Trafalgar Studios
Date: 9th November (Thursday), 7:30pm
Seats: Stalls AA3-5
Date: 9th November (Thursday), 7:30pm
Seats: Stalls AA3-5
(With Joel and Jess N!)
Cast Changes: Isaure Barbe-Brown (Claire)
Notes: We got these tickets from the TodayTix app too, on Rush. You can only buy 2 at a time, so thank goodness we got next to each other! We met at the theatre, grabbed dinner, then in to get tickets and programmes before the show. That was when I saw all the signs (and there were a lot) that said that Freema Agyeman (Martha Jones from Doctor Who, for those of you who don't know her) was out and her understudy in. That didn't affect my friends, but I am still disappointed. Freema played my favorite companion, and I wanted to say thank you to her for that. I guess I'll just need to find another play she's in.
Notes: We got these tickets from the TodayTix app too, on Rush. You can only buy 2 at a time, so thank goodness we got next to each other! We met at the theatre, grabbed dinner, then in to get tickets and programmes before the show. That was when I saw all the signs (and there were a lot) that said that Freema Agyeman (Martha Jones from Doctor Who, for those of you who don't know her) was out and her understudy in. That didn't affect my friends, but I am still disappointed. Freema played my favorite companion, and I wanted to say thank you to her for that. I guess I'll just need to find another play she's in.
When we bought our programmes, we were given a slip which repeated the fact that Freema Agyeman was out, and also said that the understudy for Kristin was playing tonight... When we looked in our pragrammes, we found out that Kristin was Stockard Channing's character! She was the main draw to see this play, so we were very disappointed. In fact, one of my friends almost simply left the theatre... Except we are very glad we didn't. As soon as the play started, the first character walked on stage... And it was Stockard Channing - thank goodness! We all looked at each other in relief.
The play itself was really compelling. It focused on a family gathering for dinner - the matriarch (Stockard Channing's character), her son and his partner (fiance, although they don't know it yet), and the partner of her other son, as well as an old family friend. As the dinner progressed and more and more is revealed, everything begins to fall apart, and by the end, everyone is separated. It was like a mix between funny family comedy and shocking drama!
Apologia contained 5 actors. The understudy was pretty good, and so was the family friend character. He was played by Desmond Barrit, who I saw on my GAP year (2008) as the Wizard in Wicked! He was essentially the comic relief throughout the play. The main male actor (Joseph Millson) played both of the brothers (they never appeared on stage together), and he was really good. The brothers were played well enough that even though they were the same actor, their personalities were vastly different! Laura Carmichael (Lady Edith from Downton Abbey) played the fiance and she was brilliant. Her character was non-confrontational to the extreme, but still managed to keep putting her foot in it. In fact, she reminded me of myself, making weird out of context comments in an effort to defuse the situations. Her American accent was also great! And then there was Stockard Channing, the absolute legend (possibly best known for playing Rizzo in the Grease movie). She was fabulous, still really great. She had great long monologues, emotional moments, and pulled them off brilliantly. The whole play ended with her sobbing, the kind of sobbing that you do when you are so upset you can't even cry. That got all of us a bit, she was just so full of regret and sadness.
After the show we went to the stage door. We didn't have to wait long this time! We met Laura, who was very sweet, took time to sign and take pictures for us. We commented on the fact that she was so different in this to Lady Edith, which made her laugh. Then Stockard came out. She was much less receptive. She did still take photos and sign for us, but she seemed like she wasn't interested and wanted to leave. It was a little disappointing (especially after Natalie Dormer being so amazing the night before), but it was still lovely to have met such a legend. We were so glad that we were able to see her perform.
The play itself was really compelling. It focused on a family gathering for dinner - the matriarch (Stockard Channing's character), her son and his partner (fiance, although they don't know it yet), and the partner of her other son, as well as an old family friend. As the dinner progressed and more and more is revealed, everything begins to fall apart, and by the end, everyone is separated. It was like a mix between funny family comedy and shocking drama!
Apologia contained 5 actors. The understudy was pretty good, and so was the family friend character. He was played by Desmond Barrit, who I saw on my GAP year (2008) as the Wizard in Wicked! He was essentially the comic relief throughout the play. The main male actor (Joseph Millson) played both of the brothers (they never appeared on stage together), and he was really good. The brothers were played well enough that even though they were the same actor, their personalities were vastly different! Laura Carmichael (Lady Edith from Downton Abbey) played the fiance and she was brilliant. Her character was non-confrontational to the extreme, but still managed to keep putting her foot in it. In fact, she reminded me of myself, making weird out of context comments in an effort to defuse the situations. Her American accent was also great! And then there was Stockard Channing, the absolute legend (possibly best known for playing Rizzo in the Grease movie). She was fabulous, still really great. She had great long monologues, emotional moments, and pulled them off brilliantly. The whole play ended with her sobbing, the kind of sobbing that you do when you are so upset you can't even cry. That got all of us a bit, she was just so full of regret and sadness.
After the show we went to the stage door. We didn't have to wait long this time! We met Laura, who was very sweet, took time to sign and take pictures for us. We commented on the fact that she was so different in this to Lady Edith, which made her laugh. Then Stockard came out. She was much less receptive. She did still take photos and sign for us, but she seemed like she wasn't interested and wanted to leave. It was a little disappointing (especially after Natalie Dormer being so amazing the night before), but it was still lovely to have met such a legend. We were so glad that we were able to see her perform.
No comments:
Post a Comment