The theatre, Does anyone go? Options

[PrincessKate]

Went to see 'The 39 Steps' in London on thursday night.

Absolutly brilliant!
The funniest thing I have ever seen.

4 actors...around 50 different parts....very basic scenery and props....very cleverly done.

Hilarious

I highly recommend it.

The touring production of this has just finished a five night run at The Lowry, so we went to the matinee performance after work yesterday (and for some reason, got 10% off ticket prices because we work for Bupa, which was a nice bonus). It was very well done, and the parent accompanying us on our jaunt (Vicky's) is a massive fan of the original film so the fact he enjoyed it made it all the better for us.
I especially loved the shadow puppets (The deer was my favourite), "I'm.... an itinerant labourer!" and the tiny steam train.
And of course the flattering descriptions of Hannay's moustache

I want to marry a man a bit like Hannay, I think.

[Outatime]

I really want to go and see Fat Pig at the Trafalgar Studios next month, because I love Neil LaBute and an intrigued to see Joanna Page playing a bitch.

Why does London theatre have to be so bloody expensive? Heaven knows they don't pass it on to their employees. I can't find a managerial job in a London arts venue that would pay the bills, and most pay less than I'm making here. I've seen general manager positions in smaller venes for £20,000.

Check out lastminute.com they had offers on for it, if you've got a railcard of any type it might be worth checking out their website too as a couple of weeks ago if you had a young person's railcard you could get cheaper tickets.

I quite fancy seeing it too, but I also want to see The 39 Steps.

[Rebus]

I couldn't find a theatre thread anywhere else (no doubt this will be efficiently moved if there is), and since I went last night and had a great night, I felt compelled to start one. I doubt this will be frequented all that often but for those of us who enjoy going to the theatre then this is the thread for you!

I went to see Anatomy Titus Fall of Rome last night and it was very well done. Heiner Müller’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus, directed by Michael Gow and with John Bell as the eponymous lead, was a brilliant take on the blood-curdlingly ruthless tragedy. I’ve always been relatively wary of translations and had a slight sense of foreboding when I found “translated by Julian Hammond” on the promo material, but thankfully he didn’t so much translate it as tweak the odd line or add a contemporary edge to certain themes, this was done mostly during the opening and then settled comfortably into the mostly traditional writing for the remainder.

The unashamed racism that is so prevalent throughout the play was met head on and displayed openly, even taken further than even Shakespeare would have found comfortable. The players were only eight strong so, aside from Bell, everyone played multiple characters and handled the very difficult job of playing opposing Goths and Romans in quick succession very well. The actor who played both Saturninus and his brother Bassianus managed to do so very well, he was notable.

It was a violent, vulgar and confronting portrayal of the play, which is exactly how I read it, so was very pleased that there wasn’t any relenting, which is so often the case with Titus. Another great plus was the use of blood, there was literally buckets of it used during the production, as the violent fury of the characters was enacted, so the blood flew every which way. The set was simply made out of once-clean plywood boards that on opening night wouldn’t have had a drop on them but now looked like the killing room of a very messy abattoir-worker. It was soon apparent why this was the case, as it didn’t take long for blood to be pouring everywhere and the actors were all soon (literally) covered head to toe in it. It was a great night, and the best interpretation of Titus Andronicus I’ve ever seen.

[widowspider]

A little bump for this thread - two good friends of mine from university wrote a brilliant show called Barbershopera! which got rave reviews at the Edinburgh Fringe and is now playing at Theatre503 in Battersea until December 20. If anyone would like to find out more about it check out Toni and the Guys.

[Zoe]

I couldn't find a theatre thread anywhere else (no doubt this will be efficiently moved if there is), and since I went last night and had a great night, I felt compelled to start one. I doubt this will be frequented all that often but for those of us who enjoy going to the theatre then this is the thread for you!

As this previous poll thread had turned into a general theatre thread, I've merged them.

[Jimmay]

A little bump for this thread - two good friends of mine from university wrote a brilliant show called Barbershopera! which got rave reviews at the Edinburgh Fringe and is now playing at Theatre503 in Battersea until December 20. If anyone would like to find out more about it check out Toni and the Guys.

Quality. I head them all on 6 Music when I was doing the washing up on Sunday and it made me chuckle. What I heard sounded great fun and very clever.

[widowspider]

Quality. I head them all on 6 Music when I was doing the washing up on Sunday and it made me chuckle. What I heard sounded great fun and very clever.

Indeed - my friends are Tom and Rob, who wrote it. Very funny and talented guys.

[Baz]

Went to see Hairspray last night at the Shaftsbury theatre. It was probably the best musical I've seen, way better than Wicked and that's hard to top.

