anarchist_nomad | Breaking The Habit

I did not go to see a play yesterday. Which makes it the first time in nearly a week that I did not. While

cassiopia was here, she and I saw six plays during her ten day visit. Five of those were on consecutive nights, starting on Tuesday and going through till Saturday. Truth be told, we looked for a performance to see in London yesterday... but apparently Sunday is the day when all of the West End theatres are dark.

The first day that

cassiopia was here (Fri 12 May) we went to Edward Albee's Three Tall Women at the Oxford Playhouse. As a big fan of Albee's work, I enjoyed the show while

cassiopia slept. Then we took a break to have a three day weekend exploring the countryside... which I will try to write about in a future entry. We got back last Monday night, though, and began seeing a show every evening after:

Tue 16 May: Othello at the Old Fire Station Theatre in the Oxford city centre.
Wed 17 May: Terry Pratchett's Wyrd Sisters at the O'Reilly Theatre in Keble College.
Thu 18 May: Gilbert & Sullivan's The Gondoliers at the Oxford Playhouse in the city centre.
Fri 19 May: Mel Brooks's The Producers at the Drury Theatre in the London West End.
Sat 20 May: My Name is Rachael Corrie at the Playhouse Theatre in London. (I saw this one alone while

cassiopia watched a production of Titus Andronicus at the Shakespeare's Globe)

We were hoping to catch Christian Slater as Randal McMurphy in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest on Sunday... but then we learned that that is when shows are dark. The production runs until June 3rd, so I may head back to London to try to see it with D&J before then, but who knows if it will actually happen.

As a huge theatre buff, this was quite a nice run of shows. I am pretty certain that I have never had five consecutive days of plays before. However, Oxford is rich with theatre and many shows come through for short runs that are quite affordable. Yet another reason I like it here. London's West End quite obviously reminds me of Broadway, especially since -- as a native New Yorker -- NYC is ingrained in my mind as the template to compare all other cities to. We even waited in the TKTS line to get our tickets to The Producers. No wonder it felt familiar! One notable difference is that, over here, first row seats are not considered to be very good. This is fine by me, as we were able to get front row center tickets just two hours before curtain!

On a completely different note, I found a very old mailbox when I arrived back in Oxford this afternoon, after sending

cassiopia on her way to Heathrow. I know it was old because it said "G VI R" on it. Every other mailbox I have seen -- as well as the cop badges, the tunics of yeoman warders (also nicknamed "beefeaters"), and more -- are branded with "E II R" for Elizabeth Regina II, or Queen Elizabeth the Second. The "G VI R" stands for George Rex VI, or King George the Sixth... who reigned from 1936 to 1952. You would think they have had time to replace this mailbox by now!

Nothing significant here; it just amused me to make the find. However, I have observed that, with the monarch's initials on mailboxes, badges, etc. and her face on all of the coins and bills... well, there will be a lot of things needing to be re-made once Elizabeth has passed on the throne. I would go so far as to say that when a monarch here dies, it is a royal pain in the ass!

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The existance of the mailbox probably gives credence to the idea that they replace such items when they would need replacing, not necessarily all at once when the monarch changes.

Rumor has it that for a while postal boxes in Scotland marked "E II R" were being destroyed by Scots Nationalists because the current Queen is only the first Elizabeth to be monarch of Scotland.

Regarding replacements: That might be true, at least for mailboxes. I wouldn't know, as there certainly hasn't been a new monarch in our lifetimes. Heck, the last time there was a change, my mother was still an infant. I would imagine that the more symbolic items, like police badges and beefeater tunics are replaced almost immediately, though.

Regarding Scots Nationalists: I did not know that! Thanks for the heads-up!

I've seen a few G VI R mailboxes...And even once a G V R (in York, I think it was...I may have a picture).

Really! I'd like to see that "G V R" picture...

It would take me about a week of seeing "E II R" everywhere before i got annoyed.
very annoyed.
wait: i have never been to 'Grey Bri'in' and i'm already taking umbrage.

What do you mean? The monarchy is blessed by God, dontcha know? Of course we should plaster their name all over the country!

Actually, the part that pissed me off most about all the "E II R" branding was seeing it staring back at me from the badge of every cop that had surrounded us on Mayday.

anarchist_nomad wrote:
"I would go so far as to say that when a monarch here dies, it is a royal pain in the ass!"

And that would be 2/3 of a pun... P.U.!

Moving right along... how was "My Name is Rachel Corrie?" That's the one Alan Rickman co-edited and directed at the Royal Court Theatre, right? (Yeah... 'cause I need more reasons to get hot and bothered over that man!!!) It doesn't seem like we'll be seeing it in NYC any time soon, as the New York Theatre Workshop, which was scheduled to do it, has pulled out due to fears of political repercussions. http://arts.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,1719693,00.html

how was "My Name is Rachel Corrie?"

It was very good. Basically, it was a one woman show -- that woman being Rachel, of course -- and the text was mainly based on her own journal writings and e-mail to friends and parents. It goes into her politics, certainly, but it also goes through a lot of personal stuff to flesh her out as a person and show us a glimpse of the compleat Rachel. I am very glad to have seen it. Powerful stuff...

That's the one Alan Rickman co-edited and directed at the Royal Court Theatre, right?

That's right, though I saw it at the Playhouse Theatre, but with the same actress Megan Dodds, who played Rachel at the RCT.

Honestly, at the time I wasn't sure if it was the same Alan Rickman. In the program, his bio says:

Alan Rickman (director and co-editor)
For the Royal Court as directoy: "My Name is Rachel Corrie"; as actor: "The Grass Widow", "The Lucky Chance", "The Seagull".

He also directed "Wax Acts" (Gielgud), "The Winter Guest" (West Yorkshire Playhouse, Almeida), and the film of "The Winter Guest", which opened at the Venice Film Festival and won Best Film at the Chicago Film Festival.

As an actor, and dur for release in 2006, are "Snow Cake", "Perfume", and "Nobel Son".

Reading this, I had to wonder if it was a different guy with the same name! Of course, I know better now...

It doesn't seem like we'll be seeing it in NYC any time soon, as the New York Theatre Workshop, which was scheduled to do it, has pulled out due to fears of political repercussions.

Oh, that sucks! I read the Guardian link that you posted... and am very disappointed. I get ever more glad to be out of the United States.

Breaking The Habit

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