I’m more excited about the upcoming action-thriller Into the Storm than I am the respectable stage play of The Crucible. While The Crucible’s John Proctor looks like he’s chock-full of sex appeal, I’m finding myself drawn to Into the Storm’s loafer-wearing vice principal Gary Morris more than I thought I would.
Gary is a father who is searching for his teenage child; he’s a teacher who willingly carries responsibility on his shoulders; he’s a man who finds himself drawn to a woman, not in a sexually fueled way but more like “we’re in this together.” These are all things that appeal to me and themes that regularly show up in my daydreams.
Now there is the whole aspect of me being afraid of tornadoes in real life to consider, so seeing Into the Storm that first time may be nail-bitingly nerve wracking but I think it’s going to be more of a it’s-fun-sometimes-to-be-scared experience that will be enjoyable.
And then there is the important fact that I will actually be able to take part in seeing Into the Storm with relatively little disruption to my life; The Crucible with it’s financial, geographical, and time constraints will be leaving me out of the action. I’ve tried my hardest to find a way around these issues but alas, it is just not meant to be.
I greatly enjoyed reading The Crucible, I found the premise and the issues it raised interesting and relevant from both a historical and social angle. Not to mention from a fandom standpoint as well…
The accounts of the play that I have been reading sound very emotionally intense, and to witness that “live” may carry a heavy weight. Let’s just forget about the whole wait-in-a-ridiculously-long-line-in-a-back-alley-after-an-intense-4-hour-experience-to-steal-2-minutes-of-the-object-of-my-affection’s-attention; I doubt I’d be taking part in that even if I were to attend. I adore you Richard, I really do, but that doesn’t seem worth the hassle.
A Matinee performance may leave me in a better mood, since I regularly go to bed at 10pm, but even then I would feel off-kilter standing in line just to say Hello. I’d feel pressured into getting a pic and autograph, even though I don’t really need them, in order to receive the friendly handshake and 3 seconds of looking into those lovely blue peepers that I truly desire. I’d promptly look away, blush, and drown in my awkwardness immediately after, of course.
No, I think I better stick to the sweaty palms brought on by fake tornadoes and the fantasy of Gary Morris rescuing me, it will be safer.
Confession: I prefer the Into the Storm experience over The Crucible one because in my fantasy Gary will rescue me…not everyone who is standing in front of me, and then everyone behind me as well. I want to be memorable. I’m selfish like that.
Nowhere in Particular RA 
This was a good one! (Not that I don’t like you’re others!) I agree, it is much for feasible, for many reasons, also for me to see “ITS” as opposed to seeing “The Crucible,” regardless of how much I would like to go to London.
LikeLike
I’ll actually be in Scotland in three weeks and tried to tweak my plans a bit so that I could make a side-trip to London for the play but it’s just not feasible. I don’t want this to be mistaken for “sour grapes” though; they are two very different pieces in tone and two different kinds of fan experiences.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ve been surprised to read UK fans writing about how THEY even feel it’s too expensive to go to Crucible…. sounds like you’ve researched travel from Scotland, and found the same. Here in my American world I would have imagined that it would be about the same for them as it would be for me to drive from the Midwest to New York. Of course, I’ve had times car-wise that I’d have been concerned about doing that too, and the hotel expense etc yada yada… I have a pretty good chance of some of my family agreeing to see ITS with me too, and I think it will be a fun summer movie. I’m with you on this one.
