Film: Stalker & Play: Our American Queen

Last night, back at the cinema on my own - I bit the bullet and saw Stalker. I've heard this described as one of the best films ever made - certainly, I found the trailer confusing enough that I did a lot of research before I decided to see it. Made in the late Communist era, it involves a surreal journey through the Zone, where normal laws of physics do not apply, to the Room, where a person's deepest desires may be granted. If they are proven worthy. It's thought to be a metaphor for the frustrations of the failure of the Communist system. Anyway, showing in the Close-Up Cinema.

And so, I decided to eat beforehand at Sheba, my new go-to place on Brick Lane! You can get a discount if you book, but you can't book for just one person - I could have lied and put another person on the booking, but I didn't bother. Now, when I was there before, I found their wine insipid - so I planned to bring my own, which you can. Completely forgot, of course! Again, I could have stopped at an offie - but didn't bother with that either. Just up from the restaurant, I passed City Spice - wow, were they full! Mine, in contrast, was completely empty at 6.30.. I tell you though, at 6.50 they started to arrive, and in the next five minutes, the place almost completely filled.

I had lamb samosas to start, then butter chicken - seems last time they had mushrooms as a side, which I loved, but I couldn't see them this time, so I had mushroom rice. And peshwari naan. And wine.. and I couldn't remember which wine I had before, so I had the chenin blanc. Which was, indeed, insipid. I see they also do pinot grigio by the glass.. perhaps that's better. Funnily enough, when I asked for a second, the glass was much smaller:

The food was all good, and I was suitably stuffed. As I prepared to leave, the waiter offered me a free drink of my choice if I left a five-star Google review with his name! Thanks v much, I said, and asked for another wine. The review hasn't gone up yet, mind..

And so up the road to the cinema, which doesn't advertise itself, and I wouldn't have recognised it if I hadn't recognised the seating area inside the front window, complete with sofas and bookshelves. I went in and had my name checked off by a nice lady behind the bar, got yet another drink, and when I saw the screen door was open, I went in and chose a pretty central seat - seating is unassigned.

I was to inhabit that seat for a long time - the film is nearly three hours long. It starts in sepia monochrome, then switches to colour in the Zone, and from then on, anything in colour is connected to the Zone in some way. And.. it is what it says on the tin. Three men looking for a Room. Reminds me - and others, from what I read - of Waiting for Godot, what with men hanging around, philosophising as they wait for something to happen.

They do eventually get to the Room, but of course it's not as expected. And what's interesting is the three men's different reactions to it. They're not given names, except stereotypical ones - the Stalker, the Writer, the Professor. A couple of intellectuals then, so we can extrapolate to consider the views of intellectuals in general. And as such, it does raise an interesting point for discussion - if you had the means to achieve your deepest, most heartfelt desire, would you actually go for it? Some would say, "Why not?" Others might have reservations.

I don't know what criteria others ascribe to considering something "among the best films ever made". Personally, I've seen others I prefer, for different reasons. It is well done, but a wee bit long, what with not much happening throughout - little happens in the Zone, for all the Stalker's terror of it. But hey, as I say, interesting. And wow, was it good to move again after all that time seated..

On the way home, for all the times I've sat for half an hour at that stop waiting for my bus, this was the night I got to see it drive off as I approached. Which makes a change, I guess. Anyway, with all the forward planning I was doing, it ran too late to blog. Nor did I have time to finish it this afternoon.

Tonight, got another cheap ticket - this time with CT - to Our American Queen, a dramatisation of the life of Kate Chase, daughter of a powerful politician at the time of the American Civil War. She herself was very active politically on his behalf, despite not having a vote herself. Showing in the Bridewell Theatre, and I booked to eat beforehand in The Old Bell Tavern.

Terrible traffic meant the first bus was delayed - which meant I was just in time to miss the second bus, and had to wait for the next. So I was about five minutes late to the pub - easily findable from the large bell sign hanging over the entrance - where the publican had to evict a couple of guys at my table. Although there was a reserved sign there, it was folded up and neatly tucked away - who did that, I wonder?! Turned out they were on a kind of double date with two girls, and had taken over both tables in the corner - so now they all squeezed around one (hell, cozier, eh?) and I got to eavesdrop. Lovely. At least they were only having nibbles. Me, I had chicken schnitzel, which was lovely - although some of the chips were cold, which I blame on the cold plate they were served on. The wine was also delish. They finished before I did - one of the guys had a show to go to, the other pleaded work in the morning..

When it was my turn to leave, the theatre was literally a minute's walk away (the benefit of choosing an eatery as close as possible to the venue). The street entrance is easy enough to find, big sign over it - it's not as easy to see which way to go when you're inside! I correctly guessed to take the stairs down - saw the theatre entrance, which looked closed, saw a sign for the bar, headed that way. Again, got my name checked off by the guy on the laptop at the end of the bar, then got a glass of wine from him and took a seat to the side. The place is full of drawings for sale:

Chucked it into plastic when he announced the theatre was open, and took a seat a few rows back:

That's a very striking dining table - and the picture in the frame at the end is actually a projection, which changes frequently during the show. The picture in it at the start is significant, as the play takes place during the war, and the topic of abolition, and that of negroes fighting in the Union army, come up frequently. 

