I was lucky with my buses outbound, which made very good time - when I had to change buses, I had a choice of going through Cambridge Circus via Shaftesbury Avenue or Charing Cross Road, and very sensibly chose the latter; Shaftesbury Avenue is dreadful for traffic. My ticket was available for collection at a desk at the entrance, just like everyone else's, and I was in at the same time as someone I know quite well from the group. We've worked out by now that it's much more sensible to meet in the Royal Circle Bar - the lobby of the Harold Pinter Theatre is much too cramped and busy. Mind you, with a large group of us this evening, we took up most of the bar! And it was great to see everyone - my first time this year with this group. Unfortunately, with a dicky tummy for the last couple of days, I wasn't drinking..
Dress Circle, D6, if you're interested. Now. I know that pillar looks intrusive, but it's really not - the action is so sparse in Pinter plays anyway, with few props and fewer actors, that you're never in danger of missing much. The American-sounding lady beside me remarked to me that my seat had a terrible view - but as I pointed out to her, it's an aisle seat, so you can happily lean! Which worked very well tonight, with most of the action happening to the right of the pillar.
A short programme of three plays. The first, The Room, occupied the whole first act, and suitably baffled the whole audience. I believe that's the intention. A couple occupy a dingy room - she (Jane Horrocks) fusses around him (Rupert Graves), he's taciturn (at least in the beginning) - to the point of rudeness. They're disturbed by a variety of odd encounters with people who come in from outside. We discussed our confusion at the interval.
We had better luck with the second two. Victoria Station is a hilarious dialogue between a taxi dispatcher, desperate to find a driver to take a fare at Victoria Station, and the clueless cabbie who's the only one on the line, but - doesn't seem to have heard of it! And the last of the night is Family Voices, where a disconnected family try to communicate with each other, apparently by letter. I guess the common theme with these two was the failure to communicate.
Afterwards, we scuttled down to the stalls for the Q+A, and to feel what it's like to sit in the posh seats. Doesn't happen much.
Three cast members - Jane Horrocks, Luke Thallon, and Colin McFarlane - joined us, as well as the director. And we were party to a fun chat about what it was like to rehearse and act Pinter, and indeed Colin had worked with him personally. The director spoke briefly about the choice of plays, which were chosen to be staged together, and which directors wanted to do which ones. Over the whole Q+A though, they refused to speculate on the interpretation of The Room. Frustratingly, the Wikipedia article doesn't have an interpretation either! but if you're curious, I did find an academic paper that suggests it's a result of Pinter growing up Jewish during the Second World War, and the paranoia that that engrained in him, the suspicion of outsiders - this was his first play.
Regardless, we had fun. Programme 5 runs till the 26th. Looking forward to the next outing! Unfortunately, I wasn't quite so lucky with my buses back, having quite a long wait for both - lucky it's not as cold tonight as it has been recently.
Right then. Tomorrow is looking like film, and top of the list is Free Solo, a documentary about a chap that likes to go mountaineering. On his own (but on this occasion, with a film crew). With no safety equipment. Yeah. By the look of the trailer, the cinematography is incredible. Happily, it's on closer than the last film I saw - this one is in Picturehouse Central. Which, ironically, I was staring at as I waited for a bus this evening. They have three showings daily, but with a late meeting I'll have to go to the last one - and funnily enough, it's the latest of the week, with the last showing getting progressively earlier as the week goes on. Figures. At least being the last of the day means I get to see it in the big screen, so it should be visually amazing!
And on Wednesday, back with Let's Do This for the first time this year, as we head to a Georgian restaurant for dinner. Georgia, the country..
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