Now, this evening, Up in the Cheap Seats are doing a couple of things - one is a musical called Fiver, about the journey of a five-pound note. Livestreamed from Southwark Playhouse, so you have to watch it at set times. Ran yesterday, running today. I love a musical, and the story sounded interesting.. of course, I can't do it in the evening, but there was a matinee today, which I booked for. Full price, for once, and my ongoing discount didn't apply, but I'm delighted to help the theatre.
I was glad to hear they've followed the Old Vic's lead, and included audience sounds while you wait. Really adds to the realism. Only thing is, the recording keeps looping, and there's a slight pause before each restart. And as you listen over and over, you do start to recognise segments. Still, it helps.
Runs for just over two hours, including an interval - and as it's live, they encourage you to tweet them, so they can read the tweets in the interval. (In today's, animals watching the show featured heavily.) Five performers adopt different characters, as different vignettes are performed, and the fiver serves to show us snapshots of people's lives.
Clever lyrics, catchy music, beautifully performed, and quite uplifting. No set or scenery whatsoever, so you can concentrate on words and music. The performance I watched happened to be subtitled - not completely accurately, so I'm guessing they ad-libbed a bit. (Ironic, given the lack of subtitles on The Warren, which I watched just before!) And I really enjoyed it. A real pick-me-up, on a cold and dark November day. One more show of this, this evening - and more showing, and to come. Check them out! You can also donate. Great little theatre, one we really need to keep alive.
And tomorrow, reliable London Social Detours has another talk. This time, it's one hosted by the host's historian friend, which makes a nice change - and it's about "Death, Disease & the Great Fire of London"!
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