Play: Mary

Back to London at last - and another on-time Ryanair flight! Wow, the luxury of travelling midweek.. pity that the plane was filthy, but what can you do? Anyway, yesterday, I booked with Up in the Cheap Seats (UITCS) - for Mary, at Hampstead Theatre. Political machinations in the court of Mary, Queen of Scots. Funny thing - there were two seats in the main seating section at the cheapest price, but the site objected to me just booking one of them. No problem booking an equivalent seat in a higher price bracket, though! So I booked one of the high seats, at the back, instead. At the lower price. Just yesterday, I got a mysterious email from the theatre - they sent it before informing me that I had an upgrade, so I had to guess that's what it was about! Anyway, I was now in a very good seat - lovely.

Up that direction, I know Ye Olde Swiss Cottage is a decent place to eat - so I headed there beforehand. And although the bus was diverted again, it seemed a lot quicker than last time.. Perhaps this is a better route to choose. Anyway, one of the entrances to the pub was closed, confusingly - but I made my way in. Unusually busy - I couldn't get my usual table, but headed for the slightly dim area past the room you enter by. Ordered at the bar. I fancied pie. Nope, I was told, no pie. And the girl from the side - they both sounded American - chimed in, saying I couldn't have the half chicken either. Or the (beef) burger. Ehh.. good job I'd brought the menu with me to check. I don't normally have fish and chips, but I had last night. Oh, and I'd forgotten they don't do sauvignon blanc - I had chenin blanc instead, while one server remarked to the other that they really need a better selection of white wines!

It was lovely, as before. And my food arrived in no time, impressively - I'd asked for it without the mushy peas, and so it came. Accompanied by a slice of lemon, and ramekins of tartare sauce and ketchup. All on a sheet of newspaper, on the plate. And it was delish! The chips weren't spectacular, but that's a minor quibble - I was very well fed. A little boy at the table opposite - who also sounded American - remarked, as they were leaving, that fish n chips seems to be the national dish! Arguably, yes. Mind you, while I was eating, someone went to the bar from another table - they'd apparently been waiting ages for their food, including fish n chips.. I have to wonder whether I got theirs! Kitchen obviously forgot. Anyway, I finished, and had another glass of wine - which is cheaper than at the theatre, although the theatre isn't as expensive as I remember..

And then I moseyed over, spotted the group (quite large, this time) and joined them. A lot of us had upgrades.. and in due course, we made our way in.

By the simple trick of moving that wall back, they allow us to experience action in two apparently separate rooms - the second much larger than the first. And apart from chairs - and a desk, in the larger room - there isn't any other furniture. Well, in those days, furniture was a luxury! which is why, when you visit older palaces, it tends to be in short supply. Plebs in those days tended to stand..

Now, this 90-minute (no interval) play concerns Lord Melville, who was around the court at the time of Mary's downfall. Her husband, Lord Darnley, has just been murdered, and to everyone's shock and horror, she's married the man suspected of the murder, Lord Bothwell! However, we only get three characters - Lord Melville, and a couple violently opposed to the Catholic Mary, being on the Protestant side themselves, and determined to depose her. In the first scene, Lord Melville has the upper hand, defending her against people obviously ready to believe the worst. However, in the second scene, he's the one in trouble - being forced to sign the document calling for her abdication.

It's a fabulously powerful piece, firing facts at us about this most obscure episode in history. It's generally accepted that Darnley was murdered, but whether Mary was complicit, and in love with Bothwell, conspiring to murder her husband and marry him, as her enemies claimed - or whether he took matters into his own hands (he was an adventurer, after all) and murdered Darnley, then abducted and raped Mary, forcing her into marriage - is a matter of speculation. This play goes one further, claiming that she was also abused at the hands of her captors once she was imprisoned. Makes for an uncomfortable experience as an audience member.

The play's structure is terrific though, with three strong characters bandying ideas and switching sides, just as the audience does. As opinions shift, so do the power players - makes you realise how little we really know about what goes on behind the major events of world history. We see the consequences - but so much is kept hidden, today as it always was.

The one thing I could really have done without was the rushing of the stage, right at the end, by the #MeToo movement - gangs of women yelling and gesticulating. Isn't anything to do with history - this plays to modern sensibilities, and given the obvious bias that it indicates towards a certain version of the events, it does call into question whether what's described ever even happened. Just silly, frankly - and how they all got to take a bow with the three actors who actually deserved applause is beyond me. Apart from this, it's a terrific play - runs till the 26th, definitely recommended. Just maybe leave when the crowds of women in black file into the seats on either side of the stage..

It ran too late last night for me to blog - felt I should make an effort to turn on the computer reasonably early for work! I hadn't anything booked for tonight - was thinking film - and then Ticket Text (one of hundreds of ticket organisations I seem to have signed up for) sent me an advertising email. So, it seems tonight the comedy venue, 21Soho, is holding an event of Comedians Telling Spooky Stories. Which sounds the business, for the week that's in it. So I booked. Hallowe'en fancy dress, apparently - well, not too pushed about that. 

