Play: Dance Nation

Tonight - well, I got tired of waiting for London Literary Walks to arrange something, and with a huge choice on Meetup, I finally booked with Up in the Cheap Seats (UITCS) to see Dance Nation, at the Almeida. Unfortunately - pardon my French - it was a bugger of an afternoon, and with a meeting running till 6.30pm, I didn't finish as early as I'd have liked. So, instead of walking, I took the bus. Have to say, it couldn't have been more convenient, going from right around the corner from the office to right around the corner from the theatre. The nice lady at the box office didn't ask for my postcode - but it turned out that I'd booked it with my Irish credit card, for some reason, and not provided a postcode! so that'd be why, then.

We congregated nearby, shortly afterwards, and stood and chatted until it was near time - everybody was unusually prompt today! I'm afraid, with the day I'd had, I was a bit out of it. My "restricted view" seat was, frankly, nothing of the kind; a slim pillar, way to my left, obscured a tiny amount of action. Now, this is a curious piece of work - it deals with an American pre-pubescent competitive dance group, but the members include a man, and women ranging in age from, say, early twenties to much, much older. One of them is Nancy Crane, for goodness' sake! Also Miranda Foster and Sarah Hadland. Manjinder Virk is another. Suspension of disbelief is required.

Well, I've seen enough plays with songs in them - they call them musicals. What do you call a play with dance in it - a dancical? There isn't a huge amount of dance in this, though - really just one reasonably complete number. Lots of angst, as the various members experience pretty much everything you could reasonably expect from a pre-pubescent girl. Oh, and lots of SHOUTING! One character, in particular, seems to feel the need quite frequently to SHOUT her female empowerment. Some pretty LOUD soliloquies. And despite some very sweet scenes - and almost believable turns as pre-pubescent girls by people much older - I found some bits that dragged, and were laboured, and I just thought it didn't gel. And I think the rest of the group agreed with me - we had a very enjoyable debrief, outside afterwards. Runs till the 6th of next month.

Walking home, I came across a guard cat.. restricted pavement access, here. If you see this cat, steer clear - not open to receiving visitors:

Tomorrow, in contrast to today, there's nothing on Meetup that I fancy! There is a work social, but they still haven't let us know the venue, so I passed. Instead, the £3.60 club is letting me see Scandale, at Sadler's Wells - for £5.40. Still a big improvement on the official price of £20 - and just like before, they have a cloak-and-dagger collection method, where you collect your ticket across the road, from someone with a pink clipboard..! Hey, I might get a better ticket than usual.

On Friday, 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 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.

Next 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.