SomersTownLisa

London Life
2021-09-08 12:21:18 (UTC)

'The Pantomime Life of Joseph Grimaldi'

Sat 04/09/2021
Ran to Highbury in the morning for a photo-shoot. Emily, Vicky, Alison were there (as well as Ernie and a couple of local families) and was a lot of chat about what’s going on at Camden. To be cautious, I got the bus back which was a bit dreary this time as it takes such a circuitous journey.

In the afternoon I was trying to get the Calibre software going, so I can read some magazines I got on a CD some time ago. I went to get my shaver from Boots, but I was two minutes late to get in, as the shop shut at 17:30. I then waited for a bus until I realised I’d left my debit card in my running pouch. Jack was volunteering so I met him at Stratford, a few minutes late after having to go back home.

I don’t think I’ve been to Ilford since a trip from work years ago when I was at Phoenix. It really hasn't got anything interesting to offer except a nice old Town Hall (with a vaccination queue outside, despite the late hour) and that the High Street was pedestrianised. It was just the usual chain shops, with nothing independent apart from a café above a pub which we didn’t notice until it was too late. We got a sandwich from Subway instead.

Jack was wearing his London Ambassadors coat which might be why a couple of blokes asked us for directions. As it happened, I was already looking at CityMapper to find the Kenneth More Theatre, so was eventually able to help them. We had cheap tickets to see a play about the life of Joseph Grimaldi, starring Jack Giblen and Mike Sterling. We hadn’t realised when booking, that it was a musical, so we had to put up with some tedious songs. One exception was a scene with two impresarios planning a pantomime. The plan progressed during the song, whereas usually the plot stopped while singing took place.

It was actually a really good production and impressive that a small theatre could put on this lavish show with about thirty performers. The story was interesting – I knew nothing of Grimaldi’s life, despite having seen his grave in Pentonville. The only problem was that the jumps they made in the narrative were not always explained, such as the death of his first wife and his move from Drury Lane Theatre to Sadlers Wells. Also, we didn't get much idea about what his clowning was actually like - all we saw was a couple of introductory rolls, in a competition with another clown, and again when he was teaching his son.

One consolation was the sexy dancing, the usual twirls-round so the dresses rise up and show your knickers. And while the other costumes were authentically nineteenth century, the short dresses (and see-through dresses) and brief knickers gladly weren’t.




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