A Number - Bridge Theatre 2020

20 pounds rush tickets for this on todaytix

This is very good. Staged well from all sides so the cheap seats in the side block are good value for this one.

Set was more naturalistic than I remembered from the previous production I saw at the Menier. Some impressive changes between scenes too

Running time about an hour.

Opening night tonight (our only spot was Rhashan Stone). Enjoyed the play quite a bit. Agree with the above comment about cheap seats being good value, staged very nicely for, I suspect, a good view from every seat.

Thought Roger Allam and Colin Morgan were very good. It's surprisingly funny and played, at times, for more black humour than was expected. Staged very similar to Far Away at the Donmar, the scene changes are done in darkness with music and basically they change as if by magic.

One slight critique. It ends really strongly, the lights drop but then they come back on almost instantly for bows. It felt like this needed another 30 seconds or so. It didn't give the ending, and the last line any room to breathe. It felt like it pulled me right out of the story rather than the story had naturally ended.


One particular moment tickled

I was A56, left side, sat right at the edge of the stage, and am happy to report I believe I had a perfect view 99% of the time!
(My friend was A57, and she, unfortunately, ended up seeing just the back of Roger Allam for most of the play. I was lucky because I could always see Morgan while they were in conversation, so I didn't mind having Allam with his back turned to me. But yes, I don't think there's a spot in that theatre that allows for seeing them both really well, 100% of the time.)

I was in love with that text before I saw it, but thought that what they did with it was incredible. For me, the cloning side of it - in terms of any sci-fi aspects to think about, the science of it, the ethical implications of it - seemed to be if not completely irrelevant, than overshadowed by the human dimension of the play.
The production spoke to me as a drama about guilt, about the mistakes we make and how we (and do we?) redeem ourselves, the complicated relationship between parents and children (how do you not f*** up, when it is so easy to?). And, of course, about the fascinating questions of how much love - and the absence thereof - turns us into who we become, and how love and hate condition each other.

Allam was wonderful, but Colin Morgan was simply stunning, particularly as the son given away: everything about him in those scenes seemed to radiate pain and rage in equal measure. (That scene when he just sits next to Allam, quietly, was the saddest  - and the most conflictingly heartbreaking - thing I've seen in a long, long time in a theatre, to the point it made me cry, too.) It was a performance that will stick with me for a long time, for sure. And the transformations into the endearingly naive and the happy 'versions' were all the more powerful because of that, too. This was my first time seeing him on stage but definitely won't be the last.      

Go see this. Even if you don't enjoy it as much, it will give you a lot to think about. 

 

I saw it this afternoon (also in A56 - I can confirm the view is very good).
It's a very intense hour.
Two-handers are a tricky thing to do - to make it work, you need a "magic ingredient". I think we've all seen horrible two-handers but this one is truly powerful and gripping. There is almost palpable chemistry between Roger Allam and Colin Morgan (or rather Colins Morgans) - they're mesmerising.

(That said, a gentleman in the front row fell asleep. Oh well.)

I'd go for it, altamont. You'll probably see Roger Allam's back a lot but both actors are very, very close to you.

I think I was a bit tired tonight, so I found this interesting and well-performed, but let down by a fairly pedestrian plot (at least, if you read sci-fi).

Liked the staging. Thought the ending was abrupt, but it's hard to know how much time had gone.

This wasn't sold out, which surprised me, with seats available on all levels.

I was on the front row, right on the corner of the stage. Great view, apart from when the action was seated. Leg room was fine for my seat but I felt really sorry for the woman next to me, who had no leg room based on the angle of the seat and the stage.

Can't complain for £15, but glad I didn't pay any more for such a short two-hander.

Unfortunately the magic was ruined from the side high seats as the markings on the set were visible during the blackouts...

Just nabbed a £15 seat in gallery 2 for next friday and I'm really looking forward to this, Colin was fantastic in All My Sons at the Old Vic and reviews for this seem great.

The stunning performances made this for me. Without that I would have been less happy - in fact the more of Churchill's work I see the less I'm impressed.