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Post by Rory on Oct 6, 2024 11:19:29 GMT
Has anyone been in to see this yet?
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Post by alicechallice on Oct 6, 2024 12:07:38 GMT
Has anyone been in to see this yet? Yes, last night. Very good, tense, fantastically acted. Great use of the space. Have never been so close to the actors in my life. Phil Dunster practically sat on me.
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Post by Rory on Oct 6, 2024 13:44:01 GMT
Has anyone been in to see this yet? Yes, last night. Very good, tense, fantastically acted. Great use of the space. Have never been so close to the actors in my life. Phil Dunster practically sat on me. Lucky you! Glad to hear it's a good one. I have a matinee ticket coming up which I was wondering whether to keep but think I will now!
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Post by avfan on Oct 7, 2024 20:36:42 GMT
Caught this tonight at the Royal Court and it was fantastic. My favourite piece of new writing so far this year. The cast are superb across the board and I was gripped from start to finish. It was wonderfully paced and the staging and set were excellent.
One of my theatre highlights of the year. Felt very lucky to see such a powerful piece in such an intimate space. Try for the Monday tickets if you can as I think the run is all but sold out.
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Post by parsley1 on Oct 10, 2024 13:44:29 GMT
Some pretty bad reviews for this
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Post by theatrelover123 on Oct 10, 2024 14:24:33 GMT
Some pretty bad reviews for this A couple of 2 stars, a 3 star and a couple of 4 stars.
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Post by alicechallice on Oct 10, 2024 14:44:34 GMT
Some pretty bad reviews for this A couple of 2 stars, a 3 star and a couple of 4 stars. I'm definitely in the 4 star camp.
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Post by lonlad on Oct 10, 2024 16:06:51 GMT
I saw it last night and loved it. The 2-star reviews are VERY strange. The Guardian really rated the ghastly new JUNO more highly than this? The world is indeed in a terrible state o'chassis.
BRACE BRACE is a reminder of the way the Court Upstairs used to be and the production is ace.
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Post by Dave B on Oct 10, 2024 16:54:42 GMT
Brett Goldstein and Toheeb Jimoh in last night for Phil Dunster (big grins to and from him as he enters). Also Jason Isaccs but the night was oversold, he had to sit separately from his wife and then FoH even had to ask AD David Byrne to give up his seat as they needed one more! The hijack sequence is terrifying. Forget being upstairs in a small theatre, for maybe 10 seconds you will believe you are sat on a plane with a hijack going on. It is an amazing combination of light, sound, staging and movement that provides an effect that a big West End bonanza would love to be able to do. Audible gasps all around. 5 stars - direction, light, sound, fight work, and cast. Some truly superb work from the whole team.
3 stars - the script however is a bit inconsistent. It does a really good job investing us into the couple but the aftermath pushes it a little too fast and leaves so much unanswered - why this setting, why are they talking to the audience (I too had Dunster almost on my lap at one point!)? There's some missing plot points, if Ray was unconscious how could he have helped? It's setup initially to suggest similar to Force Majeure in that he ran away but it seems clear he did not and was just as involved. Then some gaps in the story too, surely Sylvia's reaction to his return from Greece is pretty important for them as a couple? Feels like so so much potential but not quite there yet. Another pass needed perhaps?
But that makes it a four star evening for me. It's a visceral, tension filled evening and I still felt it in my chest walking outside of the theatre.
As to some reviews I've read this evening... well I'm not too impressed with them to be honest not least of all because there is NOT a 'twist' in this.
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Post by alessia on Oct 21, 2024 21:11:36 GMT
Wow I didn’t know re the above spoiler. I went this evening and enjoyed this very much. I found the woman’s struggle to move past the even very believable. Both actors excellent. The staging was clever. I don’t understand the bad reviews.
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Post by caa on Oct 25, 2024 18:42:11 GMT
Wow I didn’t know re the above spoiler. I went this evening and enjoyed this very much. I found the woman’s struggle to move past the even very believable. Both actors excellent. The staging was clever. I don’t understand the bad reviews. Saw Brace Brace yesterday I agree really don't understand the bad reviews, I felt that the play was good on how people respond to trauma not all of the story line worked but well worth seeing, the ending shocked people!
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Post by rumbledoll on Oct 26, 2024 12:01:49 GMT
Could anyone who saw the piece please comment on whether it is more about the hijack itself or about the aftermath of the events? Thanks!
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Post by Mark on Oct 26, 2024 12:06:44 GMT
More about how a traumatic event like that affects people. I was familiar with the story of the real flight that the playwright had been on so found it very interesting indeed, especially from the perspective of me also working as airline crew.
Thought Anjana and Phil were completely wonderful and had a great connection.
