93 posts
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Post by avenueqresident on Aug 9, 2016 23:59:58 GMT
Caught the second preview tonight.
Beautifully crafted piece and I echo the sentiments that all six actresses are very definite with their characterisation's, yet blend together so well with those gorgeous harmonies.
The crudeness of the language and the behaviour are just some of the ingredients which help craft a story with a lot of heart and earnestness. I didn't want it to end as I was so riveted by the ride that I was being taken on with these young lasses.
PS I felt tinges of excitement at the ELO songs as I only just saw them at Glastonbury a few odd months ago...
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Post by Phantom of London on Aug 10, 2016 7:06:07 GMT
I see this was recommended in the Mail on Sunday supplement as the show to see.
Be more interested to read now what Quentin Letts will make of this in a theatre that is paid my mine and yours taxes.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 10, 2016 7:48:38 GMT
Out of pure self-interest, how's the running time looking in the Dorfman? 'Cos I'm following a 5:30pm performance of this with a 7:30pm performance of The Threepenny Opera, and that's a lot of stairs to climb in not much time.
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Post by quine on Aug 10, 2016 8:31:05 GMT
Saw this last night and loved it! Such a talented young cast.
Ran at 1 hour 45mins so you'll have time to move between the two as long as you don't have to put a bag in cloakroom in both theatres.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 10, 2016 12:57:23 GMT
Out of pure self-interest, how's the running time looking in the Dorfman? 'Cos I'm following a 5:30pm performance of this with a 7:30pm performance of The Threepenny Opera, and that's a lot of stairs to climb in not much time. Wow. Sounds like you'll know all the 4-letter words it's worth knowing by the end of that day...! |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 10, 2016 13:09:46 GMT
Wow. Sounds like you'll know all the 4-letter words it's worth knowing by the end of that day...! Thank you, Ms *unt. |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 10, 2016 13:45:05 GMT
What doth thee mean?
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1,819 posts
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Post by stevej678 on Aug 11, 2016 7:58:13 GMT
***** Arts Desk
**** Evening Standard
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546 posts
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Post by drmaplewood on Aug 12, 2016 9:07:42 GMT
Just booked on the strength of the reviews, 5:30 on a Friday is perfect and means no hanging around after work.
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1,502 posts
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Post by foxa on Aug 12, 2016 14:53:44 GMT
I just booked Friday Rush tickets for this - first time I've used Friday Rush and it was all pretty quick and painless.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 12, 2016 18:36:51 GMT
I see that the front row is cheaper than rows a little further back. Having booked a restricted view side seat for the same price, is there anything terrible I should know about the front row before I go marching up to the box office politely demanding an exchange?
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Post by Deleted on Aug 12, 2016 18:42:42 GMT
They did the same for The Flick - released the front row for £15 some time after booking opened. Not seen this one but for The Flick and Cleansed they were great seats.
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Post by paplazaroo on Aug 13, 2016 8:55:47 GMT
This did very little for me, it's a bit of a throwback to the Godber/Cartwright tradition of a bunch of outrageous people on a night out. The songs don't add much and I found it really long and predictable.
There are a few points you think it's going to end but it just keeps going! And for me it takes more than shouting ''let's go mental' and jumping about to suggest genuine anarchic youth spirit. The girls are very talented and there is a really nice if morally dubious monologue where Orla describes essentially raping a dying man.
Maybe if you grew up in the period you could get on with this for a nostalgic night and there was a standing O but it was too much Our Day Out with Bouncers and not enough vintage Lee Hall for me.