LikeLike
in my case I’ll already be in Scotland on vacation, so it wouldn’t be that big of a deal to take a train down and see the play then fly out of London instead of Edinburgh. only problem is that we already made our flight plans before the Crucible was announced, so then it was going to cost over $700 to change it around! here at home I wouldn’t be traveling to NYC just to see a play but would try to turn it into a family vacation depending on the schedule (we have relatives that we could stay with). so the movie is much more accessible, all the way around! I’m not sure if my husband will be going w/me or if I’ll drag my son to it instead; I’m not opposed to seeing it myself but it will be less fun that way
LikeLike
btw, depending on location I think it would be no more than 3 or 4 hours for those in the UK to get to London, whereas it would be like 10 hours for us to drive to NYC 😉
LikeLike
I dunno, if I were in the UK unless I were a regular driver to London, I might avoid it. There’s an extra congestion charge of about 12 GBP per day for driving into central London now, and it’s not the greatest place to drive unless you’re already familiar with it. Also, gas is much more expensive there than here — it’s sold by the liter but a gallon of gas is currently the equivalent of over 5 GBP, which is about $8.50 at the current exchange rate. To me, anyway, there’s an extra level of hassle / expense above and beyond (say) driving to NYC (although I have never driven into Manhattan or tried to park there — I’ve always left a car somewhere in NJ and taken the train in). If I were English I’d probably take the train and then use public transportation, though the trains can also be expensive. If you fly there, unless you fly into London City, you’re well outside the town and have to take the tube or a bus in. London hotels are also among the most expensive in the world. I like to be in London, on the ground, using the public transportation and walking around, but I really don’t like getting there!
LikeLike
when I was thinking of taking a train down from Scotland it was going to take about 5 hours; anything less than that doesn’t seem like a huge deal to me since that’s how long it takes to drive to my parents house (and two hours of that is on twisty country roads). it’s one of those differences that I, never having traveled outside of the US before, often forget about(the size). we’re considering a fall trip to NYC (to make up for the fact that we’re leaving our kids for the Scotland trip) and I think my husband is crazy for even considering driving into the city! when we lived in DC, I always preferred to take the Metro; me and traffic do not mix well 😯
LikeLike
yeah, it really is a proportions question. Texans will drive 90 min one way for dinner at a restaurant they really like.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s pretty similar to what I was thinking for timeframe…. but people who indicate they live in England (rather than Scotland, Wales or Ireland) seem really wound up about the cost too. I assume the costs are different, as well as just whatever you are used to. And absolutely you can’t make that kind of change in your tickets!! That would impact your whole trip (or in our case, probably our year)! 🙂
LikeLike
I wonder if the people complaining about the cost from the UK were planning to buy front row seats though? I thought the lesser priced ones seemed reasonable enough (and if you live in the surrounding neighborhood, you get discounted tickets). like you said, it comes down to what you’re used to. I’m not much of a theatre goer or a city person, and we’re quite frugal most of the time so all of this is foreign to me to begin with 🙂
LikeLike
The average gross hourly pay in the UK is ca. 13 GBP per hour. If you figure half of all people earn less than that — and taxes are taken out — a 85 GBP ticket (stalls) is 6.5 hours of work before taxes. You wouldn’t have to get the most expensive one, of course, but I think if you want to go with someone, that’s twice that …
LikeLike
Wow, those are really prohibitive gas prices, Servetus!…. And the logistics of the train etc. also add cost. No wonder people there want them to take the show on the road.
LikeLike
it’s similar in Germany; they tax the heck out of the stuff to reign in consumption. Really makes you think before you drive and makes public trans (which can also appear expensive from the US perspective) much more attractive! I also wouldn’t want to speculate concretely about parking in London, but if it’s anything like parking in NYC it’s difficult to find and expensive.
LikeLike
I thought the same about the ticket prices…. I don’t go to the theater that often at all, but never even LOOK at the top tier prices. I usually look for something mid-range if possible, and those seemed reasonable for the Crucible. It must be the whole package including gas, train/tube, traffic, as Serv mentioned, that is daunting. Not to mention the length of the play forcing the issue of hotel unless you attend a matinee.
LikeLike
yes, I’ve seen several people remark that they missed/almost missed their train. it’s over so late and then they stand in line to get autographs, so they would have to stay in a hotel if they didn’t have someone in town to stay with
LikeLike
Perhaps I’ve been unintentionally disingenuous in my earlier comments regarding my Rylance and Cumberbatch tickets – in both cases, I tagged along to join friends who were themselves ‘members’ of the venue. And that membership is not cheap… although, anyone can still queue up to buy returns on the day of – for exactly the ‘face value’ of those tickets.
