Helen as Betty

Bill is in India for a week.  I'm hoping that means we will get some interesting posts but so far he's sent me a picture of himself with an Indian colleague at a bar eating sushi.  It could have been taken anywhere.  Maybe he's really spending the week in London and he's going to send me pictures from Brick Lane all week.  As long as he brings me back souvenirs....

So to fill my time I got tickets for Louise and I to for see The Audience starring Helen Mirren as The Queen meeting with various prime ministers over her 60 year reign.  Here we are looking around admiring the theater.

 It looked like a sold out show.  I was lucky to nab two "slightly restricted view" seats on the side of the stage in the dress circle.  This is our view of the stage - perfect for a play like this where there are generally only two people on in the center having a conversation.

 Like most of these London theaters, this one was incredibly steep and packed in a lot of people.  That might explain why 15 minutes into the show a woman noisily tumbled down the stairs behind us.  She must have been coming in late with the usher in the dark and missed her footing.    But it didn't end there because after the commotion of the fall and trying to help her up she was wailing at top voice that she hurt her finger.  They did everything thing they could to get her out quickly.  I assume the action on stage continued but for those few moments I was mesmerized by the car wreck behind me.

Here's Helen at the final bow.  The show was AWESOME.  I think this might be one of the best shows I've ever seen.  I'm sure I missed some of the jokes and commentary because I don't know British politics and history well enough but it seemed to be dumbed down enough even for my little brain to grasp.  They kept jumping around in time so she would be the young Queen, then the older Queen, then the middle aged Queen - she transformed in seconds and there were subtle nuances for each age as she gained confidence in her role.    Helen was incredible and I recognized some of the other actors from my BBC shows.

The ride home became an adventure because all the train signals were down at Waterloo and Clapham Junction.  There was one train leaving the station from Waterloo for the rest of the night.  It was going in our general direction so we got on it - along with EVERYONE else at the station.  We got off part way and had to take a cab the rest to get home.  So much for saving money on restricted view seats.  I assume Helen was tucked up in bed by the time I got home.  I wonder if she sleeps as Betty too?