London - Old Friends, Old Haunts and the 3 Faces of Victor
Oh, and apparently some people called Will and Kate got married.
It was actually a day or two after that wedding that I headed home, after having been in London (and Barcelona) for about 3 weeks. So yeah, now I've been back home for a while (not as long as I was gone, but getting close). Real Life swings back into gear and it's so hard to get the travel pics up and posted...
Officially, I was in London for two work conferences which were separated by just over a week which included Easter. So no point in heading all the way back to Australia in between, of course, but I did make a sidetrip to Barcelona for a few days just before Easter with an old friend from my uni days. Barcelona is a city that I've never been to before and quite amazing. 5 days is far too short a time to spend there and I'm going to post those pics in a separate entry (hopefully soon).
But I met up with friends in London too and the city of London itself has become sort of like an old friend to me: comfortable and familiar, making me feel welcome and at home. These days, when I visit, there's less rush and impatience to see everything and anything that I can. Instead, I can take the opportunity to revisit some old favourites, as well as finding a few new ones. And the theatre... There's always the theatre.
And THE theatre production to see in London this year (so far) was the National Theatre's production of Frankenstein, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Johnny Lee Miller, and I eventually got to see it three times - and each time a different version. Yes, that's right THREE different versions.
One of the old friends that I met up with in London was Jan from Ottawa, a real theatre buff who scored us both tickets to a Sunday matinee with Cumberbatch as the creature and a Wednesday night with him as Victor. It was a bit pricey, but well worth it.
Cuddles outside Olivier theatre after the Sunday matinee
But on the Wednesday, we turned up to find an announcement that Benedict Cumberbatch was "indisposed" (turns out that he'd lost his voice) and therefore the role of Victor would be played by understudy Daniel Ings. I tried not to be too disappointed. Daniel Ings did a fine job stepping into the role (to tell truth, I liked his version slightly better than Johnny Lee Miller's). And I was on some level pleased to see Mr Cumberbatch looking after his health (this is the man who ignored a "cold" that turned out to be pneumonia while filming Sherlock). And hey, we'd already GOT two sets of tickets. The play (including additional performances added after Easter) was sold out incredibly quickly and I knew that people were queuing up outside the NT box office for day tickets from midnight or earlier each night before.
But... turns out that I really REALLY did want to see him play Victor too. So, even though I wasn't prepared to camp out overnight, I got up at 4.30am on a day there was both a matinee and evening performance and made it to the queue outside the box office at around 5.30 (literally within 8 hours after I got off a plane from Barcelona, but hey, did I mention that I really wanted to see this). I had to wait for the Tube station to open, even!
Cuddles and I made some friends in the queue outside, which was really quite impressive by the time the doors eventually opened.
Even Jan, the theatre buff, laughed and shook her head at my mad plan. She laughed in a completely different way when I scored us both front row tickets for the matinee.
So, so, SO worth it! Okay, a couple of times our view was obscured a bit, but at others we literally with arms reach of the actors. We both semi-ducked when Johnny Lee Miller came barrelling across the stage at one point. Of course we knew that he had enough control over the action and wasn't going to land in Jan's lap. But she latter admitted that she was half-hoping... ;-)
I really was trying to be not too much of a Cumberbatch fangirl about the whole thing, but I did prefer his performances in both roles. His child-like movements when the Creature was learning to walk reminded me so much of my niece who was at exactly that stage when I left for the UK. I got the humorous nuances that he put on the Creature's dialogue more readily. And I do think his Victor was evidently superior to the other two. He managed to make Victor's arrogance and selfish blindness to his creation's perspective seem like a very human failing. It wasn't really a case of me excusing his version of Victor more readily, but he did make is possible for me to understand where Victor was coming from. Did I mention, queuing up a 5.30 in the morning was so worth it?
I hope so very much that the NT realise what a goldmine they have here and release the filmed versions on DVD. I didn't manage to see any of the cinematic versions because they were screening in the UK when I was in Oz and vice versa, but I've heard nothing but great things about them - interesting camera angles and editing, and it goes without saying that the performances would be terrific. I so want a copy to be able to rewatch umpteen times at my leisure.
Anyways, talking about all three Frankenstein performances means that I've skipped ahead a bit.
Jan and I both arrived in London early in the morning of Saturday 9th April, although I probably have some justification in claiming a more severe case of jetlag, since she came from Canada while I came from Australia. We both went to see a concert by jazz guitarist Peter White in Soho that evening. Although, Jan is a bigger jazz fan, I also enjoyed it a lot and I didn't actually fall asleep (no matter what Jan says), but the combination of jet lag and very mellow music is kind of deadly.
