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Post by rumbledoll on Jan 8, 2017 13:03:35 GMT
Do you happen to know if they still have offers for front stalls somewhere? I only see Row E-back at TodayTix. Today Tix has row A (where I was sat yesterday) for Friday night for £32.50 (I had a £10 credit which I used yesterday) I can do only Thursday, but thanks anyway! x
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748 posts
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Post by rumbledoll on Jan 8, 2017 13:15:46 GMT
Used your code, xanderl, thanks!
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Xanderl
Member
Not always very high value in terms of ticket yield or donations
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Post by Xanderl on Jan 8, 2017 13:20:10 GMT
Thanks! Good to see being simultaneously helpful and cheeky works
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748 posts
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Post by rumbledoll on Jan 16, 2017 12:23:16 GMT
So happy I managed to catch one of the last performances!
If you ask me, it was the best show in town in quite a while and still as phenomenal as I remember it. Tiny changes made since I saw it in November - always fascinating to notice how the production grows. Giggly audience that night - the storm scene got its own applause and yet again much deserved standing ovation at the curtain call. The space looked much fuller and you can just feel how rewarding it is for actors especially in the play of that sort. Ken Stott's fierce Sir and Reece Shearsmith's heartbreaking (and 'never despairing') Norman will stay with me for a long-long time to come (oliviers anyone?). Wish there were more theatre shows like this - powerful, riveting, genuinely funny and human to the bone.
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Post by johnv47 on Jan 16, 2017 20:08:12 GMT
Agree absolutely. Not much made of it, as the play is so familiar, but this really was a fantastic production. Would urge people to see it in Chichester next week. It hasn't quite vanished into the ether just yet. I saw it three times!
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748 posts
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Post by rumbledoll on Jan 16, 2017 20:15:50 GMT
Lucky Chichester peeps! I think one of the reasons this production is so successful lies in the perfect balance between comedy and tragedy which I believe Sean Foley is responsible for. Brilliant director, I saw him do farces mostly but here he provides just enough first-rate entertainment combined with the incredible poignancy which pierces through your very heart. Rare thing, that is. Sometimes it's all about how the text is treated.. And actors being on the top of their game elevates it to the masterpiece level.
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213 posts
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Post by frosty on Feb 6, 2017 12:29:38 GMT
Saw this at Chichester on Saturday, really enjoyed it, I'd only seen the Anthony Hopkins/Ian McKellen version on the TV, so was looking forward to seeing it live and it didn't disappoint. Ken Stott and Reece Shearsmith were perfect, just enough comedy to keep it from being too bleak. Harriet Thorpe as Her Ladyship was a revelation. Only seen her in the Brittas Empire and Ab Fab both as pretty one-dimensional characters, so didn't expect her to be so good! One thing that did surprise me though was the house was only about 50% full....I've never been to anything at Chichester with so many empty seats, which is why I always panic and get my seats booked well in advance.
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748 posts
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Post by rumbledoll on Feb 6, 2017 12:40:13 GMT
I'll say that again - Chichester is so bloody lucky to have it so sad to hear they are ignoring such theatre gem.
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Post by johnv47 on Feb 6, 2017 16:04:30 GMT
The winter season at Chichester is always quieter, but still no excuse to have missed this. Gone now... a fine production.
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393 posts
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Post by altamont on Feb 6, 2017 16:17:27 GMT
Indeed, half empty at the Saturday matinee. Such a shame, as it was an outstanding production with stunning performances from the leads.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 6, 2017 19:20:11 GMT
Wonder what it was that put people off this. For me, for a while, it was Harwood's anti-women rants that got my back up. (He's totally entitled to his opinion but he did rather go overboard on criticising absolutely anything that had - to him - unexpected female input.) Plus I watched the Beeb production and was bored stiff. (Harwood was right about that.)
But eventually the pull of the Stott/Shearsmith combo got me in for a day seat and I'm so glad I saw it. Much more effective than the BBC attempt where the two leads just felt too old (that's a personal thing, not an ageist thing, by the way. I've enjoyed both actors in other things, but in this they just felt so tired that the prospect of death seemed more of a welcome release than a tragedy).
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748 posts
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Post by rumbledoll on Feb 7, 2017 8:49:16 GMT
jean, agree about the age big time! It's not us being mean, it's being sensible. Norman should be 40ty something, not twice as old.. For me apart from the obvious - losing everything Norman ever knew, loved and cared for, one of the most devastating outcomes it that out-of-work Norman probably had to join the forces.. and it's a bloody frightful thing to face in WWII. Can you make me believe Ian McKellen's character is even considered for such a prospect? Nah.. Together with the many-many things like him spending 16 years in the service of Sir.. Well, okay, where are other 50ty years gone for then? It just doesn't work in the play's framework.
Maybe BBC production is the key aspect of people not wanting to come back to this story so soon? Especially that Eyre's attempts to tell it was so dull.. Thank god I hadn't seen the film before I went to see the stage version. Otherwise I just wouldn't be convinced to step in to the theatre...
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