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Post by alessia on Dec 6, 2022 11:47:23 GMT
This was OK. Corrin whom I'd never seen in anything else before- seem to have a lot of fun playing Orlando and was quite good but didn't blow me away. The joke directed at the audience 'boys and girls...' might be funny once but it gets tiresome by the third outing. Not sure about the various Virginia Wolf characters and why there were so many iterations of her or why this was needed. Overall good value at £10 but for me quite forgettable as a night out.
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Post by mkb on Dec 6, 2022 12:48:33 GMT
Just FYI if you arrive late they are not admitting latecomers, or anyone who leaves the auditorium once the show has started! I wish more shows would do this, nothing more distracting than a constant stream of latecomers! The overwhelming majority of latecomers will have allowed plenty of time but have succumbed to problems en route outside their control. When I've been late, having travelled over 100 miles to get to the West End, because the trains have been severely delayed, I would expect to be admitted at the first suitable point or allowed to stand at the back. One can have empathy for those who don't want to be distracted by latecomers -- that's normally me -- and also for those who are missing the beginning of a show through no fault of their own and have spent a lot of money to be there. It should be possible to find a balance without taking an extreme position.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Dec 6, 2022 16:36:38 GMT
Well this is a lot of fun but fundamentally a fairly shallow piece of theatre. Feels more like a concept, or someone who just finished their “Experimental Theatre” module at drama college wanting to shove in everything they learned, rather than an actual play. I feel like I’m being harsh because it was entertaining and some of the lines are extremely funny. The ending where Orlando learns of their writer’s suicide and the knowledge they will have to live on indefinitely without Woolf’s pen to guide them is very affecting. It certainly makes important points about gender, transphobia, sexism and treatment of women and gender non-conforming people. That’s a valuable voice and point of view we don’t see much in the West End. But I didn’t get more than a very superficial sense of plot or character. Corrin has huge charisma and stage presence but I’d love to see them in a role with more of a really juicy proper character to get their teeth into.
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Post by dlevi on Dec 7, 2022 9:21:28 GMT
Bright, breezy and brief this was a thoroughly enjoyable evening that didn't outstay its welcome. Delightfully acted by Emma Corrin and Deborah Findlay with terrific support from a variety of Virginia Woolfs. Neil Bartlett's adaptation makes one believe that the novel itself might even be an easy and entertaining read, though I suspect it's only the latter. And Grandage along with designer Peter Mackintosh has created a charming world of their own. My only negative about the evening was the ticket price.
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Post by Mark on Dec 14, 2022 21:57:26 GMT
Good fun! Emma Corrin brilliant. It’s a very unusual piece, I wasn’t familiar with it at all but did enjoy it. Front row a steal at £10, stage is nice and low for this one.
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Post by theatrefan77 on Dec 14, 2022 22:08:19 GMT
Good fun! Emma Corrin brilliant. It’s a very unusual piece, I wasn’t familiar with it at all but did enjoy it. Front row a steal at £10, stage is nice and low for this one. Good to know! I"ll be seating in the front row in February
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Post by theoracle on Dec 15, 2022 23:11:53 GMT
After watching the Jeremy St production earlier in the year, I wasn’t sure how different this adaptation would be but wow, I was very pleased to see how this turned out. Emma Corrin as others have said bares all on the Garrick stage which as others have also pointed has delightfully lowered their stage affording those at the front with a great view. I still haven’t read Woolfs original novel and now really need to. Glad to see this getting such great reviews and hope this signals more stage work from the effervescent Corrin
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Post by andrew on Dec 16, 2022 23:22:48 GMT
Speaking of the amazing £10 front row seats - I'm selling two for the Friday matinee on the 23rd. They're on the Noticeboard
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Post by vernongersh on Dec 27, 2022 23:03:09 GMT
Emma and Deborah were exceptional. Now lets find them a play to be exceptional in together that isn't this. I have always loved Michael Grandages' direction and this piece was no exception despite being hampered down from a play that doesn't quite sure know what it is. I agree with an earlier poster who said something along the lines of - it felt like a university experimental drama piece. While watching Emma was a delight - and they have exceptional stage presence and acting chops - the piece itself is just sort of...uh? It was entertaining most of the time but I lacking in any kind of emotion or vulnerability. *** stars for me because of Emma, Deborah and Grandage Was that John Lithgow I saw this eve?
