Play: Wolf Hall

Let me state my case at the outset: I'm heavily biased in favour of historical drama. Love it. Love the costumes, love historical power plays. In fact, I'm very glad that I let Time Out decide, in general, what I'm to see, because, left up to me, I'd be at this sort of thing ALL the time. And variety is the spice of life.

Which doesn't stop me being thrilled when Time Out suggests something like Wolf Hall, based on the Booker-prize-winning novel about Thomas Cromwell, by Hilary Mantel. Now, I tried the book, but honestly, found it impenetrable. Maybe I was too busy to concentrate properly, but all the Thomases were confusing - indeed, there are a lot in this story, and there's even a joke about it, when one Thomas enters a room in which there are four more. He nods greeting to them. "Thomas", "Thomas", "Thomas", "Thomas". Popular name. But I figured it'd be easier to tell them apart if you could see them..

The problem was in getting a ticket for today. I searched the internet, but the only website that had availability for today was key2theatre.co.uk. But hallelujah that someone had! And, for this show, I didn't mind so much paying over face value. The seat they offered me was excellent - dead centre, six rows from the stage. Also, tickets were collectible from the box office - no worrying about them arriving in the post. I had little hesitation in booking, and spent the rest of the week looking forward to today!

It's unfortunate that this weekend's planned engineering works affected the District Line - it meant a slight detour for the Aldwych Theatre, where Wolf Hall is playing. TFL suggested the Piccadilly Line to Holborn - I researched the whole journey as soon as I heard the District Line was out of commission. It was also awkward that I was to see Hard Façade last night, which was a late one, and that the ticket I got for Wolf Hall was to the matinee.. but anyway. So, I forced myself out of bed today, had time for a banana, and headed off.

Doubtless on account of the fact that you couldn't get the District Line to take you as far as town today, the Piccadilly Line was crammed. At least it doesn't stop at Gloucester Road these days, which meant a slightly quicker journey for those of us going further. I could've got off at Covent Garden - it's the same distance away and the stop comes before Holborn - but the fact that only half the lifts are working there means it takes an age to get out of the station - longer than it does to go one stop further and get off at Holborn. Which I did, turning left onto Kingsway. And had a beautiful, sunny walk, although temperatures still haven't recovered to the levels of two weeks ago.

Turn right at the bottom of the road, and after a bit, you come to the Aldwych Theatre, and are immediately assailed by super-sized photos of actors in gorgeous Tudor costume. Go to the entrance, and you are immediately overawed by the sheer swarm of people. The box office is to the right, and they had no problem finding my ticket. (Yay!) BTW, as I moved towards my entrance, I opened the envelope, to discover that, with the ticket, was a little map showing all the West End Theatres. Cute! Think I'll keep that as a souvenir.

Staircases at the sides of the lobby lead to the upper levels, but entrance to the stalls is down the middle. As the great mass of people moved slowly through the lobby, the one-minute(!) warning was announced. Huh? Is my watch slow?! When I got to the guy who tore my ticket, his hands were shaking as he did so, and he tore the wrong bit - of course, it had receipts attached, as they do. Poor lad must have been overwhelmed by the sheer volume of people. Anyway, I finally made it into the stalls..

It's a long time since I came to a show as packed as this! I couldn't see a free seat, and what I could see of the upper levels, and the boxes, were full too. When I eventually pushed through the crowd to my row, there were, indeed, two free seats, right in the middle. O dear. So I excused myself past 10 people, and took one of the empty seats. The other stayed empty for the entire performance - I guess they hadn't been able to sell a seat on its own. My seat, BTW, was gorgeously plush and comfy, with decent legroom - but you do expect that, for a premium stalls seat. People around me were reading programmes - I vowed to get one at the interval. And I do believe they were fibbing about the one-minute start - it was about another 10 before the lights went down.

The stage was completely empty - but you know, in those days, they really didn't have much furniture. What the rich folk had was heavy, oaken furniture, generally beautifully carved, and extremely expensive, and they wouldn't have had much of it - just what was necessary. Anyway, it made the frequent scene changes all the easier. The production is handled by the Royal Shakespeare Company - reading the programme, I discovered this was their base up to 1960, when they moved to the Barbican. So you're guaranteed gorgeous, authentic costumes. The king's were very fancy, the other men's very eye-catching, with the more important lords having more elaborate costumes. The ladies' costumes were a glory of sweeping skirts, bodices, and long veils that trailed from the back and flowed as they moved. The play opens with a ball at the palace - a wonderful way to display the costumes, and give us an idea of the sheer number of characters we'll be seeing.

