Recession proof

According to The Times, the theatre industry may be one of the few that seems nearly recession proof. The West End posted record breaking box office receipts last year, and the theory goes that a night out at the theatre is the kind of escapism that goes up during bad times. Hmmm. Not sure, but if sold out shows in London are any indicator, there might be something to that.

"Sold out" doesn't necessarily mean "impossible to see a show." Paying full top price and a service charge to a ticket broker can get a seat (albeit, a really expensive one) for pretty much any show. However, there are other ways to get into theatres that are sold out. Queuing (the favorite outdoor sport in Britain) for day tickets (a few set aside each day for when the box office opens) and returns (from about an hour before a performance) give the determined a fighting chance, just no guarantee. Although it's a bit hit and miss (I've had better luck for evening performances than for afternoons), I've devised a strategy that has paid off for me (I'm 4 out of 4 for seeing sold out shows I want to go to). On a day with both matinee and evening performances, I first queue for matinee returns. If I have no luck, Plan B kicks in. I go to a nearby performance at a theatre I know has available last-minute tickets. Once that's over, I head back and queue for the same sold-out show's evening performance, hoping that box office people will remember and cut me a sympathetic break, or that standing in the cold for a couple of hours is its own reward. So far I've scored one sympathetic box office person and three persistent queuing victories.

So I've seen four "sold out" shows in as many weeks--Gethsemane at the Cottesloe (National Theatre), Loot at the Tricycle Theatre in Hampstead, War Horse at the Olivier (National Theatre) and then the icing on the cake last night--Donmar Warehouse's Twelfth Night http://www.donmarwestend.com/twelfth_night/?gclid=CPKNxq_szJgCFQyjQwodhSiWzw in the West End. Of course, the National Theatre takes a bit of the sport out of queuing, since you do it inside, sitting down, with a beverage of your choice since the bars are open. Not so for the other shows--that's outside in the bitter cold, the premier league of queuing (and a great way to meet interesting people).

Gethsemane (an up-to-the-minute political comedy) and Loot (a crime farce) were well acted, entertaining, and I enjoyed them...until their very last scenes. Although the situations were obviously different, both fizzled out rather than ending with a bang, those awkward kinds of drifty imprecise endings where the audience does not know whether to applaud until the curtain comes down. It bums me out when a show ends with a whimper (even though I don't mind a bit of ambiguity) since that last memory somehow overtakes part of the glow of otherwise great performances. In contrast, War Horse and Twelfth Night were brilliant throughout--gold medal payoffs for sportive queuing.

In fact, War Horse (an adaptation of a children's novel by Michael Morpurgo) was so stunning that when Tony and Matthew get here next week, they MUST queue up to try for tickets. When Mary Nell visits in April I want to see it again (it moves from the National to the West End). The puppetry for the life-size horses is so amazing that just a few minutes in, the audience is no longer aware that the horses aren't really horses. Uncanny how the puppeteers (three per puppet) captured not just their sounds and movements, but the very spirit of the horses. I saw War Horse on a night when MANY school groups were there...spellbound. I bet kids who've seen this play as one of their first live performances will be hooked, inspired to be theatre-goers for the rest of their lives. It was just that good.

But it is not all fun and leisure here in London. I'm getting some work done, revising a couple of R&R manuscripts (with Lynne and Stephanie), writing and reviewing (and course prep and grading). Tomorrow, for example, is a busy class day. We rescheduled (due to snow) the all day Blue Badge guided medical history tour of London (which I've occasionally lapsed into calling the magical mystery tour). We meet at St. Paul's tube for a walking tour of the Clerkenwell area (hoping to see the amazing Hogarth murals http://www.bartsandthelondon.nhs.uk/aboutus/hogarths_painting_at_barts.asp at Barts [aka St. Bartholomew's Hospital, founded in 1134]). After that, to Southwark by bus for a tour of the Old Operating Theatre and Herb Garrett http://www.thegarret.org.uk/oot.htm and a cheap lunch at Guy's hospital cafeteria http://www.guysandstthomas.nhs.uk/home.aspx. Then it's back to East London to tour neighborhoods of recent immigrancy/pending redevelopment for the 2012 summer Olympic Games, including local experts providing information about meeting the health care, public health, housing, and education challenges for the East End's low income and culturally diverse populations. I hope the students find it as interesting as I think it will be.

That sounds like a full enough day. But because students' internships run Tu-W-Th...we have our snow day makeup social policy lecture in South Kensington after the tour. A couple of students invited me to see Wicked with them--so many of us will head to the theatre to cap off a day spent in almost every conceivable part of central London.

I tease students that Monday's they are mine-- "all Debi, all day"--but tomorrow's exposure verges on the intolerable. Even I'll be tired of me by the end of that day!