I can't do it alone 🙋
My thoughts on Andrew Scott's solo Vanya plus last chance for £15 London Theatre Week tickets
I sit writing this slightly delayed newsletter after a lovely birthday weekend of food and theatre (of course). And it’s not quite over yet as I head to Chichester to see The Sound of Music this afternoon. But it all started with a long awaited trip to see the one-man Vanya starring Andrew Scott in Richmond on Friday, before it heads to the West End for a very sold out run! I’m glad I bought my ticket as soon as they went on sale.
It should be noted that Richmond Theatre is a great one to buy full price cheap seats for. This view cost me £30 and I really didn’t feel that far from the stage. It was unrestricted too for this show. It’s a shame however that I wasn’t massively taken with the play itself. Sadly I seem to buck the trend with all the hyped, sold-out, ‘big name’ shows this year (I didn’t care for A Little Life either).
For context, this version of Uncle Vanya has been co-created by Andrew Scott himself along with adapter Simon Stephens and director Sam Yates, and Andrew plays all of the parts. I came in completely fresh to Vanya with no knowledge of the story or characters and sadly this probably hindered my enjoyment of it. In the first 10 minutes the direction and acting made the difference between the characters particularly obvious. But that soon waned and I just found myself lost trying to keep up with the story itself. Don’t get me wrong, it was a masterclass in acting from Andrew Scott and I’m glad I saw it. But I worry the ‘one-man show’ element is just a gimmick for a few laughs at some points and I didn’t actually see what the benefit or point was to doing it. There also seemed to be some intense emotional moments that were lost without multiple actors giving those reactions to each other. A shame but I await the reviews with much interest.
Happy ticket-buying!
Rochelle ðŸŽðŸŽ«
Carrying the banner
In the news this week…
Police escort four audience members from Grease in the West End
Romeo + Juliet performance halted by climate emergency protestors’ stage invasion
VAULT Festival in February and March ‘won’t be going ahead’
Fan campaign confirms lost Operation Mincemeat character details
I’m kind of a big deal
This is your very last chance to take advantage of London Theatre Week! There’s discounts on top shows all over the capital with tickets starting at just £15, including big West End hits such as Jersey Boys, Crazy For You, Grease, Noises Off and The Choir of Man. There’s also tickets at £25, £35 and £45 - in my opinion some of the best value seats are at the £25 price bracket.
There’s tickets available for shows throughout the next few weeks but this huge discount event ends tonight! Here’s some of the agents involved in the offer so pick your favourite and try not to bankrupt yourself.
Hey big spender
Here’s your discounts, offers and cheap seats this week.
Blippi - the Wonderful World Tour has extended its Kids Week offer, so you can continue to get £10 tickets this week at the Rose Theatre. Valid on performances until 9 Sep.
Get 2 for 1 tickets for The Threepenny Opera at the Cockpit. Use code TKTS241 - this makes the tickets £11.75 each on weeknights and £14.75 on weekends.
Get 25% off tickets for Dumbledore is So Gay at Southwark Playhouse Borough this week. Use code FRINGERETURN, valid for performances 4-8 Sep. The code works on concession tickets too, making those £15.50 and full price £20.
And get £25 tickets for Everybody’s Talking About Jamie in Manchester this week. This is just for performances on 7 & 8 Sep.
Don’t throw away your shot
Competitions, on-sales and announcements.
I’m always chuffed to hear about things that will help you select a seat that you’re happy with when booking theatre tickets. So it’s great that ATG will be rolling out a ‘view from seat’ feature across all of their venues. Of course some are already on Seat Plan but this will be available when booking and give you a rough idea straight away.
Booking dates have been announced for the highly anticipated Spirited Away stage adaptation arriving in London next year. Advance booking opens 5 Sep at 10am - you can still sign up to receive a link to this. Otherwise general booking opens 7 Sep at 10am.
Choreographer Drew McOnie will open a new jazz adaptation of Nutcracker at a purpose built venue at the Southbank Centre in October. Tickets go on general sale on 6 Sep.
A new Billie the Kid musical will get its UK premiere at two concerts later this year at the Vaudeville Theatre. Tickets are on sale now.
Both Mamma Mia! and Witness for the Prosecution have announced extensions through to Sep 2024, with tickets already on sale for the new dates.
And finally, win tickets to see The Barricade Boys plus dinner.
That’s all for this week. If you enjoyed the newsletter, please tell your friends. I’m also open to suggestions and requests for certain discounts, so do drop into my DMs. Right, time to head to Chichester for the final performance of The Sound of Music! 🎶
