Film: The Cellar, Dinners in Marylebone and Greenwich, The Second Chaucer Walk, & Play: The Idiot
Right! Firstly, I forgot to mention the film I saw on tv over the weekend - which, as I watched, I remembered I'd seen before. But I didn't remember a thing about it in advance, and it certainly merited a re-watch. The Cellar, a Shudder co-production, is an Irish horror film, released a few years ago now, about a woman whose daughter goes missing after they move into a big old remote house, and who is very suspicious about strange things related to the house - particularly centred on the cellar, of course.
Now, its rating isn't great, and true, the first part of the film is woefully amateurish, from a horror perspective - jump scares, predictable.. BUT. It's based on a rather excellent short film on YouTube, called The Ten Steps, written and directed by the same writer/director of the longer film, Brendan Muldowney. The premise is fantastically simple - a young girl, terrified of the cellar, is forced to face her fear when the power goes when her parents are out, and she has to check the fusebox in the cellar. Unfortunately, the stairs down prove longer than expected..
It isn't the only time a terrific short horror film on YouTube has failed to translate successfully to long form - consider Lights Out, for instance! And it's a real shame - because The Cellar has a fantastic premise. Not only do they have the devil in the cellar - not really a spoiler, what did you think was down there - but the logical continuation of the short story is excellent, and the ending, as with the short film, is quietly chilling. A film of two halves, you could call it - what a tragedy that the first half lets it down so badly. Really worth sticking with to the end, though.. most original. Which tends to be what I look for in horror, and tends to be difficult to find. They just failed to make the first half original, to match..
And so back to London - and while I was delighted with a dip in temperatures, as I thought to myself, I could have done with the change in weather being a little less severe on Monday. Firstly, speaking to others later, I wasn't the only one whose weather app predicted the rain - really heavy showers - would dry off by evening. I was practically on my way out the door when a downpour started, and I figured I'd better amend my outfit.
I was back with Up in the Cheap Seats for Noughts & Crosses, at Regent's Park Open-Air Theatre - booked to eat in Cote Marylebone beforehand. I arrived a little late, what with my outfit change, and the server was rather indifferent to me, but got to me eventually. She offered me a choice of table - the one I chose was lacking a knife, as I pointed out to her - she forgot for ages, then just plucked one from the nearest empty table. I ordered, and while I was waiting for it to arrive, suddenly needed to go to the loo, which was just down the adjacent stairs. Oh lord, what a disgusting toilet.. just past the kitchens, toilet paper strewn all over, on the floor, in the toilets.. I took the least messy one, and at least when I came back up, my wine arrived shortly after.
The food was as excellent as I would expect, from this chain - and it arrived quickly. The only thing, apart from the toilet, that I had a quibble about was the waiter at my table, who never really seemed interested. I'd hesitate to return, which, as I say, given the excellent food, is a pity. What with waiting for the bill, I was a bit late to meet the others - and wouldn't you know it, as I left the restaurant, it was into a torrential downpour. Nice, for my walk to the theatre. I got there in time to see the others leave to take their seats - and neither was it appreciated that there was nobody to tell me where to enter, I just had to make my way to the area they vaguely indicated once inside.
I had to wipe the water from my seat before I sat down - and the whole time I was sitting there, umbrellas were going up, dripping on me, going down again.. the stage manager kept saying encouraging things about the rain being due to stop. They even duly came out to clear the water from the stage! ..and just as they'd finished clearing the upper level - down it came again. Still, it took them nearly an hour of us being rained on - not their concern, obviously - for them to decide to cancel. I met the others on the way out. No refunds for weather-related cancellations, you know - exchanges only. And given that it's over two years since I was last here, it'll likely be a while again.. of course, it was too late, by now, to consider going anywhere else, so I just stayed home for the rest of the evening.