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Post by Someone in a tree on Jan 5, 2023 9:10:32 GMT
I'm glad I only paid a tenner for this slight play. Considering the source material this really was a waisted opportunity. What was Granadge thinking?
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Jan 5, 2023 10:19:44 GMT
There is a £10 ticket for tonight (5th Jan) on the Noticeboard.
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Post by Dr Tom on Jan 5, 2023 22:47:49 GMT
Saw this from the front row tonight. As others have said, a bargain for £10 and I always like a play that runs straight through without an interval.
A mostly female audience, particularly at the front.
I think that was performed as well as possible and it was definitely engaging from the front. There isn’t a lot of depth to this though (unless there was a whole load of subtlety that I completely missed).
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Post by crabtree on Jan 15, 2023 11:04:19 GMT
well, I enjoyed this enormously yesterday and found it witty and inventive. Amused by some tourists muttering that they were upset that Lady Diana had been played by a transexual......so much wrong with that observation. ms Findlay wonderfully droll.
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Post by thistimetomorrow on Feb 3, 2023 23:43:26 GMT
I read the book last year and really didn't enjoy it. Thankfully the play was better, but I was still not massively convinced by the material.
The part of Orlando is perfect for Emma though - they absolutely embody the role.
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Post by cavocado on Feb 4, 2023 11:54:13 GMT
I didn't particularly like the play, although Emma C and Deborah F gave good performances. I liked the design and spectacle of it, and the multiple Virginias were a nice idea. I just found it hard to care about Orlando. There's so little character development (despite the centuries she/he lives through), and the other characters are quite superficial, so there are no developing relationships or anything else to help the audience feel invested in what happens to Orlando. There was enough to make it entertaining, and well worth £10, but a disappointingly shallow play.
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Post by orchidman on Feb 6, 2023 22:15:37 GMT
Virginia Woolf adapted by and for people who have never read Virginia Woolf
The critics whose 4 and 5 stars adorn the facade have once again embarrassed themselves
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Post by vickyg on Feb 8, 2023 9:39:38 GMT
I saw this last night unexpectedly (a friend has covid but was not able to exchange the ticket(!)) and ended up seeing Oliver Wickham rather than Emma Corrin. I didn't see the signs in the foyer until afterwards and am not that good at recognising people and they look somewhat similar so had accepted that I was seeing Emma C until that point but I see from Oliver's instagram that they had come on half way through the night before.
I went in completely blind and enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I might but I'm still not sure what to make of it. I appreciated the brevity but I think people who love the book may feel short changed. Deborah F is obviously fantastic but I'm not sure about Oliver's performance, it didn't seem real in a lot of areas. Orlando realising that they could live as they wish was very touching but I didn't really feel anything else...
I would probably give it 3.5 stars but would go down to 3 for the purposes of a poll.
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Post by NorthernAlien on Feb 8, 2023 10:09:35 GMT
I'm down in London for the weekend just before this finishes, and am currently watching the ticket sites for this. On the day and time I could make it, and at the price I am willing to pay, my options are Stalls: O7 (behind pillar) or Q7, or Dress Circle D2 or E3. I have consulted Theatre Monkey's site, the theatre's own website (which is useless for the Q seat), and Seat Plan, and I am none the wiser as to which of these may be 'best'. The O seat looks OK view wise, but I suspect may have terrible legroom? Can anyone offer any thoughts? Thanks
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Post by drmaplewood on Feb 8, 2023 11:46:02 GMT
I saw this last night unexpectedly (a friend has covid but was not able to exchange the ticket(!)) and ended up seeing Oliver Wickham rather than Emma Corrin. I didn't see the signs in the foyer until afterwards and am not that good at recognising people and they look somewhat similar so had accepted that I was seeing Emma C until that point but I see from Oliver's instagram that they had come on half way through the night before. I went in completely blind and enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I might but I'm still not sure what to make of it. I appreciated the brevity but I think people who love the book may feel short changed. Deborah F is obviously fantastic but I'm not sure about Oliver's performance, it didn't seem real in a lot of areas. Orlando realising that they could live as they wish was very touching but I didn't really feel anything else... I would probably give it 3.5 stars but would go down to 3 for the purposes of a poll. Oh dear, I am going tonight and was really hoping to see her. Fingers crossed she is feeling better.