Here’s a helpful article to assist with the perception of ticket pricing and tiered system for purchasing tickets:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/10878608/How-much-would-you-pay-to-see-Benedict-Cumberbatch-in-Hamlet.html
LikeLike
Thanks for that interesting article! I find it fascinating that there’s a public discussion about whether the less wealthy should have some kind of access beyond their means to these productions just because you never really hear that discussion in the US. Having recently lived in a city where the tech folks had the highest wages and thus were able to price the rest of us out of a lot of experiences, I always felt a bit resentful that I was priced out of things I’d like to do solely by the fact that I didn’t work for a tech firm. Then again those were not publicly subsidized events. I think it’s really cool that, although the Old Vic does not take public monies, and has its summer season underwritten by Bank of America, they still reserve a bunch of tickets for under 25s and people who live in the neighborhood at reasonable prices. I know they “can” do this because they have such a huge facility, but I still like that attitude.
LikeLiked by 1 person
@Servetus – you know, I thought you’d find that article interesting. Interestingly, a similar scheme exists for premier league football tickets (club membership privileges) although no one discusses ‘elitism’ (rather, hooliganism?) when discussing club membership privileges that are passed down from generation to generation amongst patrons of football clubs in the UK.
Most of the US cities I’ve lived or worked in (Seattle, San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, NYC, DC) have offered very similar ‘Under 25’ & ‘student pricing’ subsidy programs for access to the arts in symphony, opera, ballet, & theatre….but I’ve noticed there’s something quite personal and national identity / pride that comes into play when Brits discuss theatre (possible inspiration for the 700 standing tickets @ 5 GBP still made available at London’s Globe Theatre??).
I’m curious to see what face value the Barbican will settle on for those Hamlet tickets. Our London offices were located within the Barbican complex a few years ago and I still rather love that quirky city center space…
LikeLike
yeah, I think the question is whether you’re going to offer subsidized prices to people over 25, lol. I used a lot of subsidized tickets for students in Germany when I was in my 20s.
I visited friends in a German city once. I think it was Bremen? Oldenburg? Somewhere in the northwest, anyway. They had both been unemployed and one unemployment benefit was that they could have free theater tickets once per year.
LikeLike
I think people may be a little spoiled here in the UK with the semi-subsidized nature of a lot of other options available for theatre (National Theatre, Globe, etc).
We paid premium tickets a few years ago to see Cumberbatch and Miller (now the two TV Sherlocks) in Danny Boyle’s Frankenstein at the National Theatre – premium tickets were 45 GBP. I also saw Mark Rylance’s Twelfth Night run with Stephen Fry at the Globe theatre in premium seats and they were 32.50 GBP, I believe.
So I think for the quality of theatre available at nearby venues, the Old Vic pricing is indeed a little on the high side (not to mention The Young Vic pricing tops out in the 30s).
So it’s all just relative, I suppose. 🙂
LikeLike
Wow, if Twelfth Night and Cumberbatch were that cheap, I can understand it then.
I’m hoping by close to the end of run that they will convinced they want to preserve this standing ovation producing production for posterity in some manner (please please)…. 🙂
I’ve had concerns about whether the length and expense would affect the performances selling out…. which would then affect the likelihood of our getting a DVD or livestream
LikeLiked by 1 person
Someone pointed out to me recently that seen from the perspective of the arts theaters in London, the Old Vic is relatively big — the place where Hiddleston did Coriolanus, e.g., seats only 300 and there are supposedly 891 seats available in the Old Vic. So it’s also going to be harder to sell this out. Although the same person told me that the Globe is much later.
LikeLike
Interesting, Servetus…. so maybe the best hope is for them to become convinced that they can make pounds of pounds on this from the desperate & materialistic American public…. I can play that riff, Christmas is coming (but I won’t wait that long if I have the chance!)
