Play: Tarantella

Eh, yeah. This wasn't what I was supposed to go to tonight - I was supposed to be at an outdoor screening of Star Wars, with London for Less Than a Tenner. Booked ages ago. And then, wouldn't you know it, the weather changed. Now, the Man with the Hat was right on it, offering refunds to anyone who didn't fancy it - but hey, this is not a group I'd voluntarily cancel on, if I could manage it. Then, this morning - with high winds and rain forecast - the organisers of the pop-up cinema decided to cancel it themselves - before I knew where I was, I had emails popping up in my inbox saying I'd been refunded for the event!

Ironically, it was gloriously sunny outside at that point. But there was nothing to be done but change my plans - with Meetup full of outdoorsy stuff, I consulted my non-Meetup list of cheap things to do, and basically picked the closest. Tarantella is playing in the Omnibus Clapham - which I'd never heard of, but I consulted the map and it's further along Clapham Common North Side. Cool - looked easy to drive to (a bit far to walk, particularly as it was lashing by the time I left). Oddly, that play doesn't appear on their website..

So, from the direction of Clapham Junction, proceed to Clapham Common North Side, taking the left lane (when I've travelled this way before, I've taken the right lane, for the South Circular). Continue for a while, then take a left for "Clapham Old Town" - on Streetview, they also show a sign for the B303 at this point, but I noticed they've moved that to the junction itself. Continue to the large junction - the Omnibus is a red-brick building just before you get there. Mind you, I could just see the very tip of it, over the line of buses waiting at the stop outside (marked "Omnibus", I later noticed). As I'd predicted, parking was fairly easily got on Orlando Road, just around the corner.

Unnervingly, as I rounded the building, I could see people apparently decorating the interior - I guess they're expanding. At the ticket desk, I had my name checked off - tickets take the form of old omnibus tickets, laminated to preserve them, and which are surrendered at the door when the house opens.

The trip had taken about 10 minutes, and I arrived just about 45 minutes before showtime, which was when the website said the bar opened. So I headed that way - wasn't even the first customer! Anyway, I got a drink, and sat myself beside the covered piano. It's a spacious, rather eclectic room:

The theatre proper is accessed through large double doors in the bar, which must be an interesting place to be sat during the show, as the actors use another set of bar doors as a stage exit. Inside, it's obviously been newly refurbished, with comfy rows of bright blue-upholstered seats, arranged in tiers, accessed by nice, easy-to-navigate, wide steps. The stage contained a table, set for dinner - I noticed later how one edge was shorter than the other, so that when the short edge was turned away from the audience, the angle of the table made it easier to see the actors sitting at the sides. Clever, that..

 

The brief blurb for the show explains how it tells the story of an Italian-American family in New York in the 1940s, besieged on the one hand by ghosts of their Sicilian homeland, and on the other by the Mob, demanding protection money. And threaded through the whole thing is the tarantella, danced by a mysterious woman in white. Well, a stylised version of it, strangely mesmerising.

 

We've heard so many of these stories, haven't we? The Catholic Italian-American family, struggling to make a living in New York, sticking together, the younger men seduced by the money and power offered by the Mafia. Yeah, but there's a reason we keep coming back to them.. they have style! Lovely accents - in this, there are actually a couple of Italian actors, and indeed one German, who sounds fairly ok. And in this period, plenty of terrific dance music, gorgeous dresses, sharp suits for the Mafia. Hey, in the opening scene, they even eat spaghetti.. I hope it was freshly cooked!

 

Despite so much that was familiar, I found this surprisingly moving - it's terrifically acted, and there are scenes that are beautifully choreographed, particularly those that show the Mob bosses. Highly recommended. You mightn't be able to find it on the website, but I can tell you it runs until Wednesday. Booking probably not required - there were fewer than 20 in the audience tonight, I think.

 

So, a shame I didn't get to meet my peeps, but I had a good night after all. Easy-peasy to get home - continue up Orlando Road to the end, left, first right, then left at the end onto Wandsworth Road and it's a straight run back. Tomorrow, guess what? It's not expected to rain! Grr. Anyway, I've decided to head to the pictures - and top of the list is the interesting-sounding Captain Fantastic, with Viggo Mortensen as the father of a large family, determined to raise them differently to normal society, and rather challenged in this when his wife dies and everyone is determined to give the kids a normal upbringing. Previewing in Clapham Picturehouse - now, this is just a five-minute walk from where I was tonight, think I'll drive again! I should park in the same place - it's much easier to get home from there.