Till The Stars Come Down - Dorfman NT

Full disclose: I have never seen an episode of Eastenders (though I once watched half a Christmas special with Dirty Den, under threat of a barrage of Brussels sprouts).

This is not the same. This is an entirely different format in a completely different environment. Also, you don't even need a special license to watch this (nor are you threatened with prosecution if you don't have a special license).

When I said it’s like watching a soap opera I didn’t mean any particular actor on stage- I meant the storyline - and how it is so predictable, and on your face, everything that happened was hinted at minutes before it did actually happen. It felt like I was hand held throughout rather than letting me see between the lines. I respect that most people loved this and so did the critics but I just didn’t. There is always one isn’t there 😆

I agree re the Polish aspect. It’s a bit icky

I have a ticket for this evening on the notice board if anyone is interested ( note it’s a 6.30 start!).

Happy to accept an offer as it so late in the day.

Producer David Pugh - Pride & Prejudice (Sort Of) among others - just posted this on X:

"Went to the @nationaltheatre tonight to see ‘Till the stars come down’. Paid £65 and couldn’t hear. As it happened it was a signed performance but unfortunately I don’t understand sign language so I went home."

I noticed someone posted on this thread last week and said they missed some of the dialogue, so I was interested to see someone else (albeit on X) saying even worse.

Gutted. At this evening’s performance, thought that the interval was running longer than usual, back into the auditorium and told second half cancelled due to cast illness. Have managed to book for Weds matinee in the hope that the cast member recovers, otherwise out of luck on this one…

Discussed this with my fellow attendee and I do plan to see Act 1 again, but I don't think they will. When the major plot development was revealed towards the end of Act 1 I thought, that's interesting, could I have spotted this background if I'd been watching more closely? So I think I will go back and watch Act 1 again with an eye to seeing whether I could spot later plot developments in the initial acting.

Out of interest, did you notice anyone in the cast underperforming in Act 1? I really couldn't see anyone who was under par, I thought everyone was firing on all cylinders.

I was there as well last night and thought it was pretty terrific. (Although it did take a while for me to get used to the thickness of the accents.) I didn't notice anyone under performing so it was a shock when after the extended interval they told us to go home. What I resented was that the probably could have told us 10 or 15 minutes earlier. To extend the interval , get us all back in the theatre have us settle down and then say: "Sorry" was disrespectful of our time and our effort to get there. What are we supposed to do? Go back and sit through act one again? I'm taking this badly because on Saturday the performance of King Lear at the Almeida was cancelled "due to illness - not COVID" That's two shows in a four day period. I understand that the economics of the subsidized sector are difficult. However, it's a new world and they just have to factor in understudies to their budgets. I am a die hard theatregoer but to have my time and effort disrespected ( as the prices go up and up and up) is forcing me to hesitate in buying tickets in the first place.

Well, to paraphrase a David Hare play title, stuff happens. LEAR missed two performances so a crucial cast member could recover fully from an injury sustained on press night (and so they could re-block some sections to accommodate that performer when they returned on Saturday night). The theatre is a fragile place and COVID has only amplified that but it's far from the only culprit.

Cancelled again tonight. With the rest of the run completely sold out, there are going to be some disappointed punters out there..