Tag: John Turner

The Wild Duck by Henrik Ibsen, The Questors Theatre, 15 October 1999

A successful night at The Questors with the Duchess (Janie’s mum). I wrote,

very good,

in my log, which will be a comment on the play/production rather than The Duchess’s conduct.

Janie and I subsequently saw a superb production of this play at The Donmar.

I recall having some reservations about seeing an amateur production of this great play, but actually The Questors had actors and creatives of sufficient quality to carry this work well.

Janie’s diary suggests that we went to eat at a place named Rastificia afterwards, on Ealing Broadway, at 10:30. Sounds like Jamaican food from the name.

Just what Janie and I will have needed on a Friday evening after a long week’s work. No doubt the waiters made a fuss of The Duchess and no doubt she wanted to stay for one more cigarette at the end of the meal, so we’ll have got home very late indeed.

Also, no doubt, the deal was that The Duchess did the theatre tickets, Janie did the interval drinks and I did the meal. [Note to historians – The Duchess got several pairs of guest tickets free each year with her membership of The Questors – I’m pretty sure we didn’t go any more often than the using up of the freebies allowed].

“Parsimony is the best policy” – The Duchess of Castlebar

The Journalists by Arnold Wesker, The Questors Theatre, 7 December 1996

My log for this one reads:

Programme (and hence all details) missing.

Production OK but cluttered – much like the play.

But all is not lost – it turns out that The Questors Theatre has one of the best theatrical archives of their own productions on the planet (who knew?), so everything you ever wanted to know about this production (or indeed any Questors production) and more besides, is preserved. Click here for The Journalists.

Just in case anything ever goes awry there, I have uploaded the scan of the programme to here.

I was reminded of this play and production many years later when Janie and I saw Ink at the Almeida.

Ink by James Graham, Almeida Theatre, 17 June 2017

Ink was not cluttered, although I did get spluttered…

…but that’s another story.

We no doubt took Pauline on to Noughts & Crosses, or possibly Lisa’s, or possibly Wine & Moussaka afterwards.

Pauline will have done the Questors tickets, which was very generous of her (she didn’t have to pay anything for two guest tickets), Janie will have done the interval drinks and I will have sported the dinner. Fair dinkum.

All My Sons by Arthur Miller, The Questors Theatre, 22 May 1993

Once bitten but seemingly not twice shy, here was another evening at the Questors with Pauline, Janie’s mum. Quite soon after the previous visit to see The Real Thing:

The Real Thing by Tom Stoppard, The Questors Theatre, 3 April 1993

On this occasion, I had been at a BDO Awayday on the Friday and overnight into the Saturday. This might have been the one after which Steve Taylor nearly lost his life in a car accident driving off to play cricket on the Saturday, but perhaps that was an earlier one.

I too was taking risks with my next day activities, but a different family of risks.

Anyway, according to Janie’s diary, she took work on the Saturday morning and gave blood that afternoon, before our evening engagement with her mum…

…that really is like giving blood twice in one day – not recommended.

Much like with The Real Thing, Janie and I got the opportunity, about seven years later, to see a tippy-top professional production of this fine play – in the case of All My Sons, one of Arthur Miller’s finest.

The Questors production was not at all bad, though.

No drinks at Pauline’s before this one – I think Pauline set into what became the regular pattern of “fairness”, which was:

  • Pauline did The Questors tickets
  • Janie paid for the drinks at The Questors
  • I paid for the restaurant meal afterwards.

I learnt some years later that, as a member of The Questors, Pauline got a certain number of free tickets for shows and I am pretty sure she calibrated her membership/invitations to ensure that she wasn’t actually paying for our tickets…ever.

Fair enough.

Janie’s diary reveals that we ate at Lisa’s after that particular show. Lisa served pretty good food on Pitshanger Lane, but my goodness did you get Lisa’s life story thrown in free of charge along with the food, especially if you were one of only a handful of late/after theatre tables.

Lisa’s was still there 20 years or so on, but now gone for good, I believe. Possibly just as well.