LikeLike
I’ve supported the petition drive, but mostly as a publicity tool. I’m not hugely hopeful. When you look at the UK theater productions that get a DVD, it’s either because the lead performance or actor is considered in some way landmark, or because the production itself was important for some reason (often, because it went on an international tour). That said, it is almost certain there will be video snippets made available as part of their advertising once previews end. Also, it’s highly likely that they’ve made some kind of videotape of it, and there’s a British stage performance archive at the V&A museum in London, so it’s possible it will turn up there after a while and you can make an appointment to see it.
LikeLike
I see…. well then, another reason to hope it comes to Broadway sometime in the future. Thanks for the insights.
LikeLike
Even Dominic Minghella was a little taken aback by the price:
and Lara Pulver
LikeLike
Ok, comment #2. A) Sorry about the typo “you’re” as opposed to “your” in my 1st comment. B) Where did the GIF of him in the plaid shirt come from? I do not recall ever seeing it before.
LikeLike
the plaid shirt gif is from one of the DOS promo interviews.
LikeLike
If cost, distance, and time were no object I would totally choose John Proctor. My 8th great-grandmother was accused of and imprisoned for witchcraft during that whole insanity so it’s more personal to me than tornadoes which I have never really had to worry about. But even if I did manage to get that far I probably also would not wait outside the barrier. The only person I have ever really waited for was Tim Curry and he didn’t come out. *sulk*
BUT, since my money and time are so severely limited I’m afraid I will have to chose Morris by default, which still isn’t a bad choice.
LikeLike
both would be the preferred option, of course 😉 I find the history of the witch-trials really interesting and the play itself sounds unique, not to mention the theatre that it’s playing in, but all of the rearranging and added cost it would take to attend would put a real strain on my nerves. if it was somewhere closer, like NYC, then I would try harder to see it I think. if it was in Chicago then I would definitely go! but given the choice between the two, I’ll pick the action-flick; fun and finance tips the scales for me 🙂
LikeLike
I’m thinking (guessing, hoping?) that fans who actually go to see this, albeit reluctantly, will be sucked in a bit. (That was what happened ot me with Strike Back, I thought, uch, I will hate this. Armitage makes it better.) Right now it looks like a particular kind of genre film that you either like or don’t like, but the question will be what he does with the role — as always. In any case, I totally think this could be a wonderful role for him. This was the even that got him his arrangements for the US visa / work permit, it gave him a chance to do a sustained attempt at an American accent, it will give him *huge* exposure — I really don’t see a downside for this. (I assume he also got paid.)
LikeLiked by 1 person
yes, I doubt there is going to be a lot of depth to this story 😉 and I’m not expecting to be blown away w/the CGI or see the story grounded in too much reality; it’s a “summer movie” with the added bonus of Richard Armitage 🙂
I read in one of the interviews recently released that during filming he debated with his female costar who should actually drive the bus in one of the action scenes. he didn’t want it to be assumed that his character, being the large strapping male, would just automatically take the wheel over the storm-chasing female. just when I think I couldn’t love him more…
LikeLiked by 1 person
I would like to see The Crucible more but, like Jodie, the tyranny of distance and logistics mean I won’t be able to. And I am looking forward to ITS, even though it isn’t a genre I would dream of going to see if RA wasn’t starring.
I’ve also been wondering if I would join the meet and greet queue if I was fortunate enough to get to London, and I’m erring towards thinking I wouldn’t. I’m one of those fans who prefers to observe from a distance and when he came to Sydney and came within a within a few feet of me unexpectedly ( he took wrong turn) I instinctively hung back. I remember reading about a fan meeting him in a coffee shop and thinking that would really be the only way I would want to meet him – a chance encounter.
Having said that, I’m loving other peoples delight in meeting him.
LikeLike
I have that “I don’t want to impose on anyone’s time” trait ingrained in me, so waiting at the stage door isn’t for me. speaking of hanging back when he passed by you though, I recently went to a production at a small local community theatre to watch a friend perform. the seats were practically on the stage, they were so close! and it made me feel really exposed. The Crucible’s front row seats sound the same and I do not think I would like that (not that I would dish out the money for a front row seat, mind you 😉 )
LikeLike
TYRANNY OF DISTANCE! That would make a great name for a band.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m in sort the same boat…I had recurring tornado nightmares for years, so this film would not normally be something I would even consider, but I’m really looking forward to it – more to see what Richard will do with it than the super spectacular CGI though. For once I’ll agree to see a “weather” film with my sister who loves to chase storms.
