Sure enough, my meeting didn't finish till after 6. I did a wee bit of work - honestly, I never seem to do more than scratch the surface these days. Decided to try walking, and left in enough time that I could take it a bit easy - I also had my Oyster card with me, just in case. And lo, uphill (gently) all the way, and I only had to stop once for slight breathlessness! Even then, I took it easier than I needed to. No, the real problem was my left leg - woke this morning to awful stiffness and soreness in my calf, and it's remained painful to stand or walk on all day. Improves when I'm walking, although God, the pain when I stop! Maybe it's after yesterday's exertions. So it was with relief - and no small sense of accomplishment - that I finally saw the Old Red Lion ahead of me - easily spottable as the red building.
The box office is at the back of the bar, and I checked with her whether my downloaded ticket on my phone was ok. Nope, I had to pick up one of their envelopes, with a number in the queue for hell on one side, name and funding address of the theatre company on the other:
Cutesy! Well, despite it being close to time, there was no sign of the barrier being drawn back from the stairs to the theatre, so I got myself a house white, and had time to sip enough to make it safe to take upstairs before it was time to do so. I'm terrible at not spilling at the best of times! They do allow glasses in the theatre, they just ask that you bring them down again. I was fairly exhausted by the time I got up there, with one thing and another, so ended up in the front row, for the sake of not climbing any more stairs! It's a small space, but was pretty full.
So, we started off with two guys on stage, dressed in black, heads wrapped loosely in wrapping paper. (Breathing holes included.) Our smarmy mc appeared - and looked terribly familiar! I swear, he looked just like the mc of those free comedy groups I stopped going to. He was our guide demon to hell. Well, he had the coolest book light - i.e. a book with an interior light - which he consulted to see what these guys had been accused of. Oops, no entry! So, he gave us some suggestions - snippets of "memories", and we had to provide suggestions. Happily, there were enough people in the audience to get them going! They then re-enacted the most ridiculous scenarios.
I swear, this was some good improv - it does take talent to make it look anything other than silly. And these guys - who were obviously improvising, surprising each other at times - were really innovative, so that it was actually quite funny. I also liked that, in the spirit of celebrating our "deathday", the mc passed around a chocolate caterpillar cake! I scored a huge slice..
We started with a story about a fellow wanting to kill his mum in a brioche bakery, who runs into Liam Neeson - great Irish accent from that guy. Then there was one about a penguin and a guy who wanted to fly, and whose mother became a hippy. The royal wedding kept popping up as a suggestion, but they blithely ignored it. A third story featured a stripper and a mackerel..Three stories with the cast were followed by one where they asked for a volunteer, who was so perky he must have been a plant - he played the priest who married Donald Trump to Skippy the Kangaroo. (Yes, that was the tone of the evening.) Surprisingly good, as I say.
Now, at the end of this section, which lasted over an hour, the mc dispatched us to the bar, with the parting comment that we had commenced our introduction to hell. I don't actually know whether this was an interval - I hadn't caught what the lady at the box office had said. However, I really didn't fancy more of the same, and perhaps being caught up personally in it! I didn't think I'd get any more out of it, so after a wee rest for my leg, and having checked Google Maps, I walked home - downhill now, mercifully. Mind you, I see that Google Maps is very selective about its advertisement of supermarkets! When I was checking to see what was en route, Tesco and Waitrose were mentioned, Nisa and Sainsbury's not. You have been warned..
Delighted to be in early again. Tomorrow, my £3.60 club had tickets for a Beethoven cycle in the Barbican! Sadly, they'd sold out - but that didn't stop me buying my own ticket from the venue, although it cost more. Still, Beethoven is my favourite, so..
On Wednesday, Eleanor is back with a Flamenco evening at Sand's Films, olé! Advertised via the London European Club, booked through TunedIn London. Ah, it'll be so good to get back there again!
On Thursday, back with London Literary Walks, which are getting more frequent again - this week, it's Krays, Chaucer and Matches.. And then I'm back to Ireland for the long weekend.
No comments:
Post a Comment