Billie Piper to reprise her Olivier Winning performance in "Yerma" in NYC — Page 4

What a brilliant show. Billie Piper gave a tour de force performance, and Brendan Cowell was also excellent. Very dark material, but ingeniously staged.

Armory is a beautiful venue too. Our seats were halfway up, and we clearly saw and heard everything going on in the glass box.

bowtie7 said: "Another question--being only familiar with the NTL broadcast--does the live show include the chapters & titles during the interludes (and if so, how so)?"

I saw it on the second to last row and I have to agree that the view and the sound were not an issue at all, if anything it was too loud as there was a speaker right above us. I loved how crisp the sound was, there was almost this movie like quality to it, you could hear every little small sound and movement.

Updated On: 4/15/18 at 11:21 AM

Saw it on Friday. Absolutely worth the hype.

LxGstv said: "there was almost this movie like quality to it, you could heaer every little small sound and movement."

Agree. Part of the sound design's creating this impression was the set itself. The glass box acting almost as a proxy for a movie screen. Also based on an interview I saw with Piper, the cast only partially hears the audience because the sound coming from the house reaches them only from above through the set's open ceiling. I wonder if that also helped create the impression of watching a movie.

FutureDirector said: "Any chance this transfers? It's selling out the armory and that's close to a midsize Broadway Theater (around 800 seats)"

I think a transfer would normally be a no-brainer, but the way this production is designed, there truly isn't a space this could work in on Broadway. Even if they kept the design as-is and did on stage seating, I think sightlines from a Broadway house's mezzanine would be too partial for this to work (since the proscenium height/viewing window for this production is so short).

Slightly off-topic, but I'm still praying for a People, Places & Things transfer once Denise Gough wins her Tony for Angels in America. That successfully transferred to a proscenium house in the West End, and is the more probable of the two productions.

Agree that the challenges in finding a Broadway house where this show would have anywhere near the impact it delivers at the Armory would probably prove prohibitive (how's that for alliteration?).

The more pressing question might be when we will see the ingenious Simon Stone, the marvelous Brendan Cowell and the phenomenally talented Billie Piper return to the New York stage with something else - on Broadway or off.

(Speaking of Cowell, anyone else find him insanely sexy?)

Good god, what a theatrical experience. Each moment was perfection. The cast was uniformly excellent, especially Billie Piper. That performance will haunt me. The final moments had me simultaneously holding my breath and resisting the urge to throw up.

Had this production played across and down town, Piper would be winning herself a Tony to go with the hardware she has already collected for this triumphant portrayal of yearning and utter disappointment.

For anyone interested, The Beekman Theater is doing a rebroadcast of the NT Live film on June 4th and 7th. Already grabbed my tickets!