Plays: Bleak Expectations & The Shape of Things, & Album Launch: The Devil's on the Mast

On Wednesday, I was back with Up in the Cheap Seats (UITCS) for Bleak Expectations, a Dickens-based comedy, with a different star every week, showing at the Criterion. We got Julian Clary.. I ended up going up a price band here, the cheap tickets all seemed so restricted!

Oh, what a horrendous couple of weeks it's been at work - hence the delay in the blog, I literally have been that busy. On that note, I did not have time to eat on Wednesday evening - dinner was a box of Maltesers and a glass of reasonably-priced sauvignon blanc at the theatre. We all met in the attractive Dress Circle Bar:

and chatted away until it was time to take our seats. I was fourth row from the front - someone else from the group was in my eyeline, but obligingly ducked to the side for me to take a shot of the stage!

It's a quirky stage, for a quirky play - as the blurb says, much as Dickens would have written, had he been at the gin. Julian Clary played - well, himself, except, as he pointed out, heterosexual, and a Victorian gentleman, whose own story he was supposedly narrating. It is, as you might suppose, a mishmash of various Dickens stories, with sundry Dickens quotes; a trio of siblings find themselves in trouble when their father dies, their mother goes insane, and a wicked guardian takes over, packing young Pip (the narrator's younger self) off to a suitably Dickensian boarding school, while conspiring to marry his elder sister and claim the family fortune for himself. Now, where have we heard that one before..?

It's utterly bonkers. It was exactly what I needed, but wasn't everyone's cup of tea, and one left at the interval. Be warned, it is a farce, it is exceedingly silly - but if you're cool with that, do go along, because it's a lot of fun. I, at least, had a great time! and the acting is excellent. Runs till the 3rd of September - recommended, for those who like their comedy OTT.

No time to blog afterwards - no time for a full night's sleep all week! When I came home, I was working - slept a few hours, and was back at it again..

Yesterday, back with North London Friends, for the first time in, oh, ages.. we were off to The Park, to see The Shape of Things. Different people from last time, these were some I knew before. But it's been years! Anyway, happily, this time I took time out to eat.. The Lucas Arms beckoned, and it was nice to feel human again! Caught a bus from just around the corner, and met the others, sat outside the theatre on what was an unusually nice evening, not as cold as recently. In fact, it was so nice, just sitting there, a gentle breeze blowing, that I couldn't even be bothered getting a drink beforehand..

There was a slight delay getting into the auditorium - when the usher got to scanning my ticket, her scanner - which had been playing up for ages - broke completely, and she finally gave up and let me in. I was right around the side - no photography, thank you: probably because two of the cast were already onstage.

The story is one of college students falling in love. They're interesting characters, but so far, so samey - I was wondering what made this so special.

I was to find out in the second half. Don't be fooled - this is seriously one of the best twists I've come across in a play, one of those classics that has you all talking afterwards and re-examining everything you thought you knew. I really can't say any more - except that, when they start to show things on the screen, don't worry if you're to the side, as I was - it's also shown on a small TV screen, directly opposite the main one. To reiterate - one of the best-written plots I've come across. Very highly recommended - runs till the 1st.

Afterwards - speaking of post-show discussions - we repaired to Oak, around the corner - which I haven't been to since I was last here with this group! I generally prefer New World wines, but last night found myself reverting to the sauvignon, even though it was Old World. What can I say, it is my favourite.. and an excellent chat was had, until it came time to go home. Where, of course, I was working again - not blogging, frankly, I couldn't face that on top. Anyway, lovely to see these people again! May the next time not be as long in coming.

Last night was as soon as I was able to consider what to do this evening - and I'd completely forgotten that Eleanor - of TunedIn.London and the World Music Meetup - had advertised an album launch - The Devil's on the Mast, by Cider with Kirsty (Ciderhouse Rebellion with Kirsty Merryn). At the Finnish Church. Folksy kind of music - I liked what I heard, and booked. Again, didn't really have time to eat, on what was the last working day for me, before the work deadline - I made for Pret, in the station. Sadly, not only was their main seating area closed off, but they didn't have the salmon sandwiches I love! so I went to the takeaway one, outside the door, instead, and ate my sandwich at a convenient bollard. Ah, food.. great start to the weekend.

