They Drink It In The Congo by Adam Brace, Almeida Theatre, 3 September 2016

Our first visit to the theatre for a wee while, as there tends to be less of the stuff we like to see over the summer.

This play looked very interesting in the Almeida leaflet. Unusually, this was the only play we booked at the Almeida this season; they seem to be doing fewer new plays these days.

It was indeed an interesting play. Mostly set in London, where a do-gooder jolly hockey sticks woman is trying to organise an awareness raising Congo Festival with the consent and co-operation of the local Congolese diaspora community. Funny and sinister in equal measure. But the play doesn’t shy away from also showing us a glimpse into the horrors of life in the war-torn DRC.

Michael Longhurst directed this one, as he did Carmen Disruption last spring. We found that play interesting with some excellent scenes, but a little disjointed. I’d suggest that They Drink It In The Congo is similar in that regard. In particular, some of the festival-organising intrigue was a little drawn out and convoluted, but some of the scenes were superb. Interesting set and scene changes. All performances very good indeed.

The Almeida stub with all the details of They Drink It In The Congo is linked here.

Reviews:

In our household, I’m with the “four stars out of five” reviewers (most of those above), while Daisy would be more with Fiona Mountford and the three stars brigade.

We went home with plenty to think/talk about and nibbled at cold compilations rather than our more regular routine; to take away a hot meal.

 

 

A Visit To Edgbaston, primarily for Warwickshire v Middlesex, 31 August to 2 September 2016

I am taking the opportunity this late season to see quite a few days of county championship cricket away from home.

This little trip to Edgbaston was a shorter reprise of the trip I undertook last year for this fixture, immortalised in my King Cricket write up: The Sound And The Fury.

No business visits this time and only Days One and Two for cricket.

Again the excellent Eaton Hotel, but not before driving straight to the ground on the Wednesday morning, after a good early morning workout at the gym.

There’s a regular core of people in the Committee Room at Edgbaston, so it felt a bit like a regathering of the clan. A very pleasant clan too.

Glorious weather for both days. No walking for me on Day One, but Day Two I walked to and from the ground, including the small detour on the way home to see the current state of the “hell-hole” hotel (vintage 2006), which I reported on separately – here.

At the end of Day One we thought that Warwickshire were on top; just. At the end of Day Two, Middlesex seemed to be bossing the game. In the end, as has been so often the case this season, the weather determined the match, on the Saturday.  Scorecard here.

Two overnights, affording time for reading, writing and ukulele playing. I took Luke the Baroq-ulele (of Thomas Gresham Society Soiree fame) this time.

I left Edgbaston just after 10:00 on the Friday, once my early afternoon meeting in London had been confirmed; otherwise I might have been able to enjoy the first two or three hours of play that day also. On the Friday evening, after a relatively frantic (albeit short) day’s work, I got my exercise playing real tennis.

In Search of a Lost Hell Hole, Edgbaston, 1 September 2016

Beechwood Hotel Latterly Renamed But Seemingly neither Refurbished nor Reopened
Beechwood Hotel Latterly Renamed but Seemingly neither Refurbished nor Reopened

I returned to Edgbaston on 31 August for the Warwickshire v Middlesex county match, quite soon after our 2016 Heavy Rollers test match visit earlier in the month – reported here.

On that visit, we reminisced about the worst place we had ever stayed for our Heavy Rollers trips, the Beechwood Hotel on the Bristol Road in 2006 – which I wrote up and Ogblogged here – well worth a read if you want a laugh.  

When reminiscing on that subject recently along the Bristol Road, Nigel identified a dilapidated, disused looking place, The Lakeside Hotel, as the likely location. I said no, because the name did not ring any bells with me. But since my research for the above piece on The Beechwood Hotel, I realised that Nigel was right, that’s the address, so it is the same place, renamed.

So, after stumps on 1 September I took a slight detour along the Bristol Road on my way back to the charms and delights of The Eaton Hotel.

I discovered the place, hiding behind the untamed greenery of its garden:

IMG_0224

Trust me, dear reader, I have put the above picture through the photo software’s “fix it” filters twice to brighten up the picture.

Why the name “Lakeside” I cannot imagine; there was no lake anywhere near, other than the hootch lake the “manager” chap was presumably dipping into regularly. As for the expansive leisure activities promise on the sign on the right-hand side…oh dear.

Sadly, although I managed to uncover hilarious on-line reviews of The Beechwood online, such as…

“hell-hole”

and

“DO NOT GO THERE, you’d be better off in a cardboard box”…

…again return to the feature on that place if you want to see more of that…the Lakeside fails to come up with anything other than name and address listings on searches. I don’t suppose it got any business other than the “half-way house” type residents we met in 2006.

My trusty iPhone (Ivan) found me a delightful walking route back to the Eaton Hotel, walking further up Sir Harry’s Road on the other side of the Priory Club from our regular route; just subtly different from (though similarly lovely to) our regular walk. It occurred to me that the route might even be the tiniest bit quicker when heading for the Pershore Road entrance to the Ground, as we do. So my stroll might have some benefits for the future, as well as being a stroll down one of memory lane’s hell-holes.