7/18/06
I don’t know why I bothered to get cleaned up for the theater. The Tube trip to the Theatre District was the hottest, most uncomfortable subway ride I’ve ever taken. At each station, more people pushed into our already impossible crowded car. Each time, I couldn’t see how anyone else could get on, but somehow they did. We were completely jammed together, more intimately with strangers than is my preference.
We reached Leicester Square station, and mercifully emerged from the Tube in search of dinner and something cold to drink. Since Little India had been so good the other night, we decided to try a place called Little Italy.
I cannot fathom the British aversion to ice in their drinks, especially on a hot day like today. Our soft drinks and the water we ordered only had a couple of cubes that melted almost instantly. That’s been typical of everywhere else we’ve gotten drinks. Out food was good – a simple pizza for Laura, and riggotoni al fillato for me. After the closeness of the Tube and having to hold onto bars, etc., Laura wasn’t too keen on eating pizza with her hands.. We’ll just hope there were no diseases on the train, or we’ll all be sick.
The Comedy Theatre was located just off the Square. It is smaller, with fabulous architecture, especially on the interior. The play we selected isn’t one known to most American audiences, but it was written by Michael Frayn, who had also written Copenhagen, one of our favorite plays. Frayn has a way with dialogue, and we were interested to see how he did with comedy.
Donkey’s Years deals with the 25 year reunion of a group from a local British University, and the hijnks that ensue. The entire production was very reminiscent of an Oscar Wilde farce. The play starred several notable actors, most of whom we had seen in other British flims. The female lead, Samantha Bond, had played Miss Moneypenny in the recent James Bond films with Pierce Brosnan. The cast did a great job, keeping the dialogue tight and funny.
After the play we enjoyed the coolness of the evening by wandering around the Theatre District and Soho. Eventually we made it to Picadilly Square and caught a bus back to the hotel – no more Tubes for us tonight.