Review – It’s All True, White Bear Theatre

Yes, it’s been a while.

We’ve been busy. Wallowing in everthing from the perky and quirky opening ceremony to the bit iffy closing ceremony and an awful lot of greedy medalling inbetween.

So after all that real drama (not to mention a pesky burglary) there was little rush to return to theatre. But then Andrew drew Phil’s attention to Jason Sherman‘s It’s All True which is also real drama in as much as it is  based on real events.

Strangely this was Phil’s first visit to the White Bear Theatre in the badlands of Kennington so he was understandably a little taken aback to find himself in a pub surrounded not by shiftless middle class arty types but by people in t-shirts watching football on multiple telly screens.

The White Bear is a strange place. Certainly the Whingers can not think of any other pub in London where the wine comes in individual mini-bottles of the kind you get on aeroplanes. We can only imagine that demand for vino is so low that they got fed up of having to throw away the rest of the full sized bottles on the rare occasion that some outsider asked for a glass.

Anyhoo, it was in this unusal setting that the Whingers discovered they shared a few things in common with Orson Welles and not just a love of sweet sherry.

Review – The Druid’s Rest, Finborough Theatre

Yes, another trip to the fringe. We promise to break out of it soon.

Latest news on the poor, beleaguered Finborough Theatre: not only is there still no alcohol licence but there’s not even a bar any more. Drinks may be purchased at the nearby newsagent  and brought in to the auditorium in plastic cups. There is still no running water in the gents. The auditorium remains tropically warm.

So it’s saying something that despite all this the Whingers had a thoroughly enjoyable evening when they visited last night to catch The Druid’s Rest by the “Welsh Noel Coward” Emlyn Williams.

And bits of it are in Welsh!