Play: Appropriate

Last night, back with North London Friends (NLF), to Donmar Warehouse, for Appropriate. I'd heard mixed reviews.. Anyhoo, happily the persistent rain stopped for me to walk to the bus. And I arrived at the theatre in good time, just before the organiser - she'd bought our tickets for us, and what a luxury it was not to have to worry about that! After I'd got mine though, I headed upstairs, while she waited for stragglers - there's a bar on each level, and the lobby was getting crowded. (It was sold out.) Oh, and who knew - there's a sofa in the corner of the Circle Bar! I don't tend to come in that side, so hadn't realised that before. It made it very comfy for us, as we had an overpriced drink and waited.

We were in the second row of the circle - I'd have taken a photo, but what with manoeuvring a drink as well, and having nowhere to leave anything, it was tricky! Anyway, we agreed that the seats are quite comfy - if a bit snug - with a bar to rest your feet on. And once in position - and once everyone inside of us had squeezed past - we had time to admire the incredible clutter on stage (ah, just like home!). We were on the side, but that's just fine - all the action happens at the centre, and all we missed, in the near corner, were some details of the clutter.

You see, this is about the clearing out of an old plantation house, somewhere in deepest Arkansas. Huh, I'd never thought about them having plantations there.. anyway, the family is gathering in time for the auction of the estate. The stage is set in the living room of the house - a door leads from the side to the kitchen, and there's a grand staircase. And that clutter should really have been cleared away by now - as the older of the brothers remarks, how are they going to get anyone to buy a place in such a mess?!

There ain't much of a plot, and what there is is mostly predictable. Where there's a will, there's a relative - as they say; cue the arrival of the younger brother, whom nobody's heard from in years, and nobody could find in time for the funeral. He managed to get there in time for the auction, of course.. and arrives with a much younger female in tow. Very hippy dippy type, into mindfulness and the like. The other characters are the aforementioned (rather stressed) older brother, complete with bossy wife and pretty uncontrollable kids, and the sister, who's the oldest of the three, divorced, and there with her son.

Let the arguments begin! This is the play for you if you enjoy a good argument - from the sidelines. And I do. So I really enjoyed the verbal sparring - the exasperated older sister is a perfect foil for the younger brother's vegan girlfriend (who's sensitive to spirits), and the shrill neuroticism of the sister-in-law. The kids wander around being delightfully disobedient, and the brothers have angst of their own. All very realistic, all very sparky. The "appropriate" of the title refers to something of their late father's that they find in the clutter - they spend a lot of time discussing whether he was racist. And that does provide a good backdrop to all the rowing, giving them something solid to focus on. I dunno about the spooky element, though, which was laid on a bit thick, considering that it really comes to nothing - could maybe have been handled a bit more subtly. But I did enjoy the play.

Runs till the 5th, but sold out apart from tomorrow's matinee, which has limited availability. As I say, recommended if you like a good row. And afterwards, some of us repaired - in pouring rain - to Brown's, where one was good enough to stump up for a very nice bottle of red. Good company and a nice venue - just beware of your surroundings, they're not the quickest at cleaning up.

Tonight, the Crick Crack Club (CCC) is back after the summer! Tricksters & Fools is at Rich Mix - it's another in Crick Crack's Archetypes series, and stars Sarah Liisa Wilkinson (hello again!), Tim Ralphs, TUUP, and Nell Phoenix. Google Maps started out saying I could walk there in half an hour, then increased its estimate - I'll take the bus.

Tomorrow, Up in the Cheap Seats (UITCS) is back with Groan Ups, at the Vaudeville.

On Friday, Love London Theatre, Arts, Music & Stuff (LLTAMS) is at Our Lady of Kibeho, at the Theatre Royal Stratford. Ahah, I knew I'd booked something else with them!

On Saturday, I booked for the matinee of Glass. Kill. Bluebeard. Imp. at the Royal Court. And then Civilised London (CL) organised an outing to see London Concertante perform the Four Seasons at Southwark Cathedral. What the hey, I figure I can make both! It's ages since I heard it, in fact.. and it'll be a nostalgic trip for me, as my very first Meetup with the Man with the Hat was to listen to Concertante in Southwark Cathedral. He's much missed.

