Sweat, Donmar Warehouse

I think some places feel like that already. I remember seeing a documentary where Mexican men stood on street corners in the small hours hoping a truck would pick them up for work that day. A 'blue collar' friend in Manchester tells me they now have that system here - if they want 6 men they'll call up 8 or 10, have them wait on street corners, and the ones first on the van route get the work. The others go home empty handed. And this isn't for some fly-by-night employer but a business you may have used.

Any behind the scenes talk that you're aware of about a transfer for this, mrbarnaby or nash16? Dying to see it but the Donmar dates didn't work for me unfortunately.

I loved this today. A really great play, with some fantastic dialogue. The characters all felt real. Interesting how it all came together, and a particularly sad ending in multiple ways. Great cast!

I heard that Lynn Nottage's SWEAT had been generating great B.O. at the Donmar, so fortunately was able to get a standing ticket yesterday to immerse myself in it.

As others have said, one of the best nights at the theatre for some time - a really strong, nuanced script played with great conviction by the whole cast, and highly pertinent to what's happening in the US right now.

For all the authenticity everywhere else, it was a shame for the set to let the side down. It is vanishingly unlikely that a blue-collar Pennsylvanian bar would have Estrella on tap now, let alone back in 2000. Oh, and when one of the characters presents another with the Cher 'Believe' album as if it's the latest thing - that actually came out in '98.

I like the set but I did hear people complaining about the obstructed view from there too.

Yes, I forgot to mention that. We were in the two stalls seats on the aisle in row C and that bl**dy girder got in the way at several key plot points. It’s another credit to the play that I forgot to mention it in my comments...

First post on the board, as good a place to start as any. Managed to grab a ticket for Saturday evening in the stalls, after literally weeks of checking and trying.  Very much looking forward to it after reading such positive things on here. Theres a ten pound single  ticket for tonight that is available currently as well.

Martha Plimpton was a dragon on Tuesday night - amazing! Thought it was superb and definitely deserving of a transfer. I agree, though, that the final two minutes were too on the nose.

I was also shocked at curtain call to find out the counsellor in the bookend scenes and the Bruce character WEREN’T played by the same actor!

Was also there last night, perfectly paced and beautifully written, a naturalness which gave the impression of eavesdropping on a real group of friends as their world was being torn apart, the lack of control influence was laid bare as all their beliefs in how the world works is destroyed in an instant.

Made me think of all the great industry that has evaporated in the UK within a generation and what it really means is the destruction of community as historically these have been intrinsically linked as we defined our position in society by our shared ‘industry’

“there's no such thing as society. There are individual men and women and there are families”

This is patently true now, an outcome engineered to spread fear and insecurity, as in the true reason that Council Houses were sold was not to produce a nation of homeowners but a nation of people beholden to their employers and financial institutions, the correlation between the number of days lost to strikes* against the rise in homeownership is startling, showing it for what it really is, a great piece of social engineering.

(*not advocating a return to the strike culture of the 70’s as most of it was taking the piss and this striking mentality is equally culpable for the social engineering carried out over the last 30 years as any Government)

firstwetakemanhattan were you on the front row of the left stalls? I was in A38. I was wondering if you’d grabbed the return next to me...