Play: Fully Committed

It's a drag, getting to the Menier Chocolate Factory from where I am. But Fully Committed sounded good, and had the advantage of being just over an hour long - so I could get home at a decent time, considering I'm in Guildford today. So I booked, given that availability seems limited.

At least it doesn't start until 8. Not a single train passing through West Brompton when I arrived there was scheduled to go to town, so change at Earl's Court it was. Anyway, a train to town arrived at the adjacent platform shortly after we disembarked. Google Maps' journey time estimate was nonsense, as usual - although that probably had something to do with the persistent delays on the District Line. Changing to the Jubilee Line was a relief - it tends to go faster, and in three stops I was at London Bridge.

Now, London Bridge station has always been a wee mystery to me. I have always ended up exiting at the London Bridge exit. This is fine if I'm going to the Scoop or Tower Bridge - not so fine for where I was going yesterday, which is in the other direction. I knew there was another exit, closer - I could see it on the maps, and as I made my way down the road, I passed it; indeed, I have always returned through that entrance! Somehow though, I could never figure out how to get to it from inside the station, when coming out.

Well gee, I figured it out last night. :-) I think the problem was that I always just followed the crowd - and the crowd was always headed to the London Bridge exit. Left and up the escalator. However, last night, the crowd wasn't so bad - and I looked to my right for once. O gee, a sign that pointed left for the London Bridge exit and right for the Borough Market exit. Hang on - didn't Google Maps say I had to take that exit? I moseyed in that direction. O look, that's where they put all the maps and direction signs! which I never saw before. Sure enough, when I made my way to the exit, it was the one I've seen so often, halfway down the road towards the Menier Chocolate Factory. Thus cutting my walk in half, and meaning that, for once, without even getting out of breath, I was NOT the last person into the theatre, but entered with the main body of the audience. Result!

Seating here is on upholstered benches - comfy enough, especially for a short show, but a bit too snug for what looked like a full house. I found my row - Row B, second from the stage, and facing it. Good seat. Except.. I couldn't see my spot. I asked the ladies at the end of the row. "What number are you?" "22". "Oh, you're this three inches here." The gent to my left suggested I not breathe.

So yes, that was cosier than was ideal. But the show was short, as I say.. What a lot they packed into it though! Or I should say, "he" packed into it - it's a one-man show. Kevin Bishop, a comedian I've never heard of, but he gives a tour-de-force here. He plays a harrassed employee in the reservations office of a really popular restaurant in what seems like New York. Poor fellow finds himself all alone on this day, coming up to Christmas. He should have two colleagues to help, but one, it turns out, has family problems, and Lord know what the other one is up to. Our hapless hero has to man three phones-full of irate customers (including the VIPs, who get special treatment), as well as fielding calls on the special, red phone that connects him to the chef. And let's not forget the intercom, which he has to keep running to, to communicate with the kitchen and front-of-house.

He does all the voices, by the way, which starts off a bit weird but you shortly get used to it. That poor man does a huge amount of running around the stage. Even the red telephone suffers - the little flashing light fell off it last night, in the frenzy. But the real awe-inducing element of this performance is the rapid-fire script, which barely lets up the entire time. Oh, and he changes voices, facial expressions.. and on a couple of occasions, bursts into song. So you get a mini-musical too.

For a Brit, he does a decent American accent, I think. But he got a spontaneous round of applause for his impression of Michael Caine, ringing for a reservation. We had trouble enough keeping up with the plot - but he, who had to remember a tremendous amount of dialogue, never faltered. Good singer, too. And he looked happy at the end - as he might, with the well-deserved standing ovation he got. O yes, I can see why Time Out recommended this, and so do I. Heartily. Only runs until Saturday - limited availability. Booking advised. Go see.

And again, it was too late to blog last night..

So, I'm taking tonight off. Back to Ireland tomorrow for the weekend, and back to the Opera House on Monday for a trilogy of contemporary ballets about the First World War. From my usual vantage point of the Auditorium.