What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank-Marylebone

If anyone knows this theatre well, would the front row seats at either extreme end/aisle have a restricted view? Interested in seeing from some cheap seats. These are the cheapest option alongside the back row. Wonder which people would go for?
Here’s a seating plan: tickets.marylebonetheatre.com/tickets/series/WWTAWWTAAF/what-we-talk-about-when-we-talk-about-anne-frank-1097576?startDate=10-16-2024

Thanks, appreciate! Will go for these and make it into a double-bill with Godot (when I’m already in London with a free evening).

I caught the matinée of this yesterday (mostly because I'm a Doc Martin fan and wanted to see Caroline Catz!). I thought it was really good. I'm not sure it adds much more to the debate about the crisis in the Middle East, but it seemed to put across the issues in a balanced way (although I certainly cannot claim to know the detailed nuances of the conflict) and was an admirable attempt to show both sides (albeit exclusively from within the Jewish community). Apart from the political/social arguments it was just genuinely entertaining and thought provoking. It was well acted and engrossing and kept my interest in a way many plays in the West End have failed to do recently. My one quibble would be with the ending which felt a little out of tone with the rest of the piece and perhaps undermined the seriousness of the preceding discussions.

I definitely recommend taking a trip to Marylebone to see it. It's such a small theatre every seat will give you a good view. I think there are 4 dates with Q&A's following them and I may go back to try and catch one of them.

I saw this yesterday and thoroughly recommend it. It is both very funny and fascinatingly topical given current events in the Middle East - though Gaza is only one part of a wide-ranging discussion of what being Jewish means in the modern world. It's about two friends meeting after a gap of several decades. There are two couples, both American, one liberal progressives in Florida and one orthodox Haredim now based in Israel, and it just has them discussing, arguing, reminiscing. I was interested at quite how hostile the US-based couple were to Israel, which seemed to be based on a longer-term animosity not just the events of the past year. There is some very dark humour in there. I saw it the day after seeing the equally brilliant Giant and it doesn't suffer by the comparison. Good to see a largely full house at the Marylebone theatre in the afternoon.

Saw today's matinee and it's fantastic, blending the vicious comedy of "God of Carnage" with the warmth of a reunion of old friends with the topicality of Israel/Palestine as well.

This feels like it could have been written yesterday, it never shies away from its difficult subject matter, and it avoids feeling prescriptive or programmatic, the writing feeling moment to moment alive to any and every possibility.

Some spoilers follow. . .

This works as both a comedy and a drama.

Its comic bits are "God of Carnage" confrontational, but also in absurd affectionate quirky character bits and also a wonderful set piece involving Joshua Malina's character wanting to touch Dorothea Myer-Bennett's frum modesty wig. The comic bits are very funny but they are not the whole story.

The principal story is the build-up of drama between very different world views, views about Israel and about Jewishness as well, that is carefully crafted from multiple points of view. One of the most powerful parts of the play is the way it doesn't end on its most dramatic moment but cleverly plays into an aftermath that is deep and resonant, poignant and unpredictable.

The players are wonderful across the board, with Joshua Malina's caustic liberal Phil witty and abrasive in equal measure; Simon Yadoo's ultra-conservative Yerucham like Tevye teleported out of "Fiddler" to decide just how much tradition has a hold on him today; and Caroline Catz and Dorothea Myer-Bennett both sparkling and incandescent as their respective wives, old friends who have chosen very different lives. As the liberal couple's even more liberal son, Gabriel Howell is comedy gold as he reacts to his parents' and their would-be friends' increasingly zany antics.

This is really great to the tune of 4 and a half stars for me.

Suspect they might be waiting for responses to these emails as every show is now showing as sold out (which they weren't yesterday). Unexpectedly in London this week I thought about this but balked at £82.50 for all remaining seats. If they end up publicly releasing that front row at £37 I might be able to fit it in.

I’m sure it’s worth refreshing. There was almost full availability in this new front row across the rest of the run when I sent this post - so imagine they’ve temporarily been taken off sale but will go back up.

Thanks very much for the tip-off.

I've managed to book for the performance I wanted. Who knows how squashed in it might be - I don't recall there being that much of a gap between the front row and the stage last time I visited - but it certainly seems a bargain.

The reason for the cast switch is that Dorothea Myer-Bennett is playing Maria in Twelfth Night at the Orange Tree which opens on Saturday 23 Nov - so her last performance in "What we talk about..." is Friday 22 Nov (presumably she's missing the matinee on 21 due to rehearsals). It's almost like the good old days of rep.