279 posts
|
Post by fossil on Nov 24, 2017 17:03:38 GMT
|
|
279 posts
|
Post by fossil on Nov 17, 2017 18:21:47 GMT
The BBC press release says it'll be filmed in Salford. Anyone know a) where Salford is & b) how to sneak into the TV studios there?! You can apply for the random draw for tickets. www.bbc.co.uk/showsandtours/shows/a_christmas_carol_2dec17 Applications close next Tuesday.
Edit: Oops. Did not realise I was not on the last page
|
|
279 posts
|
Post by fossil on Oct 22, 2017 10:56:52 GMT
Yesterday's matinee was being filmed so those unable to get a ticket may have a chance to view this excellent production. I did not get the chance to ask but it was a simple two static camera set up. Possibly for the theatre museum?
|
|
279 posts
|
Post by fossil on Sept 20, 2017 15:23:34 GMT
Free daytime travel in London for the over 60's? I SO wish! This is one of the most galling inequities for seniors as it depends where you live. Apparently there is something known colloquially as a "Boris Card" for some lucky people, which plugs the gap, but have the misfortune to travel widely in the London area but live slightly further out and you don't even get a bus pass until (the current) state pension age. By the time I reach what would have been the qualifying age I fully expect the goalposts to have been moved again or the concession abolished on cost grounds. I live 1 mile outside London and also just miss out on the free train/tube travel (although I do have a bus pass!). One tip is to get a senior railcard. You can get this added onto an Oyster card at any TFL/Rail station in the Oyster area which will give 1/3 off Oyster tube and rail fares. Effectively this means you pay no more than just under 2/3rd of the travelcard fare as the Oyster max fare is 'capped' after 9.30am. About £8 or a little more if you are in zone 9.
With the railcard you can also get some remarkably cheap fares for your theatre trips, e.g. London to Stratford-Upon-Avon for £3.65 each way at the weekend. I have also found that with this concession and less expensive tickets it can be cheaper to see some touring productions outside London than it would be paying London theatre prices. As a bonus I have found the theatres can be much nicer as well.
|
|
279 posts
|
Post by fossil on Aug 30, 2017 12:55:35 GMT
both had the hearing loop (things) that the national give out. One of them was evidently malfunctioning and during any book part of the show, all you could hear was a high pitched electronic noise. At one point during the show it sounded as though the little old lady had a dial up modem under her seat!!! Happened when I was at "Kiss of the Spider Woman" years ago. They couldn't do anything except send an usher into the auditorium to tell her to turn the aid off. One of the cast ad-libbed a line about it being the noise of an execution down the hall, and they signalled at the lady during curtain call, too. I suspect this is feedback. The headset volume is too high so its output gets picked up by the microphones which then feeds back to the headset. This 'loop' causes the high pitched noise to occur. The problem is that if you cannot whisper to the user to get them to turn the volume down as they cannot hear you so you have to wait until an interval to explain the problem to them.
|
|
279 posts
|
Post by fossil on Aug 29, 2017 16:54:14 GMT
While Googling for clips of the current production I stumbled upon this. Apologies if the link to this has already been posted as 104 pages is too many to check through. For those who want to compare, here is about 15 minutes of the 1933 film:
|
|
279 posts
|
Post by fossil on Aug 27, 2017 18:26:11 GMT
A bit naughty of Troughton this. Captioned performance last week. David Troughton hesitates over the last word of a line, does this again. Looks up at the captioning and then repeats the line with the correct word.
The production was disappointing. It just did not seem to work as modern dress and some of the directors ideas just jarred. For example, what was the point of the opening sequence having a hoodies fight scene choreographed to music? Ok for West Side Story but not for this play.
Before the performance I checked and could see plenty of unsold seats in the stalls. In the theatre the stalls were quite full but the upper level was empty so I guess some lucky people got their seats upgraded.
|
|
279 posts
|
Post by fossil on Aug 12, 2017 15:47:29 GMT
I was not at the RAH and can only comment on this as a TV event. As such I thought this to be one of the best television showings of a staged musical production I have seen. I will echo the praise that posters have given the performers, orchestra and choreographer and what really did not disappoint was the TV direction. The director last night in the main showed us what we want to see - the performance on stage. There was little of the irritating gimmicky TV direction one usually gets when musical events are televised (i.e. frequently cutting from camera to camera, too many shots from beneath the stage, the back of the stage, far distance, rapidly moving cameras, etc.) The choice of camera angles and distance usually matched the action on stage so I feel a good deal of thought and rehearsal must have been involved. Sound balance was pretty good too. The only thing that jarred was the inane prattle from the TV announcer, whoever she was, over the applause.
|
|
279 posts
|
Post by fossil on Aug 1, 2017 14:59:54 GMT
Impressed by the Box Office on Saturday. While at "Ink," I went to collect some tickets I'd booked for the next season. Without me even having to ask, the lady kindly offered to hang on to my row A "Summer and Smoke" ticket (treated myself, well, it's Ferran), as they might be putting row AA in, and made a note I'd like to swap if possible. Apparently, it is easier to move me if they have the ticket - saves me returning it. Great service . They have done that for me a couple of times. As with you, they offered without being asked.
Unlike a few years ago at the Royal Court when I went to collect my front row tickets for Sugar Mummies and was handed tickets for back row seats without a word of explanation. When I queried this I was told they had had to remove the front row as sand on the stage was being kicked onto the patrons in the front row so had to move us. No apologies, no warning in advance even though they had my contact details.
|
|
279 posts
|
Post by fossil on Jul 29, 2017 17:15:14 GMT
Thanks for the all the seating advice, i've managed to get A1 for a performance - i'm 5f2 so it should be great! Hi Charlotte
I am also 5ft2 and have sat in A1. I can confirm that it is an excellent seat for us shorter people as there is nobody in front of you.
|
|
279 posts
|
Post by fossil on Jul 27, 2017 16:25:27 GMT
|
|
279 posts
|
Post by fossil on Jul 25, 2017 14:22:23 GMT
I am 90% sure it was Richard Wilson I was standing next to at the urinal in the gents at the Almeida last Saturday matinee. I can't be 100% sure as one does not wish to stare too intently at the chap next to you in such a situation.
The only other time I have had a wee with a celebrity was with John Peel in the gents at the Royal Court in 1971. This was at Bill Bryden's particularly memorable production of "Corunna" with Brian Glover and Steeleye Span.
I hope I have not started a new thread - "Famous People You've gone to the toilet with".
|
|
279 posts
|
Post by fossil on Jul 14, 2017 22:56:15 GMT
For me the music was not used intelligently. It is a play. Then they drag some mike stands on (even though everyone is already wearing a microphone) and perform a song as in a concert. Mike stands back to the side and it becomes a play again. I like a play with music to be directed so that the music occurs naturally with the flow of the piece as a whole so this did not work for me. However most of the audience seemed to love the show so I guess my view is a minority one. I did notice about half a dozen people in the rows near me left at the interval.
|
|
279 posts
|
Post by fossil on Jul 13, 2017 13:27:06 GMT
They are warning people now. I never understand why theatres invite problems by not adequately warning people in advance. This has been going on for years. The National did this all those years ago with The Romans In Britain when they ended up having to defend a court action, simply because they invited controversy by not giving adequate warning resulting in people attending trusting it was actually a historical drama.
From a news report:
Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre has been forced to defend a sex scene and strong language in its adaption of A Tale of Two Cities, after audience members walked out.
Reports in the Sun claimed that families with children were seen leaving, while a Regent’s Park spokesman argued that the play contains no nudity and had not been marketed to young children.
The scene that attracted criticism has now been removed from Matthew Dunster’s adaptation of the Charles Dickens novel, following its first preview performance on July 8.
During the preview performance, the character Sydney Carton was seen to pay a prostitute who then removes her underwear before a sex scene.
However a spokesman for Regent’s Park says this was a “brief, fully clothed-scene” in which there was no visible nudity.
In a statement, he said: “The production is billed as a ‘new play adapted from the novel by Charles Dickens’ which seeks to frame the original, often shocking, story within a contemporary context.
“At the first preview on Saturday night there were very few children among an adult audience of more than 1,100.
“On arrival, those accompanying any children were spoken to individually and offered a refund for their party should they not wish to see the performance. The vast majority of the audience stayed for the entire show.”
The spokesman added that, as the play is developed through the preview period, the scene with Sydney Carton and “much of the strong language” was removed before the second preview on July 10.
Additionally, the theatre’s website has been updated with advisory information and all customers who have booked for future performances have been contacted.
A report in the Sun newspaper claimed that up to 100 people left the audience, however Regent’s Park Theatre argued that such figures were an overstatement.
The spokesman added: “There are a number of inaccuracies in the reporting of Saturday night’s performance of A Tale of Two Cities, which is neither aimed at nor marketed to young children.
