Back from London. Here are my theatrical observations. (Long) — Page 2

Is Matt Rawle the same one from the recent Evita revival?

Can't speak for the original poster, but my trip (one person only) was a British Airways package deal - hotel included, 2 nights free- round trip from Toronto Canada. I believe it was something like $1500 Canadian. So maybe $1300 US? Of course the ticket prices were additional and the hotel (Royal National) was not first class but acceptable.

Oliver and War Horse were both great! Zorro was better than I expected, but the book had holes big enough to drive a Mack truck through. Sunset was brilliant!

"Is Matt Rawle the same one from the recent Evita revival? "

Yes.

BTW, with regards to the RSC production of Hamlet, which starred David Tennant, there is a petition up requesting that a DVD be made of the performance. It's got well over 5000 signatures at the moment. There has been a bit of publicity about it in the British Press, and the RSC is considering the possibility. Information can be found in this message thread on the West End Board:


Petition for DVD of David Tennant's Hamlet

Updated On: 1/26/09 at 12:32 PM

"Any idea what the British acting community thinks of this?"

You could try asking on the West End board.

I'm not a theatre-professional but there are plenty of people on the West End board who are.

homeimp - I took advantage of the same deal from Chicago. Single round-trip ticket plus one night hotel (and breakfast) was $550. Though I'm in a huge battle with BA regarding the Terms and Conditions of the promotion. According to their own detailed Terms and Conditions, you must buy a round-trip ticket from the U.S. to qualify for the hotel promotion. The number of nights free is determined on the occupancy of the hotel room (one night for single, two nights for double or more). So I bought one round-trip ticket for myself since my partner is meeting me from Spain. Since the occupancy of the hotel room will be two, by their own Terms and Conditions, I deserve two free nights, but the website will not allow you to choose "2" when reserving the hotel if you have only bought one round-trip ticket. When I phone BA to ask about it, I was told I was stupid, greedy and manipulative by the Supervisor, who then said she would send an email to the corporate office to have to the Terms and Conditions rewritten (which is sounds like an admission of wrongdoing). She would never let me finish a sentence and just kept loudly interrupting me and saying the same thing over and over. She said there was no other person above her to speak to. Period. And she told me that in all her years of working for BA and in all the years of having this promotion, I was the only customer to have ever pointed this out.

Now, I know she may not have the authority to do anything, but she could have simply said so and directed me to the corporate office (for which she refused to give any information other than the email link on the website) and I might have dropped it. But to have received such a thorough verbal beating for simply asking them to comply by their own Terms and Conditions, I sent a message off to the corporate office detailing the conversation, date and time, and her name. Having been previously yelled at over Christmas for calling regarding a lost piece of baggage, I can only assume I will receive no reply.

It is a great deal, but flying BA always comes with a price. Compared to BA, American Airlines even seems friendly.

Check the Terms and Conditions. BA claims by phone that the number of free nights is determined by the number of round-trip tickets purchased. But they sure don't have that in writing. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the link at the bottom that says "Full terms and conditions". They pop up in a separate window. Scroll down to "Hotel offer terms and conditions". Read items 1, 5, and 6.


British Airways Redefines English Language

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Updated On: 1/26/09 at 03:48 PM

I was just in London myself for a theatre course. We saw about 20 shows in two weeks. I entirely understand what you're saying about the British relationship to theatre. It's incredibly palpable but at the sake time I have difficulty pinpointing why I feel that it is palpable. At the same time, there seems to be much less interest in celebrity. Far less stage dooring seems to go on. I was shocked when only one other person wanted to see Derek Jacobi after Twelfth Night. There are exceptions, of course. I know David Tennant attracted hordes of fans, and there was a respectable showing even when he was out.

Because of the course, I was able to see a lot of sold out shows, including A Little Night Music, Hamlet, and The Family Reunion at the Donmar. An amazing experience, no less for the city and the culture as the theatre.

The weather was lovely whilst I was there. I believe it was only unbearably chilly one day.