Play: Bellringers

Made it back from Ireland - eventually. Our flight back was delayed by two hours - apparently, another of their planes broke down, and our plane was diverted to rescue the stranded passengers. Hence the lateness. Sadly, two hours ain't enough to give us anything more than vouchers.. at least they told me before I'd left my mother's place, so I could do things like get my phone charged / do my blog before I left!

Tonight, I was at Bellringers, back with Up in the Cheap Seats (UITCS) at Hampstead Theatre. Got a good seat from someone in the group who couldn't use it in the end. Met someone from the group at Ye Olde Swiss Cottage for dinner beforehand - sadly, they didn't have the schnitzel, so the barman asked whether I'd like the burger alternative (Korean spicy burger). He explained that it had the same sauce - just not on the side, as with the schnitzel. I like the sauce - so I had that. It wasn't spectacular.. sadly, having the sauce integrated with the burger did mean that I had little left over for the chips, which were bland without. Ah well.. my companion had the steak, shin & ale pie, which might have been a decent alternative..

We headed over to the theatre after that, and chatted with the group before going in.

Simple and interesting set - with audience seating either side, a couple of arched frames suggest church doors, ropes suggest the presence of bells. Benches on either side provide seating for the actors, and a focus for them throughout.

As you might expect, there are a fair few flashing lights in this, suggesting lightning. The crash of thunder afterwards can be used as an indicator of the proximity of the storm - the longer the gap, the further away. (Mind you, as they came closer and close together towards the end, I was wondering when these guys were going to do anything about it..) You see, this hearkens back to a tradition / superstition that church bells calm a storm. And the content of the play is a discussion between this pair along those lines - blurring religion and superstition / folklore, they seem in absolute dread of the encroaching storm.

Nothing much really happens, plot-wise - this is more an interaction between the characters, their dialogue through the evening as we discover more about their attitudes to the topics they're discussing. Afterwards, the group was split as to what they thought about it - some like that kind of thing, some don't. Happy to say that I do. Or at least, I liked it here. I found them engaging, I liked their monks' habits.. (nice and medieval). I'm not sure they came to any profound conclusions - they did seem to go around in circles. But it's a pleasant meander. Runs till the 2nd of November, if you're interested.

Tomorrow, the same group were supposed to be at Cake: The Marie Antoinette Playlist. At The Other Palace. I booked my ticket from Todaytix. Eating beforehand at the Bag o' Nails, where I'd booked before and had to cancel, when my event was cancelled. Except.. guess what happened? The show's run has already finished.. so the event is cancelled, and I got a mail from Todaytix, with a voucher code for the amount spent, to be used for future bookings. I preferred a refund - who knows when I'd get around to using the voucher? Checking the email carefully, I saw a link to the support page to request a refund - clicked the link, went on chat, probably got a bot - but as I had all my details, the process was pretty quick, and I got my refund. Yay. Ironic that I'd only just booked it - ironic, also, that I've now booked for the Bag o' Nails exactly twice, and had to cancel both times.. gee, must be cursed!

I had some trouble finding an alternative - with nothing decent on Meetup or my cheap ticket sites for the day, I was back to Time Out! I had to scroll a long way down, though.. Giant, with John Lithgow, at the Royal Court, was sold out for the day: Shifters, at the Duke of York's Theatre, had no decent seats available for the day at a decent price (and that theatre has plenty of bad seats).. after pages and pages of scrolling through things I didn't want to do, I've finally booked for Coriolanus, starring David Oyelowo, at the National. Eating at The Archduke again. Hmm.. beef bourgignon..

On Wednesday, I finally leave on my long-anticipated trip to Romania with the 45+ Not Grumpies! (Told the mother at the weekend - predictably, it didn't go down well.) That afternoon, most of us are flying Ryanair from Stansted, to be met by an English-speaking guide and transferred to the Continental Forum Hotel, in time for an evening tour of Bucharest. (I've already downloaded the Rough Guide to Romania!) Now, just the other day, on the WhatsApp channel for the trip, our guide explained that we'd be going straight on the sightseeing tour when we arrived. Which rang a warning bell for me - when were we going to eat? So I confirmed with her that we'd be better off eating in Stansted - just as well I checked! Mind you, that leaves a long day to get hungry - I think I'll probably eat something on the flight. Anyway, she also just confirmed that the hotel restaurant would be open late enough that we should probably be able to get something there, after our tour. (Oh, and I just realised - I think I left my continental adaptors in Ireland, blast..)

On Thursday, we're heading straight off by coach to Transylvania.. walking tour of Sighisoara, where Vlad the Impaler was born! Staying in the Hotel Korona that night.

On Friday, we're off to Brasov - apparently has the narrowest street in the country. Walking tour, staying in Hotel Kolping that night.

And Saturday, we're headed to Bran - for the famous castle - and Sinaia, for Peles Castle - before heading back to Bucharest for our flights home.

Safely back - hopefully - on Sunday, I had booked with Cultureseekers for the Charlie Chaplin Guided Walk. Finishing at The Jolly Gardeners Pub. But you know - just the other day, Over 40 Living the Life advertised a trip to the Immigrant Comedy Show at the Camden Comedy Club. And I'm guaranteed to have a good time with them, which I probably wouldn't with Cultureseekers - which I hadn't yet paid for.. so I've booked for that now instead. Could technically go to both, but I couldn't be a***d. And this gives me a chance to try out the food at the Blues Kitchen Camden, which is right across the road..

And next Monday, back with UITCS, who are off to Southwark Playhouse for Foreverland - more biotechnology SciFi.. possibly less spooky than The Substance! Booked, as usual, on their excellent PAYG offer, where you pay in advance for discounted tickets to five shows, no time limit..