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Post by alessia on Dec 17, 2022 19:02:58 GMT
I thought it was good but not great- some of the dialogue a bit clunky for me especially in the first half. Three people nearby left at the interval.
Strange non reaction to the daughters' arrival, nobody except the brother embraces or gets close to her despite endless proclamation of how she has been missed. Also, odd that the new arrivals have nowhere to sit down after the initial introduction (which I felt, goes on for too long) and at some point they sit on their suitcases.
Enjoyed the second half more.
The understudies were both good, especially Jane Lambert who got a special applause by the other actors at the end. Frankly, I would not have known she was not the main actress for the role.
Sat on the circle row C and it is just ok, for the price (£20) You do get a lot of scenes where the actor is facing the other way.
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Post by londonpostie on Dec 17, 2022 19:11:43 GMT
Well, if you saw a minor kerfuffle a few minutes into the start, that was moi changing rows (to circle A) to make space for a late-arriving trio.
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Post by alessia on Dec 17, 2022 21:25:32 GMT
Well, if you saw a minor kerfuffle a few minutes into the start, that was moi changing rows (to circle A) to make space for a late-arriving trio. Ah yes I did! I was surprised those three were allowed in, as the play was already at least 10 mins in? |
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Post by n1david on Dec 18, 2022 0:12:25 GMT
I enjoyed this tonight, more than I expected to. Kept thinking how Patricia Hodge would have played the matriarch but actually if I hadn't known that I was watching an understudy I wouldn't have thought twice about it. I think it's an interesting play, I did think if it had been presented today as a new play I might have thought that it was a bit too on the nose, knowing that it had been written in 1941 gave it a very interesting context.
A somewhat straightforward play, which is not a criticism, which tells a story between a group of connected characters and relates how they interact. Reflects on interesting ideas and addresses personal motivations. Well-staged, well-acted. The best thing I've seen at the Donmar since before lockdown, by some way.
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Post by Steve on Dec 21, 2022 23:45:24 GMT
A brilliantly acted bit of anti-fascist wartime propaganda. I found Caitlin Fitzgerald and Mark Waschke immensely affecting, despite the propaganda of it all. Some spoilers follow. . . I only realised I had seen the film of this when it got underway lol. Basically, it's an Oscar film, and I once had an Oscar film binge. The Oscar for this film went to Paul Lukas, who played Kurt, and beat Humphrey Bogart, in Casablanca, to the Best Actor Oscar. That was silly, since Casablanca is basically the same movie with more entertaining plot elements, and Bogart was iconic! Anyway, Paul Lukas gave a great performance as a sensitive wounded German anti-fascist willing to give up a heck of a lot for the fight, but in my opinion, Mark Waschke is even better in this, showing more colours and conflicts in his performance. Similarly, I think Caitlin FitzGerald, as the anti-fascist's American wife, who reunites with her mother (Jane Lambert) and brother (Geoffrey Streatfeild) in this, is significantly better than Bette Davis was in the film. Davis played it like she was crying in every scene, but FitzGerald manages many more affecting notes in her performance than the melodrama of Davis's performance: FitzGerald is joyous to be with her family, outraged to be confronted with John Light's villain, stony in her commitment to a cause and heartbreakingly in love with her impossible husband. Separated from the manipulative essence of the play, I loved this central couple, and shed tears for them. But the across-the-board excellence of the adult actors (including more effortless villainy from John Light) is hamstrung by the manipulations of the plot, which is manifest armtwisting of an American audience to get involved in the war in Europe. This is not a play as sophisticated as "The Children's Hour" (the pain of Bryony Hannah's lying sneaky child villain still haunts me), and can't escape it's evident propagandising roots. Still, for the direction and acting, this gets 3 and a half stars from me.  |
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Post by Mark on Dec 23, 2022 10:07:32 GMT
Went last night and thought it was very good. Jane Lambert was on in place of Patricia Hodge and was excellent.
Strong production with a great cast, this is what the Donmar does best.
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Post by jacklondon on Dec 23, 2022 23:06:55 GMT
Scored a ticket for tonight and thought it a fascinating piece. Thoroughly enjoyed it.
Lucy Bromilow was on in place of Kate Duchene for a part that she does not understudy, script in hand. Absolutely superb too which is all the more incredible as she apparently only had a few hours notice.
Jane Lambert on in place of Patricia Hodge and superb too.