A bit tight for time, I took the Underground, followed by the Overground, changing at Whitechapel - where, paradoxically, I had to climb down to get from the Underground to the Overground! Anyway, the sun streamed in the windows on the whole section above ground - it was a gorgeous evening to be travelling. I arrived quite early - said hi to Eleanor, took a seat near the front. Where, again, the sun streamed in the door to the garden - which was left open, allowing a lovely, cool breeze to waft over us. 

They make a lovely sound, complete with historical context - it's just a pity that the music was quite soothing, and I was fit to drop - I spent the entire concert fighting to stay awake! Absolutely no reflection on them - it's just that I could happily sleep for a week. Honestly, I was delighted that it finished a bit early - apart from giving me a bit of leeway with my evening, it meant that I could shop! which I was in dire need of. But anyway, lovely to get to another of these concerts. Even if it's a bit of a slog to get there.

And now I need to get to bed.. I have to be up in the morning.. uhh.. Laurence Summers and the 45+ Not Grumpy Old Londoners are headed on a new walk, Rockin' in the West End! Must dig out some U2 gear.. it certainly seems as though it's gonna be t-shirt weather! Tomorrow evening, I was supposed to be having my monthly get-together with my ex-work colleagues, too - at The Lucas Arms - but two can't make it, and the other two of us have decided to wait for next month, and do it properly.

On Sunday, back with the Crick Crack Club, for Dauntless - Grace O' Malley, Pirate Queen, at the British Museum. AKA Granuaile, she was a real person.. the pirate queen of the West of Ireland, who did one better than Mary, Queen of Scots, and actually did get to meet Elizabeth I! This one isn't told by Clare Murphy, though - it's Debs Newbold. 

On Monday, taking myself off to see The Accidental Death of an Anarchist, at the Theatre Royal Haymarket. I've heard only good things..

On Tuesday, giving up on Meetup, I'm with TAC, for Mixed Omens - an improvised horror show, at the Drayton Arms.

On Wednesday, thinking film - and what's coming up is a documentary called The Pearl Button, set in Chile. Scenery looks spectacular.. this is showing in the ICA only. Wow, it's years since I was last there, too!

On Thursday, back with UITCS, for All of It, at the Royal Court. And then I'm back to Ireland for the weekend.

Street Party & Concert: La Chinganera

Coming out of the cinema last night, I had a closer look at the poster on that stage in the Brunswick Centre:

Now, for tonight I had booked a livestream from the Crick Crack Club, from the Story Museum Oxford. This is King Lear Retold. However, it'll be available for a week after - so I took the opportunity, also, to book another concert with the World Music Meetup! This was La Chinganera, in the Finnish Church - and the concerts organised by Eleanor Salter Thorn of TunedIn London are always good! But gee, this event in the Brunswick Centre had the Puppini Sisters.. and looked fun, being a real party! Was supposed to be decent weather, too. Maybe I could schlep along to this for a while first..? Ah, life is complicated..

So I decided to duck out of work early, and eat at GBK again. The soundproofing must be really effective in the Brunswick Centre, because I arrived at about the time it was due to start - and could hear nothing until I was right on top of it! En route to GBK, I passed a lot of interesting people. I've often wondered at the stamina of stiltwalkers - and this guy was guarding the crown jewels - also kept complaining about having to duck under the bunting:

There was a town crier, who was absolutely hilarious as he wandered through the centre, crying the ads in the shop windows! ("Oye, oye, 3 for 2 in Pelican..", or words to that effect):

There was, um, this guy:

People making balloon animals (or something):

Anyway, I took myself off to eat - I was hungry anyway - and man, was it gorgeous. I never tire of GBK! Anyway, when I came out, as there'd been as yet no sign of the Puppini Sisters, I decided I'd head off to my concert in an hour or so. And in the meantime, I saw much else that was interesting! The shops, for instance, got in on the coronation vibes:

I finally managed a decent snap of Henry VIII and his companions - couldn't figure out which of the many women in his life these were, though!

