Film: Islands & Play: Entertaining Mr. Sloane

Last night, back with Movie Roadhouse London at The Garden Cinema (complete with member's discount) for a mystery called Islands, set in the Canaries. We were eating in Caravan beforehand - had never heard of it, but as the organiser is how I found out about the Toulouse Lautrec, I was happy to give it a shot!

I was in the office yesterday. Have no idea what's happened to the traffic - it was terrible as I got the bus in in the morning! I wasn't that much later, in the end - but I was glad that the evening's destination was a short walk from the office, no bus required. And I made it just about the time we'd agreed - he was there with one other. Unsure whether anyone else would be joining, we ordered - in the event, two more arrived, one having just a main (lamb) and dessert, the other just dessert (both tiramisu - in fact, three portions of it were ordered).

They'd also asked whether we wanted everything as it came - which meant we got our mains before our starters, those of us who had them - two of us had the ham croquettes, which were gorgeous, although I didn't care for the dip. The vegan member of our party was well served, although she had forgotten to ask for her dish not to be spicy, and it was a bit much for her. The lamb looked gorgeous, I have to say. Two of us had chicken, with a portion of fries, charged as extra. The fries were lovely - the chicken was succulent, but I would have liked a bit more flavour - perhaps that's what the coleslaw served with it was for. Unfortunately, although I like coleslaw, I don't like it with hot food - I don't like the temperature contrast - so didn't eat it.. which made my meal a bit bland. The wine was lovely. 

As with everywhere, as soon as the mains were served, we were forgotten about; this is the main reason why I tend not to order desserts in restaurants, much as I have a sweet tooth - when the waiter finally came, it seemed they were out of ice cream (!) - at least that's what I thought I overheard. The tiramisus arrived just about in time to be eaten - to be fair, we were only a couple of minutes' walk away from the cinema. And although I had the set menu, it was a bit pricier than I'm used to. Still, I wouldn't object to eating there again, it was a pleasant place and the food is good.

At the cinema, we were slightly late for the start of the trailers - no harm done. We also had time to grab drinks - and the lady who had to do without ice cream got it there! And so we took our seats.

There's beautiful scenery in this - mountains, beaches, rolling surf, sand dunes.. I've never been to the Canaries, and curiosity about it was part of the reason I came to the film. Annoyingly, the trailer on IMDB is in German, and I ended up looking it up on YouTube! The story centres on the English tennis coach at a hotel - he's living the dream: girls, drink, clubbing, getting up late.. but perhaps he's getting a little old for all this, the morning hangovers a little harder to deal with. Enter an English couple, a little posher than the usual clientele, the wife asking for tennis lessons for their little boy. As they all get to know each other better, things start to become quite weird..

The main action of the film turns out to be a decoy, designed to distract us from the real story. And, as many have said, kudos to the filmmakers for getting a story across so subtly - perhaps too subtly. Because it's a strangely detached film - issues are raised but never really dealt with. And by the end, you're left somewhat deflated, as there's no resolution. Pretty to look at, but I found it unsatisfying, myself. Still, it passed an interesting couple of hours, and it was good to see the group.

Well, last night I set myself to doing the week's film list, as there were a few days I was thinking of film - and the blasted listings site, which hadn't started to be updated before yesterday, kept hanging! So, by the time I had sorted what I'm doing for the next week, it was too late to blog, given I had to be up for work today.. and today, work was absolutely manic, with a team releasing a new software version, and having dumped a load of documentation changes on me, too late.. so I stayed as long as I dared, then took off and left them to it, as more and more requests came in.

You see, having gone to all that trouble to fix the film list - I'm not working from it at all! In the end, yesterday turned out to be the first in a run of four Meetups! More interesting than the film list, for today, looked to be Up in the Cheap Seats (UITCS) headed to Entertaining Mr. Sloane, at the Young Vic. So I'd booked for Bar + Block Southwark beforehand - both very late last night. So I had to mosey..

Even dropping everything and running, I'd have to get the Tube to get there in time to get anything to eat - and wouldn't you know it, there wasn't a single bus due. To anywhere. So I legged it down the road - and no bus I could have got to the station passed me en route. At least it was just one stop - it took me longer to navigate the station than I spent on the train - and a short walk at the other end. I arrived at the restaurant 15 minutes late for my booking. Happily, the place was, as usual, pretty empty - I didn't even bother to mention I had a booking. The guy asked whether I wanted a table, I said yes, and I got one.