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378 posts
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Post by Ade on Aug 13, 2016 9:21:35 GMT
This did very little for me, it's a bit of a throwback to the Godber/Cartwright tradition of a bunch of outrageous people on a night out. The songs don't add much and I found it really long and predictable. There are a few points you think it's going to end but it just keeps going! And for me it takes more than shouting ''let's go mental' and jumping about to suggest genuine anarchic youth spirit. The girls are very talented and there is a really nice if morally dubious monologue where Orla describes essentially raping a dying man. Maybe if you grew up in the period you could get on with this for a nostalgic night and there was a standing O but it was too much Our Day Out with Bouncers and not enough vintage Lee Hall for me. Saw this last night and have to say I agree that it was predictable. I did enjoy it but it was by no means the emotional roller coaster that I've heard people make out. The cast are brilliant and that's a big selling point of it, but I definitely wasn't bowled over by the material. All in all a decidedly average evening. |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 13, 2016 11:23:56 GMT
I'm going, but I'm afraid its effect will be anaesthetised at the NT. Probably this would be much better seen on the road with a genuine audience.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 13, 2016 12:12:13 GMT
It was truly awful
Embarrassing to watch
The sound is terrible and most of the singing is inaudible
I find it frankly bizarre that a swear word or two
Or a challenging attitude on the forum
Leads to people sh*tting themselves
Yet they pay money to watch the same thing on stage and find it hilarious and pretend it's sophisticated
The play is about a bunch of sad pathetic losers
Who behave like slags
I don't see why I should have feeling or emotion or empathy for this
The sexual assault of the cancer patient was abhorrent
It was not funny
And shows just how mentally disturbed the characters are
It is not normal behaviour
Or plausible
She said she pulled the catheter out
Actual a catheter in situ does not just come out like that
The balloon needs deflating first
Pile of sh*t this show
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Post by Deleted on Aug 13, 2016 12:37:56 GMT
Good to see that everything I feared this show would be has actually been confirmed. I was beginning to think I'd made a terrible mistake not booking.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 13, 2016 13:22:31 GMT
Good to see that everything I feared this show would be has actually been confirmed. I was beginning to think I'd made a terrible mistake not booking. I don't know WHAT it's doing at the NT I would not take ANY young person to see it Times have changed and the characters seems incredibly pathetic |
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Post by showgirl on Aug 13, 2016 13:26:53 GMT
But Parsley, you are a young person! Maybe oldies like me will like it?
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Post by Deleted on Aug 13, 2016 14:06:04 GMT
But Parsley, you are a young person! Maybe oldies like me will like it? If any of you have children And they behaved like the characters in this play Do let me know if you would be laughing and clapping at their misfortunes Make no mistake trying to sing a few choir songs does not hide the filth and grime |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 13, 2016 18:31:45 GMT
I'm going, but I'm afraid its effect will be anaesthetised at the NT. Probably this would be much better seen on the road with a genuine audience. Sounds like it from the latter contradictory responses compared to those who have seen it in audiences that more accurately reflect the play. Some people really do not understand the working class, I mean, sneering at Cartwtight and Godber, two of the best chroniclers of such and Lee Hall's ancestors. I'm not from Scotland but I'm from this sort of small, dead end, no prospects town and era; to see this on a National Stage is far better than another David Hare, middle class hand wringing exercise. Is it documentary reality? Of course not, it's a hyper-real comedy/tragedy of feckless but, for those sympathetic to their background, admirable youth, doing something to escaoe what are mapped out to be limited lives. The excess, to me, becomes transcendent, even moving. I 'got out' as it were, many of my school colleagues never did. That they sneer at the posh Londoners is sad because it is based on lack of knowledge abd understanding, but their targets fulminating about these god awful people with their awful manners and lives are just as bad. |
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Post by foxa on Aug 13, 2016 19:08:39 GMT
Very positive review of this from the mainly female reviewers on 'Front Row' just now (though one of them said 'liminal' about five times which sent me to my dictionary.) A couple did think it was 15 minutes too long, but otherwise really enthusiastic.