There were some pearly folk:

..specifically, the Pearly King and Pearly Prince of Finsbury, and the Pearly Queen of Fulham! I also finally tracked down the jester:

and this guy proved most versatile:

Now, I'm guessing this is the princess from Frozen - but I am prepared to be corrected! Anyway, that'll be her Prince Charming, or whatever:

Well, after doing several circuits of the centre - and buying chocolate, and eating some of it.. there was still no sign of the Puppini Sisters. Good soundtrack over the PA, though! I was just turning to leave when the call came through for people to gather at the stage, the Sisters' arrival was "imminent". Too late, guys - I was off! On a severely packed Tube, sadly - I was so glad to disgorge myself.

Ah yes, I had been here before - I remembered the door you can't open! I even remembered the guy who let me in - he'd let me in last time, as well - hadn't changed much.. Inside, I met Eleanor, and another member of the group, which was nice! With Eleanor tending to be busy at these events, it's nice to have someone to chat to.

So - the artist was performing partly solo, partly with her partner, and sometimes with another guy who, it seems, sponsored the event! Also on stage for part of the show was Silvia Balducci, whom I'd seen at another TunedIn London event.. she's big into Chilean protest songs. This was La Chinganera's UK premiere - and poor Eleanor, as well as having to MC and organise, ended up acting as translator for much of the show, as La Chinganera wanted to say something before every song!

I was in seventh heaven - I love guitar music, I love Spanish and Latin American music, I love protest songs. Particularly powerful was her acapella singing, beating time on her guitar, or on her chest, which was very moving. So, this was a perfect wind-down to a hectic week..

Will definitely try to get back to these events - very glad I made this one! Had a lovely pastry in the cafe afterwards, with my companion - and Eleanor roped in two other group members for a photo! Lordy.. I seem to end up in a lot of those, these days. So, a lovely evening - and then I damn near lost my Oyster card on the way home - it fell out of my pocket as I walked to the bus stop, which was the first time I missed it. I retraced my steps, missed it the first time, and found it on my second pass - how lucky was that! Honestly, it'd be a nuisance to replace.. And so, I got a comfy couple of buses home.

Tomorrow, back to Ireland for the coronation weekend. For Saturday (post-coronation), the film is looking like Missing - now, this does look interesting. Taking place almost entirely online, it concerns a teenage girl's efforts to find her mother, who's gone missing on holiday abroad. I do love techy films.. and this has one of the same writers as Searching, an excellent film on the same lines, about a father looking for his missing teenage daughter. In fact, apparently, this film starts with footage based on that film..

For Sunday (given that, with a coronation bank holiday, I have an extra day again), the film is like to be The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, one of those eccentric British comedies, in which Harold (Jim Broadbent) is distressed to hear that his good friend is dying. He's going to post her a letter - but instead, decides to hand deliver it. His wife (Penelope Wilton) is less than impressed, considering she's at the other end of the country.. based on a book. Anyway, both showing in Ennis.

On Tuesday, back in London, I'm - heh - thinking of film again. Now, that film listings site is, as established, a nightmare - but I have a choice of two; there's Pamfir, which is Ukrainian, and The Blue Caftan, which is Moroccan. Both showing in my local cinema (how else would I even know they existed..?). Anyway, we'll see - both rated the same at the moment, but straightaway, Pamfir looks more interesting to me, set in dense forests swirling with mist, and lying somewhere on the border between fact and fantasy.. With additional films announced, I see Little Richard: I Am Everything is rated the same - it's a documentary. But I have little interest in him, and frankly, I don't feel like going all the way to the Riverside Studios in Hammersmith to see it!

