Oh wow, the final Man with the Hat event finally, inevitably, rolled around. Family commitments beckon, and he's closing down the groups as of tomorrow. Doesn't know when, or whether, he'll be back.. a sad, sad day indeed.
Let me pop up that screenshot again of my Meetup activity, with the groups with which I've been most active:
Yup, there go the two groups at the top of my list. :'-(
I had a late meeting, but it did finish a bit early, and I decided to walk, in the end - it's not much quicker to take public transport to the Globe. Mercifully, it had warmed up quite a bit - the cold weather having done its damage to me! And what a lovely surprise - a group member who hadn't got a ticket had dropped by anyway, just to say goodbye! Chats with the Man with the Hat pre-event had to be taken in snatches - he was fielding phone calls from people who were lost, dealing with sporadic people coming up to him to collect their tickets. He did have 46 coming, after all..
It's impossible to be sad around this man. There's more than one reason that he has such a loyal following - he has a sunny personality that smashes through the gloom. Anyway, I hung out there until it was nearly time to go, shepherding a member of London Dramatic Arts (LDAM) who was finding herself at the Globe for the first time, and was uncertain where to go. And for my part, I was comfortably snuggled at the back, which suited - I didn't want a breeze making my still-sniffly cold any worse. Having said that, it had warmed up so much that I actually took my coat off for most of the first act!
Now, this production of Romeo and Juliet has attracted mixed reviews. The Man with the Hat did mention, mind you, that it was supposed to be very popular with the kids - sure enough, the place was packed with school groups. To give credit to the girls' school filling my section, they were extremely well-behaved - and I think they performed the best rendition in YMCA of anyone in the theatre!
Yes, you're right - I don't remember YMCA popping up in the original version either. That's the Globe for you. Neither do I remember the actors being in clown face paint.. and wow, the fight sequences are something else, with strobe lighting, streamers that shot out and wrapped themselves fetchingly around a support wire, MTV-style music.. I'm actually not trendy enough to have the vocabulary to describe the opening scene of this production, which is kind of mind-blowing..
Happily, it calms down a bit after that. And I've gotta say, it's a brilliant idea - we don't know what age Romeo is supposed to be, but Juliet is only 13 in the play, and I'd guess him a little older. So, teenagers then. And what appeals to modern teenagers..? Exactly. They play their parts perfectly, a bit of teen gawkiness adding to the charm, and the MTV-style posturing fits perfectly with the brashness that we often see with teenagers. They keep the original text, just the odd interjection added - and oh, the music! The music is absolutely perfect, going from slightly insane at the party at the start of the play, to a sudden shift to a much softer tune as they see each other and fall in love. Complete change of mood - perfectly chosen, as ever!
I loved it. Purists will hate it - well, don't come to the Globe then. But for everyone else, I really recommend this. Runs on selected dates until 9 July, better availability the earlier you book - many dates are sold out already. And as for their warning on the site, about guns - don't worry; although there are guns, they're not fired. The characters just say "Bang!". And, further to that review I read, the dinosaur is quite sensibly woven into the production - and I saw no sign of the submarine they mentioned! Unless they were referring to the torpedo that's been suspended over the stage for weeks now.
Afterwards, we met with the Man - who'd already hung up his Hat! He'd checked, and there was space in the Swan, so in we went - in fact, it was quite deserted, and we took over the alcove at the end. Didn't stop it taking forever for me to be served, though, as usual.. and hey, another of our members, who lives nearby, had dropped by for drinks! Awesome.. and a really great night was had, a fitting end to the group - with the Man with the Hat staying to the bitter end, as he used to. Farewells had the potential to be teary, but we survived. Hey, who knows we shall meet again as a group.. but I look forward to that day.
By now, it was after midnight - I had great fun trying to find somewhere quiet to ring my mother and pretend I was at home! Blasted busker, under that bridge.. and as I paced up and down in the rain, this would be the night that my mother decided to have a nice, long chat. Afterwards, across the same bridge - and with a choice of two buses, it wasn't long before one came and I could get home at last. (Wise of me to bring my Oyster card - I'd have walked if it had been early enough, but at this time I just wanted to get to bed.)
