Ms. Eclectic and I went to see Measure-for-Measure at the Tom Patterson Theatre in Stratford last night. It was a mixed experience.
We hadn't been to that theatre in many years, not since it was called "The Third Stage" and had general seating on plastic chairs. We bought some comparatively inexpensive seats from their website back in the winter. Never again will we buy such cheap seats without understanding the seating map.
We were seated beyond/behind the proscenium! We could still see most of the stage, but not all of it. And when you sit that far around (and nearly behind the back of) the stage, there are times when you miss some action and can barely hear the actors.
To make matters worse, we were seated amidst a high school class. That's a risk when you buy inexpensive tickets. In fact as we saw and heard them approach the theatre in a group from outside, I groaned and hoped they wouldn't be sitting near us. Ugh.
Their teacher was totally engrossed in the play, leaning far forward the entire time and making it even harder for us to see and hear the performance. And the students behind us insisted on whispering at times, despite our glares.
The play itself was brilliantly performed, staged, and directed. For the most part, the acting was superb and the staging simple but very effective. After the show, Ms. Eclectic asked me which actor I thought was best. It was an unanswerable question, we discovered, because there were so many good performances. All the leads and most of the supporting actors were just plain excellent. We were less-impressed with some of the over-the-top performances that go over so well with most audiences but just get in the way so far as we are concerned. In that respect we agreed with the Sun reviewer (see below).
But the point of this posting: From now on, no more cheap seats for us. We'll go less often rather than sit there.