On Wednesday, back with Up in the Cheap Seats, for Retrograde, in the Kiln. Based on Sidney Poitier, and what he had to do to become a star, it seems.. Now, this is from the same writer as For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When the Hue Gets Too Heavy. Which I hated. So I'm taking a risk.

And next Thursday, I'm back with The Hideout: Horror Sci-Fi Club London, for wine tasting followed by comedy (hmm..) in La Pizzica restaurant. Could be interesting..

Pub: The Museum Tavern & Concert: Olcay Bayir

On Tuesday, I tried to get the first meeting of the year going with that group from my last company. Had the idea while I was eating at the Amarcord Museum - I love to advertise good places to people, and this is one! But apart from a couple of people who made their excuses because they're on holiday abroad - and despite the invite having gone out before Christmas - the only taker was Ivan, with no-one else even bothering to respond until the last minute, and most not at all. Dead in the water, that group, it seems. Well, their loss.

He was working from home, and had a lot to do - he was taking the bus in, and I'd said to let me know when he started out, so I could start to make a move as well. He lives a good bit out of town, so it'd take a while for him to get there. So I ultimately made a move - in time to walk, which I did. And boy, was I frozen by the time I gratefully got there! And.. the restaurant was closed. Really shouldn't have been - I checked the website, you could technically still book up to 9pm that night! (It was 8.30 when we arrived - Ivan just slightly after I did.) Well, blast - with only the two of us, I hadn't bothered to book -  and I suppose they'd had no business on a cold Tuesday night, and had closed early. What a shame..

Never mind, I knew The Museum Tavern, at the street corner by the museum itself, does good food - so we went there. You can't miss it - festooned with fairy lights, it advertises itself well. We managed to get a table, I perused the menu - he got a bottle of wine, which we shared, and then he had a lot to say for himself; turns out he had a job interview the day before, and was full of plans for the future, and news. And so it took me forever to get my order in (he wasn't actually that hungry, and passed on food: so it was just as well we ended up in the bar, where that wasn't such an issue). I was wondering whether I'd ever get the chance to order at the bar - but the server, who had little to do, saw me with the menu and decided to come and ask whether she could get me anything. Very obliging - you are supposed to come and order at the bar! So I ordered my regular hunter's chicken - which was reasonable priced, and absolutely delicious. I'm a sucker for bbq sauce.

By the time I finished - Ivan was still talking - the kitchen was closed, so no dessert: and anyway, he wanted to make the Co-Op near the studio, to pick up some more alcohol. It'd take a while to get the bus - so we took the Tube instead. Our train would be the third, with one waiting on the platform - we really shouldn't have had to wait long. A train was sat at the platform, there'd be another along between it and ours. Except.. no movement. No announcements. Meantime, another delayed passenger took an interest in Ivan's guitar, which he'd brought - during this prolonged delay, he had tons of time to have a look, have a go on it himself.. isn't music a great unifier?! They were bosom buddies by the time the other guy's train arrived. Signal failure, we were eventually told. In practical terms, it meant that we were delayed enough that we just missed the Co-Op, which had just closed, tantalising bottles of wine visible from through the glass doors.

Blast. Well, he investigated Google Maps to find the nearest off-license.. and there was one about 10 minutes' walk away! Ironically, very near Ladbroke Grove Station, which was one before ours - so we could have got off early, and saved a walk. Hindsight is 20-20. So off we set - and I was getting a bit miffed at walking by now. Anyway, we arrived, I chose a bottle - he was still deciding, so I went to pay: and the card machine was broken. He did tell us that there was an atm just down the road, so off we headed, as Ivan didn't have any cash either. Turned out to be right beside a Sainsbury's - which was still open! We went to have a look, he decided there was a better selection, and he shopped there instead, also picking us up some food. Me, I went back to the off-licence, where I'd left my shopping on the counter.

And so off to the recording studio for the night. And as they do a special deal for 10 hours.. it was all night! So I took yesterday off work - wisely. A great time was had - the Tube home was much less problematic, and by the time I finally dragged myself home, I just had time to have a few hours' sleep before I headed out again. Grabbed a quick bite to eat in the ever-tasty and convenient Upper Crust.

