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Post by crowblack on Sept 16, 2022 11:09:16 GMT
Very impressive stage design! I did see someone - audience not actor - tweet that it looked like the actors were finding it slippy from the 'rain' so wonder if that will change - weren't actors injured from falling on the sloping stage in Jane Eyre?
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Post by oxfordsimon on Sept 16, 2022 16:10:53 GMT
What is so amazing about the set?
It has never struck me as a piece where the scenery was hugely important.
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Post by crowblack on Sept 16, 2022 17:24:53 GMT
What is so amazing about the set? It has never struck me as a piece where the scenery was hugely important. There are a couple of clips on Twitter (taken pre-show) showing a square / three sided curtain of rain around the stage for reasons someone will hopefully explain!
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Sept 16, 2022 17:39:19 GMT
Poll added. Please vote when you’ve seen it.
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Post by catcat100 on Sept 16, 2022 17:50:02 GMT
Don't want to say to much but I think its the whole staging that works really well, its a fairly simple dark set but works with the whole of the large stage. Less is definitely more here. The use of lighting, rain, smoke and sound build up the atmosphere and tension. It effectively moves your attention from front to back even though action is at the front to highlight storyline.
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Sept 16, 2022 18:34:25 GMT
Is it set in the period?
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Post by catcat100 on Sept 16, 2022 18:52:35 GMT
yes, set in Salem, late 1600's
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Post by Deleted on Sept 16, 2022 19:35:51 GMT
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Post by mkb on Sept 16, 2022 23:08:42 GMT
This is a play I had to study for English Literature O-Level, so I approach it with expectations set in my formative years. I still have hopes of seeing the definitive take on The Crucible one day. This one isn't bad, but it's not quite there for me. There are some five-star performances, but the production suffers from some poor directorial choices and from self-indulgent set design.
The three-sided wall of rain must have taken a significant chunk of the budget but serves no purpose, other than to test the balance of the cast on the sloping stage. It's not even used during the play. The downpour happens only before Act 1 commences, during a scene change after the script references the wind, and, iirc, briefly at the interval. The poor souls in the four extreme seats of stalls row B have to wear ponchos throughout, the rest of row B may get the odd speck, and row A is off-sale as a result. Such profligacy!
The dark and distant rear of the stage is occasionally lit to reveal scenes that run concurrently with the action in the foreground. Unfortunately, the view of the rear is almost entirely impeded by the cast and props in the latter, for, I would hazard, the front third of the central stalls seats. I was in a cheap row C seat sold as restricted view, but I would not be happy if I'd paid full price in rows D, E or F.
Among the cast, Brendan Cowell and Matthew Marsh shine, as the best interpretations I've seen of farmer John Proctor and Deputy Governor Danforth, respectively.
The production held me rapt, but the final scene did not trigger emotions like it should.
Four stars.
Act 1: 19:33-20:55 Act 2: 21:17-22:31
An earlier report on here says the first preview ended at 22:35. The response of the NT was, the following day, to reduce the advertised running time from the originally estimated 2:55 to 2:50. Go figure! Why are some theatres so hopeless at giving up-to-date accurate information, while others are so good?
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Post by cavocado on Sept 17, 2022 9:59:40 GMT
Sort of. The costumes, scenery and props are neutral 'olden days' - long dresses that looked more Victorian, Proctor's clothes could have been mid-20th century, a bit of a mix, but not in a way that felt jarring or inappropriate, and it's still Salem in the 1690s, not moved to another place or time. I liked the design a lot, reminded me a little of the recent Almeida Macbeth e.g. when we see tableaux lit at the back of the stage to flesh out what's being discussed in a scene - very filmic. Someone mentioned these tableaux might not be visible from all seats - not sure, but I was 2nd row of one of the side sections of the circle and could see and hear everything. The lighting was beautiful, and the rain on stage worked brilliantly - gorgeous and created an oppressive atmosphere. Not sure I'd want to sit in the 2/3 seats at either end of the front row who had to wear plastic ponchos throughout. Mostly very good performances, and three hours went past very quickly. 4 stars from me. Hopefully I will see it again later in the run.
