The In My Body Project: February 2013

Forgive me, it's been quite some time since I've posted. Good. That's out of the way...

A few days ago I did a quick trip to London for a long weekend. While there, a top priority was to head to the West End to see a show! I had been to shows in the past at some of the larger theaters such as the Royal Albert Hall to see Puccini's Madam Butterfly. So, this time I wanted to try my hand at a more intimate place. One day upon visiting the National Portrait Gallery (which is a post unto itself) I asked someone where a good, non-chain place was to get good tea and beer. I was told to head across the street to St. Martin's Lane and find a spot called Notes. I ordered some mint tea and my husband got himself a good english craft beer which he had never heard of. That alone is quite a feat! The place was a great little hidden gem and if you ever find yourself in London near Trafalgar Square you should definitely GO! After we had warmed ourselves up, we set back out to explore the area. We walked a little further up the lane and saw a beautiful little venue called The Duke of York's Theatre. There was a play showing there called The Judas Kiss AND in the lead role was Rupert Everett. Gawwww, I have always loved him ever since I saw My Best Friend's Wedding. Side note: everyone around us in the theater was saying the same thing. Perfect! We purchased tickets thru http://www.lastminute.com (and saved a few pounds) for the following night's performance.

The Duke of York was a great little theater and just what I had wanted it to be. You could hear the sound of London's tube station rumbling underneath which gave it that authentic british feel! Everett plays Oscar Wilde and as coincidence would have it, Everett was also in the Movie version of "The Importance of Being Ernest." Which is ALSO the time period that "The Judas Kiss" takes place in.

To set the stage for you, the show begins in 1895 and The Importance of Being Ernest is a hugely popular play in London's West End. Oscar Wilde is about to become incarcerated because of his open relationship with Lord Alfred Douglas. The arduous decision to be made by Oscar is to stay in
London and face being imprisoned for gross indecency (homosexuality) or to flee the country! There are people in his life that have his best interest in mind while advising him whether or not to flee and others that do not. Hence, that title of the play. It was a fantastic play (written by David Hare) and Everett and his co-star Freddie Fox were superb.