GHOSTS at BAM
GHOSTS at BAM
dave1606
Broadway Star Joined: 12/8/07
#1GHOSTS at BAM
Posted: 4/5/15 at 9:08pm
I caught the first show today, and have to say, this is a fantastic production, even better than the Dolls House from last year.
Lesley Mannville is giving a terrific performance. Her wit, emotion, and stage presence are phenomenal. The play at times reminded me of August:Osage County, and she really is the strong matriarch. She commands her household, and her humor is often quite funny. The play is ultimately devastating, and I became quite invested by the end, but Lesley's reactions and dry line readings really made this for me.
The rest of the cast is excellent, particularly Billy Howle as her son, who does some great work in the last act. The supporting players all are great.
The set is cleverly designed. There is a wall in the first room that is clear when it needs to be, and let's us see the action as people in the other room while a different scene takes place center stage. The lighting is stunning, especially with the final scene.
This production feels quite fresh, and engaging. The text really jumps off the page here. This is a thrilling 90 minutes, and I hope others will check it out.
#2GHOSTS at BAM
Posted: 4/5/15 at 9:39pm
I'm excited to see it in a couple weeks! Glad to hear you liked it.
ggersten
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/11/06
#2GHOSTS at BAM
Posted: 4/5/15 at 9:46pm
I saw this production in London (Trafalgar Studios) and it was spellbinding. Sitting in the first row, practically on stage just amplified the experience. Ms. Manville controlled that stage and ran everyone on stage and in the audience through several emotional twists and turns until the end. All the accolades and honors she won for her performance were well deserved. I think there was a cinema broadcast.
Fantod
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/3/14
#3GHOSTS at BAM
Posted: 4/5/15 at 9:55pm
If this is the same production available on Digital Theatre it's pretty incredible.
#4GHOSTS at BAM
Posted: 4/6/15 at 8:36am
I was at the matinee yesterday as well and I agree completely with dave and then some. It was so pulse pounding that I almost needed to go to the back and start pacing!
Lesley Manville is indeed giving a performance to rival Mirren and Mulligan; there must be something in the water over there that's giving them an edge. From the second she burst onto the stage to the final moments (aided by a stunning lighting effect), Manville easily elevated Helene to Nora and Hedda levels of strength and vitality. Her grand showdown with the priest where she revealed the truth about her husband was so juicy, and then as secret after secret was exposed and the devastation that loomed from the start began to descend on the characters, Manville was like a battering ram breaking down the gate of lies that surrounded her family. The physicality of her performance in the final scene had me gasping. I was truly thrilled to the core.
But it wasn't just about Manville. Charlenne McKenna was excellent as Regina and
SPOILER***********************
her lashing at Helene for keeping her as a servant all those years and never raising her as a daughter with an education and station was devastating. As much as I was rooting for Helene to triumph, this was a well-deserved pummeling that Manville ultimately used to her advantage by not shirking away from past crimes.
END SPOILER*********************
Billy Howie did nice work as Oswald too.
Richard Eyre's direction was sublime; the set and lighting absolutely first-rate.
This is must-see theater of the highest order.
Marie: Don't be in such a hurry about that pretty little chippy in Frisco.
Tony: Eh, she's a no chip!
#5GHOSTS at BAM
Posted: 4/6/15 at 8:40am
I caught the matinee yesterday, as well. It's a stunning production, and Manville is giving what might be the single best performance I've seen in a year. If you're interested I'd recommend buying your tickets now. I wouldn't be surprised at all if they became hard to come by after the raves are published.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
Updated On: 4/6/15 at 08:40 AM
#6GHOSTS at BAM
Posted: 4/15/15 at 11:51pm
I saw the show tonight and just have to say that I know this is not only the best show I've seen this year, it's also the best production of an Ibsen play I've ever seen and Lesley Manville is giving the best performance of 2015. If you have the ability to go see this, I'm seriously urging you to do it.
#7GHOSTS at BAM
Posted: 4/16/15 at 12:15am
Go see it if you can. I did a ludicrous blitz of seeing shows last week and this was in my top 2 favorites (Not counting shows I was seeing on Broadway for the first time). Lesley Manville is giving a performance of a lifetime that rivals the best and big names on Broadway.
and I typically am not a huge Ibsen fan, but I was taken by this. Go see it. Do it.
Updated On: 4/16/15 at 12:15 AM#8GHOSTS at BAM
Posted: 4/16/15 at 12:18am
The history books will write about Manville's performance here.
#9GHOSTS at BAM
Posted: 4/16/15 at 12:20am
So this is the same (production/cast) as the Digital Theatre version? I bought it a few weeks ago and haven't had time to watch, but all this praise has me excited.
Lesley Manville was also phenomenal in the film ANOTHER YEAR, for those who haven't seen it.
#10GHOSTS at BAM
Posted: 4/16/15 at 12:26am
Oh my God, I can't believe this was filmed. I had NO idea!!!
