Someone Who'll Watch Over Me @ TAS, Lot 10

Caught the preview of the local production of Frank McGuinness's play Someone Who'll Watch Over Me at The Actor's Studio in Lot 10's rooftop last night (Wed, 5 Jan). Many thanks to Time Out KL for the tickets, by the way.

From The Actor's Studio website....

"3 men. An Englishman, an Irishman and an American have been taken hostage and held in a windowless cell in Beirut. They have no contact with the outside world and are uncertain about their future. As the three men strive for survival they also strive to overcome their differences."

Starring Charles Donnelly, Kingsley Judd & Gavin Yap as the Englishman (Michael), Irishman (Edward) and American (Adam) respectively, who are all chained to the floor by the ankle in a windowless cell (or so they have the audience believe), who try to cope with their incarceration with dark humour and fantasy escapism. 

The seats I got were not too bad for free tickets (I've gotten worse seats in the past) - at least I wasn't in the front row - I got seats stage left, several rows from the back, but the air conditioning blowing down on me (who doesn't usually bring a jacket or a shawl) was a tad annoying, but it's probably more to do with the place not being packed and I was alone in my whole row.

I didn't get the ending after that one viewing, but after reading about the play's inspiration - the real-life abduction of an English lecturer in Beirut who was released after four and a half years - the ending made more sense now. As someone who's not a professional theatre critic, I thought the play was alright. I only noticed a single instance of someone breaking character the entire performance.

The play will run from now to the 16th, with both night and matinee performances. 

Tickets are RM48 (RM28 for students and the disabled); and there's a RM28 flat rate promotion on the 11th and 12th January shows.

Psst.... KLue's also giving away tickets to Friday's performance. Find out how to get tickets here.

Postscript:

1. First time I've been to the (new to me) TAS @ Lot 10. Too far and cost prohibitive for my taste.
2. Seats in TAS also not too comfy (basically benches with thin padding); still prefer the ones in KLPac's Pentas 1. 
3. Amnesty people also had a table selling tee shirts, pins and what not. Nope, didn't get anything.
4. Took me an hour to get to Lot 10 from PJ. Urgh. I think I'll stick to either KLPac or PJ Live Arts if I can help it. 
5. New Actor's Studio location is a little tight, especially while waiting for the doors to open.
6. Don't get me started on Lot 10's parking - appreciate the after 6 p.m. flat rate, but still.
7. Got two missed calls yesterday afternoon before I answered a third time, so it'd be nice to be able to see TAS's caller ID on my phone - it's hard to find out said private number, let alone return the call.
8. Didn't see director Joe, but Dato Faridah was present.