As Is

Tonight, after a good recommendation from Time Out, I went to see As Is, at the Finborough Theatre. I booked, because it's been selling out, and I know this is a small theatre. It also has the advantage of being within walking distance from home, and it was a lovely evening for walking - despite raining for much of the day.

It's a shame - there used to be a lovely wine bar downstairs from the theatre. There's a pizza place next door, with no seating, but they had menus in the bar and would order for you, and the pizza place would deliver to the bar. So you could eat in comfort before popping upstairs for the play. I just had one chance to do that - next time I came, the bar had closed down, and closed it has remained. When I went in, they had a sign for "Box Office" (the till just to the left of the sign), with the equivalent underneath in what looked something like, but not exactly like, Irish. Sure enough - Scots Gaelic. Apparently, there was a Scottish play on there, and they wrote it up for that and left it there. Actually, I saw a Scottish play there - wonder whether it was the same one.. BTW, the Irish would be "Oifig na dTicéad". Scots Gaelic is "Oifis Thiocaidean". So now you know!

As we went in, the girl taking our tickets mentioned that it was completely sold out - and when we went in, about 10 minutes before start time, there were very few seats left. Moral of the story - book in advance, and get there early if it matters where you sit. And so it was that I ended up in the front row, which is very, very close to the action. For such a small venue, there are a lot of actors in this, and I frequently worried that I was going to get in someone's way. I actually flinched during the fight scene, afraid they were going to land on top of me! Mind you, I had good reason - something similar did happen to me once.. not on this occasion, thankfully.

So. A play that's hard to get a ticket to, in a venue that no longer serves food or drink, that's so cramped it feels as though you're part of the play. Is it worth it? Emphatically YES!! It's a play about AIDS. Dates from 1985, when AIDS was still new. One of the first plays about it, apparently. Sounds depressing? It's not. What it is, is funny, and touching, and - for those determinedly hetero females among us - features, in one scene, three nicely buff guys in black leather and shades. ;-) Ooh yes. Think that guy from the Village People..

It's the story of a young homosexual man, full of life, who catches an illness he's barely heard of. We meet several characters in his life, with most of the actors playing various roles. I wasn't sure what to make of it at first, but you soon get drawn in. One act, lasts just under 90 minutes. Runs until 31 August - highly recommended. Remember, reservation essential!

And now I'm off to Lille for the long weekend. I might even get some packing done tonight.. nothing in particular planned for there, but I'm already thinking ahead, and have booked a ticket for The Pride on Tuesday, at Trafalgar Studios. Gee, another "gay play"! I caught a bit of an article recently about how Putin's crackdown on homosexuality has at least revived the gay theatre scene.. For this play, you can get tickets on lastminute.com that are considerably cheaper than those available anywhere else. Think £15 as opposed to £40. So I did. Remains to be seen how good the seat is, but my previous experiences with them have been excellent!