Spoilers and chat - Inside No 9 Stage/Fright

[EmeraldRoulette]

Thought I would start a thread for those of us who have seen it.

I could talk about this show for hours but I'll start with...

Toby. The first time I saw it, when he comes on stage for the Macbeth scene - even I did a double take and I had quite a good view of the stage. So I leaned forward ... and thought is that Reece...no it's not. My friend also leaned forward to check!

So if you were sitting higher up, did you realise that wasn't Reece? Because if you didn't, it would be quite confusing. Of course Toby then goes off and Reece comes in having purchased his bag of nuts and this time wearing glasses. Then I thought I must've been mistaken and it must've been Reece all along!

I also thought the way they swapped them out at the end was amazing. I mean you can't hear a thing and they are having to do that in pitch dark.

Next... Bloody Belle and the widower ghost. Neither of these are actually "true" in ghost lore. It doesn't surprise me at all that they've been created because the director is Simon Evans. I think he wrote and directed "Vanishing Man" and at one stage, the Internet was full of people who thought Hugh Cedar was a real person. I'm fairly sure he's not....

I haven't checked to see if Wyndham's actually staged a production of "Terror in the asylum", but I don't think they did.

I have heard that some people were disappointed to have 20 minutes of an episode basically recreated on stage. But I thought the way they did it was amazing. Especially Steve just "disappearing"....

It was much more joyful and emotional than I was expecting it to be. I'm really glad about that because I came out of there feeling totally uplifted both times.

really interested to hear all thoughts!

There's currently one seat available for tonight! I was tempted but there's lots of seats available for the tour which would work out cheaper even with travel!

my money is on Derek Jacobi and Bernie Clifton for the last two shows. I imagine Bernie Clifton would be having a go at Steve for ruining his ostrich!

Ooh joining you here - settles in

This is a SPOILER right

I loved it the ending where Steve announced Reeces death we were all Wtf? He was so sincere and for an awful second ....until he said about the programmes being printed.😂
Theg have a long running joke between them of Steve pretends to be dead on the floor of his office

Our guest the very tall Richard Osman the bit where he is shot and falls down the stairs ( very obvious dummy being thrown) 😂

I agree that the Toby stuff was brilliantly done. I didn't realize that it wasn't Reece at the curtain call for AGES!😁

Absolutely loved the opener. Should be shown before every theatre show for ever more

Adored the live violinists playing the theme tune!

They're just both so bloody brilliant. I'm in awe of their talent and endless creativity

@Lottapianos oh that's interesting. So did you realise it wasn't Reece at the very beginning? I mean for the Macbeth scene. That must've been a very strange experience if you didn't realise it wasn't him even at the end? I was in awe thinking of how they did the swap!

I agree that opener should be shown as a warning at everything 😂 Maybe they should make it a public information advert. I was really glad that they included someone on a laptop because I've had that!!! I didn't kill her, but I did embarrass her apparently!

The violinists were a joy.

@70isaLimitNotaTarget sorry if I'm being thick but what do you mean that you were all wtf... You mean you didn't think they'd write that as a story?

I really loved what they've done with "tears of laughter". We need a single on Spotify!

News on social media that the matinee went wrong today and the screen didn't work in the second half. I have no idea how they got past that one. Really hope it all goes well for the last night.

I was sitting really far back so didn’t realise it wasn’t Reece until they projected a massive photo of Toby with the celebrity guest and then I was very confused!

Loved it all.

'So did you realise it wasn't Reece at the very beginning?'

I did. Well, I registered that it wasn't Reece, but then quickly moved on because there was so much else happening. Had TOTALLY forgotten Toby by the curtain call!

I was at the matinee. Video screen broke so we had 20 min interval plus 30 mins of waiting. They kept us updated and then said they'd go ahead with the second act with some changes that RS and SP had come up with during the wait. Everyone was very understanding as there was clearly a lot of love for SP and RS in the audience and these things happen with live theatre. There was also a medical emergency in the grand circle (audience member was okay afterwards, thank god🙏) but I didn't understand the ending's reveal as I'd missed a bit. Was it not RS at the beginning Macbeth theatre scene? And can anyone explain what the video projection showed?

@Zombella i'm trying to think what they came up with to cover it.

So what should have happened is that a video screen would have gone backstage and shown the activity of a ghost who would eventually scare off the actress that they didn't want playing the part. So it was the director and the understudy who conspired to make that happen.

How did they present it today?

with the Macbeth scene, when the man who kills everyone first takes his seat, it's Toby. He goes out to buy his packet of nuts - a murder weapon 😂 - and when he comes to sit down again, it's Reece. So members of the audience who can see clearly will be aware of the swap but those who can't see clearly would be fooled.

So the reveal of Toby is not that big of a surprise unless as @Lottapianos said you've forgotten that you saw him. I can completely see why you would forget because there's so much going on!

You had a good guest! Did they say anything to the audience afterwards? They must be pissed off. I mean these things happen - but for the penultimate show that must be a real pisser.

they were so much going on, I was really hoping they would release a copy of the script. I presume if they're going to do that, it won't be until after the tour.

Thanks for replying. Yep, missed the video screen bit of the ghost. And I didn't get the swap with Toby at all! So the reveal made no sense to me. But hey ho, I still enjoyed it. Oh and during the break, the stage manager and then director (I think) apologised for the disruption and did it in such a funny way that it made us all laugh and it was impossible to feel cross about it. During the bit when the video should have happened, there were funny quips from the cast about the situation too. So overall, I enjoyed it.

When they put up reeces obituary photo there were murmers of horror along our row .....how the hell did we not know he.d died .......just for a few seconds then you twig its not something they.d do .

It was a very clever twist that they sort of pinched from Control alt escape ( the escape room one where theg said in the final show someone replaced Steve)?

