Aside
Saturday was a visit to
The older I get the more I realise how a simple thing like booking a meal can make life so much easier – rather than leaving it to chance. I booked a table for lunch at Vaults the restaurant in the Theatre Royal but when we turned up there was no knowledge of the booking.
‘And I asked for an uncramped table and the manager said there would be no problem.’
The young lady said it was fine as there was plenty of room and showed us to a table for four. I was going to do a Shane (see sidebar) and photograph the nosh but I was so hungry I forgot. I had fish cakes and treacle sponge which slaked the hunger pangs. The theatre is very pretty but I could only take a few discreet shots and of course none when the curtain was up.
Waiting in the foyer whilst MTL went to powder his nose a man with a pony tail standing next to me said,
‘You and I will be the youngest people here. It’s all grey hair and bald patches.’
If that was a chat up line it was pretty unique. I smiled vaguely and went to meet MTL.
After the first half I felt a bit dismal and told myself Shakespeare’s comedies just didn’t do it for me. All I had in the interval was a handful of Smarties but my goodness what had the cast had? Suddenly all the lunacy – instead of being irritating became hilarious; the Hogarthian cast members - which at first had seemed old hat RSC stuff, now became riveting and their expressions and stances worthy of RA Portraits.
The balletic and acrobatic skills of some of them were breathtaking and there was a jolly good little band on stage throughout. It’s a very silly story concerning a ship- wrecked father, a mother who became an abbess, twin sons who later had servants who were also twin brothers and they all appear on the same island but the brothers and their servants are unaware of the existence of the others. Confused? It did make it a trifle unbelievable that the corresponding twins were identically dressed but I suppose that is poetic license.
The second half fairly zipped along and the audience roared at every opportunity. I still don’t understand what happened but am thankful that at least I enjoyed half of it.
Quite a tiring day – we had been out for almost twelve hours- but enjoyable.
