Friday 31 July 2015

Play: The Motherf**ker With the Hat

It was on Wednesday night that the organiser of the London Dramatic Arts Meetup group sent an email around to say that there was a last-minute return on a ticket for The Motherf**ker With the Hat for tonight, in the National. A quick check revealed that that seemed to be the best thing on among my Meetup groups tonight, and with the only other tickets available at £50, I quickly booked. Just as well - within half an hour, there were two more people on the waitlist!

The Tube journey wasn't as problematic as the last two days - well, apart from the lack of air conditioning. It was stifling. Having gratefully disembarked, I had a pleasant bridge crossing - it's ages since I've crossed here, and I missed the view. And we'd been instructed to meet in a bar beforehand - interestingly, not in the National itself, but across the road, at the Benugo bar in the BFI. I'm sure I'd seen the sign before, but never paid any attention. Anyway, we'd been provided with a very helpful map, so I knew to take the main BFI entrance, to the side of the National.

Once I'd done that, it was kind of obvious - just on the right, at the top of the steps. And there was our organiser, to lead us through the main bar, past the "Reserved" sign to the library, and even past that again to a small room at the back. Well, and I never even knew this was here! We'd reserved the small room - which actually turned out to be a bit too small for all the people that came. We had to go back out into the library to order - from a barman who looked rather frazzled - and then squashed back in; I was one of the lucky ones who got a seat in the small room. But we had a fine natter until it was time to head across the road. Oh, and I can recommend the very good value chenin blanc - a distinctly fruity flavour.

We entered the theatre by an unobtrusive door that led us practically to the very door of the auditorium. We were scattered between the front two rows - I got a fairly central seat, not in the front row with the unlimited legroom, but the legroom was fine nonetheless. These seats have no armrests, but that's not a major problem - the only significant problem I had with my seat, in fact, was the very low back, the edge of which caught me in the middle of my back, and meant I spent much of the performance hunched over - not ideal, especially for a near-two hour show without interval.

However, we had an undeniably good view. The set design was intriguing - disembodied fire escapes dangled from the ceiling, and were repositioned as necessary, as bits of scenery slid in - from the back, from the wings, and walls descending from the ceiling - to make three separate apartments, as required. The play is set in New York, with language that you might guess at from the title. And the story concerns a happy fellow, recently released from prison, who returns home to his girlfriend with the happy news that he's got a job, and his life is looking much brighter. Until he notices a man's hat - not his - tossed casually to the side..

The writing is terrific. It's sharp, it's snappy, and delivered in very NY accents that made me nostalgic for the place. The characters are vibrant, and with a plot that twists and snakes, even though there's no interval, you don't notice how long you've spent there. (Well, apart from my backache.) It's very funny - it's also engaging, the audience brought right along with the main character as he adjusts to this new reality outside prison. I loved the touch of ending the play on a song - although the fact that he plays it on a cassette, of all things, really dates it. Recommended - but you should book, especially for cheaper seats. Runs until the 20th.

Afterwards, we made our way to the Riverfront Bar, at the front of the BFI - this I've passed many's the time, but never gone in. We had a couple of couches booked at the side - took our seats, and made our way up to the scrum at the bar. I thought £10 a bit steep for a large glass of wine, until I realised it was actually a carafe, equivalent to half a bottle. The server was convinced, for some reason, that I wanted red - I had to tell her several times that I wanted white, despite having already pointed to it on the wine list! To be fair, there was a dj to the side and the noise was deafening. This also made conversation challenging, when we sat back down.. one of our group wanted to dance, but was, sadly for her, the only one! and the dance area was small anyway. A couple of people ordered food, which I should have but didn't. Good conversation was had. And as the night wore on, we who remained became smaller and smaller in number, until in the end, three final hardy campaigners scuttled off into the night. Well hey, a better showing than on Wednesday!

I am sooo looking forward to a lie-in in the morning. Tomorrow, the London International Meetup is off to Yorkshire, which would be nice - except I'd have to be in King's Cross for 7.30am. So I'd have to leave home around 6.30. Heh. Not happening. No, instead I'll head, uncomplicatedly, to the cinema. And I do believe I'll go and see Jurassic World, which I might have seen long ago, except that its IMDB rating dropped. Or yesterday, indeed, except for that last-minute ticket to the Globe! It's showing in my local Vue.. and Yplan still has an offer for the Vue. 'S all good..

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