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Post by Deleted on Jul 28, 2017 15:04:19 GMT
On the other hand, it also sounds like the set up to a subtlety-of-a-brick self-congratulatory rant on the dangers of irrational thought and the idiocy of the NRA, Gosh. Like Dr. Dre and Ice Cube and the like? That doesn't sound like little Benny Whishaw at all. He's more Straight Outta Compton Street really. |
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Post by jadnoop on Jul 28, 2017 15:06:04 GMT
On the other hand, it also sounds like the set up to a subtlety-of-a-brick self-congratulatory rant on the dangers of irrational thought and the idiocy of the NRA, Gosh. Like Dr. Dre and Ice Cube and the like? That doesn't sound like little Benny Whishaw at all. He's more Straight Outta Compton Street really. A one-man NWA biopic with Ben Whishaw playing all the parts? Now that's something I'd definitely watch. |
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Post by bluetoothpick on Aug 12, 2017 18:18:18 GMT
Here now, 1st preview.
Thought published run times might be useful.
Act 1 - 1hour20
Interval 15 mins
Act 2 - 1hour15
😁
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Post by showgirl on Aug 12, 2017 18:23:12 GMT
Beat me to it - was just about to post that Box Office told me 2 hours 50 approx - aargh! For once I'm almost hoping I want to leave at the interval.
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Post by theatrelover123 on Aug 12, 2017 20:58:33 GMT
Post reviews and thoughts ASAP  |
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Post by bluetoothpick on Aug 12, 2017 21:44:17 GMT
Play is utter tripe.
Whishaw gets his kit off.
That's it.
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Post by lynette on Aug 12, 2017 22:35:30 GMT
Play is utter tripe. Whishaw gets his kit off. That's it. You know or you think? |
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Post by showgirl on Aug 12, 2017 23:22:03 GMT
Actually I found this quite interesting, though ultimately it didn't lead anywhere, which was a little disappointing. To continue the image, however, I enjoyed the journey whilst wondering where it was going. It was probably longer than it needed to be (and certainly than I could have done with), but I wasn't in the least tempted to bail. I'm not sure what the author was aiming for but for me it was at least a worthwhile experiment and I particularly liked the sly potshots at the culture of political correctness in academia, which produced most of the laughs.
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Post by bluetoothpick on Aug 12, 2017 23:58:35 GMT
Play is utter tripe. Whishaw gets his kit off. That's it. You know or you think? Just an opinion following to tonight's performance. We hated it and are really disappointed that we did. We spent a good time trying to find some point to it all but it totally eluded us. |
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Post by bluetoothpick on Aug 13, 2017 8:31:36 GMT
Actually I found this quite interesting, though ultimately it didn't lead anywhere, which was a little disappointing. To continue the image, however, I enjoyed the journey whilst wondering where it was going. It was probably longer than it needed to be (and certainly than I could have done with), but I wasn't in the least tempted to bail. I'm not sure what the author was aiming for but for me it was at least a worthwhile experiment and I particularly liked the sly potshots at the culture of political correctness in academia, which produced most of the laughs. I think they had a supportive crowd. And the limited laughs certainly, at least, woke up the woman sitting next to and the woman in front of me. |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 14, 2017 10:59:42 GMT
Almeida have tweeted that more seats have been released. Looking at availability they seem to have released seats in the side block of the stalls now that sightlines are known.
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Post by theatrebuff on Aug 15, 2017 4:29:09 GMT
It's a wonderfully-acted, cannily-directed piece of old rope.
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Post by eatbigsea on Aug 15, 2017 9:54:03 GMT
Awful. Left at the interval. Utter crap. No Dean in the history of universities would behave that way. Whishaw was good, but everyone else had ropey accents (Americans do not enunciate like British people do - you can get the vowels right all day and it still won't sound a thing like working class Americans). And the play was just painfully stupid.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 15, 2017 9:57:12 GMT
Play is utter tripe. Whishaw gets his kit off. That's it. Oooh, every cloud . . . |
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Post by paplazaroo on Aug 15, 2017 13:31:50 GMT
Play is utter tripe. Whishaw gets his kit off. That's it. Oooh, every cloud . . . I guess someone has to ask, where does mr Whishaw fall on the O'Connell to Mckellen scale? Or does he not get that much kit off? |
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Post by bluetoothpick on Aug 15, 2017 21:46:05 GMT
I guess someone has to ask, where does mr Whishaw fall on the O'Connell to Mckellen scale? Or does he not get that much kit off? He's not particularly toned just very, VERY skinny. Gets down to his pants but this alone isn't worth sitting through this abysmal play. |
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Post by callisto on Aug 16, 2017 13:32:47 GMT
I saw the first preview on Saturday, and really enjoyed it! I found the topic interesting and thought provoking, though I felt it was let down by a disappointing final scene. I thought the cast were excellent, and will be interested to see how things progress during the run. |
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Post by theatrelover123 on Aug 17, 2017 22:29:56 GMT
Dear God this was terrible. Not a single character you care about, could easily lose 20 mins, so many extraneous and unnecessary characters, purports to be something deep and spiritual but the writing is horribly clunky and over written. Amanda Hale good as her characters. The guy playing John and the professor the best thing in it. Wishaw just plays Wishaw. The woman playing Tom's mother embarrassingly bad. Not much set but what was there was used in such a pointless way. Not entirely sure how the Almeida let this one through without spotting the need for serious cuts and rewrites (and some recasting). Lots of empty seats after the interval. It's 2 stars from me and I anticipate a mix of 2 and 3 stars, although there will of course be some 4s as ever. What a shame.
