Today.. tan ta ra! The Old Vic has taken to streaming shows live in camera (so, played to an empty theatre). And currently showing is Three Kings - a one-man show with Andrew Scott! Showing until tonight, it replicates a live theatre show, in that you have to attend at the scheduled time - so the only show I could make was today's matinée. For which I snatched a ticket asap! Caveat - despite the different ticket prices, the view is the same for everyone - it's just a question of how much of a donation you feel like making. They were to send me a Zoom link at least 24 hours beforehand - oh, and these are non-transferable, you can only use the link on one device. But boy, do I love Andrew Scott.. Postponed from weeks ago, as he's been in hospital (neither serious nor Covid-related, we're assured!). At last..
Wouldn't you know it, it clashed with this weekend's London Social Detours (LSD) Meetup. Couldn't be helped - I wouldn't miss Andrew Scott for that..
Well, I might have been worried when the link wasn't there 24 hours before start time - except that I was busy on yet another shopping trip for my mother. It's hard, you see, when there are no shops that you can get to without driving - just takes that bit longer. So when it pinged through, 23.5 hours before start time, I just said oh yes, I'd forgotten about the link! rather than being miffed. In fact, you couldn't miss it - they were very good, sent me a reminder email as well, and informed me that the link would be live an hour beforehand, and I should log in early, in case of technical difficulties. And today, they sent me yet another email when the link was live.. each containing the actual link, and instructions.
I watched on my work laptop, which gets better Zoom reception. Which made me available to the company's Delivery team, who had to get something out today. (Throws eyes to heaven.) I had to help them brand it - unfortunately, it took them forever to get something together for me to brand. Well, I logged on to see the play, slightly less than an hour early - caught the end of an informative short film they were showing, about the charitable work done by the Old Vic. Did my brief modicum of work for the team, then put myself on Do Not Disturb. Sadly, this didn't stop me getting pinged by team messages periodically throughout..
As explained to us in the Zoom call, we are automatically muted and our video disabled, so we don't have to worry about that. One unexpected and terrific touch is to have audience noise as we are waiting! I hadn't realised how much I'd missed the babble of an audience. Really, there's nothing like it, to build anticipation.. Information is passed through the chat window, we have a Q&A option if we run into problems, and we have options to subtitle, or audio describe the production - in French or English. And, just like in a regular theatre, the announcer comes on at regular intervals, to ask us to take our seats, and tell us how long till the performance is to start. (And as usual, she exaggerated slightly how short a time we had..)
A countdown announces the performance proper. Andrew Scott is, of course, alone on stage, filmed from different angles simultaneously - which I found occasionally distracting. The story has the actor telling us about his larger-than-life father; the "three kings" of the title is a coin game that his father taught to him. Don't tax yourself trying to work it out - he does explain it later on.
Lasting just over an hour, it's a brilliantly written piece - taking place over several years, it's not so much a description of the narrator's relationship with his father; it's more a character study of a man that it seems impossible to have a relationship with. The events of his life are at times so ludicrous as to be laugh-out-loud funny! And as the story progresses, it's interesting to see how the son resembles the father - and how he doesn't. And as for Andrew Scott.. compelling as ever, he switches between characters and accents with ease. Absolutely terrific, and highly recommended. As expected! There's one final show this evening - I can't imagine they have a limit on tickets, so if you're free, you should run and get one!
Tomorrow, back to film, and back to Amazon Prime.. I had been thinking of Black Book, but on reflection, I do think that's the one I saw some years ago, and I don't feel like rewatching it. So I guess that brings me to The True Cost - a documentary about the impact of the fashion trade on the third world.
And next Saturday, I'm free to be back with LSD again - this time, it's a talk about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - always interesting.
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