Play: Arms and the Man

This evening (unusually, it's usually Thursday), I was supposed to be back with Watkin's Bookshop for a book launch. This was Fifty Forgotten Books by R. B. Russell. Occult theme, as usual. But this afternoon, sadly, I got an email to say it was cancelled. Well, I still had to watch Arms and the Man, showing at the Orange Tree - they have been streaming performances all this week, and I booked a ticket. I had to get it watched by midnight tonight, so it wasn't really feasible to go to anything else.. the book launch would have been early, you see!

Dinner first in The Lucas Arms - it looked pretty full, but I spied a table in the corner, and grabbed it before anyone else could, leaving my coat there as collateral. Unfortunately, I hit the bar at exactly the wrong time - right behind a group of ladies with what must have been a complicated order, he took so long to fill it! In fact, there was a long queue in front of me - must have been a quarter of an hour before I got my order in and returned to my table, glass in hand. Well, I was exceedingly well fed - and could practice my Spanish by eavesdropping on the couple beside me, who were trying to translate the menu. I would have recommended the pie - but he went for the fish n chips. Traditionally British, I guess - or traditionally Christian perhaps, no meat on Fridays..

Bought a bottle of wine, and so back home and settled down to the play - which is on-demand, all live performances having ended by now. And I am so glad I watched it! Also glad, of course, that I didn't have to traipse all the way to the theatre.

Nice and snug, this venue - one where you need to watch where you put your feet. And I was intrigued, in one scene, to see one of the actors backing up - carefully, as he was inches away from sitting in people's laps!

So, this is George Bernard Shaw being satirical about war. In a delightfully overacted comedy, we see the snooty upper classes completely bamboozled by the pragmatic working classes - a favourite theme of Shaw's. The ridiculous and impossibly earnest young major is entranced by the cunning serving girl, while his fiancée (her mistress) has her entire world view turned upside-down by a jobbing Swiss soldier, who - appropriately - carries chocolate instead of ammunition, and can tell you to the minute what time he'll return on Monday. They're all charming characters, and it's an utterly charming piece! (And has made me nostalgic for Switzerland.) Do check it out, if you get a chance.

Tomorrow, back at King's Place - this time it's the Crick Crack Club, with Stories in the Dark. Told in darkness, by the sound of it - sounds divine! Got a warning email yesterday - they'll be giving each of us an LED candle on the way in, which we turn on if we need to leave for any reason (no readmittance, of course). An usher will show us in, and out if we need to leave early. And yes, as they say - turn off your phone before you go in..

On Sunday, back with Cultureseekers for the Hieroglyphs: Unlocking Ancient Egypt exhibition at the British Museum. Assuming it's not curtailed due to transport strikes - there is a warning on the museum website that galleries might have to close early!

On Monday, I've finally booked for Best of Enemies at the Noel Coward Theatre. This play concerns a series of debates on US television between liberal writer Gore Vidal and conservative William F. Buckley in 1968 - the interesting twist here, given the time and place we're talking about, is to cast William Buckley as black! Had my own seat review on Seatplan to guide me in picking a seat - this is one of those restricted view/legroom theatres. And despite all the theatre offers flooding my inbox, I found the cheapest tickets for this on the official website! Mind you, what with See Tickets doing the selling, I found myself with a second, unexplained, booking fee..

For the next week or so, it's all Up in the Cheap Seats (UITCS)! On Tuesday, for some reason, I hadn't seen their advertised event to see Orlando, based on the book by Virginia Woolf, and showing at the Garrick. For this, however, I found the cheapest tickets from Official London Theatre (OLT).

On Wednesday, we're off to see John Bishop at the Leicester Square Theatre. Love him, so I booked as soon as I saw this advertised - one of the few things for this month that I booked last month! Not that it seems to be selling out..

On Thursday, we're off to The Vaults Festival - specifically, The Welsh Lxdies, a bilingual show about the women of Wales. Then back to Ireland for the weekend again.

On the 30th, we're heading to Noises Off, starring Felicity Kendal, at the Phoenix. Again, cheapest tickets from OLT.

On the 31st, with a group I haven't joined in a Very Long Time - I'm back with London Dramatic Art, from whom I've got a front-row ticket for Sylvia, at The Old Vic; this is the story of Sylvia Pankhurst, and stars the excellent Beverley Knight. Completely sold out - this was my only way to get a ticket!

On the 1st, back with the Horror Book Club - Lordy, that means I need to read a book! :-) I'm using my flights for that. This time, it's The Ballad of Black Tom, based on the Lovecraft story, The Horror at Red Hook, but told from the perspective of a black man. Which means I should really read that, too.. Nice, I'd like to get back to some Lovecraft! I've read the summary of that, and am a decent way through the book club's book. Again, it's in the Prince of Wales, Covent Garden. Question is, will the kitchen be open..?

On the 2nd, I'm on my own for My Son's a Queer (but what can you do?), a musical at the Ambassadors Theatre.

On the 3rd, my first meeting of the year with London Classical Music and Theatre Group! We're off to Wigmore Hall, to listen to the Hagen Quartet play Mozart. They're Austrian, so that's appropriate.. I just need to remember not to drink the ultra-expensive sauvignon blanc!

On the 4th, well, Laurence Summers and the 45+ Not Grumpy Old Londoners are back to Greenwich again. Now, I have been there with him before.. not sure how "new" this one will be, but hey, it was a great day last time!

On the 5th, nothing on Meetup appeals massively at the moment - I might go for a walk along the Ken's Events route, if I feel like it! (on my own). Or Over 40 Living the Life has advertised a walk along the New River.. I'll have to see, as I have to pay to sign up (refunds given to those who then come). And I might well change my mind..

On the 6th, my first actual event with that group. We're off to How Not to Drown at the Theatre Royal, Stratford East - the first event of theirs for which I couldn't get a cheaper ticket! So I decided, if I couldn't beat them, I might as well join them. True story of an unaccompanied, 11-year-old asylum seeker.

On the 7th, excited to be headed to see Derren Brown in Showman, at the Apollo Shaftesbury Avenue. Cheapest tickets with OLT again.

On the 8th, off to The Lehman Trilogy, at the Gillian Lynne Theatre. Based on the true story of the bank that collapsed. Got the last £39.50 ticket!

On the 9th, back with UITCS for Winner's Curse, at the Park Theatre - an interactive show about a peace negotiation. Turns out North London Friends are headed to it the same night - what, are they now copying this group, as another group did some time ago? (since closed down). And then I'm back to Ireland again.

And on the 13th, I'm headed to Allegiance, starring George Takei in a musical based on the true story of his time in an American internment camp during the Second World War. Showing at the Charing Cross Theatre.