There is a reason why I haven't been posting for so long, but I won't go into that now. In fact, I have still been able to make trips to London quite regularly and I have been to quite a few theatres since.
The lastest play I really enjoyed was "Into thy Hands" by Jonathan Holmes, at Wilton's Music Hall, which has had problems with the safety of its structure and might be in danger of being torn down ...
I saw the play on the last day of its run. Maybe that was a good thing, otherwise I had probably come back a week later to see it again. I really, really liked it.
It was basically about the different views of religion at the time of the King James Bible, 400 years ago, namely those of John Donne on one side and Lancelot Andrewes on the other.

Yes, I know. Theatre isn't life. I will have to make a living. Seriously. Day trips to London are reasonable, but only to a certain extend. But then, looking back at the last 15 years, I am so glad to have witnessed an amazing number of plays, with or without songs. On average, I have been to one play a month for fifteen years, including multiple performances (clear winners: Skylight 4 times, Man of No Importance 7 times (!!), JBTRTL, well ...). No, it's not normal, but so what? There are still plenty of things I missed. Cases in point: Knives in Hens at the Arcola, Dalston Songs (ROH, Linbury Studio) recently or After Darwin by Timberlake Wertenberker (way back in 1997 I think).
I decided to embark on yet another day trip to London (didn't we have a lovely time last week), to go see "Once Upon a Time at the Adelphi" again. But then, I just cannot go to see only one play. There is one show that grabbed my attention: "Random" by debbie tucker green (she insists on no capital letters), a one-woman show at a "new" venue, the Theatre Local at a disused unit within Elephant and Castle shopping centre. I hear many can't wait for the whole building to be torn down, but that'll still take a while ...

I met Gwilym Davies in person. Although he did not make my coffee, it was good to have seen him. The barista who actually made my coffee is the Swedish barista champion no less. "Will Eat For Money" (blogspot) once described Prufrock's flat white as "like drinking butter. In a good way." True.



This man makes a mean flat white:



But so does this man, when awake:



Then I went on to F. Cooke's Pie and Mash on Hoxton St. This was my breakfast! Granted, it was a generous portion and it was cheap, but pie and mash isn't for me.



On to my first theatre show of the day, at the Pleasance in Islington.

English tenor Philip Langridge died yesterday at 70. I blogged about the death of Jerry Hadley in 2007. This is completely different, although I find it striking that they sang the same part - hardly surprising as they were both tenors. I still have a video (!) of Billy Budd, of 1988, in which Langridge sang Captain Vere, Thomas Allen was Budd and Richard Van Allan was Claggart. Oh, my, Van Allen has passed, too, in December of 2008. http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/dec/10/richard-van-allan-obituary. RIP.

I'm slowly becoming infatuated with East London. This is a good time and a bad time for it. Good, because a lot of changes take place in the run up to the Olympics. Bad, well, because of precisely the same reason. Yes, there is a grotty charm about it that might be gone soon (and probably not so charming in the first place when you live there). With all my emphasis on "Man of No Importance", I did not took too closely neither left nor right and missed something that I might regret: a performance of songs entitled "Dalston Songs" by a composer named Helen Chadwick, who is also among the performers at ROH's Linbury Studio, about life in East London. And - surprise - the beginning is set in a coffee shop ; ) ; )
There were only four performances this time around, as it was first performed in 2006, then developed further and the current version was first staged in 2008. Dang! Missed something really interesting again ...

Sometimes it feels good to have a word for something. It feels especially good when an ailment that you always thought only you had finally gets a name. Sometimes it is something you always liked, but couldn't put your finger on. However, it can be disappointing when the name just doesn't live up to what is behind it.
Case in point: the flat white. I was always a bit wary of Costa. Just was. When I saw their "flat white" ad and my initial reaction was: why would they advertise something flat?? I checked Wikipedia and thought that it was my kind of coffee. Starbuck would have called it "single shot dry/no foam latte. I must admit that I have yet to taste one (and I will and report back).
Gwilym Davies is world champion barista. Recently, Prufrock Coffee at Present, Shoreditch High Street, was crowned by TimeOut as the best cup of coffee in London. Gwilym pours there. I once got lost in the East End searching for London's best bagels in 1995. What is it with the area? And talking about names that are not as promising as what you might find behind them: who wants to search for the best coffee ever in a ditch? (Righthand head rule in morphology: a shoreditch is a kind of ditch. Yet more bad news for Duesseldorf. Yes I know it doesn't apply to proper names. However, I always wondered: what's a stalwart? Need to rethink this one. I know what a stalwart is, btw.)
Gwilym came up with something great, fotifying his theory of "the third wave of coffee" (http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2009/mar/16/best-barista-britain-coffee); he invented the "disloyality card" to encourage people to support independent, one-off coffee shops around London. I might have to give some of his suggestions a try.




