Circus: Totem

Today, I headed on my annual trip to Cirque du Soleil at the Albert Hall - this year, it's Totem. I see I have something in common with royalty there.. Cheapest tickets from the venue, and they ain't cheap! I woke in decent time, and got myself out in time to shop, eat, and print out my ticket - the Albert Hall hasn't yet advanced to scanning, it seems. I had fun digging through my inbox for the ticket, which I booked last month but couldn't remember when - of course, I shouldn't have searched by "Cirque du Soleil", but rather by "Royal Albert Hall", as the e-ticket email didn't mention the specific show.

This far out, I was going to have to take the Tube. Crowded it was, but not too much - I got a seat the whole way. South Kensington, however, was horrendously crowded - and matters weren't helped by the subway being closed! So I had to meander my way through the crowds on the pavements, and cross several roads. Anyway, I got to the Albert Hall 10 minutes before showtime - never believe Google Maps for this venue, it always takes 10 minutes longer than they say. And although we were told we could take any entrance, I still had to climb all the way up to the fourth floor! Ah well, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger..

More photos here. Interestingly, someone was in my seat. And with the whole row section full, this was a question for the usher to solve - turned out that two ladies, who came together, had booked what they thought were adjacent seats - unfortunately, one of them was on the other side of the stairwell. So naturally, rather than split up this pair - and disturb the whole row - I took the seat on the other side. Which was absolutely fine. Row 3 of the Rausing Circle is interesting, actually - a lot of it consists of "box" sections above stairs, which is nice, as there's no-one directly in front of you, and you get a rail on which you can lean. Comfy cosy. Mind you, my knees were a bit stiff after a couple of hours..

Giant turtle shell, or something, visible there - from under which acrobats pop out, of course. The show is called Totem - but as usual, they hardly bother sticking to whatever spiel they've bothered to come up with to go with the title. I mean, in this show you get South American / tribal characters, Native North American imagery- could believe either of these for the "totem" theme. But - flamenco, dropped randomly into the mix? Oh, whatever. The circus acts are suitably spectacular, but Cirque du Soleil's focus has always been on the incredible visuals. One of these days, I might do better than a side view.

Runs till the 26th of next month. Oh, and that lady with whom I swapped seats came over afterwards to thank me and check my seat had been ok! which was nice. As I made my way out, I noted that the better souvenir shop is at Door 6. I just missed the bus home - on the plus side, it took so long for the next to come that most of the crowd had gone by then. And I didn't have to wait long to change buses, which was good, in this freezing cold..

Tomorrow, I'm back with London Speaks Sessions for "True Crime: Survivor Stories and Straties (sic.)". This is a talk about survivors of extreme situations - and delivered by the excellent Jennifer Rees, whom I've seen a few times before. Not only that, but I got to use my loyalty Funzing discount for it, having cancelled a previous event for which I'd used that!

And on Tuesday, I had arranged to go with the London Jazz Meetup - but gee, it's all the way out in Ealing! So I said sod it, I'd go to the pictures again. Watch this space..