Having sadly had to recently wrestle with personal bereavement and subsequent funeral arrangements et al, a two night break to London was a chance to relax a little and recharge the batteries. Coming after Mum’s sad death (October 4th 2012), it was a welcome distraction…
We managed to fit in two theatre visits while we were down there.
The first, (Chorus of Disapproval) was at the Harold Pinter (ex Comedy) Theatre. Rob Bryden was superb as the hapless director of the amateur dramatics society and all the other performances (Nigel Harmon, Ashley Jensen, Barrie Rutter, Susan Lynch among them) were all at least solid to excellent; However, I can’t help thinking Ayckbourne was funnier than this when I first saw the play. This is the second Ayckbourne seen recently where this has been the case. Maybe the plays (or I) haven’t aged as well as expected?
The second production was Our Boys at the Duchess. Went to this theatre for the first time to see the Pitmen Painters and it just seems a perfect space for ensemble shows of this nature. The whole cast was excellent (not just Lawrence Fox!). Our Boys is full of humour, pathos and anger (humour predominates, in case I’m putting you off) and, although written in the 1980s, it seems as entirely relevant today as when it was written. One critique I read considered it lacked a narrative arc, which whilst possibly technically correct, seems largely irrelevant as it still succeeds as an uncompromisingly heartfelt but funny drama.
Also managed to fit in a visit to the English Heritage Wellington Arch. Well worth a visit – that’s the real beauty of Heritage membership, you end up using the EH book to discover places that, even though you knew they existed, you had no idea you could actually get inside them and get a real sense of their own unique history. Also took a picture of Apsley House (which is just across the road from the Arch), but as we ended up not having the time to actually go inside, it probably doesn’t count
Probably won’t stop me sticking a picture up when I get round to posting the EH project on the site though!!