Labour of Love - directed by Jeremy Herrin

I assume Ryan will have to add being on a watchlist alongside with his many restraining orders...

I turned up to attend the Royal Gala to open Wales Millennium Centre and was identified as a terrorist suspect by the plain clothes police on duty. After being apprehended and detained on a public staircase, then searched in the disabled toilet, then released, then detained again and finally escorted from the building, it was not an experience I would recommend. Except that it gave me a good story which I can bore anyone with, in minute detail, for many many minutes.

Sitting with your bag - How do they know you're not a suicide bomber?

Yes, you're quite right. I much prefer to have my bag searched on the way in, rather than having to claim it back & having people make remarks to me as I do so. This was pre-Manchester though so they weren't really doing bag checks. And as pointed out above, if I was suicide bomber, even when I had my bag back in my possession, it wouldn't have made the rest of the audience any safer.

Today the way day seats worked was
1) Box office opens at 10am with everything on sale other than day seats. Some £10 availability in restricted view etc.
2) Somewhat inexplicably the day seaters are kicked off of the step and have to stand for 30 minutes from 10am
3) At 10.30am day seaters are invited inside to queue and the tickets are sold
As TM says the day seats are row A. There were 15 available for sale today, £10 each, two per person, cash or card.

To the play. It's another fun James Graham romp through the personal history of Freeman and Grieg as MP and constituency office manager from the era of Kinnock to Corbyn. I thought it quite nicely weaved together their personal story, pieces on the politics of the Labour Party as well as an insight into some of the conversations occurring behind Red-rosed doors at different points through recent history. I won't go into it but the denouement was a bit predictable for my liking, although the general non-linear structure was quite fun.

Ultimately this is being marketed and will be sold on the basis of the two stars who were completely excellent. Martin Freeman is brilliantly expressive, passionate, and funny. I would've liked to have seen Sarah Lancashire do this but TG slips in easily and matches Freeman well.

The whole play didn't quite lift me completely to give it five stars rather than its very respectable 4. Compared to Ink or This House, it's less exciting and is a more personal play, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but then I think the personal stuff didn't really move me enough to make the complete package. Probably that goes back to the script rather than the director or the players. It's a noble effort though, and well worth attending.

Thought this was brilliant.
(Potential spoilers)
The structure of the play is very clever with the whole “merrily we roll along” thing going for it in the first act and then rolling forward again in act two to “finish the scenes” as it were.

Tamsin! She didn’t disappoint. You’d think this part was written for her, she’s just so strong in the role you would never have known she was a late addition to the cast. Martin Freeman as well very believable as a politician actually.

The set is good, two identical sets almost which change as the eras do.

Definitely one to see

Thanks for posting all these reviews guys. This sounds super, and Tamsin never disappoints!

Around 2:50

Oh yes, Tamsin is fabulously sweary in it. Poor Cheryl.

The set change was amazing. I didn't notice it at first but then saw it spinning around during one of the changes. It's fabulously well done.

I was at the Saturday matinee, and I'll endorse your views here. Tamsin was great, and not for a moment did I think I was watching a preview. My only quibble was that they were getting such big immediate laughs that the next line of dialogue sometimes got drowned out. 

One bit of unexpected fun, though... I found myself sitting next to the director in the Grand Circle (B5 & B6), so I was able to tell him at the interval what I've said above (well, not the drowned out lines bit. I'm not THAT bold!).

Indeed - interesting outlier review here:

www.theartsdesk.com/theatre/labour-love-no%C3%ABl-coward-theatre-review-martin-freeman-and-tamsin-greig-labour-vain

There is a slightly unimpressed review in The Stage, though it lays the blame on Graham's over obvious jokes and is very positive about Tamsin.