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Post by thistimetomorrow on Oct 28, 2024 9:07:17 GMT
No luck trying to get Monday tickets for this today. If anyone's wanting to get rid of a ticket for this before it closes please let me know
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Post by lt on Oct 29, 2024 9:58:26 GMT
Hadn't been planning to see this, but based on the reviews here I decided to get a Monday ticket yesterday. I'm clearly in the minority because while I thought that the staging was effective. Overall, I felt the play was weak.
I wasn't convinced by the chemistry between the two leads, but the big issue I had was that the script that felt very clunky. Once the aftermath of the hijack has been set up, it felt like the playwright didn't quite know how to develop the narrative. The somewhat binary debate that develops between Ray and Syivia lacked nuance and I felt at that point the play was just going round in circles. I know in real life that can happen with arguments, but for me, it didn't make this engaging to watch and I felt the ending was weak.
But I was interested to read about the true life events this was based on so thank you Dave B for that!
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Post by aspieandy on Oct 29, 2024 11:48:49 GMT
<< SPOLIERS>>
a 70-minute, 2-hander + one, study of how truama/PTSD can affect - undermine - relationships. From what I gathered, it was clever in differentiating specific actions (during the event) and psychological outcomes. I would imagine it's very relatable for those who suffer. Given limitations, the set design did a good job of communicating a visceral, life-changing experience.
Script was .. perky, bright. Not entirely sure I bought the relationship.
I think it's a pretty cool combo for the RC - not a full play but goes well with a natter and bite downstairs.
In the same space, really looking forward to Expendable. That will be something to talk about.
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Post by Steve on Oct 31, 2024 19:10:17 GMT
Saw this last night, and was dazzled by the the direction (the director, Daniel Raggett, who also brilliantly staged the hilarious recent "Accidental Death of an Anarchist" was sitting opposite me last night lol), the set and the acting, but the play itself, which is funny, fast and furious at the beginning loses credibility and focus as it progresses, despite or perhaps because it is based on a true story. Some spoilers follow. . . Daniel Raggett really makes you feel like you're inches from the interior of a plane hijack, with the canted slide of a stage, the tilting expansive light rig, the scary roaring plane sound effects and the screaming actors. I was breathless watching that sequence. The set was truly one of the most impressive sets I've ever seen in that space. And I loved how Oli Forsyth had his characters breaking the fourth wall, bonding with us ("enjoy this bit because it won't be funny later" or some such line from Phil Dunster's character) before hell broke loose, making us feel part of that hell. But Forsyth loses his audience by depriving them of rudders with which to understand the action. As Dave B posted, we can see that the real mentally-ill hijacker was Kenyan, and it was the Kenyan legal/medical system that treated the hijacker far more gently than our own would have treated him. Here, he would have been prosecuted, and even if found not guilty by reason of insanity, our medics would not have hastily freed him, out of consideration for public safety. By removing this specific information from his storytelling, Forsyth makes it seem as if this is partially a critique of our laissez faire medical-legal establishment, when in reality, we are not laissez faire about this stuff at all. So he creates a cognitive disconnect in anyone who knows how Broadmoor/The Rampton/etc operate. Later, when Anjana Vasan's character gets upset that the hijacker has been released, she is patronised and critiqued for not understanding that the man was mentally ill. But for a script that talks a LOT about how the mentally ill man deserves sensitivity (either to get us falsely angry about our system OR to get us unfairly biased against Vasan's character), where the hell is the sensitivity for Vasan's character who is herself obviously suffering from PTSD? Where Forsyth includes medical sensitivity about the hijacker, there is not one peep about medical sensitivity for Vasan's character, who is instead portrayed as either an unreasonably angry conspiracy theorist or as a feisty crusader uncovering a genuine conspiracy. The result is increasing cognitive disconnect in the audience, who have no idea who or what to care about. The actual denouement, which builds on the idea that life is full of possibilities and probabilities ("buttered toast has a 63 percent chance of landing butter side down" we are told at the beginning) that we just have to live with, works really well. But along the way, Forsyth leaves us so rudderless who or what to care about that we start not caring. Thankfully, I did care about whatever Anjana Vasan cared about because she is such a good actor, but for huge swaths of the story, I didn't know whether she was "Dirty Harry" gunning for the liberal establishment, or whether she was a woman with PTSD, that noone ever mentioned, while constantly rubbing the hijacker's mental issues in the poor woman's face. For physical action and staging and chummy fourth wall breaking, Phil Dunster and Anjana Vasan and the Director really bring the goods, but for coherent storytelling, Forsyth needs to get more specific to get more universal. By cutting all threads that connect to the real world, we, like the characters, are left falling into oblivion for far too long. 3 stars from me.
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Post by aspieandy on Oct 31, 2024 21:11:01 GMT
Thankfully, I did care about whatever Anjana Vasan cared about because she is such a good actor, but for huge swaths of the story, I didn't know whether she was "Dirty Harry" gunning for the liberal establishment, or whether she was a woman with PTSD, that noone ever mentioned, while constantly rubbing the hijacker's mental issues in the poor woman's face.
