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Post by n1david on Nov 19, 2016 0:49:32 GMT
Well I liked this very much. It's what I would call a 'chewy' play - lots to think about afterwards.
Yes, it's a bit long and not all the characters ring entirely true but saying that "none of the scenes were realistic" - well, if I wanted realism I'd stick to life, but when I go to theatre I'm not fazed by characters who play roles which might not be realistic in order to drive drama.
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Post by mallardo on Nov 19, 2016 9:43:12 GMT
"Too clever for its own good"? In what way? There's none of Stoppard's intellectual dandyism - no knock on him, he's brilliant at it - just a lot of solid talk about subjects and points of view that may, perhaps, be particularly American of a certain place and time and may not be familiar to many. The programme interview with Kushner helps set the scene. These are intelligent working class people, the world is full of them.
A novel that inhabits a similar world - Brooklyn communists - from a different perspective is Jonathan Lethem's Dissident Gardens which I would recommend to all.
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Post by jason71 on Nov 23, 2016 12:28:38 GMT
Today's matinee has been cancelled due to cast illness
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Post by popcultureboy on Nov 23, 2016 12:44:29 GMT
And the evening too.
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Post by lonlad on Nov 23, 2016 12:51:11 GMT
And it's all sold out and closing Saturday so there will be a lot of playgoers who presumably won't get into see it ... I wonder who it is who's ill?
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Post by couldileaveyou on Nov 23, 2016 13:06:09 GMT
Oh no I was looking forward to seeing this. I'm supposed to go tonight and I haven't received any email so far.
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Post by jason71 on Nov 23, 2016 13:58:30 GMT
I received my email at 1030
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Post by Deleted on Nov 23, 2016 13:58:34 GMT
Yikes, bit of a cursed production. D: Wonder if the afflicted cast member will recover by Saturday, or if I'll have to find myself another show to see.
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Post by couldileaveyou on Nov 23, 2016 14:22:57 GMT
Just got my email. Do you remember when theatres used to have understudies? Good times, good times.
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Post by Honoured Guest on Nov 23, 2016 14:28:11 GMT
Hampstead, the Royal Court, etc. have never been able to afford to have understudies. Often, actors (and sometimes directors or playwrights!) step up at short notice to read in for an absent actor but the performance of this play sounds (from reviews) to be much too complex for that to be satisfactory in this case.
The cancellation is a shame, but best to see it as a reminder of the magic of live theatre.
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Post by n1david on Nov 23, 2016 16:22:23 GMT
Just got my email. Do you remember when theatres used to have understudies? Good times, good times. Have to agree with HG. We were disappointed that our matinee was cancelled, but at least it was earlier in the run so managed to squeeze in another show. But having seen it, understand that the physical and verbal choreography (if that's a thing) would have made it very difficult for an understudy to step in and fit in.
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Post by showgirl on Nov 24, 2016 5:12:55 GMT
I got clobbered by the cancellation yesterday, too; know they can't help it, or the short notice, but it was so frustrating as I had set aside a big chunk of my day - given that the performance was due to last 3 hours 30 - and had no contingency plan in place. Though oddly, as I was emerging from the tube to collect my ticket, I suddenly thought "I hope it's not cancelled", which isn't something that normally occurs to me, so maybe I had unconsciously recalled that some previous performances had been.
Of course as the sold-out run ends on Saturday there was no chance of re-booking, nor any help from the theatre re giving priority for returns to those who lost out yesterday, but realistically they had enough to do with 2 cancelled performances (as it was a matinee day) and there would have been an overwhelming demand to re-book.
Had a brainwave and asked if there were any seats for the matinee downstairs (Kiss Me, which I was due to see at Saturday's matinee), and first they said it was sold out, then found me a ticket after all. However, that was both short and disappointing and left me 3 and a half hours to fill before the evening play I'd booked, whereas had I seen iHo, I'd have had a more reasonable gap of 2 hours. So I will probably never see this play now, but I do hope that for other forthcoming main house productions, Hampstead Theatre has some understudies!
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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 Nov 24, 2016 10:45:00 GMT
Cancelled tonight too - just announced on Twitter
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Post by talkstageytome on Nov 24, 2016 11:18:30 GMT
Oooh I so nearly booked this when a spare ticket came up for tonight. Glad I didn't now. Although I'd still love to see this show. Hopefully it gets out on somewhere else in the next few years.
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Post by martin1965 on Nov 24, 2016 11:25:09 GMT
Crikey! So glad i saw this earlier in the run. Dont see how they cant have understudies👎
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Post by Honoured Guest on Nov 24, 2016 12:50:03 GMT
I do hope that for other forthcoming main house productions, Hampstead Theatre has some understudies! They cannot afford to employ understudies.
