15-16 October (part 2)
Also found a place called Hays Galleria after visiting Bridge Theatre. Was once an enclosed dock and been tidied up. Is now a rather nice shopping centre but with still the old wharves. Another interesting east end Docklands area.
Saw A Very Very Very Dark Matter in the evening. Weird. Starred Jim Broadbent as Hans Christian Anderson so was good to see him on stage. The play is bizarre - a bit like a Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale perhaps? The premise is that HCA did not actually write his stories. They were written by a black woman from the Congo who is also a pygmy and who he keeps locked up in a cage in his attic. Plus he saws off one of her feet to exchange for a magical concertina from some gypsies. And it gets better. HCA travels to England to stay with Charles Dickens - overstays his welcome (which I believe did happen) and then discovers that Dickens also did not write his stories. You guessed it, he too had a Congolese pygmy woman who wrote his stories. Apparently she was the sister of HCA's pygmy. And to cap it off there are 2 time travelling Belgians who try to kill the pygmy held by HCA to stop her killing them in the future. They also provide speeches on the number of Africans killed in the name of the Belgian King - King Leopold - so the Belgians can get some rubber for their bicycles. There are so many other bizarre twists I can barely bring myself to write them. The magical concertina for example actually has a machine gun concealed in it and one of the pygmy women use it to kill the 2 time travelling Belgians. And I thought Dr Who could be odd. It was bravely acted I thought. Maybe I am just not smart enough for Martin McDonagh although have seem some other of his plays in Sydney and enjoyed them. He is apparently the 'it' writer at the moment and perhaps is now just a pretentious twat. OK that's harsh. Just read he directed the Two Billboards movie with Frances Dormand and that was brilliant. The audience also annoyed me. As soon as Jim Broadbent opened his mouth many of them started laughing and I think it was largely because it was Jim Broadbent. Was just not that funny. The actors played it a bit like a pantomime which again could be to play to the concept of a gruesome children's story. As may be guessed, I was not overly enamoured with it. Not dreadful - just not my thing.
Tuesday and the sun and warmth has returned yet again. Decided to re-visit the Victoria and Albert Museum. So enjoyable. Exhausted by the end of course. Had a break at some stage and had coffee in their cafe with stained glass windows. Was a toss up between that and sitting in the courtyard outside in the sun. Had a look at some jewellery this time - the difference between the stunning Islamic jewellery in 'BC" compared to the basic medieval jewellery in Britain was stark. Also some beautiful French furniture and porcelain from the 1600-1700's. Again we ran into my friends Turner and Constable . Seems to be a theme. We decided we like Turner's paintings from the 1830's - transitioning from a high level of detail to a more impressionistic feel. OK that sounds a bit pretentious. Enjoyed the Constables - so much detail. Grabbed a sandwich and sat in Kensington Gardens, then walked to Hyde Park, alongside the Serpentine -lots of squirrels with little nuts in their mouths (not joking) and many many birds, some of which we could identify. SA looked longingly at their feathers. Wild boar pasta for dinner tonight while I continue to try and work out what is going on with Brexit. Actually more interested in working out the next 2 days and whether we can cope with just one more museum/gallery....
Saw A Very Very Very Dark Matter in the evening. Weird. Starred Jim Broadbent as Hans Christian Anderson so was good to see him on stage. The play is bizarre - a bit like a Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale perhaps? The premise is that HCA did not actually write his stories. They were written by a black woman from the Congo who is also a pygmy and who he keeps locked up in a cage in his attic. Plus he saws off one of her feet to exchange for a magical concertina from some gypsies. And it gets better. HCA travels to England to stay with Charles Dickens - overstays his welcome (which I believe did happen) and then discovers that Dickens also did not write his stories. You guessed it, he too had a Congolese pygmy woman who wrote his stories. Apparently she was the sister of HCA's pygmy. And to cap it off there are 2 time travelling Belgians who try to kill the pygmy held by HCA to stop her killing them in the future. They also provide speeches on the number of Africans killed in the name of the Belgian King - King Leopold - so the Belgians can get some rubber for their bicycles. There are so many other bizarre twists I can barely bring myself to write them. The magical concertina for example actually has a machine gun concealed in it and one of the pygmy women use it to kill the 2 time travelling Belgians. And I thought Dr Who could be odd. It was bravely acted I thought. Maybe I am just not smart enough for Martin McDonagh although have seem some other of his plays in Sydney and enjoyed them. He is apparently the 'it' writer at the moment and perhaps is now just a pretentious twat. OK that's harsh. Just read he directed the Two Billboards movie with Frances Dormand and that was brilliant. The audience also annoyed me. As soon as Jim Broadbent opened his mouth many of them started laughing and I think it was largely because it was Jim Broadbent. Was just not that funny. The actors played it a bit like a pantomime which again could be to play to the concept of a gruesome children's story. As may be guessed, I was not overly enamoured with it. Not dreadful - just not my thing.
Tuesday and the sun and warmth has returned yet again. Decided to re-visit the Victoria and Albert Museum. So enjoyable. Exhausted by the end of course. Had a break at some stage and had coffee in their cafe with stained glass windows. Was a toss up between that and sitting in the courtyard outside in the sun. Had a look at some jewellery this time - the difference between the stunning Islamic jewellery in 'BC" compared to the basic medieval jewellery in Britain was stark. Also some beautiful French furniture and porcelain from the 1600-1700's. Again we ran into my friends Turner and Constable . Seems to be a theme. We decided we like Turner's paintings from the 1830's - transitioning from a high level of detail to a more impressionistic feel. OK that sounds a bit pretentious. Enjoyed the Constables - so much detail. Grabbed a sandwich and sat in Kensington Gardens, then walked to Hyde Park, alongside the Serpentine -lots of squirrels with little nuts in their mouths (not joking) and many many birds, some of which we could identify. SA looked longingly at their feathers. Wild boar pasta for dinner tonight while I continue to try and work out what is going on with Brexit. Actually more interested in working out the next 2 days and whether we can cope with just one more museum/gallery....
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