Play: Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo

Tonight, the fourth of five Meetups in a row, I was 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 hadn't been in an age..

What with finishing the blog, I ran slightly late. I had to get off at the Old Vic, and idly wondered whether the bus would wait for a change of drivers there, it being where they do that in this direction. Sure enough, they did - and how satisfying it was not to be delayed by it, for once! I got to the restaurant slightly late - it was almost empty anyway. And I have to say, service was fast. I had "salt and pepper squid" as a starter, my first time to have it here - quite spicy! but tasty. For main, I had a sirloin as usual - with peppercorn sauce, now that they no longer do the red wine one. And onion rings - I skipped the mushrooms. Chips or fries now come with the steak automatically - I asked for fries. When he repeated the order back to me - he hadn't written it down - he mentioned chips; I corrected him. Sure enough, what eventually came? Chips. Which I asked him to change, and he did, apologetically.

He seems to have a thing for asking customers whether he'll see them tomorrow.. Anyway, I don't know when I'll be back here again, but it was a nice meal. Gorgeous wine, too..

And so, a short walk to the theatre, where the group were waiting in the bar - those who'd managed to make it! Apparently there was a nightmare on the Tube, problems with several lines - what a good job I favour buses. Anyway, it wasn't long before we went in. Many of the group were in the front row - not me, late as I tend to book - but I was just a few rows back.

It starts with the irresistible opening strains of Thunderstruck - echoing the gung-ho of the American military in Iraq. I was immediately hooked. ;-) Lordy, it's a while since I heard that. And soon enough, we meet a couple of them - on edge, in a war zone. But one of them has an exit plan - in a raid on Uday Hussein's house, he's managed to nab a couple of valuable items for himself: a gold-plated handgun, and a gold toilet seat. All doesn't go his way, however - he spies a rogue tiger that's escaped from the zoo, which was bombed. Decides to give it something to eat. It eats his hand off..

The tiger is to be heard from again - at length. With a fetching Scottish accent, it becomes a kind of commentator on the action, unconcerned with the minutiae that worry the soldiers - no, all it's interested in is killing to sate its hunger. It's a philosophical tiger though, wondering at the nature of a God that can create a beautiful garden, but leave it without anyone to care for it. It goes without saying that you can extend that sentiment to the idea of a God that allows this chaos..

Each of the human characters follows a different path. We've already met the guy who wants his gold - feeling little but contempt for the locals, he just wants to get out of there asap. Then there's his pal - haunted by, of all things, the ghost of the tiger, he goes a bit mad. And finally there's the mild-mannered local translator - who, as we learn during the course of the play, has suffered greater horrors than either of these soldiers, with their encounter with a hungry tiger. He just doesn't make such a fuss about it.

The toilet seat probably represents the most unsavoury item you can imagine. Once owned by the ultra-violent and sadistic Uday Hussein, now this American soldier cannot wait to get his hands on it. As the saying goes, what you value most, you shall have.. in a surreal scene, he goes to a former leper colony, now with a single survivor, a woman dressed in black.. who sings the most beautiful song in Arabic. 

Hands are to be a feature of this play, a number of characters losing theirs. Perhaps a metaphor for loss of control? And so many ghosts appear on stage at different times, they far outnumber the living. The author has a large and complicated story to tell.. the tiger's ghost, wandering on stage randomly, with a sardonic take on events, provides some light relief. It's worth a look - I liked it, and we could all agree that the soundtrack is marvellous.. Runs to the end of the month. Interesting.

Conveniently, I shopped on the way home - the area is good for supermarkets. And lo, I could see my bus.. surely, I thought, it'll have left by the time I get to it. Nope! They must, again, have just changed drivers, and the new driver must still have been doing his paperwork.. perfect timing.

And tomorrow, 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 Wednesday - and then 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 four more days of Meetup. On Thursday, 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 Friday, back with La Isla Flamenco 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.

On Saturday, that postponed trip with The Hideout to see 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple.. where, doubtless, we'll find out what the deal is with the weird, tracksuit-clothed people who popped up at the end of 28 Years Later, led by Jack O' Connell. Again written by Alex Garland, and again it stars Ralph Fiennes as the doctor studying the plague that has struck humanity.

And on Sunday, back with Rewind Tours of London for his Death, Disease and Fire Walking Tour. We shall see how similar it is to his Hallowe'en walk..