The whole production was just superb, the cast were awesome, the songs fantastic... the whole show was a blast from start to finish.

I turned to Jay before the show started and said "Who would of thought I'd be so excited to see Michael Ball perform, in drag".

Mentioning the cast, it was a good list, of course you've got Michael Ball, then there was Norman from Hollyoaks, Donna Dingle from Emmerdale (who was fantastic), that guy who was on that program trying to find the next Joesph and Neil from the Young Ones (who was also in Wicked at some point a few years back).

Anyway, enough of me gushing and being ghey, if you want to see a good show that's gonna put a huge smile on your face then I'd recommend going to see this, there's even a trailer for the show on its website - www.hairspraythemusical.co.uk.

[maian]

I'd forgotten we had this thread. It was a few weeks ago now, but I saw Jersey Boys when I was last in London and it was really great fun. Before the show, I couldn't name that many Four Seasons songs off the top of my head so I was surprised by just how many of the songs I knew off by heart.

The show itself is quite interesting, serving as a biography of the group in which songs are used to underpin the narrative ('Begging', for example, is used when the group have to turn to a gangster for help settling a debt) and it works very well. It's a great story about friendship, honour, gangsters and pop music.

[widowspider]

Went to see Hairspray last night at the Shaftsbury theatre. It was probably the best musical I've seen, way better than Wicked and that's hard to top.

The whole production was just superb, the cast were awesome, the songs fantastic... the whole show was a blast from start to finish.

I turned to Jay before the show started and said "Who would of thought I'd be so excited to see Michael Ball perform, in drag".

Mentioning the cast, it was a good list, of course you've got Michael Ball, then there was Norman from Hollyoaks, Donna Dingle from Emmerdale (who was fantastic), that guy who was on that program trying to find the next Joesph and Neil from the Young Ones (who was also in Wicked at some point a few years back).

Anyway, enough of me gushing and being ghey, if you want to see a good show that's gonna put a huge smile on your face then I'd recommend going to see this, there's even a trailer for the show on its website - www.hairspraythemusical.co.uk.

This is either about to, or already has, closed on Broadway due to the recession. Our theatre community is suffering big time. One good thing appears to be that us small companies, who only charge $15-20 for a ticket seem to be doing well or even better, as people look for a cheaper evening of theatre. Hope that continues, we need the money!

[Baz]

This is either about to, or already has, closed on Broadway due to the recession. Our theatre community is suffering big time. One good thing appears to be that us small companies, who only charge $15-20 for a ticket seem to be doing well or even better, as people look for a cheaper evening of theatre. Hope that continues, we need the money!

It's a shame that lots of shows are closing, as here shows seem to still be pulling in the crowds. Last nights performance was a sell out and we had to book the tickets a long time ago as it was that booked up. Same with getting tickets for Priscilla Queen of the Desert which opens March 10th, the first show we could get tickets for was in May.

It's just a shame a lot of these big shows are really expensive, for the 2 tickets to see Hairspray last night it cost us £135, just under £70 each, we could of gone to Paris on the Eurostar for the same cost.

We have toyed with the idea of going to one of the theatre pubs by us in Angel, but even tickets for those small shows seem a bit pricey.

[widowspider]

It's a shame that lots of shows are closing, as here shows seem to still be pulling in the crowds. Last nights performance was a sell out and we had to book the tickets a long time ago as it was that booked up. Same with getting tickets for Priscilla Queen of the Desert which opens March 10th, the first show we could get tickets for was in May.

It's just a shame a lot of these big shows are really expensive, for the 2 tickets to see Hairspray last night it cost us £135, just under £70 each, we could of gone to Paris on the Eurostar for the same cost.

We have toyed with the idea of going to one of the theatre pubs by us in Angel, but even tickets for those small shows seem a bit pricey.

I think it's a very different market in London. The big shows here are similarly expensive - and more so in some cases (usually $100-$150 per ticket), which is why I've still never seen a show on Broadway despite living here for four years. However, the off-off-Broadway scene is very cheap and never above $25 a ticket (the standard is $18), and there is LOADS of it here. The non-profit theatre scene in London seems to be less supported but also more expensive, weirdly. It's more like off-Broadway shows, which are more like $30-$50 a ticket.

[Miss Shazam]

I got dragged to go see We Will Rock You last Wednesday, which is what I'm blaming this "Queen driving me MAD" plight on.
Better than anticipated. I was expecting it to be PRETTY awful.

[Outatime]

I missed a play I would have liked to see, I should learn to look at the theatre website more often. Although I blame the shop that still had the poster in the window two weeks after the play was on for getting my hopes up.

I'd love to see more in London but I just can't afford to take the risk on stuff I'm not sure I'll like.

[widowspider]

My show what I co-wrote and what opens this Friday