Thursday 18 May 2023

Well, what a brilliant night out ... witty, 100% engaging, a really good, old-fashioned play by Somerset Maugham. And you could hear every word! (Nothing wrong with my hearing but I'm often challenged when trying to decode mumblemumblegabble on TV. "Got it!" I'll cry after rewinding three times, like trying to solve an obstinate corner of the crossword.) All the more gratifying that our tickets only cost £1 in the Love Your Local Theatre lottery promotion - which, sadly, has just ended. The theatre was packed with a grey-headed audience ... oh, not often I can look around and think I'm one of the younger ones! We did spend some time wondering why Jane Asher gets to look as she does at 77 ... and we, er, sadly don't despite being respectively quite a bit/a fraction younger.(Cheekbones would have given us a head start.) I had to laugh when I came across this interview with the theatre's new (young) director: Tom Littler, the artistic director of the Orange Tree Theatre in leafy Richmond is reminding us not to underestimate his audience. Yes, they may be older, and sometimes wealthier, than the average theatregoer, but they’ve lived full lives. “Richmond is a very interesting area because many of those people are very liberal, children of the 1960s, have been to parties the likes of which the young people on stage might not even have dreamed of,” he smiles. “So I always think: ‘Let’s be very careful not to judge anybody, just because their hair is white.’” But isn't that just my luck ... old enough for creaky knees but a decade too young to have partied on Eel Pie Island.

5 comments:

Pam said...

I think I actually am old enough to have partied on Eel Pie Island. But not sufficiently cool.

Jane Asher - probably all wig and make up. You think...?

Mary said...

My dad would never have let me, Pam!

Well, the wig and makeup was the part she was playing. We did (cattily) agree that the photo displayed outside the theatre was some years old! And I suspect a smidgeon of 'work.'
But if nothing else, you'd have to admire her stamina - it's a long play!

Lucille said...

I did once go to scream at an Amen Corner concert with a friend. We stood on our chairs and felt very self conscious.
Lulu’s plastic surgeon is the one to find but first I must get a knee and hip looked at. The cataract operation has been cancelled three times now so that is blurring the wrinkles in mirrors.

Mary said...

There's a lot to be said for blurred wrinkles, Lucille - can't focus on mine either! I think I missed all the screaming - too young for the Beatles, too old for Donny Osmond!

Pam said...

I am old enough for the Beatles (though not as old as they are!) but have never been to a pop concert of any variety. I live near Murrayfield Stadium, which is usually just for rugby, but over the past week we've had a Beyonce concert and two Harry Styles concerts. Evidently the things to wear for both of these were sequined cowboy hats and feather boas. The streets are awash with feathers, dyed lurid colours. I'm not sure that this has been a good use of birds...