I booked a matinee, as that lets me travel up to London for the day without having to incur the cost of a hotel.
Things did not work out entirely to plan.
I arrived in Bath to catch my train to London, and discovered that it had been cancelled, apparently due to a fire on a train somewhere near Swindon. This necessitated so careful calculations which led e to the conclusion that *if* the next train was on time, and assuming no delays on the tube, I ought to just be able to make it to the theatre on time, so I decided to wait and catch the next train. (I hate being late, so tend always to be early, which does at least mean that missing a train and being delayed for a time need not be a complete disaster)
It was, inevitably, a very crowded train, and very hot, but I did eventually get to London, and to the Theatre Royal, Haymarket.
The play is... odd. Successful, award-winning architect Martin (Damian Lewis) has been happily married to his wife, Stevie (Sophie Okonedo) for 22 years, has a loving (and gay) son, Billy (Archie Madekwe) and is due to be interviewed by his oldest friend, Ross (Jason Hughes), about his 50th Birthday, his recent award, and the new, flattering commission he has received to design a new billion dollar city.
Ross challenges Martin about his absent-mindedness and lack of engagement with the interview, and he confesses that his distraction is due to his having fallen in love and started an affair ... with a goat.
The play then follows the reactions to Martin's confession - Ross's disgust, Stevie's disbelief, then anger and despair (and a lot of smashing things)
It's blackly comic in places - even while fighting over the disintegration of their marriage, Stevie and Martin can be sidetracked by semantics and word-play. And pretty dark, by the end.
Interesting, though. I'm glad I saw it. And Sophie Okonedo is awesome.
It is on at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, until 24th June, so you don't have a lot of time if you want to go!.
It's just as well the play was worth seeing, as, as well as the fun delays on my journey in, I got delayed again coming home. My train got stuck on account of a train near Swindon having a small fire, which resulted in some of the passengers being evacuated onto the trackside, which (understandably) means they have to stop all the trains.
We ended up sitting at Didcot for an hour, which meant I also missed the last but back to the Park and Ride. Somewhat to my surprise, when I asked, the rail company did give me a voucher for a taxi to the car park,which was a relief, as I *really* didn't fancy walking 3 miles uphill, at the end of a long, very hot day!
Fortunately, none of the people on the train were hurt, they just got delayed even more than we did, I think
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