Pacific Overtures - Menier Chocolate Factory

Wow!

Sorry to read of this experience MoreLife!

Had a similarly unpleasant experience at the weekend.  Having booked fairly early (i.e. before the usual Menier price increase policy kicked in), my friend had picked two seats at the left end of the row on what is probably considered the "back" of the auditorium.  These seats were sold at full price and not marked as "restricted view" in any way, shape or form.  

Lo and behold, the view from them - and especially from the one at the very end of the rod - was super restricted by a pillar that's at least a good 20 cm wide.  Yes, most of the action takes place at a more central location on stage, to the right of the pillar, but having such a chunky object in your visual field is massively distracting anyway, and there are a fair few bits happening to the left of the pillar and... on the opposite side of the pillar itself which plays the role of a tree, at some point.  

We thought it was rather unfair that the venue had put those seats on sale at full price in the first place, but perhaps even a touch shady that they did not include a warning re: the pillar.  Plenty of other theatres in London - the Almeida and the Old Vic come to mind - are very thorough at marking seats that have (much thinner, btw) pillars in the way as restricted/partially restricted view, and they price them accordingly.  The NT goes to the extreme of labelling "restricted view" their front row seats for "Infinite lives" at the Dorfman, where actually there's no impediment in the way whatsoever, and the stage is set at a comfortably low height.   

Because of this, my friend contacted the Menier Box Office to flag that those seats should have been marketed as providing a significantly restricted view and that, like many other venues in London do under the circumstances, they probably should have been priced taking that into account. 

The response from the Menier's management was rather disappointing.  First of all, they offered my friend the (oh so generous...) opportunity to see the show again, maybe from different seats, that they would have been able to buy at the preview price instead of the now updated higher price.  Secondly, they told an interesting story of how only during previews had they become aware that views might have been somehow restricted from those seats, and so they couldn't have adapted their prices in advance. 

Which is, quite frankly, hard to believe and not a very honest answer.  Even am dram productions - which get virtually no tech time in the venue they'll perform at - pay special attention to how their staging works and impacts the view for audience, and so it wouldn't be unfair to expect a professional production to be at least conscious of the space they'll be inhabiting.  Further, it is not the first time that the Menier uses this very set-up in the traverse, and so that pillar will have been obstructing views for audience members in other productions... so Mr Babani and the Menier's management must be very much aware of it by now. 

Speaking of which, the venue itself is not in great conditions.  What once was the restaurant upstairs now looks like a rather decrepit community hall, the bathrooms have issues with water not running smoothly and taking forever to refill the toilet tanks, and overall they don't really convey a sense of hygiene and tidiness.  It's all very sad, as in its own quirky kind of way the Menier used to be a venue I looked forward to visiting and spending time at, the restaurant upstairs used to feel warm and cosy and sort of invited you in as you made your way to the actual theatre.  I've seen so many memorable productions there, but if this is the standard they're content with nowadays, well... I don't feel like I'll want to go back particularly soon.