614 posts
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Post by jamb0r on Apr 9, 2018 11:08:19 GMT
Just got a £10 ticket for this for Thursday using the Menier's 'Spider Web Special', on Mondays at midday they release 4 tickets at £10, 8 tickets at £20 and 16 tickets at £30 for each performance that week. I thought the tickets would be gone instantly, but there's still even the £10 tickets for a lot of days available now (8 minutes past). Looks like they will be doing this every week, so a good chance to get a cheap ticket!
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4,596 posts
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Post by Someone in a tree on Apr 9, 2018 21:08:08 GMT
Thanks for sharing
I guess it’s not selling and at those prices I am not surprised
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614 posts
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Post by jamb0r on Apr 10, 2018 7:40:53 GMT
Thanks for sharing I guess it’s not selling and at those prices I am not surprised Not selling well at all by the looks of it! And there’s still £10 tickets available now almost a day later - I think they were expecting a very high volume of people trying to get these cheap tickets based on their Facebook post. Am looking forward to seeing it though, based on the good feedback I’ve read on here
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2,962 posts
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Post by crowblack on Apr 10, 2018 8:59:29 GMT
I was surprised at the prices, as it's the first time I've been there - similar spaces are much cheaper - but I think the Guardian's very mean-spirited two star review hasn't helped. I'd be interested to know, btw, whose reviews carry weight for various venues. I presume the Royal Court is very Guardian Reader, but what of the others?
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4,596 posts
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Post by Someone in a tree on Apr 10, 2018 9:39:10 GMT
Oh dear first Barnum and then this.
I don’t know how the economics of theatre producing work but I can’t help thinking this venue has become a bit greedy with ticket prices
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165 posts
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Post by MoreLife on Apr 11, 2018 11:01:24 GMT
Oh dear first Barnum and then this. I don’t know how the economics of theatre producing work but I can’t help thinking this venue has become a bit greedy with ticket prices The problem is that they appear to apply roughly the same pricing policy to all productions. Now, if you put on a play with a grand total of three actors (one of which plays a minor role and is only on stage for a few minutes), and you've spent money on the set and some charming projections, but you must have got your props at a flea market or off ebay... charging as much as when you put on a musical with a decently sized ensemble, a large-ish orchestra, and you've had to devise a set with multiple "locations", costume changes, and all, just doesn't seem fair. (And that's without mentioning how uncomfortable those benches are... especially now that they've clearly tried to squeeze some extra bums on each of them!)
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Post by Deleted on Apr 11, 2018 12:24:05 GMT
Oh dear first Barnum and then this. I don’t know how the economics of theatre producing work but I can’t help thinking this venue has become a bit greedy with ticket prices The problem is that they appear to apply roughly the same pricing policy to all productions. Now, if you put on a play with a grand total of three actors (one of which plays a minor role and is only on stage for a few minutes), and you've spent money on the set and some charming projections, but you must have got your props at a flea market or off ebay... charging as much as when you put on a musical with a decently sized ensemble, a large-ish orchestra, and you've had to devise a set with multiple "locations", costume changes, and all, just doesn't seem fair. (And that's without mentioning how uncomfortable those benches are... especially now that they've clearly tried to squeeze some extra bums on each of them!) Come on now... it's all part of programming a theatre. Often the limited costs of the one-room two-hander helps subsidise the twenty actor sprawling epic that comes after. Looking at each production individually - and trying to price tickets according to the show's respective costs - is not the policy at any in-house producing theatre (that I can think of anyway).
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Post by Deleted on Apr 11, 2018 12:33:36 GMT
A very true and fair point. I paid the same amount for Beginning at the National as I did for Follies, and I paid the same amount for The Brothers Size at the Young Vic as I did for one part of The Inheritance. Setting the pricing according to each individual show is more fiddly (though might happen at the upper end of ticket costs, I guess?) than working out blanket costs across the venue that will allow you to break even at a certain percentage point, and I believe the idea is that the more successful productions will subsidise the less popular shows, rather than the small plays subsidising the large musicals. If the Menier were to do it that way round, surely they'd be less rigid in scheduling the musicals at the same points in the year and filling the gaps with plays!
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165 posts
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Post by MoreLife on Apr 11, 2018 14:49:58 GMT
A very true and fair point. I paid the same amount for Beginning at the National as I did for Follies, and I paid the same amount for The Brothers Size at the Young Vic as I did for one part of The Inheritance. Setting the pricing according to each individual show is more fiddly (though might happen at the upper end of ticket costs, I guess?) than working out blanket costs across the venue that will allow you to break even at a certain percentage point, and I believe the idea is that the more successful productions will subsidise the less popular shows, rather than the small plays subsidising the large musicals. If the Menier were to do it that way round, surely they'd be less rigid in scheduling the musicals at the same points in the year and filling the gaps with plays! A very true and fair point, indeed. And I can totally see the point of planning a season rather than show by show because at the end of the day (well, the financial year...) you need to break even. Still, at the NT a portion of the tickets are at £ 15. Plus they have Friday rush, returns and day seats, which means that many audience members get to see both large-scale productions (like Follies) and more intimate plays (like Beginnings) for the same, very low price. At the Menier Chocolate Factory there's hardly a range of ticket prices to choose from, the cheapest ones being regularly around the £ 35 mark. Of course it pays off when the show sells out, and I'd be extremely happy to see them fully succeed all the time... but I'm not quite sure it's the most effective choice, when you end up having to rely on papering, TodayTix and alternative discount schemes to bring people in
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1,064 posts
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Post by bellboard27 on Apr 13, 2018 15:59:55 GMT
Went yesterday. £10 very well spent (thanks for the discount tip). Busy but not full, so I got moved up and had space to spread out. There was a technical hitch about 35 minutes in, so we had an impromptu interval of about 15 minutes. I enjoyed this a lot and concur with others on the performances and staging.