Throughout the week, of course, with such a backlog in the blog and so much else to do, it's been impossible to catch up with the blog until now. On Tuesday, I was delighted to see that Over 40 Living the Life was advertising another dinner at Greenwich Yacht Club! Slotted perfectly into an evening when I didn't fancy going to the cinema. And wow, it's months since I was last there! Tube, of course - and as a compromise, to avoid too much walking but also too much bussing, I took one leg of the journey by bus on each end. And even on a not-too-hot day, the Tube was boiling.
The club seem to have become a lot more careful about who's hanging around - I was challenged a number of times as to what I was doing there. But as usual, the food was great value - I liked the look of the beef, so had that. And the chat was good, our organiser splitting her attention between us and club members. The view, as ever, was memorable:
As we were leaving, our organiser showed us a work in progress:
Always a good night there.
On Wednesday, I was back with London Literary Walks, for The Second Chaucer Walk. Now, we were meeting in the Bunch of Grapes, but when I tried to book a table there for dinner, I couldn't get anything past 4pm! So I booked in The George, which is much larger - and since they advertise an upstairs dining room, I booked that. Walking distance from me, lovely!
You can actually eat on the balcony, which, to be fair, looks a bit precarious - I went inside, where I could have my pick; it was completely empty. So I took a table at the back.
It's a Greene King pub, so the steak and ale pie is to be recommended, and that's what I had - with a second glass of wine queued to follow the first because, as I told the chirpy Cockney lady serving, I knew I'd want one. And ooh, rarely has a meal gone down so well - their award-winning sauce is made with merlot, and as I told her as I paid afterwards, it hit the spot perfectly. I had a couple of scoops of ice cream to follow - she threw in an extra for free. Would happily be back!
And so to the Bunch of Grapes, where the pavement outside was thronged, but our guide had already found a table, and we hung out for half an hour or so while half a dozen or so of the group gathered. Many different nationalities, as we observed. And once on our way, it didn't take us long to find noteworthy sights:
We stopped at the site of the White Hart Inn, scene of the start of Jack Cade's rebellion, precursor to the Wars of the Roses:
We popped in to see where I had dinner - The George does happen to be the last surviving coaching inn, such as Chaucer's pilgrims would have stayed in, in The Canterbury Tales:
Observe the diners on the terrace, as mentioned earlier:
And so, we followed Chaucer's steps to the site of the famous Tabard:
In the spirit of wayfaring, we stopped outside St. Christopher's Inn, where not only a meal may be had, but also a bed:
And we took ourselves to Crossbones Graveyard, where poor women were buried:
And we saw the street commemorating a nanny who died saving her young charges from a fire. She's also commemorated by a plaque in Postman's Park:
Curiously, we noticed cranes on this street:
And as always in this area, memorials to people who worked with the poor:
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..and the Red Cross Garden:
Founded by Octavia Hill, who is commemorated elsewhere too:
Social housing of the day:
And after another interesting walk - I love this area - I could walk home again. Passing a group of rollerbladers en route:
After three days of Meetup, it ran out of things I wanted to do for yesterday - so I came to TAC, who were selling tickets for The Idiot, by Dostoyevsky, and decided that was the most interesting-sounding thing. It was showing in the Embassy Theatre, which I'd never been to before, but discovered it's part of the Central School of Speech and Drama, which turns out to be near Swiss Cottage. Unfortunately, I was heading from the office, and couldn't get there in time to eat properly - even if I had wanted to take the Tube for expediency, it was out of order after a signal failure.
Buses it was, and I wasn't even in time for the direct one, so I had to change. The first was rammed - mercifully, the second much less so: I even found myself sitting next to a chihuahua! When I arrived, I headed straight for KFC. Ordered at one of the kiosks - you'd be amazed how many customers I saw who didn't know how to do that - it was ready swiftly, and wow, was it gorgeous (if a little salty). No flavour any more in the coating though - I guess that's a thing of the past. But the chicken was succulent - I'd ordered extra chicken, and was well fed indeed.
