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Post by Phantom of London on Jun 19, 2019 23:32:23 GMT
Wow those reviews are something - after having a plane crash on Broadway with Al Pacino reading from autocue in China Doll, David Mamet retreats to the West End and hoping his name would wow the West End with a relative big name John Malkovich of yesteryear. The champagne is being sent back to the wholesalers.
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Post by Gwendoline on Jun 20, 2019 6:15:42 GMT
I am so pleased I stopped myself from buying tickets for this. I was tempted by Malcovic, but hate Mamet so thought I’d wait for the reviews here. Phew - lucky escape I reckon. Oh and unlike what my star says, I’m not a new member, I’ve been on here since the old board, but I don’t post often, something I should do really as I go to quite a lot of plays.
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4,993 posts
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Post by Someone in a tree on Jun 20, 2019 7:25:07 GMT
Wasn't there an incident of this shady nature on the old board which ended up in the press? Yep. Royal Festival Hall staff promoting Wizard of Oz at the Royal Festival Ha.. Wos tracked them down from the server. |
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Post by popcultureboy on Jun 20, 2019 7:31:39 GMT
It'll be interesting to see what impact those reviews end up having. June is sold out, and the majority of July is very heavily sold, but after that the run is wide open and NOT cheap.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 20, 2019 8:06:37 GMT
Wasn't there an incident of this shady nature on the old board which ended up in the press? Yep. Royal Festival Hall staff promoting Wizard of Oz at the Royal Festival Ha.. Wos tracked them down from the server. Details here - www.theguardian.com/stage/2008/aug/03/theatre1Presumably not the same culprits this time or they would be promoting "Light in the Piazza"  |
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5,062 posts
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Post by Phantom of London on Jun 20, 2019 10:10:15 GMT
Unfortunately the reviews are so uniformly terrible that this has been elevated to a must see. Oh as long as I can get a decent seat for under £20.
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Post by londonpostie on Jun 20, 2019 10:17:44 GMT
I would say 'take mine!' but I find myself in a similar position to you. To paraphrase: 'Springtime for Mamet and Malkovich ..'
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1,863 posts
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Post by NeilVHughes on Jun 20, 2019 10:34:26 GMT
Seeing it Saturday, looks as if it's going to be an afternoon of car crash Theatre.
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Post by partytentdown on Jun 20, 2019 11:21:47 GMT
It's this year's NT Macbeth!
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923 posts
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Post by Snciole on Jun 20, 2019 13:00:45 GMT
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Post by altamont on Jun 20, 2019 13:57:17 GMT
It's this year's NT Macbeth! Except the NT allows you to return tickets! |
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Post by n1david on Jun 20, 2019 17:06:17 GMT
Very impressive selective editing from Ticketmaster...
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Post by learfan on Jun 20, 2019 17:20:34 GMT
Yes the reviews arent surprising, this had turkey written all over it from the get go. |
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Jun 20, 2019 19:27:55 GMT
If anyone knows the poor person running the Bitter Wheat Twitter page, please give them a hug? They've obviously thrown the towel in completely. No links to reviews, just two RTs from fans who enjoyed it and one tweeted "I only went for the free wine." Ouch.
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Post by floorshow on Jun 20, 2019 20:02:02 GMT
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Post by theatrelover123 on Jun 20, 2019 22:30:04 GMT
I may have gone in with super low expectations but it’s nowhere near as bad as the reviews would have you believe. 3 stars. Liked seeing Malkovich on stage. It’s a bit scrappy and static and not Mamet’s finest and JM’s delivery is odd at times but we also laughed quite a lot and generally enjoyed it. As did other audience members. But not the 3 ushers we asked if it was as bad as the reviews who smiled and said ‘no comment’. Didn’t find it disrespectful or offensive. Doon in a slightly thankless role but the rest of the cast good. Found it odd not to have any music or SFX in it. Some longeurs but otherwise it goes along quite easily. 95 mins should be run without an interval. Felt a bit like watching a play on Broadway rather than the WE.
