Seminar by Theresa Rebeck, Hampstead Theatre, 27 September 2014

After such a wonderful theatre experience at The Gate the night before…

The Edge Of Our Bodies by Adam Rapp, Gate Theatre, 26 September 2014

…we were always going to be hard to impress the next night.

Another American play too. Very well done, good cast, including one of our favourites, Roger Allam in the lead…

…it just didn’t really sparkle for us.

Perhaps it was the play. A bit predictable. Some good lines. But not special for us.

Here is a link to the Hampstead resource on this one.

It got mixed reviews – which feels about right – click here for a search term to find those.

Looks like we’d started to switch from our Friday evening Hampstead habit towards Saturday evening at the Hampstead, which subsequently became our norm. Important titbit of information, that.

The Edge Of Our Bodies by Adam Rapp, Gate Theatre, 26 September 2014

This was a really special visit to “my local” – a truly gripping short play about a pregnant teenager having to grow up fast.

I realise at the time of writing (February 2018) that Shannon Tarbet might get typecast as the pregnant teenager, having recently played that sort of role again in Yous Two at the Hampstead Downstairs – click here or below:

Yous Two by Georgia Christou, Hampstead Theatre Downstairs, 20 January 2018

The Edge Of Our Bodies was a far more sophisticated play and a more challenging piece for the performers. Cast and creatives did a superb job with this one. Especially Shannon Tarbet. We had seen her a few times before, but on the back of this piece we have been looking out for her.

Below is a video trailer:

The reviews were deservedly excellent – pretty much universally. Here is a link to a search term for those. 

Earlier that day, plenty of cricketing drama as I followed Middlesex narrowly survive Lancashire in a relegation dogfight:

If anything by chance ever happens to the King Cricket website, that page is scraped to here.

A Gresham Society Visit To the Wallace Collection Including Lunch With Richard Evans, 18 September 2014

Wallace Collection – Great Hall, November 2023, with thanks to Chris Parkins

I have written up this visit on the Gresham Society website – click here.

If anything ever befalls the Gresham Society site, you can read my words on this scrape here.

This was my first visit to the Wallace for several years – Janie and I went in 2008, primarily to see an Osbert Lancaster exhibition – click here or below:

Albion by Chris Thompson, Bush Theatre, 13 September 2014

Gosh this was a powerful piece about a fictitious far right group in East London, centred around an enthusiasm for karaoke as well as unpalatable politics.

Really well written, excellent performers and well directed too.

It reminded us why we like the Bush so much…if for some reason we needed reminding.

Here is a link to the Bush resource on this play/production.

Below is the trailer:

The reviews were good, but the critics were not as unequivocally impressed with this piece as we were – click here for a link to a search term for the reviews.

This was a challenging piece that mad us think and question some of our preconceptions. Perhaps that made it harder for the reviewers. Me and Daisy – for sure we’re up for this sort of thing.

An End Of Season Visit To Lord’s With Charley The Gent, Middlesex v Durham, 9 September 2014

Madeleines de Commercy

Most of the story of this visit is captured in the following King Cricket piece, published in April 2015:

If by any chance anything ever happens to the King Cricket site, here’s a scrape of that Proust-inspired piece.

Not only had the season flown by in a “lost time” manner, that day and evening similarly flew by.

There was a meet the players party in the evening which, if I recall correctly, was quite well attended by Durham guests as well as Middlesex players that year. Did Chas and I manage a quick chat with Colly at that one? Chas might remember.

And talking of remembrance of things past, the match turned out to be one to forget from a Middlesex point of view – see Cricinfo details here.

The Widowing of Mrs Holroyd by DH Lawrence, Orange Tree Theatre, 6 September 2014

This was Paul Miller’s first production having assume the reins at the Orange Tree.

We were pretty impressed, although we were looking forward a bit more to the modern works we had booked to see later in the season.

This was a very slick production; well directed, well produced and skillfully acted.

It is a grim play, though. mercifully not too long for its period – or perhaps Paul Miller was prepared to cut a bit, whereas Sam Walters was always orthodox as far as the text was concerned.

Here is a link to the Orange Tree resource on this production.

Below is a vid in which Paul Miller explains himself:

The reviews were good – deservedly so – click here for a link to them.

Did we chow down at Don Fernando after the show? By ‘eck we did.