Searching for the theatre was fun - Google Maps, as so often, took me completely around the wrong side! The alleyway they tell you to go down isn't open to the public, is blocked by a fence, and comes around the back entrance anyway - if there even is one. Thinking about it logically, I figured, since the address is on Eton Avenue, why not head around to that side?! And sure enough, there was a large, public entrance, well-lit, people hanging around. I joined the crowd in the lobby - it wasn't open yet. I asked for the box office, which I'd been told to go to, and was directed to reception, where someone checked for my name on the list on his tablet and reassured me that it was there, and there wouldn't be a problem. Not fancying anything in the cafe, I just queued - and indeed, there was no problem.
Seating was unassigned, so I chose a seat on the entrance level, for ease of access, and at the end of the row, to have more space for my laptop bag. Wouldn't you know it, I spotted two of Monday's group sitting more centrally, in the row in front of mine, and popped over to say hi at the interval - as one remarked, this was certainly a better experience, not being stuck in the rain all evening!
These plays are apparently staged by final-year students at the college - the standard was fantastic! A few played multiple roles, and I think I'd have to mention especially the "narrator", the first we see, who commentates or plays accompanying music throughout, cavorts about the theatre, and takes the part of a louche Moscow gentleman in a couple of scenes. Character names aren't given in the programme, but he's enthusiastically played by, I think, Amy King. Also noteworthy are the femme fatale, played by, I think, Aliya Silverstone, (I'm open to correction), and her faithful follower, madly in love with her, played by - I think - Federico Girelli.
The costumes are, appropriately, late 19th century, and some are gorgeous. The whole is enthusiastically undertaken, the acting is excellent - and wow, it's a cracking yarn, with a good deal of humour! Excellent choice for a public performance, I have to say. The title character is actually the one truly good, uncomplicated, altruistic character, and the play examines the effect of his insertion into corrupt upper-class Russian society - both on himself, and on the people around him. Disruptive, to say the least. I had a helluva time, and came away greatly entertained. Talking to one of the other two afterwards, he apparently has known about this place for quite a while - it's right across from Hampstead Theatre - but no, I never noticed it! As I remarked though, I was bound to come across it eventually.. This runs till tomorrow, and comes highly recommended.
Wow, the blog is now up to date at last! Tonight, I'm back with London Social & Cultural Meetups, who are having a wander around the National Portrait Gallery. As to eating, we'll just see what I have time for - we'll be socialising afterwards anyway, as usual.
Tomorrow, my monthly ex-colleagues' meeting, now regularly at The Phoenix - looks like only James can make it this time, though! Ivan is busy, Martin hasn't got back to me, and this was the only weekend James could make. So..
On Sunday, I might actually get to meet London Museums A-Z at last - they're off to Sutton Hoo on the 16th (a trip I can't make - more on that later), and prior to that, are visiting the Sutton Hoo gallery in the British Museum. Social afterwards in Penderel's Oak - and those who are interested, as they say, can head off to another pub after that again, to watch the Women's football final. I'm not, myself. Anyway, they have an event WhatsApp group, which I've requested to join.
On Monday, thinking of a film - and what's coming up is Dying (!). A German comedy drama about elderly parents and their stressed, middle-aged children, it does look good - showing at the Garden Cinema. An early start, so I'll have to skive off early..
On Tuesday, back with TAC for a classical concert at the 1901 Arts Club.
On Wednesday, finally got a ticket for Till the Stars Come Down, at the Theatre Royal Haymarket - used a voucher, and got a cheap ticket on Seatplan - not to mention a valuable review of the seat. Glad to see the vouchers are now instantly available, too!
On Thursday, thinking of film again - and that would be Under the Flags, the Sun, a documentary about the Paraguayan dictatorship. Showing, of course, in the Curzon Bloomsbury.
And next Friday - well, I just couldn't resist going to Bring Her Back with The Hideout. From the makers of the notable recent horror, Talk to Me, this is a must-see, focusing more on those who are left to grieve, apparently. Venue and time not even confirmed yet, although it'll doubtless be around Leicester Square, but I've signed up, because I know I want to go with them. Even though the London Horror Film Group is actually going to the same film on Sunday, I'd rather wait.. :-)
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