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Post by Phantom of London on Aug 30, 2018 17:40:14 GMT
Performances begin tonight at the Hampstead Theatre, in Stephen Karam Tony award winning play.
Looks like it is selling well and I expect this to sell out, so if you want tickets I would get in early.
This play brings over the entire original off Broadway and Broadway cast, where Reed Birney and Jayne Houdyshell who were both delightful, when I saw it a couple of years and went on to bag the Tony.
I am seeing this tomorrow evening, anyone else going? |
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Post by couldileaveyou on Aug 30, 2018 18:36:40 GMT
Just booked a front row student ticket for the end of September. I wasn't very impressed with the play when I read it, but I'm sure it will be great on stage and I really want to see Jayne Houdyshell.
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Post by david on Aug 30, 2018 18:49:55 GMT
Just booked a front row student ticket for the end of September. I wasn't very impressed with the play when I read it, but I'm sure it will be great on stage and I really want to see Jayne Houdyshell. Saw it NY and really enjoyed it even though I hadn’t read the text prior to seeing the play. The cast where fantastic. A good night at the theatre. |
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Post by Mark on Aug 30, 2018 20:15:28 GMT
I've just booked for next Friday, got a £10 front row seat (under 30's offer) which has been released very recently! Seems to be a few scattered about next week.
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Post by Phantom of London on Aug 30, 2018 20:24:33 GMT
I've just booked for next Friday, got a £10 front row seat (under 30's offer) which has been released very recently! Seems to be a few scattered about next week. 'If' it does get very good reviews (4 stars and above) then I expect it will sell out completely and maybe transfer. But I wouldn't want to risk a transfer if you want to see it and can get up to Swiss Cottage. |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 30, 2018 20:35:40 GMT
I'm going the week after next (also cheap under 30s ticket!) - will report back.
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Post by andrew on Aug 30, 2018 21:52:02 GMT
Will be there on Saturday night, a bit sad as I used to be able to walk to the theatre and now I've moved away. Looking forward to this since it was announced!
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Post by nash16 on Aug 30, 2018 22:06:24 GMT
The cast are wonderful.
The play, however, is massively overrated and weirdly unsatisfying.
Very strange that they've brought it over.
(Makes noise on ceiling*)
*show reference that still baffles me.
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Post by showgirl on Aug 31, 2018 3:58:27 GMT
I'm going but not until late September - that's unless reviews have completely discouraged me by then! At least I will have had the benefit of hearing as many views as possible and reading any explanations I may need.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 31, 2018 6:59:38 GMT
If it's reviews you're after, I imagine there's loads out there already from the New York run, especially pertinent as basically the entire production has come over rather than it being a UK production of a previously-seen-in-New-York play.
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Post by showgirl on Aug 31, 2018 8:36:06 GMT
Thanks, but I checked those ages ago, before booking. Still keen to read UK views.
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Post by nash16 on Aug 31, 2018 14:00:15 GMT
Thanks, but I checked those ages ago, before booking. Still keen to read UK views. I think you're wise to do this. The New York critics fell over themselves for it, but I really can't see the UK ones doing the same... |
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Post by daisy24601 on Aug 31, 2018 18:06:59 GMT
I'm going on Tuesday. Purely based on word of mouth (okay, Killian Donnelly tweeted about it), I know nothing of the plot.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 31, 2018 20:54:47 GMT
God
This is so underwhelming
The acting is forced
And the thin plot wears over the 90 mins
The whole thing felt like 9 hours
I get the apartment is supposed to be drab and unfurnished
So in this respect the set designer has done a good job
But coupled with the most stupid and narrow minded family I have ever seen portrayed on stage
The play feels dreadfully oppressive and I felt really depressed watching it
Nothing is developed or explored to any meaningful level
The depiction of the meal is laughable
They spend 40 mins setting it all out
And 4 mins eating it
Most of it is wasted
Also people in new flats can manage more than paper plates and plastic cutlery
I am sorry but in a simple domestic drama these sorts of inaccuracies stick out like a sore thumb
The meal didn’t look tasty and the turkey didn’t look moist (as per the lines) it looked like an utterly sh*t meal and this was glaringly obvious
What festive meal do a family complete in under 5 minutes
Most of the food items were set out about half an hour before the meat arrived meaning they would be stone cold
Does this family not have any standards
Or are they just that stupid
Or is it a directorial or writing error
It amazes me this won awards
Particularly when the US output of TV shows is so amazing with many many talented screen writers
I have never been so relieved to escape at the end
The comedy is so lame
Compare this to something like August Osage County
And it just looks meaningless
Unsatisfying is a very good word to describe this
The younger daughter
Is one of the most dreadful actors
I have had the bad luck to see
Most of the lines sound like they were written by and for a small child
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Post by Deleted on Aug 31, 2018 21:12:33 GMT
So the play finished at 2105
I got home at 2120
I have just vomited
Thrice
That’s how bad it is
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Post by Deleted on Aug 31, 2018 21:33:08 GMT
Hope you signed Ed Hall’s leaving card while you were there Parsley
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Post by nash16 on Aug 31, 2018 22:58:16 GMT
