Crowded bars, warm white wine, poor sight lines and uncomfy seats sum up an expensive visit to a West End theatre in the past. I used to game the system by ordering dry cider and ice for the interval.
Those days are to some extent in the past. The first indication of change was quite a few years ago. I cannot for the life of me remember much about the play but on arrival the audience could buy Guinness on the stage and mill around enjoying the craic. Of course, because I’m an edjiot, I was unaware I was talking with the cast; an early example of immersive theatre.
It’s sad to go to a mid-week matinee isn’t it? Bussed in coach parties, a less than enthusiastic performance by a tired cast … . Those days are in the past if yesterday’s matinee is a bellwether. We were encouraged to turn up early. Nicky Haslam no doubt thinks a mobile ‘phone common but some do have one, including me. The camera aperture was swiftly covered by a sticker no doubt causing some serious social media withdrawal symptoms. Next, a (free) schnapps buffet before going into a louche bar where decadence was the motif and it was only half one, as we say in Ireland.
Christopher Isherwood’s novel was published in 1939. He witnessed what was happening in Germany and conveyed the ingravescent despair of some Germans becoming aware of their fate. It became a play, I Am a Camera, a musical and a film. The production I saw yesterday merged some bits of the musical/film with a substantial slice of the play. It makes for a darker show than perhaps many punters expected.