The Birthday Girl Wanted To See "Sweat"

Supper at the Saint Janes Tavern on Shaftsbury Avenue before the show

Friday was a busy day in London for Lulu. She had a birthday to fill - I will not say which one - but Panther Valley threw her off my Blue Cross - Medicare sent her a card - and she went onto Florida State's Blue Cross. She officially joined the club. Now all she has to do is retire and schedule visits to the podiatrist to get her nails done.

At 10 AM - I got up and went to the box office. I landed two nice seats in row 7 - the exact middle. 20 pounds each. Lulu had the day off so next we went to the Oasis Sport club to swim. It was 6 pounds - there were two pools - inside and outside. I only got one picture before they waved me - no cameras.

After that - we went home and dressed for the theatre. Bus 14 - starts in front of our apartment - and goes right down Shaftsbury Avenue and the theatre district. We got there early and had supper at the Saint James Tavern. Lulu had fish and chips - I had chicken and chips. Lulu chose Pimm's - I had a Symond's Cider.

After supper we had time - so we sat on the monument in the middle of Piccadilly Circus. It is busy with traffic all around. I do not get the circus name unless it is all the entertainers acting up. Last time we were here - Rod Stewart sang a song for the Queen. It was recorded by me and BBC One - and was on TV that night.

At 7 PM - we walked up the street to the Gielgud Theatre. We have seen many shows here including Chariots of Fire in 2012 during the Olympics.

The show Sweat is closing down on July 20th. Our seats were great. The theatre held 900 people. The seats were very tight :-)  The show did not need a sound system - the characters were very loud.

It was a show about Reading PA - but it could have been anywhere in the Rust Belt. It could have been Tamaqua PA. The mills were closing down - strikes - plants moving to Mexico. Immigration. Race. Prejudice. Change.

It reminded me of our favorite play - Billy Elliot - except there were no show tunes - no dancing - and way way too much cursing. There was no happy ending. For me there was.

I had not read up on the play - I went in with no background. In the first half I even dozed off several times - to be awaken by loud dialog. The best scenes to me were the changing of sets live - the characters moved stuff around with good music.

One girl looked very familiar - a short pretty loudly profane blonde - my kind of girl :-) - She carried the play thru the rough spots. At intermission - I looked her up. We were both correct - it was Martha Plimpton - daughter of Keith Carradine - and granddaughter of John Carradine. The second half picked up - maybe because I was aware I was watching an award winning - movie - stage - and television star.

After the play - we caught Bus 14 home. There is nothing like the West End - when all the theaters let out at once. Cabs - buses - rickshaws - all over the place.

When we got home - there was tea and a birthday cake. It was approaching midnight for Cinderella.

We got to bed after 11 PM - and both slept the whole way through to 11 AM. It is now 1 PM - I am still at the breakfast table typing this.

It is all gong fast. It has been a week since we left home - three weeks left. 

For the next two weekends - we are going away - so this weekend we relax. Next weekend is 2 nights in York - the next weekend it is 3 nights in Paris to see Keith.

Ordering Chinese

Gielgud Theatre

It was called the Globe Theatre once

Martha Plimpton in Sweat

Sweat

He looks so happy.

Afternoon swim at the club

The club is close to our apartment