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Post by Backdrifter on Jul 31, 2017 8:49:34 GMT
It seems archaic now that any theatre still exclusively selects the seats online for you.
Regarding the Oxford piece, the director said some West End venues do the block-release thing. Do they? Which ones? I don't often go to the WE and have never encountered this.
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Post by Backdrifter on Jul 26, 2017 9:32:29 GMT
The page for this on the Edinburgh King's Theatre, where the tour visits in Feb 18, says "Ably supported by a talented cast of ten, David Haig plays the leading role of Group Captain Stagg."
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Post by Backdrifter on Jul 24, 2017 9:01:28 GMT
Saw Daniel Kitson at the Roundhouse yesterday and he politely asked someone mid-show not to put their drink on the stage ("I've got my drink on stage, but I'm allowed to because I have public liability insurance"). Luckily no phone users as he's been pretty zero tolerance on that in the past too. Yes I was at DK yesterday too. I thought there was going to be a phone incident when he started asking someone why their chest was 'lit up' but it seemingly turned out to be a chance of the lighting. I think a couple of pages ago here I mentioned an amusing comment he made to an audience member about her phone in an Edinburgh show last year.
Getting back to the stuff-on-stage issue, the people who do it clearly have no idea how it visually throws things off when they do that (or, they do, but don't care). This woman's bag and coat at Committee were really distracting. I can only hope that a member of staff at least picked her up on it afterwards.
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Post by Backdrifter on Jul 24, 2017 8:55:57 GMT
I'd just walk past in character with a cup of water and accidentally spill it all over the coat and bag, Or trip over it and spill the water all over the owner of said coat and bag. Bet they would disappear from the stage quickly enough then. That's a variation of Gambon's approach in a production where he was so incensed by seeing a man in the front row set up an easel and start doing a painting of his co-star Greta Scacchi, when it came to a piece of action where his character had to throw a samovar of water in a fit of rage, he aimed to it to ensure the painter got it full in the face and easel.
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Post by Backdrifter on Jul 23, 2017 20:34:32 GMT
BAC tour on Wednesday, Gloria at Hampstead on Friday.
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Post by Backdrifter on Jul 23, 2017 20:33:16 GMT
Donmar stalls front row centre for Committee, someone rested their bag and coat on the stage, in full view. As it was under way and with no interval, no staff were able to get to the offender or the items.
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Post by Backdrifter on Jul 23, 2017 10:13:49 GMT
Yes great for the bells & whistles in this production but SRB performance although extremely good was slightly Learish. Do you mean like his shouty NT Lear?
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Post by Backdrifter on Jul 22, 2017 22:28:16 GMT
I'm aiming to try for dayseats for this. Whatever shortcomings it might have I'm sure £10 will be worth it for the good stuff.
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Post by Backdrifter on Jul 22, 2017 22:11:09 GMT
If the robots aren't bright enough to watch me buy a pair of gloves and conclude that I am now good for gloves, they're probably not bright enough to rise up against us yet. ...or maybe that's just what they want you to think.
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Post by Backdrifter on Jul 22, 2017 20:10:42 GMT
Audience plants; e.g a heckle from audience member which has been scripted or an apparent random member of the audience is dragged on staged reluctantly to become involved in the action, when you know they are a member of the cast. Apart from agreeing with this, I also wanted to say how striking your avatar is.
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Post by Backdrifter on Jul 22, 2017 20:09:37 GMT
This one might have receded now but at one point I was seeing it a lot: the show opens in blackout with loud pounding music, then lights go up on stage and the music quietens down, and is now seen to be coming from a radio during the first scene.
Speaking of musicals tropes, of course Spamalot did a brilliant take on one: 'At this point in every show, there's a song that goes like this...'
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Post by Backdrifter on Jul 22, 2017 12:40:50 GMT
I was amused by a thread on another board where people listed film tropes and clichés. I wondered if there were equivalent theatre ones. I was thinking of general ones that is, rather than e.g. specific directors (Katie Mitchell with her falling sand, ballgowns and slo-mo, etc) but what the hell, suggest those by all means. In an earlier thread here the RSC-style soldiers' hearty backslapping and manly hugging was mentioned. I'm struggling to think of others but there must be some.
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Post by Backdrifter on Jul 21, 2017 23:41:48 GMT
I didn't claim it was a big spark.