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Post by londonpostie on Feb 8, 2023 13:58:49 GMT
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Post by vickyg on Feb 8, 2023 17:05:33 GMT
I'm down in London for the weekend just before this finishes, and am currently watching the ticket sites for this. On the day and time I could make it, and at the price I am willing to pay, my options are Stalls: O7 (behind pillar) or Q7, or Dress Circle D2 or E3. I have consulted Theatre Monkey's site, the theatre's own website (which is useless for the Q seat), and Seat Plan, and I am none the wiser as to which of these may be 'best'. The O seat looks OK view wise, but I suspect may have terrible legroom? Can anyone offer any thoughts? Thanks I was sceptical of my C28 (end of aisle) seat in the dress circle yesterday at £30 because I have had experience in the Garrick of having literally two thirds of the stage obscured but I was pleasantly surprised. I had good leg room (plenty of space left and I'm often crushed at a longer legged 5'7) and could see everything except, I think, for one person for about 1 minute. I was on the opposite side to the dress circle seat you mention but I can't see that it would be any worse over on that side.
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Post by lichtie on Feb 8, 2023 20:17:22 GMT
I'm down in London for the weekend just before this finishes, and am currently watching the ticket sites for this. On the day and time I could make it, and at the price I am willing to pay, my options are Stalls: O7 (behind pillar) or Q7, or Dress Circle D2 or E3. I have consulted Theatre Monkey's site, the theatre's own website (which is useless for the Q seat), and Seat Plan, and I am none the wiser as to which of these may be 'best'. The O seat looks OK view wise, but I suspect may have terrible legroom? Can anyone offer any thoughts? Thanks
O7 is fine - it's the row behind the one with the pillar and there's a very small gap between the seats in row N (7&8) which actually means there's a bit of leg-space if you can claim it from your neighbour.
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Post by starlight92 on Feb 8, 2023 21:06:37 GMT
I sat in O7 as well and the pillar isn't in the way at all, makes it a great deal!
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Post by singingbird on Feb 9, 2023 8:12:07 GMT
I really thought this was bad, unfortunately. It felt like a quickly created and ill-thought-through jump on the gender identity bandwagon, and I expected a great deal more from such an acclaimed and experienced creative team.
I spent a good while about ten years ago working on adapting Orlando for a stage production that never went anywhere, so I know the book well and have thought a lot about how to adapt it. One of the challenges is its episodic nature, and my feeling is you have to work hard to emphasise the emotional threads that run through it - the ecstasy but also the loss and inevitable continual mourning - that comes from living forever while all around you dies or falls away. This production simply had no heart - it just skipped lightly but meaninglessly through half a century and left us feeling 'so what?' Sometimes Orlando was in love with someone, but we never knew why or really believed they were in love. Sometimes Orlando was bored, and so largely were the audience. So much was pruned out. Removing characters and incidents isn't a problem. Removing the soul and poetry, on the other hand, just leaves a dry husk of a story.
The script tried to capture the playful intertextuality of the novel but just sounded clumsy. Jokes fell flat and random references to films, plays etc felt shoe-horned in. Anachronisms felt awkward rather than clever. It indulged in the kind of meaningless excesses that are fun for student companies taking a show to Edinburgh but really have no place here. Why have all these Virginia Woolfs? And yet make them all look like dowdy spinsters? What is it saying, other than 'look at us, being experimental'?
I also found a lot of the acting unbearably mannered. It was all 'look at us, doing our acting'. I didn't believe anything I saw. Such a wasted opportunity.
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Post by lonlad on Feb 9, 2023 11:42:52 GMT
Anyone know if Emma Corrin is back in the show? Interesting that their similarly non-binary understudy, Oliver Wickham, is the older of Janie Dee's two children (and was in the very original cast, I believe, of SIX).
