connielane (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
connielane) wrote2007-03-24 11:32 am
connielane) wrote2007-03-24 11:32 am
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London-cation, Part 4 - Light the Kettle!
I think my previous post was my "Order of the Phoenix" of posts about my London-cation. :P There's still a lot to say, but perhaps not SO very extensively as Thursday. Also, there are more things I'd like to say about Equus in these posts, but I figured I get the "review" out of the way while talking about the first viewing.
Saturday morning I repacked, trying to redistribute the weight in my luggage for the migration from the hotel to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
fellytone_k8's flat, where I would be staying for the remainder of my trip. I was not very successful at making it managable for Tube travel, but everything got there. After meeting K8 at Victoria station, we rode out to Barons Court (thankfully a one-train journey) to her lovely flat. She gave me the tour and explained how to use the combination bath/shower (also known as a Bower©), and we spent a little time chatting about HP fandom and the movies and why everyone has to freak out so badly when changes get made. Oh, and there was a bit of gushing about Kim Possible, and how they've made Kim/Ron work so well.
I got back to central London in time to grab some lunch at Pret a Manger (*sticks nose in air haughtily*), one of several places in town that charges you more for your food if you're not getting it "take away." Then it was back to the Gielgud for viewing #2 of Equus. The previous night I'd been in the Dress Circle (what would be the first balcony in the States), but today I was seated in the Stalls (or orchestra level). My ticket was for row B, which I thought would be the second row, but was actually the very front. I was quite close to some of the actors in a few parts, and it was strange (though not, I must confess, unpleasant) to be close enough to Dan to see arm hair. I was also close enough to perceive that there was an extraordinary amount of spittle flying out of some of the actors' mouths - especially Will Kemp's during the scene on the beach. :P
Having seen the play once already, I was familiar enough with what would happen that I could focus on some of the finer details. I discovered one thing about the production that I didn't like so much. I thought they could have used a little less music, especially in the final scene, when Alan actually blinds the horses. You can't really understand what he's saying unless you've read the play and know already. However, there was a bit of the music that I thought was rather inspired. During the scene when Alan and Jill go to the "skin flick," they sit down to watch (while a light comes on behind them that is very clearly meant to be a film projector), and ... the porn music starts. Clear, unmistakable, "waaaaaannh, chik-chik, waaaaaaannh..." I wanted to laugh so hard, but no one else did any more than chuckle. Nevertheless, it was PERFECT.
Oh, and speaking of the skin flick scene, it contains a moment where Dan ... I don't want to say he breaks character, because he doesn't really, but ... if you've seen any interviews with Dan at all, you'd recognize this as a very "him" kind of moment. He's talking about the movie, and how stupid it is, but you can tell he kind of liked it because he's talking very excitedly and very fast. And then he talks about the girl taking a shower and how you could see everything and "It was FANTASTIC!" That's like ... his word or something. It was hella cute.
The downside of this viewing was that I became very aware of myself starting to get sick. My face was hot (and no, it had nothing to do with Dan) and I could feel the nasal drip at the back of my throat. Bleargh. But I continued to enjoy the play, and afterwards met up with some other Dan fans -shocolate (who seemed rather frightened that I recognized her), magicofisis, abigail89, sheepybunbuns, dutchany, and rosina_alcona (who is not a Dangirl, but is rather close with several of the people I was meeting). I was pleased to discover that abigail89 was a fellow Southerner, and the non-Yanks boggled that we could call a city that was a five-hour drive away "close."
We enjoyed coffee and conversation (shocolate succumbed to Dan's onstage advert of "A Mars a day helps you work, rest, and play!" and bought a Mars bar :P), and some of the other girls wanted to look for a pub. As it was St. Patrick's Day, most of them were quite full, especially the Irish ones (there were long queues coming out the doors of those, and I kept thinking "can't you go to another pub?). So we ended up walking around, partly through what looked like a red-light district until I recognized the Windmill Theatre (which, I suppose, means it was a red-light district), and I eventually had to part ways with them so that I could pick up my tickets to The Dumb Waiter.
Kind of blurry, but the poster is the same pic as the programme, which you'll see below.
I found the theater more easily than I expected to, and picked up my tickets. There was some time to kill before the show started, but not enough to get dinner, so I strolled down Whitehall Street until I saw a very familiar landmark in the distance. So I walked a bit further to get a picture.
By the time I got back to the theater, there was still a good bit of time before we would be allowed to go in, so everyone started to gather in the bar just outside the studio door. We were let in just a few minutes before the show began and as we found our seats, Jason Isaacs and Lee Evans were already on the stage. Isaacs, sitting up in one bed, reading a newspaper, and Evans lying in another bed on the other side of the stage, apparently sleeping.
