I’m sitting in The Dirty Duck, on my own. Just went and saw Edward II. They gave me a local discount last minute which is nice, so it was £25. It’s not a cheerful play. Dan Evans is great, he’s still a cracking actor despite all the admin he’s had to accommodate. I could key into it, but it’s such a hard play to watch. Shakespeare at least gives us jokes. Marlowe gives us poetry. The language and verse is always so deep, so complete. It’s wonderful, but…
We made our audience sit for three hours with Othello, so 1h40 straight through is a blessing. What we lose is the journey. What we gain is half of our evening. This dense and obscure play maybe doesn’t warrant 3 hours of our attention in the modern world, but perhaps it was sliced so much that some of the prominent characters felt a bit like they were just actors shouting. It was hard to really feel where all that stuff was coming from with some of the lords. I loved it anyway. I’ve got friends who overreact to everything. It tracks.
I’m a bit put out though, as I’ve been excited for ages about an usher I met up here who happened to have tickets to 4.48 Psychosis in June. She couldn’t use them and offered them to me. I was astonished and thrilled, and I never made her send them to me as I kept thinking I didn’t want to bother her too much as it was such a great opportunity. I messaged her tonight to say I was in town, partly hoping I would have the chance to get the tickets. She randomly decided to return them to box office, where they would have been snatched up immediately. I’m upset. I wanted to catch it when I was at Guildhall third year. Dan Evans is an alumni. At wanted to support him but tickets were strangled to the rich. Suddenly there was a chance to see it without breaking the bank, and to see it on this incredible replay of the original, with the same cast but up here in Stratford at 4:48am on the day it was written. A huge ticket to have been offered randomly. And it’s a lesson not to get swept up with people you meet in the pub. She seemed legit. I don’t get why she returned them to box office. I smell a fish.
I’ve told her I’m here in the duck. I am so disappointed it’ll be hard to make conversation. But fuck it, she might be lying to me. I’m happy to buy one if she thinks they have resale value. But I kept offering to pay for them when I first met her, and she just insisted that she was happy they were going to a good place.
We shall see. I’ll wander round and see if she’s here. If not I’m going to bed at Georgies and I’ll be out by 6 to make sure I’m back at Imperial for my invigilating tomorrow. What a bollocks but it’s important. They help pay my bills.
AlBarclay 