Plenty of empty tables, and we took a corner one. A bottle of wine was accompanied by garlic bread and chargrilled chicken funghi for me, breaded mushrooms and chicken milanese for her. And everything got polished off - although I did think the garlic bread was a little too salty, and the chicken a little too chewy. But tasty enough, in all. Dessert, for me, had to be the hazelnut chocolate cheesecake when I saw it on the menu - covered in hazelnut chocolate ganache, accompanied by a "treat" that turned out to be a hazelnut chocolate - delish. Helen's was one of their mini-desserts (a raspberry cheesecake, as I recall), which come with a hot drink. And my goodness, upon leaving, were we stuffed..
Our next plan was to visit the Wellcome Collection, a short walk down the road, where we passed a curious hour, browing the weird and wonderful collections of the man after whom it's named. On our way upstairs, we came across folks in hospital beds in the lobby, being variously tickled and stroked.. upstairs, somewhat quieter than the last time I was here, we perused the medical exhibitions, and vast collections of photographs and curios from around the world. Really, the most fascinating place to while away the time, and I can see why the Crick Crack Club decided to have their Wild Spectacular here.
After a trip to Waterstone's, we parted - she went home, and I headed off for the Almeida, where London Dramatic Arts (LDAM) was headed to Hamlet. The #19 bus would get me straight there - naturally, I was just in time to miss one, and the confused LED board didn't help much in telling me when the next was due. Naturally, just as it had given up on it, one arrived, and whisked me to Islington in just under half an hour. Where all I had to do was walk around the corner to the theatre. Nowhere to sit, as usual - I found the organiser sorting tickets, and as people arrived, got myself a glass of wine, and we stayed chatting until the time came for us to go in.
Now, this is a mammoth production - four hours long, a complete version, with two intervals. We had seats very close to the stage..
..pictured, however, are chairs that act as props. Not our seats! What is relevant in this shot is the vidi-wall, raised and lowered at several points during the performance. At the start, it's down, and serves as a platform on which to watch cctv footage of the castle, whose guards are perturbed to see the ghost of their recently deceased King prowling the halls. Technology plays a much greater role than that, though - we get to see video footage of the funeral, and live feed from a handheld camera, which allows us to see close-ups of the actors at intervals. Other cute touches include a newspaper front page covering the remarriage of the dowager Queen, Gertrude, to her brother-in-law, Claudius, the new King. And I did like the detail of having all captions (and the newspaper headline) in what I assume is Danish.
It's the actors that really carry this, though. Robert Icke, who directs, tends to re-use his casts, and we have a reprise of the King from Oresteia in this production of Hamlet, with Angus Wright cast. Jessica Brown Findlay and Luke Thompson, similarly, play brother and sister in this, as they did in Oresteia. Juliet Stevenson is Gertrude. However, the stand-out performance, by popular agreement, is that of Andrew Scott, who gives a mesmerising performance, flipping effortlessly from comedy to anger to tragedy to madness throughout, and keeping our attention riveted on him.
This is awesome to behold, you don't feel the time passing, holding your breath whenever he's on stage. Really, this has to be seen - runs until 8 April, with limited availability.
Afterwards, we schlepped up the road, as someone wanted to catch the Overground from Highbury & Islington. So we ended up in an adjacent pub - a Wetherspoon's, the White Swan, where they had plenty of free tables, but sadly not much cleanliness, with a huge damp patch on the sofa near where we were sitting, spillages that hadn't been mopped from the tables, and a peculiar smell. Still, the drinks were cheap, and we stayed until they chucked us out - which wasn't actually that long, given how late it had been when we arrived! Anyway, as I was bussing it home, I didn't care where I went from - the #30 got me there in the end.
Tomorrow is shaping up to be a busy day. I'd booked to go to a free organ recital, with the London European Club (LEC), at the Methodist Central Hall. Then the Man with the Hat decides that would be the perfect evening to take Let's Do London - for less! to see the Pop-up Opera, with the Barber of Seville, at Charing Cross Theatre! With a 6pm start, I'll have to rush over from Westminster.. have to make my excuses to the LEC. My, what a busy life!
