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Post by Backdrifter on Oct 18, 2017 12:04:08 GMT
Nice, but a happier ending would be if the attackers were caught and convicted. Still unimpressed at the lack of formal and public apology from the theatre, too There's no mention of the theatre using seat booking records to help with tracing the attackers. But that's a thing they could do isn't it?
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Stink
Oct 18, 2017 9:53:00 GMT
Post by Backdrifter on Oct 18, 2017 9:53:00 GMT
I covered myself head to toe in Tiger Balm afterwards both to help my muscles relax after hours in the saddle and to deal with the stuffy heat in our non-air-conditioned hacienda. So if you sit next to someone faintly smelling of Tiger Balm in a London theatre, it might well be me. I'm guessing if it's another occasion you've covered yourself from head to toe in it you might be smelling of it more than faintly!
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Post by Backdrifter on Oct 18, 2017 9:00:40 GMT
I had a second and again very enjoyable visit to Daniel Kitson's latest work in progress at the BAC last night. Tomorrow, the BUG 10th anniversary screening at the BFI, which will be the last regular London thing I see for a while before my move to Inverness next week.
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Post by Backdrifter on Oct 18, 2017 8:56:40 GMT
The other thing about the presenters' comments, without their actually having said it explicitly, is that it seems to me these remarks are about the London West End. In implicitly skewing discussion to big London theatres, they do another disservice in not recognising the breadth and diversity of theatre, that it's not just old buildings with uncomfortable seats and shows that start at 7.30. But hopefully I'll be proved wrong and the show will cover stuff other than WE etc.
As for singling out long productions with no interval - probably very few people are happy about that, including bar managers - but it's the exception by some way.
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Post by Backdrifter on Oct 18, 2017 8:42:36 GMT
It’s a kind of very strong/hot vaseline-type gunk that you are meant to apply to your temples when you have a headache. (I have no idea how it combats smells...) Sorry for making the assumption everyone would know what tiger balm is. I don't believe it has any effect as a cure for headaches, but I find its aroma handy for blocking out other aromas. I just take the lid off and hold the jar under my nose. It might bother people around me, but I take the chance that hopefully it won't, in the same way that the people who have BO - whether due to a condition or simply not washing - take the chance that the people near them will hopefully not be too bothered. Ditto, whatever soap I've used that day, etc. Whatever situation we are in when surrounded by other people, there's the chance something about them might annoy us. In a theatre, I'll politely ask someone to stop talking, programme-fanning, coat/bag-rustling etc but don't feel I can ask them to stop breathing or having BO for the time being.
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Post by Backdrifter on Oct 16, 2017 15:23:19 GMT
When I remember to, I take a small pot of tiger balm with me to combat Public Stink scenarios including Event Stench. This was the result of a series of such situations culminating in a concert at which Mrs Backdrifter was next to a BO Man who was also a High Clapper.
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Post by Backdrifter on Oct 5, 2017 15:38:03 GMT
^
Exactly the approach I use to explain it, and no I don't recall being taught it either!
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Post by Backdrifter on Oct 5, 2017 14:36:36 GMT
Yes they certainly left it open for series 3 But I think now confirmed no series 3?
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Post by Backdrifter on Oct 5, 2017 14:31:37 GMT
This irks me, too, and I cannot believe people were actually taught this usage; surely they have simply copied others who know no better? The misuse of "myself" is equally painful. Yes it's frequently used instead of 'me' - "Can you send it to myself..." Speaking of 'me' I never succeeded in convincing a former line manager that it's not always correct to say "(XYZ) and I..."
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Post by Backdrifter on Oct 3, 2017 21:15:54 GMT
Gave up on it after ep1 but the occasional glimpse suggests if there were no cars or phones in it the screen would mostly be blank.
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Post by Backdrifter on Oct 2, 2017 22:50:57 GMT
Someone loudly stirring a cup of tea on stage made several people laugh like drains. The thing is, I can see that could be quite funny. That said, I used to loudly stir my tea at a previous workplace and it really annoyed quite a few people. It all came out in a rush - one person commented on it then that was the cue for several others to breathlessly reveal they too were irritated by it but had held back from saying so. It seemed it was that I stirred it not just loudly, but super-fast (something I learned from my dad). I remember someone saying they were infuriated by a colleague who used to stir his tea, then use the spoon to tap out on the cup rim 'dink dink da-dink dink...' but he never did the final 'dink-dink'. It drove this other bloke up the wall. Did you know that on the Voyager probe, among all the classical recordings etc there is a recording of 'dink dink da-dink dink...' but missing the final 'dink-dink' on the grounds that there may one day be a transmission back to us by aliens who realise they are to supply the dink-dink? Anyway, as you were.
