Programme Review: Before the Party (Almeida)

A series of reviews of theatre programmes
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Coffee: compared and contrasted

For most of today I have been having what I think are palpitations, the after effects of having 4 double espressos in 3 hours, the result of me sacrificing myself to find the best takeaway coffee around. It probably would have been sensible if I haven't made my own espresso before I set off on my mission.

I like my coffee to be hot, but not so hot that I can't drink it immediately - I like to enjoy the intensity of the crema in the first few sips. A good latte should be textured and not too foamy, and by not overheating the milk you avoid denaturing the protein in the milk, which improves flavour. Clearly, if you like your coffee scalding hot so it's still hot when you get to your desk, you might disagree with my assessment. I used a digital thermometer with probe to measure the temperature of the liquid.

All of the coffees ordered were the smallest size available and I didn't reveal my purpose to ensure I was treated like any other customer.

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Review: The Great Gatsby at Wilton's Music Hall

The Great Gatsby holds a special place in our house for being one of the shorter novels we own (and thus appreciated for not taking up precious shelf space). I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and its short length makes it an ideal candidate for stage adaptation. Everything I’ve seen on twitter about it has been positive, so I was pleased to have the opportunity to see it, but would it live up to the hype?
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A taste (or a sip) of Wapping

A week last Friday, I found myself in Victualler with 6 other residents of Wapping, collectively labelled by WiW Vickie as the Wapping bloggers (and their support teams).

I've been in Victualler several times, normally to buy a bottle of kernel beer to take home and the odd bottle of wine for a gift, but have never sat in, indeed the last time I'd sat in that unit was for a tweet-up in the days of James Wallace Wines.

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Pressed creases and creased press night

Two reviews in brief

Last week our iron, the jazzy Breville Digital Colour Select (which lights up the water reservoir a different colour depending on the temperature chosen) decided to break. By break I mean that its thermostat failed to stop it continuing to heat up, even though it was sufficiently hot to cause the ironing board to smolder on contact. In fairness after a while the digital panel started flashing, in a way that suggested something was wrong, although still failed to shut the iron off. We had originally bought the iron because it had an auto-off feature (which was relatively rare at the time), which is somewhat ironic given that it failed to do that as it was left to heat up whilst I had a shave.

Our search for a replacement was based on identifying those with an auto shut-off feature, though we discovered that unlike pro-ceramic glide plates, this isn't a widely advertised feature on either the shelf ticket or the box itself, requiring the googling of multiple irons in Currys. To cut an incredibly dull introduction to a blog post short, its replacement the relatively expensive Philips Azur 4890/02 is a very good iron, with the extra power (2.6kw vs 2kw for a lot of irons) is noticeable, as it seems able to maintain temperature for the duration of ironing, which our previous iron struggled with. The real test will come with some cotton bedding, but for now, not skimping on an iron was a very good purchasing decision.

My experience with the iron contrasts with last night's theatre going, to see Bully Boy at the newly opened St James Theatre, spitting distance from the wall of Buckingham Palace. The writing was a bit laboured to try and make a political point about the horrors of war both during and after, the acting was a bit better but let down by the script, that basically cycled which of the two actors would shout/talk/breakdown in each scene. The biggest disappointment for me was the theatre itself. The theatre is purpose built and thus isn't constrained by an existing space and has a decent size bar and a restaurant (which isn't open yet, but doesn't say so anywhere at the theatre, including on the menu outside).

Photo stolen for illustrative purposes
from the St James Theatre website

The auditorium is below ground and has a steep rake, making for excellent sightlines and felt like Trafalgar Studio 1. However, it was disappointing for me, as rather than having poor legroom, it had poor footroom! The gentle rake of most theatres means that as on planes and trains you can put your feet under the chair in front, even if your knees are banging the back of it. In the St James Theatre, the steep rake means that your feet are touching the back of the seat in front. As a result if you're over 5'8" and have size 9 or greater feet (or some function of the two), you might feel squashed, not a triumph of design. This may seem trivial, but I once spent a week hobbling from having to bend my toes sat in the Dress Circle slips at the Coliseum - telling colleagues you have a theatre induced injury is difficult to do and retain your professional air.