This one, like yesterday's, I could walk to and from, and this time I left in time to do that (unlike yesterday)! Just.. I scurried up the road, exercising myself enormously, and arrived at Pret in the middle of a stream of people - of course lots left it to the last minute. Not that the show was about to start - but the guy with the pink clipboard was due to leave half an hour before showtime, so that was the deadline. I had to be careful when looking for it - a straightforward search for Pret on St. John's Street gives one at the other end by default - both on Google Maps and even on the Pret website! Seeing the long list he had to consult when he was marking off my name, I remarked at it - but he said it was shorter than usual.
At the theatre, I was early, of course - didn't fancy a drink, as I'd just had one in the office before I left, but the programs were free. Such as they were - a cursory description of the show, a brief bio of lots of people I hadn't heard of. By the way, I only had to climb to the First Circle - the Second Circle was closed tonight, and the nice man had said that all our group's tickets were in the First Circle. There are a lot of stairs here - it was nice to have some fewer. Oh, and only the front of the First Circle was occupied, so my view was much better than normal! Not to mention that nobody sat in front of me, or to my left, so I had an even better view, and space to spread out!
The curtain opened to darkness. In the gloom, we could barely distinguish a figure in bulky clothes, pacing slowly. The figure ultimately began to stomp around, make noise. As the lights gradually came up, we could see other figures in the back, throwing shapes - summoned by the sound, they came out with musical instruments, making a drum kit and mixing desk, which the noisemaker occupied to the side of the stage.
See, the theme of the show - as described in the program - was the question: is music or movement the mother of dance? As he thumped out a jungle rhythm on the side, the dancers became more animated - as though it had never before occurred to them to move. The music motivated them to dance, inspired them - gave them permission. It was a fantastically compelling show - deep, booming rhythms, fantastic visuals - including, in the shadows of a newly gloomy stage, acrobatics that could only have been performed with wires suspended from the ceiling. I've rarely seen a show where the movements so closely followed the music. Fantastic stuff - I only wish I could recommend you to see it, but runs here are never long, and tonight was the last night for this! Oh, and I think the show they presented concluded that music gave birth to dance. On balance.
Much more leisurely walk home, and downhill. Partly the way I used to go my last flat, of course! Tomorrow, I'm with Spooky London - for yet another ghost tour. This one is the Thames River of Death Ghost Story Tour. Be interesting to see what hand this group makes of ghost stories - payment on the day, so (unusually) I must remember to bring cash.
On Saturday, Let's Do It! is off to Windsor. However, they're off to a Mexican restaurant as part of the day, and I don't really like Mexican food.. and have seen Windsor town in general anyway. However, I haven't yet been around the castle.. so lo, I've booked myself a ticket for that day, finally. I see it's one of those places I'll have to buy a souvenir guide for - no photography allowed inside. Tip when booking train tickets - use the Trainline website to look, not book! Get the rail company name from them, then book with the company direct. It's cheaper.
On Sunday.. tan-ta-ra! The Crick Crack Club is back after the summer! Not that you'd know it from their Meetup group, whose next advertised Meetup is next month! Anyway, on Sunday, Tuup is telling the tale of The King and the Corpse, at the British Museum, accompanied by Sheema Mukherjee.
On Monday, back with Up in the Cheap Seats (UITCS) - all the way to the Orange Tree, in Richmond, for Losing Venice.
On Tuesday, my £3.60 club has a ticket for me to hear Professor Rana Mitter speak about China for an hour in the China Exchange.
On Wednesday, well, London Literary Walks is back on - but I'd already booked with UITCS for Natalia Osipova in Sadler's Wells. Then I'm back to Ireland for a long weekend.
On the 17th, Crick Crack is back.. again! Just as well I'm on the main club mailing list. This time, it's Aye, Coyote! in Soho Theatre.
And on the 18th, back with UITCS for Pinter at the Pinter.. Pinter plays at the Pinter Theatre! Our particular combination is One for the Road / New World Order / Ashes to Ashes / Mountain Language. I bought my ticket for this one from another member who couldn't go - Ticketmaster, so hopefully there won't be a problem with me picking up the ticket.
No comments:
Post a Comment