@Zombella yes, thinking about it, the story is the same without the screens. You missed a few jump scares so no grey hairs for you after this performance! 😂

@70isaLimitNotaTarget have I understood this correctly - Some people thought Reece had actually died?

I groaned because it just made me uncomfortable basing a play on your own death...a death that happened during a play... I suppose that's my superstition. And also I cannot bear the thought of him dying 😭

I think the entire cast and crew are extraordinary. I wonder if they will be taking the same actors on the tour. They have been brilliant and are probably underrated. I never went to get anything signed so I don't know if they come out as well. I'm sure they have bright futures ahead of them.

In the past when I've done stage door, I've noticed that less famous actors are pleasantly surprised when you ask them to sign things.

oh I nearly forgot

One of my favourite moments was Reece doing the Elements song. You could think for hours "what's the most unexpected thing we could put in at this point" and still not come up with that 😂

The Elements Song was inspired 😁 loved that .
The sawing off of the leg was a bit of Mother's Ruin too,

We were quite near the front Row E the expression on the Nurses face was priceless
I was racking my brain trying to think where I'd seen the stagecrew before , it was Mia in Loves Great Adventure The one who bursts into the rehearsal scene to ask who wanted coffee .

I was at the matinee yesterday afternoon. We had about an hour and a bit interval, with stage manager coming out twice to apologise for the delay, then they said that they had rewitten it, basically, to allow for the absence of the critical bit of kit. As we were told that it was a video screen it meant that jokes about not using it were able to be added in.

We had Louis Theroux as our celebrity guest, he was great, and he also watched the second half from the box on the top left hand front.

I LOVED the violinists. I spotted it wasnt Reece at the start. Im not sure what I thought had happened and why that actor had been there and left. I assumed he just left because those people were rude, and then Reece wasnt prepared to do that. I actually didnt make the connection that he was Toby at the end. duh.

It was my sons 19th birthday outing. He really loved it, although he didnt get alot of the 70s showbiz references.

The end of Bernie Winters made me cry a bit. Id forgotten that too. I loved the kidnappers. And during that part RS did mess his lines a little and did start laughing too much and couldnt deliver because SP was really hamming it up

@70isaLimitNotaTarget I had to turn away from the screen so many times in Mother's ruin!

@NettleTea I have been thinking this over and I can actually see how the play is alright without that backstage video screen.

RS didn't seem to break into laughter at all in the kidnapper scene when I saw it - I would've liked to have seen that.

with Toby coming on at the beginning of Macbeth - when he went off it also struck me that he was just an audience member who had left for some reason. It only made sense when he appeared again, getting up from the floor after we had seen Reece fall down, but I had no idea what they were going to do with it.

did we all think that the hat box was going to contain a head?

yes I was sure the hat box had a head in it, but that was all distraction. It would have been too predictable, especially as the lights lit it up at some point.

My son LOVED when RS came in as the 'mad doctor' - the way he crab walked about, it was pure League of Gentleman territory, and the song!!

I assumed Toby was a member of the audience who walked out, because Im so besotted with RS I knew it wasnt him. My son hadnt noticed that it wasnt him. He did however notice something very odd - before the show started, when they might have been playing some music, they were playing the sound of a woman coughing, on a loop. That was quite odd. He does notice stuff like that, and once Id heard it too, I couldnt not hear it. It was coming from the wrong place and was most definately repeating. Ive no idea what that was about

@NettleTea oh my God! I remember that cough from the first time. I said to my friend "someone's got a terrible cough." I didn't realise it was on a loop but we were talking excitedly.

I don't remember it the second time though. And in the talky bit after the theatre sketch, RS did actually say "no coughing" which I thought was a bit ridiculous. I mean, no one coughs on purpose at the theatre. Unlike the rest of it, of course.

I wonder if they had taken it out by the time I saw it a second time. There were a few changes.

I am re-visiting this thread as it's a Spoiler Chat one

If anyone has seen the show more than once , does it change at all ?
I saw it in March and just managed to get tickets for the tour in November
Apart from the Theatre (won;t be the Wyndham) and the guest star , they;ll work those into the script .

DD and I are going , (DH is swerving this one )
We re watched Psychoville after the stage show as there's a lot in the 2nd half .
Need to re watch LoG too .
..............................................................................
Ok Ok it;s a Stealth Boast as I am going again

Im going to see it in Canterbury, so joining the 'lets see it again' party. As we had the technical breakdown I am expecting the second half to be different.

I am also very disappointed that I was unable to get tickets to the BFI psychoville thing last Sunday

I just think it will be different because they want to have some fun with it

They can run the Bloody Belle story if they like because it's not actually "true".

i'm going to see if there's any tickets available nearer the time, probably for the one in Surrey. Not sure which performance is closest to me.

We saw it in Birmingham and the guest was Gary Wilmot, I was quite disappointed as no one seemed to know who he was (we definitely had no idea) and it doesn't sound like it was as fun as the shows with bigger stars.

Im really hoping that after Christmas they decide to do anoher round of shows. And come down to Brighton or even better hastings/Bexhill

and I then would probably blow my new term student loan on a ticket for every night

I missed the Toby thing at the start- I thought it was meant to be a different audience member. I was a a bit 😳 when the photo of ‘RS’, SP and guest appeared at the end.
I found the experience of knowing I had just been watching RS on stage, but then doubt my own sanity when SB started with the tribute 😆.
Absolutely loved it- they are so talented.
Abi was played by a local lass as well, which everyone loved

Did SP say "Well we've already had the programmes printed ...."

My DD has stayed away from Spoilers and I haven't told her any so I'm hoping she'll love it when she sees it . (She will )

Yes he did- it was then me head finally worked it out 😆
In my defense, it had been a tough week…🤦🏼‍♀️