London

June 19 Sunday

We need to find a place to print out our train tickets for tomorrow and a 4:00 performance of Burnt City. Other than that, we’re open. 

In order to print out our tickets, we need to find a place to buy a thumb drive first. On the other side of the tracks there is a big grocery store.  They should have one.  It doesn’t open until 11 which gives us time for a leisurely morning of exploring the neighborhood.  To our delight, they are setting up some kind of food fair in the small park. We enjoy a walk around the area until the store opens. Apparently many people are waiting for it to open as a queue is forming at the door- probably at least 50 people. At 11:00 we all charge through the doors. Yes they have thumb drives. Yeah. Now we need to get the computer files on to the thumb drive to take it to a copy place.  What a hassle when you don’t have a printer at your disposal. 

By now the food festival is gearing up. We get some glass noodles and spring rolls to eat while we do some serious people watching. The music is really amateurs but it does add to the ambiance. They also have a hopscotch board drawn on the street with chalk that the young and older are playing.

We go back and load up the files and head back out to a store that google found for us. Hmmm involves a change of trains on the tube. About 45 minutes later, multiple flights of stairs and lots of steps, we find the store in a shopping mall. The mall is busy with families spending the day there. Reminded me of the high level of activity that we used to have in the malls. Success. We have printed copies of our train tickets to Paris and from Paris to Brussels and back. Because of an upcoming train strike, many people are leaving London before it starts. This is putting an increased demand on seats. We were lucky to get anything. We have to change in Brussels but that’s ok.

We’re thinking our play will be in the West End as that is the theater district. So we head that way thinking we’ll have a snack before the show and dinner afterwards. We sit down for the snack and Nick takes a closer look at the tickets. They aren’t close by. They’re out in Greenwich. That’s 2 trains and a bus away! Gulp down my beer and we’re on our way.

The performance is most unusual. Of course no photos allowed. When we go in, we’re given white Greek style masks to wear along with our Covid masks.  We are told to follow the light and go our own way. The first area is like a museum with Greek types of artifacts illuminated in glass cases.  We walk through curtains of various fabrics, one area has sand on the floor. Another is like a ship cabin. Music is playing. We follow the lights and find performers doing interpretive dance fighting. All is dark except for the lights on the performers.  We can get as close as we want as long as we move out of the way for the performers.  Several things are going on simultaneously. Where to go? The endurance of the performers is incredible. No dialogue, just music and dancing. We have been told that the story is based on the Iliad but we fail to see much connection. It is cool to be right on the set next to the performers to see the sweat,the muscle definition. It seems that they did the whole thing twice with minor variation like one of the men had swim trunks on the first time and nothing the next time. I was tired and thirsty just following them around for 2 hours. I can’t imagine the physical fitness to do what they were doing and it was all graceful and tightly choreographed, then we were gradually led out and there was a cabaret kind of thing. We were lucky enough to get seats and buy a drink. The change in atmosphere was drastic. An interesting, novel experience!

Came back to our neighborhood for a late dinner. I had hummus and lamb and mushrooms. Nick had a steak.