Would you believe it, I nearly forgot the damned ticket yesterday morning! Just as well I wasn't in a hurry.. I idly wondered what was in that envelope over there, and lo, it was the ticket that they insisted on posting to me. I'm just not used to that anymore. In the evening, I left in good time - on a Friday evening, I was one of the last in the office! Again, either bus would do from the stop across the road - and again, I just missed one. I was early though, and while I was waiting, I took note of the number of a "man with a van", advertising on the stop - could be handy for my upcoming move. When I had to change buses in the West End, my second one arrived within seconds, and as it happened, I arrived in front of the theatre just at the appointed time.
I found the group over to the side, and we chatted until it was time to go in - ushers standing in the lobby had clipboards to take interval drinks orders, and again, a generous group member ordered a bottle of wine for us to share - and five glasses. Now, as I say, they were all on stage - which isn't a normal seating arrangement, so there were no directions for it; when they asked, they were told to enter through the stalls bar - which was just behind me, and was where we were going to be meeting at the interval. Very handy.
We had to come down a very long way to the stalls, and I worried for later, with my chest as it is. My seat was fine, if the view of the top of the stage was somewhat obscured by the overhang:
I discovered voting pads hanging from the seats in front of us - ooh, we were going to get to be in Ask the Audience! Awesome. The seats were also peppered with quiz sheets - there was a "pub quiz" we could participate in, whose questions were fed to us at intervals through the show. Unfortunately, although they assured us that pens were also hanging from the seats, nobody around me could find one, so we didn't really bother with this bit. Ultimately, the winners got a signed cast poster, it seems..
The theatre didn't stay as empty as in the above shot, but the two rows in front of me were almost completely unoccupied - I did consider moving forward, but reasoned that my view wouldn't improve much, as I'd still have the overhang. The place was completely decked out like a tv studio, screens to each side and at the rear of the stage, the set lit up as if for a performance. Flashing lights are a feature throughout, I should mention. The anticipation as we waited for the start was immense - we got a guy whose job it was to stir up the audience, and a camera was wheeled around the stage, alternating between shots of it and of us.
It's not a straightforward gameshow, though - instead, a judge comes onstage at the start, and the trial of the accused contestant begins then and there, the prosecution putting their case first. We go back through the history of gameshows, with stagings of different ones. This, of course, is where the people onstage get their chance to shine - including some of our group, who played a blinder when called on..
So, we meet the "coughing major", as he's known, and we get the background to the events. All quite gripping. And we get the fascinating psychology behind the staging of Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, as they describe how the tension is ratcheted up. We also see wannabe quiz cheats, who study the game and devise ways around it. And at the end of the first half, as the prosecution rests its case, we have to vote - rather unfairly, without getting to hear the other side of the story.
At the interval, it was easy to locate our bottle, with all its glasses, and we hung out in what is a very small bar and chatted about gameshows before going back. Now, there was a chap sat just behind me who wasn't entirely the full shilling - was shouting out the answers when they had the pub quiz; when the compere on stage jokingly cried, "Don't call them out!", my companion responded with a puzzled "Why?" And he was muttering along to the action on stage. Well, bless us, by the end of the interval, it seems he'd bought some dinner, and I got to listen to him eating crisps and drinking something fizzy. The joys.
Back to the onstage action, and the case for the defence was finally being put. Some points you mightn't have thought of are raised, before we're told what actually happened to the accused in real life, and asked to vote again - a graph is put up after the result is revealed, showing the results of the last 10 votes. In all, the evening was great - you really get the feeling of being on a gameshow, and the audience participation is fun. Highly recommended - runs until the 17th of next month. I had to pause for an extended time to get my breath back after climbing all those stairs out, but I survived.
Afterwards, a brief discussion ended with the very sensible decision to go to Brown's, next door, which, as our organiser said, "always has room". We squeezed ourselves around a table in the bar - some of us wanted to eat, and there was the usual kerfuffle about us having to sit in the restaurant if we did, then they took forever to find a table that'd seat nine of us! So someone eventually said we could stay where we were if we weren't all eating, and those who were only had snacks. The fact that eight of us did end up ordering food, and most of that was main courses (chicken schnitzel for the most part, as it happened) was politely ignored. And the schnitzel was very good - topped with a fried egg, unusually. Now, a couple of people had stumped up for wine, and I ended up having both red and white - in the interest of not letting it go to waste, you know! The conversation was good, and we eventually tottered out of there just before midnight. As I say, a most convivial group.
My chest was bad now - I had to stop a few times on the way to the bus stop. I think it gets worse after I've eaten. Anyway, wouldn't you know it, the bus again took forever to get there, the optimistic display forever telling us that it was only a minute away, then that it was due. And when it eventually dropped me at home, I had to hang back, I was breathing so hard, lest the poor person walking in front of me thought I was up to something strange, at that late hour. It is better than it was - I wish the weather would warm up and allow it to clear properly. (It has improved a lot today.. watch this space.)
I also wish I'd already moved out of here - there was a most unpleasant smell of urine in the downstairs hall as I arrived last night. Anyway, the writing of the blog went a bit late - given that I had a reason to be awake at something like a reasonable hour today. You might have noticed something about a certain wedding today? Must be the reason for all the bunting around town yesterday. Indeed, a live stream showed them camping out in Windsor, last night. Not much sleep was being got, by the sound of it - I had visions of the sing-songs keeping the royals up!
Ah, and didn't she shimmer? And didn't he look all weepy? Aw shucks. Well, I decided just to stay in and watch that - it's not as though there weren't plenty of venues showing it in town, but I couldn't decide, and finally what swung it was that I was home so late, and if I'd wanted to sit and watch it somewhere else, I'd have had to be there really early. No thanks, I'm appreciating the rest! Headed out to Tesco for food, was all.
Tomorrow, I decided to go on the Grime and Punishment walk, finally, that I cancelled a while ago. Funzing, of course, via Walking in London - and I used the code crazy_fun, as usual, to get 10% off.
On Monday, I booked with London Science Events for a talk at the Royal Society on Why Philosophy of Science Matters to Science. Then, of course, I remembered I have a meeting at 5.30! Doors open at 6, and you have to be there well in advance to secure entry. Blast. Well, the other Meetup events that appealed were either also on too early, or didn't have any decent tickets left. So I'm thinking film, at the moment. Watch this space..
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