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Post by Deleted on Jun 10, 2019 22:26:59 GMT
Looks like I scored lucky with a £10 lucky dip! I imagine this will be heaving with A-Level groups if it's in the syllabus like previous years! It isn't on the syllabus. No Miller is, since only Brits are allowed on the syllabus now or something equally as ludicrous that rules him out. How times have changed - the only Brit authors I studied at A Level were Dickens, Chaucer and Shakespeare! We had Miller, Tennessee Williams, Edith Wharton and some Irish and Greek poets as well. |
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Post by princeton on Jun 10, 2019 22:50:09 GMT
Actually Miller and Tennessee Williams are on the wider A level syllabus for 2019 - though there's number of different options available re themes and actual texts - so schools may not choose to study them. The possible Miller is All My Sons, not Death of A Salesman.
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Post by latefortheoverture on Jun 10, 2019 23:28:08 GMT
Oh. The mother and daughter next to me at the YV had come to see it because the daughter was doing it for her exams; could she have meant GCSE?
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Post by Deleted on Jun 11, 2019 7:18:18 GMT
Oh. The mother and daughter next to me at the YV had come to see it because the daughter was doing it for her exams; could she have meant GCSE? There are a number of different exam boards depending on which part of the UK you grow up in, or she could have been doing IB. Death of a Salesman was A Level syllabus when I did them around a decade ago, but only on my exam board and even then it was one of a number of options so not even everyone at my school did it - they let the teachers choose what to teach. And the syllabus changed for the worse a couple of years later so I'm not sure it's an option for that particular exam board any more. |
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Post by floorshow on Jun 11, 2019 7:46:27 GMT
Was amazed at the prices at the Piccadilly. Most of the front and centre stalls and dress circle are premium at £126.75 or £96.75. Rest are £76.75, with two back rows of stalls at £15. Upper circle £51.25 gets you A to F, then £36.75 G and H, J to M are £15. That holds for every single performance. If you can get in at the Young Vic, do. Outside of the stalls (starting around L) are £15 via the YV site. We've left this perilously late to book to see before it transfers, fingers Xd.. |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 11, 2019 9:32:32 GMT
Young Vic site has public booking now open - as floorshow points out the two outer seats on each side of the stalls are £15 each from row L back which is a bargain, I think! No queue and lots of these available for the dates I looked at. These seats don't seem to be on sale via ATG. |
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Post by londonpostie on Jun 11, 2019 9:34:38 GMT
There's a 6-minute queue at the moment (position 150), and that's to book the West End show!
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Post by theatre241 on Jun 11, 2019 9:54:12 GMT
Thanks for this info! Just booked my £15 ticket for the side stalls. This is a steal and I have never seen a production of this so I’m very excited. Heard great things!
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Post by andrew on Jun 11, 2019 13:49:37 GMT
Also, there are a few seats for tomorrow's performance at the Young Vic for £40
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Post by jadnoop on Jun 11, 2019 14:58:07 GMT
Young Vic site has public booking now open - as floorshow points out the two outer seats on each side of the stalls are £15 each from row L back which is a bargain, I think! No queue and lots of these available for the dates I looked at. These seats don't seem to be on sale via ATG. Thanks so much for posting this. I thought the cheap tickets were limited to the Grand Circle, so was resigned to not being able to see it again. All booked now. Can't wait. |
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Post by Jon on Jun 11, 2019 15:21:45 GMT
I’d be curious to see if it can sell well at the Piccadilly as it’s a big jump from 420 seats to 1200 seats.
