Improvised Comedy: Shake It Up - the Improvised Shakespeare Show

The next two days in London are with CT - tonight, I was back at the Hen & Chickens for Shake It Up: The Improvised Shakespeare Show. Work was unexpectedly busy for the first day back.. so I said sod it, left it for tomorrow, and headed off in good time to grab something to eat beforehand.

The #47 came in due course - only going to London Bridge, but that was as far as I needed!

Now, Google Maps assured me that the #21 was imminent, but I could get the #43 if I wanted. Buses Due, on the other hand, said the #21 wouldn't be there for another 15 minutes.. I took the #43. Which had the advantage of stopping just down from The White Swan! By 'eck, it's still freezing out there.. I chose a seat very, very far from the door - a corner, in fact. And then there was a draught..

My katsu was lovely, and I had a second glass of wine before heading out again. At the Hen & Chickens, he said he should have known me - of course, it was only last month I was last there. I still had my membership card, and used it to get a discounted drink. With seating scarce, I grabbed a stool at the end of a table occupied by two blokes who weren't heading to the show. And contributed a line when the performer came around asking for them - I see they now, sensibly, get people to leave them in a tankard at the box office, which they collect before the show.

?

And so upstairs, where I was delighted to help fill the front row, as requested. I'd hoped for a tragedy, and so it was.. using audience members' freely surrendered personal details, they crafted a cockamamy story involving, em, goats, cheese, and murder. Set in Cyprus. Utterly bonkers, with sundry cast members veering off on wild tangents, they set each other to laughing as much as they did us. Always worth watching - they have a great sense of humour, and a neat knack for improvisation. Highly recommended. And they're there monthly!

And how glad was I to be done early, and race home before it got even colder, brr..

And tomorrow, I'm at a comedy show - Live Next to the Apollo, at Riverside Studios.

On Wednesday - my first Meetup of the year - I'm back with the Horror Book Club - and yay, I got the book finished in The White Swan! It's The House on the Borderland, which is absolutely weird, and an early example of cosmic horror - had something of a profound influence on Lovecraft.. and Terry Pratchett, it seems! Well, it'll be interesting to hear what people have to say about that - they're meeting in the Prince of Wales, as usual.

The next two days, I was to be with CT at the Backyard Comedy Club.. again, it's been a while! However, then Over 40 Living the Life advertised a trip to the immersive Macchu Picchu exhibition, which sounded much more interesting, for Friday. However again, the Meetup page didn't work from Norway, would you believe. Which turned out just as well, because in the meantime, Movie Roadhouse London (MRL) advertised a trip to Marty Supreme. Based on a table tennis champ, played by Timothée Chalamet, who also co-produced, also stars Gwyneth Paltrow. They're seeing it in Cineworld Leicester Square, meeting in Victory House beforehand. And of course, I'm back in Bella Italia before that!

So, that's the first of five days in a row of Meetups, incorporating six altogether! On Saturday, a walk titled Southwark: Seedy and Sublime with none other than Laurence Summers and the 45+ Not Grumpies, yay! Haven't seen him since September, would you believe.. 

That evening, I was supposed to be back with The Hideout (TH) for 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, but the release has been postponed. Heard about that during my trip, but I was so busy I completely forgot about it! So now, instead, their sister group, MRL, has advertised The Housemaid for that evening - looks a bit like a comedy horror, with Amanda Seyfried advertising for a housemaid, but apparently turning out utterly psychotic. Sydney Sweeney is the unfortunate job applicant. And gee, as per the trailer, they seem to have equally really long hair..

On Sunday, back with London Museums A-Z for T is for Thirst: In Search of Freshwater, an exhibition at The Wellcome Collection. Advertised, would you believe, while I was looking at my phone but not especially busy, in The Rockingham Arms - and this being the next unscheduled date in my diary, I was one of the five to snap up a place in the first minute!

Next Monday, with Up in the Cheap Seats (UITCS) again, for Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo - a dark comedy set in Iraq - at the Young Vic. Booked for Bar + Block Southwark beforehand. Ooh, another place I haven't been in an age..

And on the 13th, I'm back with London Classical Music and Theatre Group for The Makropulos Affair, by the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, at the Barbican - one of the group with a wildcard ticket couldn't go and kindly offered it for free, so I snapped it up. Eating at Cote Barbican beforehand - it'll be fun trying to get the discount on my app. And gee, you guessed it.. Haven't been there since September, but was with the group slightly more recently, in October..

I was having terrible trouble finding anything for the 14th - and then this evening, Nell Phoenix came to my rescue, with another storytelling evening at Torriano Avenue! (I see she's still advertising it as £7, but it's actually £10.) Anyway, that evening, it's Yamamba, with Laura Sampson!

Then a few more days of Meetup. On the 15th, back with UITCS for Safe Haven, at the Arcola - the true story of Operation Safe Haven (1991), which protected, and provided humanitarian aid to, Kurdish refugees in Northern Iraq after Saddam Hussein defeated the Kurdish rebellion. Jeez, hard to imagine it happening these days..

On the 16th, back with La Isla Flamenca Club, olé! This show is called Light & Shadow, and is happening in The Gold Bar in the COLAB Tower (walkable, lovely.. as long as the weather warms up a bit) - tickets from We Got Tickets. I managed to get an Early Bird ticket, but they're now sold out - regular and student tickets available.

And on the 17th, that postponed trip with TH to see 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple..