Theatre History Walking Tour, Islamic Gallery, & Film: Coyote/Teleport

Oof, what a week! Read on..

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

Well, I could have walked - but it was bordering the max distance I like to walk, and in the end I didn't. There weren't many of us on this occasion, a lot apparently having pulled out last minute, as they tend to do. I knew the others, which was nice - and with everyone having arrived early, we started early! We started at the Globe - so it was appropriate to go from there to the other Elizabethan Theatre, nearby - The Rose:

And of course, from there to the actual site of the original Globe:

And as he pointed out to us, look at the number of churches depicted in the London of the time! Of course, so many were destroyed in the Great Fire..

This is an interesting one - the artist had never actually been to London, and was guessing at some locations - he managed to swap the Globe and the "Beere Bayting" (bear baiting) in this picture:

And so back around for a better view of the Globe:

A boat race passed us.. you can just see the City of London School in the background - Daniel Radcliffe attended, among others:

And so along South Bank - and I see they keep the stalls up all year now, not just at Christmas! Our route took us, of course, to the National - still advertising the excellent Inter Alia, with Rosamund Pike as a judge juggling her career with family - now only available on NT Live:

I never before noticed the sign proclaiming this to be Waterloo Bridge - do they all have this?!

And so to meet the other Laurence - Sir Laurence Olivier, first director of the National:

Across the bridge then - and gee, Somerset House used to have a private theatre. Did not know that. How handy.. the equivalent of home cinema!

And so to the Lyceum (after which the pub is named):

The rear of the Lyceum is worth a look:

And even this used to be a theatre - Terry's!

The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane is supposed to be the most haunted:

And lo, in memory of Nell Gwynn is the Nell of Old Drury - and there's supposed to be a passage under the road between here and the theatre, which Charles II used to have trysts with her:

And so to the Royal Opera House:

We finished the tour in Covent Garden, with the Actors' Church:

A fascinating tour for me, and all I think - certainly, I love theatreland. Thanks Laurence, a great tour idea!

And so on to the Lamb & Flag for lunch, as usual around here - and it occurred to me that I'd never had steak and ale pie here! So I did, this time, and we had a lovely lunch and chat. And on the way out, came across an interesting picture by the door.. I have no idea how I didn't notice it before, but we had great fun pointing out famous faces:

So, then a few of us continued to Le Beaujolais:

..where service came with a smile (this time), and the advantage of the small space is that you can strike up fascinating conversations with people sharing your table..

We returned via Tottenham Court Road, and its installation:

etc..

A great day was had - sadly, Laurence isn't doing a weekend walk next month, so it'll be November.. watch this space. Meantime, I had shopping to do - which took hours, and was exhausting. I got home and crashed - no chance to do the blog.

On Sunday, I was delighted to be back with LoMAZ - typically limiting their numbers to avoid having huge crowds, this was an "unlimited" event they tried - 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 on Friday that I hadn't joined the one for this event yet - I'd been so busy. Well, I applied to join it immediately. We were headed back to the British Museum, where I first met them, and this time visiting the Islamic Gallery, which promised to be interesting!

Now, I've been burned so many times coming here, and being made late by long queues, that I always come early. I tell you though, I don't believe I've ever yet come here and had no queue at all! No ticket checks (again, I just remembered to get a ticket on the morning - you only technically need one if you need to enter via the main entrance on Great Russell Street, and it's free). Not even a bag check! I was in the gate and through the main door in under a minute, Freaky. Well, as usual, I was first there, so grabbed the most decent seat I could see and let them know where I was, best I could. They did find me in due course - and as we sat chatting, it occurred to me to wonder about the bookshop's cat obsession (not that I'm complaining):

When it was time, we moseyed up to the gallery.. which I found both beautiful and fascinating:

This stone commemorates the lineage of a dead woman through 13 generations!

Wow, a Nigerian chess set!

and it's really interesting to see Arabian chess pieces before they stopped representing human figures:

An old backgammon board.. a legend says that India gave chess to Persia, who gave backgammon to India in return:

Playing cards:

Children's playing pieces in the shape of animals:

There were coins depicting the signs of the zodiac:

and shades for temple lamps:

Mind you, much of what struck me about the gallery was the sight of names such as Syria, Iraq, Rafah, which we so much more often associate with death and destruction. So much better to see them in another light, as part of a route by which knowledge and art were distributed throughout the world..

As we went around and met others from the group, conversations were struck up - and afterwards, we headed to Penderel's Oak to continue the conversation. Where we ate, drank, and made merry for a good bit. Now, as it's a Wetherspoon's, I was expecting my usual katsu chicken curry - but they were out of lots of chicken dishes! I finally managed to find one they had - and so I had chicken tikka masala, instead. Which was decent. Again, I was too tired to blog afterwards.

On Monday, I was too busy with work to do the blog during the day - and that evening I went to a film - with CT, in the Hen & Chickens. The screening was of a SciFi set in a dystopian future, called Teleport. Well, I wanted to leave early enough to eat beforehand - but I simply had too much to do! I did manage to get away in decent time to get there half an hour before the show started, as instructed. Got myself a drink - and isn't it handy, the yearly membership you have to buy for £1.50 entitles you to 10% off drinks in the bar downstairs, for that year! The barman was a bit puzzled, mind - but I think he was new.

I see they now have a lending library:

as well as a proper barrier to prevent people going upstairs before they're ready:

The writer/director, who was there in person, explained to us beforehand that the film is also known as Coyote, in the States - a "coyote" being, in this context, someone who smuggles refugees. The story concerns two lovers, on the run from the father of one of them, who is well-enough connected to have her lover killed, and strongly disapproves of the relationship. They haven't been able to raise enough for both to "jump" (teleport) to the UK, so one goes first - only to find that the "safe house" she's been sent to is, in effect, a high-class brothel, and that now she, like the others there, is expected to be a sex slave, her funds controlled by the woman who oversees the operation. The plot thickens when it turns out that the clientele include powerful politicians..

There's a very disconnected initial scene, where a man in the middle of nowhere has the car radio on, and the dj is talking about the immigration problem, and also how teleportation can go horribly wrong - it is implied that something like this has happened to the listener's little girl, whose toy lies in the car, and of whom we see a photo. Anyway, I dunno what this guy's intent is on being out in this wasteland, but he soon discovers an obviously illegal "jumper" - and what happens next is designed, I guess, to elicit our sympathy for these refugees.

Problem is, we never hear about these people again - we switch to the other people's story. It's decent enough, but apart from a few hi-tech scenes, it's very little about the technology, just becoming a story about the girls in the house, and how they deal with their predicament. However, it has very little to say either about the wider question of human trafficking, and is essentially just a thriller. Still, it's an enjoyable enough watch - not really worth going out of your way for. I didn't bother with the Q+A afterwards.

Well, my usual place around there - La Pasta - was closed: so I looked up what else was open, and came across The White Swan, which, as a Wetherspoon's, was pretty sure to be open, and serving food. Sure enough it was, I got a table at the back, and lo, this time they had my katsu! and it was delicious. I might head here in preference, in future.

See the next post for more...