Bitter Wheat - Garrick Theatre

Bit unfair of him to review a preview.

He didn’t like it then? If the review is fair it sounds horrific!

I saw it last night, and that reviewer honestly missed the point entirely. The only laughing was uncomfortable laughing at how awful a person Malkovich's character is. This interview with one of the actresses gives a better perspective: www.broadwayworld.com/westend/article/BWW-Interview-Doon-Mackichan-Talks-David-Mamets-BITTER-WHEAT-20190608

Plus, the New York Post is literally a tabloid. It's not a serious publication at all.

Against my better judgement I read the attached article and quite frankly it's not an effective piece of criticism or overview of the play/performance/production. The New York Post isn't really known for its incisive journalism and it's utterly pointless to draw conclusions on a first preview.

I already have tickets for this, granted at a friends insistence, and am not a huge Mamet fan but I think this is going to be one of those things where going in with a minimum of knowledge about others opinions may work best. Mamet is a divisive playwright, this is a hugely controversial subject and all this punditry will no doubt drive box office receiopts. Job done! I am going for John Malkovich who for some reason I've missed in previous productions, another tick on the bucket list!

I don't think reviews will have a huge effect on sales for this, people are generally going to the theatre less due to expense. When they go they want "bragging rights" and to say they are seeing something starring John M has bragging rights. He could be reading the phone book, it doesn't really matter.

On a similar note, I was queuing at the box office to pick up my very cheap Starry Messenger ticket earlier this week. There were a couple of middle aged ladies in front of me buying tickets. They handed over over a hundred odd pounds and only then did they ask "what is this about? Is it a musical?" They did not have a clue what they had booked and they did not really care. They just wanted to see someone famous.

Of course, that applies to a lot of the WE and beyond audience. It was ever thus.

Saw this last night. It’s terrific… properly well-written and a masterclass in acting from John Malkovitch who is magnetic. It’s a study of his manipulative , slightly deranaged, character, at turns pathetic , at other times tyrannical but nearly always downright daft (a Korean Anne Frank anyone?) Lots of proper laugh-out-loud jokes, even a bit of slapstick. If you liked Speed the Plow, and the characters and set-up there you’ll like this.

It’s not quite so much about the me-too stuff as trailered… the icky-creepy scenes are fairly short and not so uncomfortable, partly because the ingenue is played by newcomer Ioanna Kimbrook who more than matches Malkovitch’s presence.

Very very enjoyable

Not sure I can remember a play destined to be trounced attracting so many "New Members" to the board racing to write positive reviews.

This could be the cynic in me, but...

No connection with the production, honest. I just enjoyed it and thought that NYP thing was a bit wrong. People are going to go on and on about the 'issues' and miss that it's actually a very funny and engaging play play. That was my only point

Any ticketing hacks/day seats around for this one?

I am afraid I really did not like it. From David Mamet I would expected a much more engaging play whereas it is rather dull and the characters are paper thin. The plausibility of the last scene is minimal in my opinion. It was nice to see John Malkovich on stage and the second act has some funny lines but overall it was a disappointment.