I've mentioned about a billion times that I'm seeing a play a day--just about--this last week in London. And it was NOT a lie-- After the Ronnie Scott's show--not a play, but definitely a live show of some sort so I'm counting it-- I saw American Buffalo Monday night and then Romeo and Juliet at the GLOBE Tuesday!
That doesn't seem to really leave time for much else, apparently!
Monday I DID try to have a last spin around the Soho/West End area of London… I revisited the National Gallery-- Oh how I'll miss quality museums for FREE!… I walked up and down Charing Cross Road looking in all the used book stores-- and Foyles-- one last time… I went to a veggie restaurant I liked in 7 Dials/Neal St-- very near the place where I saw John Goodman, but no such luck this time (of course, I did see him in the EVENING!)… And then one more new fun coffee shop very near the theater… Then it was time for the show.
It was GREAT! Perhaps my favorite thing I've seen in London. I'm sure I can't actually make that claim-- I've seen a lot of AMAZING stuff this semester… But this one was definitely exceptional. One way I could tell-- no one coughing through the dramatic stuff. I don't know why, but London is the most cough-ridden city in the world. During yesterday's Romeo and Juliet, for example, someone or another coughed pretty much the ENTIRE time. I am exaggerating only a little here… It's like they were a tag team or a relay of coughing. Loud, obnoxious, almost making it difficult to hear coughers. I have been wondering this whole time how the performers deal with that… Does it disturb their concentration? I mean, I guess it can't-- the show must go on and all that! And there was one embarrassing time when *I* was the cougher-- during the Ralph Fiennes Man and Superman-- this was when I had one of my three colds while I was here (before I started taking vitamins religiously). I felt terrible, and I didn't cough much-- I had brought cough drops and water and anything I could think of… But I was awfully sick and DETERMINED not to miss the show. So I try to tell myself that these other coughers mean it as little as I did then. And of course, a tourist isn't going to miss R&J at the GLOBE just because of a little cold!
OK--so back to the coughing test for American Buffalo… It's a sort-of heist movie-cum-play… (Already I make it sound fascinating, don't I?) And in these really tense silent parts where we're waiting for violence or SOMETHING, there was COMPLETE SILENCE… no coughing in the entire theater. No shifting in seats, or sneezing, or a phone going off… It was perhaps the only time that has occurred in all of my viewing of shows. Usually silence is a very relative term. Even Man and Superman didn't have that level of dead (word chosen purposely) silence. Of course, M&S was a comedy… of a sort!
By the way, I was there for the press night… so there were celebrities there, too. NOT that I saw them, but Sienna Miller is apparently dating one of the cast, and Kit Harrington (Game of Thrones) was also there… But again, I didn't see these people! I've been trolling the reviews since… as I thought the show was GREAT, and wondered therefore if the critics would hate it. That seems to be the case this semester… The Guardian gave it four stars, but the Timeout review just gave it three… though said that the cast was awesome and you won't be disappointed… Anyway, it'll make all the money--as it has such big name people in it… And I thought the dialogue was fabulous-- like something Quentin Tarantino would write…
OK--then I wandered home… and didn't pack… but DID do some late night laundry. Some people just know how to live!!
Tuesday, I started freaking out about all the stuff I have to do still… And made an effort to get some errands run before heading off to the matinee of R&J. I only made it to one, though. I got the things I ABSOLUTELY needed to have printed taken care of at CAPA… My ticket for Disney, for example (SQUEE!)… I won't have access to a printer until I'm back in Rolla from this point out-- which is kind of a long time… SO, for another example, I printed up the paper I'm going to give at my Boston Conference over Memorial Weekend. Which, clearly, meant I had to WRITE this paper-- Sheesh!! So after all that-- and the inevitable hanging out at the front desk and chatting with the staff-- who I will miss and are really lovely people-- I was WAY too late to do any other errands! I seriously had time just to run home, drop off/pick up my stuff, grab a bite of lunch, and head out to the theater for R&J… I actually thought about just not going for a second, errand-guilt-wise…
But of course I went, and of course I was glad to go. It was lovely. My only Shakespeare play of the semester (I have seen five, it turns out) where I could actually mouth the words along with the actors… This isn't entirely true-- Merchant of Venice has a couple famous monologues, of course. And there were a few lines in the Henry IVs… And of course the witches in Macbeth… OK, but you know what I mean. We all know R&J like Beatles lyrics… It's just THAT famous-- and it was definitely the most famous Shakespeare play I saw.