The Dumb Waiter is about a pair of hit men, Ben (Isaacs) and Gus (Evans). They're sitting in a basement room of a hotel/inn, waiting for a call about their next job. Ben seems to be the brains of the two of them, and much of the short play is a seemingly random back-and-forth between them. Talking about items in the newspaper, arguing over whether it's "light the kettle" or "put on the kettle," and thinking about what a mess their last job was. It doesn't seem like much is happening at all, and then they hear a noise coming from a small door in the wall - the dumb waiter that might have once been used to carry food from a basement kitchen to an upstairs cafe. It's hilarious to watch them point their guns at it and approach it tentatively, like something is going to jump out of it and kill them at any moment.
What's waiting for them is simply a piece of paper. Someone upstairs is requesting some food, and Ben explains that this room they're in must have been a kitchen before the building changed ownership. It's a rather ridiculous situation, but Ben and Gus seem willing to play along. However, the dumb waiter is raised before they can answer the request in any way, prompting Gus to yell up the shaft "GIVE US A CHANCE!" A few more orders come down via the dumb waiter, and Gus and Ben eventually send up what little victuals they have on a plate.
When Gus leaves to get a drink of water, Ben gets the call they've been waiting for. ... And I won't spoil the end for those who haven't read it. It's quite a short play, and most surreal. But it's one that will leave you sifting through all the silliness to find any clues that would have led to the conclusion. I think the thing that made the biggest impression on me, though, was Jason Isaacs' stage voice, which is much deeper and resonant than I'd imagined. *fans self*
After the play, I wandered around a bit, trying to decide what to have for dinner. I ended up grabbing a slice of pizza at a place near Picadilly Circus and heading back to Barons Court. K8's flat is very near a nice, well-kept cemetery, which was gorgeous to walk through during the day, but was a little eerie to walk around (as opposed to through, since it closes at 6) at night. But I made it back without any boogeymen getting me, and got to meet K8's flatmates, as well as the fiance of one of them - a very nice, and grammatically correct, Scot. There were yummy cookies and there was much conversation about things like what happens when you do a Google search for the song "He's Large" from Popeye, the various personalities of the He-Man series (as well as the buffness of Skeletor), and what kind of person decides one day that they're just so hot they're going to be a model.
The Scottish fiance eventually parted ways with us and we decided it was time for bed, and I had a wonderful night's sleep on a sofa that was more comfortable than my hotel bed had been. Seriously with the squooshy down comforter, I felt rather like a princess. :D
Tune in next time for worship in a famous cathedral, the best cop action movie EVAR, and a little adventure on the Tube.
Saturday morning I repacked, trying to redistribute the weight in my luggage for the migration from the hotel to
fellytone_k8's flat, where I would be staying for the remainder of my trip. I was not very successful at making it managable for Tube travel, but everything got there. After meeting K8 at Victoria station, we rode out to Barons Court (thankfully a one-train journey) to her lovely flat. She gave me the tour and explained how to use the combination bath/shower (also known as a Bower©), and we spent a little time chatting about HP fandom and the movies and why everyone has to freak out so badly when changes get made. Oh, and there was a bit of gushing about Kim Possible, and how they've made Kim/Ron work so well.I got back to central London in time to grab some lunch at Pret a Manger (*sticks nose in air haughtily*), one of several places in town that charges you more for your food if you're not getting it "take away." Then it was back to the Gielgud for viewing #2 of Equus. The previous night I'd been in the Dress Circle (what would be the first balcony in the States), but today I was seated in the Stalls (or orchestra level). My ticket was for row B, which I thought would be the second row, but was actually the very front. I was quite close to some of the actors in a few parts, and it was strange (though not, I must confess, unpleasant) to be close enough to Dan to see arm hair. I was also close enough to perceive that there was an extraordinary amount of spittle flying out of some of the actors' mouths - especially Will Kemp's during the scene on the beach. :P
Having seen the play once already, I was familiar enough with what would happen that I could focus on some of the finer details. I discovered one thing about the production that I didn't like so much. I thought they could have used a little less music, especially in the final scene, when Alan actually blinds the horses. You can't really understand what he's saying unless you've read the play and know already. However, there was a bit of the music that I thought was rather inspired. During the scene when Alan and Jill go to the "skin flick," they sit down to watch (while a light comes on behind them that is very clearly meant to be a film projector), and ... the porn music starts. Clear, unmistakable, "waaaaaannh, chik-chik, waaaaaaannh..." I wanted to laugh so hard, but no one else did any more than chuckle. Nevertheless, it was PERFECT.
