So, this is what happened today. I was wondering whether, and when, my ticket for Monday would arrive - I booked to see Richard II, which stars David Tennant, and it's selling like hot cakes. So I had to get it from Viagogo, which is a reseller, i.e. they sell secondhand things. Such as hard-to-get show tickets that other people are selling on, for whatever reason. And I had to pay for a courier, and had been told I would be notified when the ticket was dispatched.
The email came through at 11.13 this morning. I remember it well, I was so flustered - I was up, but not dressed yet, and fearful that a courier would ring my bell at any moment. So I rushed around and got myself presentable, and waited on tenterhooks, jumping at the sound of every car that passed. See, it's only coming from Salfords, I discovered, which is just over an hour's drive from here. Although they probably wouldn't drive straight here. But I expected that it could come this afternoon. Huh. Fat chance. And in waiting for it, I missed the film I had been going to see, which was on at 4.05. Well, I wasn't that pushed about it anyway. And at least I took the chance to hunt down some of the clothes I am planning to wear over the festive season.
So, the next film on my list was Inside Llewyn Davis. The blurb said it was about a week in the life of a folk singer in Greenwich Village in 1961. I thought it was a biopic. But then I took a good look today and discovered.. it's a Coen brothers' film! Had a look at the trailer, saw evidence of an orange cat that the guy carries around, figured he can't be all bad if he carries a cat. The cat looked happy enough, anyway. It was showing at the British Film Institute only (I discovered it's another preview), and when I checked, there were all of two seats left. So I booked the aisle seat, and off I went, intending to have one of those lovely crepes at the Southbank Christmas market beforehand.
The streets and my local station were packed with people exiting the British Military Tournament, showing this weekend at Earl's Court. Not my thing. But that was nothing to the crowds on the bridge, and in the market! If I had thought it was packed last Monday, I had another think coming. It took me ten solid minutes just to push my way through the crowd to the BFI. They were sold out of crepes, and the queues were too long to consider anything else. When I had collected my ticket, and was standing there, waiting and starving, I decided to try the café at the entrance to the BFI. After a ten-minute queue, I managed to buy a ham and cheese baguette, and got about half of it eaten before it was time to go into the cinema. So I stuffed the rest in my bag, and managed to finish it surreptitiously inside. Well, the BFI and its patrons can be stuffy about these things!
I love Coen brothers' films. This is a lovely, gentle comedy about a folk singer (played by Oscar Isaac - I've only seen him before as Prince John in the Russell Crowe version of Robin Hood) who, as one of his friends (played by Carey Mulligan, unrecognisable here, with long black hair, from her role in The Great Gatsby) remarks at one point, is "like King Midas' stupid younger brother". Everything he touches "turns to shit". And she's right. He can't do right for doing wrong. He makes all the wrong choices, and has the worst luck. Well, the boy can sing. And play guitar. And along the way, as mentioned, he acquires a cat. Packed with famous faces - we also have John Goodman, Justin Timberlake (with a beard), and even Marcus Mumford, of Mumford & Sons, who provides the vocals for our hero's erstwhile partner.
Afterwards, there was a Q+A with Oscar Isaac and T-Bone Burnett, who was the musical consultant on the film. I've never attended such an entertaining Q+A, with the guest speakers emphasising how wonderful it was to work with the Coens. The last question of the night was about the cat. "Oh, thank goodness!" exclaimed Oscar Isaac, "I thought nobody was going to ask about the cats. What a relief!" The audience member asked when he realised.. "What the cat's personality was?" he offered. "No, that there was an actual cat." "Ah yes," he replied, "that would be when I read the script. It became clear that the cat would not be animatronic." He went on to explain that there was more than one cat, "..because they can't be trained. They never did what we wanted them to. No, I would not recommend working with cats."
So, tomorrow should be more predictable, I'm going to see The Night before Christmas in the Soho Theatre. Mind you, this is the theatre that I keep meaning to go to but something always prevents me.. and as mentioned, I'm supposed to be going to Richard II at the Barbican on Monday. Well, they'll probably deliver that damned ticket on Monday, in which case they'll have to deliver it to me at work. I've given Viagogo the address - we'll see what happens.
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