See some plays: Spring Storm

Website: http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk

Last night ABJ and I went to see the Tennessee Williams play Spring Storm at the National Theatre. The play was in the smaller Cottesloe Theatre which we had to hunt around to find.

Apparently the play was written when the young Tennessee Williams was in a writing class but the teachers and students were so negative about it that he put it away and it was only rediscovered after his death.

While I was waiting for ABJ I saw a "Watch This Space" performance by a troupe of jugglers in the area outside the theatre:
The play showed hints of Tennessee Williams' later works and was a story about a love triangle in the American South. The actors all spoke with a southern accent which made it fun to imagine what their real accents were.

The set and the set changes were very impressive - the set was a kind of squashed house and the set changers involved energetic people running in and restructuring the debris into a library or a living room.Summary: Good early Tennessee Williams.

See some plays: The Prisoner of Second Avenue

Website:
http://www.oldvictheatre.com/whatson.php?id=65
http://www.vaudeville-theatre.co.uk

On Monday night ABJ and I went to see The Prisoner of Second Avenue at the Vaudeville Theatre. We both enjoyed it immensely.

The play starred Jeff Goldblum and Mercedes Ruehl as Mel and Edna, a couple living on the 14th floor of an apartment block in New York City. Mel is anxious and neurotic about living in New York - the noise, the pollution, the faulty apartment - and during the play he has a nervous breakdown. In the end Edna and Mel realise what's important in life and end up somewhat happy again.

The play was laugh-out-loud funny and the performances were excellent. ABJ especially enjoyed the portrayal of Mel's Jewish New Yorker family.

Sometime during the first act Mel went berserk and threw things around the stage. A pillow he threw landed up on the lighting and during the interval someone had to come out with a grabbing arm and retrieve it:
After the show we wanted to find something to eat and as we walked around trying to find a restaurant we stumbled upon the theatre's stage door. There was a crowd of people waiting there for Jeff Goldblum's autograph. We decided to wait to see what would happen. After about 10 minutes the actors started to come out. When Jeff came out he was mobbed by the fans but he was a very nice guy - he took time to sign everyone's tickets/flyers/hands and even posed for photos with people. One person said "You inspired me to go to acting school!" to which he replied "Oh, acting school?... I think I'm still in acting school...". ABJ managed to get one of our tickets signed.
Summary: Great play with great performances...

See some plays: Dandy of the Underworld

Website: http://www.sohotheatre.com

About a week and a half ago ABJ and I went to see a play called "Dandy in the Underworld" at the Soho Theatre. It was based on the memoir of Sebastian Horsley - a man who lived an extravagant life in the heart of Soho. The play had been in the news because a day after it opened Horsley was found dead at his home from a suspected drugs overdose. ABJ and I didn't know much about him when we booked into see the play but but the end we felt much more knowledgeable.

The play was a single-act that lasted something over an hour. The one actor played Horsley as he hung around his Soho flat getting ready to go out for lunch. He talked about his life, his past and his experiences with sex and drugs. The script was funny and poignant in turns.

The actor managed to keep everyone's attention for the whole play, whether he was getting dressed in a bright-red suit with bright-red top hat, or shouting out the window at noisy drug dealers or prostitutes...

We both enjoyed the show so much that when we left ABJ bought the book that's it's based on.Summary: An enjoyable night out...

Tate modern restaurant

Website: http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/eatanddrink/restaurant.htm

Last Saturday ABJ and I ate lunch at the restaurant at the top of the Tate modern.

I'd heard that there were wonderful views from the top and I'd even heard rumours that there was a restaurant at the very top of the Tate modern tower. In reality the restaurant is on Level 7 of the art gallery. This was high enough to get good views as well as make it a lengthy procedure to get there in the lifts:We arrived and asked for a table for two near a window. This we promptly received although not on the river-side but on the opposite side with views over the modern architecture at the rear of the gallery. Unforunately the bright summer sun was reflecting off a glass roof outside and blinded anyone sitting at our table. We tried moving but the problem followed us as the sun moved in the sky. At last the waitress lowered the blinds to save our eyes...The food we ordered was very tasty and we were enjoying it so much we ordered dessert.Summary: Good views, tasty food.

