Play: My Son's a Queer (but what can I do?)

Tonight, I was on my own for My Son's a Queer (but what can you do?), a play at the Ambassadors Theatre. Walking distance again, lovely! Now, Byron Burger is close to the theatre - but I had a look at the website, and it looked as though they might be a bit busy. So I said I'd be safer going to GBK, where I never have trouble getting a seat. And sure enough, I didn't. We'll forgive tonight's server for not knowing me - he seemed new. I was well - and quickly - fed, and off I went. Mind you, Byron Burger didn't seem full as I passed. Ah well, next time perhaps?

I was in the Circle - and, delightfully, the entrance is up just a few steps from the lobby! The bar, mind you, is up another couple of flights - I decided I was early enough to head up, and I got myself a sauvignon blanc and a bag of chocolate buttons - an inspired choice, I hadn't had them in ages. And then I took my seat - happily, just this morning, I'd been upgraded (they closed the rear Circle), and so my seat was right beside the entrance. I positioned my glass on the step beside me, tucked against the seat - wouldn't you know it, the guy getting into his seat just behind sent it flying! but saw at the same moment I did, and immediately got me another. Fair play. (So I had a glass and a bit..)

The show is only an hour long - but what an entertaining hour. So, it's the protagonist's story of being a little boy, mad into theatre and performing, and with a penchant for wearing flamboyant dresses. School isn't that supportive - happily, his family is, and sends him to Stagecoach. And the rest is history - told through sweet, hilarious, and well-edited home movies, with him providing some narration, and digging out props. Wait for the big parade of characters at the end - this guy was born to take the limelight, and he revels in it now - he's also a fabulous singer. It's an entertaining hour, as I say - also surprisingly moving. Standing ovation well deserved. Runs until the 18th of next month, except Sundays - twice a day on Thursdays and Saturdays. Well worth a look!

Tomorrow, 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! Meeting my sometime dinner companion beforehand, down the road at Olivelli.

On Saturday, 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! And that evening, meeting Ivan - and another ex-boss with whom I'm still friendly, Martin, for dinner: and wouldn't you know it, I actually managed to book O' Neill's. Wonders shall never cease.. of course, Christmas is over now, so things might calm down. Also, although the Six Nations is on that day, the matches are in the afternoon..

On Sunday, nothing on Meetup appealed massively - I thought 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'd 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.. which I finally did, when Free Stuff and Free Events advertised a blues concert at the Earl of Chatham, Woolwich. It's a way out, is all - but then, it's free, if I wanted to cancel. And.. now I have, because London Herstory Guided Walks! has finally advertised a walk I can go on. I was recommended this group by someone a while ago - they run guided walks with a female theme. Sunday's is Deeds Not Words! Suffragettes, Spies, & Warrior Queens. Delighted to be able to go on one of theirs, at last - they're usually on during working hours. Only thing is, they don't specify how to pay - cash on the day, I'm guessing, as they don't take payment on booking. Mercifully, it's in the afternoon - I might need the rest, after Saturday!

On Monday, my first actual event with the Over 40s. 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 Tuesday, excited to be headed to see Derren Brown in Showman, at the Apollo Shaftesbury Avenue. Cheapest tickets with Official London Theatre again.

On Wednesday, 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!

Next Thursday, back with Up in the Cheap Seats 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.

Play: Mad House

Yesterday was another handy day to come to the office, as last night, I headed to Mad House at the Ambassadors Theatre. A short walk from here!

With all the free food here, I've started boxing clever, and stashing food so I can eat all day, and don't have to get anything in the evening. Which is marvellous! Anyway, I can't get a locker until I get a permanent pass - which there's no sign of yet - so I was forced to drag the laptop with me to the theatre. At least it was a short walk! I was pretty wrecked by the time I got there - only to find that b****y Google Maps had sent me to the Ambassador Theatre Group (ATG) - in other words, Wyndham's, not the Ambassadors Theatre. Happily, the West End being what it is, it wasn't far between them.

