There’s a tension when you travel because you have limited time and you want to somehow both cram in as much as possible and have lots of relaxation time before you return to the stresses of real life. This is especially tough in a city and even more so in a city like London which overflows with history and architecture and art and such. We stayed at a hotel just down the road from Royal Albert Hall, site of the famous Proms concerts that I’ve wanted for years to experience. By coincidence, the series of concerts had just started! Wow, what a treat. I’d tell you all about them, but we didn’t see a single one, and I don’t regret it for a second. We filled the days with events even more fun. So many choices.
When I’m in London or New York, I want to see plays. Fortunately Robin loves theatre too so that works out. We managed three West End plays in two days which a lesser girlfriend wouldn’t put up with but Robin was keen to do. Yay!
Whereas Broadway relies more and more now on spectacle, West End theatre continues to focus on acting and storytelling. Sure the giant chandelier still crashes to the stage every night across the street at Phantom, but the three plays we saw each had simple sets and there wasn’t a single special effect that couldn’t be accomplished at your local regional theatre. Two of the three were the kinds of serious dramas that are considered very risky to mount in NY.
It turns out acting and storytelling can be plenty enough for a satisfying night at the theatre. In The Letter, we watched Anthony Andrews absolutely captivate our attention in a long first scene where he hardly spoke a word. The day before we were equally absorbed in arcane papal politics in The Last Confession. Don’t worry, it wasn’t all highbrow. We also saw the musical Avenue Q which is exactly like The Muppet Show except that it is exactly different.
So those were our choices. We didn’t see The Tower or The Eye or The Dome or The Abbey or the thousand other things that might have been just as much fun. We saw some plays, ate some pub meals, and walked around various parks, and I can’t imagine having a better time in London.
- Jim
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