We packed ready into two small bags (as it was only one night away) and waited for a taxi to appear at around 10am. One of the benefits of living in the modern day is the taxi company letting us know by text message what taxi to look out for, and when it was likely to arrive. So we weren't surprised when a white Hyundai stopped across our drive, and we got out the front door pronto for the start of our theatre adventure! Jasper our cat had gone to his cattery the day before, whining all the way.
Our Asian driver zoomed down the M11 to our Travelodge hotel, well zoomed down until we entered London that was. It was a slow crawl inside London, very stressful to drive in. As a passenger my main stress was cramped seating from not having put my bag into the car boot, and worrying if we would arrive too early. Happily the driver took a wrong turning at one point, and we eventually got to the hotel just when we could check into the hotel!
Hard for the driver to stop by the hotel which was jammed into London's congested streets. We clambered out as fast as we could then up a steep flight of steps into the oasis of the lobby. At first the staff didn't seem to find our reservation (had I booked the wrong day the wrong hotel?) but then they did. And I persuaded them we had even booked for breakfast too! We were issued with keycards which let penetrate the inner security to reach our room on the next floor up, fine for one night. The room didn't seem to have a window at first, not a great view when we did find the window over Drury Lane. At least unlike the Z Hotel we stayed in on our last London visit I didn't have to climb over Virginia to get to my side of the bed.
As it was lunchtime we then headed off in search of lunch. Initially I got defeated by my being directionally challenged, and wasn't sure whether we were going up or down Drury Lane. But then I learned to love Google Maps and we footed it towards Covent Garden. We came across a Zizzis but they had no space. So we wandered into Covent Garden proper and tried Tuttons (I wasn't sure whether it was Tuttons or Futtons). They did have space and looked more suitable to have an anniversary meal at. Virginia asked me where the gardens of Covent Garden had been, way before my time.
Sedate and comfortable enough in Tuttons, plates not overflowing but I guess that's the sign of quality over quantity. It was only later I noticed we could have a 125ml glass of wine each rather than the 175ml we ordered. We had time to kill so had an apple tart tatin each which was very nice. I did have to ask both waitresses if the apple tart was polluted with sultanas or the like which caused a delay.
After yet another dent in the credit card bill we headed off through Covent Garden, listening en passant to a quartet playing down in a courtyard in the middle, before hitting St Martins Lane and navigating down with increasing confidence to English National Opera's home in the London Coliseum. I have trouble getting the number of Ls and Ss right there in Coliseum.
It was heaving outside and inside the Coliseum. A bag search to get in like all theatres, queues for merchandise and toilets and cloak rooms. The Coliseum has lavish classical architecture, wide staircases, the auditorium is decorated like a Greek temple with faces. A huge stage which the stage adaptation of Spirited Away made full use of. We got an expensive programme partly so Virginia could show her mother, what I didn't get was which actress out of Kanna Hashimoto or Mone Kamishiraishi or Rina Kawaei or Momoko Fukuchi was playing Chihiro for us. I may have missed something (which I often do) or perhaps the Coliseum thought all Japanese look alike.
The stage adaptation followed the Studio Ghibli film faithfully, performed by Japanese actors in Japanese with surtitles displayed in 3 places. Many fantastical puppets, some with multiple operators, but like Bunraku you could see the manipulators. You also saw the stage sets rotating and changing, I worried for the actress who climbed ladders at points as the stage changed around her. You could see trap doors in use as characters entered and exited. A guy clad in a loin cloth played 3 demonic heads, Yubaba and others metamorphosed by almost magical slight of hand. A skilful and clever performance. I was only surprised by joy by a dance at the end of the first half, I can think of a number of reasons why I wasn't overjoyed by the production. But it was a production I had to see.
It was cool in the Coliseum auditorium, legroom was restricted. It was as slow as getting off a plane getting out of the theatre after we had applauded as the actors deserved. We headed up St Martins Lane, avoiding cars and people, and dived into a Five Guys to pay quite a bit more than if we had gone to Macdonalds as I had originally planned. One lot of upmarket chips was more than enough for both of us, the milkshakes had to be collected from a different counter which was confusing. The cheeseburgers kept hunger from the door well enough. We headed back to the hotel via the Cambridge Theatre where Matilda was showing. By now I was getting my bearings and we didn't need Google Maps again for navigating between Cambridge Circus and our hotel.
After a pit stop, and helping two girls through a security door in the hotel, we returned to squeeze through the throng outside the Cambridge Theatre and into a smaller auditorium which was very noisy thanks to all the children present. Appropriate for the play Matilda I guess! I embarrassed myself a little by trying the wrong size of the gangway for our seats. The seats were fine but I was squirming around trying to be comfortable, I had done too much sitting down for the day.
The stage was smaller than the Coliseum, decorated like a library. I tried to make words out of the letters hanging around from the walls and ceiling, the longest I managed was SPHERE. During the performance desks could rise from the stage floor. The stars of the show were the children, amazingly precocious and able. Such assurance in their acting. The stage version of Matilda has differences to the film version, I don't know which is more faithful to Roald Dahl's book and perhaps that doesn't matter. We had expensive ice cream tubs at half time (expense was a theme of this trip to London), it was hot in the Cambridge Theatre. the ice cream was already melting when we got them.
The show finished with a Revolting Children song (this was the hit for me) and then we escaped as fast as we could. There was a tour rep waiting to collected her party outside. There were also a number of garish tuk-tuks festooned with red lights offering lifts. We got back to the hotel before 10pm and we could walk straight back in. A normal hotel night though there was plenty of noise from the street, apparently some football competition being watched in nearby pubs.
Come the morning the breakfast staff were pleasantly helpful, more polite than in ages past. They did clear our table before we had really finished, and also almost flooded my plate with mushrooms when I accepted a server offering them. Our fellow guests seemed to include people going to Wimbledon, a bit of a way away I would have thought.
We were able to track the black Mercedes coming to take us back to Cambridge on the phone which was very convenient. A more comfortable but as tedious escaping from London. The bus lanes are good things but they do slow you down if you're in a car like we were. On the way back I remembered seeing places like the childrens' hospital I had seen and forgotten on the way coming. Strange how memory works, how memories are connected to each other. The car was swish and clever, it offered to hunt for rest stops when it thought its driver had been driving long enough.
And so we got back home, in time to collect the cat. And for me to feel yet again I hadn't taken enough pictures.
Tuttons where we lunched
Coliseum exterior
Virginia inside Coliseum
Coliseum stage
Coliseum stage and auditorium
Cambridge Theatre exterior
Cambridge Theatre stage