Fairytales for Grownups: Telling the Blues

I try to get to the Crick Crack Club events when I can, and indeed, since they always sell out, I also book as early as I can. So it was with Fairytales for Grownups: Telling the Blues - especially given the audience reaction when it was announced. It was also nice when the London European Club announced they were going too - more people to talk to! So I signed up with both.

The Forge isn't exactly close to me, but I was back from Guildford in good time, and easily made the Overground - the cheapest way to get there by public transport. And my journey was somewhat enlivened by a preacher - got on, started to remind us all of the necessity of preparation for Eternity. Leaving the station, I made extra good time walking to the venue - the freezing cold lent me better wings than Red Bull ever could! Inside, I soon saw the LEC, sat in the bar area - someone had ordered food, so they were waiting for that before going in. I was talking to her later - seems she ordered fully half an hour before start time, and all she ordered seemed to be chips or similar.. it was nearly start time when they arrived! Moral of the story - even if you only want a snack, don't order anything within an hour of show time, here.. although mind you, you can bring food and drink into the theatre.

Of course, it was sold out, and seating is snug - I got myself a seat by the wall, as usual. Our performers for the night were Jan Blake, again, and Matt Chandler on guitar - he played the odd blues track, accompanying her singing: and despite her disclaimer at the start, what a wonderful, soulful, blues singer she turned out to be!

We were treated to some wonderful stories of the Deep South - some of slavery, some of witchcraft. And her rich style wove a magical world for us.. some disliked the sad theme of many of the stories, but as she reminded us, she was "telling the blues"! And she did leave us on what you might call a climax, as promised - recounted in a Jamaican accent; I believe her parents are Jamaican, so that'd be where she researched that. A terrific night, as always with Jan Blake, and with the Crick Crack Club. It's lovely that the LEC came - some of them were new to this kind of event, and I hope they come to some more.. so many people don't even know that storytelling events take place regularly in London.

By the interval, my tummy was grumbling, so I went in search of food - again, though, there didn't seem to be snacks readily available - you had to order something from the kitchen, and that would've taken too long - so I had a glass of wine instead, once I'd clarified to the barman that no, I asked for white, not red.. After the show, nobody seemed inclined to hang around, so I scurried back to the station on winged feet again, in the bitter cold. If you're travelling by Overground after 9pm, you can't get a direct train to Clapham Junction from points further north or east than Willesden Junction - so I had to change there, and had the bad luck to catch the train that gets there 25 mins before the Clapham Junction train! So it was a cold, cold journey.. and home after bedtime again.

Tonight, I'm back with London Dramatic Arts, with whom I'd booked a ticket to Battlefield, at the Young Vic, before all my trouble with them started. It's based on the Mahabharata, apparently. Travelling there should be easy enough - train to Waterloo, and an easy walk from Stop C, which I now know how to find! Back to Ireland at the weekend, then on Monday I'm back with Let's Do London - for less!, who are off to Soho Theatre for What I Learned From Johnny Bevan.