Monday, October 20, 2008

Play fest: Disappearing on a Friday

How to disappear completely and never be found was a first for me for two reasons: 1. Because it was the first time I’d used my membership to the Southwark Playhouse, which Russian Gal and Music Man kindly gave me for my birthday, and 2. Because it was the first time I’d gone to see a play on my own.

The former of these firsts meant I had a free ticket and discounted drink. All fab. The latter was interesting. I didn’t feel lonely which I thought I might but I did wonder if I was technically drinking alone during the interval and if that was a bad thing and also, I missed having someone to discuss the play with.

Which was a shame because it was great and I’d have loved to share the experience. But then I’m glad, because it was great, and I don’t think I could have fit it in if I’d tried to match anyone else’s schedule. So all in all, good decision.

The play caught my imagination from the first few lines (of dialogue not coke, although there’s plenty of both) and carried my attention throughout - drawing sympathy, amusement and despair along the way.

The small cast were all excellent, the plot and the script was exciting and thought-provoking, and the atmosphere within the audience was really good too.

In fact the only problem I had all evening was the fact that the venue gets quite cold. Since we’re not properly into winter yet I’ve made a mental note to wear layers for anything I see there in the next few months. Oh and I rather wish there’d been a programme or at least a cast sheet since I’m now bound to see the actors again and wonder where I’d seen them before. And in four cases, I’m wondering where I have already seen them.

But these are such small quibbles. It really was a superb evening. 

Posted by KT at 08:45:12 | Permalink | No Comments »

Friday, October 17, 2008

In which I go on a ticket buying spree


I’m not sure what’s possessed me…

Maybe it was because I kicked off this month with an amazing poetry evening – Felix Dennis’s ‘Did I mention the Free Wine?’ tour. It was a great way to start the Autumn – delicious wine, free evening out, amusing anecdotes but most of all, some really quite good poetry. I haven’t bought his new book yet but I love A glass half full and I liked the selected few we heard from the new collection so I will add that to my sadly meagre poetry shelf.

Or maybe it was the influence of the actually-quite-fabulous dance show I went to see on Saturday afternoon… Dance Umbrella’s Toilet Tango which took place in a shop window bathroom display on Baker Street. It was quick, it was mesmerising, it was decidedly quirky, it was free - what more could I ask for?! It was certainly enough to lay the ghost of Flamenco Flamen’ka so I don’t feel the need to see any more dance for a bit.

But most probably the reason for the spending spree is purely that there’s so many plays around at the moment. The musical stranglehold has eased ever-so-slightly and from every West End corner a new play screams down at you.

It would have been rude not to respond and I’m barely ever rude.

So today I begin my play fest - five in fifteen days in fact. Probably too much to hope that I enjoy them all but considering that even the West End Whingers were pleased with a lot of what’s on at the moment - I have high hopes!

Posted by KT at 08:05:01 | Permalink | No Comments »

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Olympic Victory Parade

A load of solid gold, silver and bronze has just gone past my office. I think the police escort is sensible - with the current economic situation the Olympians are wandering around with some of the few safe assets hanging round their necks. Probably a good thing they didn’t include much of the City in their route - that’d just be cruel.

I like these parades. London drops their work for a few minutes and becomes a long line of sports fans, nationalists, photographers. All united, all clapping and cheering. Revelling in our contribution as tax payers presumably. Lots of people were waving National Lottery fingers so we remember our contribution as a nation of hopeless gamblers too.

And then the last police motorcycle passes and we scutter back to work, full of pride at these super-skilled people.

Well done Team GB.

Posted by KT at 12:11:44 | Permalink | No Comments »

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

OK

I’ve accepted that I’m not going to get around to write more detailed posts about the last few weeks. I’ve just looked at my diary and gulped because I still have a coursework assignment hanging over my head and at a rough guess I could schedule time to write it in January.

And as long as I’m busy, I’m unlikely to go back and write about stuff that was already a while ago. It’s already confusing me.

But it would be awful not to mention the birth of a baby to two friends of mine. Very cunningly they had her on the 2nd October to match their birthdays of 2nd September and 2nd March. She looks adorable in photos though I’ve not actually met her yet. I hope to soon.

And it would be wrong not to mention my oldest friend’s hen night (involving pink plastic cowboy hats and sambucca shots - oh dear!) and the rest of my weekend in Bristol. (No Russian Gal, I didn’t eat cheesy chips at the Hope and Anchor before you ask - we went for roast instead!) My favourite city, some fabulous friends, a trip down memory lane drinking exhibitions at the Coronation Tap (oh dear again) and eating breakfast at the Boston Tea Party… It was all good.

Funny to see some of the newest batch of freshers floating around too - God I feel old sometimes!

So now I’ve committed those two significant events to blog memory* I can stop trying to catch up with myself. Phew.