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Post by tmesis on Sept 17, 2022 11:31:44 GMT
Since this play is a much admired classic it is with trepidation that I have to say I was bored (very) by last night’s performance. Clocking in at 3 hours it really outstays its welcome. I didn’t like the tricksy pointless rainfall - I’m sure it came at considerable expense which would have been better spent on the actual set. After filling The Olivier stage handsomely for Jack Absolute we’re back to the default position for this space ie. a no set set.
Also I don’t know if it was because of the pointless precipitation but it was freezing cold throughout in row F of the stalls.
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Post by callum on Sept 17, 2022 19:55:29 GMT
Saw this last night… booked a Row B (as another poster mentioned, actually front row for this production) seat, only for Box Office to email me the next day about being in the splash zone and giving me Row J aisle stalls seat as a free upgrade - result! Think they must have been house seats as Samira Ahmed was sat a few seats along.
Enjoyed the play a lot and a solid four star production. Did not perhaps feel as moved as I should have done, but enjoyed all of the performances and Miller’s superb writing shone through.
I do however have to mention the audience… firstly lots of inappropriate laughter at mentions of Satan, Lucifer, witchcraft etc and secondly lots of popping of cans and rattling of ice cubes. If Imelda was there her head would have exploded! Wish NT bar would stop selling cans (or pour them out for customers) as they were going off right throughout the show and at pivotal moments! I am strongly considering getting a hard of hearing headset next time to try and block all of this out!
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Post by intoanewlife on Sept 18, 2022 0:51:19 GMT
Saw this tonight and I'm afraid I can't give it more than 2.5/5 (3 in the poll)
I thought the production design was really nice and there were some great performances, but as a whole I found it incredibly frustrating, especially the direction.
My biggest gripe was that I would estimate there was probably less than 5 minutes across 3 hours that I wasn't constantly looking at someone's back on stage.
For the first 20 minutes, the 2 lead characters in the scene marched onto the stage and then stood with their backs to the audience while delivering their lines. I was so frustrated I was very close to standing up and asking if they would please turn around! I mean, you're setting up a 3 hour play, why is your back to the audience while doing so? It almost drove me insane.
They have that massive stage full of dead space at the back, with everyone crammed up the front. Move everyone back and turn them around so they are facing the bloody audience. This would also eliminate the constant mopping/drying of the stage.
Anyways...
The positives.
I liked the staging and I actually liked the rain. Though I would've only used it within the body of the play (where it was actually used 3 or 4 times) not left it running all the time during entering and intermission.
I liked the 'singing' and it was used to great effect in some parts, but completely ruined the scenes where the children were 'losing it' and completely took you out of the manic-ness of the scenes because it drowned out the dialogue and performances of the kids which is very important to the story.
I liked the use of the very back of the stage in different parts (the end of Act 1 was particularly effective) but as mentioned above the blocking is ridiculous and there's no excuse for it.
Has the director never actually watched it from the audience I wonder?
I thought all of the kids were great and most of the adults were pretty good...but some of side characters need some work.
Personally I much preferred Ivo's Broadway version on every single level I'm afraid.
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Post by crowblack on Sept 18, 2022 9:12:40 GMT
Has the director never actually watched it from the audience I wonder? I had to return my tickets for this weekend and am now definitely going to wait for the NT Live for this - only seeing the backs of their heads is more bearable when you're paying £20 for a cinema ticket rather than £70 plus £150 on trains plus the Covid risk! The Antipodes at the National was one of the most frustrating theatre experiences I've had - I was sitting in the stalls and half the cast had their backs to me the whole time and I never even saw the face of one of the 'star' actors, who was sitting at the head of the table - the whole thing could have been sorted easily by using a revolve.
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Post by crowblack on Sept 18, 2022 9:56:16 GMT
They've shifted Press Night from this week to the 28th.
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Post by intoanewlife on Sept 18, 2022 13:18:29 GMT
Has the director never actually watched it from the audience I wonder? I had to return my tickets for this weekend and am now definitely going to wait for the NT Live for this - only seeing the backs of their heads is more bearable when you're paying £20 for a cinema ticket rather than £70 plus £150 on trains plus the Covid risk! The Antipodes at the National was one of the most frustrating theatre experiences I've had - I was sitting in the stalls and half the cast had their backs to me the whole time and I never even saw the face of one of the 'star' actors, who was sitting at the head of the table - the whole thing could have been sorted easily by using a revolve. It's only the 3rd preview and clearly by pushing press night back is an admission that there are problems. These are pretty dumb mistakes though that should've been picked up earlier.