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Post by theatrefan77 on Aug 18, 2017 7:45:22 GMT
It's not that bad at all imho. I agree the it needs some trimming. It's at least 20 minutes too long but there are some interesting ideas. I would give it 3 stars as it is, but it has the potential to become a 4 star play with a proper rewrite. The main problem for me is that it loses its focus quite often, it has too many subplots which are totally irrelevant and add nothing to main story.
I thought Ben Whishaw was excellent. The rest of the cast were a mixture of good and not so good.
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Post by stevemar on Aug 20, 2017 12:49:41 GMT
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Post by greenswan on Aug 20, 2017 15:12:56 GMT
Saw this last night. Unfortunately I booked for this without waiting for the reviews here. Solid 2 stars. Billington reviewed the recent Hamlet with three stars as well, which makes the three stars for Against even stranger. I took away a lot more from Hamlet. Anyway.
It's getting a bit shorter. Started about 5 minutes later and finished 10.20pm. Stalls not completely full but also not noticeably emptier after interval.
I wish the actors were in a better play. First half is entirely unnecessary and could be condensed down to probably half an hour. The second half picks up a bit. Both scenes that worked for me (Luke talking to old school friend & Luke in factory) are in it. Generally, the play seems to suffer from a paucity of ideas (violence is bad - who would have thought) and some potshots against political correctness can't really sustain a play for this length. Anything that could be interesting like Luke's "visions", his ineffectiveness, his privilege is not explored in depth/at all.
The other thing that annoyed me more personally is that the male characters are allowed to have agency, ideas, principles and intellectual ideas whereas women want sex/relationships. Or to watch TV. Real life is frustrating enough, I don't need to see an uncritical version of this on stage.
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Post by foxa on Aug 20, 2017 18:08:02 GMT
Yes, I booked before the reviews, but only £10 seats for 9th September so not a big gamble, but it may be hard to talk someone into going with me. Shinn is an odd one - I really liked his play 'Dying City' which I saw about 9 years ago Upstairs at the Court (not least of all because it introduced me to Andrew Scott who was amazing playing two brothers) and though it was very flawed, I didn't hate 'Teddy Ferrera' at the Donmar quite as much as almost everyone else did. But from the reviews here and in the papers this sounds like another messy stab at a topical subject.
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Post by showgirl on Aug 20, 2017 18:17:15 GMT
I too only booked a £10 seat and it was fine, and imo just as good as those at twice the price (though also supposedly restricted view) that I have always booked before. So now I know this, I shall stick to the cheapest seats in future as I'm happier to risk £10 on something which sounds promising and if I find I like the play, that's a bonus.
I definitely preferred this, flawed as it may be, to Teddy Ferrara, but I think that was partly due to the protagonist being more sympathetic in this case. Don't think I saw Dying City so after this Christopher Shinn will be on my "proceed with caution" list. I think his work is promising so let's hope he delivers before ceasing to be produced.
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Post by kryz1000 on Aug 23, 2017 7:24:18 GMT
Saw this last night (when I appreciate the rest of the world was at the first preview of Follies) and thought it was outstanding. I'm baffled, therefore, at the poor reviews on here. Maybe it needed to bed in. I've followed Christopher Shinn's plays since the Royal Court Upstairs stuff and thought that this demonstrated a new level of maturity in his writing. Issues of violence, capitalism, sex, religion and society all discussed but with the subtlest of touches. The performances are, bar none, five star-worthy. The production lets the actorss and the story (told in a quasi-episodic nature, resulting in the evening flying by) breathe brilliantly. Will be interested to see whether it has a future life, here or in the USA.
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Post by n1david on Aug 23, 2017 8:25:21 GMT
Interesting, I was there last night too and didn't enjoy it nearly as much.
My primary concern was the unevenness of tone - I felt that the broad anti-PC scenes with the creative writing teacher sat poorly with the more serious tone of Luke's "project", and it probably didn't help that Luke's character was so terrifically annoying (although very well played by Whishaw). There was a hint of anti-Trumpism, a soupçon of modern relationship trials and a dash of anti-technology warnings. To me it didn't add up to more than the sum of its parts - too much trying to get shoe-horned in with the writer not knowing what to actually say about any of them.
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