Sketching by James Graham

Thanks dani . Clearly a while in development.

Thanks foxa. That looks interesting. I know that James Graham gave a talk at my daughter's (East London, state) secondary school recently about the importance of young people finding their voices and is keen on different experiences/perspectives being told on stage. Will give some thought to getting tickets for this. Although the seats at Wilton's are uncomfortable (I'm guessing they were purchased as much with their wedding business in mind as for theatre viewing) it is very easy for us to get to.

I’ve booked. I love Wilton’s. So should be interesting Autumn experience.

Definitely underwhelmed with this. Very cleverly done, from a technical perspective, as the six-strong cast performs a swathe of different stories set in London moving from one to another and back. But mostly these stories are not linked and the overall effect is to create such a displacement that it is difficult to latch onto any character with whom to empathise. If the idea was precisely to do this then congratulations but it detracts from the possibilities of each individual piece.

This tootles along rather than soar at any point, a few good lines but I was expecting more. More sketchy than sketches. Not close to a sell-out I'm afraid, I was expecting this to be a big seller after Graham's recent triumphs.

O dear.

Yeah went on Wednesday (it was approx. half full), pretty uninspiring, we left at the interval. I only cared about two of the stories and they barely featured and were both written by James Graham!

James Graham, playwright, as in This House, Privacy, Ink, Labour of Love, Quiz, The Vote, Monster Raving Loony

(To mention just the West End ones)

Well I was there tonight and I have to say I didn't love it, although it had some interest.

The stories are very variable in quality (and the best ones are by Graham himself) and there is a certain sense that you just get to an interesting point in a story and then you get taken away to another story and the dramatic thrust completely dissipates. I thought the actors on the whole were very good in challenging roles (and with limited audience feedback).

If this had been billed as a workshop production or a new writers showcase then I might have felt better about it but it is advertised as "James Graham's Sketching" and you need to read the details to understand its genesis and what you're actually seeing. There is ultimately a sort-of common narrative thread but there are too many dead-ends en route to really satisfy (and I wouldn't care if those bloody "conceptual artists" vanished altogether)

About 70% full tonight, didn't notice significant walkouts, ultimately I think it's an intriguing failure.

I think the history of Wilton's lends it some magic, the fact that it only just escaped demolition, bombing and neglect. The acoustic is good and with the right production is can work very well.

The seating is nasty and if you're unlucky with heads the view can be lousy, but the right sort of performance and the venue just sings. But trying to shoehorn a standard theatre staging into the venue just doesn't work. It needs a designer who understands the space and adapts to it. Thus, most touring productions don't really work.

What David said above. Not wow but interesting. Artist thing def the weakest. Fab actors.
One thing Mr Graham - very poor start so work on that. And more specific London not just the Holloway Road and Westminster Abbey!