I was delighted to see period costume - happens so rarely. But then, this turns out to be quite a serious play - and in the first half at least, a bit dry, all politics. Kate spends most of her time acting as hostess - she's more politically minded than her father, and does her best to instruct him, as he makes a bid for the presidency. Mind you, we also meet a couple of her suitors - an army general, now married to someone else but still hankering after Kate, and a poet, who keeps trying to get her to read Whitman.. She, however, is intent on marrying Senator William Sprague, whose vast fortune can finance her father's political campaigns. (The tiara he gives her as an engagement present is indeed based on a fabulously expensive one he gave her in real life.)

She seems inflexible, almost robotic - and then she snaps, at one point in the play, and it's not a spoiler to tell you that she takes the tablecloth from the carefully dressed dinner table and whips it off, dragging it up the stairs through the audience, scattering crockery, cutlery, and glassware hither and yon. I spent the rest of the play trying to count the number of broken plates, which they sweep to the side, then leave there - eventually came up with three. I didn't see any broken glasses though - perhaps they're plastic! Anyway, it's a turning point - from then on, the play is much more about her as a person, and becomes more engaging.

So yes, after a start that really dragged, I found it interesting. Runs to the 7th, if you want to see for yourself - runs for 1hr 45minutes without interval. Oh, and the guy on the door mentioned they've had as many as six breakages in one night..

Next, a couple of Meetups: tomorrow, back with London Museums A-Z (LoMAZ, yay!), who are, unusually for them, doing something midweek - specifically, a late at the Cartoon Museum - which should be walking distance from the office, where I'll be that day. We're headed to the pub afterwards, but they're keeping the location secret.. I got the second-last place in the group, phew - takes longer for the midweek ones to fill, obviously. It finally filled up shortly afterwards.

And on Friday, back with The Hideout for Primate, about your typical tropical paradise, where a group of youngsters have come to party, and there's a pet chimp. Unfortunately, he goes from sweet to savage when bitten by a rabid animal, and carnage ensues. Venue finally announced as the Vue West End, to Victory House before thar for drinks, and Bella Italia before that for me, for food.

Saturday was the day that suited best for me, James, Mark, and Martin to meet.

On Sunday, Over 40 Living the Life is planning a trip to the 7 Wonders of the World Immersive Exhibition, which sounds good. However, I baulk at their trip for a few reasons - firstly, the £4 per person she's charging on top: secondly, the tickets she's bought don't include VR, which you'd have to buy separately: and thirdly, it's too damn early! I've bought my own ticket (VIP - includes the VR) for later in the day.

The next two days, I'm thinking film, but they're not selling out (yet), so I haven't booked. On Monday, thinking of Breathless, at the BFI - part of their Ensemble season to celebrate the filmmakers referenced in Richard Linklater's new documentary about the French Nouvelle Vague (New Wave). Breathless is directed by Jean-Luc Godard.

On Tuesday, thinking of seeing a documentary called This Is Not a Film, made by the banned Iranian director Jafar Panahi, mostly on a mobile phone, and smuggled out in a cake. Showing, as good documentaries tend to do, in the Curzon Bloomsbury.

Then a run of five Meetups! Next Wednesday, I got a ticket from someone who bought one, then couldn't go, for Mrs. President at Charing Cross Theatre: an outing with Up in the Cheap Seats (UITCS). And that'll be interesting, a week after seeing Our American Queen, because Mrs. President is about the wife of Abraham Lincoln, who's mentioned in Our American Queen, and she and the Chases couldn't stand each other!

On the 5th, I'm with Movie Roadhouse London - for, would you believe, that new Richard Linklater film, Nouvelle Vague! It primarily focuses on the making of Breathless, and it'll be funny, seeing it a few days after seeing Breathless itself.. Also showing in the BFI, and I'm heading to The Archduke beforehand - although when I looked, there were only two timeslots left, and I ended up having to book quite an early one! So I'll have lots of time before I meet the group..

On the 6th, UITCS tempted me back with Guidelines, at the New Diorama - a play about the horrors of the internet, basically.

Then the weekend belongs to LoMAZ.. on the 7th, we're off to Bletchley Park, the ticket for which is valid for a year. I got a cheap train ticket on Uber, with a promotion knocking £5 off, plus £10 Uber credit - which was most of the cost of the ticket. And afterwards, we're headed to the fetchingly monikered Captain Ridley's Shooting Party! (It's a pub.) The history reads as follows: In 1937, the estate passed into government hands. Then, an undercover MI6 group arrived using the name ‘Captain Ridley’s Shooting Party’, with ‘an air of friends enjoying a weekend at a country house’. Their real purpose was to see whether Bletchley Park would work as a wartime location.

And on the 8th, it's a LoMAZ Unlimited event, where they don't cap numbers - we're off to the British Museum to see fragments of the Mausoleum of Halikarnassos, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, followed by a social in Penderel's Oak, as usual.