Left in decent time - which was a good thing, as I was to discover that there was a reason that Google Maps was sending me to the bus stop one before my usual. Sure enough, blasted roadworks again meant my regular stop was closed! As it turned out, I was just in time for the bus - and arrived a few minutes early to the theatre. Where I collected my ticket at the box office - and lo, it said "upgrade"! I had a pleasantly low number of steps to climb - wow, I'd been upgraded two levels, down to the Royal Circle, just above the Stalls! I actually don't think that either of the two highest levels were open, and there were plenty of empty seats in the Royal Circle, even with the upgrades. Turns out that ticket sales have been poor for this - originally supposed to run to the 11th of January, it's now finishing on the 7th of next month..
I was very happy with my £50 seat for £15.82! As someone behind me remarked - wow, you can see their faces! Helps that it was a Tuesday, I guess - and yet another reason to buy cheap tickets: you never can tell.
The show is an Ealing comedy, so made in the post-war period - and it feels it. It is very dated. But I don't think it would really play in any other era - after all, how many people nowadays make their living taking in washing? (one of the lines of work threatened by this cloth that never gets dirty). And the idea of the factory owner's daughter marrying a man who wants her for her money - very old-fashioned. Speaking of whom, she deserves special mention - easily recognisable as the only woman in the play who dresses up, Kara Tointon plays her as so terribly plummy that it's an obvious effort to speak, never mind walk. Oh, that awful accent..
I wasn't sure about this, as the slapstick progressed and the plummy accent grated. Mainly, what kept me there for the second half was the music - catchily played by the onstage band, who happily don't bother with setting the tunes in the period. And indeed, I found the second half much funnier, when he's figured out how to make this suit, and a variety of people are chasing him through town, trying to make sure that the suit sinks without trace. Yes, I enjoyed it - but beware, it is dated, and I can see why it mightn't appeal. Of course, I was also persuaded to stay by that lovely seat I'd scored.. never been so close in this theatre before!
No, I haven't developed a habit of clumping posts together - I was busy doing a film list! plus I was distracted by the sad news of the death of Ireland's greatest broadcaster, Gay Byrne. Tributes pouring in meant there was no time for blogging that night. Yesterday, back with Up in the Cheap Seats (UITCS) for The Antipodes, at the National - a play about stories and storytelling, sounded irresistible. Mixed reviews, but I could hardly miss it.
I walked to the theatre, which was a good de-stresser after my day, and arrived early - although not the first of the group, quite. Queued for my ticket, then got a glass of wine, and we all stood and chatted as people gradually arrived - there wasn't really room for all of us to sit. One newcomer, but I knew everyone else - and one had snazzy, captioned eyewear that the usher had provided him with! We were all intrigued.
The setting is a boardroom - probably in California somewhere - where a group of people are brainstorming, the object of the exercise being to come up with a story idea. Directed by a slightly smarmy boss, and with an absolutely hilarious receptionist coming in and out (mainly to take food orders), they're closeted in this room for ages - including most of one weekend, when they'd much rather go home, because of the predicted storm. The show itself is two hours straight through - to be fair, I don't think it felt like it.
There were bits I didn't like - mainly the, as one member of our group described it, Kafka-esque atmosphere that develops in the office. Honestly, that was too realistic for my taste - and with the awful day I'd had at work, it struck a bit close to home. It's also a whole series of different scenes, merged seamlessly together so that you hardly notice the time has changed - slightly confusing, at least at first.
But the point of the exercise is to come up with stories - and in hindsight, it's quite a brilliant exploration of that. They are made to tell stories personal to them, to begin with - this is actually a type of storytelling, and there are shows like that in London, where you can go and hear people bare their souls - indeed, participate yourself if so moved. Not my thing - but never fear, they don't spend the whole play doing it. And they do ultimately come up with something rather clever - if, as people remarked afterwards, not exactly original. Ah what the hey, as the guy says, are there actually any original stories left?
Runs till the 23rd. Completely unstructured, but a very interesting piece, which led to much conversation after, until we were all thrown into the night - and the others probably continued with it for a while, but I was headed the other way. One of the more interesting pieces I've seen in a while. Oh, and I was still catching up with myself last night, and indeed until now - hence the delayed blog.
Tonight, back with Spooky London for their monthly drinks - Ivan, who has business in the City today, expressed an interest in coming, but now he can't, sadly. This month, it's in the Prospect of Whitby. Then I'm back to Ireland for the weekend.
And on Monday, I'm back with UITCS (as always!) for a night of comedy with Sara Pascoe, at the Backyard Comedy Club.
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