National Theatre. It's 3 plays in series (they can be seen self contained as
well). Each one is about 3 hours long and it is set in Russia in the 19th
century and revolves around the philosopher and radical thinker Hertzen
through 30 years of his life.
Now the best bit about this whole thing though is thus...
We had to stand for 11 hours!
We both had this day on the books for weeks now but thought no bugger was
gonna do the whole thing on a gorgeous summers day like today. So we left
the tickets to the door and what do you know - it was sold out. But the
geezer at the till says "I can give you boys standing tickets at the back
for 6 quid a show"
A look flashed between us and we both groaned "Oh shit..."
"No worries, it's only 12 hours anyway" I says before buying the wodge of
tickets and (We did save about 12 quid too) heading upstairs. To stand for
one and a half intervals. SIX TIMES.
The first play, Voyage, was great, very deeply philosphical. Much of it went
right over my head but Tarik loved it. I got the gist of it but was wrapped
up in the sumptuos beauty of the sets and the extravagant scene changes. It
was awesome! The legs killed and at the half time interval Tal summed up the
feelings we both had by saying "We are one sixth of the way through..." I
was absolutely mortified!
The second play, Shipwreck, despite the name, was my least favourite but
still you could revel in the exquisite production and some fine
performances. My legs ached like hell and I sat down (thus missing the
visuals) a bit.
The third was great and after 12 hours (there was an hour break between
each) we came out triumphant, pats on the back and feeling absolutely
satisfied. It was a monumental accomplishment and a baptism by fire to two
young amateur theatre goers. The actors done really well too. And we topped
it off with noodles at the legendary china china. What a day.
I went home with the boadest grin on my face on the night bus, knowing that
I've got Match of the Day to look forward to when I wake up at 9:30 (It's
3.00 now) then at 11 I'll go and make costumes until the early hours of the
morning. Summer in London keeps getting better and with 3 carnival days to
look forward to it's possible that we may even see 3 days of 10 points in a
row.
Also that week I went to See Dick Dale at the Garage in Highbury, spoke to some really interesting homeless guys, saw a dance production called Shinla, which fused Japanese martial arts with dance and done the Hackney Mardi Gras in full costume with Yaa. We came second, behind Masquerade 2002, whose "Gold" theme was absolutely stunning and deserved to win. Ba went and saw it too which was great for her to see me in full gear. She was so proud! Fight Night at the Prince Charles too, Kung Fu on the big screen. Wicked week!
Not much really happened after that(!) Well it did, but mainly cos i had to organise to go to the States, so the diary is pretty jammed, but not with interestin stuff. Done my first venturer weekend as a facilitator which was very cool. Got very muddy. Pics to be posted soon, kepp yer eyes on the photos link.
So that's it. The maddest summer on record. Keep your eyes peeled for next summer though kids...