LikeLike
a tornado came through the area I lived in as a child and my grandfather took us to see the destruction. I lived in a very hilly area but it hopped over hills and traveled down through valleys and creek beds, tearing up massive trees and throwing around trailers, etc. from that point forward I was deathly afraid of tornadoes. then as an adult I move to flat Indiana and have a weather siren located in my back yard! through the years I’ve realized I have no control over them whatsoever; they are a fact of life here and I need to learn to live with that. I don’t have the tornado nightmares anymore but sometimes I do still wake up in the middle of the night thinking the rumble of the nightly train is something else entirely 😯
LikeLike
I wouldn’t normally see a film like ITS but I will because RA is in it. I wouldn’t have watched Strike Back or Robin Hood either. Somehow I manage to get past the type of movie and enjoy the role that RA plays.
I am grateful that he is in something new and only a month away because there is no way I could go to The Crucible either. I looked up airfare and hotel and it is not even close to being feasible.
As usual I have enjoyed your post kelbel 🙂
LikeLike
I wouldn’t choose to go to the cinema to see this kind of movie either, though I might catch it on DVD. Strike Back is something I would normally watch but I wouldn’t have sought out all of his other projects like I have, because they are British and I just wouldn’t have been aware of them
LikeLike
Me too, including the gifs….. and I wanted to respond that I’d consider a van by the river to see the Crucible depending on whose it was 🙂 Did you look into that, Kelbel? 😉
(Can you tell I have some sort of Chop fetish? Who knows when / if we’ll be able to see it over here?)
LikeLike
even though we ain’t got money I’m so in love with you honey…
LikeLiked by 2 people
I was actually quite surprised how cheap the tickets are. IIRC the top price was £50, which sounds very reasonable in comparison with the price of tickets in Oz. Last month we paid $300 for two tickets for Michael Buble and were in the highest tier of one of the Olympic stadiums. If I had actually wanted to be able to see MB clearly we would have had to pay twice that. And that is pretty par for the course here- a concert or theatre ticket to a big event would be $150+ so to my mind a production of that calibre would be more expensive.
But, as has been pointed out, unless you live in London, that is only part of the cost. And the long running time means either a scramble for the last train or a night in a hotel, which is expensive.
On a slightly different note, I have been thinking of going to see The King and , I with Yul Brynner , in London when I was about 10. It was a magical event, especially for me as I was newly kitted out with some NHS specs having just been diagnosed as quite short sighted. I could see details I had never seen before. When we came out, there was a Rolls Royce out front and a crowd was forming around it. We all waited eagerly and then an usher came out and said “Ladies and gentlemen, the car is NOT for Mr Brynner”. And my Auntie Pat shouted back “I should hope not! We’ve just spent the last three hours looking at him!” Then a small balding elderly man came out with a young blonde on his arm and sheepishly got into the car to a audible groan from the assembled throng. We were hoping for Princess Margaret at the very least.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well, obviously I am not going to be seeing The Crucible, unless it comes out on video, so I guess that I will have to look forward to
The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies. 😉
LikeLike
Had you fooled for a second (I hope).
LikeLike
re pricing — I was just looking at tix for another London production that I’d really desperately like to see — Wolf Hall / Bringing Up the Bodies, at the Aldwych. Stalls start at 61 GBP and go to 92 GBP.
LikeLike
OT, but: Wolf Hall and Bringing up the Bodies are enormous novels. How can they be fitted into one production?
LikeLike
they’re two separate plays, running a little less than 3 hours each. They seem to run on alternate nights. I didn’t look at the prices for Bringing Up the Bodies, but just for Wolf Hall. Hefty.
LikeLike
I’m not surprised at the length (as the actress said to the vicar) .
LikeLike