The production is four hours long.. ouch! Didn't have a chance to eat beforehand either. The bus, of course, happened along while I was waiting to cross the road.. the next wasn't due for 10 minutes, and was late when it did arrive! I was lucky to get on when I did - they were crammed in like sardines, and I was very glad of my seat. We poured off at Waterloo, and it was a short walk down - I was relieved to pass a couple of 24-hour supermarkets on the way; I could get food on the way home!
The Old Vic - like the Young Vic, funnily enough - is an absolute nightmare. The traffic jam of people was as bad as on the bus - in the foyer, in the downstairs bar where we were to meet. No hope of getting a table, of course, or even a decent place to stand - we were constantly having to sidestep people wanting to get past. Well, I only arrived about 15 minutes before the start, anyway. The organiser says we'll just meet outside when the weather gets warmer. Funny how I seemed to be the only one in the group who had their ticket on their phone - great to have the option though, and not have to brave the crush at the box office. I did have to make sure to have the phone on at the interval - needed it to get back in!
My seat was in the very back row of the stalls - normal price £30, and I was very glad of the £10 preview price! I was right beside the light desk -a good seat, plenty of room for my stuff. I was just congratulating myself on not having to stand to let anyone pass - when the guy asked to pass through to the light desk! Duhh..
Now, the blurb for this mentions that the women wear black, and the men white - symbolic of women's evil in infecting men with some sort of plague that pretty much killed them all off, at some unspecified time in the future (over 100 years in their past, for the setting of the play). So it was a bit weird when the first person on stage was a woman in grey.. Turns out this is after the fall of the Divide, and the play consists of readings from her and her brother's diaries, back when the Divide still held.
The diaries cover six years, from when she was aged 9 to age 14 (her brother two years older). So yes, they're a bit childish, as you might expect. But I do love depictions of dystopian societies - echoes of The Handmaid's Tale in this. Similarities - well, a cataclysm has decimated the population, and what's left has swung to religious extremism. Society is run by a Preacher, women are blamed for what's happened, and they're oppressed, made to wear restrictive clothing, and forbidden from doing many things that we take for granted. However, the difference here is that - rather than the men - it's the women themselves that seem to be doing the oppressing! In a kind of overwhelming guilt over their decimation of men, they've shut themselves off and are doing penance. Until, of course, events take a turn..
The first half is really slow. It's certainly watchable - humorous and well-acted, with a clever, understated set. It's also an hour and 40 minutes long - I was tired to start with, and the bits with the waterfall - very cleverly staged, quite realistic - with music playing softly, fair sent me to sleep. At the interval, most of us met in the foyer - more practical than heading down to the bar again. One left, reasoning that - on the basis of the first half - what he'd miss in the second half wasn't worth not getting home till after 1am, and he'd already had the value of his £10, in what would be normal running time for a play by now. I completely agree - this is a marathon, although I hear it's been severely trimmed, having had an original running time of six hours..!
My though, the second half heats up! Events crowd together, things get very dramatic - after all, this is the bit where the Divide falls! I sympathise with the guy who left, but it's a shame, because the second half is definitely the more entertaining. Recommended.. but be prepared for a long slog during the exposition of the first half. Ends tomorrow - too late for a preview seat, I'm afraid! I didn't hang around for the others afterwards - no point really, we were all just headed home as quickly as possible. In the event, I wasn't too late - but then, I do live the closest. Never did see the organiser from London Dramatic Arts either - she claimed on her event page that others were coming with her, but never did say who, and now the event has been removed from the group's calendar. Wonder whether she just didn't get anyone, and didn't bother showing up..? I think she has a deal with the theatres, whereby she can return unsold tickets.
Early up this morning for another - successful - U2 ticket sale. Going to 12 so far - there are four more I want, optimistic about two of those. So anyway, no blogging last night. This evening, I'm back to Ireland for the weekend, and hopefully a well-deserved rest. On Monday, I'm going to The Brothers Size, at the Young Vic this time. Again, I hear good things!
On Tuesday, Girls & Boys, starring Carey Mulligan, at the Royal Court, with Up in the Cheap Seats. Natch. Another that's supposed to be excellent!
On Wednesday, The York Realist, at Donmar Warehouse.
On Thursday, my £3.60 club has got me a ticket - for that amount - for Orpheus Sinfonia, at St. George's Church in Hanover Square. About time I was back with them - they do offer excellent value.
And next Friday, back with Up in the Cheap Seats - who else - for Frozen, at the Theatre Royal Haymarket.
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