Concert: Lindberg & Beethoven

Yes, I fancied the sound of a concert with the London European Club (LEC) - although I didn't know the organiser, but did know one person attending. And well, Beethoven's Ninth.. so I booked.

Of course, I spent so long doing the last post that I made myself late! And even had I wanted to take public transport, I hadn't brought my Oyster. So I just scurried along to the Royal Festival Hall as quickly as ever I could - which wasn't that quickly, with all of those blasted sightseers in my way. Naturally, I was late - the lady at the door told me I'd have to wait outside for the duration of the first piece. So I got to watch it on the telly - listening to it was't an option, with all of the noise round about. At least I wasn't pushed about the Lindberg. And fair play to her, the minute they started to applaud she was up and guiding me in, not even looking for my ticket, just asking me whether I knew where I was sitting.

I've never seen it so packed - all the boxes were occupied, as far as I could see; there were even people in the Royal Box (I didn't recognise them). I believe there were free seats in the stalls, but not where I was. And, of course, the usual army of choristers for this piece - I counted 105.

The London Philharmonic were in fine voice - and it's a rousing piece. I was as blown away as ever, although someone remarked afterwards that he had issues with some of the performances. And with people in the audience "conducting" in time to the music. Aww, I think it's cute! Anyway, with no interval, we were out quite early - and after some dithering, hit on the Riverfront Bar at the BFI. We sat outside because of the crush inside - and despite the shelter afforded by the bridge, it was still too cold to stay for more than one! But it was good company, and a good way to spend the evening.

I hadn't anything formally booked for tomorrow - but Ken's (uniformly bad) Events are tramping along the Thames Path. Now, it's funny, but someone was recently pointing out how "some groups" book walks - in parks - and charge for the privilege. "There's money in them thar hills", as he said. So yes, I was planning to do this walk - on my own - for free: but then ShowFilmFirst rescued me by offering £1 tickets to see John Hastings. In the Phoenix Artist Club, for goodness' sake, which is right behind my office! (Pity it isn't a workday, that'd be handy.) So I booked that, because I've seen him, and he's good.

On Monday, Crick Crack storytelling is back! Gee, it feels like an age. Anyway, I'm off to see a show called Uncaged, in Soho Theatre. Whoop-de-do, I can walk there again!

On Tuesday, I'm taking myself to Half a Sixpence, just a short walk from the office again. Best value I found was with Amazon Tickets.

On Wednesday, back with London Literary Walks of course - and I'm looking forward to this one more than most - it's The Chaucer Walk, and I do love things medieval!

Thursday is a red-letter day, with the last scheduled Meetup of the Man with the Hat. Both groups (London for Less Than a Tenner standing, and Let's Do London- for less! in seats, as usual) are headed to the Globe for Romeo and Juliet. It'll be poignant.. but the production itself will be controversial, from what I hear, being - shall we say, avant-garde. As usual, I'll reserve judgement till I see for myself. Then it's back to Ireland for the weekend.

On the 15th & 16th, I'm off to Pint of Science - following a theme, given my background, I'm headed to a talk on Small Is Beautiful (quantum physics) on Monday and one on Across the Universe (cosmology, and now sold out) on Tuesday. Rock on..

On the 17th, London Literary Walks is off to Highbury. And so am I.

On the 18th, I'm booked for free comedy in Hammersmith, with Free Comedy Nights in Hammersmith Wimbledon & Greenwich, Random London, and London Live Comedy. Something, frankly, that I usually cancel, but you never know - nothing better has yet come up for this night!

On the 19th, I saw that London Social Detours (a side-shoot of Ken's Events) were charging £3 to go to the free jazz concert at the Royal Academy. So I was going to go on my own. Free. But then the LEC advertised a Norwegian Dixieland concert at Jamboree.. well, that sounded like more fun, so now I'm going to that instead.

On the 20th, I'm doing something local - a guided walk on Residents, Rascals & Riots, in Holborn. With London for a Tenner or Less.

The 21st, London Dramatic Arts (LDAM) is headed out of town. We're going all the way to Northampton, to see a couple of Shakespearian plays, one directed by one of her members. Richard II, to be precise, with Titus Andronicus to whet our appetites. No-one has signed up apart from me, but what the hey I've never been there, so it'll be interesting.

On the 22nd, I'm off to Ugly Lies the Bone, at the Lyttleton.

On the 23rd, Funzing UK is taking me to an Infinitease Burlesque Show. Probably up in Leytonstone, so if anything better comes up in the meantime, I'm up for it!

The 24th was supposed to be the Man with the Hat's last event, but he had to cancel. Instead, I discovered that the UL Alumni Association (UL is my alma mater) is holding a talk on Brexit that night - so that'll be nice.

The 25th, Crick Crack is back - at Crouch End Arthouse again, unfortunately. It's just so far! Still going, of course. Then I'm back to Ireland for the Bank Holiday weekend again - and taking the bank holiday, this time!

On the 30h, LDAM are at the Olivier to see Common. So am I.. on a cheap Travelex ticket, which I booked direct with the venue. So I'll be avoiding them, since they don't appreciate that.

