On Tuesday, booked for Girl on an Altar, at the Kiln Theatre. This is the story of Clytemnestra and her husband, Agamemnon, following his sacrifice of their daughter to the gods. I figured I'd get somewhere to eat around there - there are lots of places.
Takes nearly an hour to get there by bus! Ironically, even though home is slightly closer, work would have been handier, with the transport connections - like so many other places.
Anyway, I got off the bus, trawled up and down the street.. didn't have time for a proper dinner, couldn't find any fast food place that looked decent and wasn't full! I gave up in the end and headed to the theatre, which has an excellent bar space - dinner was a packet of crisps and a glass of wine. I went in as soon as they opened the house, and I'd finished the crisps and gotten a refill of the wine.. I was in the front row.
The pair beside me were having a fascinating talk about different bits of history - from snatches of the conversation that I caught, I think one (at least) was a tour guide! Anyway, the house duly filled, the play began,
Ah, that ***** Agamemnon. How dare he?! The whole thing, as you might expect, is taken from Clytemnestra's perspective - after all, it'd be quite difficult to defend human sacrifice to today's audience! To be fair, he is shown to be remorseful - it's just that his arrogance, and sense of male privilege, keep getting in the way. I deliberately didn't look up the myth in advance - so had great fun predicting how the wronged Clytemnestra would have her revenge.
This is energetically, passionately acted - for the female voices, as well as Clytemnestra, we have her slave-girl, and Cassandra, whom Agamemnon has captured from Troy and brought back as his concubine. So, Agamemnon's is the only main male voice - he's quite outnumbered. A Greek tragedy is always an engaging prospect, and this is an excellent example - the ancient characters are made to live and breathe. Highly recommended - runs till the 25th.
No time to blog - I had to be up early, headed into the office for the first time. And oh, it's lovely.. six floors, a canteen replete with free food for most of the day, so many choices.. also a cafe where you can buy more.. outdoor seating, plenty of breakout spaces.. the view from the seventh-floor cafe is cool!
So, last night, I was originally going to a concert in the City Churches Music series. This is Brilliant Brass, performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Brass Quintet in the church of St. Stephen Walbrook. Yesterday, however, tied with today as the preferred day for our work dinner, and the boss decided to pick yesterday, venue Tas, just around the corner. Meantime, I wasn't sure whether I could access the blog at work - and anyway, found enough else to occupy me! Even the bathroom taps proved tricky..
We finally left the office, a little later than planned, and headed around in a circle for the boss to find a pub for a pre-dinner drink, eventually wending our merry way back to the Museum Tavern, which we could have gotten to a lot quicker by jut walking down the street! Apparently he was checking there wasn't anything closer. Never mind.. it was a bit crowded inside, so we stayed outside, had a drink, and got to know each other in the flesh.
And then decamped to Tas, where our table was ready.
We were automatically given the group menu - a subset of the full menu - in which several starters were listed, all of which were given to us to share (two portions of each). We each chose our own mains - and knowing that I was impressed with the lamb at Tas before, I sought that. Couldn't find a purely lamb dish, so I settled for a chicken and lamb grill with couscous.. the chicken was nice, the lamb was terrific, and I was well-fed! A few of us had dessert - mine, as usual these days, was the chocolate ice cream, and I have to say, it was a lovely one. And a satisfying dinner for me, with most of the conversation leaning in the direction of horror.. ;-)
Most of us finished with a nightcap at The Plough, further down Museum Street, for variety. It had the distinction of being completely empty! Anyway, we continued to enjoy the mild weather by eating outside.. by the time we'd finished our round, it was nearly closing time anyway, and we called it a night. Fantastic to meet everyone - and I seem to have fallen pretty much on my feet with this company! Long may the honeymoon last.
Again, no time to blog last night - today was another handy day to come to the office, as tonight, I'm headed to Mad House at the Ambassadors Theatre. A short walk from here!
Tomorrow, back with the Crick Crack Club! for The Nine Muses of Queen's Crescent, at Rich Mix. Courtesy of my favourite storyteller, Clare Murphy, whom I haven't seen in an age! Last storytelling event until autumn..
On Saturday, I had booked with TAC for Haydn's Creation at St. Pancras Church, Euston. And then I saw that Bucket List London (BLL) had booked something for that afternoon! specifically, a trip to Greenwich Royal Observatory and/or the Ranger's House. Ah well now, I haven't been out with this group since January! Ironically, that's where I first met Laurence, on so many of whose walks I've subsequently been - and who knows when I'll see him again?! since he seems only to run walks on weekdays, now. I seem to be swapping one for the other.. So anyway, I'm now going to all of the above. One of those busy days.
On Sunday, back with London Guided Walks (LGW) - but, armed with the information that they now advertise through TAC, I've booked through them instead! This is the Secrets of St. James Walk, and given how I booked, I must remember to bring £3 cash on the day. I have to admit, the standard of these walks is excellent.
On Monday, back with Up in the Cheap Seats for Jitney, at The Old Vic. I didn't fancy the cheapest seats - but gee, SFF had seats in all but the most expensive price bands, for very little more! So I now find myself in the central Stalls for this..
On Tuesday, I'm at the Royal Court for That Is Not Who I Am, a play about identity theft, from a mysterious writer about whom we have few details, except that he has worked most of his life in the security industry. Ooh..
On Wednesday, back with TAC for The Lark Ascending and Piano Quintet, a classical concert at St. Giles' Cripplegate, a church I've often passed but never been in! Part of the City Churches Music Festival.
Next Thursday, back at the same festival - with CT, this time, for a concert of English Song at the lovely church of St. Bartholomew the Great. It's been too long.. Then back to Ireland for the weekend again.
On the 27th, booked with TAC to hear an interview with Chris Patten, the last UK governer of Hong Kong before it was handed back to China. Happening at Conway Hall.
On the 28th, back again with Free Stuff and Free Events, for their Free Tuesday Sing-a-Long for Health and Pleasure. Online, and one where you're muted, so you don't even have anyone hear you sing! Great for the shy.
On the 29th, I'm finally succumbing to Anything Goes, at the Barbican. Now, I got my ticket for this from Time Out, which is the first place I saw the offer - but it turns out that any number of outlets have £25 tickets! If they're all for the same seats as Time Out, then I'd have to feel sorry for people that bought tickets for £38, which is cheaper than the original price of £45 for the seats on offer! Assuming anyone did. Anyway, with no bad seats here, you'd have to be crazy to pay more.
On the 30th, back with BLL - who obligingly is doing something midweek! I'll have to skip off work early - this is for vespers in Westminster Cathedral, and starts at 4.30. He is actually in Westminster all day, attending Ministerial Question Time earlier - but not only do I have a job to go to, but jeez, I do believe this would just infuriate me! So that, I'm not attending..
On the 1st, back with Civilised London for dinner at Caravel. Terrific reviews..
And that weekend, I'm back with the man with the famous name - Dr. Stephen King (not the writer) is guiding a couple of walks for LGW (courtesy of Walks, Talks and Treasure Hunts). Sadly, not as yet advertised on TAC, so I've booked them through the official site (discount of £3 with the code MEETUP3, as usual). Both topics / areas I've covered many times before, but gee, he's such a great guide! On the 2nd, it's his Southwark Walk.
And on the 3rd, it's his Royal Coronation Walk. I just bet he comes up with something I didn't already know..
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