Play: Therese Raquin

I was so delighted to find a night with available tickets for Therese Raquin that I had no hesitation in booking it. It has good reviews, it's by Émile Zola, it's on in the Finborough Theatre, which is walking distance from me - what decision is there to make? Pity I forgot that tonight was also the hen party for someone from work. Never mind.. I couldn't let this play go by, honestly. Anyway, I joined the hen party for drinks. I knew they had a dinner reservation for 7pm, and with the play not starting until 7.30, and only 15mins walk away, I figured I'd be in plenty of time.

Of course, they weren't in time for their reservation, and, leaving the bar at the same time, I ended up rushing (as usual) and only just in time for my play! I missed a play here once before by being five minutes late. Anyway, it's an age since I've been here - not since I moved flat, mainly because the tickets sell out so fast. To be fair, it's a small venue. Now, this theatre used to be above a wine bar. Then the wine bar went bust. Now I see they've opened a regular bar there! Good luck to them.

I wasn't sure how ticket collection worked in this new configuration, so I asked the guy at the theatre door, who sent me over to the corner. While there was no bar in operation, they gave out tickets at the bar counter, so that's where I headed. After waiting for a bit, the bartender told me that the box office was in the corner - over there. Not at the bar. Oops! Well, I was in a hurry. As I made my way to the box office, which I could now see, I discovered that a large dog was nosing me. His owner laughed. "You have a dog, don't you?" Well, it's my mother's dog, but anyway.. I gave his head a rub and rushed on.

I saw from the sign on the desk that the show was sold out, unsurprisingly - it's been sold out all week. Collected my ticket and dashed for the theatre. I had about two minutes to spare. It's up a couple of flights of narrow, awkward stairs, with a few complicated doors at the bottom - the sort where you have to position yourself carefully, or else just close one door completely before opening the next, because they're so close together. It's bench seating, and as the guy took my ticket, he obligingly told me that it was five to a bench. When I entered, the only major free space I could see was in the front row, where the whole bench on one side was free. So I sat myself on that bench, on the aisle. The rest of the bench wasn't free for long..

Now, Helen remarked last night that we were very close to the performers. You ain't seen nothing, girl! This venue is tiny. Again, like last night, the set was decorated with paraphernalia of long ago - the story is set in 1867. The story is of a young girl whose father was a French soldier in Algeria, and whose mother was Algerian. Now orphaned, she is sent to live with her aunt, and is married to her cousin at the age of 21. Stifled by her humdrum existence, she begins an affair with a childhood friend of her husband's. It does not end well.

As the Time Out reviews remark, this performance is audacious in turning the story into a musical! And right from the start, it's apparent that this is a superior production. The singing is first-rate, and the music itself is beautiful, and evocative. Interestingly, Therese herself has no lines, spoken or written, until after she meets the man with whom she will have the affair. A demonstration of her lack of control over her destiny, I guess.

As for the proximity to the performers, there were moments, particularly in the second half, where I was really afraid one of the actors would either fall on me, or kick me during the choreographed dance moves. But they have been doing it for a while now, and I remained untouched. Still, I was at a loss as to where to put my bag so they wouldn't trip over it! And I was conscious of the fact that, had I stood up for some reason, I'd suddenly have been in the play..

It never ceases to astound me that theatre, and particularly musical theatre, of this quality is shown in such tiny venues. I am not at all surprised that it's selling out. Go see it, absolutely, if you can get a ticket! Booking essential. Runs until the 17th, Tuesdays - Sunday afternoons.

Tomorrow, all going well, I finally get to see La Meute in performance - the acrobatic troupe I was supposed to see on Tuesday, but one of them injured himself..