Play: Punkplay

Man with the Hat, Southwark Playhouse. No-brainer. He was taking Let's Do London - for less! to see something called Punkplay. Yep, fine - this was going to be a good night; I booked.

I was in Guildford today, but it was a late start at Southwark Playhouse, so I figured I'd be ok. Given the nature of this guy's events, I scheduled my days to work from home to be the days after his two events this week - so, tomorrow and the day after. In case of late nights, you see. ;-) And indeed, despite having to drive back from Guildford this evening, I was in plenty of time to take the bus.. I must've just missed one, because I actually had to wait this evening, rather than have one pull up as I arrived!

Jeez, I'll never get used to the temperature difference between here and Ireland. I was freezing over the weekend - this evening, I had to take off my coat on the bus, or swelter. At least it dried up the (pretty bad) head cold I caught in Ireland. Arrived at the venue, headed for the bar - where, as it happens, I ran into the Man with the Hat. Well, I knew he'd be around here somewhere. And so down the back to meet some familiar faces, and shoot the breeze until the house opened.

This play was in the "Little" - we entered a rather smoky environment, which seemed familiar from before, and sure enough, they did that here the last time too, for Thérese Raquin. As blogged about. Unassigned seating - we ended up around the middle. Watching silver balloons sway at the end of ropes, spelling out "Punkplay" - now, had the Ps aligned, I'd have liked to take a photo: but they only did very briefly, right before the show started. So that wasn't happening.

Yes, there's punk in this - but fear not if that's not your thing, there isn't an awful lot of real punk. For one thing, it's set in 1985, which is post-punk. And - as stated in the programme - this is obviously a memoir, inspired by real-life adolescent experiences. Madder than anything that happened to me as a teenager, but what the hey. Basically, it's about two teenage lads, embracing the punk ethos of just going for it, as they learn how to live their lives.

What it is, is a real nostalgia trip. I was never into vinyl, but my collection of cassette tapes was prodigious; they have both. The fashions, the hairstyles, the glitter balls - and roller skates: the whole cast spends pretty much the entire play skating back and forth. Gosh, if I had to do that, I'd twist an ankle pretty quickly - fair play to them. And for those of us who really lived through the era, the show was great fun. Yeah, if you want a blast from the past, it's very true to life. Runs until the 1st.

Afterwards, a few of us hung on for yet more shooting the breeze, and (joyous day!) the conversation swung around to U2. So that was a happy end to the night - but hey, it would've been anyway.

Yippee, we get to do it all again tomorrow - in Soho. He's taking London for Less than a Tenner to Soho Theatre, to see Two Man Show. Which, as you might expect, has two women in it. Talking about men. Just as well I'm working from home - it has a somewhat early start. And hey, maybe there's a bus option I can take for once, given that I'll have the time..

On Wednesday, I'm back with London Literary Walks - this one is called the Tate Switch Walk. And on Thursday, I'm delighted to be going on my first pre-Hallowe'en event.. London for a Tenner or Less (NOT the same as the above group), and therefore Funzing, have organised a Ghosts and Executions tour. Cool - I missed the first date of this, but they do tend to repeat them.