Play: Operation Crucible

I got the recommendation for Operation Crucible from Time Out - and it was so handy that it's showing in the Finborough, within walking distance of both home and office. I checked, and it's a 50-seater venue.. they let you select up to 25 seats at a time (!), so when the site wouldn't process a booking for that many, I knew it was already over half full. So I booked. For 1. For tonight.

I got stuck into what I was doing in the office, and ended up going straight from there - my time was tighter because, for some reason, they needed to start half an hour earlier tonight. My goodness though, they made sure we knew! I got an email, I got a phone call.. both said that if I needed to cancel or reschedule, I just had to let them know. That's excellent customer service.

I arrived not long before showtime, collected my ticket, and made straight for upstairs, since they said the house was open. When I first came here, there was a wine bar downstairs - then it closed. It's been a while since I was here last, and now it seems to be a thriving bar (with a big screen over the door, showing the footie), advertising "The best beer in the royal borough".

I also noted that they seem to have new doors. Still the same complicated arrangement though, where you have to hold the one behind you while you open the next. The theatre was mostly full when I got there, but it's small and no seat is a bad one. Seating is unassigned, and I got one, not too far to the side, in the middle row. Seating is on comfortably upholstered benches, and before the start, someone informed us that it was sold out (again) and we'd have to squeeze up. I've experienced that here before - someone mustn't have been able to make it though, because this time I actually had room to move.

Operation Crucible - apparently the writer's first play - is set in Sheffield during the Blitz, and is based on Hitler's name for the bombing campaign. I've said I love pared-down productions - you can't get more pared-down than this, four men on a stage, who have no more props than four stools - which are hardly used - and lighting and sound effects. Tells the story of four steel workers, trapped - but alive - in the basement of a luxury hotel in the city centre that was destroyed in the bombing. I can't vouch for the men's stories, but the hotel really was destroyed.

You WILL not see a more powerful play in London at the moment. The intensity can't be described - it has to be experienced. It's amazing how vividly they convey their everyday lives, with absolutely no props: getting ready in the morning, the walk to work, the steel works themselves. Frequently, the story is peppered with anecdotes. And then.. the bombing starts. You can hear it on the sound effects, see it in the fear on their faces. And when the bomb hits, with thundering noise.. complete darkness, and we're right there in the basement with them.

Of course, it runs without an interval - you couldn't disturb the mood like that. Astounding, profoundly moving stuff. There aren't words, and there weren't gestures we could make at the end to express our appreciation. Runs until Saturday, booking strongly advised. Best thing I've seen in - I don't know how long.

Tomorrow, I'm with the Let's Do London - for less! Meetup group yet again, when they're off to the Globe to see As You Like It. On Thursday, I'm off to the Spiegeltent to see House of Burlesque. Time Out offer. Then I'm back to Ireland for the weekend, and we're headed to the Irish Youth Wind Ensemble, at the University Concert Hall.
On Monday, I'm finally going to see Memphis: the Musical, at the Shaftesbury Theatre. And the next two days, I'm headed to the Guildford office - first for a meeting, then the Sports Day. Coincides nicely with the next Tube strikes, assuming the current talks don't help.. that Thursday, I've booked a ticket to see the comedian Iliza Schlesinger at the Soho Theatre - she was sold out for Monday, so I said maybe I'd better. And that Friday, I'm headed to the Boat Show. Those should both be interesting to get to and from, if the strikes go ahead!

The following Saturday, I'm back with the London Dramatic Arts group, for Oresteia at Trafalgar Studios - its West End transfer. On the Sunday, I'm headed to the Scoop, for their double bill of classical plays. Technically, I'm accompanying the Free London Events and Talks group, but with 100 of us going, I doubt I'll be much bothered with actually meeting anyone. Unless I see someone I know.

I'm finishing off the month by going to the Proms, and on the 1st September I'm going to What's It All About? Bacharach, at the Menier Chocolate Factory. For more.. watch this space!