Travel Diary

Thursday

I wanted to wakeup around 7am and watch the London city come to life, but I was just too exhausted. As well, the day was grey so the photos wouldn’t be too special. I l slept until around 8am and went down for my continental breakfast.

The food wasn’t partially spectacular. I tried a little of each item, though didn’t want to either waste or overstuff myself. Looking back, it was still worth a try, but even at a nice fancy hotel, an English continental breakfast is probably not going to be terribly delicious. My advice is to skip the breakfast when booking rooms, then perhaps try it the first day. If it’s good, repeat. If not, find another option.

After the enlightening meal, I left the hotel and headed to St. James Park. The sky was still grey but I knew the sun would be coming out soon. The next park was Hyde Park and it is a huge one. I was hesitant to head too far out as my feet were already sore and each step out was one more back to the hotel later. No matter. I could survive. I kept walking.

Hyde Park led to Kensington Gardens and it was a place I had been to before. The walk included birds, fowl, and great views of the lakes. At the west end of the park was a large fountain area, where I was able to sit a spell, and then get some great photos.

Then it was time to return back. I didn’t want to miss the afternoon show. Returning to the hotel, I got sorted out a bit, but never fell sleep. Time was just moving too fast.

For the matinee show, I decided to take my small daypack and that was I could take my camera too and just store it at coat check. Sure, I never like leaving valuables behind; however, the places do give check in numbers and it’s not likely that someone working at a theatre would risk jail over a camera. Being too paranoid is not always a great way to travel.

The walk down was nice and only a mile from the hotel. I picked up my ticket from will call and toured around a bit. There wasn’t enough time to sit down and have a pint so I had some champagne in the theatre bar. Not bad, but for 7 pounds a glass, one was just fine with me.

Soon, it was show time. I had a great seat and no one in front of me. The show started with a burst, as there was no curtain speech. And this is a nice way to begin. The speeches often do have a lot of important information (turn off phones, no pictures, exit to the rear, see more shows), but they also pull down the reality of a show to some extent. It’s like there’s a reinforcement stating, “This is a show! It’s fake!” I love the immediate beginning they chose. One moment people are sitting there reading a program; the next moment they’re inside the story.

“The Nether” is a great piece, though controversial since it deals with abuse of children--in a virtual setting. The people behind the avatars are real and over 18, but it’s the idea that some people feel such behavior is okay when inside a fake world that is troubling. It’s a really thought-provoking piece and done well as it doesn’t make the audience too uncomfortable by the way it’s presented.

After the show, I stayed to chat with a couple of the actors. Not many people seems to do that, yet I know how nice it is when someone takes the time to wait and say, “Hey, nice job. I enjoyed your show.”

I then headed back to the hotel and rested a spell. But before that, I searched for a small convenience store to pick up a beer and some junk food. Might as well take advantage of being out of the country. The beer choices were not great. The special Guinness I had the day before wasn’t sold there, so I got a thick English beer. It wasn’t great, but not terrible either. Then at the hotel, I put my feet up a spell.

It wasn’t much rest, and no sleep. I then headed right back out for the night show. Again, I was able to walk to it. My goal was to have some fish and chips before the production, but there was no place to be found for that, at least not in the time I had. I ended up getting a sandwich of beef and horseradish. Fairly bland, but it was food and that had been something I had lacked all day.

This one was “Oppenheimer.” It’s a morality play showing Oppenheimer’s life around the time of the bomb research and making. The players all performed well, though the script was a bit slow in places and really could be cut down some. There are quite a few characters in it. There also might have been some overacting, not that it unreal, but extreme. Sometimes, it’s tempting to take every emotion to the limit. If angry, then extremely angry. If sad, then inconsolably distraught. People don’t often reach those limits for every situation. That said, it’s theatre and life is often larger on the stage.

It was a good play with some very nice effects too. Once it’s trimmed down and refined, it should do well in other places.

One very odd note: there was a sign outside that said real cigarettes were used in the show. I’m okay with second hand smoke, if it’s not frequent. But it’s really poor form to have actors in that situation. I know someone now addicted to cigarettes because he starting smoking after being asked to in a play. There are fake cigarettes for those purposes. It’s senseless, reckless, and stupid to risk addiction for a stage play.

Afterwards, it was quite late. No time for doing too much since Friday was an early day. I headed back, but by way of a couple bridge walks over the Thames. At the hotel, I packed up for the journey the next day.

Sleep came fast.

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