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Post by Backdrifter on Jul 21, 2017 23:26:32 GMT
Ah, but then the theatre wouldn't get the benefit of a long and buzzy queue outside their doors in the morning, making people think there's something exciting going on. (I went to a gallery the weekend before last that was clearly keeping a 1-2 hour queue going at all times just to look exciting. I managed to get in by hopping online and getting an 'advance' ticket for that afternoon, having been told they sell out weeks in advance. Once inside it was obvious the building was big enough to absorb to 50 or so people in the queue with no-one even noticing - there was no indication that they were counting people *leaving* the gallery, either. I bet they were just letting x number of people in every y minutes, to keep the queue that long.) Ultimately, whoever's in the queue for whatever reasons, this is one of the things I like best about it. I never tire of seeing a load of people that enthused and motivated, the attention it gets from passersby and that extra bit of spark it gives London theatre. Queues. About 2 years ago I saw a very long one in Southwark leading into an anonymous-looking building. It was almost entirely composed of serious glum-looking men. I was curious so asked one what it was for. A slight look of panic crossed his face and he looked away, acting like I wasn't there. So I asked someone else and this bloke looked no less happy at the possibility of having to engage with someone, but mumbled something. I had to say 'pardon?' which prompted a third bloke to mutter "launch of new i-phone." I don't know if that meant it was one of those things where a man in a t-shirt and radio-mic strides up and down gesturing. I've often noticed a long queue leading into a skateboard shop in Soho; Peter Street perhaps? There's been a few times when having stood in a West End dayseat queue I've then gone to get some breakfast and ended up in the Breakfast Club queue.
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Post by Backdrifter on Jul 21, 2017 23:12:35 GMT
Booked for Goldfrapp, Brixton Academy, November.
Didn't have any lunch was so very hungry and got stuffed at Wahaca before seeing Committee.
Listening to a very free-form live Genesis jam from 1975 (The Waiting Room) on youtube while typing this.
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Post by Backdrifter on Jul 21, 2017 7:24:55 GMT
I promise to everyone this will be my final comment on this thing. Honest!
Man 1 was position 1 in the queue. He was apparently not going to the play, just holding that spot for his friend, Man 2, who arrived at a time when there were now about 15 people queueing. So, had Man 2 not got his friend to do that, and assuming Man 2 arrived at his "preferred" time, he'd have been about 15th/16th, Man 1 would never have been part of the equation, Person 2 in the queue would have always been Person 1, etc.
Anyway I'm now at the same point infofreako reached (which I'm sure probably everyone has long passed as well!) of wanting this to end, so my apologies to all.
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Post by Backdrifter on Jul 20, 2017 22:25:25 GMT
It's people who applaud above their heads that I find annoying. "Look everyone, I'm applauding" Have you ever noticed the variation on this - not necessarily raised-armed, perhaps at about head level or slightly below, but with extra gusto and a kind of resolute look on the face - " No-one can be applauding with more appreciation than I am." Mrs Backdrifter and I take tiger balm to performances as a result of a raised-armed applauder. We'd had a string of instances of being next to bad breath/BO people in audiences and after a gig at which Mrs B was next to a High Clapper who had cartoon-style wavy lines radiating from his armpits we got the tiger balm to help combat event stench. To go back to the OP, yes I've had that head-piercing eardrum-shredding whistle experience too.
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Post by Backdrifter on Jul 20, 2017 22:19:21 GMT
It's people who applaud above their heads that I find annoying. "Look everyone, I'm applauding" Raised arm and limped wristed "pointing" at the artist annoys the hell out of me. Yes! Oh that made me laugh out loud. 2002, Up For Grabs curtain call, front row - the bloke next to me kept doing a double-pointing thing at Madonna, 5 or 6 times, in the hope she'd spot him.
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Post by Backdrifter on Jul 20, 2017 22:05:19 GMT
I didn't think it was an argument, but anyway thanks for the insight.
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Post by Backdrifter on Jul 20, 2017 21:41:31 GMT
I prefer saying it to clicking on that stupid heart button. Thank you, I heart that.
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Post by Backdrifter on Jul 20, 2017 21:36:03 GMT
This is getting a bit... well I'm not sure what word to use. If a reasonably well-paid 40-something person placeholds for their friend who's another reasonably well-paid 40-something person who shows up at 9am while their mate heads off, job done, is that still okay as it's not a business arrangement, or actually not 100% okay as they are depriving a young or elderly person of those dayseats?
And I'd contest that dayseats are intended for those who can't afford good seats at regular prices. They're certainly of appeal for those people, of course, but unless there's a specific scheme such as the Spacey Old Vic's under-25s front row one, they're there for anyone who strongly prefers front row and is prepared to put in the effort and queueing time, and they help keep a buzz going for that production.
