Comedy: Russell Howard & Play: Birthright

From yesterday - for the first time in a long time - there was to be a run of Meetup events - and specifically, Up in the Cheap Seats (UITCS)! Yesterday, I was back with them to see Russell Howard for the last night of his run at the Palladium - terrible trouble finding a decent seat in the Grand Circle, which was all that was left! And since I had three (!) online interviews scheduled for that day, some comedy would be just what I needed. 

Looking roundabouts for somewhere decent to eat, I noted that the nearby Shakespeare's Head is a Greene King pub! so I headed off there. Booked a table - which the lady at the bar knew nothing about, but she said bookings were generally for upstairs, and my name would be on the table. Yes, there is a spacious dining area upstairs - no, no names on the tables! I picked one, went down to order. She asked me for my table number, but it honestly didn't have one - it had been removed at some point! Never mind, she produced a map of the upstairs and we figured it out. She then had to disappear for five minutes to source a new bottle of sauvignon blanc for me..

I had fish and chips - figured it'd be quite light. And it was nice - albeit the fish was a bit greasy. I tell you something though, this weather has played havoc with my drinking - I was unable to have alcohol for the rest of the night! I headed over to the theatre a bit before we were due to meet - now, we were to meet in the Royal Circle, a level down from where I was, so I decided to drop my coat, at least, off at my seat first. Jeez, I can hardly manage stairs these days either - but I think that's my chest, which has been giving me trouble. Crikey, imagine picking up a chest infection in this heat! Well, I managed, and asked directions of the friendly usher standing outside the Grand Circle door - no problem, all I had to do was go halfway back down the stairs, open the door carefully - that opens straight into the Royal Circle Bar! Where I found them, conveniently positioned in front of a deliciously cold vent. I went to get a drink at the bar - orange juice.

The chat was interesting - and we went in for the support act, a Welsh fellow called Steve Williams. He was good - able to hold the crowd, certainly able for the heckler who yelled something about sheep.. My seat was on the aisle - deliberately, for the legroom - which wasn't actually that bad. I've certainly had worse..

Back to meet the others at the interval - where, this time, I just took some of the free water at the bar. Back also to that delicious air vent.. and then in for the main act. We weren't going to meet after - as the organiser explained, there are just too many exits to this theatre - and she's right.

Ah, what to say about Russell Howard? Well, first off, there was an enormous bloke sat just inside me, who begged a favour - he was 6'4'', and the legroom was killing him - could he swap with me? Really, how could I refuse? As it happened, even the aisle seat was no good, and he ended up sitting on the steps - and for whatever reason: either he wasn't enjoying the show, or was just too uncomfortable, and I sympathise: he left before the end.

Perhaps he objected to the swearing. :-) Or something else that Russell said - he attacked a lot of sacred cows. I did love the bit where he bemoaned all the new words for things - "Why not just call things by their proper names?" as he said. "Mindfulness - sitting still." Now, I had a recent conversation with someone about that - who would really have loved that joke.. He has a cheeky act, plenty of adult material - but he also does a neat line in impressions, even if only of himself, as he describes, lying on the sofa "thinking up funny things" when his wife, a doctor with, as he describes, a "proper job" gets home from a long day.. (Funny this thing about comedians marrying doctors, so has Dara O' Briain..)

There were real roll-around-laughing moments - exactly the tonic after my own long day. Way too tired to blog last night, of course.

Today, I was to be back with Laurence Summers and the 45+ Not Grumpy Old Londoners for The Long and Winding Road, a walk about, of course, The Beatles! Personal commitments, however, have meant he's postponed it. So then I booked with UITCS to It's Headed Straight Towards Us! (a comedy about a volcano), at Park Theatre. But wouldn't you know it, the performance was just lately cancelled for technical reasons! What, is there a curse on this day..? I can't make the rescheduled day the group is going, and have no idea whether I can make it for the rest of the run, so I just got a refund. Which, handily enough, they processed without me having to call them, for once.

