Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, NT

Glad to hear this - I'm dragging my significant other to this on Saturday and it was a bit of a hard sell, so I'm hoping it's good. I saw it on Broadway a lifetime ago and liked it then.

This is one I knew for sure I could afford to miss. I like several of the cast members, so it's a shame from that point of view - but nearly 3 hours of jazz/blues music? No thanks!

Thought this was riveting Excellent play excellently performed.Minor quibble about the long thin set for the band room.

I really want to catch this revival!

I'm seeing this tonight. A really good blog, Ade - you intelligently cover the various elements: performances, set, view from your seat (though no mention of ice cream prices, programme value for money or dogs ;-)) without giving away too much!

Me too!

Haha thank you on both accounts

I liked this.

I think its biggest strength is the rehearsal room scenes. The conversations between the musicians felt down to earth and amusing. I'd prefer to hang out with them any time, especially the guy playing Tolesa.

Only the ending didn't ring true for me. It just felt rushed. Despite everything that led up to that, I just didn't believe the character concerned would do that

The rest of the play doesn't hang together well for me. The music parts is lovely to hear and it is a pleasure to hear Clarke sing. Beyond that I thought the conversations between the musicians were more fleshed out, and the recording studio scenes just weighed down the play.

The nephew issue just felt like a plot device that is sorted out in the end with no consequence. Theres a good 5-10 minutes of them doing repeat recordings till he gets it right

This just felt like two plays in one. One is Ma Rainey recording her music (whilst being a drama queen). The other is the behind the scenes stuff and the camaraderie between the musicians where we sense how despite Rainey's popularity she and the musicians are being persecuted by racism as much as any other black person. There's more meat to these scenes and I would love to sit through them in small intimate space

And that's the other problem I have with this production, which is the play just doesn't feel suited for the Lyttleton. Sitting in the circle I wished I could enjoy the musician scenes more. It would have been a right ball. But I just felt disconnected.

Perhaps it didn't help that I had trouble following what they were saying at times (listening to accents doesn't come naturally to me). It could help if they spoke up a little.

The musicians also felt hemmed in by the narrow corridor of space they have to act in at the front of the stage. I loved the symbolism of the blacks having to stay put down below whilst the white producers are in the recording space above the stage.

But really its being a while since I've seen something (or at least some scenes) that felt down to earth and natural in the Lyttleton.

Anyone sitting in the front rows will have a great time. It's not bad sitting further back but I know I could have enjoyed it more if I had sat nearer.

No bottoms.

Wow, this was really good!

At the platform, Dominic Cooke described the play as a "masterpiece," and I have to agree. I was so hooked, that I instantly wanted to binge watch August Wilson's other 9 plays, each of which deal with a different decade of a century. But unfortunately, there isn't the opportunity, and Cooke suggested he had no real interest in directing any of the others himself, though he said he'd be excited to see them directed by others.

Cooke said the major directorial invention of this production, that no other production has done, is to be found in Ultz's three-level design, which places the most powerful (white) people in a raised first floor office, places the least powerful (black) musicians in a basement, and has the two worlds meet in the centre, at the ground floor level, where Ma Rainey records her songs. The design, while simple, works a treat, not least because the basement is so claustrophobic, a confined windowless cupboard of a room that stretches all the way from stage left to stage right, yet still seems cramped.

This is a play with alot of talking, and little action, because the action is the talking: like a subtle version of Pinter, where the verbal power plays are less blatant, more banal, more insidious.

This verbosity only works because every single character is so well defined, so distinct, so alive. The conversations are full of amiable banter, that had me laughing, yet replete with threat beneath the surface.

The actors are marvellous, a stirling ensemble without a weak link, and the 4 musicians in the basement are particularly to be commended, as they have all learned their instruments to a level where they can play like a real blues band. Lucian Msamati, as the piano-playing intellectual, Toledo, is the funniest, as he is so opinionated and conceited, yet Msamati beautifully tempers this feistiness with a lived-in vulnerability. O-T Fagbenle's forward-thinking jazz obsessed trumpeter, Levee, is the most electric stage presence, as Fagbenle's twitchy showy stuttering excitable delivery illuminates just how uncomfortable he is in his own skin. Clint Dyer's Cutler is the most agreeable stage presence, in his insistence on laughter and refusal to take life seriously, yet Dyer brings gravitas to him, demonstrating this funny man's survival instinct, how he mirrors everyone he talks to. The most enigmatic musician is Giles Terrera's Slow Drag, who never expends an unnecessary word, yet who Terrera sharpens by gracing the character with an all-consuming alertness.

Sharon D Clarke is typically utterly commanding when she shows up at ground level a third of the way into the play, and when she does sing, you want her to carry on forever. But she doesn't, because this powerful play knows that what we say matters so much more than what we sing. And what we don't say matters even more.

5 stars! :0

PS: Dominic Cooke said one of the things that got him into directing was seeing "Dreamgirls" at age 16 with an 80 percent black audience, and being electrified when the audience "literally stopped the play:" they would not allow the musical to continue until a song had been given an instant encore. Cooke said he wishes for that kind of connection with an audience. Well, this production certainly connected with me, my favourite non-musical theatre of the year thus far!

Saw this following recommendations here - really enjoyed it. Now seen 2 of August Wilson's sequence of plays (Fences toured a couple of years ago), 8 to go!

As noted above, more about the band than Ma Rainey so the publicity and poster is a bit misleading. Seems to be doing well following the reviews - was sold out last night. Worth noting that the £25 deal for second price tickets that theatremonkey lists still works - managed to use it online on a returned seat that popped up.

Enthusiastic response from the audience with a sporadic standing ovation.

Not everyone was so happy - from a few comments on the way out I think some people were expecting a musical.