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Post by andrew on Jun 20, 2019 22:49:31 GMT
I may have gone in with super low expectations but it’s nowhere near as bad as the reviews would have you believe. 3 stars. Liked seeing Malkovich on stage. It’s a bit scrappy and static and not Mamet’s finest and JM’s delivery is odd at times but we also laughed quite a lot and generally enjoyed it. As did other audience members. But not the 3 ushers we asked if it was as bad as the reviews who smiled and said ‘no comment’. Didn’t find it disrespectful or offensive. Doon in a slightly thankless role but the rest of the cast good. Found it odd not to have any music or SFX in it. Some longeurs but otherwise it goes along quite easily. 95 mins should be run without an interval. Felt a bit like watching a play on Broadway rather than the WE. I'd tend to agree. I saw this on Monday and couldn't bring myself to write a particularly good review. Ultimately it's sort of funny but not that funny, sort of relevant by way of the Weinstein stuff but has nothing new or interesting to say, and sort of well acted by Malkovich but it's not really his best work. It's not painful, it's not embarrassing, it's just not that good. |
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Post by NeilVHughes on Jun 22, 2019 16:34:47 GMT
A play you come away wondering why?
There is no depth, no redeeming context, only a staged depiction of all the articles we have read.
There are some funny moments but felt like laughing at a dated 70’s sitcom with the associated feeling of it being wrong but not being able to help yourself.
The perceived motivation of the behaviour by being fat and unloved feels cheap and just adds to the poor characterisation.
I’m sure there is a good play on this subject in the near future hopefully written by a woman but this is definitely not it.
It was full this afternoon and seemed to go down well judging by the ovations and strangely most of the standers around me were women, maybe a representation of circumstances women have to deal with daily being depicted publicly is enough to keep the dialogue moving through reflecting male behaviour from a closed environment in an open space, a Shrew for our time, maybe if the characterisations were more than one dimensional caricatures.
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Post by cfbrrr on Jun 22, 2019 21:28:52 GMT
It’s no coincidence — as in none whatsoever — that the critical reception of David Mamet’s plays and movies took a spectacular and irreversible nosedive following his double heresy of 1) ridiculing “method acting” and the cult behind it, and 2) coming out fiercely — as he does everything — as a Republican and conservative. Since Mamet has to have known that near-universal Broadway/Hollywood reprobation would be the inevitable outcome, his actions constitute a true profile in courage in today’s cultural and political climate. Even were he to write the next “Hamlet,” he’d be trashed for it.
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5,062 posts
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Post by Phantom of London on Jun 22, 2019 22:01:32 GMT
Wow - chuffed I’ve never been ‘quoted’ before, I’m going to hung the quote on the marquee outside my office!!!! |
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951 posts
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Post by vdcni on Jun 22, 2019 22:57:20 GMT
It’s no coincidence — as in none whatsoever — that the critical reception of David Mamet’s plays and movies took a spectacular and irreversible nosedive following his double heresy of 1) ridiculing “method acting” and the cult behind it, and 2) coming out fiercely — as he does everything — as a Republican and conservative. Since Mamet has to have known that near-universal Broadway/Hollywood reprobation would be the inevitable outcome, his actions constitute a true profile in courage in today’s cultural and political climate. Even were he to write the next “Hamlet,” he’d be trashed for it. Oh yes so brave. How does he cope with the trauma of getting his new play produced in the West End. |
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Post by cfbrrr on Jun 22, 2019 23:57:57 GMT
On the strength of his name and formidable reputation, having been a previous darling of the critics, until . . . Now everything gets trashed.
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951 posts
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Post by vdcni on Jun 23, 2019 7:13:41 GMT
Really, a 71 year old playwright not producing his best work anymore and trading on former glories, unheard of surely.
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Post by kathryn on Jun 23, 2019 7:44:47 GMT
It’s no coincidence — as in none whatsoever — that the critical reception of David Mamet’s plays and movies took a spectacular and irreversible nosedive following his double heresy of 1) ridiculing “method acting” and the cult behind it, and 2) coming out fiercely — as he does everything — as a Republican and conservative. Since Mamet has to have known that near-universal Broadway/Hollywood reprobation would be the inevitable outcome, his actions constitute a true profile in courage in today’s cultural and political climate. Even were he to write the next “Hamlet,” he’d be trashed for it. If he’d been mediocre all along he wouldn’t be getting such a trashing, but when you’ve done truly great stuff people expect more from you. |
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Post by mallardo on Jun 23, 2019 8:32:35 GMT
It’s no coincidence — as in none whatsoever — that the critical reception of David Mamet’s plays and movies took a spectacular and irreversible nosedive following his double heresy of 1) ridiculing “method acting” and the cult behind it, and 2) coming out fiercely — as he does everything — as a Republican and conservative. Since Mamet has to have known that near-universal Broadway/Hollywood reprobation would be the inevitable outcome, his actions constitute a true profile in courage in today’s cultural and political climate. Even were he to write the next “Hamlet,” he’d be trashed for it. You'd have a point if Mamet had written anything at all of value in the last ten years or so. Sadly, and as objectively as possible, all of his recent work is crap. |
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