tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781475196023418414.post4747561070783314740..comments2024-03-28T18:29:26.971+00:00Comments on Partially Obstructed View: Theatre review: The Conquest of the South Polenick730http://www.blogger.com/profile/17790671846484940609noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781475196023418414.post-71085784828042644172012-05-04T00:54:42.553+01:002012-05-04T00:54:42.553+01:00Your snobbery is astonishing: Anita Dobson is a te...Your snobbery is astonishing: Anita Dobson is a terrific actress (did you see FROZEN?). <br /><br />God, what ignorant bollocks. Keep up the good work.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781475196023418414.post-62756543419947840492012-05-01T11:26:07.700+01:002012-05-01T11:26:07.700+01:00I think what made it even worse in our case was th...I think what made it even worse in our case was that it was press night - I can almost understand why <b>certain</b> professional theatre critics seem to hate theatre so much, if every show they see features the cast's friends and family wildly overreacting to every little thing. (The infamous counting scene got a round of applause and cheering last night. I've just read the <i>Evening Standard</i> review and Fiona Mountford called it the show's "finest moment." I might call it that too, but not as a compliment.)<br /><br />Actually where we were concerned the <b>actual</b> finest moment was probably in reading the programme and having a good chuckle at the bit where Stephen Unwin lists some of the actors he's directed: Tilda Swinton, Simon Russell Beale, Alan Cumming, Timothy West... Anita Dobson. ONE OF THESE THINGS IS NOT LIKE THE OTHER THINGS!nick730https://www.blogger.com/profile/17790671846484940609noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781475196023418414.post-62097509024995889072012-05-01T01:12:52.241+01:002012-05-01T01:12:52.241+01:00The highlight of the performance when we saw it wa...The highlight of the performance when we saw it was the moment a small group of children quietly invaded the auditorium from a side door leading directly on to the street. They sat fairly quietly until one of the scene changes when they decided to sing along loudly to the music. It took several of the theatre staff to usher them out discreetly about 10 minutes later.<br /><br />As for the play, I agree it's pretty awful. The cast are all clearly talented actors, but they were struggling with this. I had dinner with Ian after we'd both seen it and we ended up compiling a list of the things that (either at the time or in retrospect) we'd 'liked': the line "I'm up to my cranium in crap", which I hope Ian puts at the top of his review; Sam Crane's character being called a "sex cripple" (?); the washing line that represented the arctic; poor Andrew Gower getting force fed new potatoes by not-very-sleight sleight-of-hand; the cardboard pigeons; and of course *that* moment with all the counting - you could pretty much sense the audience thinking "are they going to...?" and then the moment that we all realised that, yes, they were.<br /><br />I have to say, I had a great time watching it, though for entirely the wrong reasons - had I been on my own or seeing it in less giggly company, I'd have followed those kids out the door on to the street! ;-)Robhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12619454109215652885noreply@blogger.com