Look, Europe! by Ghazi Rabihavi, Almeida Theatre, Followed By Dinner At Granita, 5 October 2007

This must have been one of our biggest weekends of theatre and dining ever. Following a long night of Caryl Churchill and Nobu on the Saturday…

…we did the “theatre plus big night out dinner” thing again the next night.

Look, Europe! was, I think, a one-off awareness and fundraising evening for anti-censorship campaign Index, done under the auspices of Harold Pinter and primarily aimed and about Iranian censorship.

Fine cast too – joining Harold Pinter were Joseph Bennett, Anna Friel, Rhydian Jones, Andrew Lincoln, Roger Lloyd Pack, David MacCreedy, Nadia Sawalha, Nadim Sawalha, Christopher Simon and Malcolm Tierney.

David Lister wrote the event up brilliantly as a preview in the Independent:

Look Europe Lister IndyLook Europe Lister Indy 03 Oct 1997, Fri The Independent (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Janie and I were both very taken by the evening at the theatre, which was good drama and very thought provoking for its cause.

Dinner At Granita

Then a few doors down to Granita in Upper Street, which we had been meaning to try for ages. Apparently the spiritual home of New Labour, as Tony Blair and Gordon Brown are said to have made their leadership pact there a few years before our visit.

Tragically, not only were there no cabinet ministers to be seen in there on that Sunday evening, we didn’t even see Harold, Antonia and Co “after show”, which we thought must be a racing certainty.

We did still have a very good meal, though.

And to prove her superwoman credentials, after that action packed weekend, Janie went off at about 6:30 the next morning to treat her first domiciliary patient of the day. 25 years later – not a chance – we’d probably take the Monday off, if not the Monday and Tuesday!

Life Support by Simon Gray, Richmond Theatre, 20 June 1997

We went on a Friday evening to see part of a preview run of this play/production, which went on to have a good long stint at the Aldwych and which had previously been tested at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in Guildford (according to my notes) and/ot Theatre Royal Bath according to the Theatricalia entry.

Anyway…

…I have always been partial to a bit of Simon Gray and also partial to a bit of Alan Bates’s acting and Harold Pinter’s directing, so this was a “must see” for me and Janie – hence the Friday evening booking.

Below is a rare review of the actual Richmond performances from the Ealing & Acton Gazette:

Life Support Ealing & Acton Gazette Tim HarrisonLife Support Ealing & Acton Gazette Tim Harrison 20 Jun 1997, Fri Ealing and Acton Gazette (Ealing, London, England) Newspapers.com

Below is a charming interview piece from the Guardian about the genesis of this play:

Life Support Simon Gray Claire Amitstead GuardianLife Support Simon Gray Claire Amitstead Guardian 26 Jul 1997, Sat The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Nicholas de Jongh in The Standard didn’t much like the play when he saw it at The Aldwych:

Life Support de Jongh StandardLife Support de Jongh Standard 06 Aug 1997, Wed Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Whereas Suzannah Clapp liked it more in The Observer:

Life Support Clapp ObserverLife Support Clapp Observer 10 Aug 1997, Sun The Observer (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

We voted it “good”, which is not great, but we did rate the piece and the performances highly enough.