God This is so underwhelming The acting is forced And the thin plot wears over the 90 mins The whole thing felt like 9 hours I get the apartment is supposed to be drab and unfurnished So in this respect the set designer has done a good job But coupled with the most stupid and narrow minded family I have ever seen portrayed on stage The play feels dreadfully oppressive and I felt really depressed watching it Nothing is developed or explored to any meaningful level The depiction of the meal is laughable They spend 40 mins setting it all out And 4 mins eating it Most of it is wasted Also people in new flats can manage more than paper plates and plastic cutlery I am sorry but in a simple domestic drama these sorts of inaccuracies stick out like a sore thumb The meal didn’t look tasty and the turkey didn’t look moist (as per the lines) it looked like an utterly sh*t meal and this was glaringly obvious What festive meal do a family complete in under 5 minutes Most of the food items were set out about half an hour before the meat arrived meaning they would be stone cold Does this family not have any standards Or are they just that stupid Or is it a directorial or writing error It amazes me this won awards Particularly when the US output of TV shows is so amazing with many many talented screen writers I have never been so relieved to escape at the end The comedy is so lame Compare this to something like August Osage County And it just looks meaningless Unsatisfying is a very good word to describe this The younger daughter Is one of the most dreadful actors I have had the bad luck to see Most of the lines sound like they were written by and for a small child What made you of the (supposedly ominous, but read tiresome) banging on the ceiling, Parsley? (Why on earth they've brought it over here?...) |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 31, 2018 23:14:02 GMT
The last 5 mins went on for 50 hours
I thought the property was going to collapse
With lavish special effects
A supernatural manifestation of all the
Bad energy and discord
Instead the ending was protracted
And made sh*t all sense
Forget the noise and banging
What about the f***ing lights going out
The whole thing was just pants
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Post by Deleted on Aug 31, 2018 23:14:57 GMT
They are in New York
FFS
Instead of cramming round a plastic table
In a hovel
There are a million and one amazing places to
Go out to eat for Thanksgiving
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Post by foxa on Sept 1, 2018 7:54:25 GMT
I booked for this because it was nominated for and received a whole slew of awards and I have heard a lot about two of the actors but never seen them on stage, so there's that.
But US playwrights/audiences do have a real, sometimes, irrational fondness for plays and films revolving around meals, particularly Thanksgiving and Christmas. I think someone pointed out what a large proportion of the plays in that best plays since 'Angels in America' list involved sitting around tables. When Trump was elected I saw so many articles/tweets about 'Argh - how can we sit around the Thanksgiving table with people who voted for him.' I don't hear that same angst so much in Britain (did Brexit dominate family gatherings?)
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Post by NeilVHughes on Sept 1, 2018 8:11:18 GMT
@parsley seeing it later in the run, thanks for the heads up on the vomiting, will need to remember to take a sick bag.
Not been a really good play upstairs for a while, mainly support this venue for the downstairs, a great space for new writing and stupidly cheap and therefore willing to give the benefit of doubt for the upstairs productions even though Genesis is the only play this year I left at the interval,
Hope the new AD improves the upstairs and continues with the downstairs as is, as a leaving gift would love to see Pine again over Christmas.
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Post by foxa on Sept 1, 2018 8:29:54 GMT
like NeilVHughes, I go more Downstairs and for similar reasons (happy to meet another Pine fan!) Haven't seen anything upstairs for a while - either the Moderate Soprano or Wild were the most recent, I think. Chariots of Fire probably the last one I really enjoyed.
Loved Pine - I actually looked online recently to see what that playwright was doing now (it didn't seem like much considering lesser writers having piles of commissions - but you can't always tell by what's online.)
Parsley - are you going to see Dance Nation at the Almeida? I am dying for your reaction to it (I could be wrong, but I think you will hate it with an intensity which will be both beautiful and apocalyptic.)
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Post by dlevi on Sept 1, 2018 8:46:49 GMT
I haven't seen the play over here, but I did see it in NYC twice - the first time off-Broadway and the second time on Broadway, I loved it both times, actually much more the second time and I was so pleased to see they were bringing over the great entire original cast. I haven't booked in to see it at Hampstead yet, but I'm wondering if this is one of those times where a very American play simply doesn't translate for British audiences. In the same way there are lots of British plays which Americans don't "get". In reference to some of the comments here about Thanksgiving dinner (i.e. Hours to prepare and minutes to consume) that's always been the case. The day is all about the preparation and the aftermath - that's the family time. I'm not saying that in The Humans that this is a realistic depiction of that Yank ritual but it's closer to realism than you think. And as for going out to eat on Thanksgiving, that isn't an option for this family. The point of all of them gathering in the new not yet ready house, is that they couple want to welcome them into their home, not go out to eat. It's not about the meal, it's about taking care of one's family in one's own home. I'm sorry that it seems the play hasn't transferred here successfully.
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Post by Rory on Sept 1, 2018 8:59:53 GMT
I'm sorry that it seems the play hasn't transferred here successfully. Very early days to be making that assumption! |
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Post by andrew on Sept 1, 2018 9:05:28 GMT
I'm sorry that it seems the play hasn't transferred here successfully. Very early days to be making that assumption! I was gonna say, if you write off plays based purely on Parsley not liking them, you would have a fairly small number of things you could see each year... |
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