* That’s actually becoming a serious concept. The other day I was talking with my family about my birthdays - my Dad is convinced that I’m never in the country for my birthday and I had to point out to him that that isn’t actually true - I’ve only been abroad twice on the actual day. Going through them, it turned out that I can remember most of my birthdays but I cannot for the life of me remember what I did for my 26th. I’m left with the conclusion that I didn’t celebrate it. Seems unlikely somehow but I guess anything’s possible. Suddenly I see the point of keeping a diary - even a sketchy one - because it’s really bugging me that I can’t remember something so relatively recent!

Posted by KT at 22:33:19 | Permalink | No Comments »

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Making stuff up

I went to a one-day introduction to creative writing class the other week at CityLit. It was good fun and very informative as well as cheap - I love how inexpensive CityLit courses are.

Anyway, the first task was to make some headlines out of a selection of words given to us by the tutor and then we had five minutes or so to start writing a tabloid-style piece to accompany the headline. Complete licence to make up whatever crap you wanted basically - great!

My piece wasn’t exactly tabloid-worthy in terms of likeliness (although…!) but it was fun to write and so I’ll include it here…

NUCLEAR SUB BEHIND SOFA SHOCK

Judy, 39, was GOBSMACKED when she dived behind the sofa during Saturday’s Dr Who and found the space occupied by a NUCLEAR SUBMARINE!

Unknown to Judy, her boyfriend Donald, 47, is a SPY who used her semi-detached house in
Coventry as a base for his anti-British operations.

“I couldn’t believe it!” said bubbly hairdresser Judy yesterday, “I thought he worked behind the till at Sainsbury’s”.


Donald has been working against the British government for 20 years, since he was recruited by a shadowy organisation during a weekend at Butlin’s.

The nuclear sub was removed from Judy’s house last night and is currently being held at an NCP car park in Coventry town centre.

“There is no danger” said Sgt Baker when asked if the sub might prove a temptation for joyriders. “But we’ve clamped the vehicle just in case.”

 

Donald’s whereabouts are currently unknown.

Posted by KT at 08:23:34 | Permalink | No Comments »

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Jack

Redhead and I went to see Flamenco Flamen’ka the other week. As my first* theatre experience in a while it wasn’t great.

Before I went I kept thinking of the name Frank, as I often do when I have the word flamenco on my mind - even before some joker decides to spell it with a K… But now the production makes me think Jack. Not quite in the sense of jack shit worth seeing (some of the dancing was very good) but the phrase ‘jack of all trades, master of none’.

I used the phrase first in the interval when trying to sum up the problem of the Karen Ruimy - the woman whose name was in the title, who stood at the front of the stage most of the time, who sung badly, who narrated worse and who danced less well than the rest of her stage-mates.

“Hmmm…” replied Redhead, studying the programme “and it says here that she started her career in finance rather than the theatre.”

Which explains a lot.

By the end of the show it was obvious that it wasn’t just Ruimy that was a jack of all trades - the whole show was master of none. Not quite a play, not quite a dance, not quite an anything frankly.

Some of the dancing was really good but the differing styles of the dancers really grated in the ensemble pieces, the story wasn’t great and the sub-plots clearly only added to add opportunities for more dance, the music would’ve been fine except for Ruimy, the narration was so insufficient it would have been better not to have it at all and overall it was the most disappointing piece of theatre I’ve seen in years.

This was the second west end production Redhead and I have seen that involved Craig Revel Horwood - the first being six dance lessons in six weeks. Perhaps it’s unfair to blame him for the failings of that play (he was only the choreographer) but it definitely isn’t for this one where he is listed as director and co-creator. I will avoid any production he has a hand in in future unless I hear it is worth seeing.

Shame really, coz I generally agree with him as a Strictly judge. Perhaps he needs to cast more of a critical eye on his own productions.

* Well, I had actually been to see The 39 Steps the night before with my sister but since I’d seen that before it doesn’t count. Still funny though.

Posted by KT at 08:40:24 | Permalink | Comments (2)

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Diaries

It’s getting to the point when I need to buy next year’s diary. So I’d better find some time to myself to go buy one because after the last two years, I think I’ve given up on dragging anyone with me for this complex task.

Apparently I am obsessive compulsive when it comes to diary shopping. I have this on the word of a trained psychologist (sort-of!) so perhaps I should be worried. But she’s blatantly wrong. I am not obsessive, just exacting.

I’m going to see a lot of my diary over the twelve months we’ll be together and so first it has to look pretty. That bit shouldn’t be hard - there are lots of dull ones but certainly not a shortage of nice-looking ones.

Second it has to be week-to-view. I’m getting a bit picky now, but this still isn’t difficult - it’s the most common layout anyway so no problem there.

If it was just those two requirements then I probably wouldn’t have ever had a friend leave me in despair while I was diary shopping but the third requirement is where it gets problematic.

Because it all comes down to the page layout. I just don’t see the point in having a diary that gives me a big space for Monday to Friday and then half a space for Saturday and Sunday. The most I’m ever likely to have on a week day is a lunch and an evening appointment but at the weekend I might have three or four different events all needing space for time, location etc. And I just can’t cram them in to the tiny half-space.

