round, Assassins was traverse, Into the Woods was end-on. Love in Idleness and Travesties were the same sort of set-up as Spider Woman appears to be, so maybe they reserve the flexibility for the musicals and the plays are all done the same way.

Well. I thought it was smashing. Not 'The York Realist' smashing but smashing all the same. In fact I enjoyed it so much that I forgot to sing the songs where the songs should have been.

The movie projections were very well done and really worked beautifully, especially as there were no set changes, Samuel Barnett is a very charismatic lead and there's a bit of a racy scene later on which was a pleasant surprise. I did quite fancy some dulce de leche and a crumpet afterwards though for some reason. I wasn't so convinced about the prison guard, she seemed a bit too nice. I had in my mind that she would have been more like she'd stepped off the set of 'Prisoner Cell Block H' really.

Barnett and Bennett (Bennett and Barnett) were marvellous though, Barnett a bit better than Bennett but Bennett was brilliant too.

Try saying that after a few technical difficulties.

It’s about 1 hour 40 mins, with no interval.