Play: Bloodsport - After Helen of Troy

Just started six days of Meetup, and three days of mythology, in a row. Tonight, back with Up in the Cheap Seats for Bloodsport - After Helen of Troy, at the Theatre Royal Stratford East.. all about Helen of Troy, and what it means to return to your home, after abandoning it and starting a war. She's played by Michelle Dockery, and it's set in modern-day Essex.

To be honest, I don't like the eating options out there - so when it turned out I needed the pharmacy this afternoon, and I was peckish, and not far from The Sun Wharf - I had a late lunch there, which was delicious, and quickly served. All my work done - until the next bit - meant I wasn't in a hurry back. So I could work late, and just head to the theatre in time to meet the group. God-awful noisy Tube to get there, too - although at least not too crowded, and I soon got a seat.

Boy, it was packed - the bar was fun to queue at. I saw a message that they had a table near the bar - joined them when I could find them. At the rockiest table I've ever seen - not the base, just the top. So I kept a hold of my drink until it was finished! Oh, and thank goodness for a decent glass of wine, after yesterday..

I had a seat in the rear stalls - a pillar in my view was only a problem when people were sat at the table on stage, and then I could lean around the pillar to see. It was really awkward to get to, mind - right in the middle of Row N, but there was nobody to tell me which way to go in, and as I came in close to time, I had a whole row of people to squeeze past.. to discover my seat was on the other side of the mixing desk! Happily, I only had to squeeze past two people on that side..

The play opens with a man representing a Greek chorus - from Essex. He appears a few more times, throughout - and delivers a monologue in a terrific mixture of classical phraseology and Essex slang.. I always love that kind of thing, which has come up in a few plays in the past few years, and tends to promise something worth watching.

And that's exactly what we get, in a well-appointed Essex living room, where "Cee" (read Clytemnestra) anxiously awaits the return of her husband and brother-in-law from the war. Being a typical Essex lass, she's dolled up to the nines, wants everything perfect - she has the bubbles on ice, the glasses ready, and the hor d'oeuvres in the fridge. But there's something off about this homecoming - she seems strangely nervous around her husband.. and as for her sister-in-law, Helen, well, she makes a visceral entrance in night clothes, her face slashed and blood spatter all over her clothes, her hand shaking..

As to the face slashing - that doesn't appear in the original legend, but was certainly a feature of the recent production of The Odyssey, and carried out by her vengeful husband both as a punishment, and possibly a deterrent to the same happening again. She used to be a good friend of Cee.. in the legend, they were half-sisters, as well as sisters-in-law.

So much for the legend - this play owes no more to any source. From the start, it's very obviously a war between the sexes, the aggressive men dominating the weaker women - except that Helen, of course, broke the mould. And wait till you see what happens next - she has form for doing the unexpected, and as the play progresses, that's exactly what she does. At the very end, however - and a surprising end it is, certainly - you have to wonder whether the battle lines are drawn by gender, or something else..

The Essex content is hilarious, and point perfect. The whole play is gripping - to the extent that each half starts with a loud noise, to shock the audience into attention. We're frequently reminded of the reasons for, and repercussions of, Helen's departure - her behaviour contrasted with other female characters, each of whom is asked to examine her conscience. And the ending? A lovely twist, with an hilarious explanation. Oh yes, this is a playwright to watch! Runs to the 10th, tomorrow sold out, the other dates selling fast. Very highly recommended - best play I've seen this year, hands down, and very original.

Tomorrow - whee, I'm hosting storytelling with London Museums A-Z (LoMAZ) again! The Crick Crack Club - in the form of Lucy Lill - is performing Doom Scrolls - The Never-Ending Prophecies of the Sibyls in Folklore Hoxton. Female prophets, the theme - and yesterday, I was still getting new sign-ups. Hope they have tickets, as it's now sold out - two people cancelled since I said it. I'm eating in the Blues Kitchen Shoreditch beforehand.

And on Thursday, I'm at Watkins Bookshop (yes, they have their own Meetup group) for the launch of a book called Pantheon, about the Roman Pantheon and the society that birthed it. Eating in Bella Italia Cranbourn Street afterwards, yay!

I'll probably be eating there again on Friday, when I'm with The Hideout for Her Private Hell - a stylized, futuristic psychological thriller set in Tokyo, and starring Sophie Thatcher. Details TBC.

On Saturday, I'm back at last with Laurence Summers and the 45+ Not Grumpies for a walk entitled Heavenly Heights of Hampstead.

And - as so often on these walks - that evening I'm off to a film (second day in a row). This time, it's with Movie Roadhouse London for Bad Apples in the BFI - a comedy with Saoirse Ronan as a teacher who locks a problematic student in her basement.

And on Sunday, back yet again with LoMAZ to see The Coming of Age exhibition at the Wellcome Collection.

On Monday, I'm back with TAC to see Who Killed Marilyn? at the Emerald Theatre. Spoiler, this assumes it's the Mafia..

Next Tuesday, thinking of cinema - coming up is, again, Coyote Vs. ACME, a partly animated comedy based on the roadrunner cartoons, in which Coyote sues ACME, whose products always blow up in his face. It's getting great reviews - nearest showing to me that day is in the Odeon Luxe Haymarket, and I'll have to leave quite early for it.

On the 30th, heading with CT to see Franz & Marie, a new folk musical version of Woyzeck, in preview at Charing Cross Theatre. Eating in Bella Italia Strand beforehand.

On the 1st, thinking of film again - and what's coming up is something I saw the trailer for ages ago; Tony is the story of how Anthony Bourdain became a chef. He's played by Dominic Sessa, his mentor by Antonio Banderas. Closest showing to me that evening is in the Barbican. And then I'm back to Ireland for the weekend, because otherwise I shan't get back at all next month!