(source: http://www.jimseven.com/2009/12/17/gwilyms-disloyalty-card)

Despite his (very) Welsh name, Gwilym was born in Cheltenham and brought up in Leeds, learned about coffee in NZ and has been living in London for ten years. He was trained by ... jimseven/James Hoffmann (see blog above) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwilym_Davies_%28barista%29

There is an interesting interview with Gwilym on http://astarbarista.blogspot.com/2008/04/gwillem.html (sorry, no embed code)

I didn't see the Pitmen Painters that day; arrived too late. Instead, I had a nice dinner with ASH. The opportunity might never come again, but this time it might not even be my fault ...
But this is, after all, the city of second chances. On December 5th I went to see both the Pitmen Painters and A Man of No Importance in one day. Oooh yes. These trips leave you exhausted and I might have fallen asleep briefly during Painters, but thanks to three (!) cups of coffee, I stayed awake during Man.
Pitmen Painters is a great show, especially with my penchant for the North East of England. It was great to see how the men, especially Oliver Kilbourn, warmed up to the concept of art and the thought of it becoming part of their lives. There is something to blogging in close proximity to the show itself, as I can't recall too much to be honest. However, I remember that it was a great experience; as always, I'd've liked a performance in the more intimate Cottesloe a lot more, but I am glad to have seen it.
The same held true for A Man of No Imoportance, especially as the transfer to the Arts meant a few changes in the staging, so the second show at the lovely Union was an added bonus for me.
From December 18th to 22nd I was back to see the great "Rage" accorionist Igor Outkine and his amazing wife and partner Sarah Harrison perform together various pieces of Russian, Gypsy and other music, complete with a guest appearence of Mark Almond. Russia in Camden. Knowing my body's reaction to alcohol, I forwent the free shot of vodka, though I heard it was really good stuff.
Before that, it was the spectacle "Nation" at the National's Olivier theatre. First row for a tenner, otherwise I wouldn't have gone ... Give me a two-hander (or even a one-person-show) in a fifty seater anytime ...
The first night I spent at a new (for me) venue, the Library at the Bush on Uxbridge Road, to see the second part of "The Contingency Plan", entitled Resilience. Despite the potentially deary subject matter, climate change, and the fact that it was "only" a reading instead of a proper staging, it was among the best performances I've ever witnessed. It left me regret the fact that I hadn't seen the first part as well.
As I decided to stay on for another day, I went to a double feature at the EtCetera in Camden on Sunday.

I usually don't let people down. Should that happen, I don't feel good about it.
Hold on, this post was started in a cocktail bar. On an iPhone. Don't drink and blog. Ever.
Good news is, saw the guy today and he didn't slap me. Sure he's disappointed, but not angry. He'd have every right to be both. This makes me feel even worse. In short, I (sort of) agreed to do the publicity in schools for a bilingual production of Romeo and Juliet, but I ended up not doing it. There wouldn't have been any money in it for me at all, but I had agreed and didn't do it after all. Baaad practice. Not proud.

However, the reason why I saw the guy in the first place was that I attended the Cologne independent theatre awards (yes these exist). I had a job interview as well, before and after. Strange thing. It wasn't really a job. Apparently people don't even want to let me work for them for free. No, he didn't know about the aforementioned stupidity, so that's not the reason. Now the blogosphere knows, but who cares?
Indeed, who cares at all?

Blogging from the iPhone is new. Curtesy of the National Theatre WiFi, it is possible to avoid the awkwardness of internet cafes (where are the accents on the iPhone keypad?), and enjoy some peace and quiet. Nick Hytner, I might roll out my futon in here one day.
My three day, four play London trip has started out well, unexpectedly well at that, with fairly warm and sunny weather for mid-November. Climate change alert, I know. The fact that I got here by plane doesn't help, either. But there was a new (pub) theatre to check out: Et Cetera, Camden. Oh, the joys of Fringe theatre! Sally Torode's "Open Yarmouth" was grand, albeit just one hour long, but the intensity of it, combined with the small size of the space made for a jaw-dropping experience. (As we all know, I am quite fond of that combination.) I loved esecially Teresa Jennings' "Dervla", the initially rancid, but honestly caring Irish mother.
Again, as so often, I didn't properly check the lineup of Nicholas Wright's "Mrs Klein" at the Almeida. Clare Higgins and Nicola Walker in one play? Need I more reasons to love London? Zoe Waites as Melitta was new, but I loved the "Low Level Panic" approach of an all-female cast of three. It was a bit strange that Nicola Walker's character Paula, complete with convincing German accent, was present on stage during some rather delicate mother-daughter confession talks, but maybe it was their way of dealing with certain problems. And all that was just before 5 o'clock.
Onto the next little theatre that could, the Union Theatre in Southwark. How on earth were 17 people plus musicians supposed to fit in there? No joke, just cheerful, gratifying amdram, presented by true pros. I didn't know they made these anymore. You just wanted to give Alfie a pat on the back, cuddle Baldy (ok, will stop this in a minute) and tell the sister to stop worrying so much. And have a drink with all of them at a Dublin pub. Awww, didn't check the lineup properly, again. The musicians were almost exclusively comprised of cast members, so there was only one additional person on stage. This is all the more admirable, performing double duty in such a (charmingly) confined space. Claustrophobia, moi? I might prefer isle seats, and wrapped myself around a pole almost unnecessarily as to not obstruct the actors' entries, but I can go to Fringe venues and love them, and also use the tube at peak times, if need be. I'll be back for the last show on December 5th, hopefully; one of my whirlwind one-day-trips, two plays in twelve hours ...

Stories by Heart is a wonderful evening of compelling performance and heartwarming talk by Tony award winning actor John Lithgow. He is one of the best stage actors America has to offer. And - surprise surprise - he is also RADA-trained.

The actual reason why I came over yet again and only for one day was that I wanted to see the musical that never happened, but since there are still legal issues, it shall remain unnamed. So what to do? Yes, I am a sucker for one-person-shows (as long as it is the right person), and see, how fitting, almost exactly one year after Vanessa Redgrave trod the stage of the Lyttleton alone, there was another one of these and yet, they couldn't be more different. Lithgow's show was almost as much about himself as it was about the two stories he actually told: P.G. Wodehouse's "Uncle Fred Flits By" and Ring Lardner (Sr.!)'s "Haircut".

Blogging is hard. Will continue this post, too, shortly.