35 replies to this topic

[Honoured Guest]

Mamma Mia!

[fringefan]

Gave up on this yesterday and left at the interval, but confess I was already regretting booking and had been discouraged by reviews here.  Yes, Samantha Spiro was good but the play itself felt fake.  On checking my watch I realised that the first act must have been the longer of the two and that had I stayed, I wouldn't have had much longer to wait anyway, but I still wish I'd never gone in the first place.  A dud as far as I'm concerned but a rare one for the Almeida.

[Pharaoh's number 2]

Act 2 is only 30mins I believe.

[dude-1981]

fringefan, on 06 April 2012 - 06:33 PM, said:

<br />A dud as far as I'm concerned but a rare one for the Almeida.<br />

<br /><br /><br />

I did a bit of work on the Almedia hit rate since I became a regular:

Hit

Bernarda Alba
Becky Shaw
Reasons To Be Pretty
Ruined
Rope
Measure For Measure (I missed this.  Don't ask)

Meh

Filumena
My City
Through a Glass Darkly
House of Games
The Master Builder

Dud

The Knot of the Heart
A Delicate Balance

Now, some might put My City or one or another in the Duds and A Delicate Balance to the hits, but that still leaves you with a pretty decent rate actually.

[fringefan]

Indeed, and whilst I wouldn't disagree with any of your hits or meh categorisations, both your duds would make my hit-list.  But I've seen much better things over a longer period, too - can barely recall anything I haven't at least thought worth seeing, if not excellent.  So the Almeida's success rate would appear even better for (or to) me.  In fact, it's probably remarkably high and up there with, say, the Royal Court, unfair as it is to use as a comparison a  venue which has two spaces.

[Honoured Guest]

I don't mind if the Royal Court hits a bad patch occasionally, unless it arises by trying to play safe, because it mainly produces new plays which won't all work in practice. For me, the problem with the Almeida is that I don't know what it's for. What's its programming policy on choice of plays, directors, designers, actors, etc.? I know that some of the Almeida's productions are highly rated but I think it's currently the most pointless subsidised theatre in London.