“In particular, the three-hour play contains no nudity and reports of the number of children in the audience and the number of people leaving are overstated
|
|
279 posts
|
Post by fossil on Jul 12, 2017 10:22:02 GMT
If you cannot wait for your next visit to Drury Lane, you might want to listen to next Friday's 'Friday Night Is Music Night - Michael Feinstein sings Harry Warren' on BBC Radio 2. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08x1tjwI was lucky enough to be at the recording of the show last night at the Mermaid Theatre. They performed several numbers from 42nd Street - including some tap dancing! - four of the orchestra danced white shoes on vertical black boards. Really good hearing the music when performed by a large orchestra. The singers were not at all bad either. We even had an encore of 'We're In The Money' due to retakes.
|
|
279 posts
|
Post by fossil on Jun 30, 2017 16:35:48 GMT
Just noticed you can book Friday Rush tickets for this on the NT web site - row A stalls.
|
|
279 posts
|
Post by fossil on Jun 29, 2017 16:08:53 GMT
Apart from the pause that was not too stressful except for having to re-login again. I was 1000 in the queue and 200 when it paused after 20 minutes. On resuming, the queue seemed to go down at a slower pace so I presume they decreased the number allowed in at any one time. When I reached head of the queue, the Network dates page showed 'on sale to members' even though I had previously logged in. I logged in a again thinking I would have to go to the back of the queue again but it let me buy my tickets straight away. There was good availability for the date I wanted and I got good central row B tickets. Also managed to get a good members free Theatre Quiz ticket - I found you have to allow the system to select the free tickets as they don't show on the seating plan as such, but it gave me the centre of row D. Seems I got that wrong and you can select £0 tickets after all. Just select any seat from the plan, then click on Show Concessions.
|
|
279 posts
|
Post by fossil on Jun 29, 2017 9:08:59 GMT
Apart from the pause that was not too stressful except for having to re-login again. I was 1000 in the queue and 200 when it paused after 20 minutes. On resuming, the queue seemed to go down at a slower pace so I presume they decreased the number allowed in at any one time. When I reached head of the queue, the Network dates page showed 'on sale to members' even though I had previously logged in. I logged in a again thinking I would have to go to the back of the queue again but it let me buy my tickets straight away. There was good availability for the date I wanted and I got good central row B tickets. Also managed to get a good members free Theatre Quiz ticket - I found you have to allow the system to select the free tickets as they don't show on the seating plan as such, but it gave me the centre of row D.
|
|
279 posts
|
Post by fossil on Jun 15, 2017 19:25:41 GMT
I am not sure if I want to watch some of the audience eating and drinking for three hours.... www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/shows/network-on-stage-seating"A very limited number of tickets will be available for this unique, immersive experience, which will include a three-course meal and drinks on stage as Network unfolds. These special tickets will be available through a ballot in September, priced at £75 and £95 (£35 Entry Pass for under-25 year olds). More details to be announced – sign-up below and be amongst the first to hear about the ballot (please note that this sign-up form does not enter you into the ballot):"
|
|
279 posts
|
Post by fossil on Jun 3, 2017 10:07:42 GMT
If it is of any help, there are still circle seats available for all August performances for American Express card holders. They do a fee free 'Amex Platinum Cashback Everyday' card. Amex cards get you bookshop discounts and free NT theatre tours as well.
|
|
279 posts
|
Post by fossil on Jun 1, 2017 15:40:35 GMT
I sat in the centre of the second row and remember initially thinking that a click track was being used. I think the problem I had was that the tap sound is being over amplified. I see the foot tap, but I hear quite a loud tap sound, so the visual information does not match the aural information, so to me it just did not seem right. It is all a matter of perception so I suspect will be noticeable to some people more than others.
Which reminds me. A little while ago I was lucky enough to get tickets for a BBC recording of 'Friday Night Is Music Night remembers George Gershwin'. In the middle of one of the numbers there was tap dancing - but no dancers. Two of the percussionists were using foot shaped blocks to 'tap' onto vertical boards. Quite effective and (to me) a more realistic sound than 42nd Street manages.
|
|
279 posts
|
Post by fossil on May 22, 2017 16:51:30 GMT
I have just received the latest NT members magazine. It mentions some Follies statistics: 37 actors, 21 musicians and 93 performances. Presumably this means there will be another 41 performances in the next booking period.
|
|
279 posts
|
Post by fossil on May 5, 2017 22:25:19 GMT
For those who missed out on good and/or affordable tickets, the season leaflet does mention for Follies that "Additional performances to be announced"
|
|
279 posts
|
Post by fossil on Apr 27, 2017 13:42:31 GMT
|
|
279 posts
|
Post by fossil on Apr 27, 2017 13:24:34 GMT
Painless booking when the general booking opened at 8.00am. Same queuing system as NT. 25 or so in the queue which went down in a few minutes. If you are after cheaper seats, pricing and configuration varies with each play. I booked third row gallery 1 for Julius Caesar at £35. For the other productions these are £25 but flagged as ‘high seats’ but were not flagged as such for JC. Front row stalls for Nightfall is £40 and only £25 for Marx. All have £15 seats in the back row of gallery 3, there are only three rows on the galleries. Correction - 3rd row gallery 1 now showing as 'high seats'. I was sure they were not flagged as such at 8.00 this morning. Quite a differential in pricing across three rows for gallery 1. Front £90, 2nd row £65 and 3rd row £35.
|
|