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Post by Dave B on Dec 24, 2022 11:02:51 GMT
I enjoyed this, it's so well performed. All of the cast are good with Mark Waschke, Caitlin FitzGerald and John Light as particular highlights. The story plays out pretty simply and I think each beat was anticipated. I also found the lack of physical contact a bit strange as alessia mentions above, it really stood out during the reunion scene. I assume it's deliberate to show the slightly odd and semi-strained relationships within the family.
I could count 20 seats free from mine in the front or circle - mostly in what use to be the upstairs cheap seats. No-one under 30 in the under 30 seats and a ton of papering. I know there will be people waiting for Patricia Hodge to return but for a strong entry from the Donmar recently, it's a shame that their pricing changes have, I think, lost them some of their audience and that their aim to bring in under 30s (talked about in the programme too) isn't working so well so far.
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Post by vernongersh on Dec 27, 2022 23:06:03 GMT
for anyone seeing the show on the 28th - was the full cast in? I really want to see Patrica
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Post by Jan on Dec 28, 2022 17:28:27 GMT
I enjoyed this, it's so well performed. All of the cast are good with Mark Waschke, Caitlin FitzGerald and John Light as particular highlights. The story plays out pretty simply and I think each beat was anticipated. I also found the lack of physical contact a bit strange as alessia mentions above, it really stood out during the reunion scene. I assume it's deliberate to show the slightly odd and semi-strained relationships within the family. I could count 20 seats free from mine in the front or circle - mostly in what use to be the upstairs cheap seats. No-one under 30 in the under 30 seats and a ton of papering. I know there will be people waiting for Patricia Hodge to return but for a strong entry from the Donmar recently, it's a shame that their pricing changes have, I think, lost them some of their audience and that their aim to bring in under 30s (talked about in the programme too) isn't working so well so far. My conclusion is the under-30s are not avoiding this obscure play written in 1941 due to price. They should have offered me a cheap seat instead - their loss. |
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Post by NorthernAlien on Dec 28, 2022 17:46:11 GMT
I enjoyed this, it's so well performed. All of the cast are good with Mark Waschke, Caitlin FitzGerald and John Light as particular highlights. The story plays out pretty simply and I think each beat was anticipated. I also found the lack of physical contact a bit strange as alessia mentions above, it really stood out during the reunion scene. I assume it's deliberate to show the slightly odd and semi-strained relationships within the family. I could count 20 seats free from mine in the front or circle - mostly in what use to be the upstairs cheap seats. No-one under 30 in the under 30 seats and a ton of papering. I know there will be people waiting for Patricia Hodge to return but for a strong entry from the Donmar recently, it's a shame that their pricing changes have, I think, lost them some of their audience and that their aim to bring in under 30s (talked about in the programme too) isn't working so well so far. How can you tell if an audience is one with papering? |
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Post by Dave B on Dec 28, 2022 17:53:49 GMT
I enjoyed this, it's so well performed. All of the cast are good with Mark Waschke, Caitlin FitzGerald and John Light as particular highlights. The story plays out pretty simply and I think each beat was anticipated. I also found the lack of physical contact a bit strange as alessia mentions above, it really stood out during the reunion scene. I assume it's deliberate to show the slightly odd and semi-strained relationships within the family. I could count 20 seats free from mine in the front or circle - mostly in what use to be the upstairs cheap seats. No-one under 30 in the under 30 seats and a ton of papering. I know there will be people waiting for Patricia Hodge to return but for a strong entry from the Donmar recently, it's a shame that their pricing changes have, I think, lost them some of their audience and that their aim to bring in under 30s (talked about in the programme too) isn't working so well so far. How can you tell if an audience is one with papering? Well in this particular case I had seen the performance 'sell out' on one site and then saw there was a different ticket entry process for papered seats - they didn't scan and were checked manually. Slowed the entry down a little. |
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Post by emmy on Dec 28, 2022 20:30:40 GMT
They certainly could be advertising the under 30 tickets a bit more widely - I'm under 30, on the Donmar mailing lists, this play is definitely my kind of thing and I've only heard of these tickets from this board (and will now be booking, so thanks!). That being said, availability is looking relatively limited for the rest of run - maybe they've since distributed the tickets to schools or something?
I'm not surprised they're increasing their ticket prices overall though, sad as it is - looking at their accounts, production income seems to form a relatively small proportion of total income - they'd need an increase of about 25% in production income to cover the loss of the arts council subsidy (assuming other income stayed the same). And that's going to be very difficult without increasing ticket prices (and that's before even considering increased costs due to inflation).
