Monday, March 29/2010

Up early and over to the National Theatre to queue for tickets to The Power of Yes. The National Theatre is a pleasure for a couple of reasons. It stages plays that are more than spectacle, sometimes experimental or classical, often popular, but usually with genuine artistic merit. And it holds back several of the least expensive (£10) seats until the day of the performance. The doors to the building open at 9:30 and we're there at about 8:20, putting us 8th and 9th in line. Some of the others are better prepared, with folding chairs and cups of coffee and novels, but we've brought newspapers and the wait is worth it.



Then over to the Barbican to use the internet and check the magazines. Stop in Camden Town on the way back and home for late lunch. In the evenings it's back to the theatre for the performance. The Power of Yes is an examination by playwright David Hare of the 2008 (and following) financial crisis in a serious of dialogues and incisive comments with characters ranging from Alan Greenspan to George Soros to a bemused playwritht. It's a fast-moving examination, and, in the words of the New Statesman, "not only enlightening - financially and psychologically - but biting, witty, fun." No spectacle at all, but we really enjoy it.