Heisenberg

Spent first hour thinking this is an odd west end play and yes surely a smaller more intimate space would work and suspecting I was possibly missing something. Then in last ten mins found self oddly charmed. Only it wasn't last ten mins as turns out I can't add up and for some reason had made 80 mins an hour and ten when it clearly isn't so it had another ten mins to ferment my I rather like this even if not quite sure why or if I have missed some great point.

I liked this. Nice to have Anne-Marie Duff back

Quite a detailed piece on this on the Andrew Marr show yesterday (from about 34 minutes in):

www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0991wcb/the-andrew-marr-show-08102017

He he, that's the one

Seems like a batch of two and three star reviews.

Having only read it (and struggled to get halfway through before abandoning) those reviews don't entirely surprise me. There was always that chance of the reviews being overly kind on the basis of it being a new commercial venture from a team of creatives who've done critically lauded work in the subsidised theatre.

Not sure it is best suited for the West End - I found it quite pretentious, and it feels more like a studio piece in a subsidised space - but I think they thought it might be a cheap show to get up, and were hoping that the Stephens/Elliott/Cranham/Duff grouping might see it across the line. Be interested to see how it ends up selling off the back of the reviews though.

A delightful young man from the box office called me earlier to say that the balcony is closed today so they're upgrading me by moving me into a much nicer seat.

He asked me where I'd like to sit so I suggested the bar. That wasn't an option apparently so I'll have to sit with the great unwashed unfortunately.

*shudder*

Well. It's only about an hour and a half but it certainly feels longer. It's so dull they could put it on the NHS for insomnia sufferers. Whoever made the decision to put it on in this theatre needs to consider whether working in London's glitzy West End is the career for them. I spent most of the show primed in my seat waiting to attack any random pile of tumbleweed that might have zipped by.

Anne-Marie Duff, God love her is a tremendous actress and she has an indefinable charisma but she's woefully miscast here for my money and never once convinces as an American. She doesn't strike me as the kind of woman who wears such dreadfully mismatched undies either but the biggest problem is that her character is just so unbelievably irritating. To the point where you want her to fall through one of the trap doors on the stage at various intervals. Kenny Cranham is also very good but it's hard when the material is this boring. Plus he wears his socks to bed. And not even nice toasty warm bedsocks either. His normal ones.

On the plus side, at the curtain call AMD and KC seem to get on like a house on fire and she does seem really rather lovely.

It's appallingly directed though. There are a couple of scenes where if you're in the upper areas of the theatre, you'll have various bits of headless acting going on. And for those people who have a fear of the walls closing in on you, perhaps avoid this show. The person operating the walls gets a bit heavy handed towards the end of the play but there you go. Perhaps he fell asleep on the button. BUT the best bit of the whole play is that there are some lovely interpretive dance moments between scenes which are a comical delight.

Finally, someone needs to tell Anne-Marie to take a look at Skyscanner. I went to New York recently and my flight was nowhere near £15,000. She needs to speak to 'Watchdog' about her travel agent.

Isn't there a suggestion that she is maybe taking him for a ride and the very inflated flight price is part of that?

True but I thought there was another mention of the amount once they've travelled and he's knows the deal?

I presumed it wasn't just for the flights but potential expenses while she was there - hotels, travel, meals etc - but it did feel a bit plucked out of the air.

I know he's a bit sheltered but I can't imagine him being unaware that flights to New York do not cost anywhere near that much.

Yes, Row A for £19.50. Back few rows of the stalls are also £19.50 until the end of October on the Delfont Macintosh site. Given how it's selling I would expect that price to extend into November too.