London "Theatre"

People can't come to London and NOT see a play or two. My Aunt Laura is both an actress herself AND lives in Manhattan, so a simple musical definitely wouldn't have sufficed. We saw two different plays that I never even would have heard of it wasn't for her, and I'm glad that we got to see something completely different. 

 

 

 

The first theatrical production (I don't think "play" is the correct term here) was called A Hollywood Fable. It takes place in the early 50's in Hollywood and centers around two different love affairs. You go into what looks like a warehouse, and they immediately give you this mask to wear (this is for many reasons, one being to tell us apart from the actors). 

I was trying to be as creepy as possible



You go to a large elevator, where a creepy man dressed in an old suit from the 40's (think Hollywood Tower of Terror) tells you the backstory and lets you out on to a spacious, dimly lit floor. There are little vignettes, such as a bar with an unmasked, wide eyed bartender slowly scrubbing a dish while blankly looking into the horizon. Another vignette was a small, spiderweb covered chapel, full of bibles turned to various pages and a candlelit shrine at the front. My aunts walked through a room that was just full of discarded prosthesis. As you are looking through the different sets, actors slowly start trickling in and performing. The warehouse is several stories high and all that you do is walk through it. Some people catch different scenes than others and you never really learn the full story of what is going on. I am doing an awful job explaining this, just think Hollywood Tower of Terror+ The Black Dalia+ a haunted house+ a really creepy acid trip or nightmare and then you will get the picture.

 



Chimerica stage

 

The next play that we saw was a little more traditional in that we actually sat down and simply watched. It was called Chimerica and was about the famous photograph of the tank man in Tianamen Square. The stage was awesome- it rotated and on it was this huge cube that had different doors, windows, and sets built into it and pictures projected on to it to create the scene

 



 

Us at the pub...I think this was before beer was spilt

 

Not a play, just us at the pub the night that we saw Chimerica. It was their last night in London, so we stayed out late and played scrabble (I WAS winning, and then someone won with the word "wipe"...I think it was Dianne?)

 

I know that these posts have been out of order, but I still have one or two more days with my aunts that I need to blog about. Thanks for reading!