Yesterday evening, I originally signed up for my first ever event with The Roads Less Travelled: Ekzotic Adventures Travel Club. Not actually travelling, mind - this was a talk about Myanmar. Specifically about the rubies you can get there, but with plenty of other information about the country as well. Took place in a room above The Iron Duke pub. Ah, but then.. (and I should have remembered this event, because I knew about it) London European Club (and the World Music Meetup) advertised a concert by a Kurdish artist (from the Turkish side) at the Finnish Church. So I booked for that instead. Tickets from Tuned In London, as usual.

The No. 47 bus got me straight there - and another very cold, but mercifully short walk took me the last stretch. On the way, I passed the Norwegian Church - gee, a real Scandinavian vibe to Rotherhithe! Obviously a legacy of its days as a port. Another little bit on - and I came across an unassuming building, with a couple of glass doors: went over to check, and sure enough, there was something written on the doors about it being a church. And Google Maps said I'd arrived. So I tried the doors - which wouldn't open! Ah, I thought - maybe this is the back door, and there's another. So I left to have a better look around the building - but before I could get to the corner, someone came running after me and shouting! Turned out to be the janitor, who doubled as the sound engineer at the concert - he showed me where I should have rung the bell! I hadn't seen that, over the side. Anyway, he swiped me in.

Everything in there seems to be in Finnish.. so I was lucky that it was easy enough to find where I was going. I entered the cafe - these things tend to be cash-only, and it's ironic that I had cash, for once! but I didn't see anything I wanted. So I searched for my ticket - the organiser was checking the tickets, but didn't even bother with mine - she knew me, of course, and had seen my name on the list. She told me where both groups were sitting - well, the World Music Meetup were up the front, but it turned out that London European Club had another attendee! who just hadn't formally RSVPed. I knew him, so I sat down the back with him.

The wall behind the altar is a fabulous centrepiece, all natural stone. The concert took place just in front of the altar - and what a fabulous voice that lady has! Operatically trained, it seems - and it shows. Her voice soared clear and high over the music.. the songs, a mixture of Kurdish, Cypriot, Turkish, etc. were lovely, but her voice was the main draw, and I could listen to it eternally. We were supposed to be out of there by 9, but ran over.. she gave a full two hours' show, and then some. It was a lovely, soothing end to my day, and I was delighted I'd made the effort. She's on a UK tour - details on her website, above.

I ended up leaving before the encore - and wouldn't you know, when I left, it was raining. Damn, that wasn't supposed to start until after midnight! And me without a hood. Google Maps said I should walk to Southwark Park to catch my bus back - but I knew the stop on the outbound journey was closed for extensive roadworks, and suspected the same of the one I had to use now. So I went down to the stop before.. had a freezing cold wait (at least it's covered).. and when I finally got the bus - yep, I'd been right, Google Maps is unaware of the stop closure at Southwark Park. You have been warned..

It ran too late to blog - I had to catch up on my soap, and I was tired anyway. Tonight, I'm back at Soho Theatre for Jen Brister's show, Under Privilege. Tomorrow, I'm back to Ireland for the weekend - where I have to sneak a look at my mother's Eir contract. She just changed to a new package, I just got her first bill for it (we've gone paperless, so it gets emailed to me as she doesn't use her email account), and I swear they've overcharged her on the monthly package price. They messed up the email address when I was ordering over the phone, so I never got the confirmation email - will have to check the paper version she got to ensure that what she got was what I agreed on in the first place. No point in asking her to check - she won't know what to look for, and she'll only get hysterical.

And assuming I survive all of that (they are AWFUL to deal with, and I thought her previous internet provider, 3, was bad!), on Monday I'm back with Up in the Cheap Seats for The Haystack at Hampstead Theatre. Another group of them went on Friday night, and I'm hearing excellent reports..