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Post by Deleted on Dec 13, 2018 6:40:00 GMT
Bit of a surprising coup for the tiny Old Fire Station Theatre in Oxford - their Christmas show is the world premiere of a new play by Mike Bartlett. He has a connection with the venue, his first work as a director was a student play there. Anyway, this is great - Elliot Levy is Andy, a single father whose teenage daughter walked out two years earlier. He's heard she's back in Oxford so has hired a community centre for a meeting on neutral ground on Christmas Eve. First half is a 40 minute monologue by Andy as he talks about his understanding of what happened and his hopes for the evening. Lots of laughs for the older people in the audience (like me!) as Andy talks about old TV, Terry and June, Esther Rantzen. At the end of the first act a young woman turns up, and in the second half we learn how spectacularly Andy has missed the point and also how self-serving his justifications in the first half were. (It's actually all about Brexit ) A short piece - only 90 minutes including interval - so the interval was a bit unnecessary but I'll let them off in this case due to the charitable nature of the venue (https://oldfirestation.org.uk/about/our-mission/) as presumably the bar sales will help the venue. Worth a trip if you have a free evening! It's a short walk from the railway station and is right next to the coach stops for buses to and from London. oldfirestation.org.uk/whats-on/snowflake/I would definitely expect this to have a life beyond this short run - eg popping up in one of the smaller spaces in London next Christmas |
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Post by n1david on Dec 13, 2018 8:29:06 GMT
Sounds intriguing. Only tix left for today’s matinee and next Thursday’s relaxed matinee, so let’s hope to see it somewhere else next year.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 13, 2018 8:39:16 GMT
Glad I booked when I did! Seemed to be tickets for all shows when I booked on Monday. I imagine not many of their shows get 4 and 5 star reviews (or any reviews at all!) in the national press.
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Post by zahidf on Jun 24, 2019 9:45:56 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jun 24, 2019 9:47:48 GMT
Oh good, I enjoyed this one in Oxford, it's nice that it's getting a further life.
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Jun 24, 2019 11:35:40 GMT
Merged
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Post by NeilVHughes on Jun 25, 2019 15:37:15 GMT
Might have been overlooked by the excitement at the Vic’s, this also went on public sale today and as @theatremonkey so thoughtfully reminded us Christmas is coming.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 25, 2019 16:26:22 GMT
Highly recommend this! Short show - less than 2 hours including interval.
Judging from the Kiln website the script has been tweaked - the original was set in Oxford and had some very specific local references, the revival is set in Kilburn.
Have to wonder whether the father will mention the Tricycle being renamed as that’s exactly the kind of thing he would be whinging about!
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Post by partytentdown on Dec 11, 2019 22:35:23 GMT
Just wondering if anyone has seen it yet and knows the running time?
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Post by nash16 on Dec 11, 2019 22:39:13 GMT
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Dec 11, 2019 23:27:27 GMT
Merged
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Post by peelee on Dec 13, 2019 19:01:07 GMT
The opening lasts 35 minutes. The whole thing is two hours including interval.
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Post by NeilVHughes on Dec 13, 2019 19:08:08 GMT
Not heard much about this but it does have the honour of being this year’s Christmas Eve theatre visit, plan at the moment is to follow with the new Star Wars film before going home to the annual tradition that is the Muppets Christmas Carol and copious red wine.
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Post by lynette on Dec 17, 2019 19:40:12 GMT
Not heard much about this but it does have the honour of being this year’s Christmas Eve theatre visit, plan at the moment is to follow with the new Star Wars film before going home to the annual tradition that is the Muppets Christmas Carol and copious red wine. Not a bad plan, Neil. If I were in London, would be tempted to join you. 😉 Let us know how Amber James is in Snowflake. I met her via RSC and I think she is very good. She was in Vassa unfortunately so I'm hoping this didn’t hold her back. |
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Post by schuttep on Dec 18, 2019 10:50:39 GMT
I saw this last night. Excellent play and great performances. Two out of three of the Oxford actors: Elliot Levey and Ellen Robertson as the father and daughter with newbie Amber James as Natalie. Perfect for Christmas.
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Post by david on Dec 18, 2019 19:48:37 GMT
For those who have seen this at the Kiln, are the front row stalls seats ok for this production or am I worth going further back or getting a seat in the Circle? Thanks.
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Post by david on Dec 19, 2019 13:29:22 GMT
Not seen it at the Kiln, but the front rows are not raked or offset, and row A normally doesn't have as much legroom. Thanks. I might go back row of the Circle then if that’s any better for the same price. |
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Post by david on Dec 19, 2019 21:03:21 GMT
Lovely view from back there, but if you can take the legroom, I'd go stalls for this show. I often sit on the end of B - the stage is usually high enough to see round. Only problem I ever had was a girl with her hair up that blocked the whole stage. Booked B1 stalls. Thanks for the info. Much appreciated. |
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Post by juicy_but_terribly_drab on Dec 24, 2019 16:44:38 GMT
On the train home frome seeing this and I'm very glad I did and on Christmas Eve as well. Really tightly written, well-acted and pertinent show. The 40 minute monologue didn't feel anywhere close to that (although I did think as a device it was somewhat clunky, especially since the second act was so naturalistic but it was still an impressive piece of acting!).
