American Football in London

Both Wally and I are keeping up with the NFL Playoffs. 
Wally is a 49ers fan. As of a few minutes ago, I'm a loyal Green Bay Packers fan. In several more hours I might be a loyal New York Giants fan, if they beat the Packers.

In searching for an internet connection for watching the games, I subscribed to NFL Audio Pass in order to listen to playoff games. After subscribing, I saw a Game Pass subscription (for viewers outside the USA) to watch games live, so I subscribed to that also. When I tried to watch the Saints game last night, I discovered that viewers in the UK are blacked out and video is available SIX DAYS AFTER THE GAME!

I sent an email to the Game Pass support team saying this was not really useful for me and they responded within minutes, canceling my subscription and initiating a refund. 

Meanwhile, I'm listening to an audio feed of games as I watch a graph of the game plays on the NFL web site (below). I can choose which radio broadcast to listen to, the home team or the visiting team radio broadcast. 

The five-hour time difference between London and USA Eastern Standard Time makes for some very-late-night football, but when you're loyal like me, no personal sacrifice is too great. That's just how I roll. 

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

Friday's London Photos

Sometimes the choice of seating on the train is unlimited.

Making a train connection at the Baker Street Station sends us deeper underground. The really deep tunnels have escalators. If you have a fear of escalators, you're outta luck.

Waiting for the train. Not very exciting. Unless you're from Santa Fe where this kind of fun is very limited.

Robin reads while I wait for the train doors to close.

I'm specializing in women-on-trains photography.

This guy is a street artist who stands there like a statue. His tie is permanently frozen in the wind-blown shape. Very cool. I put a pound in his bucket, took a photo, and said thanks. He winked.

It's almost midnight and the mass of hundreds of people in the background are all standing in line to get in to some hot, happening club. Probably some sort of vampire hangout. Everyone in the crowd in the background is young and wearing black. Most of the young women are wearing black miniskirts. I lucked into a shot of a young one being separated out from the colony by a predator. I hope she's OK... I'm sure if things turn bad, the other vampires will realize this guy is not wearing black and will teach him not to mess with the undead.

People waiting in line for a ticket to tomorrow's last performances of the "must-see" show Jerusalem.

One of the rooms in the Covent Garden Apple Store. Most of the store was very busy, but this area was very quiet.

I like to wear a dark wig when we do our ballet workouts. Just kidding, it's a poster in the Royal Opera House, also in Covent Garden.

Robin picks out a protective sleeve for her MacBook Air laptop at the Apple Store.

A food court at Covent Garden. I had the fish finger sandwich. Highly not-recommended.

What do you do when you visit an Apple Shrine? Tebow, of course.

China Town is adjacent to the Theatre District.

Before meeting Wally and Maria for pre-theater dinner, we dropped in to the W bar for a really expensive drink.

Jerusalem

What a great night. We met Wally and Maria for an early dinner at an Italian restaurant across the street from the Apollo Theatre. After dinner they hiked over to another theater to see Shrek (the musical).

Very high praise. As I shot this photo, a young man waiting in line for a Saturday matinee ticket said "Just 19 hours to go!" 

Unless I misunderstand, this review puts Rylance above Olivier.

Indisputable greatness. Damn! I'm glad Robin paid for the breakfast at Harry's Roadhouse.

Hymn to eccentricity. I was just getting ready to say that.

I'm trying to convince myself I actually saw this guy play Olivia in Twelfth Night. And believed it.

Interesting thing about that performance of Twelfth Night at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater): before the play started, the  actors brought dressing tables and mirrors onto the stage, then dressed and put on makeup onstage. And I still believed he was Olivia.

Bearing in mind that I haven’t seen a great number of stage performances, Mark Rylance’s performance as Rooster in Jerusalem was the most impressive I’ve ever seen.

Great writing certainly helped, but this guy was literally covered in sweat (real) and blood (fake) by the end of the play. Either he was totally exhausted at the end of the play, or he’s even better than I thought. 

The set is a forested area of the country, with Rooster’s dilapidated Airstream trailer taking up most of the stage. Wild parties with drugs and alcohol happen there every night with his posse of both young and older friends. Rooster is a rascal without any redeeming qualities other than being an outrageously shameless storyteller. 