Monday is the only day I have free to use my Wowcher before it expires - it's for the Magic Lantern festival.
Tuesday, unusually, LEC is taking us to some storytelling - up in Cambridge Heath! Now, last night my boss rescheduled our weekly Tuesday evening meeting for this week to 6-6:45pm (most of the team is based in California, you see). She has some hope - I have to be in Cambridge Heath by 7! I've told her I'll come, but have to duck out before 6:30..
Wednesday, I'm headed, with LDAM, to The Cherry Orchard, at the Arcola. And I caught an interesting conversation in relation to that evening - seems someone who's booked can't go, and posted in case anyone wanted his ticket. Whereupon the organiser was right on to him to explain that that's against the rules. Yes, ok, he doesn't get a refund if the ticket isn't sold on, and he can't sell on the ticket directly - I get that. But me oh my, it seems her anti-blogging page isn't the only page of rules she - or someone she knows - has come up with - take a read of the rules against reselling. I mean seriously - the ticket can't be passed on until the day of the event? And forget about a refund - at best, you can get credit. You have been warned..
Thursday, the Crick Crack Club is back at Crouch End, with The Fate We Bring Ourselves - finally advertised on their Meetup page! Ben Haggerty standing in for Claire Muireann Murphy, who's having a knee operation, it seems. Then I'm back to Ireland for the weekend.
Monday 27th, London for Less Than a Tenner is off to Two Man Show at Soho Theatre. I've seen it before, but it's worth seeing again. And so is the group!
Tuesday 28th, Let's Do London - for less! is off to Sleeping Beauty, at the Opera House.
Wednesday 1st March - well lookee that, the same group is off to Roundelay, at Southwark Playhouse. Three in a row for the Man with the Hat - we'll have to carry him off on a stretcher. About time we got back to Southwark though - we've missed it!
Thursday 2nd, I was thinking of free comedy in Hammersmith - this time with London Live Comedy, Free Comedy Nights in Hammersmith Wimbledon and Farringdon, and Random London. But then Walk, Talks and Treasure Hunts (and Walking Victorian London) announced a walk called True Spy Stories! So I thought that sounded more interesting, and booked.
Friday 3rd, again, Crick Crack is telling stories - Daniel Morden and Hugh Lupton are performing Metamorphoses at Rich Mix. However, the Rich Mix website doesn't seem to have heard of this.. The independent Crick Crack Club website now has a link to buy tickets from Rich Mix though, and at the moment they're being sold at a discounted preview price. And now that the link is available, their Meetup group is advertising it too.
Saturday 4th, Let's Do London - for less! is back to see Sleeping Beauty - and so am I. Honestly, this was a mistake on my part - I was booking a lot at the time and forgot I was already going - but hell, I'd rather be doing this anyway than not. Amphitheatre, this time - it's been a while since I was there.
Sunday 5th, London for Less Than a Tenner is advertising "Soho: the Roots of the Swinging Sixties - guided walk"! Now, this confused me, before I read deeper.. I do recall the Man With the Hat saying that, while he was interested in guided walks, he wasn't interested in actually guiding them. Turns out someone else is doing the actual guiding.. Anyway, count me in.
Monday 6th, I'm off to see Russell Howard at the Albert Hall.
Tuesday 7th, jeez, the Man with the Hat is back again! Hard to keep up these days - so I'm going with Let's Do London - for less! to The Diary of a Teenage Girl at Southwark Playhouse.
Wednesday 8th, I finally get to go to something with the Post-Apocalyptic Book Club - not a book discussion this time, instead they're off to a play called The Machine Stops, at Jacksons Lane Theatre. Suitably post-apocalyptic. Then I'm back to Ireland for a long weekend.
Monday 13th, I'm with LDAM at the Royal Court, for The Kid Stays in the Picture.
And to complete the tally, that rescheduled talk on Brexit Vs. Trump from last Tuesday is on Tuesday 14th. Unless I decide to go to a film instead - being Funzing, I can get my money back if I cancel at least 48 hours in advance.
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