Ballet: Shadows

Yesterday, the Crick Crack Club was in action again, in the form of Ben Haggarty, who was performing The Blacksmith at the Bridge of Bones, at the Story Museum Oxford. Happily, they livestream it - available for a week afterwards - so I was free to go with Up in the Cheap Seats again that day, making it the first of four days of Meetup in a row - they were headed to Sadler's Wells for Ballet Black, performing Shadows. I was eating beforehand in The Wilmington.

I was also in the office.. handily, a lot closer than coming from home! In fact, I could just have walked - except for that ridiculously heavy backpack. So I said I'd treat myself to a bus. Wasn't much of a treat though, it was so crowded - I was lucky to get on in fact, they weren't taking people on at the following stop! At the one after, some got off, so some more got on - and we had to move down, me having to disrupt someone who was petting a friendly doggy across the aisle. :-( It transpired it was a cavapoo. What was not helpful were the disgruntled people getting on, growling at us to move down for goodness' sake, they were trying to get on - as if we had tons of space, and were standing in their way just to be annoying. I was glad to get off at the stop after.

A small trek to the pub, then - which was heaving, the dining room empty. Took several minutes for me to be noticed at the bar, the girls that served in the dining room standing chatting while one guy tried to deal with everyone else. I was eventually seated in a corner. I had steak, as usual - now, from where I was sat, at the other end of the room, the board with the list of specials (including steaks) was partially obscured by a pillar: so it was handy that the steaks were listed on the side I could see. And I had a flat iron - a bit more than half the price of the previous night's steak, although the most expensive last night, the sirloin, was only just cheaper than the steak I'd had the night before. Of course, that was the cheapest available in Cambio de Tercio..

I got my wine quickly - the steak took a little longer, but I hadn't fancied a starter anyway, so was in good time. And as usual, it came pre-sliced, and was beautifully tender - and much tastier than Cambio de Tercio's - spectacularly good fries with it, I must say! Now, I could have had a dessert - certainly, I had finished the wine, and would have liked another - but after I had been asked once, as I was eating, how my food was, I could have died in that corner and no-one would have noticed! My server spent several minutes folding napkins, not once glancing in my direction. By the time she decided she'd better come over, as I said to her, it was now too late for anything else, and I asked for the bill.

That did mean I was early to the theatre though - and of course, I took the lift. With a vast choice of seating in the bar - it wasn't busy, last night - I got myself a drink and claimed a table. As it happened, another of the group took the next table over, but neither of us realised, until a third member of the group arrived and pointed it out! Anyway, there was a good group of us, so we dragged the tables closer together, and as more people arrived, we chatted until it was time to go in. We guessed it wouldn't be too full inside - in fact, looked up the seating plan to see great swathes of empty seats in the middle! First, though, we took our assigned seats:

..and after a respectable interval, we switched to some more central (which were selling for twice the price!):

Now, this show was supposed to be based on My Sister, the Serial Killer - but honestly, for the first half, I could see no sign of it! To be fair, I haven't read the book, and perhaps I was missing something. Plenty of shadows though, as per the title - and it was very visually striking. There was speculation at the interval as to whether the story would raise its head in the second half, and sure enough, it did.. there wasn't much of a story in it though, from what I could see, and honestly, I preferred the staging in the first half. Interesting, but not a must-see - and with the house being much less full than usual, I can only assume that I'm not the only person not to be that keen. Finishes tomorrow, if you're curious.

Of course, as can happen, it ran too late to blog last night. Now, two days with Movie Roadhouse London. Tonight, we're off to Pillion - showing in the BFI, this is a love story between a man and a handsome young biker.. starring Alexander Skarsgard (most memorable for his role as vampire Eric in True Blood, woo!) Booked for the Archduke again beforehand..

Tomorrow, we're going to Winter Wonderland! Oh, I've been to this so many times on my own, it'll be great to go with a group.. we're meeting in The Swan Hyde Park, then all going to The Ice Palace, then skating is scheduled - not my thing, I'll be going to Cirque Berserk shortly afterwards. Then we hang out together, doing whatever..

On Sunday, back with LoMAZ for a LoMAZ unlimited - they generally limit their numbers, but have the odd event with unlimited numbers. British Museum - on this day, focused on a Nordic Noir exhibition - and afterwards to Penderel's Oak. And how lucky that the organiser reminded us today to book an admission ticket - they're free, but you need one to get in the main entrance. Plus, as he pointed out, it could be busier than usual, after being closed temporarily during the week because of a local fire!

On Monday, off with CT to Shake It Up - The Improvised Shakespeare Show, at the Hen & Chickens.. My sometime travel companion is coming too, and we're eating at La Pasta beforehand - handily, it's quite a late show, which gives us plenty of time.

On Tuesday, thinking film - finally thinking of The Mastermind again! A 70s art heist film starring Josh O' Connor, it's now showing in the Curzon Bloomsbury.

Wednesday is our work Christmas party, this year in Brasserie Blanc, pretty convenient to me, but which I've never tried.

And on Thursday - well, looks like I'm finally going to get to see Frankenstein, as per Guillermo del Toro! Looks to be a supremely gothic epic, with Jacob Elordi as the monster, Christoph Waltz, and Charles Dance as the father of the scientist, Oscar Isaac, who brings the creature to life. Well, I've seen the exhibition, it's about time I saw the finished product! Showing in Hackney Picturehouse - and since everywhere was full the last time I was there, I've made sure to book for Pizza Express beforehand.