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Post by Backdrifter on Jul 20, 2017 18:32:32 GMT
Oh you such a wag aren't you? I'm pretty utilitarian when it comes to my shopping habits, and buy for my needs and my own desires, not to attain some "Lifestyle" that is rammed down my throat by advertising agencies. Unless you literally never pay for any product or service that has been advertised - which is pretty much impossible in the modern world - you are paying for the advertising cost of the products you consume when you buy them. The cost of advertising those products is rolled into the price you pay. You don't really notice it, because the cost is spread over so many different units that it is pennies per purchase. So you are paying twice for Sky - you pay your subscription fee and you also contribute to the revenue they get from advertising. We all pay that regardless of whether we watch commercial TV. The difference with the license fee is that the cost is entirely transparent, and makes them far more accountable to their audience than commercial TV is. The BBC has a duty to all of the license fee paying public, whereas commercial TV only serves the demographics who appeal most to advertisers or who can afford to pay subscription fees - which can be hiked at any time. If the BBC license fee were to be scrapped, if the BBC was competing for advertising revenue to survive, either the quality of TV in this country would plummet, or the cost of subscription TV would jump. Everyone would be competing for the same advertising budgets - there wouldn't suddenly be more advertising money available, not unless the price of advertised products went up to fund it. The disparity between 'star' pay and everyone else would increase, not decrease - because everyone would need to secure the services of stars who are guaranteed to draw an audience, to show advertisers that they are worth their money. At the moment the BBC can afford to slightly under-pay compared to Sky, because they have guaranteed income, because they offer a different environment than commercial TV and can afford to nurture talent, because they don't need everything to be an instant hit just to keep ad money rolling in and pay the bills. I 'like' this. I prefer saying it to clicking on that stupid heart button.
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Post by Backdrifter on Jul 20, 2017 18:18:24 GMT
What material difference does it make to anyone here who is fine with the place-holding friend making their announcement if, instead, the announcement is "Hi everyone, just to let you know, I'm being paid to hold this spot in the queue, my client will be along at 9 to take my place and will be buying two tickets."
And I maintain that with the queue I was in the other day, the placeholder did make a difference to everyone else's position. I don't think he had intended to buy any tickets, or go to the play. He was there purely as a favour to the later-arriving friend, who was then able to take the number 1 position that had been held. I can see the point others are making if the placeholder was going anyway and in that sense it doesn't matter which of them is physically there. But if the placeholder isn't attending, then Late Arriver Guy has bumped us all along one compared to the situation had he not had that spot held, and turned up at the same time. That scenario isn't any different from the paid professional placeholder one, other than that they aren't friends, it's purely business.
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Post by Backdrifter on Jul 20, 2017 14:30:53 GMT
I pretty much agree with Steve's comments. The play is slight, but enjoyable. Amy Morgan is very watchable. I loved the set; you really got a sense of being in this terrible, unwashed place.
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Post by Backdrifter on Jul 20, 2017 13:41:07 GMT
Don't ever say you're just saying. Just say the thing you're just saying but saying 'just saying' lessens it.
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Post by Backdrifter on Jul 20, 2017 13:35:21 GMT
I refuse to have anything to do with the Murdoch empire Exactly. I won't have the Murdoch empire in the house.
Nice to see parsley's poems again.
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Post by Backdrifter on Jul 20, 2017 13:29:33 GMT
Anyway sorry for wandering off, to get us back on course I'm remembering a Stewart Lee show last year in which he interrupted his own monologue to tell someone "No mate, put your phone away, it's very distracting up here seeing it light up your bored face." In a similar intervention last year Daniel Kitson asked a woman to put hers away after she checked it then left it on her lap, still lit up, as though she was about to use it again at any moment - "Please put it away, it's lighting up your chest like a heritage building."
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Post by Backdrifter on Jul 20, 2017 13:24:12 GMT
Phew... There was me thinking I was the only one who is a little bit obsessive about their ticket. I'm still annoyed that I've only got a print-out for AAIP, rather than a proper ticket. Oooh no. You are far from being the only one. Ditto the lamenting of good old fashioned actual proper tickets.
I'm also a "start the tearing process" person by folding along the perforation a couple of times and tearing the first few millimetres of perforation either side. All of us who do that are completely normal, well-balanced people.
Going back to the early-queueing-for-gig-entry thing - having done that in order to get a place on the front barrier, I've had a few occasions when on entering the arena, the hand-held scanner doesn't want to know. So I'm there, anxious to get my sacred barrier spot, watching the steward frowning and patiently doing multiple scan attempts, while later arrivals from behind me are all happily streaming through the entry lanes and haring it to the front.
This is way off the thread topic but just to say that on entering the LCCC stadium a couple of weeks back for Radiohead, there were enhanced security checks in place (post Manc Arena bombing) and I saw disbelieving people being told their phone chargers were not permitted and they had to either chuck them in the bin or leave and put them away somewhere before being allowed in. The girl in front of me told her friend she was going to go back out into the street to find a bush to hide the charger in, in the hope it'd still be there when she came back out!
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Post by Backdrifter on Jul 20, 2017 11:14:41 GMT
asmdsmsandm I was trying to be witty about the How Was Your Day thread, I didn't quite manage it though!
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Post by Backdrifter on Jul 20, 2017 11:12:10 GMT
That's an interesting take on it - if it's as a paid service that's worse then friends helping each other out. For me it's irksome either way. If that's the time you're arriving, that's your place in the queue.
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