This morning I got up at 6am and camped out in the cold with another 70 odd people in a line for £12 on-the-day tickets to The National's sold out production of Frankenstein.
It was worth it! I got front row seats!
It was great! Amazing makeup and staging. Really exciting pace and storytelling. Really strong performances.
There was a beautiful opening scene in which the monster is born and over 20 minutes learns to crawl, walk, run...discovers the sun, the rain, grass... Really simple, joyful and beautiful.
The show had a fantastic start: A really loud huge bell hanging at the top of the ceiling above the audience was rung - which gave us all a big shock - and bam we were ready for the show.
There were awesome lights hanging from ceiling that pulsed like an old fashioned electrocution/Frankenstein machine - lighting up the whole audience in bursts.
Loved the set pieces that rise from the ground. Really exciting epic stuff. I love epic!
These two Benedict Cumberbatch (above) and Jonny Lee Miller (below) alternated roles of the Creature and Dr. Frankenstein. How cool.
I got front row tickets for just £12 tickets...incredible! However I actually wish I'd taken seats further back as I was too close and a bit too much to the left to appreciate the great images created in the production. It was like being so close you could see the mechanics behind the magic. The show was made to be seen from a far. Still, seeing the actors up front working at this scale was great.
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This evening I caught the overground train out to Kingston with Ed, where we went to The Rose Theatre to see a production of The Seagull by 'The Factory'.
"The Seagull presents the actor's translation of Chekhov's great work, told in a different light each performance. Unless you speak Russian, you will never experience an accurate version of The Seagull. Subsequently, The Factory delivers an exciting and unique interpretation incorporating Chekhov's rhythms, character dynamics and soulful wit in their own words."
Took a risk with this one as it seemed like it could be cool. It could have been good, but it was terrible. Awful!
As is often the case with improvised shows, the actors came across as arrogant (I think it's a 'confident character' they put on - I've noticed it in impro comedy shows as well) and were thus totally unlikable. The director barked at us (we had to give random props for the actors to use) and the actors "5 4 3 2 1 Go!"
The improvisations were really sloppy! Lots of "ahhs" and "umms" and "y'knows" and "I means". The tension was lacking. It was too loose. And there was very little play, and nobody had a game. It could have been great if they all had really strong games and played ferociously with each other. e.g. I love you and I want you to love me VS I hate you and I want you to go away.
Also actors come on! Have a scene! Make an entrance! Play a game!
It was disappointing because some of the actors were really good. There was a lot of potential. But others just dribbled on stage. It was boring from the start. So we left at half time.
I was excited about going and seeing their hamlet, which different actors play different roles every night just like in this production. But I won't bother now as it's the same cast and company...
I wish they had improvised in rehearsals to get their own text, and then performed that for us. But we just got a rehearsal. It's lazy actually. An experiment, yes, but I don't think it's presentable to a paying audiecne. But I guess that's the risk I took. It's got good reviews before, and maybe one night it was really good. But tonight it was horrible.
To cheer ourselves up after we left, we got Cod and Chips!
Greasy greasy goodness...
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