Well, nothing much else on Meetup for that day, so I had a look at my cheap tickets sites, where there was loads. I eventually plumped for one with TAC - I headed to see an apparently long-forgotten Irish play called Birthright, at the Finborough Theatre - based on the story of Esau and Jacob, it concerns two brothers, the elder of whom is to get the family farm, the younger of whom has to emigrate. A common story in Ireland, once upon a time. Unfortunately, the younger is the more natural farmer.. this is the story of a fateful day that tears the family apart.. caused a lot of controversy among the Irish-American community at the time, it seems..

A combination of a redone film list, and an eternally unreliable #47 bus (I got a #381 in the end), meant I didn't get there in time to eat - it's a long way, you know! I stopped in Pret - which was closing, so I took my sandwich to just down from the theatre, and ate it pacing up and down. Then went straight in - I told her whom I had booked with, and she just nodded - I'm guessing, mind, that anyone arriving that early had the same story. In the end, it was quite full! I grabbed a seat in the front row.

Typical Irish kitchen of the period, really - I couldn't see it from my angle, but cooking utensils are attached to the fireplace, which would have been used as the heat source for cooking in the days before electricity. My granny had the same. Only thing is, you'd have needed a bigger fireplace - also, if you squint, you can see a teeny weeny statue of the Virgin Mary on the mantelpiece. Fair enough, and it might have been all they could source - but any household in Ireland at that time would have been mortified to have such a titchy little statue! Not to mention the lack of delph (crockery) on the dresser - I mean, that's the only place they had for storing it, and I counted four plates - one for each of the family - no serving plates of any kind! Hmm.. otherwise, pretty authentic, and some members of the audience were delighted by the set design. A singer provides background music before the start, in both Irish and English.

It's a powerful play, well-acted - and with a belligerent father, and two fine, strapping sons filling this small stage, you really feel that power. The father is definitely on the side of the younger son, the natural farmer - the elder boy is a sportsman, a scholar, and much more his mother's favourite, whom she always encouraged. I think all the actors are Irish - except perhaps one, the neighbour who visits at the beginning, to drop off the (metal!) trunk for the emigrant.. his accent seems forced. Otherwise not, and indeed, the accents seem suited to the setting of Cork.

They do a fantastic job of portraying the shifting emotions of what is quite a short play, and I found it as shocking as did anyone in the audience. You know it doesn't end well, and indeed ends quite abruptly - which would be my only criticism; I'd have liked to know what was going to happen next. However, it is shocking enough as it is - I do wonder what caused so much consternation abroad: perhaps the suggestion that the people back home would behave like that? Anyway, very interesting play, glad I caught it! Recommended - runs to the end of the month.

Tomorrow, back with UITCS for Anthropology, at Hampstead Theatre. Cheap tickets from TodayTix.

Then I'm back to Ireland for the weekend. Film-wise, I thought about The Nun II - I wouldn't mind, actually! I've watched the trailer - lots of jump scares, but it is rated higher than the original. But now that the ratings are out for it, I'm going to A Haunting in Venice, a spooky Hercule Poirot mystery, starring Kenneth Branagh. Michelle Yeoh plays the psychic conducting the séance that Poirot is asked to investigate, Jamie Dornan and Tina Fey show up too, she as an old friend of Poirot's who persuades him to take the case. I'll be shopping in Limerick, next to the Omniplex, so will see it there.

Back in London, on Monday, with UITCS again for Crazy for You, at the Gillian Lynne Theatre.

On Tuesday - well, back with Laurence and the 45+s for the "revised" Passage to Pimlico! He says he's redone it - I just hope nothing happens to clash. I certainly shan't have a new job by then, but might have an interview.. we shall see. Certainly glad to be back with them again. That evening, it's Octopolis, at Hampstead Theatre with UITCS again!

Next Wednesday, I'm with CT for a classical concert - a Chamber Recital at St. Mark's, Hamilton Terrace. Regular tickets from TicketSource.

And on the 21st, it's film - and I got enough of the film list done to come up with Phantom Parrot, a documentary about the unusual powers granted to UK Border Police. Q+A afterwards. Curzon Bloomsbury, of course - and already mostly booked out, so I booked. Funnily enough, although I'm still entitled to four free films, I couldn't see how to avail of that! so ended up just getting a discount instead. Will normally not be booking in advance, so should be less of an issue, with staff to help..