And the next day was the day we saw Frankenstein for the first time. Even before that matinee performance, we took a London walking tour, beachcombing along the Thames riverbank. The tour took us over Southwark Bridge and along the South bank, before we played at being archeologists on the shoreline. Animal bones, 20th century pottery, pieces of clay pipes and the occasional pieces of Tudor roof tiles - probably totally insignificant to true archeologists, but fascinating to the likes of me.
Had to rush a bit to change and catch the matinee, but well worth it.
Then, for me, it was a week of actually working. No, really, I do work during these trips. Did see Frankenstein again on the Wednesday night, as I said, and did a little shopping on other evenings, but spent most of the week working.
And then in the early hours of the Saturday morning, I caught a plane to Barcelona. My first trip to that fascinating city. Five days was not nearly long enough, but I'll post another picspam for that later (soon, I hope).
After I got back, I did the aforementioned early morning camp out in the queue for Frankenstein, but it's also worth mentioning that when Jan and went to see it, the South Bank in that area had been set up as a mock "seaside resort" - complete with sand (which is something that often ISN'T found on English beaches, in my experience).
Also, we couldn't ignore the nearby "Sherlockian" graffiti.
But more about Sherlock in a moment...
That evening (Thursday) starrylizard arrived, and the next day (after she had forgiven us for seeing an extra performance of Frankenstein without her) we all took a quick tour of some of the Holmesian sites in London as well as other things...
I believe it was starrylizard's first trip to London, so we really had to kick things off with something iconic...
Did I mention that it was Good Friday? Some people felt that the occasion should be commemorated...
...although they didn't nail him up afterwards (at least, I hope they didn't).
But then, yes, we decided to visit "the world's most famous address", even if its famous occupants were fictional.
Dr Watson was even there to greet us.
Also Prof Moriarty
And Cuddles came face to face with the famous Hound
After that we just couldn't not swing by North Gower Street which could be considered the "Great Pretender" to the aforementioned famous address.
Jan is quite the information mine for TV filming venues in London. So, we also took a peak at:
The campus used in Silent Witness
And the double for MI5 HQ in Spooks
At RADA, Cuddles indulged his delusions that he was Gielgud or something
But there were still others yet to join our party. Next to arrive was lizmc1212
That Saturday we all went to see/do the London version of Accomplice (the LA version of which Jan and I had done previously).
It kicked off at the Tate Modern, so beforehand, I FINALLY (after 2 years!) got to see the Tate's collection of Rothko paintings.
(Not a big deal to most people, I know, but 2 years ago I saw an art doco about them just before a trip to London and had been keen to see them. And not only were they on loan to a gallery in Japan at that time, but last year when I revisited, they had been returned to the Tate but were still in storage!)
Anyways, don't want to say too much about Accomplice because it would spoil it for others who might want to participate in it later - and that would be a shame. Suffice it to say that the people performing it are cool!
And its HQ is the Chocolate Factory Theatre.
We walked home via Tower Bridge, so here's a pic of the Tower of London and the "Gherkin"
Make a mental note of what the Gherkin looks like coz it will be pertinent to a later post about Barcelona ;-)
Even on quiet, lazy (Easter) Sundays, there are still pubs to visit (certainly when lizmc1212 is around) and we managed to sample two in Chiswick
And on the way, we found a phone box "disguised" as..., well, as another kind of phone box ;-)
On Easter Monday, we went to Greenwich which is always a nifty and picturesque place to visit IMHO, although when we went to the Naval Museum this time, the famous Nelson coat was away being cleaned.
And I still get a kick out of visiting the Prime Meridian line
That evening, Jan, starrylizard and I went to see Flare Path at the Haymarket Theatre. I liked it. James Purefoy and Joe Armstrong were in it and I particularly liked Joe Armstrong's character.
I'd been to the Tate Modern several times on previous trips, but I'd never been to the Tate Britain before. Rectified that on the Tuesday.
I've long a had a fondness for JMW Turner (much to tipper_green's amusement) and the Tate Britain has a fantastic collection. Also quite a few by William Blake which I also found interesting.
Then I had another conference to go on the Wednesday and Thursday, although I did skip out a little bit early on the Thursday afternoon to meet up with lizmc1212 and starrylizard for more pubs and more Holmesian connections. Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese was apparently Arthur Conan Doyle's favourite watering hole. It's also just a really nifty old pub.
