Posted by Katrin on May 21st, 2007 — Posted in Theater
Last Friday evening I was sitting at home, trying to figure out what to do with the weekend. Every now and then I have a look here, to see whether there are any affordable tickets to plays or musicals around. Honestly, I think the prices in London are absolutely mad if you don’t want to sit in the upper left corner behind a spotlight. I have done that before actually, back in my no-money-at-all student days in Paris. Half a baguette for the day, and a theatre ticket made me quite happy and I didn’t mind to compromise on the seat’s location.
Well, but thanks to this site sometimes you can get lucky. I was just browsing a little bit and found “a ticket for a tenner” for The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams. Called a friend, booked the tickets, and off we went on Saturday to stroll around China Town and then catch the matinee in the Apollo.
I loved it!
We had great seats in the 9th row or so, last minute bookings can be really good. It started out rather slowly, and Jessica Lange wasn’t as impressive as I had hoped (but then, who am I to judge). If you go to see a two times Oscar winner and an experienced stage actress you naturally get your hopes up.
However everyone might need some warming up on a Saturday afternoon, because the second part of the play was brilliant! Lange was fantastic, and an intense scene between Amanda Hale and Mark Umbers had me holding my breath. Ed Stoppard is great as Tom, the narrator of the play and main character. The only thing I found is that it feels a bit wrong to go out of the theatre after the play and find that it is still light outside. It just seems strange, so maybe I will avoid matinees in the future. The Glass Menagerie is unfortunately over now. But in general I can definitely recommend this venue, so watch out what is on!
Apollo Theatre
Shaftesbury Avenue
London, W1V 7DH
0870 890 1101Apollo Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue
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Posted by Katrin on November 17th, 2006 — Posted in Bars, Theater
Last night I had tickets for “pool, no water” in the Lyric Theater in Hammersmith. I have looked at the building often while strolling around the market on Thursdays, and wondered what it might be like inside. I think it is always interesting to explore new places, hidden from the world and not easily seen. You have to enter to find out. This one was definitely a winner!
The reception area really doesn’t look like much, in fact there even isn’t much space. You have to walk up two stairs in order to find yourself in an open bar area, which is inviting and modern at the same time. You can have a glass of wine, coffee or even a few sandwiches or cakes. Just right if you made it there straight after work and you haven’t had dinner.
The stage is again one floor up and you suddenly find yourself in a surrounding that could be an original old theater! It looks cosy and oldfashioned and although I am assuming that it is just made to look that way, it is not hard to immagine it’s real.
The play was chosen by my date and I do have my doubts about modern pieces. Nevertheless the music and lighting were very good and, although I would have liked somewhat more of a storyline, it was entertaining. Like in most modern pieces the actors needed about 15 minutes to be naked on stage (I never quite understood the necessity of it but I guess by now you are only allowed to call your play modern if at least one person is naked for some time), you had the must-have frantically running around part as well and more meaningful stares towards the ceiling than dialogue.
But, I am the first to admit, in the end it is all a matter of personal taste. The play was already on for some time and it was completely sold out. My number one modern-theater-experience will never be topped anyway: I once saw a play in Paris which lasted roughly three hours and in the end ALL the actors were frantically running around naked, demolishing a whole house that had been build on stage. That was too much, even for my tolerance level…
I should mention that there was the possibility of meeting the actors after the play in order to ask questions. We prefered having another glass of wine in the bar as we had to prepare our upcoming trip to Madrid, but next time that’s certainly something I would like to do.
I did enjoyed myself and will most definitely come back to see more!
Lyric Hammersmith
Lyric Square, King Street
London W6 0QL
Tickets: 08700 500 511
Look it up on the map
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