Removes dustsheets. Blows away cobwebs. Opens window to let some air in.
Oh, poor neglected blog. I’m so sorry for abandoning you, leaving you with only dated cultural insights and depriving you of my witty prose and pithy observations. The excuses are many and varied: work went mental, I went on holiday (twice), I did a comedy writing course which took up most of my spare time but I also got to a point where I wasn’t looking forward to any of the things I had booked to see as much as I should have been, thinking only about where I was going to find the time and motivation to write about them afterwards. In fact, I didn’t book to see a couple of things I quite fancied because the whole thing just got a bit overwhelming. I’m sure you will agree that this is not a good state of affairs, so as the backlog of posts grew ever larger I was forced to give myself a few months off.
I’m not quite sure what I’m going to do with this blog in the future but, for completeness, here is everything else I saw in 2010 that I didn’t get around to writing about. I went to more comedy than anything else, partly because of the course I was doing but also because there were a lot of well-reviewed Edinburgh shows that finally made it to town.
Comedy
- Russell Kane – Smokescreens and Castles, Bloomsbury Theatre
- Laughter Lounge with Russell Kane (MC), Richard Herring, Greg Davies, Andrew Maxwell, Tim Key, Tom Deacon, Kevin Eldon & David Baddiel, Indigo2
- Bill Bailey – Dandelion Mind, Wyndhams Theatre
- Jon Richardson – Don’t Happy Be Worry, Soho Theatre
- Tim Minchin & His Orchestra, O2 Arena
- Nine Lessons & Carols for Godless People, Bloomsbury Theatre
Music
- Philharmonia Orchestra – Laidov’s The Enchanted Lake, Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 & Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5, Royal Festival Hall
- Harry Shearer & Judith Owen’s Holiday Singalong, Purcell Rooms
- Suede, O2 Arena
- Philharmonia Orchestra & Jarvis Cocker – Peter & the Wolf, Royal Festival Hall
Theatre
- Bedlam, Globe
- Legally Blonde, Savoy
- West Side Story, Palace, New York
- Season’s Greetings, National
I also had tickets for three other plays which for various reasons I didn’t manage to see. I’ve never done this before, so am wondering if it was symptom of my general ennui, or perhaps just sheer ineptitude. To my great shame (especially at the last one), they were:
- Deathtrap – I’d had a really shitty day at work and just wasn’t in the mood, especially as I had heard it was a bit scary and am an utter wuss
- Shirley Valentine – my friend bought me tickets for my birthday but I was ill on the day so she took someone else instead
- Hamlet – there was some confusion over the start time, for which I take no responsibility, so we missed it
So, in summary, please don’t abandon me. I have really enjoyed writing these entries and being a (very minor) part of the community of theatre bloggers and I will definitely be back, although perhaps not with my previous over-zealous dedication to writing about absolutely everything I see as that way madness lies. 2011? Bring. It. On.
Tags: Bedlam, Jarvis Cocker, Jon Richardson, Legally Blonde, Nine Lessons and Carols for Godless People, profuse apologies, Richard Herring, Russell Kane, Season's Greetings, Suede, Tim Minchin