After which, starrylizard and I toddled off the see All's Well that Ends Well at the Globe. I always enjoy seeing plays at the Globe. Even if it's not my favourite play, just the setting and atmosphere is a cool experience. And I have to admit that I'm just a bit disappointed that I can't con my work into sending me to another London conference later in June, July or August when apparently Arthur Darvill will be playing Mephistopheles in Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus (I probably wouldn't trade it for seeing Cumberbatch in Frankenstein, but still...)
Oh yes, and then there was THAT wedding... I must admit that I'm not the most ardent Royalist around. I mean, I wish them well and all, and it's always nice to have an excuse to break out the champagne. So... yeah.
hhhatholder and Michelle came down from Liverpool for the long weekend and helped us get into the proper spirit of the thing. And, of course hhhatholder brought Susie Spider. So along with Robbie Raccoon who came with lizmc1212 and Rattus who was adopted by starrylizard when she visited the Globe, Frankie the Muppet who stowed away in my luggage but didn't manage to get out and about much, and two daleks who apparently gatecrashed, we had a little "champagne brunch" while watching the ceremony on TV.
Somehow, we didn't really feel like trying to fight the INSANE crowds gathered around Westminster Abbey and Buck House, but after seeing The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) at a pub theatre, we decided to wander down the Mall late that night.
There were still quite a few revelers gathered around Buck House.
And I've got to say that I adore the way they lit up the London Eye that night.
That left just one more day before I had to fly back home to Oz. Still enough time to visit the Forbidden Planet once more with starrylizard, Cuddles and Rattus. One can never get enough TARDISes and other Who memorabilia when visiting the UK.
Then we met up with the others for high tea on Piccadilly.
And Cuddles and Susie apparently "rekindled the spark" (I really don't want to know the details).
The Circle Line was not running that day which was actually quite inconvenient, but hey, it did mean catching the occasional Red Double Decker bus along the Strand.
But yeah, after that, had to head back to Oz, but I did get upgraded to business class for the flight home. And not only that, but because I let them change my seat to accommodate a couple with a small child (and I really didn't mind coz I was still in business class!), the aircrew gave a free bottle of champagne. So, pretty cool, all in all.
And now I've actually been back almost as long as I was away for, before I manage to get any of the travel pics posted. Still some more from Barcelona to come. Hopefully soon coz I really adored Barcelona.
But for now, Adéu.
It was actually a day or two after that wedding that I headed home, after having been in London (and Barcelona) for about 3 weeks. So yeah, now I've been back home for a while (not as long as I was gone, but getting close). Real Life swings back into gear and it's so hard to get the travel pics up and posted...
Officially, I was in London for two work conferences which were separated by just over a week which included Easter. So no point in heading all the way back to Australia in between, of course, but I did make a sidetrip to Barcelona for a few days just before Easter with an old friend from my uni days. Barcelona is a city that I've never been to before and quite amazing. 5 days is far too short a time to spend there and I'm going to post those pics in a separate entry (hopefully soon).
But I met up with friends in London too and the city of London itself has become sort of like an old friend to me: comfortable and familiar, making me feel welcome and at home. These days, when I visit, there's less rush and impatience to see everything and anything that I can. Instead, I can take the opportunity to revisit some old favourites, as well as finding a few new ones. And the theatre... There's always the theatre.
And THE theatre production to see in London this year (so far) was the National Theatre's production of Frankenstein, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Johnny Lee Miller, and I eventually got to see it three times - and each time a different version. Yes, that's right THREE different versions.
One of the old friends that I met up with in London was Jan from Ottawa, a real theatre buff who scored us both tickets to a Sunday matinee with Cumberbatch as the creature and a Wednesday night with him as Victor. It was a bit pricey, but well worth it.
Cuddles outside Olivier theatre after the Sunday matinee
But on the Wednesday, we turned up to find an announcement that Benedict Cumberbatch was "indisposed" (turns out that he'd lost his voice) and therefore the role of Victor would be played by understudy Daniel Ings. I tried not to be too disappointed. Daniel Ings did a fine job stepping into the role (to tell truth, I liked his version slightly better than Johnny Lee Miller's). And I was on some level pleased to see Mr Cumberbatch looking after his health (this is the man who ignored a "cold" that turned out to be pneumonia while filming Sherlock). And hey, we'd already GOT two sets of tickets. The play (including additional performances added after Easter) was sold out incredibly quickly and I knew that people were queuing up outside the NT box office for day tickets from midnight or earlier each night before.