Sunday is film - hence the delay with the blog, I was doing the film list! What came up top was - appropriately for the weather - something for the last day of the Raindance Festival, at the Vue Piccadilly. Booking seems to be on the Raindance website, rather than the Vue's - tickets with Eventbrite. And I'm going to Babysplitters - a comedy about two couples who can't decide whether they want a baby, so decide to have one they can split amongst them all! Since tickets are only available until Saturday, I'd have had to book anyway - so I just went ahead and booked straight away.

On Monday, I'm back with UITCS for Ballet Preljocaj - La Fresque at Sadler's Wells.

On Tuesday, we have a slightly delayed September social for ex-employees (and current, if they want) of the company I last worked for - Ivan is away till Sunday, and of course I'm busy on Monday. So, on Tuesday we're headed to Imperial China - the new Chinese restaurant I discovered via CL. Booked for six people, it probably won't exceed that. Getting an answer out of people is predictably difficult.

Next Wednesday, I'm headed to The Merry Wives of Windsor, at the Globe.

On the 3rd, I'm back with CL - this should be interesting. Red Palace is an immersive cabaret experience - lots of fairytale characters, I believe - at the Vaults. And I really hope the weather is ok, because I sourced the most fantastic outfit for it..! Then I'm back to Ireland for the weekend - the start of another brief hiatus from Meetup.

On the 7th, I'm off to Shushkin's Stories, at the Barbican. Performed in Russian, with English surtitles, it's a dramatisation of the short stories of Vasily Shushkin.

On the 8th, off to Wilton's, for Lady of Jazz.

On the 9th, heading to the Turbine Theatre, for Torch Song. This is the inaugural show at the new theatre in the revamped Battersea Power Station!

On the 10th, back with Meetup - NLF is off to A History of Water in the Middle East, at the Royal Court. Another where I got my ticket from the organiser.

On the 11th, back with UITCS - to Southwark Playhouse this time, for Preludes. D' you know, I bought their passport a while ago, which entitles you to cheap tickets to five shows - and of the last three I booked, something else came up for every single one! Hope I make this one..

On the 12th, seeing the matinee of Solaris at the Lyric Hammersmith. Turns out that both UITCS and LLTAMS are going - so I booked with both! Why not? Each requires you to buy your own ticket. And since only the organiser and I are going from LLTAMS, what it effectively means is that I'm slipping her into the UITCS group. What harm..

On the 13th, joining the London Improvisation Community Group for the first time - they have a show called Happily Never After at the Pleasance - part of the London Horror Festival.

On the 14th, I'm seeing Mother of Him, at the Park.

On the 15th, UITCS is off to the Albert Hall for Symphonic Queen - the Royal Philharmonic is performing Queen.

Then begins a long period of non-Meetup stuff. On the 16th, I'm heading to the ballet Manon, at the Opera House.

On the 17th, the CCC is back at Rich mix, with Melusine. TUUP is the headliner on this occasion, which should be terrific!

On the 18th, Helen's in town, heading to a Midge Ure concert at the Palladium - we're meeting for dinner beforehand. Now, that's the day I should be flying back to Ireland - so I'm going the next day instead. And with my mother's birthday during the week - and not having any major holidays booked - I said, why not just take the week off and spend it in Ireland? So I am.

On the 28th of next month, the CCC is back again - Ben Haggarty is in Soho Theatre with Grim Grimms - a dark take on fairytales, highlighting four lesser-known tales of the brothers Grimm. With musical accompaniment. Tickets weren't available when I noted this in my calendar - they are now, and will likely sell out.

On the 29th of next month, I'm trying to persuade the aforementioned social group from my former company to come with me to a Design My Night event - Fright Night Cinema is showing Hallowe'en in the Rivoli ballroom, with a themed cocktail bar and people dressed in spooky costumes. Now, that sounds like fun..

On the 30th of next month, back with Meetup at last - UITCS is at a mixed programme by Birmingham Royal Ballet, at Sadler's Wells. I've seen part of it before, and it's excellent.

And for Hallowe'en, The Embers Collective stepped up to the plate, with a storytelling performance called Witch, at The Jago.