YourComments

What did you think of the show?

This is the page where we would like you to tell us about your theatre experiences. Please do say if you enjoyed a show, or even if you didn’t – your feedback is important to us. It’s simple, we only have this one page for you to add your comments, so whichever show you have visited please tell us your thoughts below.

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72 thoughts on “YourComments

  1. Evening all afternoon
    I thought this was one of the best plays I have seen and the acting was fantastic from both actors. I was gripped from the start. Sorry to see it was not a full house, unusual for the Donmar.

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  2. Evening All Afternoon
    A very sensitive play about grief and love.Two women from different backgrounds and generations try to overcome the ghosts of their past.They are both haunted by the memories of their late mothers.They are thrown together by the marriage of the younger’s father to the older woman.There was both humour and sadness in their endeavours to come to terms with with each other.
    Tremendous acting by Anastasia Hille and Erin Kellyman.
    I was surprised to see empty seats in the theatre for such an engrossing performance.
    Thank you for a night to remember.

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  3. Evening All Afternoon

    What a wonderful evening of theatre! From the moment Anastasia Hille began speaking in her role as the thoroughly beige, English, Jennifer, I was captivated. Those of us of a certain age in the audience could immediately relate to some of the issues and memory lapses she described. Her body language was fantastic; she exhibited that sort of tortured nervousness that can be displayed by some people, women particularly maybe, who lack social confidence and have low self-esteem. As the play went on, however, we discover there is considerable strength of character and a wealth of kindness below this surface.

    The play offered the younger generation an opportunity to self-identify also, with the character of the apparently brash American step-daughter, Delilah, played by Erin Kellyman. As the play develops we need to adjust our views of the two characters and their relationship and bear in mind the central magic message that things are not always as they appear, or indeed that what appears may not be there at all.

    All this is dealt with through humour and intense emotion. The central concern of the play, the relationship between child and mother, is the only relationship one can be sure that most of the audience will have experienced. This is one of the many reasons why I feel sure anyone who sees this play will enjoy it. Added to some heavy stuff were many laughs, particularly in the early part, and a series of running jokes, many linguistic, about the differences between the English and Americans. Thank you Fredo and Mike (and of course John and Maggie) for providing me with the opportunity to experience this excellent night out.

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  4. EVENING ALL AFTERNOON
    That was one of the best things I’ve seen in years. Up there with The Lehman Brothers. Really envy you going to see it again. The writing, direction, staging and of course the incredible acting were all superb. Lorna and I were talking about it all the way home, and it was the first thing I thought about this morning. Fantastic, I wouldn’t give it 5 stars I’d give it 10!!!
    Pauline

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  5. Evening All Afternoon

    Two women with many differences but also many similarities. Two very different personalities but can they find common ground despite their differences as the one person they both love is one of the common threads that is weaved throughout the play?

    We found it engrossing as soon as Jennifer opened the play and quickly the action turned towards Delilah and her story. The set design and good use of lighting added to the performance.

    Thanks Fredo and Mike for another great evening at the Donmar.

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  6. Arcadia

    A thought provoking and entertaining play from one of Tom Stoppard’s most well received comedy dramas.

    Good use of lighting and the stage set made it more intimate for the audience.

    Good acting with Bernard Nightingale giving an exceptional performance.

    Many thanks Fredo and Mike.

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  7. Arcadia
    Monica and Robin
    Another enthralling play to be seen and a shame Stoppard not here to see how he captured the audience with his cleverness.
    Worked exceptionally well in the round with all the cast (not knowing any of them) playing their parts extremely well.
    Thank you Mike and Fredo for another thoroughly enjoyable evening.

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  8. Arcadia

    I found both the play and the acting superb. It is always good to hear an audience relax into laughter early on and this play has many entertaining moments. Yes, there is much heavier stuff but I enjoy the academic duelling of Hannah and Bernard and the wonderful, youthful vivacity of Thomasina. The friend I viewed this with suggested that Thomasina is so named because she carries Tom Stoppard’s genius and insatiable curiosity for all things. What an interesting play this is! It carries so much but in the end for me it is about time and relationships. The acting of Isis Hainsworth (Thomasina) was brilliant and I also felt Prasanna Puwanarajah (Bernard) made considerable impact in what can be a tricky part while Seamus Dillane as Septimus was also thoroughly convincing.

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  9. Arcadia
    What a great afternoon at the Old Vic. I thought the production was excellent and worked well in the round. The cast, mostly unknown to me, was so good, especially Isis Hainsworth as Thomasina. Stoppard has such a clever way with words and we are drawn into Arcadia with humour from the beginning. I’m certainly no mathematician nor a classics scholar but that really didn’t matter. I loved it. Thanks, as always, to Fredo and Mike.

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  10. Arcadia
    Slght division in our household. Steve the mathematician and computer expert absolutely loved this play. I thought it was extremely clever and thoughtful and I liked the comparisons made by Thomasina between nature and science. There was plenty of humour – very necessary. The cast were top notch and the idea of two different timelines happening at once was different.
    A good tribute to Tom Stoppard’s to stage it in London now we agreed.

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  11. Arcadia

    Any comments I might have made have been covered, with much more eloquence, by the previous contributors. I had hopes that my A level studies in pure and applied maths might have been beneficial but, alas, not that much. Fortunately the essence of the play stands on its own but, even more fortunately, there was someone for whom the science did provide a catalyst. Reading about the play on Wiki, there is a section which states that the surgeon Michael Baum was so inspired by the play that his research into chemotherapy for breast cancer led to the the use of tamoxifen with a significant reduction in mortality rates. Unintended but hugely beneficial consequences of Stoppard’s imagination, thankfully.

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  12. ARCADIA
    It was a privilege to see Arcadia at The Old Vic yesterday. Thanks for the opportunity. The whole thing was top-notch. It was such a clever play (done cleverly) and certainly, in parts, too clever for me. What was so appealing was the inclusion of so much humour. The auditorium was full which made for a lively and entertaining atmosphere.
    Michael

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