Thursday, November 8/2012
Our original intention was to queue for same day release tickets for Alan Bennett's new play, People. That would mean being at the National Theatre by eight and leaving here by seven. It's a good day for it, because there's a matinee as well as the evening performance, so twice the chance of getting a ticket. But at six a.m. we rethink - not because we're reluctant to leave the nest warmth of the bed (though we are) but because Alexander has asked if we fancy going to a funky little venue on the southbank to see his younger brother Roddy in an inaugural gig with his new band, Quorn. If we leave now to get tickets for People, and go to the matinee before an evening concert, it will make too crowded a day. So we hope that we can catch a performance when we're back in London in April. Already we've missed a bit of performance art. J reports having read of a scuffle breaking out between two patrons at a performance of People. One, an elderly American and the other a rather large Brit - the issue being the lack of room to accommodate them in adjoining seats. Apparently audience members were forced to intervene when the dispute became physical, though some had at first hesitated, thinking they might be witnessing a part of the evening's scripted drama.
A trip in the afternoon to see an exhibit of Marilyn Monroe's media portraits at the National Portrait Gallery. The 50th anniversary of her death. She was the same age as the queen - very sad.
Tonight we see some planned performance art. It takes a bit of doing to find the Nursery Theatre. Arch 61 off Great Suffolk Road is a bit vague as an address, and we get quite close before discovering, with the help of two kind girls with GPS, the rather grotty lane following the railway arches.
It's a little cavern - funky, seating about forty on a miscellany of furniture from comfortable armchairs to a bench that's more sawhorse. The band is called Quorn - happily, Alexander discovers, because they fell heir to a quantity of black T-shirts inscribed with the name (and as it is a town in the north as well as a brand name, they're safe from litigation). It's not all band. There's a five woman modern dance group who begin with a shadow performance behind the white paper screen and continue with a number of presentations, many of them quite witty and some actually based on current (as in today's) news items. The band provides minimalist accompaniment and the whole performance is clever, often very funny, and pleasantly intimate in the small, informal space. A off immediately afterward as he has five pianos to tune tomorrow morning.
Our original intention was to queue for same day release tickets for Alan Bennett's new play, People. That would mean being at the National Theatre by eight and leaving here by seven. It's a good day for it, because there's a matinee as well as the evening performance, so twice the chance of getting a ticket. But at six a.m. we rethink - not because we're reluctant to leave the nest warmth of the bed (though we are) but because Alexander has asked if we fancy going to a funky little venue on the southbank to see his younger brother Roddy in an inaugural gig with his new band, Quorn. If we leave now to get tickets for People, and go to the matinee before an evening concert, it will make too crowded a day. So we hope that we can catch a performance when we're back in London in April. Already we've missed a bit of performance art. J reports having read of a scuffle breaking out between two patrons at a performance of People. One, an elderly American and the other a rather large Brit - the issue being the lack of room to accommodate them in adjoining seats. Apparently audience members were forced to intervene when the dispute became physical, though some had at first hesitated, thinking they might be witnessing a part of the evening's scripted drama.
A trip in the afternoon to see an exhibit of Marilyn Monroe's media portraits at the National Portrait Gallery. The 50th anniversary of her death. She was the same age as the queen - very sad.
Tonight we see some planned performance art. It takes a bit of doing to find the Nursery Theatre. Arch 61 off Great Suffolk Road is a bit vague as an address, and we get quite close before discovering, with the help of two kind girls with GPS, the rather grotty lane following the railway arches.
It's a little cavern - funky, seating about forty on a miscellany of furniture from comfortable armchairs to a bench that's more sawhorse. The band is called Quorn - happily, Alexander discovers, because they fell heir to a quantity of black T-shirts inscribed with the name (and as it is a town in the north as well as a brand name, they're safe from litigation). It's not all band. There's a five woman modern dance group who begin with a shadow performance behind the white paper screen and continue with a number of presentations, many of them quite witty and some actually based on current (as in today's) news items. The band provides minimalist accompaniment and the whole performance is clever, often very funny, and pleasantly intimate in the small, informal space. A off immediately afterward as he has five pianos to tune tomorrow morning.
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