At the (cursory) bag check, I got dragged into a surreal discussion about a young usher's girlfriend, who'd been hinting about a ring. When I finally got in, I was early and the house wasn't open yet. Sadly, no cloakroom, so I lugged the laptop up the stairs to the (teeny-weeny) bar. Where service was friendly, but it was a bit stuffy - even with the windows open. So I had a glass of wine, and was lucky to get a seat - the bar ultimately filled completely, and a queue down the stairs was unable even to enter, and had to wait for people to start to leave before they could have a go at ordering a drink! Well, considering they didn't get around to opening the house until about 7.05, the time I was actually supposed to get there - for a 7.30 show!

Mercifully, I'd - as usual - booked an end seat, so had space for the laptop. And my legs. And the heavily pregnant lady beside me only needed me to get up once to let her out to the toilet.

I have a suspicion I've seen this before - but anyway. Bill Pullman (THOUGHT I recognised that smirk!) plays an irascible old man, on his last legs, who's widowed, and has been cared for by his son for the past year or so. This son spent a year in a mental hospital, it transpires, and his dad never lets him forget it - and when his brother and sister arrive, sniffing around for valuables and talking wills and deeds, you can see how he might have been driven to madness, with the three of them! Frankly, he's probably the sanest of them.

The father, bitter at no longer being able to do the things he enjoys, and taking it out on his carers. The brother, having a good snoop around to see what the house might be worth. And the nightmare sister, barging in, first time in years she's darkened the door, and straight away she's criticising everything, talking about suing people, and talking about having her "insane" brother re-committed. Of course, as she points out to her other brother, that'd mean a bigger share of the spoils for "everyone else". We've all met them, haven't we? "Where there's a will, there's a relative." The one outsider in the piece is the hospice nurse, who takes the caring son's side, and in whose indignant amazement we can see just how dysfunctional this family is!

Fantastically acted, engaging, funny, and moving as we realise how much this brother is putting up with - this is a lovely piece of theatre, and well worth seeing. Runs till the 4th of September. Struggled home with the laptop - the boss isn't in today, so I couldn't use his locker - and took two buses, to have as little walking as possible.

Tonight, 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.. Now, distance-wise, this is a curious one. There actually isn't much to choose between home and work as to which is handier for this - home is very slightly closer to walk, but still too far for me to walk (particularly in today's heat!): but the public transport option is ever so slightly quicker from work! So, what with the free food n all.. I'm in the office again today.

Tomorrow, 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 earlier in the day! 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.

On 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..

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.

On the 3rd, it's his Royal Coronation Walk. I just bet he comes up with something I didn't already know..

And on the 4th, I'm headed to A Doll's House Part 2, at Donmar Warehouse - sequel to the famous original, where the wife leaves an unhappy marriage; this sequel examines what happens when she returns.

Play: Beginning

Today, after a most welcome lie-in, Up in the Cheap Seats, and the matinée of Beginning, at the Ambassadors Theatre. For once, not an official ticket for this - got better value with What's on Stage!

Got myself out just in time to get to the mail sorting office before they closed. Now, this is the Mount Pleasant one, and a new one to me - Google Maps said it wasn't a long walk, so off I went, delighted to see that the pavements were mostly clear! It turns out that this was also my local office when I was in my last place - but we had a reception desk to take mail, so never had to go there. It also seems that this is the largest sorting office in London. Well, they have a post office fronting on Rosebery Avenue, from which side I approached - but it turned out to be closed. That contradicted what the delivery card they'd left said - so I decided to continue on, down Mount Pleasant itself, where Google Maps indicated.

Sure enough, it's a massive building - as I passed, I could see the actual sorting office, in the basement, a couple of people working among all the mail. I eventually came to a door - heck, the staff entrance! For "customer enquiries", I had to keep trudging on. Jeez, how big this building was.. so, at the bottom, I turned right onto Phoenix Place - the sign promised I had 50 metres to go. Finally, there was the door - and with five minutes to spare. So, I gratefully picked up my parcel - salted caramel hot chocolate, from Hotel Chocolat (I hadn't been able to find it in any branch I tried).

Now, I was already a ways along my route, and the parcel wasn't too big - so I just took it with me. And Google Maps now put me within half an hour's walk of the theatre - so off I went, and what a joy it was not to have to worry about slipping and sliding! I arrived at around the time we'd arranged - sure enough, I didn't think I'd been to this theatre before. If you're looking for it, it's the one right next door to where The Mousetrap is playing. (Beware, do NOT read the linked-to article if you don't want to know the ending.. indeed, keeping the murderer's identity secret is all part of the tradition of this show. Highly recommended, though.)

