Play: From Morning to Midnight

Today, I went to see From Morning to Midnight at the National Theatre.

I left in good time to catch the Tube, which was a good thing, considering the confusion at West Brompton station. I've spoken before about the electronic indicator on Platform 2, which almost never gives the correct information, and I did wonder, as I descended the stairs to the platform today, whether they'd fixed it. Anyway, it indicated that the next train was to Edgeware Road, and that there was a train to town a few minutes after. Goodee. Except, after the Edgeware Road train pulled out, there was another of those announcements not to trust the platform indicator. And then it started working, and changed its mind, now telling us that there would be another two trains in the Edgeware Road direction before the next train to the city. As proved to be the case. Really, do they need that many trains to Edgeware Road? Any day of the week?

Anyway, I was still in time. Panted my way up the steps to the bridge (it's been a while), and threaded my way through the crowds to the theatre. Beautiful, sunny day, although breezy. I made my seat with four minutes to spare - an unusual experience for me. I was third row from the very back, upstairs, but dead centre and with a great view. There are no bad seats here, and I'm happy to take a cheap seat - book with the venue for cheap seats for this show, unless you get a special offer.

And so to the play. I didn't pay much attention when I was booking this - I'm generally willing to give things a shot, if first impressions are good - and while the review on Time Out wasn't terrific, it did say that it was visually stunning, which was enough for me. Turns out it's an example of German expressionist theatre, and indeed one of the most frequently performed of its kind. Now, I don't know much about expressionism, but from the evidence of this play, it can be summarised as "anything goes"!

So basically, it concerns a humble bank clerk, who does his job day in, day out, until one day his world is shaken by the arrival of a beautiful, exotic Italian woman, needing a cash advance of a sizeable amount of money. However, the authorisation from her home bank has not yet arrived, and the manager sends her away, promising to contact her when the authorisation comes through, but actually disbelieving of her story. The clerk, in a moment of madness, seizes his chance, and embezzles a huge amount of money, with the aim of helping her out, and with the thought that they can run away together.

However, it turns out that she is on the level, and he has condemned himself unnecessarily. Moreover, she has no interest in him. The thought of just returning to his humdrum life appals him, and he decides to use the money to have "an experience" - so he embarks on a series of experiments to see what kind of experience money can buy.

They're right - it is visually stunning. I initially thought I'd booked for a dance performance - for a long period at the beginning, there is no dialogue, and the movements are choreographed. But it looks terrific. Later, the dialog begins, but the visuals are still breathtaking, and inventive. Particular praise belongs to how they depict a snowstorm, and a cycle race. Sit back and prepare to be stunned. The ending was a bit unsatisfying for my taste, but that's not to take at all from what went before. Cheaper tickets until next Wednesday, then runs until the 26th. Go see, give yourself a treat!

Tomorrow, I'm off to the London Ice Sculpting Festival, in Canary Wharf. If the weather is like today, it'll be a treat! And I'm keen to see how the sculptures look against the skyscrapers of the financial district. And how they look in the evening, when it's getting dark and the area is lit up. Which reminds me, must check my camera battery is charged.. and remember to take it..!