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Culture vultures

Get tips on theatre and art from other Mumsnetters on our Culture forum.

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Original poster

I've just paid £130 to --ogle-- admire the acting abilities of David Tennant in the flesh - please tell me it will be money well spent

21 replies

Dumbledoresgirl · 21/01/2011 13:14

Especially given I have paid no heed to where dh and I will sleep that night, how we get to London, and only scant attention to who might have my 4 children for the night (grandparents' on a spoken promise although mother said ominously "yes we can have them - if we are all right then" - talk about morbid thinking!)

Anyway, what I mean to say is, despite recession, cuts in salary, credit crunch, loss of child benefit and the general fact that we have no spare money at all, I have bitten the bullet and bought tickets to see Much Ado About Nothing with David Tennant and Catherine Tate. Anyone else? Anyone seen DT acting live who can tell me what a wonderful night I am in for? Thanks.

OP posts:

MadreInglese · 21/01/2011 13:16

Original poster

Dumbledoresgirl · 21/01/2011 13:17

Knowing my luck, it will be the night the understudy gets his turn...

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Katisha · 21/01/2011 13:30

He was really good in Hamlet.
I think it's worth paying for a good night out at the theatre - people pay all sorts of money to stand at the back of the vast O2 - from the price I assume you have good seats, and it will be worth it.

MadreInglese · 21/01/2011 13:33

£130 for two tickets to see big names doesn't sound horrendous to me

You can get el cheapo train tickets with a few weeks notice and there's always good deals for hotels on lastminute.com or laterooms.com

neepsntatties · 21/01/2011 13:35

I am jealous! Don't worry I say, just enjoy!

Katisha · 21/01/2011 13:36

I'm a bit worried he'll decide to go on paternity leave when I have booked our tickets though...

TheReturnoftheSmartArse · 21/01/2011 13:41

Lucky you! I've also got two tickets but have promised them to the DDs (couldn't afford 4!). Enjoy it - take sarnies and a cardboard box to sleep in!

By the way, your children are a little bit gorgeous, aren't they? I just had a nosey sneak at your piccies.

Original poster

Dumbledoresgirl · 21/01/2011 16:07

Aww thanks smartarse - without looking at my profile though, I imagine they show them a bit younger than they are now as I haven't updated my profile for ages.

I hadn't thought about paternity leave. When is his baby due?

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LIZS · 21/01/2011 16:10

Saw him in Love's Labours' Lost and it was fab, but also got quite close up as it was in the round . We're taking dc to see Much Ado, nto cheap though even up in the Gods. Baby due in May I think. (We're going in July)

Original poster

Dumbledoresgirl · 21/01/2011 16:21

Phew, ours are for August. Also in the gods, but tickets were going before my very eyes so in the end I snatched what I could get.

OP posts:

TheReturnoftheSmartArse · 21/01/2011 16:38

July too so hopefully he'll be there. There wasn't much choice left when we looked earlier this week, to be honest, so you did the right thing just getting what you could.

teahouse · 21/01/2011 23:13

Jealous - I would so love to see this.

RustyBear · 04/08/2011 00:38

Dumbledoresgirl - if you haven't been yet, you can stop worrying if it'll be worth it - I've just come back from it and it was totally brilliant - haven't laughed like that for years, David Tennant is fantastic.

I didn't know we were going till 2 o'clock this afternoon - DD organised it as a surprise for my birthday: we were in the Royal Circle, so very good seats, but totally worth it!

RustyBear · 04/08/2011 13:39

I forgot to ask DD when/where she got the tickets - I don't know if she was incredibly organised & snapped them up in January, or whether she (or rather DH, who actually paid for them) paid over the odds more recently - I was just very glad she did! Even covered in paint, DT is very ogleable good at acting....

LIZS · 04/08/2011 13:48

Saw it a few weeks back and well worth it. Very slick and funny. Forgot to cover dd's eyes for the stripper though and fortunately she didn't "get" the rest of that scene ! The only thing we missed by being up so high was that the actors on wires disappeared out of view from time to time. DT's theatrical experience shows through, with an awareness of delivering to the whole auditorium, whereas CT's performance wasn't always as circumspect. You can queue for a limtied number of cheap tickets available on the day, would love to see it again !

Original poster

Dumbledoresgirl · 13/08/2011 16:58

Hey! Great to see this thread has been revisited!

I saw it on Thursday! I am very pleased to be able to announce to the world as a whole that David Tennant is a VERY GOOD actor indeed (I mean, I always thought he was, but until you see someone live, you can never be quite sure how much editing and general smoke and mirrors has gone into the performance). The audience were positively roaring with laughter at some parts and as a one-time regular theatre-goer, I have to say, I have rarely witnessed that before.

Catherine Tate did not impress me as much - her acting seemed to be a bit comic-strip, iyswim, and I was surprised not to get a feeling of chemistry between her and DT (I thought their chemistry in DW was very strong) but I was up in the gods, so maybe I was too far away to catch it.

PS, the only thing marring the show for me was being up in the Grand Circle - in my middle age, I have annoyingly developed vertigo, and I was practically clutching the wall behind me, trying not to fall down the rows of seats in front of me!

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MummyDoIt · 13/08/2011 17:03

I saw it a few weeks ago. I absolutely loved it and DT was amazing. Really had the audience in the palm of his hand. It was very, very funny.

Liskey · 13/08/2011 17:08

We saw it recently and DH loved it as well - and he's not really into Shakespeare - very good def worth the money!

WhereYouLeftIt · 24/08/2011 20:52

Just back from seeing this last night - loved it!! I'd read a few reviews that had sneered at the 80's setting, but I thought it worked really well. I'd got a hold of the Branagh/Thompson version on DVD so that DS (12) would know what it was about, but really shouldn't have bothered except that I drool over Denzel Washington as Don Pedro. As DH said, the Tennant/Tate version was completely understandable, even the phrases that go over your head (I'm thinking of bugles hanging from invisible baldricks) were cleared up by the tone of voice, pacing etc. Brilliantly funny at the points where Beatrice and Benedick are being set up, thinking they're overhearing secret conversations concerning themselves when they're actually being reeled in. Although the audience were laughing so loud at Beatrice, it drowned out what Hero and Margaret were saying. A great night, worth the money.

RustyBear · 18/12/2011 08:03

Just reviving this thread to say that Digital Theatre have made it available for online rental or download see here

I have downloaded the HD version (v big file about 3.5 Gb) and it looks very good quality, though I've only watched the first couple of minutes so far, as I want to save it till DD and I can watch together and she's working today. I might save it for a Christmas treat if I have the willpower....

Innkeeperno3 · 18/12/2011 08:10

Oh thank you! I will get it as couldn't see the show.

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