The Bench

Chris Finch

Chris Finch

Fragmental
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180
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18
Yes I really enjoyed The Bench too. The writing as Mike has said was excellent and the actors brought real truth and believability to their multiple characters. In reality it's a very basic set - a bench with a memorial column behind it but the script and the actors really coloured the stage and brought it to life. I found myself hanging off every word. It was a very focused and thoughtful piece and it would be great to see it in a bigger venue!
 
timpaley

timpaley

Horsin' around...
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127
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18
What can i add that Chris and mike haven't. Brilliant piece of work, though I expected it to be after reading several of Joe's scripts and plays. But seeing it brought to life gives it that extra wow factor. The actors were excellent, being able to carry 19 roles between six of them is not easy, but to do it so convincingly and keep their characters original, is excellent and a credit to their craft.

Hope it goes from strength to strength.
 
Cop

Cop

Making Dreams
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1,205
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Not a play go-er myself, but I had a great night, really enjoyed it, I thought the the performances where brilliant. Well done everyone! :)
 
wiggy

wiggy

The Mastodon
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385
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just like to say I agree with all the above posts, i also am not really one for going to plays, in fact it was only the second play i have ever attended but i had a really good time and was really impressed by the play and the performances, well done joe if you read this! also the venue is great and i would love to go back to watch something else:)
 
Joanna

Joanna

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Good news on The Bench front, as it's now got itself a second run. It's being staged at Didsbury Studio Theatre (Manchester Metropolitan University) from 8-12 July (7.30pm every night). Booking info can found at the bottom of THIS MySpace blog entry from Joe.
 
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Joanna

Joanna

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Just to wish The Bench cast and creatives a successful opening night at DST tonight.
 
Joanna

Joanna

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Found out that Joe was on BBC Radio Manchester's Becky Want show yesterday, doing a bit of promo for the play. His interview with Becky can still be heard all week on 'listen again' (Joe can be heard from around 21 minutes in).
 
Joanna

Joanna

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The Bench is going to be staged at The Lowry on 22/23 August (8pm). HERE is Joe's myspace blog entry on it.

ETA: The Bench has now been added to The Lowry's theatre listings. HERE is its listings page. There's nothing there on the ticket cost, btw, but the box office (0161 8762000) has told me that tickets are £7/£5 (concessions).
 
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Joanna

Joanna

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O'Byrne intent on setting a benchmark (Metro)

The above, though not 100% accurate, is still a worthwhile read, with some good quotes from Joe.

PS: And all the best from me, to the whole of The Bench team, on a successful staging at The Lowry over the coming two nights.
 
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Joanna

Joanna

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There's a four-star review of The Bench over at Whatsonstage.com Manchester. And it concludes..."The Bench is yet another excellent example of high quality fringe theatre which Manchester is currently enjoying and it thoroughly deserves its excellent reputation."

Haven't been able to get to see this yet, so really hope The Lowry ain't the last place it's staged at.
 
Joanna

Joanna

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In Joe's latest myspace blog, he says that The Bench is to get a three-night run at Manchester's Library Theatre this coming January.

It's being staged as part of the theatre's Re:play Festival (20-31 Jan 09), with tickets/festival programme details available from December (mentioned HERE).
 
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Joanna

Joanna

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As part of the Re:play Festival (20-31 January), Manchester's Library Theatre is staging The Bench over 3 nights (27-29 January, 7.30pm). Ticket/booking info can be found HERE. And for info about all of the other productions being staged at the Re:play Festival....

 
curtinparloe

curtinparloe

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118
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18
By the way, I'm doing sound on Tape which is is also at re:play, on 30th and 31st Jan. Trailer here, mention of the festival here and box office here...

I met Joe at the Salford Film Festival launch, top dude :)
 
Joanna

Joanna

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Hope the Tape team have a successful one at Re:play, CP. Such a great concept for a festival.
 
curtinparloe

curtinparloe

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Cheers Joanna. It is a good idea, just a shame the Library has screwed up all the leaflets and the box office details for Tape, really :?
 
Joanna

Joanna

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curtinparloe said:
just a shame the Library has screwed up all the leaflets and the box office details for Tape, really :?
Click to expand...
Yeah, I can see how that might :rolleyes: be a bit of a problem...

Following the 'book tickets' links on THIS page...and also assuming the 'show times' section on it is right...I can see what you mean about booking info mistakes...The 31st showing changes from an 8pm start time to a 9pm one; two of the links go to the wrong pages...and I can't see an online option to book for the 31st afternoon performance...which isn't surprising since there's no mention of it outside the main Tape page! Presuming you've spoken to the 'relevant' person/people to sort these errors out, what's been said on sorting them? After all, they definitely can be corrected in good time for the first staging....

On the leaflets...Is it not within the theatre's Re:play budget to redo the leaflets - even if just to a much smaller number? After all, if times/performances aren't right in it..... Is it too late and so the mistakes just have to stay as mistakes?

Well, despite the cock-ups, hope you get a good turnout.
 
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curtinparloe

curtinparloe

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Joanna said:
On the leaflets...Is it not within the theatre's Re:play budget to redo the leaflets - even if just to a much smaller number? After all, if times/performances aren't right in it..... Is it too late and so the mistakes just have to stay as mistakes?

Well, despite the cock-ups, hope you get a good turnout.
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Apparently, they messed up a couple more times, which meant that people turned up for a 9PM showing on the Saturday, 15 minutes before the curtain went down. that said, we had about 300 people in total, which was a huge relief.

I also managed to get to see The Bench last week, and it was quite enjoyable. Joe and I exchanged battlescars about doing re:play on Saturday night.
 
Joanna

Joanna

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Ah, that's good that, despite more mistakes out of your control, you at least got a decent number of people actually wanting to be there. Hmm, why was putting up the correct booking info so difficult for them to get right?......
 
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