After a cold and dry weekend in Ireland, back to cold and rainy London. Tonight, News of the Strange, from the Crick Crack Club, at Soho Theatre. The club does have a Meetup group, but it seems to have gone dormant, and is no longer advertising upcoming events. I've actually asked whether they're now defunct - no response, so I'm assuming they are. Anyway, I guess they don't need the advertising so badly - tonight's was sold out, as usual.
Now, I know they don't let people into the Crick Crack events in Soho Theatre Upstairs until 10 minutes beforehand, so I was in no major hurry. Anyway, I had work to do, and my phone was charging - I still left in decent time. Well, it would've been decent time, if I hadn't decided to stop by the toilet on the way out.. as it turned out. I was just perfectly in time to miss my bus. Buses on this route are pretty frequent, though - so it was with dismay that I read on the display that the next wasn't due for 12 minutes! Ok, that was it - for once, I'd have to take the Tube. Damnit, and it's such an easy bus route.. so I ended up paying more than I should have, and having a longer walk in the pouring rain. At least there was no trouble in getting a seat, this late.
I sped to the box office, got my ticket, and hopped straight in the lift - with someone else headed to the same thing. Oh, what a slow lift.. and damn Crick Crack for starting on time! When we got upstairs, the door was closed and we could hear the mc, Ben Haggerty, doing his thing. The usher obviously isn't used to these events - she wasn't sure they'd let us in, but I was able to assure both her and my companion that they would, that they keep seats to the side for that purpose. Sure enough, we might have missed his spiel, but when it was over, we were shooed into the side seats and asked to scoot to the end of the row. Indeed, a couple arrived much later than we did, and sat outside us. Pouring a bottle of red wine they'd brought for themselves.
Daniel Morden it was, tonight - and he was on fire! Just the two stories - but being sufi legend, the stories had stories nested within, and so went on. The event advertised itself as portraying unusual stories, and certainly I hadn't heard these before.. the first concerned a man who heard the reputation of an unusually welcoming hostel for travellers, and decided to see it for himself. He met the strangely taciturn hostess, who agreed to tell him her story only if he could find the blacksmith who hammered steel on his head rather than on an anvil, and get him to share his story. He, in turn, agreed to share his only if the traveller found the blind man who sat at the crossroads and paid people to beat him, and got him to share his story. And so it went on - and the common thread with all the stories was that the person who was sharing his or her suffering had known happiness in the past, had lost it, and was trying to reclaim it.
Meantime, a woman in the front row was trying to quiet her fractious babe in arms - fortunately, she was at the end of the row, and at one point stood over to the side, rocking it: seemed to do the trick. Not as fortunately, another lady slipped out during the first story - the reason became obvious when we could hear the hefty coughing from outside. Jeez, that could easily have been me, not long ago - indeed, it was, last week! I'm so lucky it's mostly passed off - I got a vague urge to cough tonight, but nothing severe.
The second story - hilarious! A rich merchant's daughter was at "that age" - she would not be told what to do. She had been spied by the sultan, and her father was terribly worried what she'd get up to while he was away. So he went and bought a couple of birds - a mynah bird, and a parrot - and tasked them with keeping her home and safe. Well, the mynah tried lecturing to her, and swiftly got its neck wrung. The wise parrot, however, distracted her from answering the door to the sultan's messenger by - you guessed it - telling her ever more thrilling stories. Daniel Morden was in his element for this one, demonstrating a rare knack for comedy. Funniest I've heard in a long while!
Now, I know they don't let people into the Crick Crack events in Soho Theatre Upstairs until 10 minutes beforehand, so I was in no major hurry. Anyway, I had work to do, and my phone was charging - I still left in decent time. Well, it would've been decent time, if I hadn't decided to stop by the toilet on the way out.. as it turned out. I was just perfectly in time to miss my bus. Buses on this route are pretty frequent, though - so it was with dismay that I read on the display that the next wasn't due for 12 minutes! Ok, that was it - for once, I'd have to take the Tube. Damnit, and it's such an easy bus route.. so I ended up paying more than I should have, and having a longer walk in the pouring rain. At least there was no trouble in getting a seat, this late.
I sped to the box office, got my ticket, and hopped straight in the lift - with someone else headed to the same thing. Oh, what a slow lift.. and damn Crick Crack for starting on time! When we got upstairs, the door was closed and we could hear the mc, Ben Haggerty, doing his thing. The usher obviously isn't used to these events - she wasn't sure they'd let us in, but I was able to assure both her and my companion that they would, that they keep seats to the side for that purpose. Sure enough, we might have missed his spiel, but when it was over, we were shooed into the side seats and asked to scoot to the end of the row. Indeed, a couple arrived much later than we did, and sat outside us. Pouring a bottle of red wine they'd brought for themselves.
Daniel Morden it was, tonight - and he was on fire! Just the two stories - but being sufi legend, the stories had stories nested within, and so went on. The event advertised itself as portraying unusual stories, and certainly I hadn't heard these before.. the first concerned a man who heard the reputation of an unusually welcoming hostel for travellers, and decided to see it for himself. He met the strangely taciturn hostess, who agreed to tell him her story only if he could find the blacksmith who hammered steel on his head rather than on an anvil, and get him to share his story. He, in turn, agreed to share his only if the traveller found the blind man who sat at the crossroads and paid people to beat him, and got him to share his story. And so it went on - and the common thread with all the stories was that the person who was sharing his or her suffering had known happiness in the past, had lost it, and was trying to reclaim it.