Fantod
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/3/14
#11GHOSTS at BAM
Posted: 4/16/15 at 12:27am
In case anyone is looking for it
http://www.digitaltheatre.com/production/details/henrik-ibsen-ghosts/play
#12GHOSTS at BAM
Posted: 4/16/15 at 12:28am
Yes, it is, but seeing her live was thrilling. I've seen Manville on stage 3 times before this in plays that I considered well done. She's just performing this so raw and passionately. When secrets begin to come out and her emotions come forth, you feel her breaking and fighting every step of the way.
Fantod
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/3/14
#14GHOSTS at BAM
Posted: 4/16/15 at 12:42am
Sadly they are not. Even more annoying is that the file downloads as an FLV, meaning that you can't play it through normal video players (you have to download their buggy one) and it's virtually impossible to convert. But it's better than nothing.
#15GHOSTS at BAM
Posted: 4/16/15 at 12:45am
It may be possible to convert the video file with a program like Handbrake, but I haven't tried yet.
Fantod
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/3/14
#16GHOSTS at BAM
Posted: 4/16/15 at 12:51am
I don't think so, because FLV files aren't recognized as video files. If you have Adobe Flash, you can play your file through that.
mordav
Understudy Joined: 1/14/13
#17GHOSTS at BAM
Posted: 4/16/15 at 3:02am
I saw this last week and agree with all the accolades. Great production.
I sat in the gallery and the view is pretty ordinary, but the seats are the most uncomfortable I have ever encountered.
To those of you who sat here for the duration of The Iceman Cometh, I salute you. You are made of stronger stuff than me.
#18GHOSTS at BAM
Posted: 4/19/15 at 9:34pm
Was at the Saturday night performance, and second what everyone else has written. It really puts old man Ibsen back into the company of living breathing contemporary playwrights where he belongs. I'm sure I hadn't looked at the script for GHOSTS since it was required reading during my undergraduate days. We were taught that he was a revolutionary in the art of playmaking but until now I had never seen it. (HEDDA GABLER and A DOLL'S HOUSE never made a convincing case to me.) Finally witnessing this production which is so incredibly full of juice and detail and humor and terror has given me a thoroughly new appreciation for the genius of Ibsen all over again.
Gorgeous acting by all 5 cast members, gorgeous staging, absolutely ravishing design on all fronts, this is what 100 minutes of theater is supposed to feel like and seldom does. Rush off to BAM and fast before this show is over and gone, and all that is left are... ghosts....
Updated On: 4/19/15 at 09:34 PM
#19GHOSTS at BAM
Posted: 4/19/15 at 10:01pm
I wonder if this has any chance of transferring. Does anyone know?
#20GHOSTS at BAM
Posted: 4/19/15 at 10:06pm
Just saw it today and thought it was beautifully done.
I can't personally predict whether this will transfer to Broadway, but I think it absolutely deserves to. Considering the acclaim that Mannville and the production have garnered on the West End, I don't think it's out of the question.
RippedMan
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/14/05
#21GHOSTS at BAM
Posted: 4/19/15 at 10:14pm
I liked it okay. I've never really seen Ibsen, only read him. So wasn't sure what to expect. But I liked it. It grew on me more at the end, but I also found myself sooo uncomfortable in the balcony. Funnily, I sat in the last row of the balcony for Iceman and it was fine, and for Streetcar, but this time i was a few rows down and could not get comfortable. I think it's because the seats slant forward a little?
henrikegerman
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/29/05
#22GHOSTS at BAM
Posted: 4/22/15 at 10:29am
An outstanding production in every respect. The set is superb. The one act form ratchets up everything. Not a single false move from the cast. And Manville is giving one of the great performances.
#23GHOSTS at BAM
Posted: 4/22/15 at 10:51am
I swear, I haven't stopped thinking about this since I saw it. I was offered tickets to go again last night but declined because it's just too soon and I'm still processing it. It's not selling very well at BAM so I think a transfer is very unlikely.
wonkit
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/30/08
#24GHOSTS at BAM
Posted: 4/22/15 at 11:14am
Saw this last night. Richard Eyre's adaptation makes Ibsen playable, which won me over almost immediately. Playing through without an intermission made the tension build very effectively. I must say the accents of Regina and her father in the first scene set me back quite a bit, though. I felt like I lost a lot of the actual dialogue, even though the sense of their troubled relationship was clear.
The set is one of the most extraordinary I have ever seen, and the lighting design was like another character, especially at the end. I thought the cast was excellent although Manville and Billy Howle as Oswald were acting with a single heartbeat, their rapport was so breath-taking.
The man next to me was sobbing audibly at the end - kind of a shame as it pulled me out of the experience. It was that powerful but I thought the degree of grief he exhibited had just a touch of "look at me" about it.
I am not going to ever truly appreciate Ibsen, but last night got me as close as I am ever likely to be.