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Post by Backdrifter on Oct 2, 2017 22:40:35 GMT
and then talk loudly about their expensive holiday destinations You've reminded me of a sketch from 90s show Absolutely - two terribly middle class men in a bar, one saying (murmuring) "I picked up the keys to the -" (suddenly shouting his lungs out) "HOUSE IN TUSCANY!!!!" and so on, until they start using loud hailers. If I realise I'm nearby people of this ilk I always expect them to do that thing of saying in a sort of slightly hushed way about their own child, "He's on the autistic spectrum, you know" as if he's just achieved a high grade in violin.
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Post by Backdrifter on Oct 1, 2017 9:40:09 GMT
Daniel Kitson's latest work in progress at the BAC, Friday.
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Post by Backdrifter on Oct 1, 2017 9:38:47 GMT
Two pursed-lipped women behind us at the Patrick Stewart Macbeth a few years ago, before curtain up. "This is the sort of thing he should be doing, not all that sci-fi and fantasy nonsense." As opposed to, of course, what he chooses to do. Well given his latest gig was voicing a poo emoji he might want to take some advice! Ha ha ha! His voice is going so maybe less theatre and more crappy but high-paying film roles ( jobs in this case?) is the way forward for him.
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Post by Backdrifter on Sept 29, 2017 13:37:02 GMT
Two pursed-lipped women behind us at the Patrick Stewart Macbeth a few years ago, before curtain up. "This is the sort of thing he should be doing, not all that sci-fi and fantasy nonsense." As opposed to, of course, what he chooses to do.
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Post by Backdrifter on Sept 22, 2017 9:28:49 GMT
Don't blame show leavers. As long as they do it quietly and apologetically, not as a big "look at me, I'm leaving" moment. I can and will blame show leavers if I want to. Unless they are ill then there's no excuse for not waiting until the interval and politely slipping away into the night (or grey Manchester afternoon) just as the lady next to me did. And if you read my post the exact point was that they made noise and were disruptive. In a quiet show in the round, spending a good few minutes rustling bags gathering up and waiting for your mate at the door is disruptive, and as I'm guessing from their demeanor none of the 4 in question were ill, could have waited until the interval. On a few very rare occasions I've left shows mid-performance, as in not waited for the interval or there wasn't one, but only when I'm end-of-row and judge there's a moment e.g. scene change when I can quietly slip away with little or no disruption to others. Once I had no choice, towards the end of a morning performance of Caesar at the horrible Kings Cross Theatre that started very late with no apology or explanation and because I had to be somewhere else I couldn't avoid leaving due to the late start. At the other end of the spectrum I once felt so ill at a Donmar production I was dying to leave but was front row and couldn't bring myself to do it. Though I'm sure other audience members wouldn't have thanked me for my consideration had my lunch suddenly re-appeared - thankfully it didn't and had I thought that was about to happen I would have just had to leg it. However appallingly bad the production, I would never leave during the performance if my position and having to gather up rustling bags etc would make it disruptive to others.
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Post by Backdrifter on Sept 22, 2017 9:12:08 GMT
Hiddles You really are trying to make my skin crawl off into another room. Jyyyyaaahhhhh...... Ha! You know what? I've resisted calling him that for years, both because it seems mildly disrespectful and because I can't stand the cutesy fan-art that goes with it. It's the sort of name you'd give a cat in a kid's cartoon. I guess I feel like he can handle a bit of disrespect after putting us through all that ballot stress. But I will endeavour to refrain, if it really bothers you that much! Ah, you do what you need to do. It's not as though you're alone, I'm sure I've seen others here do it! I suppose it takes a bit of the edge off knowing you're doing it in that knowing sort of way. It's when people do it genuinely out of that sort of twee fluffy sparkly glittery adoration that it turns my stomach and makes me cringe. For me it's on the same spectrum as people referring to performers exclusively by their first names. I understand 12yo girls gushing about "Justin"etc but when adults do it.... yiccchhh.
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Post by Backdrifter on Sept 21, 2017 16:40:37 GMT
I emailed this pic to friends, joking that it looked alarmingly like me but honestly, it wasn't me, guv. One friend replied to say "Yeah but he looks a lot happier than you usually do." Which is unfair - I am a bit naturally scowly but not that bad. My chin definitely doesn't jut out as much as his though. Usually these court drawings have that sort of fuzzy pastel cloud in the background but this one looks like he's standing in front of the grey pebble-dashed wall of one of those estate houses in outer Glasgow or somewhere. It has the court artist's name, I was curious so I looked her up and found a number of her other works. This one requires no explanation. Whereas this one does need an explanation as the woman's hands appear to be melting Not that I'm denigrating the profession in any way, I admire court artists.
