Last week I had three days off in a row (unprecedented pleasure!) and on Wednesday night I stopped by the Barbican ten minutes before curtain to see which Henry IV was playing, and whether there were any tickets left. It was Part One, and I got what I think must be the best seat in the Barbican. It’s AA3 in the upper circle, and I think it is the best because:
Louisa was in town this week, my longtime drinking-and-theatre buddy who initiated Drunk Theatre Week with me at the National’s Edward II. Clearly the only thing to do was continue with our theme of Gay Renaissance Theatre, so on Monday we saw David Tennant’s hair-extensioned Richard II at the Barbican (RSC) and on Wednesday Tom Hiddleston’s beefy topless-showering Coriolanus at the Donmar.
Drinks
Man, I thought I was CURSED this week. A series of minor but deeply annoying misfortunes has befallen me and, although I’m not into woo-woo astrology, on the third straight day of terrible things happening I Googled “Is Mercury in retrograde?” and the answer was yes, yes it is. I’m going to therefore use that to explain every bad thing that has happened this week.
After three days of phone-breaking, flat-locking-out and things-being-stolen, Ewan knew exactly what would cheer me up: Shakespeare! Drunk Shakespeare! Aimed at children!
Q: So, this Much Ado hasn't been getting very good reviews, gosh! How drunk were you for this one?
A: NOWHERE NEAR ENOUGH.
The conceit of Shitfaced Shakespeare is simple: it's a production of Shakespeare and one of the cast members is shitfaced. This year they did "Much Ado About Nothing" at the Edinburgh Fringe, and the night I saw it the shitfaced Shakespearean was Beth-Louise Priestley as Hero. I discovered that a drunk Hero staggering her way through Messina is the best thing that has ever happened to this play.
This week I am trying out a theme, and that theme is "plays I have seen when I, the performers, and/or both have been totally blotto". First up: Edward II, Marlowe's "gay king tragedy"! And gosh it was good (what I saw of it anyway, as was drunkenly twenty minutes late). I suspect the FT is right and this Edward II is a 'Marmite' production, but unlike Marmite people who don't like it are dead wrong. Other Baron, we'll miss you most of all.
