Play: Blood Knot

Tonight, I booked with Up in the Cheap Seats for Blood Knot at the Orange Tree. Assuming I'd make it, given that I cancelled the last one I'd booked here, as well..! Well, as it happens, I got myself out the door nice and early - and I was glad not to cancel, given that I've been cancelling so many lately, including the last with this organiser.

All the way over in Richmond as it is, I took Tube and train, as usual. With a groan as I entered the biblical sea of people at Old Street station - you'd need not to be claustrophobic!  Horrendously crowded on the trains, more so on the Northern Line than the Jubilee Line, for once! Anyway, by the time I was disgorged - with relief - at Waterloo, I knew I wouldn't make the train I'd been aiming for - I'd have been all right if not for the crowds at Old Street, and the length of time it took to make my way through the barriers.

Well, it seemed no-one was going anywhere fast at Waterloo. I could see two trains on the departure board that'd do me.. one was due to leave in two minutes. Neither had an allocated platform yet. In fact, of all the trains listed, when I arrived, only one had an allocated platform. I stared at the earlier of my two - until it disappeared from the board. That was the 6.43. The other was now my best bet, leaving at 6.50. The platform was advertised.. at 6.48! (No mention of the - delayed - earlier train, yet.) And yes, it was leaving from right at the other end of the station..

Cue me muttering to myself grumpily as I wended my slow way through confused crowds. I arrived at the platform just after 6.50 - hey, no rush, said the conductor to us, you have time to walk all the way up to the top of the train! Plenty of time! Don't all crowd at the end.. (Just how late would it be leaving?) It ended up leaving at 6.57 - which ended up getting me there just in time, and slightly ahead of the organiser, who had it worse, coming from Vauxhall, where trains weren't stopping at all! Turned out someone had been hit by a train, further down the line. On the train, a clueless commuter refused to stand out of the doorway, down the aisle where there was space, so people could get on. Of course, as I peeked at her phone - she would be a Daily Mail reader. You can always spot them.

Having now stood for the whole journey - on a sore leg - I was glad to get off. Flustered at the box office, I was slightly flummoxed when he asked for the first line of my address, rather than my postcode - it's ages since that happened! Took me a minute to stammer it out. And I met the organiser on my way into the theatre, where I had a nice seat at the end of a row, on the corner - with no-one in front of me, I had a good view and tons of legroom.

The set is decorated appropriately for a township, where this is set - the story of two half-brothers, with a black mother but different fathers, so one is much darker-skinned than the other, who can pass for white. Anyway, the lighter-skinned one, Morris, apparently showed up a while ago, and according to Zach, the darker-skinned chap, messed up his social life. He used to hang out with this guy that Morris thought was unsuitable, and who doesn't now come around any more. Zach is miserable, and wants some female company, whereas Morris - the pragmatic one, who seems to do all the cooking and looking after of his half-brother - is fixated on saving up so they can buy a two-man farm. (Where, by the looks of it, he'll be doing all the work.)

Tired of Zach's constant whining, Morris suggests he get a pen-friend - in the small ads in the paper. Morris has to write the letters - Zach is illiterate. Small problem when the letters start to arrive from Zach's correspondent, though..

As our organiser remarked at the interval, it proceeds at an absolutely glacial pace. Indeed, you'd be doing well not to close your eyes at some point - I know I damn near dropped off, and I saw several other audience members resting their eyes. Just as well an alarm clock on stage rings periodically - denoting the passage of days - or you might have had people dropping off completely and snoring. Having said that, when the two do react to something, they're quite hysterical - shouting, flinging themselves around the stage, if not actually at each other. Which is actually quite exhausting to watch. Oh, and we all had an issue with their accents; I know it's supposed to be set in South Africa - some time during apartheid, by the looks of it - but I found it took some time to get used to, and as the others said at the interval, they didn't sound like any South Africans they'd ever met.

As to the (slowly moving) story, it seems to centre on the conflict between the half-brothers, engendered by the fact that one can pass for white. Mind you, he's so much more responsible than his half-brother that I wouldn't blame him for feeling superior. Still, there's a suggestion that this might have something to do with a somewhat different upbringing that he received, prompted by his skin colour. Me, I was simultaneously bored stiff and irritated, felt no empathy with either character, and didn't go back after the interval. I looked up the summary online, to see how it ended - predictably, shall we say. Apparently it was the playwright's first play.. Well, it was good to see the other folks, anyway. And I had a much less problematic journey back on the Tube, where I had a seat the whole way. Runs till the 20th of next month, if you're interested.

As for tomorrow, da boss has suggested we sample the contents of my new box of wine - I've joined the Virgin Wine Club, considering we buy so much these days! Good selection, and discounts..

On Wednesday, planning to go to a film - soaring ahead at the top of the list is Maiden, a documentary about the British sailor, Tracy Edwards. It's about the time she skippered the first all-female crew in the Whitbread Round the World Yacht Race - their boat was called Maiden. Anyway, not only does the trailer have dramatic shots of high seas, but also an interesting side story about the British gutter press and the things they called them. Because, you know, any group of girls gathered together does excite such schoolboyish "humour" in the gutter press' minds. Closest showing to me is in the Curzon Bloomsbury, and being in the DocHouse programme, it's nice and cheap.

On Thursday, delighted to be headed back with the London European Club - having cancelled my last outing with them - for the Best of BE Festival! This is the top three shows from the annual BE Festival in Birmingham, which they take on the road. Showing at Jackson's Lane. (And with da boss on holiday, I'm less likely to cancel this one!)

On Friday, headed out with The London Jazz Meetup, for Janet's Jazz Night with Richie Garrison & Grazina Pukaite, at Jazz Cafe Posk.

On Saturday, back - for the first time in ages - with London Social Detours, who are doing a Plagues, Pestilence, & Pathology Trail. Must remember to take cash - payment is on the day. And afterwards, to The George, which is always good.

And on Sunday - which is Paddy's Day - for the first time since I came to London, I'm hitting the London Irish Centre! Their Big Gig is headlined by Kila, who are excellent!