They're on a tapas thing - so I had jamon croquettes, and it occurred to me, that's three days in a row now! Well, they're very moreish. I had a sirloin, asked for it medium, as usual - is it me, or was it not as nice as I remember? I skipped the mushrooms this time, they're really too much - I did have onion rings though, and you should have seen the size of the bowl of them they brought! The steak does come with fries, and I ordered peppercorn sauce - without which it'd have been a bit tasteless. The steak was a bit underdone, in my opinion, a bit tough.. I didn't finish it, and when he came to clear the table, he peered at it and asked whether it was perhaps a bit too rare.. the chips were nice. Oh, and like Flat Iron, they serve popcorn here as an opener - I'd forgotten that. (Might go to the local Flat Iron when I'm in the neighbourhood again..) Anyway, the popcorn was nicely flavoured.

Sadly, I was still rushing - it's been a feature of today. I wouldn't have minded dessert, but I was barely in time to meet the group as it was! We met outside the theatre, it being a balmy evening..

I had a seat upstairs, on one of the benches - much cheaper than the ones further over, despite the production being in the round: and indeed, the actors did have their backs to us for much of the time.

The stage is overhung by clutter, surrounded by clutter.. apparently, the house is located at the edge of a rubbish dump, which I guess this references. In the house live a woman of middle years, played by Tamzin Outhwaite, and her deaf, elderly father. We also meet her brother, a successful businessman. Neither of them ever married - we learn that she had an illegitimate child, that she was forced to give up, and her brother is mentioned at one point by their father as having been, once, "committing a felony in the bedroom".. so I guess he wasn't the marrying kind. Anyway, they lead a pretty humdrum life - the rubbish probably emblematic of this. Into their lives, one fateful day, strolls young Mr. Sloane..

And it's not too much of a spoiler to say they both become obsessed with him - their father isn't so sure. She immediately offers him a room - he's looking for a place to stay - and she pretty soon starts coming on to him. Her brother is initially suspicious, but even he is won around eventually, giving the young man a job. And the young man lives the life of Riley, playing each against the other. But who's playing whom.. and who's going to have the last laugh?

I spent the first half thinking how dated it was, its attitudes, its prudishness.. but just you wait for the second half, when things become much more interesting! There's a twist in the tale, and for all that the play is now over 60 years old, these characters prove some of the more interesting ones I've seen. Runs to the 8th of November - recommended.

Afterwards, there was a bit of confusion, different people thinking we were meeting in different places. But hey, we caught up eventually, and again, it was nice to see the group. And I got to run into Sainsbury's on the way to the bus.. always handy.

Can't be up too late - tomorrow is another walk with Laurence Summers and the 45+ Not Grumpies, yay! A new one, this is a Theatre History Walking Tour - starts at the Globe, appropriately, which I can walk to. Question is, is he going to mention any theatres I haven't been to..?

On Sunday, delighted to be back with LoMAZ - typically limiting their numbers to avoid having huge crowds, this is an "unlimited" event they're trying - without which I daresay I wouldn't have been able to go, given how late I've been booking things lately! Now, they create a separate WhatsApp group for each event - and wouldn't you know, it only just occurred to me I hadn't joined the one for this event yet - I've been so busy. Well, I've applied to join it at last. We're headed back to the British Museum, where I first met them, and this time visiting the Islamic Gallery, which should be interesting! Off to Penderel's Oak again afterwards, as before.

On Monday, I am going to a film - with CT though, in the Hen & Chickens.. hope I haven't misplaced my membership card, it's so handy to have the one I got last year, and not have to renew yet. The screening is of a SciFi set in a dystopian future, called Teleport.

Then I have Tuesday to Thursday off work - I'm off to a wedding in Leeds Castle! Never been before, so that should be cool - and I'm actually splashing out and staying in the castle. I know the bride from UITCS, and there's a bunch of the group going, for some or all of the celebrations - a minibus is being organised to/from London. The wedding celebrations themselves run for two days - she's of Indian extraction, and Lordy, we've been asked to wear Indian-inspired outfits! And have I had time to look for one (actually two, one for each day).. I tried online briefly, but it occurred to me that I'd left it very late to have it posted anyway - my best shot might be to head off shopping after the walk tomorrow!

We're coming back on Thursday, but I don't know what time - still, I figured we should be back in time for me to head to the Cinema Museum again, this time with London Social & Cultural Meetup, for The Divorcee..

And next Friday, excited to be heading, for the first time, with the Authentic Medieval Music Meetup, to hear Rune, a medieval group, perform a concert inspired by The Decameron in the Church of St. Bartholomew the Great! Tickets online same price as on the door. Mind you now, despite it technically being a Meetup, I do believe the Meetup group was formed specifically to promote the band. Hey, fine by me.. I've contacted the Old Red Cow pub, nearby, about dinner - they don't have online booking - and am still waiting to hear about that..