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Post by theoracle on Sept 18, 2022 21:32:06 GMT
I’m surprised by the reception this is getting on here. It’s one of my most eagerly anticipated shows for sure and I’ve been struggling to get rush tickets for this the last two weeks. I would’ve thought Lyndsey Turner would’ve done wonders with this considering the huge reception Under Milk Wood received. I was also really looking forward to seeing Fisayo Akinade return to the National Theatre as well as to see Erin Doherty’s Abigail which from the trailer I’m hoping to be pretty riveting. Will share my thoughts once I see it
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Post by intoanewlife on Sept 19, 2022 0:55:32 GMT
I’m surprised by the reception this is getting on here. It’s one of my most eagerly anticipated shows for sure and I’ve been struggling to get rush tickets for this the last two weeks. I would’ve thought Lyndsey Turner would’ve done wonders with this considering the huge reception Under Milk Wood received. I was also really looking forward to seeing Fisayo Akinade return to the National Theatre as well as to see Erin Doherty’s Abigail which from the trailer I’m hoping to be pretty riveting. Will share my thoughts once I see it I thought they were both excellent x
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Post by Jan on Sept 19, 2022 9:27:01 GMT
Haven’t seen this yet but the comments on the staging remind me of the Katie Mitchell “Three Sisters” where for one long scene those in the Circle could only see the legs of the characters who were sitting at a table. Hytner had to intervene and eventually de-platformed Mitchell for this type of direction.
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Post by mikey on Sept 19, 2022 11:40:14 GMT
There was no visibility problems for me on first night performance from left side of the stalls. No actors facing backwards etc
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Post by intoanewlife on Sept 19, 2022 12:30:50 GMT
There was no visibility problems for me on first night performance from left side of the stalls. No actors facing backwards etc I was left side middle stalls, on the aisle seat Row L... So they have actually changed it so people stand with their back to the audience...Jeepers!
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Post by Jan on Sept 19, 2022 13:50:30 GMT
There was no visibility problems for me on first night performance from left side of the stalls. No actors facing backwards etc I was left side middle stalls, on the aisle seat Row L... So they have actually changed it so people stand with their back to the audience...Jeepers! "I went to the National Theatre but I had a terrible seat - it was facing the stage". See, it's not only Richard Bean who is shameless enough to recycle ancient jokes.
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Post by intoanewlife on Sept 19, 2022 16:09:49 GMT
I was left side middle stalls, on the aisle seat Row L... So they have actually changed it so people stand with their back to the audience...Jeepers! "I went to the National Theatre but I had a terrible seat - it was facing the stage". See, it's not only Richard Bean who is shameless enough to recycle ancient jokes. I'm probably missing your joke totally here...but...I had a great seat...so did 3/4 of the theatre who could not see the lead actors faces for nearly 20 minutes...
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Post by Jan on Sept 20, 2022 6:27:56 GMT
"I went to the National Theatre but I had a terrible seat - it was facing the stage". See, it's not only Richard Bean who is shameless enough to recycle ancient jokes. I'm probably missing your joke totally here...but...I had a great seat...so did 3/4 of the theatre who could not see the lead actors faces for nearly 20 minutes... No right, it wasn't a comment on your post at all which I should therefore have removed, sorry, just a random one-liner of the type Bean throws in as if it was his own. For example, in London Assurance (1841) Hytner employed him to "improve" the text and he put in the joke "My wife has run away with my best friend .... and I miss him". To be fair that one must be nearly contemporary with the text.