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Post by londonpostie on Feb 9, 2023 11:46:55 GMT
I really thought this was bad, unfortunately. It felt like a quickly created and ill-thought-through jump on the gender identity bandwagon, and I expected a great deal more from such an acclaimed and experienced creative team. I spent a good while about ten years ago working on adapting Orlando for a stage production that never went anywhere, so I know the book well and have thought a lot about how to adapt it. One of the challenges is its episodic nature, and my feeling is you have to work hard to emphasise the emotional threads that run through it - the ecstasy but also the loss and inevitable continual mourning - that comes from living forever while all around you dies or falls away. This production simply had no heart - it just skipped lightly but meaninglessly through half a century and left us feeling 'so what?' Sometimes Orlando was in love with someone, but we never knew why or really believed they were in love. Sometimes Orlando was bored, and so largely were the audience. So much was pruned out. Removing characters and incidents isn't a problem. Removing the soul and poetry, on the other hand, just leaves a dry husk of a story. The script tried to capture the playful intertextuality of the novel but just sounded clumsy. Jokes fell flat and random references to films, plays etc felt shoe-horned in. Anachronisms felt awkward rather than clever. It indulged in the kind of meaningless excesses that are fun for student companies taking a show to Edinburgh but really have no place here. Why have all these Virginia Woolfs? And yet make them all look like dowdy spinsters? What is it saying, other than 'look at us, being experimental'? I also found a lot of the acting unbearably mannered. It was all 'look at us, doing our acting'. I didn't believe anything I saw. Such a wasted opportunity. Interesting. Thanks for taking the time and trouble.
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Post by singingbird on Feb 9, 2023 12:11:07 GMT
Anyone know if Emma Corrin is back in the show? Interesting that their similarly non-binary understudy, Oliver Wickham, is the older of Janie Dee's two children (and was in the very original cast, I believe, of SIX). She was on last night.
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Post by alessia on Feb 9, 2023 12:58:58 GMT
I really thought this was bad, unfortunately. It felt like a quickly created and ill-thought-through jump on the gender identity bandwagon, and I expected a great deal more from such an acclaimed and experienced creative team. I spent a good while about ten years ago working on adapting Orlando for a stage production that never went anywhere, so I know the book well and have thought a lot about how to adapt it. One of the challenges is its episodic nature, and my feeling is you have to work hard to emphasise the emotional threads that run through it - the ecstasy but also the loss and inevitable continual mourning - that comes from living forever while all around you dies or falls away. This production simply had no heart - it just skipped lightly but meaninglessly through half a century and left us feeling 'so what?' Sometimes Orlando was in love with someone, but we never knew why or really believed they were in love. Sometimes Orlando was bored, and so largely were the audience. So much was pruned out. Removing characters and incidents isn't a problem. Removing the soul and poetry, on the other hand, just leaves a dry husk of a story. The script tried to capture the playful intertextuality of the novel but just sounded clumsy. Jokes fell flat and random references to films, plays etc felt shoe-horned in. Anachronisms felt awkward rather than clever. It indulged in the kind of meaningless excesses that are fun for student companies taking a show to Edinburgh but really have no place here. Why have all these Virginia Woolfs? And yet make them all look like dowdy spinsters? What is it saying, other than 'look at us, being experimental'? I also found a lot of the acting unbearably mannered. It was all 'look at us, doing our acting'. I didn't believe anything I saw. Such a wasted opportunity. I've not read the book so can't judge on that, but what you say about the shallowness and your comment on jumping on the gender bandwagon resonates with me too - and I'm glad I am not the only one not seeing the point of the multiple Woolfs. Baffled it got so many starry reviews tbh.
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Post by cavocado on Feb 9, 2023 16:26:40 GMT
I spent a good while about ten years ago working on adapting Orlando for a stage production that never went anywhere, so I know the book well and have thought a lot about how to adapt it. One of the challenges is its episodic nature, and my feeling is you have to work hard to emphasise the emotional threads that run through it - the ecstasy but also the loss and inevitable continual mourning - that comes from living forever while all around you dies or falls away. This production simply had no heart - it just skipped lightly but meaninglessly through half a century and left us feeling 'so what?' Sometimes Orlando was in love with someone, but we never knew why or really believed they were in love. Sometimes Orlando was bored, and so largely were the audience. So much was pruned out. Removing characters and incidents isn't a problem. Removing the soul and poetry, on the other hand, just leaves a dry husk of a story. This is very well put and identifies why it was so hard to feel emotionally engaged with this play.
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Post by NorthernAlien on Feb 10, 2023 12:45:39 GMT
I sat in O7 as well and the pillar isn't in the way at all, makes it a great deal! I have booked O7 - thanks for the advice
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