What I found tricky was the language to use to describe how she came to be. I still ponder terms like 'righteous' and 'violated' but I'm in no position to form a view - the closest I have come is a former girlfriend who had suffered a 14-hour ordeal of the worst kind several years before I knew her, and she would sometimes wake, sit bolt upright, utterly panicked.
The experience here was not that, but it did cause me to think the psychological effect was not so different (hence my reference points above). I wondered if the type of visceral physical contact - not a simple punch or headlock - may linger in the memory: the touching, feel of skin. The additional layer of him living nearby fed the crossover in my mind. She has to try to find a way past the ordeal and she was left to deal with that alone. There was almost, though perhaps not quite, a base, somewhat survivalist quality to her at the end.
I'd also wished I'd paid more attention to the contribution of the pilot but I was off on a tangent at that point.
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Post by Steve on Oct 31, 2024 21:16:05 GMT
What I found tricky was the language to use to describe how she came to be. I still ponder terms like 'righteous' and 'violated' but I'm in no position to form a view - the closest I have come is a former girlfriend who had suffered a 14-hour ordeal of the worst kind several years before I knew her, and she would sometimes wake, sit bolt upright, utterly panicked.
The experience here was not that, but it did cause me to think the psychological effect was not so different (hence my reference points above). I wondered if the type of visceral physical contact - not a simple punch or headlock - may linger in the memory: the touching, feel of skin. The additional layer of him living nearby fed the crossover in my mind. She has to try to find a way past the ordeal and she was left to deal with that alone. There was almost, though perhaps not quite, a base, somewhat survivalist quality to her at the end.
I'd also wished I'd paid more attention to the contribution of the pilot but I was off on a tangent at that point.
Spoilers follow. . . In the real event, the pilot poked his finger in the hijacker's eye and threw him down whereupon three passengers held the guy down. Here, the pilot is immediately knocked out by the hijacker, and Anjana Vasan's character single-handedly takes him down with the finger to the eye, and saves the day all by herself, to the embarrassment and chagrin of her husband, who feels less manly and envious, though he knows it's wrong to feel this way.
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Post by aspieandy on Oct 31, 2024 21:18:50 GMT
Thanks. Sorry. I missed his psychological/philosophical perspective, which she maybe teased out of him?
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Post by parsley1 on Nov 4, 2024 21:09:39 GMT
This can probably join the sh*t list of the year
So tedious I fell asleep
And for reference
In the UK it’s unlikely and implausible the offender would be “released” to live “a few miles away”
He would be in a mental health unit quite possibly a secure one
I see from the background information kindly provided by forum sisters
That his mental health assessment was done in Kenya and he was not a British national
I did not feel as if I was on a plane
And a serious topic which might cause people a lot of distress and anxiety Was sidelined for soap opera bickering
Totally boring
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Post by theatrelover123 on Nov 4, 2024 22:22:46 GMT
This can probably join the sh*t list of the year So tedious I fell asleep And for reference In the UK it’s unlikely and implausible the offender would be “released” to live “a few miles away” He would be in a mental health unit quite possibly a secure one I see from the background information kindly provided by forum sisters That his mental health assessment was done in Kenya and he was not a British national I did not feel as if I was on a plane And a serious topic which might cause people a lot of distress and anxiety Was sidelined for soap opera bickering Totally boring Couldn’t disagree more
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Post by hamletothello on Nov 7, 2024 8:41:41 GMT
I caught this last night and thought it was brilliantly staged and thoroughly engaging. Yes, there are questionable plot elements but that not detract from the fabulous performances and great pacing. What a joy to see 3 wonderful actors in a small intimate space. The Royal Court programming has been a win for me since David Byrne took over. I saw Oliver Chris in the bar beforehand. It was Helena Bonham Carter the week before. Every time I go now it is buzzing with atmosphere. I wish they hadn't closed the bookshop but you can't have everything ...
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Post by coffeeee on Nov 7, 2024 14:25:54 GMT
I saw this and for me the main problems weren't the outlandish plot twists, it's that it didn't really properly explore the themes or questions the plot set up. Everything was touched on but nothing really stuck.
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Post by londonmzfitz on Nov 10, 2024 0:10:17 GMT
Last performance tonight, I am so glad I went! Found it absolutely thrilling. Taut. I was engaged by the whole thing. Staging, lighting - superb. One of the best new shows I've seen in ages. Didn't really feel the connection between Sylvia and Ray but all three actors performed very well. The physical parts had me gripped, the emotional dialogue was thoughtful and thought provoking.
Again, thrilling stuff. 4.5*
Also, Phil Dunster is a very handsome young man.
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