Tomorrow, I kept free for an all-night drinking session with Ivan. However, predictably, he cancelled - probably still recovering from his bout of Covid. I've only met him once so far this year - hope I get to see him again before the end of it! What annoys me, though, is how I always have to chase people to let me know when they have to cancel - he's not the only one, but he wouldn't have thought to tell me if I hadn't asked. Honestly, how is a person supposed to plan? Anyway, instead, I booked with TAC for By the Light of the Moon at the Old Red Lion. Part of their Grimfest Festival.

So I should find it easier to get up on Saturday - I'm on another walk with Laurence Summers and the 45+ Not Grumpy Old Londoners! This one is the Edgy London Walking Tour, and is one of his new ones.

And yes, I have something to do that evening! (This month is far too busy.) I'm back with the Crick Crack Club (CCC), for the Game of Candles - their Hallowe'en offering, where they extinguish a candle for every spooky story told. Tim Ralphs and Sarah-Liisa Wilkinson - in King's Place, lovely! I can walk home..

On Sunday, I dug out something interesting on Meetup, from a new group to me - London Social & Cultural Meetups is headed to evensong at the church of St. Bartholomew the Great. Gorgeous church, sounds great - unfortunately, their event is full, but I can head along on my own.

Ahh.. and then, 'tis Hallowe'en.. yes, of course I have something for that. Do you remember me mentioning I was going to five Darkfield events this month? Eagle-eyed readers will have noticed I've reviewed four.. which leaves one. For Hallowe'en - the only one they're running that night. Séance, appropriately, which, it seems, was their first ever show - I do have to go all the way up to Watford for it, but it should be worth it. I've booked the first showing of the evening, which is at 7.

Deliberately booked early, to try and squeeze something else in. Now, that only lasts 20 minutes - and it seems I can get down to Leicester Square within an hour. Which gives me time to get to Prey for the Devil, showing at Cineworld Leicester Square at 9pm. Another exorcism story, this one unusually seems to have the exorcism performed by a nun! (Very egalitarian.) She gets around the Church's rules about women not doing such a thing by claiming that the same demon that possessed her own mother is now inhabiting a patient at the facility where she works. So this nun is probably a target. Well, it's probably not high art, but it should do the trick..

On Tuesday, the horror continues - I've booked with TAC again for The Drought, a short horror play at Grimfest at the Old Red Lion again.

On Wednesday, back with the CCC for their annual Day of the Dead event - this one is at Rich Mix. Stars Daniel Morden, Clare Murphy, Lucy Lill, and TUUP - and all but Clare Murphy, I haven't seen in an age! In fact, I've never heard of Lucy Lill before..

Next Thursday,  I was back with UITCS - for Noor, at Southwark Playhouse. The true story of a WWII spy - and bought, as usual, on my PAYG subscription - which gives you cheap tickets to five shows, and never expires. Suggestion of eating beforehand at Mercato Metropolitano. But wouldn't you know it, that night's performance was cancelled.. Instead, I'm off to a talk at Watkin's Bookshop (which also has a Meetup presence!). Theme is The First Ghosts, by Irving Finkel - ghost stories have been around for a long time..! He's written a book about the first evidence of tales of the supernatural.. Then I'm back to Ireland for the weekend.

On the 7th, with nothing on Meetup, I'm currently thinking of heading to see the Carnaby Street Christmas lights, which will be up by then.

On the 8th, headed to see John Gabriel Borkman, by Ibsen, at the Bridge Theatre.

On the 9th - originally, nothing better coming up than Soho Comedy Factory, upstairs at The Blue Posts. Now, instead, I've changed my booking for Noor to this night. Sadly, not with the group, who rearranged for a night I can't go.

On the 10th, back - at last! - with London Classical Music and Theatre Group (LCMTG), for Alcina at the Royal Opera House. More Handel..

On the 11th, I was heading to The Horror Show at Somerset House - a horror-based art exhibition - with The Horror Book Club. But then Civilised London popped up with another meal - so I booked that, and we're headed to Champor Champor, a Thai / Malay restaurant. Meeting beforehand at The Rose, nearby.

On the 12th, planning another meal with the people that are harder to herd than cats! As of now, of the four people I've invited, one is a pretty certain "no" and two more are iffy, as they might have to be abroad. Jeez.. If it's just the same person that was the only one to make it last time, I think we'll head somewhere different. For variety. On the other hand, Imad's Syrian Kitchen is right off Carnaby Street.. and the lights are probably going to be cool.. Of course, there is the small issue of the irregularity of the wine measures!

On the 13th, back with the CCC at the British Museum, where Daniel Morden and Hugh Lupton are performing The Iliad.

And on the 14th, not having been with LCMTG for ages, I'm with them for the second time in a week! Heading to Wigmore Hall this time, for the Takács Quartet, who are playing Beethoven. Now sold out - and I'm not surprised, given that when I booked, I got one of the last three (top price) seats! Ah well, it wasn't astronomical - and I do love Beethoven.