Meantime, a woman in the front row was trying to quiet her fractious babe in arms - fortunately, she was at the end of the row, and at one point stood over to the side, rocking it: seemed to do the trick. Not as fortunately, another lady slipped out during the first story - the reason became obvious when we could hear the hefty coughing from outside. Jeez, that could easily have been me, not long ago - indeed, it was, last week! I'm so lucky it's mostly passed off - I got a vague urge to cough tonight, but nothing severe.
The second story - hilarious! A rich merchant's daughter was at "that age" - she would not be told what to do. She had been spied by the sultan, and her father was terribly worried what she'd get up to while he was away. So he went and bought a couple of birds - a mynah bird, and a parrot - and tasked them with keeping her home and safe. Well, the mynah tried lecturing to her, and swiftly got its neck wrung. The wise parrot, however, distracted her from answering the door to the sultan's messenger by - you guessed it - telling her ever more thrilling stories. Daniel Morden was in his element for this one, demonstrating a rare knack for comedy. Funniest I've heard in a long while!
Afterwards, I was just perfectly in time to miss the bus again, since I didn't feel like running for it. This time, I waited for the next - and wouldn't you know it, the card readers weren't working, so I got a free ride! So hey, it worked out cheaper than normal, overall..
Tomorrow, back with Up in the Cheap Seats (UITCS) for Pinter at the Pinter - Pinter plays at the Pinter Theatre. Two long ones on this occasion - this is Programme Four: Moonlight & Night School.
On Wednesday, back at last with The London Jazz Meetup, who are off to the London Jazz Festival for a concert by the Faraj Suleiman Quartet at King's Place. UK premiere, apparently!
On Thursday, with UITCS at the Garrick for Don Quixote. The only cheap tickets left for this were terrible, so I went a bit upmarket. A bit - I'm still behind a pillar!
On Friday, I'm on a Paranormal Activity Tour - ooh! Now, for this one, we get ghost-hunting equipment, which could make it interesting - I don't fancy the dowsing rods, myself, but we'll see. Walking in London, again. Therefore Funzing, so discounted by 20%, again, with the code Funzing_Fb20. And this was after my loyalty discount - so I got it at better than half price! which is good, considering the price.
On Saturday, I'm off on my own to see A Small Place, at the Gate.
On Sunday, back at last to Winter Wonderland! That evening, I'm off to Cirque Berserk - an annual tradition for me. The latest show is the cheapest, so that's the one I booked.
Next Monday, I'm back with UITCS for Programme Three of Pinter at the Pinter - Landscape / A Kind of Alaska / Monologue.
On the 27th, I'm going to see Company, by Sondheim, at the Gielgud. No tickets available for the upper levels on the official site - they must all have been bought up by resellers! Cheapest I found was with OfficialLondonTheatre, run by See Tickets.
On the 28th, I'm with Walking in London again for the Haunted London Pub Tour.
On the 29th, I'm back with UITCS at the National for Hadestown. Then back to Ireland again for the weekend.
On the 3rd, I'm back to the National for I'm Not Running.
On the 5th, LDN Talks @ Night and London Speaks Sessions (both Funzing) advertised a "Winterville" talk on The Science of Santa, where we get the scientific explanation of how he does it. Taking place at The Windmill. However, seems they meant the day before, when of course I'm busy. So instead I'm going to True West, with Kit Harington, at the Vaudeville. Cheapest tickets from the venue.
On the 6th, Hazel of Walks, Talks and Treasure Hunts, London Guided Walks (and, indeed, Walking in London) has a Christmas Carol Tour. Now, the last two events I booked with her turned out to be no-shows.. the first might not have been her fault, as she was advertising someone else's event, but the second, she just missed the ball on and left three of us standing on a street corner. Whether this event happens is anyone's guess! Now, it's technically more expensive if you book on Funzing - but if you have my discount ;-) it comes down to the same price she charges on her own site, without the booking fee! So I did it that way. But then Henning, with the London European Club, advertised a Happy Xmaths evening at Imperial College, the same night! Festive fun for maths geeks. Plus it's free - you just have to register with Eventbrite. I thought it'd be great to get back with this group. And since I booked the walk with Funzing, I've cancelled and will get a full refund. And I feel no sadness at missing an evening with Hazel, after what's been happening. But gee, this evening is proving to be one of the more popular- now a colleague has booked it for his leaving do. So I'm now going to that instead. Nibbles arranged at The Enterprise.
On the 7th, back with UITCS at the Royal Court, for The Cane. Got the very last ticket, phew!
On the 8th, with them again at the Orange Tree Theatre for The Double Dealer.
On the 9th, the Crick Crack Club is back at the British Museum for I Know Not, a full afternoon of Sufi legend.
On the 10th, I'm off to the Bridge Theatre for A Very, Very, Very Dark Matter, by Martin McDonagh. Starring Jim Broadbent, this is a dark take on Hans Christian Anderson!
On the 11th, I'm going with North London Friends to The Convert, at the Young Vic. Discounted top-price seats, it seems!
The 12th is our office Christmas party, but Let's Do This has now advertised a Christmas dinner- which sounds a more attractive prospect. So I'm doing that instead.
On the 13th, I'm thrilled to be going to Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake, at Sadler's Wells, with UITCS. He's a fantastic choreographer, but I've never before gotten around to seeing this all-male version. Then I'm back to Ireland for the weekend again.
And on the 17th, the Crick Crack Club is performing Gilgamesh, at Soho Theatre. With Ben Haggerty in the spotlight, this will be a treat! Sold out, of course - you have to book these things early.
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