[cellisima]

2 week run of Tom Stoppard's 'The Real Thing' opened last night at the Tabard Theatre. Just wanted to recommend this highly to everyone: classic Stoppard, full of witty word play as well as thought-provoking scenes about what love and commitment really mean. Real laugh-out-loud moments, with superb acting, and I had a hugely enjoyable evening. Hadn't been to any fringe theatre before, and it was great to be so close to the acting. Very impressed.

Tabard Theatre is a 70 seater venue, 1 min walk from Turnham Green station (zone 2).

http://www.tabardtheatre.co.uk/

[rainbow_carnage]

2 week run of Tom Stoppard's 'The Real Thing' opened last night at the Tabard Theatre. Just wanted to recommend this highly to everyone: classic Stoppard, full of witty word play as well as thought-provoking scenes about what love and commitment really mean. Real laugh-out-loud moments, with superb acting, and I had a hugely enjoyable evening. Hadn't been to any fringe theatre before, and it was great to be so close to the acting. Very impressed.

Tabard Theatre is a 70 seater venue, 1 min walk from Turnham Green station (zone 2).

http://www.tabardtheatre.co.uk/

Hmm. Why does this sound like a shill to me? Apologies if it's not. It's just that most reviews do not include the venue capacity, or the length of the run, or the... I could go on here for the length of the original post.

I'm actually thinking of seeing this. I'm a huge Stoppard fan. I'd love to hear from anyone else who's seen the production.

You'd think that because it's Stoppard, it can't possibly be bad. But I've seen some really terrible fringe productions in the past (Tennessee Williams at the Courtyard, anyone?). You have to rely on recommendations for this sort of thing. Otherwise, it's about 10% hit, 90% miss.

[cellisima]

Hi Rainbow_carnage. Sorry if my post was not 'normal'. Since I'd never been to this theatre before, I thought it might be helpful for others to know that it was much easier to get to than the address sounds. I know it would help me if reading other reviews.
Guess I'll think twice about sharing my enthusiasm for something I've seen next time if this is the level of suspicion out there. I'm not a hugely experienced theatre goer (or forum poster, as you have pointed out), but enjoyed this one very much.

Hmm. Why does this sound like a shill to me? Apologies if it's not. It's just that most reviews do not include the venue capacity, or the length of the run, or the... I could go on here for the length of the original post.

I'm actually thinking of seeing this. I'm a huge Stoppard fan. I'd love to hear from anyone else who's seen the production.

You'd think that because it's Stoppard, it can't possibly be bad. But I've seen some really terrible fringe productions in the past (Tennessee Williams at the Courtyard, anyone?). You have to rely on recommendations for this sort of thing. Otherwise, it's about 10% hit, 90% miss.

[Backdrifter]

Never been to the Tabard so am considering it. I saw this play at the Donmar about 10 years ago. I liked it, but it might be tough going for anyone who's not interested in hearing Stoppard talking at length about writing.

Re the initial post in this thread; you often see posts in this fringe forum that are from company members, promoting their production. It irritates me a bit when it's thinly dressed up as a regular punter (not that cellisima has necessarily done that), they might as well just say they're from the company and some do. But ultimately, I'm always up for hearing about fringe productions here otherwise I might never know about them.

cellisima, carry on posting about fringe stuff, for that very reason.

[Weez]

Well, I'll post the length of a run if I'm trying to encourage friends to see things, otherwise they might miss it. It's not *totally* abnormal behaviour.

[Job]

There's a review of The Real Thing on the WOS fringe microsite:

http://www.whatsonstage.com/blogs/offwestend/?p=970#more-970

It's a shame, but things don't always link up on this site, so it can be hard to keep tabs. The WOS listings for this play don't even connect with the WOS review (as they usually do for their main page reviews).

One show recently had (1) a WOS review on the Off West-End & Fringe microsite, (2) a reader review under the show's listings and (3) a busy discussion thread here under 'musicals'. None of them seemed to mesh in any way, and nobody seemed to have spotted each other's material.

It's a pity, because there's some terrific stuff tucked away in the dark corners of this site.

Job

[rainbow_carnage]

Went to see this last night. The standard of the production is pretty high for a fringe theatre above a pub. Nigel Hastings was very good. Maybe too good. He's in a different league from the rest of the cast, and it shows. Lily Bevan wasn't bad, either, but her performance was much more laboured than Hastings'. Everyone else... well, what can I say. It's a fringe show in West London. I wasn't really expecting anything more.

Other than that, it's a straightforward production of a wonderful play. The material is strong enough to make up for many of the weaknesses. If you love Stoppard, it's worth your while to make the trek out to Turnham Green (take the District line as Piccadilly trains don't stop). Just don't expect it to be of the same standard as the original production.