Marvellous - New Vic / @sohoplace

So of the four aisles on the seating plan, only two are actually aisles? Which two are they? 

I deliberately booked an aisle seat so I'll be annoyed if it turns out it's not!

Seeing this the evening after Tammy Faye may have contributed to this comment...

The play:
I didn't enjoy this very much. It is full of slapstick humour and pantomime interactions and I enjoy neither of these things. Nor do I enjoy being splattered with water, flour and foam. Would have gone for first level if I had known. I also did not see the film beforehand and so didn't know anything going in. From the disjointed plot, I also wasn't able to gather completely what was going on. Had to read up afterwards. It's a bit like a student drama with the kitchen sink and then the whole house thrown at it. Any serious topics got lost in the shuffle and the bullying/not bullying topic was somewhat shied away from. The actors are mainly ok, though 'The Real Neil' actor had terrible diction. My comprehension wasn't helped by uneven sound depending on where actors were positioned on the stage.

I wouldn't give it three stars but if looking for a Christmas activity with children, this might be fun.

The theatre:
I thought this looked impressive at first glance, very bright from the outside and lots of light inside. However, the seats are narrow and uncomfortable and legroom in the front row is unsuitable if even moderately tall. It falls down further inside because of the low ceilings, narrow hallways and insufficient toilets. You'd think these could be done to a better standard in a modern-built theatre.

Final note: Neil Baldwin was there and signing programmes last night - queue organised in the foyer. Not sure if that's a regular occurrence.

Wasn't Nica Burns recently talking about how they had more loos than other theatres and everyone was going "great!".

She definately was. I watched the interview on TV and also read an article that mentioned the toilets.
I didnt go to the toilets in the theatre but did go to the ones in the restaurant which were nice.

Toilets may indeed not make money but they, and the uncomfortable seats, which have also been mentioned, are part of the whole theatregoing experience and certainly something that I would factor in when considering a return visit.  (Thinking for instance how poor the toilet provision is at the Donmar and how awkward and slow the exit from the auditorium, it has to be something really good to get me back there.)

So far as the play itself is concerned, I've yet to see it as though I was greatly looking forward to it, reviews suggest that the critics - on the whole - enjoyed it much more than anyone here did, which is disappointing and puzzling.  Whilst there are now lots of offers around, if you're on a tight budget, even a £25 deal is a lot of money compared to a £10 Friday Rush ticket at the NT or a £12 PAYG ticket at Southwark Playhouse.

I hadn’t seen the film, so just had a basic (Wikipedia) idea of who Neil Baldwin is. I mainly wanted to see the new theatre.

The play was ok, a lot of slapstick/panto humour, which isn’t my kind of thing, but it was well done and with a good cast who did well at multiple roles apiece.

The problems for me were:

(1) there were so many characters and small interactions that, apart from Neil and his mum, all of the relationships felt underexplored and it was hard to feel much emotional connection with Neil’s story. I wanted to see more of Lou Macari and Neil’s writer friend, and the clown episode was too focused on the clowning with little emotional punch to Neil’s sacking and the arson on his caravan.

(2) It was also hard to feel engaged with the characters when there’s overuse of breaking of the 4th wall. It felt like a lack of confidence in the play when each funny episode was not just heavily signposted, we were often told during and afterwards that something had been funny, and sometimes even what kind of sense of humour the actors (writers?) want us to have - at one point people who don't like panto humour are directed to the exits. A bit of audience interaction is fine, but this just got annoying and intrusive.

(3) I felt it skirted quite uncomfortably around the issue of prejudice and discrimination. Neil might have had a happy and fulfilled life, but at least two of his ‘jobs’ (Keele and clowning) were unpaid - should we feel okay about Keele University celebrating decades of a disabled man providing services for nothing? Maybe a better recognition would have been a wage? Another uncomfortable scene involved footballers treading a fine line between bullying him and ‘having fun.’ For me that needed a play with more depth to give it context, and came uncomfortably close to dated and offensive stereotypes. I felt like we were being asked not to think too deeply about how Neil was treated.