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Post by theatre241 on Jun 11, 2019 16:13:42 GMT
I’d be curious to see if it can sell well at the Piccadilly as it’s a big jump from 420 seats to 1200 seats. Thats What I was thinking but I think it will sell fairly well. Theres some big names behind it and its a famous play. |
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Post by dontdreamit on Jun 11, 2019 18:02:00 GMT
Was amazed at the prices at the Piccadilly. Most of the front and centre stalls and dress circle are premium at £126.75 or £96.75. Rest are £76.75, with two back rows of stalls at £15. Upper circle £51.25 gets you A to F, then £36.75 G and H, J to M are £15. That holds for every single performance. If you can get in at the Young Vic, do. Outside of the stalls (starting around L) are £15 via the YV site. We've left this perilously late to book to see before it transfers, fingers Xd.. Thanks for this, have booked for November! |
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Post by David J on Jun 15, 2019 22:12:43 GMT
Thought this was good but not great
Arinzé Kene is the highlight for me as Biff. Very emotional and authentic
Wendell Pierce was acting the role of Willy a lot, playing for the laughs. Sharon D Clarke was at her best when she spoke on the softer, motherly side
They could do with re adjusting the set for the transfer because some scenes looked a bit cramped on the small space at the front. Wasnt too keen on the snapshot poses the cast did either
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Post by londonpostie on Jun 15, 2019 23:01:48 GMT
Snapshot poses:
Fwiw, didn't think of them as snapshot poses. More freezes in time as Willie's recollections wandered off track, then he would come back again: Perhaps intended as manifestations of his early onset dementia. |
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Post by David J on Jun 15, 2019 23:19:48 GMT
I recognised what they were but they still looked a little awkward, particularly in the football scene. They kinda looked like they were there to compensate for the limited space at the front
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Post by missthelma on Jun 16, 2019 11:07:25 GMT
I don't think I can add much to the chorus of praise for this having finally seen it yesterday. I thought Wendell Pierce was excellent and Sharon D Clarke matched him, even shaking off that feeling she is just playing herself which has been a thread in her recent performances. Truly believable the pair of them. In contrast to David J above I was less impressed with the younger pair although they did improve over the course of the three hours, I do agree about the 'snapshot' poses though, very irritating. Quite a lot of emotion at end and tears in the audience, I was somewhat unmoved due to {Spoiler - click to view}
being unable to shake off the feeling that Willy Loman was just an egocentric prideful bloke stuffed full of his own delusions of adequacy, he reminded me of Donald Trump. Had he been played by a white actor I think this feeling would have been overwhelming. My main thought about his suicide was, about time.
I was convinced I'd seen this before on stage but can't place when or who, I know the story well and have seem film/tv versions of it but certainly didn't see the Anthony Sher version a few years back. Apart from the Brian Dennehy one in 2005 can anyone remember any others? Google is being a bit unhelpful as Death Of A Salesman West End just brings up pages and pages about the current runs transfer. I've just found one on Theatricalia from 1997 at the National, maybe that one??
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Post by craig on Jun 16, 2019 12:12:43 GMT
I saw this with my parents and partner on Wednesday evening and we all thought it was absolutely fantastic. Lots to talk about on the tube ride back to the car!
To start with the negative, I also found the freeze frame posing a bit of a lazy and obvious trope and I found the lengthy scene between the brothers at the beginning a bit of a slog. It just didn’t quite work for me and it was the only time I felt like the language seemed slightly incongruous for two young black men. There was a certain naivety to the language that seemed more suited to a pair of sheltered, relatively privileged white men. That said, it was a minor issue and after some initial reservations, Arinzé Kene in particular emerged as the actual standout. I was fully captivated by his unravelling as his father refused to acknowledge the truth. An absolutely wonderful performance.
Sharon D Clarke is just so reliably brilliant and she broke my heart once again here. To echo some earlier comments, I do hope she gets to do something a bit happier next. Maybe Motormouth in Hairspray at the Coliseum?
Pierce had a LOT to do... Willy is one of the biggest male roles in theatre, I think. I thought he did splendidly with it. His increasing desperation, confusion and anger was exhausting to watch and must be exhausting to play every night. I’m not calling it a performance for the ages or anything, but it was everything it needed to be to anchor this wonderful production.
Maryanne continues to astound, really. I’ve only seen this and Company of her work but she clearly works with her actors to really dig into the script and mine absolutely everything out of it. It’s just such thoughtful, engaging work. I’ll be first in line for whatever she does next.
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Post by londonpostie on Jun 16, 2019 17:24:24 GMT
Lovely review. Point of interest. I listened to a World Service interview with Wendell Pierce - quite a lot came out, for example I didn't know Authur Millers Estate approached Maryanne with the idea. Another thing, Wendell suffers from a kind of imposter syndrome with this role, he literally doesn't believe his own eyes and ears (that the audience like it). He first came to London quite young I think and watching theatre here changed his entire life. What's currently happening at the Young Vic is another defining moment in his life: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3csypcj |
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Post by foxa on Jun 19, 2019 19:23:26 GMT
Enjoying all these reviews - it is a fabulous production and those of us who saw it at the Young Vic are v. lucky.
