Lord of the cheap seats
(Afternoon tea with Anna in Musselburgh: Edinburgh, Scotland)
The start of my week commenced with an afternoon tea with my good friend, wee Anna. It included a couple of cocktails too, so it made for a pleasant, jolly diversion for a couple of hours in a twilit pub. Anna is reaching for one of the six different home-made confections that were provided, buns, macaroons, truffles, scones, empire biscuits and tiffin. The atmosphere in the pub was one of quiet chatter alongside classic British fare (including Indian curry, of course) and of slowly receding pints of beer. Then there was Anna and I in the bay window, chuckling away and swilling cocktails and munching scones.
During the day in a fit of pique, I decided to book tickets for a show in Glasgow yesterday; Matthew Bourne’s Lord of the Flies. I dragged along a friend for the cheapest of all theatre cheap seats, the ‘restricted view’ seat. I have sat in one before in desperation to see a show at the last minute, and I didn’t begrudge sitting behind a slender pillar, or regret the £6 fee for the privilege. We arrived to discover it was not only the opening night in Glasgow, but a world premiere of the show! The excitement didn’t end there either, but a collective gasp ensued as Matthew Bourne himself walked on stage to introduce his new performance. He explained that that night would be the very first time the show had ever been performed from beginning to end with no interruptions. We were even treated to a pre show screening of Beastie, an accompanying film that I had considered seeing during the film festival, so this made up for the fact that I carelessly missed it. To top off the entire good luck of the evening, as the film ended, I noticed two free seats at the front of the upper circle with unrestricted view. Happily, all the surrounding people were well seated and we took up our new position easily. We enjoyed full price seats to a world theatre premiere for less than the price of a cinema ticket.
The show itself was thoroughly enjoyable, with a cast of trained dancers blended with local dance students and schoolboys from in and around Glasgow. They moved like a shoal of fish, swept together and yet each boy completely separate, performing a series of flowing, pulsating dances. Most engaging was that many of the scenes had so many boys onstage doing so many different things that it was difficult to concentrate on one set for long. A couple of times, some boys made a foray into the front row with torches, scrabbling over the audience, causing mild panic. It was super fun and I’d thoroughly recommend it. It’s nice to see something first, it makes me feel rather privileged!
– Today Rosie is working out how to use her Gran’s new washing machine in Glasgow, Scotland –