But... turns out that I really REALLY did want to see him play Victor too. So, even though I wasn't prepared to camp out overnight, I got up at 4.30am on a day there was both a matinee and evening performance and made it to the queue outside the box office at around 5.30 (literally within 8 hours after I got off a plane from Barcelona, but hey, did I mention that I really wanted to see this). I had to wait for the Tube station to open, even!
Cuddles and I made some friends in the queue outside, which was really quite impressive by the time the doors eventually opened.
Even Jan, the theatre buff, laughed and shook her head at my mad plan. She laughed in a completely different way when I scored us both front row tickets for the matinee.
So, so, SO worth it! Okay, a couple of times our view was obscured a bit, but at others we literally with arms reach of the actors. We both semi-ducked when Johnny Lee Miller came barrelling across the stage at one point. Of course we knew that he had enough control over the action and wasn't going to land in Jan's lap. But she latter admitted that she was half-hoping... ;-)
I really was trying to be not too much of a Cumberbatch fangirl about the whole thing, but I did prefer his performances in both roles. His child-like movements when the Creature was learning to walk reminded me so much of my niece who was at exactly that stage when I left for the UK. I got the humorous nuances that he put on the Creature's dialogue more readily. And I do think his Victor was evidently superior to the other two. He managed to make Victor's arrogance and selfish blindness to his creation's perspective seem like a very human failing. It wasn't really a case of me excusing his version of Victor more readily, but he did make is possible for me to understand where Victor was coming from. Did I mention, queuing up a 5.30 in the morning was so worth it?
I hope so very much that the NT realise what a goldmine they have here and release the filmed versions on DVD. I didn't manage to see any of the cinematic versions because they were screening in the UK when I was in Oz and vice versa, but I've heard nothing but great things about them - interesting camera angles and editing, and it goes without saying that the performances would be terrific. I so want a copy to be able to rewatch umpteen times at my leisure.
Anyways, talking about all three Frankenstein performances means that I've skipped ahead a bit.
Jan and I both arrived in London early in the morning of Saturday 9th April, although I probably have some justification in claiming a more severe case of jetlag, since she came from Canada while I came from Australia. We both went to see a concert by jazz guitarist Peter White in Soho that evening. Although, Jan is a bigger jazz fan, I also enjoyed it a lot and I didn't actually fall asleep (no matter what Jan says), but the combination of jet lag and very mellow music is kind of deadly.
And the next day was the day we saw Frankenstein for the first time. Even before that matinee performance, we took a London walking tour, beachcombing along the Thames riverbank. The tour took us over Southwark Bridge and along the South bank, before we played at being archeologists on the shoreline. Animal bones, 20th century pottery, pieces of clay pipes and the occasional pieces of Tudor roof tiles - probably totally insignificant to true archeologists, but fascinating to the likes of me.
Had to rush a bit to change and catch the matinee, but well worth it.
Then, for me, it was a week of actually working. No, really, I do work during these trips. Did see Frankenstein again on the Wednesday night, as I said, and did a little shopping on other evenings, but spent most of the week working.
And then in the early hours of the Saturday morning, I caught a plane to Barcelona. My first trip to that fascinating city. Five days was not nearly long enough, but I'll post another picspam for that later (soon, I hope).
After I got back, I did the aforementioned early morning camp out in the queue for Frankenstein, but it's also worth mentioning that when Jan and went to see it, the South Bank in that area had been set up as a mock "seaside resort" - complete with sand (which is something that often ISN'T found on English beaches, in my experience).
Also, we couldn't ignore the nearby "Sherlockian" graffiti.
But more about Sherlock in a moment...
That evening (Thursday) starrylizard arrived, and the next day (after she had forgiven us for seeing an extra performance of Frankenstein without her) we all took a quick tour of some of the Holmesian sites in London as well as other things...
I believe it was starrylizard's first trip to London, so we really had to kick things off with something iconic...
Did I mention that it was Good Friday? Some people felt that the occasion should be commemorated...
...although they didn't nail him up afterwards (at least, I hope they didn't).
But then, yes, we decided to visit "the world's most famous address", even if its famous occupants were fictional.
Dr Watson was even there to greet us.
Also Prof Moriarty
And Cuddles came face to face with the famous Hound
After that we just couldn't not swing by North Gower Street which could be considered the "Great Pretender" to the aforementioned famous address.
Jan is quite the information mine for TV filming venues in London. So, we also took a peak at:
The campus used in Silent Witness
And the double for MI5 HQ in Spooks
At RADA, Cuddles indulged his delusions that he was Gielgud or something
But there were still others yet to join our party. Next to arrive was lizmc1212
That Saturday we all went to see/do the London version of Accomplice (the LA version of which Jan and I had done previously).
