THE Trip - Finally

I’m sitting in Leicester Square Gardens enjoying the pedestrian traffic. I love the energy of the place! Tourists, people preying on tourists and locals just wanting to go about their business, annoyed by the tourists but knowing that they’re the reason many of them are still in business. Red phone booths that seem to be the object of photos more than functioning communication devices. The sun is shining and it seems to be such a novelty that everyone is camped out on park benches, the fountain, statues but not the grass – that’s just decorative.

I am in the theatre now and for the second time, I’m in the front row. This front row has so much space in front that I could lay down and have a nap for the next 15 minutes. Like all the theatres I’ve been to so far, there are balconies both above and on the sides. There is a high, ornate ceiling and the proscenium arch which once upon a time may have been covered in gold leaf is now painted flat gold. These older theatre have no front-of-house LX bars so lamps are hung form the balconies. The audience has an unimpeded view of the ceiling.

So on Monday I saw James Fleet (Vicar of Dibly) in Twelfth Night, today it’s Keira Knightly and, hopefully, later this week or the next, will be Anthony Head (Giles – Buffy) in Six Degrees of Separation. It’s sad that people go to the theatre specifically to see ‘famous’ people from the land of film or TV but I guess theatre, like every other industry has to find ways to sell itself.

I have to say, I am definitely preferring the London theatre scene to Broadway. I find it easier to find shows, easier to get tickets and a much more pleasant vibe overall. There does seem to be a lot of Americans here. Strange that they, like the group sitting next to me, come to London on a regular basis to see theatre rather than going to New York!