 |
I love Chinatown :)
|
...sings Juliet & Romeo and my heart explodes into pink/purple/aqua/silver glitter. If you ever get the chance, YOU MUST SEE & JULIET.
FRIDAY, JAN 28
Today I have plans in the morning with Kim, one of my first film friends, and maybe-evening plans with an old boss so I use the opportunity to get a ticket for a matinee show of & Juliet and suddenly I’m looking at my first full day out of the house.
I’m not sure if I can pull this off. My energy has been low since around March 16, 2020 and I’ve been feeling especially fragile lately. Will I need a nap? Can I have a conversation with someone who isn’t Stella or Chris? Do I have the capacity to be out of the house all day around people AND be social WITHOUT having an emotional breakdown? I’m hopeful, but I don't know.
930a I meet Kim for tea before our 10a appointment at the Sir John Soane's Museum. (I can carry a conversation! And, it feels good! Talking is fun?!?) It’s Kim’s favorite place and I’m so happy it is, bc I never would have considered going if she hadn’t suggested it.
 |
Sir John Soane
|
Sir John Soane was a prolific, brilliant and eccentric architect in the late 1700s, early 1800s. The Bank of England is his most famous design. He was knighted in 1831. His home, which is actually a few homes next to each other, is floor to ceiling, wall to wall, filled with art: paintings, sculpture, his own designs, antiquities, mirrors, Greek & Roman bronzes, glass, Chinese ceramics, pottery, urns and a sarcophagus. I am enchanted.
It’s impossible to capture the splendor and spectacle of being in his home but I sure try and I take tons of terrible pictures. Each room has a volunteer who can tell you everything about everything about Sir John Sloane and each room. The top floor features winners of a modern architecture contest that effectively links past to present and it makes me marvel, once again, at design, imagination and ingenuity.
1130a Kim recommends I go to The British Museum because I was drooling over Sir John’s sarcophagus and his other death-related pieces. We make plans for dinner before I go and I check my calendar for a good day over the next two weeks before I leave… except I see on my calendar that I’m leaving next weekend. How the fuck? What the shit? Did I slide into a time warp?
I did. It’s called my mind. Spending the last week stuck in Blogsville focusing on my first two days of travel locked my mind into January 20/21. I was still there. I’d somehow lived a full week without allowing any time to pass. I compartmentalize the 'I’ve wasted a full week!’ panic and get busy living. So off to the British Museum I go to look for mummies.
 |
Mummy! (Cleopatra's Mummy, actually.)
|
12p I’ve been to the British Museum before but I can’t remember when or any details so I’m brand new here! Maybe a perk to my swiss cheese memory? I travel through time and take pictures for Chris of the things I find most interesting and things I think he’d be interested in. It’s all interesting! I take a ton of pictures. Then I find the mummies and reeeeeally take a lot of pictures. It occurs to me that I’m making a spectacle of these old bodies and remember nobody cares. I find the coffins especially beautiful, painted inside and out with meaningful pictures and I guess instructions on how to master the after life? I’m taking pictures of the info placards instead of reading them, imagining that I’ll use them for context later. Do I? No!
My favorite guy is the body of a man they found buried in a shallow grave in the sand and mummified by the elements and temperature. He’s called the Gebelein Man and lived around 3500 BC. (Huzzah! I used one of my photos for reference. Good Idea, Bianca!) My second favorite is the skeleton of a man buried around 2050-1750 BC. Both men are buried in the fetal position which touches me. It’s such a natural way for the body to rest. I wonder if the tradition of laying a body prone came from beliefs about being ready to sit up and party when you enter the afterlife or if it was a capitalist decision along the lines of womb shaped coffins don’t make spacial or financial sense. Hmm...
I’m in a time crunch because I want to be at my show early to get through vaccine card check and sit down before the bulk of the crowd arrive, annnnd... My lower back hurts! Because I'm out of practice at being upright for over 4 hours apparently??! I HATE THIS... However. I’ve only gotten through one floor of the museum. I skip the Americas and Mexico floor (seen it) and try to tuck my pelvis and other posture things as I buzz through Africa downstairs. I’m struck by how the museum acknowledges that colonialism is responsible for some of their acquisitions. Similar to how the V&A Museum acknowledged gender inequality and racism in their Design 1900-Now exhibit, I appreciate the words. I know the words aren’t enough, but coming from a country where some "patriots" are fighting to deny history and facts and the humanity of so many people, the honesty feels like a salve.
