Plays: What If If Only & Is God Is

Tonight, we were supposed to be with Civilised London. We were booked for what promised to be another excellent meal, this time at the Korean restaurant, The Petite Corée. Meeting beforehand in The Railway pub. Sadly, got word last week that it was cancelled - the organiser has personal business. So, instead I booked with Up in the Cheap Seats (UITCS) for a double bill at the Royal Court - What If If Only (15 minutes long) and Is God Is, later in the evening. The short play is only £5 if booked with the other.

Hadn't a lot on today, thank goodness - what with the first play starting at 6, and us meeting beforehand, I had to rush! As it was, I found it expedient to stay as late as possible in the office - which meant taking the Tube. Circle Line it was, and I must say, it was nicely uncrowded - there's a lot to be said for living in West London. I comfortably sat in an uncrowded carriage and read my paper, until it was time to get off.

Sloane Square Station is right beside the theatre, of course. Not seeing anyone I knew just yet, I went to the toilet first, then checked my messages and discovered yes, they were waiting outside. So I joined them. Our organiser thought to ask whether we could book a table for the interval between plays - he said yes, but we should order the food now so that we wouldn't be rushing. Which was a good idea, really! and we did. From a reduced menu, mind..

And so to the Stalls for the first play, What If If Only - well, with all tickets the same price (if you book both shows), why wouldn't you?!

Lovely comfy leather seats. 

So, What If If Only is a short play by Caryl Churchill, who also wrote the superb series of short plays Glass. Kill. Bluebeard. Imp. - it's now over two years since I saw those, here! This play concerns a man whose partner has recently died - he talks to her as though she's still there, he misses her. He misses her so much that she reappears to him - only not exactly.. Trust Caryl Churchill to come up with a most ingenious twist to this simple idea. It's a gem of a play, an idea perfectly expressed in the 15 minutes it takes. We all loved it. Highly recommended.

Afterwards, back down to the bar, where we were shown to our reserved table - a very nice one, with a couch. And our food was ready immediately! Can't fault the service. The chips that two of us had came with a very nice dip, one of us had the vegan platter, which had more food on it than she'd expected! Water was provided, and we placed drinks orders as well. After the fun of splitting the bill, we were just ready in nice time for our second play, Is God Is. And handily enough, I'd gone for a slips seat in the Circle - less climbing than the others had, up in the Balcony!

View is ok - you do miss the action on the RHS, but it's pretty evenly spread across the stage. And I wasn't too worried about leaning to see, with no-one behind me, and no-one beside me once the group to my left moved over one, there being an empty seat.

So - two plays with unusual names, both single-act plays. Otherwise, they have nothing in common. We were discussing afterwards whom we might recommend this to - Tarantino fans, perhaps? With its tendency towards violence, and the ever-present soundtrack. I was glad of the captions, which accompanied both of tonight's plays - I had real trouble with the thick American accent.

Twin girls suddenly hear from their mother, whom they thought died in the fire that scarred them. They go to see her in her nursing home - she's even worse affected, and tells them that their father did it deliberately. Sends them off on a revenge mission. They refer to her as God, since she created them - so yes, they're on a mission from God. (Now, where have I heard that before..?)

It grew on me. Some of the visuals were very clever - I loved the rotating dolls' house that the father now lives in, living the apparently perfect life. And his entrance - ominous, in a stetson, swaggering across the stage with a spotlight on him - is all you could wish for: a grand entrance, to accompany all the stories we've heard about him. So, great stage direction - was there a moral? As I said, gee, I hope not! If there was, I don't want to know what it is. But hey, it's entertaining. If you can take the violence. Caveat emptor. Both plays run till the 23rd.

A debrief afterwards, and off we went - quite early, for once. And I was glad that my schedule cleared out to allow me to go tonight. And so to the flash bus stop, with the whitescreen display of next buses, and a nice trip back on the #11 bus - now that I wasn't in a hurry - and of course, this makes an excellent sightseeing bus, passing several landmark buildings. I pressed the button to get off straight after the stop before mine - the next stop these days is officially Liverpool Street, but mine is the stop before that, and they usually do stop there. Strangely, he didn't let me off at the stop, but quite a bit down the road. Weird. Ah well, it was a fine night.