On the 31st, free comedy in Hammersmith is up again (temporarily, at least), with the above groups, plus London Art Comedy & Culture Lovers (another offshoot of Ken's Events).

On 1 June, I eschewed the free comedy in Hammersmith for the Ghosts & Executions Tour, with London for a Tenner or Less - even though that guide wasn't great the last time, so I cancelled this previously, he's better than that free comedy!

Then I'm off down to Helen for the weekend - she told me about this Living History Festival, and I said yes please!

The 5th, I'm back to Soho Theatre with the Crick Crack Club, for something called The Frog Princess - Punked. Cool..


And the 6th June, I'm with the LEC, to see the Images Ballet Company at the Arts Depot.

Play: The Motherf**ker With the Hat

It was on Wednesday night that the organiser of the London Dramatic Arts Meetup group sent an email around to say that there was a last-minute return on a ticket for The Motherf**ker With the Hat for tonight, in the National. A quick check revealed that that seemed to be the best thing on among my Meetup groups tonight, and with the only other tickets available at £50, I quickly booked. Just as well - within half an hour, there were two more people on the waitlist!

The Tube journey wasn't as problematic as the last two days - well, apart from the lack of air conditioning. It was stifling. Having gratefully disembarked, I had a pleasant bridge crossing - it's ages since I've crossed here, and I missed the view. And we'd been instructed to meet in a bar beforehand - interestingly, not in the National itself, but across the road, at the Benugo bar in the BFI. I'm sure I'd seen the sign before, but never paid any attention. Anyway, we'd been provided with a very helpful map, so I knew to take the main BFI entrance, to the side of the National.

Once I'd done that, it was kind of obvious - just on the right, at the top of the steps. And there was our organiser, to lead us through the main bar, past the "Reserved" sign to the library, and even past that again to a small room at the back. Well, and I never even knew this was here! We'd reserved the small room - which actually turned out to be a bit too small for all the people that came. We had to go back out into the library to order - from a barman who looked rather frazzled - and then squashed back in; I was one of the lucky ones who got a seat in the small room. But we had a fine natter until it was time to head across the road. Oh, and I can recommend the very good value chenin blanc - a distinctly fruity flavour.

We entered the theatre by an unobtrusive door that led us practically to the very door of the auditorium. We were scattered between the front two rows - I got a fairly central seat, not in the front row with the unlimited legroom, but the legroom was fine nonetheless. These seats have no armrests, but that's not a major problem - the only significant problem I had with my seat, in fact, was the very low back, the edge of which caught me in the middle of my back, and meant I spent much of the performance hunched over - not ideal, especially for a near-two hour show without interval.

However, we had an undeniably good view. The set design was intriguing - disembodied fire escapes dangled from the ceiling, and were repositioned as necessary, as bits of scenery slid in - from the back, from the wings, and walls descending from the ceiling - to make three separate apartments, as required. The play is set in New York, with language that you might guess at from the title. And the story concerns a happy fellow, recently released from prison, who returns home to his girlfriend with the happy news that he's got a job, and his life is looking much brighter. Until he notices a man's hat - not his - tossed casually to the side..

The writing is terrific. It's sharp, it's snappy, and delivered in very NY accents that made me nostalgic for the place. The characters are vibrant, and with a plot that twists and snakes, even though there's no interval, you don't notice how long you've spent there. (Well, apart from my backache.) It's very funny - it's also engaging, the audience brought right along with the main character as he adjusts to this new reality outside prison. I loved the touch of ending the play on a song - although the fact that he plays it on a cassette, of all things, really dates it. Recommended - but you should book, especially for cheaper seats. Runs until the 20th.

Afterwards, we made our way to the Riverfront Bar, at the front of the BFI - this I've passed many's the time, but never gone in. We had a couple of couches booked at the side - took our seats, and made our way up to the scrum at the bar. I thought £10 a bit steep for a large glass of wine, until I realised it was actually a carafe, equivalent to half a bottle. The server was convinced, for some reason, that I wanted red - I had to tell her several times that I wanted white, despite having already pointed to it on the wine list! To be fair, there was a dj to the side and the noise was deafening. This also made conversation challenging, when we sat back down.. one of our group wanted to dance, but was, sadly for her, the only one! and the dance area was small anyway. A couple of people ordered food, which I should have but didn't. Good conversation was had. And as the night wore on, we who remained became smaller and smaller in number, until in the end, three final hardy campaigners scuttled off into the night. Well hey, a better showing than on Wednesday!

I am sooo looking forward to a lie-in in the morning. Tomorrow, the London International Meetup is off to Yorkshire, which would be nice - except I'd have to be in King's Cross for 7.30am. So I'd have to leave home around 6.30. Heh. Not happening. No, instead I'll head, uncomplicatedly, to the cinema. And I do believe I'll go and see Jurassic World, which I might have seen long ago, except that its IMDB rating dropped. Or yesterday, indeed, except for that last-minute ticket to the Globe! It's showing in my local Vue.. and Yplan still has an offer for the Vue. 'S all good..