carmen, my work gossip bezzie has been absent this week, so my days have been decreasingly interesting. which, i suppose has been a good thing, considering i did have a lot of work to get through. despite her not physically being in the building she still has remained fairly active on the old group email front, so i have been able to retain a small portion of my sanity.. however degraded it may be.
on thursday she sent me a link to claim free tickets for the show the
the 39 steps which is playing at the criterion theatre in piccadilly circus. free tickets. man, i love free stuff! i claimed 4 free tickets after having agreed that 'yes I understand these tickets are complimentary and as such cannot be refunded, exchanged, pawned, cancelled, or sold, and will probably be exchanged for whatever seats are left and quite possibly the worst seats in the house'. as carmen was otherwise occupied that night, i asked bex and mountayne if they wanted to tag along for the ride with boyfriend and i. yes! so, we planned to go for a cheap meal in china town and a few drinks first, cos the show didn't start til 8. i was really looking forward to it too, as mum had seen it when she was here a few months ago (do you believe how long ago that was now? farrr), and had said it was just fantastic. and, i love freebies. did you know that about me? well. i do.
i suggested
banana tree cos it is my all time favourite restaurant in the world (the world), and they do their express lunch time menu until 6pm - unheard of in soho. the reason i like that place so much, is because unlike a lot of the places in china town, the food is clean and fresh and healthy, and not pumped full of msg and grossness. the service is generally pretty good too, sooo quick and friendly. i love the decor, the art, the layout. i just love it, ok? i had the crispy chicken in mango and lime, which is to diiie for. once we'd had our food (in and out in under an hour) we headed for some happy hour drinkies closeby at grace bar on great windmill street..once happy hour finished we went and picked up the tickets from the box office, but still had some time to spare so we headed to piccadilly institute because we decided that more drinks were in order... when are they not, really? oh, i know, when happy hour finishs 3 hours early because of the olympics but no-one thinks to tell you until you've already ordered a round for 4. that's when and only when more drinks are not in order. needless to say, we did not stay there long. (and a million thanks to mountayne and bex for getting that particular round)
the theatre is so pretty! i thought it was the old piccadilly tube station and has been renovated into a theatre, because when you go in, you go dowwwwwn. but having researched before publishing fiction, i now know otherwise. still, it is a grade 2 listed building, and was finished in 1873, so the decor is soooo vintage and adorable. i loved it immediately. the ladies bathroom had light bulbs up the edges and middle, like a dressing room should, beautiful pink porcelain sinks, rouge and crimson carpet... sooo pretty! the auditorium itself was pluuuush; plenty of legroom (unlike most other west end theatres), comfy seats, lots of visibility of the stage and such ornate detailing in the ceiling and chandelier work.. *gushing* better yet, the show was absolutely fantastic. so funny! there are only four actors in the whole show. four. and between them they play at least four or five characters each - sometimes in the same scene. so it's obviously not a seamless show, but watching them transition from one character to the next, and again, and again in the same scene is actual just impressive, and hilarious. we really enjoyed it, and, our seats were fantastic! probably the best in the whole auditorium! we were in the dress circle, but in the second row in the middle so we had 100% visibility the whole time.. happy kids!
so all in all, a great night out. except for the fact my brand new £3 shoes from the wednesday night shopping spree (you remember it, right?) broke on the way to work that day and had also worn my skin raw where they were digging in around my toes. very ouchy. i have since returned them, not for another pair as sadly they're all sold out.. but they were my prize of the haul last week, and they only served to disappoint, wah!
have you seen the 39 steps, or, can you recommend another show you think i'd like?