Despite the fact that a number of actors portraying minor characters portray a number each, there are a lot of actors. Still, having read a substantial portion of the book, even though it was a while ago, I realised that the book had been somewhat condensed. For instance, there's a suggestion in the book of a relationship between Thomas Cromwell and his sister-in-law - she's not even mentioned in the play. Goodness knows, there's enough going on as it is! (Oh, and oops! That's not Jeremy Irons playing him - although Lord knows, he's the spit of him! It's actually Ben Miles.)

The acting is predictably superb. The laughs play better than they read - the first half of the play, in particular, is full of one-liners; it becomes darker towards the end. The action flits from one scene to the next - you frequently have Tom Cromwell stalking out of one scene, only to whip around, at the edge of the stage, to see a completely different group of actors that have come in behind him, complete with furniture that's been whisked in with them, and find himself immediately in a completely different scene. Fireplaces are ably represented by rows of flame jets, positioned in the stage floor at different points. Otherwise, the limited amount of furniture is highly portable.

Lighting is expertly used to convey a mood, and there was one scene in particular that moved me to tears in seconds, just by simple tricks of lighting and staging. At intervals, it rains and snows on stage, in turn. Ah, they can do what they like! Well, they are the experts.

The play runs from 1527 to 1535. Henry VIII is on the English throne, he's been married for 20 years or so to Catherine of Aragon, a Spanish princess. From several pregnancies, she just has one surviving child - a sickly daughter, Mary. He's desperate for a son - in those days, a female heir was unthinkable, and he's afraid that the kingdom will be torn apart after he dies. Catherine is now too old to have more children. Enter Anne Boleyn, an ambitious young woman from a social-climbing family, who's as feisty here as she was famously portrayed in the tv series, The Tudors. Henry wants to prove that he and Catherine were never lawfully married, so that he can marry Anne. Catherine was previously married to his brother, and there's a passage in the bible forbidding marriage to your brother's widow. However, the pope at the time gave permission, and the present pope is under the control of the Holy Roman Emperor - Catherine's nephew.

What's a horny king to do?! Enter the crafty and conniving Thomas Cromwell, a brilliant lawyer and one of nature's survivors. As others fall around him, his star rises, until he is the king's principal advisor. Mind you, as the king becomes ever more autocratic, is that the safest situation to be in? The sequel, Bring Up the Bodies, is also playing.. I would dearly love to see it, let's see what Time Out Says! In a beautiful piece of stagecraft, in the very last scene of Wolf Hall, the spotlight shines, just for a second, at centre stage, on a demure figure dressed in white.. Jane Seymour, one of Anne's maids-of-honour: a foretaste of what is to come. Terrific stuff, I highly recommend this. Both play until the 6th September - and Hilary is currently working on the third in the series..

I treated myself to an overpriced, but very delicious, Haagen-Dazs Belgian chocolate ice cream, as well as a programme, at the interval, but was still hungry, of course, by the time we exited the theatre, at 5. I felt like eating out, and hadn't seen anything on Kingsway that caught my eye. However, I knew there were plenty of places on the way to Leicester Square - I walked that way on Thursday. I passed many a place I would have been happy to eat in, but decided I'd rather continue to Carluccio's, at the corner of Garrick Street and King Street. Seeing the crowds, I was dubious about getting a table, but was seated immediately. I ordered from the set menu, which was very nice, and ordered a spectacularly good sauvignon blanc and a somewhat indifferent chocolate cake separately, as well as a side order of rosemary potatoes, which were tasty, if rather salty. Service was remarkably efficient, especially considering the crowds, and unfailingly friendly. The only thing that really bothered me was the fact that the price listed on the menu didn't include VAT. I don't recall whether that was mentioned on the menu, but I only noticed it when the bill came. It rankles somewhat, having to pay 25% more than you expected. It's a practice I came across when I lived for a while in Canada, and I can only imagine that they're catering for an American clientele here - certainly, the people at the tables either side of me sounded American, as did my waiter - but it is NOT how things are generally done here, and I don't like it. But that's not to take from what was, otherwise, a good meal. Afterwards, I took the Tube home from Leicester Square, just up the road. Even got a seat, after one stop. When I got to Earl's Court, there was a train on the platform that would've taken me one stop closer to home, but there were such crowds on it that I said I'd rather walk from there.

Tomorrow, I'm off to the Tricycle Arts Centre - it's been a while! I booked a ticket for the opening gala film of the London Asian Film Festival, which is screening there - the film in question is the European premiere of Lakshmi, a drama about child trafficking, based on a true story. Looks good - includes a Q+A with the director. I'd normally take the Overground there, but unfortunately it's fallen victim to planned engineering works too, so I have to plan a route via the Tube. And then it's off to Guildford on Monday..