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170 posts
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Post by paplazaroo on Aug 14, 2016 7:22:18 GMT
I'm going, but I'm afraid its effect will be anaesthetised at the NT. Probably this would be much better seen on the road with a genuine audience. Sounds like it from the latter contradictory responses compared to those who have seen it in audiences that more accurately reflect the play. Some people really do not understand the working class, I mean, sneering at Cartwtight and Godber, two of the best chroniclers of such and Lee Hall's ancestors. I'm not from Scotland but I'm from this sort of small, dead end, no prospects town and era; to see this on a National Stage is far better than another David Hare, middle class hand wringing exercise. Is it documentary reality? Of course not, it's a hyper-real comedy/tragedy of feckless but, for those sympathetic to their background, admirable youth, doing something to escaoe what are mapped out to be limited lives. The excess, to me, becomes transcendent, even moving. I 'got out' as it were, many of my school colleagues never did. That they sneer at the posh Londoners is sad because it is based on lack of knowledge abd understanding, but their targets fulminating about these god awful people with their awful manners and lives are just as bad. I'm certainly not sneering, I grew up in a working class home in the north east and loved Godber and Cartwright. I just don't think this is very authentic and seemed lazy in its portrayal of class. |
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Post by ldm2016 on Aug 15, 2016 12:32:09 GMT
Sounds like it from the latter contradictory responses compared to those who have seen it in audiences that more accurately reflect the play. Some people really do not understand the working class, I mean, sneering at Cartwtight and Godber, two of the best chroniclers of such and Lee Hall's ancestors. I'm not from Scotland but I'm from this sort of small, dead end, no prospects town and era; to see this on a National Stage is far better than another David Hare, middle class hand wringing exercise. Is it documentary reality? Of course not, it's a hyper-real comedy/tragedy of feckless but, for those sympathetic to their background, admirable youth, doing something to escaoe what are mapped out to be limited lives. The excess, to me, becomes transcendent, even moving. I 'got out' as it were, many of my school colleagues never did. That they sneer at the posh Londoners is sad because it is based on lack of knowledge abd understanding, but their targets fulminating about these god awful people with their awful manners and lives are just as bad. I'm certainly not sneering, I grew up in a working class home in the north east and loved Godber and Cartwright. I just don't think this is very authentic and seemed lazy in its portrayal of class. I grew up on a very poor council estate in a very poor part of London and some, but clearly not all, girls of the age these girls are meant to be did act like them. Also, I went to a Catholic school which had 3 pregnancies in my year group before when we were 15...
If the author is trying to suggest that this is standard working-class culture is like this he'd be wrong and it would justify any criticism aimed against him. However, not EVERY play has to have hidden meanings or have every character representing something much bigger and if you take this as a play about a group of girls it has the potential to be based on realism.
I loved this by the way, absolutely loved it and it will certainly live long in the memory. I saw it on Saturday and today I went to the library at lunch-time to get the sequel to the source material, 'The Stars in the Bright Sky', out to find out what happened to the girls next.
Of on a tangent, I have our resident troll on block but, against my wisdom, decided to see what nonsense he had posted about this. Obviously he would criticise it - how boring and predictable - but I certainly took offence at him taken offence on working-class people's behalf for how the girls are portrayed. As someone from a working-class and Catholic background I wish he would comment on subjects he knows something about...
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Post by foxa on Aug 16, 2016 7:44:40 GMT
There was a moment, when they were singing 'Mr Blue Skies' and I thought 'Ah, this is going to be heaven.' And then it wasn't.
The whole cast was very strong. they could sing, they could act, and there was something great about seeing six women given the chance to do big physical, funny roles (I picture this being performed by university groups for the next decade or so) but I found the play itself quite disappointing. For me, there was little dramatic tension; I felt frustrated by the characters for whom having another drink and/or sex was the answer for just about everything; I really didn't like the cancer scene mentioned by others (some of the audience was laughing during this, but that really wasn't my reaction); nor the formulaic 'everyone has their problem' concept. It reminded me of 'Our Day Out' but without the insight into the adult characters which, for me, was the real kicker of that script. My SO and I were saying as we left that's we're having run of seeing absolutely first-rate productions of second-rate scripts.
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