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Post by Backdrifter on Sept 21, 2017 16:33:14 GMT
Many years ago my late Aunt and her friend were in Morecambe and decided to see the variety show starring the late Ronne Coyles. They obviously only glanced at the posters and/or programme, or just didn't read them properly, but I distinctly remember them returning home still complaining that the star of the show didn't look like Ronnie Corbett, or sound like him , in fact they seriously doubted it WAS Ronnie Corbett , should have complained ..... At risk of taking us off topic, this has made me think of a story Peggy Mount once told on TV in an interview. She played a character who died in an episode of Casualty. She was touring An Evening With Peggy Mount show at the time, and some theatre BOs told her people were turning up and asking for refunds, because "we saw her on TV the other night and she's died."
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Post by Backdrifter on Sept 21, 2017 16:28:17 GMT
Tomorrow, Sigur Ros at Hammersmith Apollo. Yes not a play but I'm still going into a theatre for a thing. Now not going to A Close Encounter With Richard Dreyfuss at the Leicester Square Theatre on Sunday as it's been cancelled. Though I am slightly relieved to now not be seeing Mike Read, who was to have compered it, for some reason. I met Mike Read in the queue to a Springsteen show once. I said "are you Mike Read?". I am good at conversation. I can certainly see that. The one time I used the "Are you..." opener on someone was King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp. I indeed said "Are you Robert Fripp?" and he looked wild-eyed at me, gasped "No!" and actually ran away, his legs a blur, dodging and weaving around people until he disappeared from sight. Did Read confirm he was himself? Was there any follow-up?
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Post by Backdrifter on Sept 21, 2017 15:17:38 GMT
Tomorrow, Sigur Ros at Hammersmith Apollo. Yes not a play but I'm still going into a theatre for a thing.
Now not going to A Close Encounter With Richard Dreyfuss at the Leicester Square Theatre on Sunday as it's been cancelled. Though I am slightly relieved to now not be seeing Mike Read, who was to have compered it, for some reason.
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Post by Backdrifter on Sept 21, 2017 15:11:33 GMT
Danton's Death at the NT, whenever that was. Near the end there's a series of guillotinings. As the 3rd or 4th head toppled into the basket, a man behind us leaned in to his companion and stage-whispered knowledgeably, "False heads." I'm sure his companion was as relieved as we were.
Also at the NT, Peter Hall giving a talk about preparing actors for Shakespeare performances. A few seats away, a man in his 40s was augmenting Sir Peter's discourse by mercilessly tutoring his teenage child, adding in his own loudly whispered explanations and expansions of everything Hall was saying. Hall described pentameter, giving as an example the opening line of Merchant, emphasising with his hand the beats, "In sooth, I know not why I am so sad". The father nodded in time with a knowing smile and his eyes shut tight, then (still with his eyes closed) whispered to the stricken-looking boy, "Yes, that is correct."
You know, just in case the boy might have thought Sir Peter Hall got it wrong.
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Post by Backdrifter on Sept 21, 2017 14:58:25 GMT
Ewwww this woman sat next to me (slip seats) at Mis tonight and took her shoes off!! She didn't even have socks on! She sat at an angle so her feet where inches away from my shoes. Not going to lie I was trying my hardest to step on her toes! If you read this page eeewww who does that?! I hope you didn't need to deploy a clothes peg or gas mask. Did you score any hits with the attempted toe-steppage?
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Post by Backdrifter on Sept 21, 2017 14:10:57 GMT
Hiddles You really are trying to make my skin crawl off into another room. Jyyyyaaahhhhh......
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Post by Backdrifter on Sept 21, 2017 12:16:32 GMT
Although, I know someone who once got an empty malteser. The chocolate shell had somehow formed around nothing. That's at least one non-crunchy malteser.
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Post by Backdrifter on Sept 21, 2017 12:03:22 GMT
He looks like a CBBC presenter. You think? They generally look like smiley-faced cartoons, don't they?
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Post by Backdrifter on Sept 21, 2017 11:55:57 GMT
Not bad behaviour as such, but the man behind me at Girl from the North Country was wearing an incredibly noisy jacket - a sort of rural hedgerow-foraging affair, I suppose, that made a zippy noise every time he moved, and he moved a lot. Oh, that's bad behaviour as such, no question. Constantly making a noise with his jacket? Get him out of there and back to his hedgerow double-quick.
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Post by Backdrifter on Sept 21, 2017 11:53:36 GMT
Gaaah! Using that term is definitely worse behaviour than the seat-squeaker. (shudders)
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Post by Backdrifter on Sept 21, 2017 11:44:49 GMT
I just saw a tweet from someone saying they are fed up of it as it's "just pissed-off looking people slamming car doors and smoking" That's my sort of telly Ha ha ha ha! Well, there's an audience for everything.
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Post by Backdrifter on Sept 20, 2017 14:20:25 GMT
I just saw a tweet from someone saying they are fed up of it as it's "just pissed-off looking people slamming car doors and smoking"
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