Play: How to Fight Loneliness

This evening, back with Up in the Cheap Seats for How to Fight Loneliness, showing in the Park Theatre. My companion from the Swiss trip came too, and pre-ordered a bottle of wine, for us to share.

Tube, it was.. and oh, what a nightmare at that time of the evening. The Jubilee Line - mercifully having recovered from its delay of earlier in the day - was so packed, I had to wait for the second train, and it was a really uncomfortable ride. The Victoria Line, in contrast, was a lot emptier (at least at the ends), and I even got a seat after a couple of stops! Disgorging with relief, I was a few minutes before my companion was supposed to arrive at the theatre, so grabbed a sandwich from the adjacent M&S - once I could find it; really, you'd think they'd put them in front of the door.. Basic ham, bland as cardboard. I was about finished when she messaged to say she was there, wine in hand.

I headed up there, to find her in the lobby - which made more sense, frankly, than where the group was supposed to meet, upstairs, given that our theatre was downstairs! To be fair, it's often been busier there - it was pretty dead tonight for a long time. As others joined us, a couple had pizza - I can't eat a whole one, so just don't bother. And that was where the group ended up congregating.. it's a comfy space, so why not?

We were scattered around the theatre - I had a cosy corner:

Now, the stage double-jobs - in the first act, it represents this couple's sitting room. Very desert-y, but that's because the first part of the second act does actually move into the desert, so we can forgive them that. The bit right in front of me is used as a "sofa" when the stage represents a living room - and frankly, it was very tempting to poke the actors on the bum, as they were sitting right by me..

A young couple come on - she's walking stiffly, and with difficulty, and obviously ill. And they're waiting for someone who's going to help her with her problem. Somehow. Not initially specified how. And I have to say, while they're waiting, they have the most inane, pointless, circular conversation, so woke, so careful not to offend, that they might as well not have had it. Seriously, are they expecting us to believe that a couple who've been married a while, as they are supposed to have been, are watching their language like that..?

Really, I'd have left at the interval - except then the third character arrives, the guy they've been waiting for, and phew, he's a straight talker. He gives the play some life! I stayed - as did most of the group - purely to see what was going to happen in the second act! Sadly, despite a tour de force by the sick woman, it's a bit anticlimactic - frankly, I thought it was a bit ho-hum, actively disliked the husband, and was sorry I came. For all the questions it raises, it answers none. Runs until Saturday - don't bother, I'd say.

Afterwards, it finishing earlier than anticipated, my wine companion and I headed to the nearby Palmyra's Kitchen - which, it's good to know, seems to stay open till 2am! Where I had lamb shawarma, she had aubergine stew, and we shared another bottle of wine - Lebanese, this time, and.. different.. it was delicious, and what with the music, we were transported. Very glad she suggested it. And hey, the Tube was quieter on the way back..

The next two days, thinking film - for tomorrow, it's looking like Exhibition on Screen: Michelangelo - Love and Death. Which is showing in the Curzon Bloomsbury.

On Wednesday, The Garden Cinema is showing what looks like a quirky French offering, called The Marching Band.

And on Thursday, heading with TAC for the first time in an age, to Blithe Spirit, by Noel Coward, in The Courtyard. Eating beforehand in Schnitzel Heaven - where I might try something other than the katsu, for once!