My sister works at Paperchase, which is easily my favourite stationery store except when I come to buy my diary because they ALL have the stupid small weekend layout. So I moan at her and ask why they do it. It’s a fairly obvious answer - that they’re for people who want to put business appointments in their diaries and so are busier during the week than the weekend.

I think that’s a load of rubbish for two reasons. Firstly coz I don’t think that a standard-sized week-to-view diary could possibly be big enough for a work diary. I use my pda for work appointments so I suppose I’m not the best judge but my boss has a filofax with a day-per-page diary - anything smaller won’t cut it. (The same would go for the idea that they could be aimed at students for homework - they’d definitely need more space).

But more importantly, how many of Paperchase’s customers use a brightly coloured diary more for work than for personal? Looking around their shops, I think they’ve misjudged their market.

So, assuming this year goes as before (although I hope it doesn’t), I will look at all the beautiful diaries in the more interesting stationery shops and leave them all in frustration because they have the bad layout. Eventually, having realised no store has come to their senses, I will end up at WH Smith because they have the sensible layout with 7 equal days and an extra square for notes. 

Unfortunately my first requirement then becomes a problem and I’ll stand staring despondently at the rows of unimaginative, dull or just plain ugly diaries on offer (I don’t know if this is universal but my local WH Smith caters for a ‘mature’ market).

Since I’ll have been looking for hours by then, I will eventually give up and settle for the least boring-looking. 

As I walk away, I’ll look back at the gathering of older business types selecting their dull plain-coloured diaries. And I’ll wonder if they spend the next year staring at the un-used space for the weekend and feeling annoyed that the diary layout is so unhelpful for them… 

Posted by KT at 08:30:42 | Permalink | No Comments »

Monday, October 6, 2008

So much to blog, so little time…

Seriously, who sped up the clocks?

I’d only just noticed October was due and now it’s the 6th?! We’re 20% through the month and I’ve barely blinked.

There’ve been babies and Bristol, poetry and partying, drinking and dancing (participating in the drunken variety and watching of the professional variety) and I haven’t managed to type about any of it yet… Or any of the other things that I haven’t managed to shoehorn into an alliterative duo…

Back to commuting tonight though so hopefully I’ll start catching up with myself soon. Before my head explodes.

Posted by KT at 08:38:27 | Permalink | No Comments »

Monday, September 29, 2008

I know work is often a juggling act - but not usually with gravy


I write this as I head home on the train, slightly fuzzy from three glasses of sparkling wine. I have just left the first of three events this week where I will chat and sip wine and try to act scintillating while wondering if I can risk a canape without either dropping my wine or creating a lull in the conversation because I have my mouth full or - worse - carry on talking with food stuck in my teeth.

Sometimes I ignore the food altogether - it does make it easier - but I have a long journey home so it’s better if I can eat something.

I was a bit confused by one of the offerings tonight - mini bowls of sausage, mash and onion gravy. Tasty, yes, but the sausages were bigger than could be politely eaten in one go and it was served with a spoon. So I ended up sawing at the sausages with the spoon, holding the bowl, balancing my wine glass, trying to stop my handbag slip off my shoulder and subtly peering down to check I hadn’t splashed gravy down my top, whilst trying to make intelligent conversation about the arts.

I don’t know why they don’t have training courses for these events. Three years of practice and I still struggle sometimes.

Posted by KT at 20:45:30 | Permalink | No Comments »

Thursday, September 25, 2008

From blankness to bosoms*


I had a very odd moment yesterday when I realised I was thinking about nothing.

It was utterly bizarre and I don’t think it’s ever happened to me before. Blankness when there’s something you’re trying desperately to remember or numbness when there’s something you’re trying desperately not to think about? Yes, I know both of those well.

But just nothing? No, never.

Nothing popped into my brain, invited or otherwise. No line from a book, no scene from a film, no song lyric, no daydream, no observations, no thoughts even about what I might want to have for lunch. I just stood there.

Of course, within a few seconds I was actively thinking about the fact that I was thinking nothing so it didn’t last long, but even so I felt unsettled.

I emailed my friend Redhead to ask if this was normal. She replied that she thought it was and that it’s probably more common for men than women because women find it harder to turn their brains off.

I was a bit annoyed that if I had found my ‘off switch’ then I had no idea how to locate it again, but the idea that my brain might be having a more masculine day turned out to be oddly prophetic…

Because for strange work-related reasons, I had to look through a couple of ‘lads’ mags’ later in the day and so saw many many pictures of scantily clad or not-at-all clad women. And since then, whenever I’ve had a quiet brain moment, the image that comes to mind is of huge silicon-enhanced breasts.

Definitely more common for men!

* I prefer “from nothing to knockers” but alliteration with a silent K looks wrong.

Posted by KT at 08:55:15 | Permalink | No Comments »