Play: Down to Chance

Tonight, second in a row with CT, Down to Chance is a comedy play about the Great Alaskan Earthquake of 1964, and a local radio operator's role in helping. Showing at the Pleasance Theatre. It was just yesterday that I realised I hadn't thought about food - been too busy, I guess! Well, The Depot pub is right next door, and does food. I emailed them to book.

To be fair, they got back to me quickly enough - to say they were booked for a private event. Ho-hum - with a great lack of places to eat around there, I decided to eat around home instead, and made my way to the Pommeler's Rest. Got there nice n early, managed a table not in direct sunlight - it was a very sunny day. Had my usual chicken katsu curry, but was a bit nervous about ordering the wine - Wetherspoon's now makes you choose a spritzer option, but I don't want spritzer. One option is "standard", which I chose - happily, that turns out to be the non-spritzer option. Could be phrased better. As to the food, the sauce was nondescript, but the chicken coating was lovely and crisp. I was served, and ate, quickly, and headed for London Bridge Station - where the most sensible option seemed to be bus, given that the Tubes still hadn't fully recovered from the shock of the strikes..

Traffic was patchy, and it was touch and go whether I'd make it. I alighted with a few minutes to spare, and a few minutes to walk.. as I panted my way up the stairs to the theatre, an usher asked whether I was there for that, and reassured me that I was right in time. She then shooed me past a whole group of people who'd have to go to the box office because their tickets had never arrived.. handily, mine came by email this afternoon. I was in the Circle, and seating, interestingly, was at little tables, chairs squashed around them. Funnily enough, Ray, who's in a few Meetup groups with me, was at the very next table! What are the odds..?

I tended to need to lean a bit, as you can see, which was a little awkward, as I didn't want to block the view of the others at the table. This is a two-hander, a man and woman, who comprise Maybe You Like It theatre company, playing multiple roles each, no restrictions on gender - in fact, there's a scene where both start playing the same character, and give each other a funny look as a result.. 

"Fast-paced and funny" they describe themselves as, and they ain't wrong. In fact, what they accomplish is absolutely mesmerising, as they flip characters in a flash - Superman in a phone booth never managed it so quickly. One piece of clothing identifies each character, which helps us to identify them too. And the characters are so well-summarised, so well-played, that they seem well-drawn - you can easily imagine this as a full-length film or play with multiple actors.

Somehow, in the midst of all that, they manage spot-on humour, as well as really poignant stories - after all, this was a real-life emergency. I agree with people in the audience who expressed amazement at the amount of script they had to learn - but this is also spectacularly well-written. And woah - they also perform in the other play on there at the moment, Sorry (I Broke Your Arms and Legs) - which was on shortly after this one! Crikey, if that's as good - and as complicated - as this, these people are nothing short of incredible! Both run to the 9th.. Very highly recommended, you really must see them in action.

Wow, that's two really excellent shows in a row.. well done, cheap ticket provider!

On my way home, I noticed the Chippy on the Corner.. well nuts, I could have eaten there. :-)

Tomorrow.. well, someone from LoMAZ suggested creating an event to eat sachertorte. Apparently the Lanesborough Hotel is hosting a temporary pop-up, giving you the chance to eat sachertorte and apfelstrudel prepared to the original recipe of the Hotel Sacher in Vienna. However, wouldn't you know it, that's the only day this month that suits James to meet! And he, Mark, and Martin aren't members of that group, and it's a private group event.. the group is headed to a ceilidh that evening, but I said I'd skip it and hang out with James and Mark and Martin, if it suited.. ah, the difficulties of scheduling!

But then, when I asked about timings, the organiser said he'd completely forgotten about it - and was it tomorrow or Sunday? Well, I didn't have anything for Sunday, so asked for that, and he was fine with it.. but a couple of others weren't. Unfortunately, I was outvoted.. and then someone else couldn't do tomorrow, so now it's on Sunday after all, phew! Sorted.

On Monday, I'm headed to an interview with Michael Palin at the Gillian Lynne Theatre, dinner beforehand in the Prince of Wales. And my sometime companion is coming too. 

On Tuesday, thinking of film - and what's coming up is The Blue Trail (O Último Azul), a Brazilian film set in a dystopian future where the elderly are shipped off to a colony.. except for a rebellious old woman who's decided she's got too much left to do to be bothered with that! Unfortunately, the closest showing to me is in the Rio, which is quite a ways..

On Wednesday, back with Up in the Cheap Seats for The Authenticator, which is described as a Gothic psychological thriller. Love anything that describes itself as "psychological". Showing in the Dorfman - and all seats left at the cheapest price were described as "severely restricted"! so I went for the next price bracket up, which was just "restricted". Eating in The Archduke beforehand - wow, it's months since I was last there!

On Thursday, delighted to be back with Spooky Isles! Well, when I say "back".. once upon a time, I knew them as "Spooky London", when they were a great Meetup group, we'd meet in pubs with a spooky history and conversation was fascinating. Sadly, it died a death over the pandemic.. but was resurrected (appropriately, I guess) as Spooky Isles on Facebook! This is their first face-to-face event since, a social evening in honour of Walpurgis Night and Beltane, featuring a talk by a paranormal researcher, and is happening in my old stomping ground of the King & Queen - I used to live right next door! Tickets from Eventbrite.

And next Friday, back with The Hideout for Deep Water, a thriller about a plane that crashes in shark-infested waters - Ben Kingsley is one of the pilots. Details TBA.