Free Theatre/Concert Tickets Discussion Thread

[pcRock]

While it wasn't free (though I did get a good deal £12 for top price tickets instead of £39.50!) I want to mention Spamalot which I saw in Richmond last night. Not being familiar with the film it's based on (Monthy Python and the Holy Grail) or much of the Monthy Python humour really, I had no idea what to expect but it certainly wasn't the show I ended up watching. It was absolutely over the top ridiculous, yet it was also very funny. It was really up-to-date with recent affairs as well with mentions of Susan Boyle, Simon Cowell, etc. (VERY funny mentions). I am still not quite sure what exactly it was that I watched, but I do know I had a good time and the songs were fab and very catchy. 8.5/10

Seriously? You've never watched the Holy Grail? I've watched it so many times that I know it almost by heart.
I saw Spamalot 5 years ago in London, and while it was fun, it was just so similar to the film that I didn't think it was that great.

[TheDude]

Interesting article in the Evening Standard about the mice problem in West End theatres. The Old Vic is one of the places mentioned. They say three quarters of West End venues are "infested with rats, mice and fleas". That's pretty shocking.

[Beate]

Well they are old buildings, I am not really that surprised. Apparently lots of theatres have cats they let out at night.

[thekraken]

Just got back from the Old Vic, thanks for the Duchess of Malfi tickets! Show was a little intense, but good performances all round.

No sign of rats, thankfully!

[redgrant]

The Duchess of Malfi was great. Saw it this afternoon. It pa*d off to download the play onto Kindle a few days back (free on Amazon) for a quick read through and get a gist of what happens. My second theatre freebie after the Houdini Experience. Think I might go for the live shows now as often as the films.

[prettyxcool]

Belated review of King's Speech. Went to the matinee last Thursday. Lovely to sit with mandmc10, thanks for collecting my tickets so we could sit together. We had very good seats in the stalls, very near the front.

I really enjoyed this. Thought the whole cast was fab, and the two leads, Charles Edwards and Jonathan Hyde were excellent and I even got photos with them, five minutes after the show at the backstage door. Jonathan Hyde apologised that he still had his make up on! I told him that was even better for the photo shoot.

[opas]

My sister went to Noises Off last Tuesday, just told me all about it. She mentioned that there were a lot of stars including Ronnie Corbitt, Mary Portas and quite a few nameless socialites (or so she thought). Like prettyxcool she was also sitting in the grand circle, a little high for her liking but she was also surprised to see there was a higher level (goodness knows what they could see).

Sounds like it was a lot of fun and glad some forum members even had the privilege of sitting in one of the boxes! May I ask, what time did you collect your tickets for the box? I know there isn't really any method to how theatres distribute the SFF tickets but I'm just interested.

My sister also didn't realise it would be starting at 7pm but luckily got there about 6.20pm to collect the tickets. That could have been an "oops!" moment as she overlooked the time but got there early in any case.

[kevinknapman]

Saw Long Day's Journey into Night yesterday. Thought it was an excellent but incredibly bleak play. The acting was impressive from all involved with David Suchet reliably excellent. Though it was Laurie Metcalf who was the revelation as Mary, having only really been aware of her as Roseanne's sister. The actor's playing the sons were also very good, especially Kyle Soller as the Eugene O'Neill substitute Edmund. If it's as half as autobiographical as it claims to be it definitely makes you sympathise with Eugene O'Neill, as that is one messed up family. It's not exactly surprising that he didn't want it published until 25 years after his death and that it not be performed at all, as it's uncomfortably raw and personal stuff.
Not exactly the cheeriest of plays then but definitely worth seeing for O'Neill's excellent dialogue and a strong cast.

As for the theatre I have to say the lack of a decent rake in the dress circle is a bit of a problem. I would be pretty pissed off if I'd pa*d a lot for those seats. I was fairly lucky that the only part of the stage I couldn't see properly was the right hand part where the chaise longue was. Other than that I had a fairly clear view from my row D seat near the aisle.

[ejwrank]

Reposting this here as stupidly put it in the wrong place... many thanks to a_person for so kindly getting us the tickets.

We were lucky and had excellent seats in the stalls for A Long Day's Journey into Night and my view of the stage was excellent. The two people sitting in front of us left at the interval which was nice as she was translating what was going on for her partner at the beginning until I told her to please be quiet.

We thought the first half (about 1 hour 40 minutes and that was the first 3 acts of the play) were terrific. After the interval we found the final act to be slightly disappointing but overall we were very impressed. It started at 7 pm and finished around 10 pm or so. We feared it would be a test of endurance but didn't find that to be the case at all.

[fetta]

I really want to see this and was thinking of actually p*ying for it. Were there free tickets for it? If yes then maybe there will be some more soon