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614 posts
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Post by jamb0r on Apr 13, 2018 17:46:31 GMT
Went yesterday. £10 very well spent (thanks for the discount tip). Busy but not full, so I got moved up and had space to spread out. There was a technical hitch about 35 minutes in, so we had an impromptu interval of about 15 minutes. I enjoyed this a lot and concur with others on the performances and staging. I think it’s very possible we may have been sat next to each other! I was originally in row G last night with the other £10 ticket that was in that row, then got moved forward Enjoyed the play a lot too! Was my first time at the Menier and I loved the clever use of the space.
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1,064 posts
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Post by bellboard27 on Apr 13, 2018 18:04:33 GMT
Went yesterday. £10 very well spent (thanks for the discount tip). Busy but not full, so I got moved up and had space to spread out. There was a technical hitch about 35 minutes in, so we had an impromptu interval of about 15 minutes. I enjoyed this a lot and concur with others on the performances and staging. I think it’s very possible we may have been sat next to each other! I was originally in row G last night with the other £10 ticket that was in that row, then got moved forward Enjoyed the play a lot too! Was my first time at the Menier and I loved the clever use of the space. That seems likely. Were you in a red shirt?
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614 posts
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Post by jamb0r on Apr 13, 2018 22:32:14 GMT
I think it’s very possible we may have been sat next to each other! I was originally in row G last night with the other £10 ticket that was in that row, then got moved forward Enjoyed the play a lot too! Was my first time at the Menier and I loved the clever use of the space. That seems likely. Were you in a red shirt? I was! My first theatre board meetup and I didn’t even realise it was happening
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Post by prophet on Apr 26, 2018 9:56:51 GMT
So, is this reccomended?
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Post by Steffi on Apr 26, 2018 16:16:11 GMT
I really liked this. I went in with no prior knowledge and was totally gripped by Samuel Barnett’s and Declan Bennett’s performances. Definitely recommended in my opinion.
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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 Apr 26, 2018 17:47:57 GMT
I enjoyed this too - think I'd managed not to see any previous version so it was all new to me! I'd say yes, but not at the Menier's full price! Plenty of offers around though.
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Post by dontdreamit on Apr 26, 2018 18:02:57 GMT
I’ve seen this version a few times now, so it’s a yes from me too
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267 posts
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Post by stageyninja83 on Apr 26, 2018 18:25:33 GMT
I knew nothing about it but really enjoyed it. Sam's storytelling was compelling. Grab one of the £10 Monday release tickets if you can. Definitely my bargain of the year so far.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 26, 2018 18:56:04 GMT
Sadly it's clear this isn't doing so well, hence the offers. Which it really doesn't deserve as it's a great production. All of which should please those who always complain about the Menier prices. Perhaps we should all collectively band together and hope that all shows at the Menier do badly so that they keep on offering discounts.
Or at least go out of business.
Obviously I'm being facetious. Personally I love the Menier for putting on this play with two young openly gay actors in the lead roles where it's not simply a "gay play". Worth paying full price for me just on principle I think.
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Post by dontdreamit on Apr 26, 2018 21:17:30 GMT
I think that the reviews - in particular the 2* one from the guardian - really didn’t help. It’s really developed since the beginning of the run, and I’ll be sad to see it close next Saturday.
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3,088 posts
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Post by david on Apr 29, 2018 17:31:54 GMT
Attended today’s matinee and I have to say that I really enjoyed it. For me SB really stole the show with his film monologues. He hammed each of the stories up and it actually worked really well. The film projections used really helped bring the stories to life.
A big shout out to the set designer for what they came up with for the prison cell. I couldn’t believe it was the same auditorium from previous visits. You really felt like you where in the cell with the two guys. The dim lighting effects also added to that feeling as well.
If I had one issue, it was the role of the prison warden. For me that character really didn’t work as she came across a little too nice. I thought she should of been a little more harsher and tougher. For a Sunday afternoon, there where only a few spare seats left, so I assume that many people have taken advantage of the cheap tickets floating around,
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Post by dontdreamit on Apr 29, 2018 18:11:40 GMT
] If I had one issue, it was the role of the prison warden. For me that character really didn’t work as she came across a little too nice. I thought she should of been a little more harsher and tougher. For a Sunday afternoon, there where only a few spare seats left, so I assume that many people have taken advantage of the cheap tickets floating around, I totally agree with you about her- for me she just doesn’t work. I saw an early preview of this, and I *think* they cut out a third scene between her and Molina. I know the running time decreased by 5 mins so this would have been one of the bits they cut.
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Post by rockinrobin on Apr 29, 2018 21:34:40 GMT
I saw it this afternoon and loved it. Cried a little, even though I read the book and know the story. What I love about this show is its intimacy and honesty. And whilst I love Declan Bennett, Samuel Barnett totally stole the show for me. What a stage animal this gentleman is.
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Post by NeilVHughes on May 5, 2018 16:17:00 GMT
Samuel Barnett is magnificent, love the way a great actor can transcend a play and take it to another level.
Went with low expectations and left completely blown away by the acting masterclass.
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