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Post by herculesmulligan on Mar 6, 2017 17:08:53 GMT
Well this was long wasn't it. Fantastic though. Sat in Stalls E25 / E26 which are restricted view officially but the restriction is almost non-existant. Incredible value. Also the chairs were very comfy.
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5,593 posts
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Post by lynette on Mar 6, 2017 18:51:13 GMT
Yes forgot to mention the seats are now comfy. Hence a long Hamlet. 🙄
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Post by lolli on Mar 7, 2017 10:44:22 GMT
One good ticket for 6th April now available on the website
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152 posts
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Post by alnoor on Mar 7, 2017 17:23:32 GMT
One circle ticket for 11 March on website
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Post by couldileaveyou on Mar 7, 2017 18:31:20 GMT
I just had to return a ticket for tomorrow's matinee if you're looking for one
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Post by cherokee on Mar 7, 2017 23:28:51 GMT
I enjoyed this a lot, principally down to the brilliant Andrew Scott, who is never anything less than fascinating to watch. And I liked the ending: I found it rather touching.
Juliet Stevenson was good and Peter Wight's Polonius was delightful, but ye Gods Angus Wright is a dull actor. His entire performance is a mumbly monotone where he just sounds like he's reciting lines without investing any meaning in them: save for a couple of times when he gets angry. Elliot Barnes-Worral as Horatio was another weak performance in a generally very strong cast: although a bit more volume from some of them would have helped. I was in Row F of the Stalls and struggled to hear some of the lines: God knows how the back of the Circle managed.
(On a baser note, Luke Thompson makes a very sexy Laertes too - and he has lovely calves!)
Main thing though was that I wasn't bored. And at 4 hours that's no small achievement - principally due to Scott, I have to say. He elevates a 3 star production to 4 or 5 stars, in my opinion.
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Post by Honoured Guest on Mar 9, 2017 14:28:18 GMT
It was a real privelege to attend this Hamlet. So well staged for this theatre, with the audience a part of the production. The text spoken in such a way that it sounds completely understandable and never archaic or impossibly dense, but also not updated or modernised, although odd words and lines have been refreshed for comprehensibility and coherence. Everything seems so well considered that it doesn't matter that you can't take proper notice of everything - for example, the music mostly passed me by. The gestures and movement contribute a significant layer to the experience, but you won't feel confused if you don't follow that aspect. No movement director credited, so I assume that Robert Icke does this without any assistance? The direction and design are incredibly mature, miles away from the old tradition of setting a play in a specific place and time and bashing a round peg into a square hole, but instead creating a bespoke world to clearly present the play. This was the first time I've seen a Robert Icke classic play so I wasn't distracted by building a mental theory of how he works and could instead just throw myself cold into this production and get from it as much as I could. It is amazing!
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Post by alexandra on Mar 9, 2017 15:22:16 GMT
If you loved this HG you'd also have loved his Oresteia. Never mind. I missed Summerfolk.
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Post by dave72 on Mar 9, 2017 15:48:27 GMT
Still no notice of a transfer?!
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Post by caa on Mar 9, 2017 19:03:40 GMT
If you loved this HG you'd also have loved his Oresteia. If it's even half as good as Oresteia, then thank goodness I'm booked . Thanks alexandra1. I'd say its better than the Oresteia
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Post by rockinrobin on Mar 9, 2017 20:16:14 GMT
If you loved this HG you'd also have loved his Oresteia. If it's even half as good as Oresteia, then thank goodness I'm booked . Thanks alexandra1. It is as good as Oresteia (which I loved). Even better perhaps. You will probably find these two productions slightly similar, when it comes to stage design for example... But Scott's performance really is a tour de force.
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309 posts
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Post by barrowside on Mar 10, 2017 0:32:21 GMT
Any idea how busy the day seat queue is? I didn't succeed in getting a ticket so was thinking of coming over from Ireland on spec in April if there's no transfer. Are any particular days (like Monday / Tuesday) quieter?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 10, 2017 1:18:07 GMT
I really liked the last 1/3 Excellent
And Ophelias demise is one of the best ever portrayed I have seen
Almost like a different director was involved
However there are 3 hours prior to this which are average at best
And overall it is underpowered
Flashes of brilliance
But too long
And Angus wright was a f***ing disgrace
Monotone robot
Totally miscast and ruined it for me
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Xanderl
Member
Not always very high value in terms of ticket yield or donations
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Post by Xanderl on Mar 10, 2017 6:14:05 GMT
Any idea how busy the day seat queue is? I didn't succeed in getting a ticket so was thinking of coming over from Ireland on spec in April if there's no transfer. Are any particular days (like Monday / Tuesday) quieter? I saw a reference on twitter to people queuing from 5:30 AM. Returned single tickets pop up quite often - I picked up one for the week after next after regularly checking the website. This link should show any performances with available tickets - ticketing.almeida.co.uk/single/PSDetail.aspx?psn=190
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Post by n1david on Mar 10, 2017 7:50:26 GMT
Any idea how busy the day seat queue is? I didn't succeed in getting a ticket so was thinking of coming over from Ireland on spec in April if there's no transfer. Are any particular days (like Monday / Tuesday) quieter? I walk past the theatre most mornings. There were 11 on Tues at about 9.30, at 8.30 Weds 5 and 8.30 Thu 6.
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Post by Rory on Mar 10, 2017 11:10:10 GMT
Still no notice of a transfer?!
