Play: Second Best

Tonight, I booked with the 45+ Not Grumpies for Paul's February Pub Crawl. We were to start at the Lion & Unicorn in Waterloo Station, where we'd also eat, then head - well, towards home for me, finishing at London Bridge! Very convenient.

And then it wasn't. You see, as I was thinking of leaving, I thought I'd just double-check the details - time, location, that sort of thing. And it's a good thing I did.. because the event was no longer listed on my Meetup home page as "the next event I was attending".. Curious as to what had happened, I logged onto the group page - to find that it was no longer listed for today at all, not even as cancelled!

Confused now, I thought to check at the above event link - thank goodness for me having included it in my posts - and, as you'll find if you do, it turned out that the damn event had been rescheduled to April, without a by or leave! (And renamed "Paul's April Pub Crawl".) I guess he was trying to wait until the weather warmed up a bit, thinking he might get more takers - which seems to have worked, as he already has one more. Jeez though, he could have told me - I had no notification, and might very well have rocked up to the pub tonight, ordered a bite to eat, and had that as my evening, as no-one would have joined me..! I'm still signed up to the rescheduled event - I'll see what suits, closer to the time.

Happily, I had actually been checking today's other events, earlier - and so it didn't take me very long to settle on Up in the Cheap Seats again, who were off to see Second Best (ironically!) in Riverside Studios. I just had time to hop on the Tube (Jubilee Line packed, District Line a little less so, and I got a seat at Victoria), grab a bite in Wasabi - as usual out there, with their moreish chicken katsu curry and free WiFi from one or other of their neighbours - head down, and run to the loo, and joined the organiser in the bar area. There were only three of us in the end - the third arrived a bit later, due to Tube problems. I could sympathise - there'd been a malfunctioning train ahead of us on the District Line too, and we crawled along..

This was in Studio 2, where I'm not actually sure I've been before! Quite large, it is - I'd got one of the last two cheapest tickets (£30) and was towards the back:


It's a boxy stage - a one-man production, and we did wonder what a bed was doing, suspended towards the top of the wall on the left! Never fear, it is used.. and as we discussed afterwards, for those of us nervous of heights, it's unnerving to see someone sitting on the edge of that..

I'd only skimmed the plot, and even re-reading it and noting the mention of Harry Potter, I wouldn't have expected such an emphasis on him! Much of the play, you see, concerns the fact that the author narrowly lost out when they were casting him, and ever since, has had something of a phobia about him - even as his own life took on shades of Harry Potter's. The crux of the story is that he's been reminded of all that, now that he's on the verge of becoming a father for the first time..

I really enjoyed it - and the Harry Potter stuff is often hilarious. I think the actor does a marvellous job of personifying his character, in a play that is frequently moving. Another without an interval, which does help immerse us in the story. Unsurprisingly, he got a standing ovation. Runs till the first of next month - recommended. And it was lovely to see the others in the group, at such short notice! 

Tomorrow, third in what is now a run of five Meetups, I'm with a new group, 45+ Solos Socializer, for a comedy night at Candlemaker Smok'd, which is a pub with a BBQ menu. Anyway, they do comedy too on Thursdays, Saturdays, & Sundays, and are offering 30% off bookings for both comedy and food until the 16th. Apparently, the organiser has booked a table for us all.

On Friday, I've decided to accompany London Social & Cultural Meetups, who are meeting in a "secret location"! A hotel bar, where we can hopefully get food, as well as the advertised social drinks, considering we're meeting quite early!

Saturday, the last of this run of Meetups, is also the start of a run of four days of film.. First, Movie Roadhouse London (MRL) is off to The Seed of the Sacred Fig, a thriller, shot in secret in Iran. I do love Iranian film, and this looks fantastic..

Later in the evening, their sister group, The Hideout, is seeing Bring Them Down, a thriller of a different sort, involving bad blood in a rural Irish farming community. Starring Barry Keoghan (originally supposed to be Paul Mescal, I believe) and Colm Meaney, it promises to descend into Peckinpah-esque violence at the end.. topical, considering the number of rural Irish disagreements that have come to a violent conclusion in recent years! Anyway, both showing in the Curzon Soho.. so I said, why not? Years since I was there. Must eat beforehand..

On Sunday, I'm seeing a film under my own steam - A World Not Ours is a documentary that promises a different take on the Ein El-Hilweh refugee camp in Southern Lebanon. Showing in another Curzon - Curzon Bloomsbury, this time.

The next two days, back with MRL! in Picturehouse Central, this time. On Monday - well, they're seeing The Last Showgirl, starring Pamela Anderson as an ageing showgirl whose long-running Vegas show is about to close. I just couldn't resist, the shots of the Strip in the trailer made me so nostalgic!

And on Tuesday, they're seeing September 5 - a tense thriller about the terrorist attack on the Munich Olympics. The trailer looks terrific - really tense - and it apparently includes some original footage.

Next Wednesday, a break from Meetup and from films - I'm back with Storytelling at Torriano Avenue! This one is "Queens of Albion"..

On the 13th - yes, back to film, this time on my own again - I'm thinking of Certified Copy, a nice pre-Valentine's Day romance, with Juliette Binoche showing an English author around Tuscany. Showing in the Prince Charles, one day only - and I'm planning to eat in my fave Bella Italia (Cranbourn Street) afterwards. Then I'm back to Ireland for the weekend.

And on the 17th, back with CT for a jazz & tap night at Piano Smithfield..

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