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Post by appoul on Dec 31, 2022 0:25:54 GMT
I managed to watch this tonight! Probably grabbed the last ticket (according to the seating plan) although there were four or five empty seats when it started.
There was a major disruption on the Piccadilly line and had to walk to the theatre from Green Park but I managed to arrive at 19.29!
Patricia Hodge was superb. The rest of the cast were also excellent.
The plot sounds naive by today's standards but what great dialogues Lillian Hellman could write!
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Post by vernongersh on Dec 31, 2022 14:07:49 GMT
I enjoyed this on Thursday afternoon. Great acting all around and elements of both thriller and political commentary. Donmar is indeed the perfect venue for this superbly directed show. There was a woman coughing her lungs out in the first row - what the heck is wrong with people?!!! She couldn't stop coughing all over those poor kids, the actors and her fellow theatre goers.
If she were next to me and not on the other side I would have orchestrated Theater Management to get involved. I put a mask on and noticed a few other folks that were maskless also put some face coverings on because of that rude piece of trash.
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Post by showgirl on Jan 3, 2023 5:30:42 GMT
I too enjoyed this at the Saturday matinee and my concerns about the view and sound quality from my far side seat in the back row of the circle proved unfounded.
Not sure now what I was expecting - other than ideally to be engaged, entertained and made to think, all of which I was - but I was surprised how old-fashioned and melodramatic it was. That said, I'd never before had the opportunity to see anything by Lillian Hellman, even those of her plays which have been produced more often (eg The Children's Hour and The Little Foxes), so had nothing to compare it with and it was after all written in 1941.
The whole cast was great - Patricia Hodge does imperious matriarch so well - and I was impressed that the character with the convincing (imo) German accent was actually a German actor, Mark Waschke. Geoffrey Streatfeild was rather wasted in his minor role but is always good.
Well worth seeing though I still fail to understand why it isn't done more often; apparently the last London production was c 40 years ago.
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Post by foxa on Jan 7, 2023 19:12:25 GMT
I was at the matinee today and emjoyed it. There are a few creaky bits, but also some lovely performances and, as I hadn't read the play or read much about it, was intrigued by the plot. Patricia Hodge is wonderful - she understands the character so entirely and her stagecraft is masterful. Rich and surprising line readings such as 'Do you like me?' Also thought the German actor playing Muller, Mark Waschke, was outstanding. As others have said, the child actors are great. I felt aware that the ticket prices were higher than I'm used to paying at the Donmar (I was in Row B of the side circle) but for this production it seemed worth it.
Just a side note: noticed that the actor playing Marthe wasn't there for the curtain call.
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Post by Rory on Jan 7, 2023 20:41:37 GMT
Would be great if this got a transfer to somewhere like the Apollo.
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Post by david on Jan 14, 2023 23:54:09 GMT
This was a big hit for me at today’s matinee viewing and worth every penny of my ticket money. Again, having booked quite late on I snagged the C4 Circle seat. A great view despite being at the far side of the stage. It really was a well crafted production that kept me throughly entertained for the entire time. It really was an engaging story packed with a nice balance of humour and emotional drama. Patricia Hodge was superb as the family matriarch and her line delivery was just an absolute joy to watch and was by far the standout in what was overall an excellent cast. The 3 kids we had this afternoon really held their own alongside the older cast members to deliver Hellman’s play.
A great start to the new Donmar season.
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Post by edelweiss on Jan 20, 2023 11:34:14 GMT
Saw this yesterday - incredible. I had a standing ticket (the only ones left when I booked) but the view was excellent and I would definitely book those again. As others have said, Patricia Hodge was amazing in a role that suits her very well. The rest of the cast were also excellent - particularly Mark Waschke and Caitlin FitzGerald as Sara and Kurt Mueller. The three children were also great, making the most of their precocious and unusually aware characters without being irritating (particularly Bertie Caplan as the youngest, Bodo). The dialogue was very witty, and even in the darker second half it still elicited some laughs from the audience. The ending really packs a punch and definitely made me think - I can see why the Donmar have revived it now.
Five stars from me! If you have a chance to see it I would definitely recommend.
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Post by theatrelover123 on Jan 21, 2023 9:47:22 GMT
I very much like to sing the title of this play to the tune of ‘Fog on the Tyne’. You should try it. I thank you.
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Post by oldhasbeen on Feb 1, 2023 18:06:13 GMT
Three-and-a-half stars from me. As one previous reviewer said, it "has a few creaky bits" and is a bit heavy on the scene setting for my taste, but superbly acted by the leads and the kids.
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