Tonight, it's back to Ireland for the weekend. On Monday and Tuesday, I'm off to Pint of Science - following a theme, given my background, I'm headed to a talk on Small Is Beautiful (quantum physics) on Monday and one on Across the Universe (cosmology) on Tuesday. Both now sold out. Rock on..
On Wednesday, London Literary Walks is off to Highbury. And so am I.
On Thursday, I'm booked for free comedy in Hammersmith, with Free Comedy Nights in Hammersmith Wimbledon & Greenwich, Random London, and London Live Comedy. Something, frankly, that I usually cancel, but you never know - nothing better has yet come up for this night!
Next Friday, I saw that London Social Detours (a side-shoot of Ken's Events) were charging £3 to go to the free jazz concert at the Royal Academy. So I was going to go on my own. Free. But then the London European Club (LEC) advertised a Norwegian Dixieland concert at Jamboree.. well, that sounded like more fun, so now I'm going to that instead.
On the 20th, I'm doing something local - a guided walk on Residents, Rascals & Riots, in Holborn. With London for a Tenner or Less.
The 21st, LDAM is headed out of town. We're going all the way to Northampton, to see a couple of Shakespearian plays, one directed by one of her members. Richard II, to be precise, with Titus Andronicus to whet our appetites. No-one has signed up apart from me, but what the hey I've never been there, so it'll be interesting.
On the 22nd, I'm off to Ugly Lies the Bone, at the Lyttleton.
On the 23rd, I'd booked with Funzing UK for an Infinitease Burlesque Show. In Leytonstone, so if anything better came up in the meantime, I was up for it! That's a terribly long way out. Anyway, the other day I got an email about cheap tickets - apparently there's a burlesque festival on - in Hackney, which is a bit closer. And a lot cheaper. So now I'm going to that instead - Funzing can be cancelled up to 48 hours in advance without penalty.
The 24th was supposed to be the Man with the Hat's last event, but he had to cancel. Instead, I discovered that the UL Alumni Association (UL is my alma mater) is holding a talk on Brexit that night. And I was going to go to that - but lo, Funzing came up with something better! So now I'm going to Urban Legends of London.
The 25th, Crick Crack is back - at Crouch End Arthouse again, unfortunately. It's just so far! Still going, of course - the more especially because it's Michael Harvey! He's worth the trip. Then I'm back to Ireland for the Bank Holiday weekend again - and taking the bank holiday, this time!
On the 30h, LDAM are at the Olivier to see Common. So am I.. on a cheap Travelex ticket, which I booked direct with the venue. So I'll be avoiding them, since they don't appreciate that.
On the 31st, free comedy in Hammersmith was up again (temporarily), with the above groups, plus London Art Comedy & Culture Lovers (another offshoot of Ken's Events). But yay, it's now been replaced by another Funzing event - a Luxury Chocolate evening! Helen's popping along, too. The code Fun_Day10 got us a 10% discount.
On 1 June, I eschewed the free comedy in Hammersmith for the Ghosts & Executions Tour, with London for a Tenner or Less - even though that guide wasn't great the last time, so I cancelled this previously, he's better than that free comedy! Oh, and I forgot to mention, the code WELLBEING30 got me 30% off this. How it qualifies as "well-being" I don't know, but I'm not complaining!
Then I'm off down to Helen for the weekend - she told me about this Living History Festival, and I said yes please!
The 5th, I'm back to Soho Theatre with the Crick Crack Club, for something called The Frog Princess - Punked. Ben Haggerty, the mc and co-founder of the club, told us the other night that there's going to be a full punk band - goodness, who would've thought that Sally Pomme Clayton had a hidden punk side!
And the 6th June, I'm with the LEC, to see the Images Ballet Company at the Arts Depot.
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