At one point a friend confronts Rooster about his story that he once met a 90-foot Giant who claimed to have built Stonehenge. 

“You met a 90-foot giant who built Stonehenge?” 

“Yes, he said the weather was going to be dry all Spring, but he was full of crap, it rained like Hell all Spring. He said he built Stonehenge, but he could’ve lied about that.”

A three hour play with two intermissions, it was a memorable evening to say the least. I suspect I’m going to have a very hard time getting Rooster out of my head. Such as the opening scene when Rooster stumbles out of his Airstream trailer, totally hung over, turns on heavy rock music, stumbles and dances over to a metal water trough, puts a hand on each side and does a hand stand with his head under water (ice water) to sober up. Then he dances/stumbles over to a blender, pours in a container of milk, an egg, some sort of clear liquid from a vodka or gin bottle, adds some kind of powder, then chugs the entire concoction in several gulps. Holy crap. This is the first two minutes.

When Wally and Maria saw the performance on New Year’s Eve, Rylance ended the curtain call by leading the audience in singing Auld Lang Syne.

At the end of last night’s curtain calls, Rylance gave a very nice acknowledgment to the young boy that played his son, praising his emotional intensity “that is golden to fellow actors.”

A prince of a guy. 

The Apollo Theatre was built in 1901.

Jerusalem Notes

Why is the play named Jerusalem? 

Jerusalem is a hymn based on William Blake’s poem And Did Those Feet in Ancient Time.

The hymn serves as an unofficial British National Anthem, similar to the role of America the Beautiful in the USA.

The last verse goes like this:

Bring me my bow of burning gold:

Bring me my arrows of desire:

Bring me my spear: O clouds, unfold!

Bring me my chariot of fire!

I will not cease from mental fight,

Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand

Till we have built Jerusalem

In England’s green and pleasant land.

Even though “green and pleasant land” is pretty bland compared to “purple mountains’ majesty,” the “chariot of fire” line gets bonus points.

Reading the program notes for Jerusalem:

The Mark Rylance character, Rooster, is “a post-modern Puck, a dangerous spirit of the old world and the new, leading the children astray, telling them stories, a story himself.”

The Rooster character (Rylance) is compared to the ancient traveling storytellers, gleomen or scopmen as they were known.

Jerusalem Ticket Miracle

I don't mean to get Tebow on you here, but:

At 5:37 this afternoon Robin checked her email and received a message from her secret source (Theatre Throat) saying a second ticket had become available for Friday night's production of Jerusalem, starring Mark Rylance (Saturday night is the last performance).

The email said that Theater Throat had obtained one extra ticket and could hold it until 5:30 (it was two minutes too late already). Robin tried to email TT, then called the secret number and spoke to the mysterious TT. The ticket was still available, so barring any unforeseen circumstances, both of us will be attending the performance tomorrow night.

We'll go into town early to claim the tickets, explore, and visit an Apple Store, probably the one in Covent Garden. We also plan to go to the British Library, which is next to the beautiful and very cool St. Pancras Station, and also Eat.St (a collection of mobile eateries on London's newest street, Kings's Boulevard, that's getting good reviews).

Hmmm, I just googled St. Pancras and noticed that St. Pancras to Brussels is a 1 hour 41 minute train ride. That's barely longer than the train ride from Santa Fe to Lamy. Gotta go now to pencil another item into the calendar.

Meanwhile, I'm getting psyched about seeing Rylance's performance as Johnny "Rooster" Byron.

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Evening Stroll

Waiting for the pedestrian walk light to turn green while a couple of suspicious characters lurk nearby... probably Shakespeare Doubters, who are know to operate in this area.

The suspicious characters turn out to be Wally and Maria, our flatmates. And, just as I suspected, they're Shakespeare Doubters. You'll never guess what the conversation was about as we enjoyed lattes at the Brunel campus coffee shop. Multiple choice: Shakespeare, Mary Sidney, or all of the above. 

Robin explains the Authorship Question to a clerk in a campus store while Maria (white coat) lurks nearby in case Robin need backup. Or, at least, I assume that's what Robin is doing, but maybe not. 

Theatre update: Robin was able to score only one ticket to Jerusalem on Friday night, so I'll be blogging from the nearby pubs while she's being amazed by Mark Rylance's performance. I'll make sure she gives us a first-hand report.