Play: Juno & the Paycock

Tonight, back in London, I was with Up in the Cheap Seats (UITCS) again - for Juno and the Paycock, by Sean O' Casey, showing in the Gielgud. Stars Mark Rylance as the "paycock" (peacock, his wife - Juno's - nickname for him). Funnily enough, I'd never seen this - booked to eat beforehand in the nearby Bella Italia, yum!

I arrived in good time - to find myself squishing into the restaurant behind another group of three. It turned out they didn't have a booking - and were summarily dismissed, as was everyone without a booking for the next half hour or so! Well, being right in the heart of Theatreland, of course most patrons were probably headed to a show. Like me. I was 10 minutes early for my booking - she asked me to hang on while she cleared a table, which I was happy to do. Only two of them serving, but then, you could hardly fit any more - and as usual here, they moved like greased lightning.

I had my usual - she apologised for the delay in taking my order, but as I say, I was early, so wasn't worried. In fact, I realised I could take the opportunity to catch up on the soap I follow! Got a whole episode watched, partly while waiting to be served, partly while eating. My usual consists of a lot of food you can douse in their lovely, runny garlic butter.. no vampires will be bothering me tonight! And it was all delicious. I noticed, by 6.15, they were starting to take walk-ins - and by the time I finished, around 7, the place was really emptying out! "Thank God," as one of them remarked.. poor things, they work like Trojans, but it really is manic here.. and this was a Monday..

And so, a minute's walk to the theatre. We were to meet in the Dress Circle Bar, because it's bigger - handily, most of us had got upgrades to the Dress Circle anyway! (Those who hadn't just sneaked in to empty seats there.) We checked beforehand, and it seems it would have cost us three times what I paid.. happy days! Love upgrades. Lordy, it's ages since I was last here - and it is lovely:

So we had a nice chat there, then headed in. I have to give them credit for being so conscientious about providing handrails. I mean, I've never seen anyone be so thorough:

One wherever you need it, eh! I was delighted with my seat - to the side, nonetheless I lost none of the action; the handrail didn't obstruct my view to any major extent, and if I did need to lean, there was no-one behind me to be disturbed! Not to mention, I was on the aisle, so if legroom had been a problem - which it wasn't - I had that advantage! No wonder the seat would've cost £60..

Now, if you look really carefully, you can see a small, silver crucifix hanging in the centre of the view - that stays there after the curtain is lifted, and for the entire performance. How appropriate for a play set, and originally performed, in the Ireland of the 1920s - in fact, its first performance was 100 years ago this year. I wonder whether that had anything to do with the decision to stage it..

O' Casey is known for writing about the working class people of Dublin - and sure enough, in this we meet a working-class family: the father, a former sailor with lots of tall tales, spends his days drinking and avoiding anything that has the reek of work about it; the mother does her best to make ends meet. They have two grown-up children - a son, Johnny, badly wounded during the War of Independence and unable to work, and a daughter, Mary, who is on strike..

O' Casey was a member of the working class himself - he suffered from poor eyesight, but taught himself to read by 13, leaving school at 14; the father of the family had died, so his income would have been necessary. He's not known for pulling his punches - and wow, this play lines up some sacred cows for the firing squad! The war, religion, the treatment of women.. the Boyles, the family at the centre of the story, get punched from all sides. The first half is amusing enough - particularly with an inheritance coming through just at the end, which seems to indicate their problems might all be over.. But caveat, it all comes crashing down in the second half. Everything.

Mark Rylance, as usual, does a marvellous job of playing a drunkard. It sounded as though the cast were mostly authentic Dubliners - certainly, most are Irish, I discovered on checking. A couple are also known as professional singers - indeed, Mark Rylance himself can hold a tune well, we discovered! And while the darker tone developed toward the latter half of the play mightn't have sat well with all our group tonight - I thought it was a masterful gut-punch to 1920s Ireland. Give O' Casey that, he told it like it was.

Runs till the 23rd of next month. Highly recommended by me - with caveats.

Tomorrow, film - and now that I finally have the week's film list done, and have eliminated what I don't like from the top of it - I'm headed to The Teacher. Based on a true story, it's about a Palestinian teacher who begins a relationship with a UN worker stationed there. Closest showing to me is in The Garden Cinema - and late enough that I should be able to make it! Lovely not to have to rush.

On Wednesday, I'm back with UITCS for A Face in the Crowd, about what happens when someone is plucked from obscurity to become famous. A warning about the dangers of idolisation of celebrities. Showing in the Young Vic - so I've booked the nearby Bar + Block, yum yum! And someone from the group will be joining me. Now, I did try to amend the booking - not a hope! Reserve with Google won't even display my booking! I have the support team working on it - apparently. Anyway, I can't see it being a problem to add just one person to a table for one.. and ideally, bump the reservation forward by 15 minutes - it's never been busy when I arrive, despite them requiring a booking.

And on Thursday, it's looking like film again - I'm thinking of My Favourite Cake, a comedy from Iran (and I love Iranian film) about an old lady who never found love, but has an altercation with the religious police when they stop a young lady for having hair showing under her scarf. In the course of this, the old lady meets a taxi driver - invites him home, and they have an evening to remember.. Closest showing to me is in the Curzon Bloomsbury - the booking system is down again, as usual, but hopefully I shouldn't have a problem getting in.