Last weekend, I went to see an awesome play called Poles Apart. I realise that approximately 1/3rd of my readership already know this because they were either watching the play with me, or they were in it.
I don't often meet other bloggers. In fact there isn't anyone in my real life that even writes a blog themselves, although one friend is thinking about it. He'd be a great blogger, he's the coolest person I know by a long shot.
A month or so ago Ellie from The Daily Smoke suggested that we meet up to see fellow blogger Daniel Hoffman-Gill in his play, Poles Apart. I had what can only be described as a complete fucking whore of a month with one thing or another, but I did manage to get myself together and get a ticket booked.
On the day of the show, I texted Ellie in the morning and she said that she'd be meeting Rashbre, another blogger in the Commercial Tavern at 5:30pm with a view to getting something to eat before the show. Rashbre is a blogger who I was aware of but I'd never really read his blog (he's in my google reader now but as I'm about a week behind I still haven't really read his blog! But I will!).
Its an interesting thing, meeting people off the internet. Especially when those people blog anonymously. You never really know what to expect. You have an idea of their character but no idea what they look like or sound like.
I decided (in my total lack of wisdom) that I'd meet them via Oxford Street so that I could do a bit of Christmas shopping. EPIC fail there. You're shuffling along, stuck behind tourists who seem fascinated at the window displays and don't stop to think for a second that there are people with things to do and places to be. I managed Debenhams, Selfridges and Ann Summers before I gave up. Oddly enough, Ann Summers was the only shop wtih any breathing room. I guess crotchless knickers don't feature on that many people's christmas lists.
I moved at a snail's pace back towards Bond Street Tube station and headed in the direction of Liverpool Street. On my journey I tried to work out what everyone would look like. Not easy.
It turned out that in the time it took me to get from Bond St to Liverpool St the heavens had opened and it was absolutely pouring down. This meant that I had to juggle an umbrella, two bags of shopping (paper carrier bags...which are of course, not waterproof) and Google Maps on the iPhone to try and work out where on earth the pub was. For 20 minutes I wandered around, noting that the city looks a lot different at night than during the day. It was also slightly weird not following my boss - thats what I usually do in the city. He knows where we're going and so I totter behind him (client meetings = silly shoes). Eventually, I gave up and got a cab.
The pub itself seemed quite unusual. From the outside, I wasn't really sure a - if it was open and b - how exactly to get in as none of the doors looked like a "main" door. I worked it out and wandered through the extremely dim lighting towards my party - Ellie, Rashbre, Melanie and John.
We left the pub straight away and went to Brick Lane for some eats and Rashbre very kindly filled me in as to some of the local history as I'd never really been to East London before. After being accosted by the locals, we settled on what was pretty much the first indian restaurant we came to. We were promised freebies that I'm sure we didn't get, but you could make an absolute killing if you were vigilant about getting what they offered!
We had a fairly quick meal as we were cutting it slightly fine to get to the theatre on time, but we still had time to chat and sort of scope eachother out. I had no idea what Rashbre would be like but he was extremely warm and friendly. He gave me a copy of his book which I've made a start on but I'm a notoriously slow reader so it may take me a while! Melanie and John were very sweet but I didn't get much of a chance to get to know them (John's blog is also now in the reader to be caught up on!). Ellie is what can only be described as effortlessly beautiful. She was shorter than I'd imagined, but she's one of those people that glows.
Cobra..or maybe Tiger beers and a curry later, we're on our way to the theatre. I was glad that everyone else knew where we were going because I had absolutely no idea. Set me down in the West End and I'm fine, I can get wherever I need to go. Anywhere else in London? No. I don't worry about getting lost so much, because I know that if you walk in a straight line for long enough you'll find a tube station, but when I've got to be somewhere I like to know exactly where I'm going.
Rich Mix on Bethnal Green Road is quite a nice venue. Poles Apart was playing up on the 4th floor and it was a lovely space. Probably only seats for 100 and so you're right on top of the action. As I've mentioned before, I love that.
The play was, in my opinion, brilliant. I spend far too many evenings at home and the utter crap on TV slightly astonishes me when I'm reminded that there are intelligent, funny, talenter writers and performers out there who don't get the recognition they should.
As well as being very funny - laugh out loud funny, in fact - the story had a point. These two men, instead of blindly going with the masses who rant "these bloody foreigners, coming over here, stealing our women and our jobs, they have it easy" decided that they would find out for themselves what it is really like to be an immigrant, not speaking the language, not knowing anyone. Off they went to Poland, with a comically translated letter, in search of employment. Turns out, its not that easy.
I learned so many interesting things during the show - I had no idea how badly the Polish were affected during the war. Of course I knew they were invaded at the beginning of WW2 (the fact was reinforced by the Fawlty Towers episode "The Germans") but I had no idea how hard they fought and how much they lost. Its utterly tragic.
There were also some hilarious send ups of Nick Griffin - the man is a joke after all, so why not take advantage of that.
Reading his blog recently, DHG said that the show we saw may have been the last time that Poles Apart is performed, which hits me with both a sense of joy that I got to see it before the run ended but also with sadness that so many people will have missed out on such an entertaining, informative and downright funny show.
Thank you Ellie, Rashbre, Melanie and John for a lovely evening and great conversation, and thank you Daniel for a great performance and a wonderful, thought-provoking show.
