With a horrendous guide to work on, I was oh so glad to have a distraction. Left the office in plenty of time - just missing a bus, naturally. Well, I was early - so I was still in plenty of time. Collected my ticket from an exhausted-looking individual.. and was too early to go upstairs. Mind you, I had to go upstairs for them to tell me that, and then they hovered till I went down again - I guess she at the box office had been too tired to mention it. Never mind, when the house finally did open, the usher came to tell me personally, first thing. And I panted my way virtuously up all those stairs again, to be shown to a front-row seat by an usher who was filling from the far end.
It was tricky, in the dark, not to trip over all the musical instruments at the front of the stage. Anyway, when the performer - Xanthe Gresham Knight- came on, she was dressed in floaty white robes, and described for us a story of two unequal halves. First, we were to get to see her mum's old cinefilms - which served as a backdrop to two quite different stories of mothers who lose their daughters. The first of these was a description of how she went missing as a toddler at the seaside, the second a more sweeping, mythological rendition - the story of Demeter and her daughter, Kore (Persephone).
I've heard the story before, but not from Demeter's perspective - a very feminist take, this. And a most mystical one, swooping from image to image, using her sundry musical instruments to piece together vaguely connected ideas. A nice version to take us to the interval - with maybe just a smidgeon too much audience participation - seems she used to be a schoolteacher, most likely of very young children.
For the second half, she changed to a red dress - this one was to be all about the menopause. Or so it certainly seemed, because I really doubted she'd ever stop talking about it. Now, I like weird - but honestly, this was OTT even for me. She had an audience member help her to strap a baby doll to her midriff. She kept donning a purple wig, to identify with some celebrity intellectual or other who has something to say about the menopause. And she kept aligning her chakras. All with this blasted, repetitive audience participation. Finally, she got around to the cookery bit, where she made sweets for us - apparently modelled on vulvas. It was all so daft it was funny - I still wished I'd left at the interval.
Never mind, I'm expecting better things next. Tomorrow and on Wednesday, I don't have to travel so far to see U2 - they're playing the O2 in London. These tickets, I got my address changed in time for, it seems - they've been posted. Helen is going on Wednesday.. sat in the corporate box, poshly! Nah, I'd rather be closer and sweatier, thanks! I wonder how many of them stand during the show.. I am absolutely mithered with alerts for ticket offers for these shows! Not expecting the intensity of the shows in Manchester - London is too cool for that, for a start. But it's still a terrific show.
Thursday is my colleague's last day before he quits for a new life in Stockholm - we're headed out that night. Amazing that I still had that day free when we arranged it!
On Friday, I fly to Belfast. Yep, U2 again. I get busier when they come . Staying in the Crescent Townhouse, walking distance from the SSE Arena, where the concerts take place on Saturday and Sunday. Next Monday, I'm taking the train down to my mother for a week - makes more sense than jetting back and forth to her!
On the 5th, I'm back up to Dublin. U2 again, dont'cha know? Staying in the Clayton again, which is a hop, skip and jump from the 3Arena, where there are concerts on the 5th and 6th. Would you believe, not even I could swing a ticket for the 5th - well, I'll just rock up on the day, and hopefully I can get something at the box office. I have heard of such things happening. I've had stranger things happen!
On the 7th, I fly back to London (BA) - purely so I can work on the 8th, before flying back to Dublin that night! Was supposed to be Cityjet, but they've now ended their flight schedule after this month - so now I'm going Ryanair. Same hotel, same venue, same band - on the 9th and 10th. I fly back on the 11th, exhausted, and finished with U2 concerts for the year!
On the 12th, I booked for Macbeth, at the Wanamaker Playhouse. And then Let's Do This finally posted that date for the Shirt Tail Stompers at Wilton's - well, I couldn't miss that! Eh, anyone want a spare ticket for Macbeth?
On the 13th, we have our monthly team outing - probably just the two of us, but hey.
