The Biograph Girl - Finborough

Anyone else been? I enjoyed it far more than I thought I would (considering I saw Hamilton the day before), great book, though it is unsure if Lillian Gish or Mary Pickford is the focus, really great performances from the cast plus it felt really progressive with songs like Rivers of Blood looking at race and having two strong female leads.

Musically I am unsure, there are some great catchy tunes like Working on Flicers and more moving songs like Rivers of Blood and Put it in the Tissue Paper but the title song just felt rather long and indulgent. Full review here viewfromthecheapseat.com/2018/05/27/the-biograph-girl-finborough-theatre/

That's a shame about it being cancelled. I hope you get a chance to go again. Cavendish is really good but as the programme notes say Sennett never met Gish in real life so his purpose/relationship with Gish is never explored, nor is his relationship with DW Griffith. Without spoiling it he has a great scene but sad they didn't explore the character further.

It was fine, I had my fleece off which suggests it is warm but I don't recall it being unbearable.

I managed to see this at the second attempt this afternoon & I found it enjoyable, if lacking in any particularly memorable songs. The cast were all good & I was particularly impressed by Sophie Linder-Lee as Mary Pickford & Emily Latham as Lilian Gish. I enjoyed seeing Matt Cavendish in something different to Mischief or improv & the slapstick scene totally demonstrated why he was cast!

I didn’t know that the cast had guns to their heads to perform in these shows.....

A little bit of Googling reveals that this production is produced by Mercurius whose web site has a link to a crowd funding page for this production:
"We need to raise money to do justice to this brilliant piece of theatre, and pay people for their talent and energy. We've got an amazing team together and original writer Warner Brown is revising the script and score especially for this production. But to make it happen and to reward everyone for their work we need your help."

I have no reason to doubt the integrity of Mercurius ands suspect that if this production transfers to a larger theatre (it would be a crime if it does not!) then the actors would the be better remunerated.

Effectively, because the actors choose to gain experience and exposure by choosing to work for very little money, Shenton is to punish them for being exploited by not giving publicity to their efforts.

I saw the matinee on Saturday. A thoroughly enjoyable show playing to a full house. 4*

The usher was asking everyone not to record the show on any devices. Apparently they have had trouble with a few people doing this.....and presumably they want to sell the CDs of the show which were on sale.

I think Mark Shenton should stop reviewing Macktintosh shows. People are paid the same today as there were 20 years ago (more or less!) considering the ticket price differences THAT is more of an consumer and social issue to me than actors voluntarily doing travel expense only fringe work to gain experience, add credits on CV and make contacts. For him NOT to review them goes against the reason WHY they do such shows.