And of course it was a new version/set. Everyone was in old-fashioned clothes, but also tatted up like hipsters. Juliet with huge tats on her arm, leg, and chest that peeped up through her demure white dress… It was an interesting choice. And the guy who played Romeo was just so-so… But the actor who played Paris/Tybalt/servant/Mr Montague was FABULOUS!! I should look up his name. :) It was a lean cast and they all played several parts except Romeo/Juliet… And I think the better actors had more than just the one part… Like, they thought poor Romeo couldn't handle it or something. Of course, the main two are in so many more scenes they really couldn't change costumes… But still, I think I enjoyed watching how the guy who played the Prince/Mercutio/the Apothacary would change from one to another just by taking off a coat or putting on a hat or something-- and do it so effectively! Also, Romeo wasn't as cute as the Paris/Tybalt… etc guy!!! (Overheard in the audience-- He's quite fit! I love British slang! And they weren't wrong…)
So that was a great success… Even through all the coughing and pigeons flying overhead (they were actually entertaining in their deciding where/when to perch) and a helicopter that circled overhead for about 10 minutes… that was loud and distracting! Ah, live open-air theater!! Like I said, though, a total success!!
And then I was off to have dinner--after a quick detour to a chocolaterie (sp?) for a lovely decadent cup of hot chocolate. Yum!!! This is where I got Wifi for the first time all afternoon… SO there was a bit of a back up to sort through… And one of them was from Monica-- in a frantic email explaining how we'll still be friends if I say no, and all that scary lead up, and then asking if I could take or knew of someone who could take a cat of her mother's who needs a new home? Long and in some ways quite sad story… but in the long and short of it, I said yes, of course, before I even really thought about it! I have two cats, I can quite easily have one more… BUT NO MORE!! That is the line in the sand for crazy cat lady status among single women living alone… I cite Shanna here. But Missy might get a new friend out of this-- and Oz might get more alone time with me… This would be the best situation to come out of all this on my end. And if they only tolerate each other and take turns on my lap-- that wouldn't be much different than what is the case already… SO really, I can definitely take Coco. And then Monica and her mum will know that Coco is well loved and cared for… THEIR best result… Her pic will be included in this blog, of course!
After that little adventure, I went to dinner-- we met up at 6:30-- and I wasn't home until after 11!! How does this keep surprising me?! These were a couple of people I met at the conference in Lancaster, and who were all in London for a bit longer… We were from the US, South Africa, and Finland (though she is living in London now…). It was a lot of fun! And we were boisterous "ugly American tourists" at the restaurant-- as we kept cackling loudly!
It was fun--and a fun way to wrap up my London stay-- BUT it meant that I didn't get home in time to pack, then make a planned Google Hangouts date with the fam… in order to get said packed suitcase to a friend's place to keep it while I'm on the Grand Tour for the next few weeks. AND I had to talk with several people about new kitty developments… SO, last night I sent a frantic email to Mary asking if I could drop the bag off tomorrow instead. I woke up to her response saying-- sure-- so WHEW! Today's unbelievably boring plan, then, is to clean, pack, and finish up errands before my final play of the season-- Everyman with Chiwetel Ejiofor at the National… And then I leave tomorrow!
(Also, I lie-- I am getting a ticket to see Peter Pan in the Open Air theater at Regents Park that extra night I'm in London--the 19th-- before I fly back to the States… I absolutely LOVE how literary and play-ish my little area is. Eliot wrote his poems about the cats who lived in his Kensington neighborhood--now MY Kensington neighborhood! And Barrie wrote Peter Pan about Kensington Gardens-- MY Kensington Gardens! Kensington is definitely NOT my favorite part of London-- I'm not a middle-aged upper-class housewife-- BUT I love its literary history! AND I'll have seen productions of both of these works!!)
OK-- now I'm off to do errands!