On the 14th, back with Up in the Cheap Seats (UITCS) at last for Love Lies Bleeding, at the Print Room at the Coronet. Got my ticket from London Theatre Direct.
On the 15th, I'm going to try the Seven Deadly Sins Pub Naughty History Tour. Walking in London again, so discounted again! Then I'm back to Ireland again for the weekend.
On the 19th, News of the Strange, from the Crick Crack Club, at Soho Theatre.
On the 20th, back with UITCS for Pinter at the Pinter - Pinter plays at the Pinter Theatre. Two long ones on this occasion - this is Programme Four: Moonlight & Night School.
On the 21st, back at last with The London Jazz Meetup, who are off to the London Jazz Festival for a concert by the Faraj Suleiman Quartet at King's Place. UK premiere, apparently!
On the 22nd of next month, with UITCS at the Garrick for Don Quixote. The only cheap tickets left for this were terrible, so I went a bit upmarket. A bit - I'm still behind a pillar!
On the 23rd, I'm on a Paranormal Activity Tour - ooh! Now, for this one, we get ghost-hunting equipment, which could make it interesting - I don't fancy the dowsing rods, myself, but we'll see. Walking in London, again. Discounted, again. And this was after my loyalty discount - so I got it at better than half price! which is good, considering the price.
On the 24th, I'm off on my own to see A Small Place, at the Gate.
On the 25th, back at last to Winter Wonderland! That evening, I'm off to Cirque Berserk - an annual tradition for me. The latest show is the cheapest, so that's the one I booked.
On the 26th, I'm back with UITCS for Programme Three of Pinter at the Pinter - Landscape / A Kind of Alaska / Monologue.
On the 27th, I'm going to see Company, by Sondheim, at the Gielgud. No tickets available for the upper levels on the official site - they must all have been bought up by resellers! Cheapest I found was with OfficialLondonTheatre, run by See Tickets.
On the 28th, I'm with Walking in London again for the Haunted London Pub Tour. And it being a Funzing event (like all of Walking in London's) I scoured my old Funzing discount codes, and discovered that Funzing_Fb20 seems to be working again - for all of them I've recently booked! So, a 20% discount - better than any recently offered on their Facebook page.
On the 29th, I'm back with UITCS at the National for Hadestown. Then back to Ireland again for the weekend.
On the 3rd of December, I'm back to the National for I'm Not Running.
On the 4th, I'm off to the Bush, for Drip.
On the 5th, LDN Talks @ Night and London Speaks Sessions (both Funzing) advertised a "Winterville" talk on The Science of Santa, where we get the scientific explanation of how he does it. Taking place at The Windmill. However, seems they meant the day before, when of course I'm busy. So instead I'm going to True West, with Kit Harington, at the Vaudeville. Cheapest tickets from the venue.
The 6th could be interesting - Hazel of Walks, Talks and Treasure Hunts, London Guided Walks (and, indeed, Walking in London) has a Christmas Carol Tour. Now, the last two events I booked with her turned out to be no-shows.. the first might not have been her fault, as she was advertising someone else's event, but the second, she just missed the ball on and left three of us standing on a street corner. We shall see whether this event happens, I guess! Now, it's technically more expensive if you book on Funzing - but if you have my discount ;-) it comes down to the same price she charges on her own site, without the booking fee! So I did it that way.
On the 7th, back with UITCS at the Royal Court, for The Cane. Got the very last ticket, phew!
On the 8th, with them again at the Orange Tree Theatre for The Double Dealer.
On the 9th, the Crick Crack Club is back at the British Museum for I Know Not, an afternoon of Sufi legend.
On the 10th, I'm off to the Bridge Theatre for A Very, Very, Very Dark Matter, by Martin McDonagh. Starring Jim Broadbent, this is a dark take on Hans Christian Anderson!
And on the 11th of December, I'm going with North London Friends to The Convert, at the Young Vic. Discounted top-price seats, it seems!
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