Play: Lifers

Tonight, second Meetup in a row, back with Up in the Cheap Seats for Lifers, a prison drama at Southwark Playhouse - was delighted I still had credit on my PAYG subscription with them.

I'm in walking distance. I fully intended to walk - but lo, arguably the daftest team at work wanted me to expunge the documents in the folder they wanted to add to the published build. They'd reviewed one, they wanted everything else gone. That rang warning bells.. as I said, are you sure all these others aren't needed? I'd already edited two others.. I checked with the person in charge - sure enough, there were three more that needed to be included. Three that they hadn't reviewed yet.. so there I was, all afternoon, zipping from A to B to C to B to C to A to.. whatever they had last looked at and decided could be tweaked. When someone decided that the new screenshots were a bit blurry.. so they'd have to provide new ones.. and it was about 5.15.. I legged it. Not my fault that I was the only person that remembered there was more than one document to check, so it all ended up being done today! They'll just have to wait, if it's that important to them.

I figured I'd better catch a bus, if I wanted to eat beforehand. And then there were the buses. Really, anything would have done - but everything was delayed. I was nervous about waiting.. and when one finally arrived, and ended up terminating there - and someone remarked that all the buses were doing that.. I said sod it, let them be weird, and took off on foot. Google Maps suggested I could walk on a bit and take the #343 - and that's what I did.. and despite the weird detour it said the bus would take, it (sensibly) didn't.. and dropped me right across the road from Mercato Metropolitano.

So I crossed.. but was rather perturbed to see the gates closed.. they sported a small notice about being closed, today only, for maintenance. Goodee. Consulting Google maps again, I saw that the next nearest eatery to the theatre was likely the local Wetherspoon's, The Rockingham Arms, so headed there. Blessedly, it wasn't too noisy, or too busy - I grabbed a table by the wall and ordered: chicken katsu, which Wetherspoon's does well, and which I'd have had in the Mercato if it'd been open. And apart from a little wobble when the (young, probably new) server didn't know where my table was.. I saw her wandering through the pub with a lonely glass of wine, and figured she was looking for me.. that was all lovely, served quickly, and most welcome.

And then I trotted down the road again to the theatre.

(Is that a subtle message about global warming, on the bar?) Anyway, I got another glass of wine - and some Tayto, natch - and joined the organiser, who had secured a table. And soon we were joined by some others, and chatted until it was time to go in. And somehow, the conversation worked its way around to horror. ;-)

Most of us had front-row seats. It's a minimalist show, four blocks serving as furniture, the characters comprising three longterm inmates of an unspecified prison, a young prison guard, and a woman that plays, alternately, the prison doctor, and an outside specialist that one of the prisoners is referred to. You see, two stories are conflated in this play.. firstly, the condition of prisons, and the life led by those who have no choice but to live it there.. and secondly, the encroachment of old age: which naturally leads to problems in prison, where everything is subject to red tape. (Of course, as the prison doctor remarks cynically at one point, they think two months on a waiting list is bad?! Wait till they get out, see what they think of waiting times outside!)

It sounds more miserable than it is - we enter on the inmates playing a game of poker, for matchsticks or something. There's cameraderie - and the young prison officer is warm-hearted and inclined to help. But, as someone remarked afterwards, Porridge it ain't - and as the play progresses, fights break out, illness rears its head, and so does the ugly face of the past. Nothing is taken for granted in a play that neither demonises nor whitewashes its characters - we see them, warts and all, and also see the problems they face: albeit of their own making.

It's moving, and it's shocking - the acting is sincere, and in the Q+A afterwards, we learned about Synergy Theatre, the company behind the production, and how members of the team are ex-convicts themselves. In fact, a lot of audience members had connections with the prison system, from people who used to be incarcerated, through to relatives of people who'd worked in it. A very interesting evening.. runs to the 25th. Recommended.

Oh, and I walked home.. and saw some interesting sights!

Always lovely to see another side of the neighbourhood!

Tomorrow, heading to Blessings at Riverside Studios - a play about a staunchly religious family in the 60s, with change in the offing. Damnit, I saw it was on CT, checked to see whether full-price tickets were more expensive, which they were - and accidentally booked one of those instead!

Wednesday is our work social - we're headed to Boom Battle Bar, which has, em, axe throwing.. among other things. Augmented reality features. Well, I missed it at Shocktober..

On Thursday, I'm back with the London Classical Music and Theatre Group for The Cardinall's Musick, performing a choral concert at St. Martin in the Fields.

On Friday, The Hideout persuaded me to go to Ti West's X trilogy - Pearl, X, and MaXXXine - at the Prince Charles. Never seen any of them before. Lord knows when I'll have time to eat..

And on Saturday, meeting James for our monthly get-together at The Phoenix - it's the only weekend he can, and he prefers Saturday. Ivan can't make it - Martin provisional as of yet.