Play: Stereophonic

These two days, I'm with Up in the Cheap Seats (UITCS) - tonight for Stereophonic, in the Duke of York's Theatre. Supposed to be the most Tony-nominated play of all time, this is set around the music industry. Got a cheaper ticket with CT. I booked to eat in Cote St. Martin's Lane beforehand.

Left work early - was ahead of myself for once. Arrived at the restaurant early, but not too much.. got the last seat by the window - apparently a desirable spot, although I have no idea why, having had no desire to look out the window myself.. had calamari to start, lovely. Had the steak frites for main - as, funnily enough, did almost everyone around me! Well, it's cheap, it's quick, it's not that heavy.. and it was very good. Wine, and ice cream for dessert, and I hopped across the road to the theatre, ran to the loo, and joined the others in the Upper Circle Bar. Where we chatted until it was time to go in.

Lovely seat - part of the left of the stage obscured, but nothing really happened there anyway. Plenty of legroom, being at the top of a short flight of stairs, a little space at the side to leave things in - great! And at nearly half the original price with CT, which was appreciated.

It's a great pity I couldn't say the same for the play. I went in prepared to like it.. was in a good mood, well fed, wine in hand. And.. rarely have I paid so much to be so bored. Having read a review subsequently, I see they were headed somewhere - but they took so long about it, anyone on a TV show would have changed channels a long time before I left. Dull as dishwater, all the characters talking about inconsequentialities, it was worse than a soap opera. Very little music, only snatches - for a group in a studio, they spent very little time thinking about the music, more talking about drugs - or alcohol - or whatever they were spending their time on.

Ivan has always wanted me in his band - if they're anything like this, I'm glad I haven't agreed! When I felt like going to the loo, 35 minutes in, I decided to take my coat with me - when I returned, the usher waited with me for an appropriate re-entry point: but listening to the same inane chatter through the door, I put my coat on and bade him farewell. Glad to have my evening back, frankly. And in future, I'm going to be very, very wary of anything that's popular in America - this isn't the first time I've been burned.

Tomorrow, heading with the group to the National Theatre for London Road. Eating at The Archduke - and hoping for better service than last time! A couple more are joining me there.

Wednesday sees me back, at last, for storytelling at Torriano! Hosted, as ever, by Nell Phoenix, this one is The Shahnameh - Persian.

And on Thursday, back with UITCS, again at Sadler's Wells, for Matthew Bourne's The Midnight Bell. Love Matthew Bourne! Tried to book at The Wilmington as usual, but couldn't get a booking, except for drinks.. until I checked again, and two timeslots had opened up! So I've booked at last. Then I'm back to Ireland - for the last time this month - for my mother's Month's Mind. Now, I only just booked my flights - quite last minute - and while the return flight was quite expensive, I was pleasantly surprised at the low cost of the outbound one! Can it really be because it's on Friday the 13th..?! ;-)