Two-Show Day, London Edition

I love 2-show days - performing or as a spectator.  Today was the first one I've had in quite some time, and it was very welcome.

I started the morning off by meeting two CMU alumni for coffee not far from the flat where I'm staying (actually at Ace and Bash's local haunt).  I was embarrassingly about 15 minutes late because I overslept (my internal clock is all messed up), but we had a nice time, and spent much of it talking about the differences between American and British theatre.  One of the CMU alums is an actor who is currently in a play, and he invited me to come and see the matinee.  Lacking other plans, I took him up on it, and made my way to Finsbury Park and the Park Theatre.  This was a really nice space, and brand new - so new, in fact, that this show, A School for Scandal by Sheridan, was only the third production to play there.  A Georgian comedy about scandalmongers in 18th century London high society, it was a witty and funny way to spend the afternoon, though getting there was tricky since the Northern line on the Tube was out of service today, and my facility with London buses is not great.

I then met Bash in the West End for dinner before seeing The Cripple of Inishmaan, starring Daniel Radcliffe.  I had never seen Cripple before, but I'm a fan of Martin McDonough (the playwright), and I know that Cripple was big at Atlantic a few years before I worked there, so I felt a kind of affinity for it, even though I didn't really know the story.  As it happens, the story is essentially a commentary on the humor of cruelty, and the pendulum-like way we can live between hope and despair.  It follows Cripple Billy, his crazy "aunties", and some other denizens of the remote and rural Irish island of Inishmaan in 1934, upon hearing that a Hollywood director is filming on the neighboring island of Inishmore.  I won't spoil it for you, so either go see it or read the play, it's quite good.  I have to admit though, for as good as the play was, at times the thickness of the Irish accents, and the peculiar turns of phrase employed made it a bit hard to understand.  But I laughed a lot anyway, sometimes heartily, sometimes uncomfortably, and there were moments of real poignancy - just like you'd expect from a McDonough play.

Afterwards Ben hopped on his bike and went to see his girlfriend, whereas I decided to take a stroll down Whitehall to Parliament, across Westminster Bridge, past the London Eye through Jubilee Gardens, and across the Jubilee Bridge and up Northumberland Street - in short, my old evening walk when I lived here.  It was late, my feet hurt, and I got rained on, but it was worth it.

I can't believe that my time here in London is basically at an end.  I have a little bit of time in the morning before having to leave for the airport, and a few hours to kill at Heathrow, but otherwise my trip is over!  It's sad.  I can only hope that it's not another five years before I'm back!

Keep calm and carry on, my friends.  Cheers!