(4) There was a strange bit at the end where one of the actors mentions he has Aspergers, which felt pointless when it’s not been woven into the play. As someone with Aspergers myself, that felt like it was being used rather than properly addressed. (But I’m also mentioning my Aspergers because I have a tendency to overthink jokes and misjudge the tone of things, so I’m not sure how much of my criticism is just me - plenty of people seemed to be loving the play.)

(5) There was an awful enforced standing ovation at the end where we were encouraged to get up and clap along with the finale, which turned into the curtain call. I think standing ovations should be for each audience member to decide, not engineered.

The theatre:

The auditorium was intimate and great for sightlines and acoustics.

I was on the end of a row, but legroom looked tight elsewhere, especially the front row.

With only 2 doors but 4 aisles, it was annoying that anyone at the far end of the stalls (right hand side on the seat plan) had to squeeze past whole rows to get to their seats (no access allowed across the stage). That made it chaotic at the end and impossible to make a quick exit unless you were near the door. Even then, everyone is funnelled into one narrowish staircase - lots of people grumbling about how long it took to get out. I felt claustrophobic both in the auditorium and when trying to exit - this was probably exacerbated by autistic anxiety, but I can’t think of another theatre with such a bottleneck.

There was only a disabled loo on the stalls level, and not enough loos on the ground floor. Apparently even the men were queuing before the start.

I am sure the management will improve crowd flow as time goes on. There were things which could be easily sorted, like a programme seller blocking access to the stairs for anyone not wanting to buy a programme, and some areas unnecessarily blocked by temporary queue barriers, making the foyer seem too small and cluttered. Other things might be more difficult to solve, like allowing access/exits via the far end of the auditorium.

I’m interested in seeing Medea, which could be very powerful in such an intimate venue, but I’m apprehensive about visiting again, and would only sit near the exit.

Oh my this was bad. I went blind, not having seen the film or even heard of Neil Baldwin. I kept hoping it would improve, or at least get somewhere- but by the time the interval came I realised that there was no point to the endless slapstick or no development to any sort of focal point in the story. Lady sitting next to me also had no clue who Neil Baldwin was and she also was less than impressed with the play. I have yet to leave a show at the interval (and as I was front row I felt bad for the actors, had I left it would have been very obvious!) but several people did, the stalls were much emptier when the second act started- and I'm pretty sure the second and third level were empty so word of mouth must be getting around at how bad this is.
The actors did what they could, I felt sorry for them to be subjected to this substandard show- it is no more than a series of unfunny panto style comedy sketches, with a very annoying egg and flour throwing bit in the middle. I am amazed that the Observer/Susannah Clapp gave this 4 stars. 4 stars???
Worse £25 I've ever spent. The theatre seems nice, I like the bar but it is v true that there are nowhere near enough toilets.

If you pair the visit with something else in the area for before or after, it wouldn't be a complete waste of time, and you can always leave at interval if you hate it. Some people here (and many critics) liked it, you could be one of them?
If you enjoy panto and slapstick comedy, you'll probably like it- if you don't...

Went in blind, didn't enjoy this. Not really my kind of humour, but the school group of maybe 10 year olds seemed to really like it.

Both circles empty, everyone I assume was moved to stalls. Even then the stalls were maybe 50-60% full. Heard the school group say they were given free tickets so this must really be selling awfully.

Neil Baldwin was in the audience and signing autographs at the end.

Also I realised when reading the program that it was done by the same people who did 'Tom, Dick & Harry' at Ally Pally and can definitely see lots of similar elements in the direction/staging e.g. the 'quirky' sped up/reversing actions. Will probably be avoiding anything done by this group in the future as neither of these shows have been to my taste.

Final thing I forgot to add, don't sit in the first 2 rows unless you don't mind possibly getting wet or floury. I think row C and D escaped most of it.

Two free tickets available on the Noticeboard, courtesy of mrnutz. Please contact directly by DM if interested.

I sent you a DM.