The Motive and the Cue - Lyttleton NT / Noel Coward

Yes a standing ovation, manipulated skilfully. I’m sure Mendes had the last scene down before anything else. I enjoyed this but I thought it was unbalanced. Gatiss gave us Gielgud so perfectly and interpreted the man so well, as it seemed to me, that the others didn’t have anywhere to go - impersonation, interpretation, no idea, etc? In that light I thought JD was very good with her Elizabeth Taylor except for the accent. Did Taylor have that southern American drawl? She was British as a child and in Taming of the Shrew for example her accent is lighter, much lighter. Did we need to be told about how difficult it was to be gay? Dunno. I’m not sure about Burton. Did he actually arrive so drunk? If this is so, well, I’m surprised he treated his fellow actors so badly. We hadn’t heard that before, had we? I haven’t read the book.
And again that ending - so full of irony, the comments written up BUT are we now going to have it all spelt out for us? Can’t the play do the work? If we clever enough to get hamlet as Mendes assumes, aren’t we clever enough to know what happened to Burton and Gielgud? Or is this an age thing? Asking for the elderly.

All in all, worth the money. I hope it does well America.

Little thing : I bought a programme which has a couple of interesting articles in it but it was difficult to understand who was who in the minor roles. Little pics with name and role and also a teeny bio would have been nicer than the full splurge imo. And of course although they had tow bios of guys who were in the original, it would have been nice to know more about all of them.

It seems to be accepted wisdom that he's leaving in summer 2025 (but planning to announce two years in advance), but then accepted wisdoms are often wrong, so wait and see I guess. I'm reasonable sure the press launch is to announce his eventual exit.

I saw this from the front row of the stalls at the matinée the Saturday before last. Before the start, I much admired the chutzpah of the lady just behind who tapped the lad to my left on his shoulder announcing he was far too tall and would he mind slouching throughout. Only the very elderly could get away with that, and she did, and he duly obliged.

How much of what Jack Thorne has written is authentic from the secretly recorded rehearsal tapes, and how much is artistic licence, I don't know. I do know that reality is often less credible than fiction. In any case, it matters not much. What we have is absolutely riveting from beginning to end. I was mesmerised.

Everyone on stage is at the top of their game, as, presumably, were the characters they are playing. Some veer more towards interpretation rather than impersonation. I was surprised to see so many in this thread favouring Gatiss's Gielgud over Flynn's Burton. While both exhibit masterly mimicry, Flynn blew me away. It was as if he was inhabited by the ghost of the Welshman.

Act 1 builds gradually, and then Act 2 nails it. A simple tale of two artists -- three if you include "Uncle Will" -- all flawed humans in their own way, demonstrates how human artistic endeavour can be so enlightening and richly rewarding for both performer and viewer.

Yes the finale may be emotionally manipulative -- what great drama isn't guilty of this? -- but I was willingly taken along for the ride.

Five stars.

Act 1: 14:24-15:40 (9 minutes late starting; unexplained)
Act 2: 16:00-17:05

Does anyone know if the transfer Baz said was very likely to be happening at the Noel Coward is still going ahead, now that 'The Ocean at the End of the Lane' is going there from 11th Oct - 25th Nov?

Ocean is only doing a slender run so that might just be to pad the time before all the cast are available. Mark Gatiss' interview with the evening standard podcast recently seemed to suggest it was looking likely. 

Just out of this. Long and boring. I save Mark Gatiss. Middlebrow nothingness. Don't even feel like writing in more detail.
2 stars.

Quite a few dates on sale now (having been all sold out) - including those illusive £20 stalls seats.

Was there too and totally agree. Mesmerising at times. Front row was wonderful. Gatiss delivering an award worthy performance. Flynn too. Just great.

They were filming it today and the cameras took up quite a bit of space. My original seat in Row H became restricted view so I was offered alternative dates after I had booked, but to be fair the NT found me another really good seat in Row E of the stalls when I said I couldn't do the other dates.

Has anyone done Friday rush for this/know where the available seats would be located? I'm hoping to try my luck and snag a good seat but not sure how difficult it'll be to get

Did it last week, by the time I got through the queue there were only £10 seats in the back two rows of the circle but those seats were fine (and a steal for £10)