Well, the lobby was absolutely crammed - I had my bag checked and went to queue at the box office. As I got my ticket, the organiser popped up behind me - lucky that, I'd just been wondering how I'd spot them! Well, she suggested we wait outside for the others - she was later to try the toilets, which are apparently also short on space. Very squished theatre, this! As we waited, it became apparent that nobody else was going to show - apart from one, who said she was feeling under the weather, nobody else changed their RSVP or let her know they wouldn't be coming, which I think is very bad form! At least they were responsible for their own tickets..

So, at 10 to, we went in - she in the Stalls, I in the Circle. I had a very friendly usher - American accent - who not only directed me to my seat, but said, "You see the guy up there in red? He's sitting beside you." Good customer service! As I clambered up to my row, I remarked that these are steep steps - I haven't seen the like, apart from the Coliseum! But the place is small, with only two aisles, each equipped with a rail, so that was fine. I was also on the end of the row, which was lovely for (carefully) dumping my parcel, and meant I had as much legroom as I needed - but the legroom is decent here.

It's a one-act play, two characters - to give you some backstory, she (Justine Mitchell) has just thrown a housewarming, and that same day, she was wining and dining a client, mentioned the party, and the client asked whether he could come, and bring a friend. This is the friend - and the last to leave. The entire play features the back and forth between them, as (almost) every obstacle you could reasonably think of arises in conversation to prevent them beginning a relationship.

It starts really slowly. Like, really. Five minutes or more of them just kind of staring at each other. And once they did start to speak, honestly, the audience found it far funnier than I did (what a surprise). However, I got into the pace after a while - and there's a lot to like here. It's quite true to life - except that, in real life, he'd have left a lot quicker in such an awkward situation. (Warning - expect swearing and adult themes.) The staging is great - it all takes place in one room; this is obvious from the start, with so much attention to detail. Still, it doesn't deserve some of the glowing reviews I've seen - or do they do that for anything with mass appeal? Steep ticket prices, too. Nah, I think you'd be better off at The Mousetrap. Runs till the 24th, limited availability.

Afterwards, still no sign of the rest of the group. I fancied food, and we ended up in Jamie's Italian - quite appropriate, as he'd been namechecked in the play. A bit of a queue, but we were sat quickly, in their large basement area. Comfy sofa in the corner. My companion wasn't eating, just had a camomile tea, for warmth - but I had garlic bread and a carbonara, and a glass of wine. Now, the last time I ate in Jamie's, it was simply dire - this was fine, actually, except that the pasta was a bit chewier than I'm used to. Overpriced, mind, and wouldn't ever be my first choice of restaurant. But it's nice to give people a second chance, eh? And it was nice to have someone to chat to. After which, she headed off to meet friends, and I headed home, in the lashing rain (not snow, for once!) after checking my way to the bus, while a customer searched in vain for anyone with a light..

Tomorrow, I found another Southwark tour - excellent! The "Family Friendly Liberty of the Clink" tour is run by Walking in London.. therefore Funzing.. and Londonist is involved somewhere too. Hard to keep track of everyone involved in walks. The standard code (crazy_fun) is still giving 10% off on Funzing's website. I believe the weather's supposed to have warmed up by then.. here's hoping. Not as long a lie-in as today, but I'll be to bed early.

On Monday, London European Club is headed to Monologue Slam, an actors' showcase at the Theatre Royal, Stratford East.

On Tuesday, Up in the Cheap Seats is at Sadler's Wells for a performance by Ballet British Colombia.

On Wednesday, Let's Do This is off to a jazz evening at Two Temple Place. Beautiful venue - should be a lovely evening.

On Thursday, Walking Victorian London is running a walk around Il Quartiere - Tales from Italian Clerkenwell. Excellent - I've had my eye on that for a while.

On Friday, Helen's in town, so we're headed for lunch, somewhere TBD. In the evening, I'm back to Ireland for the weekend again.

And on the 12th, London Dramatic Arts is at Caroline, or Change, at Hampstead Theatre. As usual, too expensive for me, and I got my own ticket, at about half the price. She's only going with one unnamed guest - maybe she won't go at all!