Tonight - back with the Crick Crack Club (CCC), woohoo! for Goddesses in the Garden, at the Chelsea Physic Garden. Just the thing for International Women's Day. Advertised performers were my favourite, Clare Murphy, along with Sarah Liisa Wilkinson, Laura Sampson, and Xanthe Gresham. Now, it's been so cold this week that I was worried - especially when I checked today's weather forecast, which was for unremitting snow! But upon closer inspection, I saw it was indoors, phew! They have a gallery, it seems. Gee, I had visions of us all turning into ice sculptures.. Anyway, I also discovered it was sold out.
Buses would have taken a bit long, so I took the Tube, eating beforehand in O' Neill's. Downstairs was packed, so I headed upstairs - which was deserted. Right behind me was a group of, it transpired, six young women. Well, the guys on "service" upstairs were obviously not used to it..
Firstly, while I got a table, the group of six was turned away. The place was nearly empty - he could have shoved a couple of tables together for them.
Secondly - I'm used to table service upstairs; it's slower, but it's the norm. After a few minutes of waiting, however, as he passed my table without enquiring whether I was ready to order, it occurred to me that - perhaps - he expected me to use the app! So I did, and was quickly served. (And it was delicious, BTW - except that, had I had table service, I'd have asked for regular fries, rather than the twisty ones that have become the norm.)
Thirdly, he looked so wary when he asked whether my food was ok - well, that's putting it more eloquently than he did. He grunted, "OK?" at me with, as mentioned, a wary expression.
Fourthly - an adjacent table had one person sitting at it for ages, alone for half an hour before a second person arrived. As I was leaving, they got up to find a larger table - the waiter was troubled at the fact that they were moving, and questioned them, to be told they wanted space for three. He had known this, and as he pointed out, had set their table for three. Seriously, it was one of the small tables! Really, he can't ever have waited at table before..
Well, off I went, and the Victoria Line was as packed as any Tube I've ever been on - I believe some trains had been cancelled on that line. I was just glad, when I had to change, that I was on the side where the doors opened! And the District Line was much less crowded. Unfortunately, I then had about a 15-minute walk - and it was, frankly, way too cold to be outdoors. Raining all day, too. I was so relieved when I got there. Had my name checked off, and she directed me through and to the right. Where there was a marquee, outside the building. The people ahead of me asked whether this was where the event was happening - Oh no, the lady said, this is an "amuse-bouche". There were cardboard cutouts where you could have your picture taken:
and a shrine, which I discovered was dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe:
Turned out you could leave petitions at the shrine in little bottles, which they should have told us at the interval, but forgot. Ah well.
Inside the building proper, stairs lead up to the gallery - but were blocked off by a sign, explaining that the show didn't actually start until 7.20, and directing us to the adjacent cafe. 7.20?! and me rushing to get there by 7! Just glad I didn't try to get there for 6.30, when the doors were said to be opening.. Anyway, I took myself into the cafe, where I was glad to see they had wine - although it wasn't fantastic. All the seating in there was occupied, though, so I took myself back to the marquee, which was OK as long as you kept your coat on. And were careful of the rickety tables. And when it was time, the usher moved through both cafe and marquee, shifting us all along.
For once, I didn't feel like sitting in the front row - dunno why. Anyway, we did indeed have four storytellers, all regaling us with stories of goddesses - Xanthe seemed to be directing proceedings:
(Kept forgetting to introduce herself, mind!) And then we had - not Sara-Liisa Wilkinson at all, but Lucy Lill! Not that we minded at all - she might well have been the most entertaining of the lot, tonight, with her stories from Mexican folklore:
She was followed by Laura, who is an excellent storyteller, if perhaps a bit more clinical than the others:
And ending the first half - and starting the second - Clare, with the bawdiest story of the night, involving the war between the Formorians and the Tuatha Dé Danann:
Note that, by and large, they dressed up - and Lord help them in such flimsy garments, on such a night! In fact, there was a prize for best-dressed audience member - honestly, I only spotted one person in the entire audience who made an effort, with dramatic black eye makeup, occult-type silver jewellery, and something long, black and floaty. It was a given that she'd get a prize! Other prizes went to folks who answered riddles correctly at the end - heavens, I'm hopeless at riddles..
But wow, they played a blinder - Clare's second tale a vivid tale from Egyptian mythology, Lucy with an hilarious story about a party goddess, Xanthe with a really unusual take on the take of Medusa. One of the prizes tonight was a book written by her - another was a book about Medusa, whose author is apparently doing a CCC session that the prize recipient is attending! as am I - read on for more.
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