Oh, and speaking of the skin flick scene, it contains a moment where Dan ... I don't want to say he breaks character, because he doesn't really, but ... if you've seen any interviews with Dan at all, you'd recognize this as a very "him" kind of moment. He's talking about the movie, and how stupid it is, but you can tell he kind of liked it because he's talking very excitedly and very fast. And then he talks about the girl taking a shower and how you could see everything and "It was FANTASTIC!" That's like ... his word or something. It was hella cute.
The downside of this viewing was that I became very aware of myself starting to get sick. My face was hot (and no, it had nothing to do with Dan) and I could feel the nasal drip at the back of my throat. Bleargh. But I continued to enjoy the play, and afterwards met up with some other Dan fans -
shocolate (who seemed rather frightened that I recognized her), magicofisis, abigail89, sheepybunbuns, dutchany, and rosina_alcona (who is not a Dangirl, but is rather close with several of the people I was meeting). I was pleased to discover that abigail89 was a fellow Southerner, and the non-Yanks boggled that we could call a city that was a five-hour drive away "close."We enjoyed coffee and conversation (
shocolate succumbed to Dan's onstage advert of "A Mars a day helps you work, rest, and play!" and bought a Mars bar :P), and some of the other girls wanted to look for a pub. As it was St. Patrick's Day, most of them were quite full, especially the Irish ones (there were long queues coming out the doors of those, and I kept thinking "can't you go to another pub?). So we ended up walking around, partly through what looked like a red-light district until I recognized the Windmill Theatre (which, I suppose, means it was a red-light district), and I eventually had to part ways with them so that I could pick up my tickets to The Dumb Waiter.Kind of blurry, but the poster is the same pic as the programme, which you'll see below.
I found the theater more easily than I expected to, and picked up my tickets. There was some time to kill before the show started, but not enough to get dinner, so I strolled down Whitehall Street until I saw a very familiar landmark in the distance. So I walked a bit further to get a picture.
By the time I got back to the theater, there was still a good bit of time before we would be allowed to go in, so everyone started to gather in the bar just outside the studio door. We were let in just a few minutes before the show began and as we found our seats, Jason Isaacs and Lee Evans were already on the stage. Isaacs, sitting up in one bed, reading a newspaper, and Evans lying in another bed on the other side of the stage, apparently sleeping.
The Dumb Waiter is about a pair of hit men, Ben (Isaacs) and Gus (Evans). They're sitting in a basement room of a hotel/inn, waiting for a call about their next job. Ben seems to be the brains of the two of them, and much of the short play is a seemingly random back-and-forth between them. Talking about items in the newspaper, arguing over whether it's "light the kettle" or "put on the kettle," and thinking about what a mess their last job was. It doesn't seem like much is happening at all, and then they hear a noise coming from a small door in the wall - the dumb waiter that might have once been used to carry food from a basement kitchen to an upstairs cafe. It's hilarious to watch them point their guns at it and approach it tentatively, like something is going to jump out of it and kill them at any moment.
What's waiting for them is simply a piece of paper. Someone upstairs is requesting some food, and Ben explains that this room they're in must have been a kitchen before the building changed ownership. It's a rather ridiculous situation, but Ben and Gus seem willing to play along. However, the dumb waiter is raised before they can answer the request in any way, prompting Gus to yell up the shaft "GIVE US A CHANCE!" A few more orders come down via the dumb waiter, and Gus and Ben eventually send up what little victuals they have on a plate.
When Gus leaves to get a drink of water, Ben gets the call they've been waiting for. ... And I won't spoil the end for those who haven't read it. It's quite a short play, and most surreal. But it's one that will leave you sifting through all the silliness to find any clues that would have led to the conclusion. I think the thing that made the biggest impression on me, though, was Jason Isaacs' stage voice, which is much deeper and resonant than I'd imagined. *fans self*
After the play, I wandered around a bit, trying to decide what to have for dinner. I ended up grabbing a slice of pizza at a place near Picadilly Circus and heading back to Barons Court. K8's flat is very near a nice, well-kept cemetery, which was gorgeous to walk through during the day, but was a little eerie to walk around (as opposed to through, since it closes at 6) at night. But I made it back without any boogeymen getting me, and got to meet K8's flatmates, as well as the fiance of one of them - a very nice, and grammatically correct, Scot. There were yummy cookies and there was much conversation about things like what happens when you do a Google search for the song "He's Large" from Popeye, the various personalities of the He-Man series (as well as the buffness of Skeletor), and what kind of person decides one day that they're just so hot they're going to be a model.
The Scottish fiance eventually parted ways with us and we decided it was time for bed, and I had a wonderful night's sleep on a sofa that was more comfortable than my hotel bed had been. Seriously with the squooshy down comforter, I felt rather like a princess. :D
Tune in next time for worship in a famous cathedral, the best cop action movie EVAR, and a little adventure on the Tube.