It kicked off at the Tate Modern, so beforehand, I FINALLY (after 2 years!) got to see the Tate's collection of Rothko paintings.
(Not a big deal to most people, I know, but 2 years ago I saw an art doco about them just before a trip to London and had been keen to see them. And not only were they on loan to a gallery in Japan at that time, but last year when I revisited, they had been returned to the Tate but were still in storage!)
Anyways, don't want to say too much about Accomplice because it would spoil it for others who might want to participate in it later - and that would be a shame. Suffice it to say that the people performing it are cool!
And its HQ is the Chocolate Factory Theatre.
We walked home via Tower Bridge, so here's a pic of the Tower of London and the "Gherkin"
Make a mental note of what the Gherkin looks like coz it will be pertinent to a later post about Barcelona ;-)
Even on quiet, lazy (Easter) Sundays, there are still pubs to visit (certainly when lizmc1212 is around) and we managed to sample two in Chiswick
And on the way, we found a phone box "disguised" as..., well, as another kind of phone box ;-)
On Easter Monday, we went to Greenwich which is always a nifty and picturesque place to visit IMHO, although when we went to the Naval Museum this time, the famous Nelson coat was away being cleaned.
And I still get a kick out of visiting the Prime Meridian line
That evening, Jan, starrylizard and I went to see Flare Path at the Haymarket Theatre. I liked it. James Purefoy and Joe Armstrong were in it and I particularly liked Joe Armstrong's character.
I'd been to the Tate Modern several times on previous trips, but I'd never been to the Tate Britain before. Rectified that on the Tuesday.
I've long a had a fondness for JMW Turner (much to tipper_green's amusement) and the Tate Britain has a fantastic collection. Also quite a few by William Blake which I also found interesting.
Then I had another conference to go on the Wednesday and Thursday, although I did skip out a little bit early on the Thursday afternoon to meet up with lizmc1212 and starrylizard for more pubs and more Holmesian connections. Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese was apparently Arthur Conan Doyle's favourite watering hole. It's also just a really nifty old pub.
After which, starrylizard and I toddled off the see All's Well that Ends Well at the Globe. I always enjoy seeing plays at the Globe. Even if it's not my favourite play, just the setting and atmosphere is a cool experience. And I have to admit that I'm just a bit disappointed that I can't con my work into sending me to another London conference later in June, July or August when apparently Arthur Darvill will be playing Mephistopheles in Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus (I probably wouldn't trade it for seeing Cumberbatch in Frankenstein, but still...)
Oh yes, and then there was THAT wedding... I must admit that I'm not the most ardent Royalist around. I mean, I wish them well and all, and it's always nice to have an excuse to break out the champagne. So... yeah.
hhhatholder and Michelle came down from Liverpool for the long weekend and helped us get into the proper spirit of the thing. And, of course hhhatholder brought Susie Spider. So along with Robbie Raccoon who came with lizmc1212 and Rattus who was adopted by starrylizard when she visited the Globe, Frankie the Muppet who stowed away in my luggage but didn't manage to get out and about much, and two daleks who apparently gatecrashed, we had a little "champagne brunch" while watching the ceremony on TV.
Somehow, we didn't really feel like trying to fight the INSANE crowds gathered around Westminster Abbey and Buck House, but after seeing The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) at a pub theatre, we decided to wander down the Mall late that night.
There were still quite a few revelers gathered around Buck House.
And I've got to say that I adore the way they lit up the London Eye that night.
That left just one more day before I had to fly back home to Oz. Still enough time to visit the Forbidden Planet once more with starrylizard, Cuddles and Rattus. One can never get enough TARDISes and other Who memorabilia when visiting the UK.
Then we met up with the others for high tea on Piccadilly.
And Cuddles and Susie apparently "rekindled the spark" (I really don't want to know the details).
The Circle Line was not running that day which was actually quite inconvenient, but hey, it did mean catching the occasional Red Double Decker bus along the Strand.
But yeah, after that, had to head back to Oz, but I did get upgraded to business class for the flight home. And not only that, but because I let them change my seat to accommodate a couple with a small child (and I really didn't mind coz I was still in business class!), the aircrew gave a free bottle of champagne. So, pretty cool, all in all.
And now I've actually been back almost as long as I was away for, before I manage to get any of the travel pics posted. Still some more from Barcelona to come. Hopefully soon coz I really adored Barcelona.
But for now, Adéu.