Bare - The Vaults

What is the running time of this?

Is there nudity in this one? Some reviewers were mentioning some overt sexual action on stage.

Thank you for this info! Do you mean the seating nearest to the band would be the best?

This is better than the reviews suggest, hurt by the venue and some poor staging decisions.

First, the venue. It's the first time I've been here since Hair and it is a different entrance (and a different section of tunnels forming the "theatre"). There's no real reason to get here early. You just join a queue until about 7:10pm (for a 7:30pm start yesterday) and then collect tickets.

Ignore the seating plan on The Vaults site. I don't know if the seats have been moved, but the pricing bands and seat positions don't reflect that diagram.

The main seating is in two blocks either side of the extended stage (and central ramp). The ramp has a tree at the back, but it is so far back very few seats would be affected. The seats are at 45 degrees angled to the stage. They are folding chairs, hard, no armrests, no rake.

There is also a further section to house left which does have some leveling to it, but must be a horrible place to sit, 90 degrees to the stage and a long way even from the nearest section. It was closed to everyone but crew last night.

Most of the action is audience left, so that has to be the best side to sit on. Sit as far back as possible. Almost everyone went for the front, which meant they had awkward angles to see a lot of the action. The only bits that seem further away are short scenes on the balcony to audience right, where the band are.

I managed to get the entire back row (there are only about seven rows) with a clear view in front. It would be very uncomfortable with people sat next to you.

Quite coincidentally, this is also the general area you're directed to if you took advantage of the same heavily discounted seating offer I did (and, based on the list of names at the ticket office, it seemed many others did also). But most people ignored the seating areas and sat where they wanted as it wasn't terribly full. There were some small children in the audience too, which surprised me.

The sound mix in the area I chose is decent too and you're not drowned out by being close to the orchestra. The orchestra was too loud in the first song, but calmed down afterwards. The microphone levels on the cast are set differently and singing quality is quite variable, but I'll have to single out Stacy Francis as being heads and tails above the rest in terms of vocal quality and ability to work in that space. Pity she's only got a small role.

The staging is simple, mostly with lockers which can be turned in reverse to signify walls, and beds that are carried on and off the stage as normal.

As for the show itself. It hasn't dated all that well and this particular production just doesn't have the same quality as the LAMDA version I saw earlier this year. But I guess budgets for theatre school productions are a lot higher. But taking out the uncomfortable seats and difficult venue space, it is watchable and the cast do what they can. It also runs 2 hours 30 minutes.

They also fiddled with the ending. It worked to drive an emotional point home, but was then left with a sour taste in my mouth with aggressive collecting for LGBTQ charities right in the exit doorway from the venue, left feeling very guilty when I didn't have any change to put in. Many of the audience here were gay men (and couples), already very aware of the wider political issues.

On a lighter note, audience left is also the best place to sit during the short scenes where the defined Darragh Cowley takes his top off. I remember him from Spring Awakening at Hope Mill and he was equally effective there.

Someone asked about nudity, there is no nudity, but there is one scene where two of the cast (one male, one female) strip down to their underwear. You are required to read the themes warning before you go in. The opera includes sensitive areas such as drug use, swearing, partial nudity, gay interest, depression etc.

In theory, this runs for another month. I don't know if ticket sales will pick up. Pricing was wrong for the venue from the start and I don't know if the offers that are out there now will be enough. But, as I said at the start, choose your seat carefully and it's not as bad as the reviews make out.

I wasn't too keen on this one yesterday. It started really bad, sound so bad I couldn't make out what was going on at all and after 15 mins I was contemplating my escape. Good I didn't as it picked up and the second half was considerably better. Some of it was actually really good!

Seats
I sat on one of the "best" seats, house left middle row angled 45 degrees to stage. View was fine except the lack of rake so tall person in front of me blocked view. The last 10 mins is played close to stage floor and I could hardly see anything. Seat comfort ok but felt sandwiched, so narrow.

Staging
This wasn't good at all. I understand the stage is long and awkward but in an effort to make use of it the musical was played out all over the stage, even up by the orchestra and behind the seating area. It was hard to follow sometimes what went on and it felt distractively busy. Often a character was singing a solo and not only it was hard to hear him but it was also distracted by noises from the rest of the cast moving around. This constant moving around by the rest of the cast was unnecessary. Also there was lots of blocking. Entire row of cast members showing their back to the audience whilst something was happening on stage behind them.

Sound
Really bad especially at ensemble bits. It often overpowered the singing. Bad diction made it even worst. Unfortunately the songs carry the story so often I had no clue what was going on. It would be easy to blame it on the venue but certain cast members, notably all the adult characters, were extremely clear. During the phone call to mother scene it was very clear what the mother sang, she was powerful and good diction, but had to concentrate hard to make out Peter's words.

I don't regret seeing it as the story is good and songs are really good. There were nuggets of brilliance here like the sister and Nadia. Also this musical wasn't known to me and I am glad to have experienced it but I want to see it again in a different production.

I agree with others that the seating arrangements haven't done this show any favours, but as a musical I enjoyed it. A few sound issues and flat notes, and the girls are much much stronger than the boys, but it conveyed an important message especially during Pride season, and there were several teary eyes by the end. Not mine. I'm made of stone apparently! But yes, it's a decent production, don't let the bad reviews put you off. It was only about half full tonight, maybe less. There are currently offers from £19 on TodayTix which is what I went for (although like others I don't understand the price tiers, as I opted for the cheapest level and yet could sit in the first two rows. I opted for the end so the body/neck-craning was kept to a minimum!).

The bar is card only which caused havoc on press night because there is one card machine, I now wonder if it is to get change for the buckets.

For me this does stand up and is still a great show today. But this version while definitely better than the very poor one at last year's Edinburgh Festival is unfortunately not as good as the recent LAMDA one, particularly in the area of the staging.

The sound is really poor and the seating far from ideal. And also disappointing was Julie Atherton's direction which was very busy. There was a lot going on around the stage which was in itself ok, but unfortunately sometimes distracted from the main performers. That probably wouldn't have been an issue if it wasn't a show where the story development is in the songs (as well as where the sound is not great).

However the cast's voices were in the main very good and there is a lot to be enjoyed, but probably isn't the best production for someone who isn't familiar with the story.

If there was a charity collection when I saw it then I completely missed it.

As far as the changes mentioned they have been done before:

I get the impression they change the tiers each night based on the number of tickets sold. They’re just marked on the floor.

If you’re lucky, it will be the back rows of one of the two sections by the stage. If you’re unlucky, it will be the tier to audience left, which seems a long way away.

I’m gonna book for this on TodayTix for £15 tier 3 what tier where you in?