The list (number eight)

Here's an updated list with a few items crossed-out:

• Tour round Buckingham Palace
• Go up the BT Tower for the view
  
• Cycle around Richmond park
• Sneak into the fancy hotels - Hilton, Savoy etc
• Go to all the museums in London
• Go to all the major art museums in London
  
• Have a drink in the ice-bar off Regent Street
• Do the sing-along sound of music at the Prince Charles cinema
  
• Watch a film at the Electric cinema in Notting Hill
• Watch a film at a Leicester Square cinema
• Watch an IMAX film near Waterloo
• Go to a casino
• Explore the new O2 centre at the Millennium Dome
• Tour round the BBC TV centre and BBC Broadcasting House
• Watch a live, well-attended debate in Parliament (e.g. Prime Ministers questions)
• Go out for an artsy night out in the east-end.
• Shop at Petticoat Lane market
• Go on the rides at the London dungeons
• Sit in on a Sotheby's auction
• Eat at a traditional pie 'n' mash shop
• Tour round Lord's cricket ground
• Tour round Wembley stadium
• Go to the London wetland centre
• Visit Chelsea Physic Garden
• Get into London fashion week
• Tour around City Hall
• Tour around Tower Bridge
• Go to the tennis at Wimbledon
• See some plays
• Ride home in a rickshaw
• Eat at some famous restaurants
• Visit the hidden-away nature reserve behind St. Pancras station
• Visit a big mosque, big synagogue, other big places of worship
  
• Use an "isolation tank" near London Bridge
• Get a free Hare Krishna vegetarian meal
• Go to the the Jazz Cafe in Camden
• Go to some jazz club I've heard about in Soho
• Eat a meal in one of the touristy Leicester square steak houses
• Tour around Battersea power station
• Explore Heathrow Terminal 5
• Tour round Albert Hall and Albert Memorial
• Tour round Chiswick's Fuller's brewery
• Tour round Wandsworth's Young's Brewery
  
• Eat at the restaurant at the top of Tate Modern
• Visit an exhibition at Earls Court and Kensington Olympia
• Visit a city farm
• Tour round Thames barrier
  
• Visit a talk at the Royal Geographical Society
• Buy some food from a roadside taxi cafe
• Visit the London library at Piccadilly

Exhibition at Olympia

Website: http://www.eco.co.uk

Yesterday ABJ and I went to visit the London Fine Art Fair at Olympia exhibition centre. ABJ had managed to secure a free day-pass for two people for the fair so we turned up and saved a total of £22 in ticket prices. The exhibition centre was built in 1885 as a dedicated exhibition centre. It is not, as I had thought, a transformed train station...

After getting our bags searched we entered the cavernous exhibition space. It was a breath-taking first-impression - the huge expanse of girders was painted white and extended high above us:We walked thoroughly around the ground floor looking at the hundreds of different stalls along the way. We've both been to similar exhibitions and we both felt that this was was very quiet. Despite it being mid-afternoon on a Saturday there were very few people around and every stall looked pretty deserted of customers.
We saw lots of interesting things, many of them not things I would classify as "fine art". We saw suites of armour:as well as stalls selling exquisite fossils, retro film posters, furniture, even cold-war era binoculars... There were also a few paintings and sculptures, the kind of thing I would expect.

After snooping around the ground floor we ascended a flight of stairs to "The Orangery" and did a circuit up there. After I was hit by a hay-fever sneezing fit we continued on our way and took in the birds-eye view:
By this time we'd decided that everything was way out of our price range, so we left. ABJ had to have her bag searched again, even though it's far too small to steal anything that was on sale...

We saw a cute car on the outside:
Summary: Good to finally see the interior of the Olympia exhibition centre.

See some plays: Sweet Charity

Websites:
http://www.trh.co.uk
http://www.sweetcharitywestend.com

Last night ABJ and I went to see the musical Sweet Charity at the Theatre Royal Haymarket. We bought our tickets around 6pm ready for the 7.30pm show time.

Our seats were in the gallery - the highest part of the theatre. As the musical started we found we had a whole row to ourselves. The people sitting in the gallery rows in front of us were packed shoulder to shoulder whereas we had plenty of room. During the interval the audience shuffled around and a few people came to join the empty rows around us. I enjoyed seeing the spot lights just behind us shining all the way down to the stage...The show itself was fun - I particular liked a scene in which the two characters are trapped in a lift. They did a good job at making you believe they really were trapped in this small space...Summary: Short and sweet charity