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A trip to London
Jan. 21st, 2007 01:31 pmYesterday, we went to London for a day of culture. The afternoon was spent at the Palace Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue, watching Monty Python's Spamalot. Very enjoyable. Very silly - in fact, at first I thought it was rather too silly, but I soon got into it (coincidentally, around the time the dancing girls came on stage ;-) ) - and great fun. Someone who knew more of the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail might have appreciated it even more.
The Lady of the Lake was played by an understudy, but she did very well. I was confused for a while, because we were using a programme from Creatrix's mother, which listed Tim Curry in the cast; I kept looking out for him, without realising that he had now been replaced by Simon Russell Beale.
Then dinner in the crypt of St-Martins-in-the-built-up-area - lamb steak in red wine sauce, chicken with papaya and salad for Creatrix. And then onto the London Coliseum for The Marriage of Figaro. Again very enjoyable, although I think Creatrix (who is the opera buff* in this household) got more out of it than I did. To my taste, it went on about half an hour too long, and I was occasionally confused as to just who knew what about whose secret identity. Otherwise, the staging, costumes and direction were magnificent; and I did appreciate the surtitles (even when they differed slightly from the words actually being sung!)
There were only two downsides to the day. The first was the rapacious attitude of the theatres. At the Palace, we were charged £10.50 for one (1) glass of wine, one (1) orange juice, and one (1) packet of nuts. At the Coliseum, a programme was £4.50!
The second was the transport. We got to King's Cross Thameslink on the way in to find that there were no Northern or Picadilly line trains running from there. On the way back, our first taxi was snaffled by someone else; we got a stopping train back; and then had to get a taxi from Luton, due to engineering works. All this contrived to keep us out until midnight; and a Wellinghall needs his sleep!
Oh, and a third was that my week at work kept spilling over into my thoughts.
Today, a lie-in, and then various bits of cooking, sewing, reading &c. We need to clean the bird feeders, then we'll be going for a walk and a swim. I've also got emails and LJ comments to reply to.
*Geddit? - opera buff - opera buffa - no? - oh well, please yourselves.
The Lady of the Lake was played by an understudy, but she did very well. I was confused for a while, because we were using a programme from Creatrix's mother, which listed Tim Curry in the cast; I kept looking out for him, without realising that he had now been replaced by Simon Russell Beale.
Then dinner in the crypt of St-Martins-in-the-built-up-area - lamb steak in red wine sauce, chicken with papaya and salad for Creatrix. And then onto the London Coliseum for The Marriage of Figaro. Again very enjoyable, although I think Creatrix (who is the opera buff* in this household) got more out of it than I did. To my taste, it went on about half an hour too long, and I was occasionally confused as to just who knew what about whose secret identity. Otherwise, the staging, costumes and direction were magnificent; and I did appreciate the surtitles (even when they differed slightly from the words actually being sung!)
There were only two downsides to the day. The first was the rapacious attitude of the theatres. At the Palace, we were charged £10.50 for one (1) glass of wine, one (1) orange juice, and one (1) packet of nuts. At the Coliseum, a programme was £4.50!
The second was the transport. We got to King's Cross Thameslink on the way in to find that there were no Northern or Picadilly line trains running from there. On the way back, our first taxi was snaffled by someone else; we got a stopping train back; and then had to get a taxi from Luton, due to engineering works. All this contrived to keep us out until midnight; and a Wellinghall needs his sleep!
Oh, and a third was that my week at work kept spilling over into my thoughts.
Today, a lie-in, and then various bits of cooking, sewing, reading &c. We need to clean the bird feeders, then we'll be going for a walk and a swim. I've also got emails and LJ comments to reply to.
*Geddit? - opera buff - opera buffa - no? - oh well, please yourselves.