Tomorrow, back at last with London European Club (LEC)! Happily, they're going to what I'd be going to anyway.. the Crick Crack Club (CCC) is performing The Women Who Gave No F*cks, at Rich Mix. Fantastic when the LEC decide to come..

On Friday, woo! A couple of weeks ago, UITCS was off to 2:22 - A Ghost Story, but I was meeting an ex-colleague for drinks that night and couldn't go. Well, I got a ticket for the 15th - second-last night of the run! Unfortunately, cheapest available were £65, and no availability with cheap ticket sellers - ah well, I decided I really wanted to see it (great reviews helped), so I booked. Had great fun trying to decide which of the few remaining seats at that price was the best.. Showing at the Noel Coward Theatre. And with all the cheap shows I'm going to, I can afford it! Interestingly, today I got an email from them explaining that if I wanted a drink, I had to preorder. And I have to arrive between 30 and 45 minutes before the show starts. Well, said I, if I'm obliged to be there that early, then yes, I'll have a drink, thank you! So I've placed an order. (Oh, and I'm to go in a particular door, too!) Goodness, that's more care than most places are taking..

On Saturday, my first outing with another new group - Bucket List London is off to Kenwood House, and I said I'd join them. You don't have to book, but it guarantees availability- tickets for free from English Heritage, via See Tickets.

On Sunday, I found something interesting with London Walks, Art & Culture Explorers! Yet another new one for me. This is an "Uncomfortable Statues Walk" - statues commemorating controversial people. I can think of a few, and it'll be interesting to see which come up on this!

On Monday, I'm with London Classical Music & Theatre Group, for a choral performance (annual, apparently) by The Sixteen in Temple Church. Fantastic, and I've never actually been inside!

On Tuesday, I'm with Guided Walking Tours in Brighton and Sussex (!). They have an online talk entitled Hallowe'en Penny Dreadful Online Show - The Art of Victorian Horror. I have to say, online has become much more of an option since lockdown. And that'll be another night I can move stuff from my desk!

Next Wednesday, I booked another walk with Invigorate - this one is a tour of (the outside of) Christopher Wren's churches. Starting even closer to the office than the last one, handily.

On the 21st, an online storytelling double-bill - I'll have to see how that pans out. First, I'd booked Universe, a CCC show happening in Oxford and live-streamed. Clare Murphy - and I've seen it before, and it was the best show ever! And then I saw that Martin Shaw, another member of the CCC, was doing an online show, earlier in the evening.. this one, in association with Watkins Bookshop, is called The Smoke Hole, and it's free. So I said, hey, why not? (And this is realistically the last night I can move stuff from my desk.)

On the 22nd, back with the LEC for a concert - Balkan Music, courtesy of Raka & Balamuc, in The Post Bar, Tottenham. Sounds like fun. Even if I have to bring my work laptop, as we won't have access to our desks by that night. Then I'm back to Ireland - another Saturday flight - and with a few days off, I'm not flying back until the 28th. At least I'm not working from home this time, so don't have to bring the laptop on the flight!

But on the 29th, back with that group again, for Carmen - contemporary flamenco at The Place. Funnily enough, someone in the group said there were no individual seats left, and asked whether anyone wanted to double up with her. I offered, if there were no other takers - but she never got back to me. So, since I was now up to that date in my schedule, I decided to check for myself - and got an individual seat! So I've booked it.

And on the 30th, I'm doing something nice and Halloweeny - a ghost story event entitled Night Owl - changed from Scared to Death in the Woods, which they're now doing on Hallowe'en itself, and which has sold out. Tickets from Design My Night. So, an organisation called London Dreamtime is leading us off into a undisclosed location, somewhere around Hampstead Heath.. we're to dress warmly, and bring a blanket to sit on, and a "candle in a jar" - I actually went out and bought an LED flickering candle in a lantern-style holder. Well, thought it was the most practical! Now I just need batteries..