Film: They Will Kill You & Musical: Lifeline

Oh man, I don't think I've ever had such a busy week, so many impediments to the blog.. Ah well, read on.

I was too tired to blog after Saturday's shenanigans, and on Sunday, things ran too late. That evening, I was back with The Hideout again for They Will Kill You, a comedy horror about a girl who takes a job at a Manhattan mansion, only to discover it's a temple to Satan, and she's tonight's sacrifice. However, they didn't know about the martial arts she picked up in prison.. not a spoiler, that's all in the trailer. In due course, the venue and time were announced - we were headed to the Vue West End, and hallelujah, I managed to get a booking at Bella Italia! And I had a voucher.. Lordy, it's over a month since I'd been last there! A couple of people from the group joined me for that.

I arrived first - it was good to be back. It wasn't busy, so I had my choice of seats, and thought the sofa at the back would be handiest. I'd been early, and so were they. However, they found themselves rather overwhelmed by the menu choice.. and with us chatting as well, it was a long time before we ordered. I had the chicken fries, followed by the tortellini I know and love - and everything was lovely. One of my companions had the tortellini as well, but I think found it a bit rich - ah well, I do love my rich sauces, to be fair! The other had the spaghetti bolognese, and I think liked it. Now, we'd have had dessert - except by the time we finished our mains, it was already time to head to Victory House for pre-film drinks. We paid up and left as quickly as possible, but were still a little late.

A few people were already present - hope they weren't too put out that we were a bit late! Anyway, we chatted more as others gathered, and headed into the cinema in time for the film.

The trailer looked amazing - sassy, different. And sure enough, the film is also sassy and different -  and clever! Pays attention to the rules that it creates, and engages throughout. Not quite as amazing as the trailer promises - I rated the trailer 8 and the film 7/10, but I did really enjoy it. Caveat - there's a lot of fighting, a lot of blood, so it's not for the squeamish. But it's an original concept, and that's so rare in horror.. and there's a good deal of well-placed humour.

One of the group had flown in from abroad - we don't often see him, so some of us went to the cinema bar for a nightcap afterwards.. amazingly, it was open for once. A lovely, convivial night.. hope to be back with them (and, indeed, at that restaurant) again before too long - mind you, I think I'll leave two hours for dinner if anyone's joining me..!

Again, I was too tired to blog that night - and on Monday, I was busy getting out the last blog post. That evening, I headed to something advertised to me by someone I met on the last regular LoMAZ event I was on - he organises a WhatsApp community called London Fun, and had a spare prebooked ticket to Lifeline, a musical based around the medical profession and starring real medical professionals. So I said I'd go - in Southwark Playhouse again.

I had intended to go in time to get food beforehand, but well, they started to arrive early, so that didn't really work out - I headed straight to the theatre, where, considerately, someone from the group had described what she was wearing.. which was distinctive enough that I found her without problem! My hunger was assuaged by a moreish pack of Tayto - I got the last cheese n onion! We did have a small problem when the lady checking tickets came over to see ours, and we blithely told her we didn't have them, someone else did and he wasn't there yet.. and then we couldn't tell her his real name, because that's not what we know him by! ;-) Never mind, she wandered off, looking rather bemused.. Others from the group gathered, and when our fearless leader arrived, he cleared all the tickets.. which he then came and piled on the table, and we chose our own. Worked out ok, nobody was on their own - for me, I was in a group of three behind another group of three, so it was lovely! I believe the poor organiser's ticket wasn't terrific..

So, the play has two strands - one set in the present day, centring around a young doctor and two of her patients in particular: one a small girl with bacterial meningitis, who thinks this doctor is a superhero: the other her ex, suddenly struck down by an infection and brought into emergency. Her conflicted feelings for him combine with her worry about his condition, and her concern for the little girl.. ah, who'd be a doctor?

The second story strand takes us back in time to Alexander Fleming, who of course discovered penicillin. We hear about his army service, how a good army friend of his died of infection after being shot.. then the great discovery, and finally a side story about his later life, and romance with a colleague.

So, the common threads that link the stories are the need for antibiotics, and the doctors' personal lives, which have to be squeezed in alongside their work. Honestly, I thought that was a mixed message, although we are so used to tv medical dramas that do exactly the same - there's such a strong message in the play about the importance of antibiotics that I think the extended love story of Alexander Fleming, in particular, is a distraction.

Having said that, it's a really enjoyable production, very moving - plenty of music, some terrific singing. The first half was, unfortunately, beset by production problems - the lights went out briefly, and a couple of the mics weren't working - indeed, they stopped the show briefly, probably to take care of that exact problem! One of the non-working mics was that of the man playing Alexander Fleming - who, when we could hear him, turned out to have a fabulous voice. (It was only their second night.) On the subject of voices, I have to mention the woman who plays his love interest, who has a positively operatic voice.. beautiful, but it does occur to me that she's the only one in the production with that kind of singing voice, and it kind of jars with the sound of the rest.

As mentioned, real-life medical professionals take part - and if you're wondering which they are, never fear, they all troop on at the end, and each gives a brief description of their role.. in their native language! Now, that's when the screen that, apparently, showed the translations would've been useful - I only found out about it afterwards. Ah well.

So, in brief.. moving, engaging, some great performances, and we hope they solve their technical issues. However, it felt a bit unformed.. the story could have been better defined, and there were other problems, like the band playing too loud over the medics at the end, as they said their piece. Anyway, worth a look.. runs to the 2nd of next month.

Drinks afterwards gave me a great chance to get to know more of the group - and to eat! We went to The Rockingham Arms, which, mercifully, serves food really late - and I wolfed down a chicken katsu curry. We had a couple of rounds, and I had a great old time with what turned out to be a lovely bunch of people.. roll on the next one!

More in the next post.. getting through them, eh!