Edit: Almost forgot. The only annoyance was that the box office was closed afterwards so I wasn't able to buy a programme. Seems silly that they don't sell them behind the bar as well - let me give you my money! Now I'll have to go back another day which thankfully isn't a big deal because I live close by but it's still annoying. I get that it's Christmas Eve so the staff I guess got out early but if the bar's still open and serving then I don't see why they can't sell it to me (maybe they're not under the same management or something but it's still a nuisance).
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Post by theoracle on Dec 31, 2019 0:09:28 GMT
Saw this this evening and left quite bemused. I couldn't help but roll my eyes with the constant discussions around Brexit, political correctness etc but I also couldn't help but be intrigued by the different perspectives of the characters. Act I seemed to be the strongest with the audience consistently laughing, gasping and engaging with the monologue. Act II and III were good too but I felt like many of the issues discussed felt dulled by the current political climate. Of course I understand this is supposed to feel timely but the specifics of Brexit, Boris Johnson, "Snowflake culture", it also kind of dates the piece. I can't imagine what a revival of this would look like.
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Post by perfectspy on Dec 31, 2019 1:22:30 GMT
I also felt the second act a little deflated. Bringing in the Brexit (how original) to keep it current was just a bore.
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Post by david on Jan 1, 2020 23:08:32 GMT
Saw this last Saturday night. Certainly I thought Elliot Levey’s monologue was the definite highlight of the piece with plenty of humour. Though I’ll admit as I’m not local to Kilburn area so the local references written in the script really didn’t land with me but didn’t really impact on me enjoying the monologue overall. Post interval, with the introduction of Amber James, the generational differences on the discussion on Brexit I thought was well written and acted by all the cast. An interesting watch that kept me engaged for the 2hrs.
As my first time at the Kiln theatre, I was very impressed with the set up. My seat in the auditorium (stalls B1) was a great view and I would definitely sit here again in any future visits,
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Post by n1david on Jan 1, 2020 23:17:53 GMT
The interval killed this for me. I thought the monologue was entertaining enough as a preamble, but when it all ground to a halt for the break I felt it fatally lost the little momentum it had. I enjoyed the second act and thought it raised some interesting issues but I really wish this had been done straight through. If I hadn't been interested in what Mike Bartlett had to say I'd have made a run for it at the interval.
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Post by juicy_but_terribly_drab on Jan 15, 2020 23:15:39 GMT
Judging from the Kiln website the script has been tweaked - the original was set in Oxford and had some very specific local references, the revival is set in Kilburn. It is still set in Oxford - the girl is from Kilburn is all. Saw it from B1 this afternoon. They have now off-set that row, which helped a lot. Low stage doesn't help, though. Excellent set, and I enjoyed the play a lot. Will blog it at some point, but main feeling was that it wasn't much about Brexit and more about how we equip young people today to deal with argument and confrontation. Yes I think the play was more about learning how to be kinder when we interact with others. It seems that older generations are brought up so averse to open communication and told to just toughen up in the face of so-called banter but I feel that causes underlying self esteem and anxiety issues that people don't realise. I definitely related to the daughter's story of how she cried when she tried to make an argument because I find myself getting easily emotional in those kind of situations but really it's just because you know you'll be met with sarcasm or casual unkindness masked as jokes or aloofness to actually valid points. I find people are just so unnecessarily cruel to each other in the name of so-called humour but I feel it's actually just a mask or coping mechanism to avoid intimacy and proper conversation and this play expressed these thoughts and feelings that I sometimes wondered whether only I had been feeling them. Also speaking of the set, I was really amazed at how convincing of a community/church/school hall they created because the walls don't normally look like that right?! It looked so real that I honestly can't remember what it usually looks like so I wasn't sure if they had gone to an amazing amount of effort or if the theatre just actually looks that way haha. |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 16, 2020 12:43:39 GMT
I had an issue with the structure, the first half being given solely to the father I presume was supposed to make him sympathetic but, to me, he came across as a boring, self interested, myopic character and, if I didn’t know the second half would be different, I might well have bailed out at the interval. Monologues can be great theatre but it was too limited in scope and momentum for me. I agree with the point above that it would play better without the interval.
The second half was much more interesting, however, where he got taken to task and the two generations were both given their say. Neither character was perfect but there was an interesting battle of ideas that made it possible to agree and disagree with both.
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