BK, I'm dismayed. Not only are you not going to London (which, of course, I already knew), but the change in your signing schedule means we'll miss your Bookfellows signing and you'll miss our Christmas bash when we return from London, which will be that weekend you're in New york! Alas, Alack!
LONDON is still my dream destination. I would actually like to see more of England, but I am constantly booking theatre when I get there.
We usually see 10-12 shows when there. I have seen over 100 shows in London and am hoping to get to two hundred before I can no longer either physically or financially afford to go. Theatre tickets are something I won't stint on! Always good seats. The Lovely Wife usually likes to sit in the Dress Circle so she can see the blocking patterns. But in the Olivier we always sit on the floor. Best bets: The National always has wonderful stuff playing, the price is probably the best, and you will always see impeccably mounted shows. I've never been disappointed in anything I've seen there. All three houses are interesting and their bookshop is wonderful. Also the book market under the nearby Waterloo Bridge is swell.
Other houses: The Haymarket in the West End is my favourite theatre and I think one of the most beautiful. This is where Oscar Wilde's Importance of Being Earnest and Ideal Husband played. And where John Barrymore did his famous Hamlet. I also like the Donmar Warehouse in the Seven Dials/Neal's Yard area which Sam Mendes ran for many years. They have done several interesting revivials of Sondheim. I also like the Young Vic with its malleable, amorphous stage. The one time I was in the Almeida, it was quite interesting. I'm quite fond of the Gielgud Theatre in Shaftsbury Avenue's famed theatre row, simply because of all Gielgud memorabilia. The worst theatre for viewing, despite its great history and legacy, is the Old Vic which due to its rectangular nature has very bad site lines in the dress circle. I've never seen anything at the Royal Court in Sloane Square in Chelsea and would like to rectify that this time.
I'm something of a theatre archeologist...so I like to see the rare, the obscure, the classic. Also typically British theatre. I eschew big Lloyd-Webber/Cameron Macintosh musical and Broadway transfers, for the most part. But will go see interesting companies do interesting revivals of musicals.
This time on agenda are a revival of BECKET, CLOACA (which didn't get great reviews but is Kevin Spacey's initial offering as head of the Old Vic), THE EARTHLY PARADISE, a play about William Morris, Dante Rosetti and the affair Rosetti had with Morris' wife), HIS DARK MATERIALS, PARTS I & II at the National, THE HISTORY BOYS by Alan Bennett, a revival of JOURNEY'S END, FESTEN, FORTY WINKS by Ken Elyot which will introduce me to the Royal Court, GRAND HOTEL at the Donmar, SWEENEY TODD, in a small production at a theatre right behind our apartment, OLD MASTERS with Peter Bowles, Edward Fox, and one of my favourite actresses there, Sally Dexter. That's a dozen right there. I have about 23 possibilities on my list. I'm undecided about whether I want to see WOMAN IN WHITE...just to say I have or THE PRODUCERS which just opened and may be impossible to get into anyway.
I almost never book ahead, simply because I don't like to get locked into a schedule. I usually buy the day of or a few days ahead and that's usually worked out. I think there have only been about two or three things I couldn't ever get tickets for.
We rent a flat right in the heart of the West End, around the corner from Leicester Sq., two blocks from Covent Garden, just down the street from Seven Dials, a couple blocks from Shaftsbury Ave, two from Trafalgar, a couple from Picadilly. Right behind Charing Cross and my bookstores. We can walk everywhere and do...even as far as the Portobello Road Antiques Market and the Tower Bridge (3 miles). The Southbank and the National is maybe fifteen minutes away over the Waterloo Bridge which has the best views of London...one way is St. Paul's; the other Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, and the Spires of Westminster. All these landmarks are a hop-skip from where we stay. Last year we couldn't get the usual flat and stayed in one that was actually cheaper and we like more. Off Bow Street in Covent Garden behind the Opera House. Unfortunately, the flat is no longer available.
We have been there enough now that we don't go as tourists, but just go and live. A Tesco market is right around the corner. We take most of our meals in...even though the famed show-biz restaurant, The Ivy, is literally outside our flat's back door. Sometimes we'll eat after the theatre at Joe Allen's or Orso's.
The Lovely Wife likes to feed the ducks and squirrels in St. James Park (the prettiest of London's parks), dabble in Covent Garden, visit churches. I do book runs around town from the West End to the South Bank and through Bloomsbury. I also visit BK's and my favourite dealer Nigel Williams in Cecil Court where there are several other interesting book dealers and theatre memorabilia shops.
A typical day is we both go our seperate ways in the morning. She to the ducks or Covent; me to get the day's theatre tix and my own perambulations. I like to explore parts of London I don't really know. Last time it was Lincoln fields and the Inns of Court. How often do you see a shop that sells wigs for barristers in court?
We usually meet up around noonish for lunch and to read the three or four papers I've brought home. We go out again and then rendezvous once more around four or five. Go down for a little nap, eat, and push off to the theatre.
Occasionally we do a joint project to go see a sight...a museum or church...we've never seen or just a mutual ramble down one of the main thoroughfares, through one of the great parks, or just shop at one of the famed Markets. We love taking scenic detours back from the theatre...like along the South Bank when the city is all lit up.
London is a city I feel safe in almost any time of the day or night. One has had to get a little more wary over the years, especially on a Saturday night when the soccers yobs are getting pissed and puking in the street. But for the most part, I never felt personally threatened...and we've been there when murders occurred nearby and when the IRA was blowing up stuff...notably a bus in Aldwych. I also walked through the aftermath of the May Day riots (only discovering they were happening minutes before) in Whitehall and had to be diverted out of Traflagar by riot gear police.
One thing I love is having tons of newspapers to read and the British papers are always entertaining. On the weekends, I must buy 6 or 7 and we have a glut of magazines and inserts that keep us going all through the following week.
I would like to get out of London and see sights like Stonehenge and some castles and we're going to try this time, but it's tough to live the greatest city on earth. We have managed day trips to places like Canterbury and a friend drove us up through Yorkshire, Whitby and the north of England once. Fascinating!
I'd also liked to get a gander at Scotland and Ireland one of these days.
Aside from that, one thing I've always wanted to do is take one of those riverboat cruises along the Mississippi or the Ohio. I think there is also one that goes through Oregon and Washington. That sort of lesiurely travel, being able to watch the world go by, would be great fun, I think.