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3,080 posts
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Post by Rory on Mar 10, 2017 11:14:38 GMT
I hope, like Kenneth C, that if a transfer is going to happen, it will be announced soon, especially if, as mrbarnaby suggested previously, it is likely to be directly after the Almeida run. I have tried to keep a slot free in May when I will be in London but other stuff is booking up and I don't want to miss out on something else if the Hamlet transfer isn't on the cards after all.
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309 posts
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Post by barrowside on Mar 10, 2017 14:37:05 GMT
Any idea how busy the day seat queue is? I didn't succeed in getting a ticket so was thinking of coming over from Ireland on spec in April if there's no transfer. Are any particular days (like Monday / Tuesday) quieter? I walk past the theatre most mornings. There were 11 on Tues at about 9.30, at 8.30 Weds 5 and 8.30 Thu 6. That sounds promising - thank you so much.
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Post by foxa on Mar 10, 2017 17:30:47 GMT
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Post by paplazaroo on Mar 11, 2017 18:04:36 GMT
Add mine to the piles of praise! So bloody good! And nice to meet another theatre board member, the badges do work!
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Xanderl
Member
Not always very high value in terms of ticket yield or donations
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Post by Xanderl on Mar 13, 2017 18:58:40 GMT
A pair of £18 seats on the almeida site right now for evening Weds 22nd March if it helps anyone!
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2,962 posts
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Post by crowblack on Mar 13, 2017 19:36:00 GMT
Yes Steve, that's a blow by blow of the final scene (I sincerely hope no-one who clicked on the spoiler regrets it!), but you haven't addressed Gertrude dancing with Claudius (a step too far for me), and, especially, the watches. My OH didn't even notice the watch thing, but I was perturbed by Hamlet finding he wasn't wearing one and the significance of that, and it distracted me in the final scene. Ah - bellflorence.wordpress.com has a Hamlet review with a clip from The Sopranos which may have provided some of the inspiration - I haven't seen the series, but I presume a wounded and apparently dying Tony Soprano has a vision in which he goes towards a large house covered in white fairy lights, with music coming out, and a cheery family gathering going on inside. A greeter / St Peter-like character played by Steve Buscemi asks him to abandon his earthly briefcase before entering.
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Post by peggs on Mar 13, 2017 19:55:41 GMT
A pair of £18 seats on the almeida site right now for evening Weds 22nd March if it helps anyone! thanks but gone too quick for me, a couple currently for next 3 eves though if anyone can do those dates
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Post by alexandra on Mar 14, 2017 10:45:41 GMT
Yes Steve, that's a blow by blow of the final scene (I sincerely hope no-one who clicked on the spoiler regrets it!), but you haven't addressed Gertrude dancing with Claudius (a step too far for me), and, especially, the watches. My OH didn't even notice the watch thing, but I was perturbed by Hamlet finding he wasn't wearing one and the significance of that, and it distracted me in the final scene. Ah - bellflorence.wordpress.com has a Hamlet review with a clip from The Sopranos which may have provided some of the inspiration - I haven't seen the series, but I presume a wounded and apparently dying Tony Soprano has a vision in which he goes towards a large house covered in white fairy lights, with music coming out, and a cheery family gathering going on inside. A greeter / St Peter-like character played by Steve Buscemi asks him to abandon his earthly briefcase before entering. Thank you, crowblack. Well now, that might explain why I found the ending a bit bolted on, not quite integral. I think he/she is right; the lingering crossed arms of Hamlet and the Ghost at the end exactly echo the lingering shot in The Sopranos on both hands holding the briefcase. And Icke directed a whole play about the Simpsons; it wouldn't be too surprising for him to bring in another of his favourite series. I find that a slightly annoying flaw in an otherwise stupendous production.
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Post by Honoured Guest on Mar 14, 2017 10:56:53 GMT
I didn't even notice the crossed arms. The low rake of the front few rows of the Almeida stalls means that your view of significant chunks of the stage is always blocked by the heads in front of you, although this is compensated by being so intimate to the actors.
I think this Sopranos reference is just one example of many in the show which enrich the experience if you notice it and can interpret it but which don't detract or confuse or obscure if you notice but don't pick up the intention. And if you miss it completely, like me, because it happened behind someone's head or because you were looking somewhere else, then that doesn't matter either because the show is so rich that you already have plenty else to notice and to mull over.
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Post by crowblack on Mar 14, 2017 11:18:40 GMT
I'm impressed by your memories! If it's NTlive - screened I'd like to see it again. I was on the front row in a preview, but the person sitting next to me kept checking their mobile through the final section and then dashed off during the swordfight (yes, really, and on the front row - she had a train to catch, apparently, and hadn't checked the running time!) so I was rather distracted. I wondered if All Along the Watchtower was a nod to Withnail and I's use of Hamlet at the end of the film, as well as to the guards on the ramparts. I was reminded of the Danish film Festen a bit, too.
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Post by lynette on Mar 14, 2017 15:08:00 GMT
As far as I recall the Sops ends with a black screen.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 14, 2017 15:24:29 GMT
Any news of this transfer?
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Xanderl
Member
Not always very high value in terms of ticket yield or donations
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Post by Xanderl on Mar 15, 2017 18:27:33 GMT
I just returned an £18 stalls ticket for Wed 22nd evening - now on sale on the almeida website if you're quick
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Xanderl
Member
Not always very high value in terms of ticket yield or donations
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Post by Xanderl on Mar 15, 2017 18:35:50 GMT
plus just spotted there are 4 £48 tickets for evening of the 16th right now
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