Last minute decision to pop down to London yesterday, hoping to catch a matinee and then a late night showing at the Courtauld gallery. Went surprisingly well, although in the immortal words of Mr. Morecombe, not necessarily in the right order.
Went straight to the Leicester Square Discount Booth. First choice wasn’t available but managed to get tickets for “The Play That Goes Wrong” at the Duchess. It’s focused on a particularly disastrous performance of Murder at Haversham Manor by the ill-prepared Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society. Although clearly owing a massive debt to Michael Frayn’s Noises Off, it was nonetheless hilarious. Not just a farce, much cleverer than that with plenty of witty one-liners to go with the fantastic physical set pieces. It might be a little corny, preposterous and deliberately hammy but it was, by and large, very, very funny.
On the way to the Duchess, we decided to call in at the Courtauld to check on the late opening times for the Egon Schiele exhibition and discovered it was sold out. So, we decided to go and see the The Radical Nude immediately. Only two rooms (38 pictures) the exhibition majors exclusively on Schiele’s fascination with the human form. Technically superb, much of his work cannot be described as traditionally beautiful but many are mesmerising in their often contorted physicality . Dying in 1918 at only 28, one wonders what he would have gone on to produce if he had been afforded the opportunity.
After the matinee, a quick drink in the pleasant and historic Marquess of Anglesey pub, followed by a pre-theatre early evening dinner at a nearby bistro (taken on this occasion with typical Yorkshire perverseness after the theatre visit) completed a great day in the capital.