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Still here: While They Were Waiting - Upstairs At The Gatehouse

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As the song goes, time heals everything. Or as another song says, it's time after time. Yet waiting—for a moment, a minute, or even a while—can feel like a chore. In Gary Wilmot’s slightly absurd and silly While They Were Waiting, the focus is on waiting and wordplay. No opportunity is missed to find more than one meaning in what is said. A debate arises about the difference between a smidge and a whisker. There's a playful riff on how you can be here and over there at the same time, depending on your standpoint. If this piece has a point at all, it depends on what you find funny. The concept of waiting-related language is, in itself, amusing, and there is plenty to laugh about in this show. It’s currently playing at Upstairs at the Gatehouse . The premise is simple: Mulbery (Steve Furst) arrives for an appointment and is kept waiting. What the appointment is for, we are not clear about but he is waiting for a yellow door to open. Nobody answers when he rings. He’s joined by th...

Theatre: Rose and other adventures...

In the month it took to get my internet put up I did get up to the following:
  • Caught The Rose Tattoo with Zoe Wanamaker. Great play and well worth the £10 tix. It is great to see more Tennessee Williams plays in London and here is hoping that the fashion for reviving his work continues... It wasn't hard to resist doing ones best impersonation of Sicilian impersonator with colleague AW. It sort of goes, "Naw naw naw naw naw... Naht mah Rrrrose!" Perhaps it was the fine wine, but after the play AW and I photographed the grass on the theatre and groped a cast iron statue on Waterloo Bridge... It was a great night...
  • Saw Pelléas et Mélisande (translated: Pelléas and Mélisande) at the Royal Opera. I had been warned that the opera was boring so sat in the cheap seats but it turned out to be all rather exciting and dramatic. Sure it all ends in tears but what a way to go... The champagne at interval cost more than the ticket but it was all rather worth it... Particularly when Sir Simon Rattle was conducting...
  • Performed in London Gay Mens Chorus concerts in Edinburgh and Glasgow. It was music for bad boys that included Relax (don't do it) and the march and chorus from Carmen. I had a reading to do from Larry Kramer's lovely novel Faggots which went down like a treat too. Maybe it was in the intonation, my lovely dulcet tones, I just don't know. The choir will not be so much under the influence of Irn-Bru as well... I relied on it to get through the weekend concerts (particularly after arriving in Edinburgh having had not much sleep)...I won't be in the concert when it gets to London's Cadogan Hall in July but it is well worth booking for asap as it should sell out...

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