Day Thirty Three - Stovepipe & Hallelujah

I got up early this morning super tired but determined to get £10 earlybird tickets for The Pitmen Painters at The National. I arrived at 8.30am (doors open at 9.30am) to find a long line. I waited in the cold for an hour and then eventually made my way to the front of the cue, and there was a £10 ticket available but it was high up and to the side, and when I asked the guy at the desk whether it was a good show he didn't seem that enthusiastic, so in my tired and slightly dramatic state I decided to pass. Ugh! Why did I get up so early!! I then went to several other theatres around the West End to try and get cheap tickets. Twelfth Night at the Donmar; Les Miserables; Spring Awakening. No luck. So instead I decided to go to a 'Fringe' show (they call all shows that aren't on or off West End Fringe shows).

Before that I went to a matinee of a promenade theatre show about post 9/11 Iraq and British troops involvement. It was very cool - in a found space underneith an old shopping mall.

For every guy tryin to be a pro, there's a psychopath. And for every psychopath, there's a cowboy.

When a mercenary goes missing en route to Iraq, his closest surviving friend embarks on a hunt across the post-war Middle East.

Stovepipe is an indoor promenade performance at a location in Shepherd's Bush; audiences observe the unravelling of this original drama whilst being guided through five-star hotel bars, seedy brothels, and war-torn desert landscapes.

‘One of the best promenade dramas I’ve seen, truly effective and illuminating.’
Tom Stoppard

The exterior of the meeting space at West 12 Shopping Mall.

The space was very well used. Lighting or sound were used to guide the audience to the next area, and the carpark had been turned into lots of very detailed rooms. A bar, a hotel room, a conference room, an office... They obviously had a decent budget to do this!

Inside the meeting space. We were then lead downstairs underneath the mall.

The acting wasn't brilliant but the feeling and atmosphere of the piece was very cool. It was great having the actors rub up against you, and sometimes even talk to you. For me the biggest bit of learning was how to move an audience where they need to go without being too obvious about it. For me, the moments that were most effective were when the audience suddenly in darkness - the scene disappears - and then a new light comes on in another space. We were drawn to the light like bugs!

In between shows I went to the Portobello Markets which turned out to be super close to Nick and Joshua's place. I got there when the markets were closing but still got a good sense of what they are like. There was an amazing moment when one fruit seller suddenly yelled out "Everything half price!" and then suddenly all of the markets down the street caught on and started shouting the same thing. I imagine this happens every weekend, but they're all trying to hold off as long as possible.

Got one of the last muffins at the famous (everybody from London at Ecole Philippe Gaulier told me to go) Hummingbird Bakery. It was delicious!

The Hummingbird Bakery. Very popular!

My carrot cake muffin. The icing was to die for.

All the colours of the rainbow!

Afterwards I went to my Fringe show at Theatre 503 (http://www.theatre503.com/) above the Latchmere Pub. I took an over-ground train to get there (the middle of nowhere), and ran from the station. Just made it!

An English woman, an Irish woman and an estate agent walk into a funeral parlour. They are here for Frank and what he owes them. But Frank is literally dead broke. So who's going to pay the bill?

Commissioned, written and rehearsed in under 2 months as part of 503's Rapid Write programme, Hallelujah is a black comedy about being in the red by award winning writer Jane Bodie.

It was definitely Fringey - much like BATS Theatre. The acting was fairly average, and the play was a bit shakey, but I really enjoyed it. It was a nice change from all the really big theatre I've seen.

One thing I noticed in this production was that the character played by Aoife McMahon was much bigger than the other two characters. More alive and theatrical compared to the semi-naturalistic others. And for me I loved Aoife much more than the others. Like Gaulier said, we want to see theatricality. Naturalism is boring. She was perhaps slightly unrealistic but it didn't matter. She allowed my imagination to dream around her and I enjoyed her. I didn't want her to convince me she was 'real'. I just wanted to have fun.

Afterwards I went to see Trigg at The Swan which had a live band and was pumping. He made me a complementary Deluxe Pina Colada (Deluxe because it has Giollani in it) and then everybody started buying them. Not a bad business move at all when they cost £8!

The Deluxe Pina Colada.

Then went home and watched '24' with Nick and Joshua and two of their friends. I was exhausted but hung in there and had a great day.

Nick. Joshua couldn't be in the photo as he has 'Photophobia'.