Storytelling: Doom Scrolls - The Never-Ending Prophecies of the Sibyls

Last night second in a row of six days of Meetups, and of three days of mythology - whee, I hosted storytelling with London Museums A-Z (LoMAZ) again! The Crick Crack Club (CCC) - in the form of Lucy Lill - performed Doom Scrolls - The Never-Ending Prophecies of the Sibyls in Folklore Hoxton. Female prophets, the theme - and I was still getting new sign-ups practically up to the end. It sold out at least two days beforehand, as they tend to do - two people cancelled after I said it. One person, mind, went on the CCC's waitlist and got a last-minute ticket! I booked to eat in the Blues Kitchen Shoreditch beforehand.

Made it a bit early - the guy at the door recognised the name, and led me quickly to a booth - at that time, it was pretty empty anyway. Service, I have to say, was better than I've experienced here before in general - quite attentive. I had the roast chicken for the first time.. it came with a lovely, thick gravy, but on a bed of chickpeas, which I wouldn't be bothered about. So I didn't - the chicken was a bit greasy, but the gravy was lovely, as were the fries. Now, as to the drink.. I normally go for wine, but when the waiter mentioned the £6 cocktails on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and I compared that to the £14 they charge for a large glass of Sauvignon Blanc.. well, they have quite a variety of margaritas, so I went for the spicy one!

Yes, the stuff around the edge is spicy too. Sip with caution - but it is nice.

Well, I finished in time to get to the venue a few minutes early, took a shot for anyone who didn't know it.. and sure enough, when I did subsequently meet them, nobody had been there before!

Funny thing was, the first of the group to arrive was already standing outside, saw me taking the picture, then saw it appear in her feed.. ;-) So that was a dead giveaway as to whom I was! For once, they opened the door a little early, so we could go in. The bar wasn't ready yet, mind - nor for some minutes afterwards - but in the meantime, I found plenty to photograph! It's quite amazing how I always see something:

Cowbells over the bar..?

Great turnout from my group, and we met at the bar before heading in to find seats. Despite the sold-out show, not all seats were occupied, and we did manage to get seated roughly together.

Sarah-Liisa Wilkinson was MC, and introduced those unfamiliar with the CCC to its modus operandi. I also saw Nell Phoenix down the back, who said hi - meanwhile, people were wandering around handing out Post-It notes, inviting people to ask questions of the oracle. Which I did, in the end - you could scatter them wherever you wanted, in the bar or the performance space.

Lucy Lill - as ever - gave a marvellous performance. The story actually centred mainly on one young Greek girl, who from an early age heard the voices of the gods, and at the age of 15 set out to fulfil her destiny, dedicating her life to prophecy..

Now, be your interest in mythology or not, you cannot have failed to find something to touch you in this story. This Greek woman, devoted to her task, asked to be allowed to continue her task for as many years as there were grains of sand in the handful she'd placed in her pocket. She was granted this - and lived for something like 900 years. With comedy, with pathos, with a touch of the normal among the divine - Lucy made us feel her experience as though we were living it ourselves: the devotion, which finally turned to grumpiness, among the aches and pains of old age..

Coming into the spooky season in the run-up to Hallowe'en, she also incorporated the ominous character of Hecate.. and a truly memorable insight into Hades, where the oracle led Aeneas, so that he could speak to his father, who died before being able to tell him something.. The image of the ghosts appearing as almost mist, and of Aeneas attempting to hug his father, but ending up grasping air, was truly poignant..

Kudos to Lucy, too, for continuing where she'd left off, after an incident in which an elderly woman at the side collapsed, and had to be taken outside - to be fair, it's a small space, and it was cramped. The performance lasted about 75 minutes - and lo, afterwards, we found answers to our Post-It note questions on paper leaves in the bar! just as the oracle had written her answers on leaves. Mine said "An ant can destroy a dam." I'll take that..

Most of us hung on for a nightcap in the bar afterwards, where someone kindly bought me a drink. And we stayed long enough both to meet the house cat (a beautiful tuxedo cat), and to see them open the trapdoor in the floor where they store all the chairs! You live and learn..) Thanks to all who attended, for a lovely evening - I think people enjoyed it, and I hope to see them all again. Ran too late to blog though, as I'm in the office today.

And tonight, 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. Will have to leave a bit early, as it's an early start - but at least I can walk there from here. Eating in Bella Italia Cranbourn Street afterwards, yay!

I'll be eating there again tomorrow, when I'm with The Hideout. It was supposed to be for Her Private Hell - a stylized, futuristic psychological thriller set in Tokyo, and starring Sophie Thatcher - but it seems there was, as so often, a distribution problem. So now, instead, we're headed to Hope, a South Korean film (the most expensive ever made there, it seems) about a monster attack. Showing in Cineworld Leicester Square, and as usual, we're meeting in Victory House beforehand.

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..

On 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 Wednesday, 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.

Next Thursday, 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!