 |
& Juliet at the Shaftsbury Theater! Early bird gets the panorama ;)
|
230p I see & Juliet. It’s the story of “What if Juliet didn’t die?” and the life she sets out to reclaim after the death of her husband, as told through pop anthems from Britney Spears, Katy Perry, Bon Jovi, the Backstreet Boys and any other top 40 artist you have ever danced to. (All from the catalogue of songwriter Max Martin, I found out in my research.) Obviously, I LOVE IT!!!!!! I admit I occasionally feel myself tiring of the gimmick and within moments the show surprises me and I’m engaged and captivated all over again. It’s the only show I’m seeing where I don’t know at least the broad strokes of the story. IT'S SO FUN! And it cures my back pain! Yay! I hope it comes to the states someday, y'all would love it! (I research more: The show I see features Grace Mouat as the Juliet understudy for Miriam-Teak Lee, so when I listen to the soundtrack and hear Lee's voice its a whole new experience and I fall in love with the story in a brand new way. ALSO, I can't stop thinking about the performances and grinning. Jordan Luke Gage (hilarious! And possibly my favorite performer of all 6 West End shows I saw? I'll have to do a grand West End review...), Cassidy Janson, Melanie La Barrie, and David Bedella are so so GREAT. And the show's featuring a range of body types in the dance company is so refreshing and makes me feel GOOD.)
 |
Ol' Mary Poppins in Leicester Square
|
5ish I haven’t had WiFi all day so I don’t know if I’m meeting my old boss Peyton or not. Some theaters have free WiFi, some don’t. The Shaftsbury doesn’t, so I look for the closest Starbucks because in a world of uncertainty, Starbucks is a safe constant. I spend the next 90 minutes ping ponging around the theater district, Leichester Square, Chinatown, and Soho looking for wifi and something to eat. Even though it’s looking like dinner with Peyton is a go, I’ve only had two halves of two pastries all day and if I don’t eat soon I’m going to freak out. Both Dishoom (my fav Indian food) locations I try have lines down the street. Every place I see has either a line or a huge crowd of unmasked people both inside and outside. It feels like New Years Eve because there are so many people just OUT. (It wasn't my imagination. Boris Johnson ended mandatory masking and Covid passports the previous day, and it resulted in the huge gobs of people out in the world. My mask stayed, and is staying, on.) I see a fist sized samosa at a newspaper stand and I’m not sorry I buy it. It’s excellent. I find a healthy WiFi signal at Whole Foods and arrange to meet Peyton in Chinatown bc it’s the only place I’ve been in the last 90 minutes that looks like it could have a table for us. PS Happy Chinese New Year! It's a beautiful surprise to stumble into.
7p Peyton and I settle in for dinner at the first place we see in Chinatown that has beer. Stella joins us after about an hour and it’s such a fun time! The food is okay but the company can’t be beat.
10p Stella’s friends are at an outdoor pub and I’m energized by a fun day so we convince our Uber driver to change our route from home to a pub a couple of neighborhoods over. The only reason he agrees is because it’s on his way home. We meet Stella’s friends at the Black Lion Pub. It’s freezing and we’re sitting outside to avoid the crowded, fun, boisterous pub scene circa 2019. We wish we felt safe enough to be inside singing along to the 80s cover band but we don’t. We still have fun shivering outside but still- stupid Covid.
12p We get home. I’m so happy. I feel like ME, not the half inflated balloon which has been my usual for the last couple years. Covid anxiety + relocating anxiety + the exponential anxieties that resulted from relocating *multiplied by* all my coping mechanisms = not the vibrant, confident, capable, fun ME that I like. Today was a huge relief.
 |
| Sir John Soane's home |
|
 |
Terrible picture of a stunning collection
|
 |
| Sir John's kickass sarcophagus |
|
|
 |
Last one, I promise
|
 |
| Lady Di, William & Henry in Covent Garden |
 |
Julius Cesar. Also how I want a sculpture of my own head
|
 |
Gebelein Man in my favorite sleep position, 3500 BC
|
 |
Another homie at rest in the fetal position, 2050-1750 BC
|
 |
Tree of Life, created by Adelino Serafim Mate, Fiel dos Santos, Hilario Nhatugueja & Christavao Canhavato out of weapons turned in to the Transforming Arms into Tools project in Mozambique.
|
 |
& Juliet superfan! I also HIGHLY recommend the soundtrack!
|
No comments:
Post a Comment