About Miller on the syllabus: He's on a lot of the Drama specifications - for example 'Death of a Salesman' is on the OCR GCSE Drama syllabus and 'The Crucible' on the AQA one. There is a wider reading component in most of the A level English literature exams which can include American drama (I know 'All My Sons' is used for one.) So students will want to see 'Death of a Salesman' but I wonder if they will be doing great deals for school groups in the West End.
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Post by vickyg on Jun 24, 2019 15:16:47 GMT
Saw this on Friday night and couldn't have loved it more. It's definitely in the top 3 or 4 things I've ever seen and I was so moved. I was dreading three hours but it passed in the blink of an eye. Couldn't praise it more highly.
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Post by peggs on Jun 25, 2019 20:39:30 GMT
I don't know why but this didn't quite soar for me. It was one of those productions when you sit there knowing it's all really good, liked the set, lovely use of music and ohh that singing, some very strong acting but whilst my head engaged and I was frustrated with Willy at the same time as understanding why he was like he was this didn't rip my guts out and I think it should. It might have been I felt too far away in the gallery, view and sound was fine but I felt too far away and I had irritating chatting, phone lighting up fellow audience members. Or maybe just it's been so well reviewed on here that I was expecting the world. And I have seen this before so didn't have that shock factor. So it was really good but I think perhaps on a different day sat somewhere closer this could have been amazing for me and i'm disappointed that I didn't come out picking myself off the floor.
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Post by vickyg on Jun 26, 2019 10:43:15 GMT
I don't know why but this didn't quite soar for me. It was one of those productions when you sit there knowing it's all really good, liked the set, lovely use of music and ohh that singing, some very strong acting but whilst my head engaged and I was frustrated with Willy at the same time as understanding why he was like he was this didn't rip my guts out and I think it should. It might have been I felt too far away in the gallery, view and sound was fine but I felt too far away and I had irritating chatting, phone lighting up fellow audience members. Or maybe just it's been so well reviewed on here that I was expecting the world. And I have seen this before so didn't have that shock factor. So it was really good but I think perhaps on a different day sat somewhere closer this could have been amazing for me and i'm disappointed that I didn't come out picking myself off the floor. I'm sure expectations definitely play a huge part. After seeing All My Sons in the world's most uncomfortable seat at the Old Vic and feeling it was a bit bland, I was definitely not looking forward to three depressing hours, but I was entranced from the first note. I've been to a few things where my huge excitement has been muted by where I'm sitting, other audience members etc and it's so disappointing! |
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Post by juicy_but_terribly_drab on Jun 29, 2019 17:23:00 GMT
Finally saw this and thought it was really incredible. Brilliant atmosphere and really evoked the sense of confusion that Willy felt. Oddly enough it gave me the vibe of Twin Peaks. Especially whenever Ben would appear which really reminded me of when the Giant would appear (spotlight, similar music, strange and ethereal feeling to him giving advice/instructions). Probably not intentional but it did all feel very Lynchian.
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Post by asfound on Jul 9, 2019 7:52:25 GMT
I don't know why but this didn't quite soar for me. It was one of those productions when you sit there knowing it's all really good, liked the set, lovely use of music and ohh that singing, some very strong acting but whilst my head engaged and I was frustrated with Willy at the same time as understanding why he was like he was this didn't rip my guts out and I think it should. It might have been I felt too far away in the gallery, view and sound was fine but I felt too far away and I had irritating chatting, phone lighting up fellow audience members. Or maybe just it's been so well reviewed on here that I was expecting the world. And I have seen this before so didn't have that shock factor. So it was really good but I think perhaps on a different day sat somewhere closer this could have been amazing for me and i'm disappointed that I didn't come out picking myself off the floor. I was in the front row and felt the same to be honest. Loved seeing Wendell Pierce and Sharon D Clarke own the stage but left the theatre feeling kind of indifferent. Some great moments - I especially liked the eerie restaurant scene - but on the whole it dragged a bit and didn't pack the punch I was expecting. It made me think of Machinal at the Almeida which I preferred. If it's any consolation there were also idiots down the front, including crisp muncher, perpetual whisperer and annoying ringtone at crucial moment woman. |
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