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Post by Steve on Sept 21, 2022 16:45:06 GMT
I loved this. I love it's pace, the way it gradually builds to a terrific climax, and it's got some really top notch performances from Erin Doherty, Brendan Cowell, Mathew Marsh, Fisayo Akinade, Karl Johnson, Eileen Walsh and Tilly Tremayne. Some spoilers follow. . . On the downside, I really didn't get much from the bookended text, added to the play at the beginning and end, and I didn't get much from the rain either, although neither did those things detract, for me, from what was a remarkable drama. I also don't think this is as impactful as the Old Vic production, mainly because the in-the-round staging was so effective in that one: we were part of it, we were sitting in judgement, we were part of a spooky seance (everytime the "witches" moved as a pack screaming, I practically jumped out of my skin, fearing they'd break through the audience-line lol). By contrast, this felt contained by the stage, apart from the first row getting a bit wet in their ponchos from the rain, which ironically was more of a distancing device, to make us think about the show, rather than an immersive device, to make us feel we were part of it. The bookended new text also served as a kind of Brechtian distancing device as well. But wow, the drama wonderfully heats up to almost unbearably intense levels, in my opinion! The dark, soaking, spare staging serves to focus the mind on some incredible and incendiary performances. Erin Doherty is an actor who projects the inside out so effortlessly that I always feel the storm of her emotions, and it's no different here, where you can really empathise with her Abigail, just a young jealous girl squirming to survive unduly intense societal pressure. In fact, if you just watch the first half hour, you'd think she was the anti-hero of the piece. Her performance felt the polar opposite, to me, of Samantha Colley's Abigail at the Old Vic, who felt utterly frighteningly malevolent from the start. Brendan Cowell's John Proctor is a slow burn and better for it. At first, I felt like he was a light weight, he seemed so blase. Whereas at the Old Vic, Richard Armitage's John Proctor was growling intensity personified, from first to last, like a great oak being felled, you could mistake Cowell's Proctor for a man of no consequence, barely present, drowned out utterly by Doherty's steaming emotions. But Cowell builds his performance over the course of the play. He grows and grows in indignant conviction and emotional power until he towers in stature by the final scene. It's a slow build to glory, and his exit is beautifully done, even if the bookended text threatens to interrupt him. It doesn't succeed lol. Matthew Marsh's deep sonorous voice is a tremendous boon for his Supreme Inquisitor, Deputy Governor Danforth. It's like he's one part Darth Vader, one part Christopher Walken at his tuneful tricksiest and one part reasonable man, and you never know which one you're going to get. Marsh really impressed me at Hampstead Theatre, when he played the Apartheid monster, Eugene de Kock, balancing control, calm, wit and roiling rage, and he pulls off a similarly authoritative balancing act here, (un)balancing Danforth's easy authority with an internal mania, such that I was on edge watching him. Other great performances were Fisayo Akinade's deeply compassionate and reasonable Reverend John Hale, Karl Johnson's wittily-timed slow-reacting Giles Corey, Eileen Walsh's broken yet unbreakable Elizabeth Proctor and Tilly Tremayne's forthright, principled Rebecca Nurse. When I first saw the Old Vic production, I felt it was a 4 and a half, but when I saw it at the end of the run, I felt it was a five star smash! Seeing this one for the first time, I feel it's an 4 star drama, buoyed by brilliant performances, but as it comes together over time, I expect it to be a 4 and a half star smash by the end of the run. 4 stars from me, for now.
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Post by crowblack on Sept 21, 2022 17:20:30 GMT
I don't know how to do the link, but they have released several stills from the production.
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Sept 21, 2022 17:52:13 GMT
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Post by crowblack on Sept 21, 2022 18:07:37 GMT
Thanks, I hadn't seen most of these! Looks like they've gone for a more late 19th, early 20thc Prairie-type look than 17th century?
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Post by bee on Sept 25, 2022 13:12:38 GMT
I saw this yesterday. I would largely agree with Steve's detailed review above, though I didn't love it as much as him, maybe 3 stars from me. Not sure I can really explain why, because it's good, but I struggled to get emotionally involved until right at the end when Proctor was being asked to confess. That scene was brilliantly done by everybody involved. Up till that point I was appreciating the quality of it without caring all that much.
The cast were all excellent, but a stand out for me was Fisayo Akinade as Reverend Hale, his transition from smooth confidence in the earlier scenes to horror and regret in the second half was well done.
No idea what the rain effect was for. It seemed a bit pointless and meant a lot of mopping at the front of the stage for no obvious reason.
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Post by jek on Sept 25, 2022 16:00:13 GMT
I saw the production of Brian Friel's Faith Healer at the Donmar in 2016 in which Es Devlin used the same rain curtain effect in a production which was also directed by Lyndsey Turner. It seemed very appropriate given the setting in an (often) rainy Ireland. My 21 year old daughter saw the second preview of the Crucible and was very taken with it - the rain but also the score by Caroline Shaw, who is a bit of a favourite in this household. From the production photos I am reminded of Lyndsey Turner's production at the National of Light Shining In Buckinghamshire.
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