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Post by Phantom of London on Nov 24, 2016 13:13:19 GMT
Cost of understudies is one thing and with tight budgets makes it improbable, also a understudy has to learn 2/3 roles which for this show would be impossible, due to length of show, so would mean they would have to learn so much script and without practising the role would also make it very hard to remember.
I reckon this could end up in the West End?
Perhaps a flu injection should be part of their employment contract.
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Post by Honoured Guest on Nov 24, 2016 13:18:57 GMT
I reckon this could end up in the West End? Tamsin Greig is straight off to the NT.
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Post by Phantom of London on Nov 24, 2016 13:26:43 GMT
okay thanks, didn't know that, but might have to wait until her run finishes or recast the role.
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Post by adolphus on Nov 24, 2016 23:14:46 GMT
So how much would an understudy have cost vis a vis the refunds they have had to issue for the last three, possibly four sold out shows? Sorry can't buy poverty pleading for the Hampstead theatre which is otherwise so professional- at the box office they hardly cared that people have made considerable effort (and cost beond the tickets) to see a rarely performed play
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Post by Polly1 on Nov 24, 2016 23:31:21 GMT
I really don't think it is a matter of cost for this play, I just think the nature of it makes it impossible for an understudy to come in to the split second timing of all the dialogue. I'm sure Hampstead are far from happy at the situation.
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Post by adolphus on Nov 24, 2016 23:44:14 GMT
Granted. But a major theatre might guess that staging a five hander with no understudies in lurgy season might be risky
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Post by Honoured Guest on Nov 25, 2016 10:08:06 GMT
So how much would an understudy have cost Silly question. The alternative is to have a team of understudies rehearsed and ready to cover all the parts. It would be slightly bonkers of a theatre to only prepare an understudy for one of the parts.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 25, 2016 10:14:48 GMT
I mean, there's the possibility of having an Acting Stage Manager, who is a stage manager but by virtue of having been at all the rehearsals and following along on book and also being skilled in acting would be the best placed to step in with a book in such an emergency. It would be a fairly clumsy arrangement though, as you'd presumably only have one so would have to decide the age and sex in advance, running the risk that you'd be sending on a 20-something lady to read in a grandfather or similar. Also acting stage managers are a bit of a bygone thing, people tend to be an actor *or* a stage manager these days as they are two very different disciplines. Also also I don't know how forgiving a typical Hampstead audience would be of such an arrangement.
Is IHO a five hander? I thought there were eleven in the cast?
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Post by Polly1 on Nov 25, 2016 10:29:23 GMT
Yes, there are 11 in the cast, all bar one very extensive and complicated roles. I suppose Katy Stephens who is (inexplicably and sadly) only in one scene, could have covered Tamsin Greig but no way could someone have read in with a book. I guess Hampstead must have just been prepared to take the risk of putting it on without understudies and unfortunately, the gamble failed. But although some people have been disappointed (I know I would have been), many more people have been given the opportunity to see this fine production by their decision to stage it.
Incidentally, at Nice Fish, there are understudies listed in the programme for all parts apart from Mark Rylance. I imagine they would expect so many exchange requests if he's not on that it would be easier to cancel.
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Post by Honoured Guest on Nov 25, 2016 10:31:30 GMT
It can absolutely kill some plays to have such lowgrade cover. A prime example was the infamous Lyttelton John Gabriel Borkman, discussed at great length on the old board, which was one of the most harrowing theatrical evenings of my lifetime, for all the wrong reasons, and where later performances were cancelled following the diabolical shows with Vanessa Redgrave's official understudy.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 25, 2016 10:47:21 GMT
Having seen the play, I don't think an understudy or someone with a book could step in to be honest. The dialogue is so fast and reactive, with lots of talking over each other (particularly in one extended scene) that I imagine someone who hasn't really rehearsed intensively would slow the thing down so much that it would kill the play and it would lose any impact.
It would be like Jayne Torvill falling ill minutes before 'Bolero' and Christopher Dean having to go on with Betty Calloway.
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Post by alnoor on Nov 25, 2016 12:47:25 GMT
I am seeing it tomorrow matinee and will be travelling from Manchester. Let's hope the show goes on.
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Post by showgirl on Nov 25, 2016 12:55:20 GMT
I am seeing it tomorrow matinee and will be travelling from Manchester. Let's hope the show goes on. Good luck for tomorrow but unlike me, you might want to have a contingency plan. As the matinee is earlier than most, you'd have time to scoot into the West End and grab something else or try the booth - or have a film/gallery/museum lined up.
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Post by alnoor on Nov 25, 2016 13:42:21 GMT
Yup my contingency plan involves The Dresser, Buried Child or a good stalls returned ticket for Amadeus
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