Rhubarb?

Tuesday night's theatre trip was [mostly] brilliant. We enjoyed our meal at Côte Brasserie, opting [as usual] for the Prix Fixe and a bottle of mineral water. Then we decided to walk round to the Theatre and have pre-performance coffee there. 

This is the Norwich Playhouse, which has two sister venues - Theatre Royal and Stage Two. It is the middle sized site, seating 300 people, 
and a popular venue for fringe events and touring companies. Unfortunately, by 6.45pm they have, inexplicably turned off their coffee machine. Our tea[r]s are not yet brewed!
The seats are low and relatively small - I was glad I'd booked two end seats so Bob at least had space in the aisle for his legs. My legs felt cramped after a while, and that is unusual! Of course, the people in seats 3-10 didn't arrive till just before the starts, and all  wanted the bar in the interval. There was much standing up and sitting down again! “Stand not upon the order of your going, but go at once”

However, we could see the stage well from Row K. Rows A-F nearer the stage would have felt too close, I thinbk/ They were occupied by school parties - all extremely well behaved, I must say. 

The performance by the National Production Company  was very good, with a few caveats.

• Lady Macbeth was excellent, delivering her lines well
• The Weird Sisters were superb, and spoke in sequence and in unison equally well, chanting and dancing beautifully. Great costumes too
• Macbeth was good, but his voice wasn't quite 'big' enough for some of the speeches. 
• The sword fighting was incredibly well done, and the Kensington Gore which flowed freely when necessary.
• The Porter was wonderfully funny, spot on comedic timing, and interaction with Rows A-F, saying "'equivocate' thats a good word, remember to use it on your exam papers"
• Lighting fairly good, but one spot, stage right, was far too bright, and actors were blinking and clearly bothered by it. Bob is a lighting geek [in his youth he did a lot of stage lighting and is rather fussy about these things]
• Theatre staff get top marks for friendliness, efficiency and helpfulness.
• I think a **** review of the evening [better seating and coffee would have made it 5*]

But all in all we loved it. We'd declined coffee at CÔte explaining we were going to the Theatre. The conversation at the paydesk went like this...

Waitress - What are you going to?

Bob - Macbeth

Waiter - Is that a comedy?

Bob - well, I suppose you COULD play it like that...

[The staff there are mostly French, perhaps he only knows Moliére]

Did you know Shakespeare mentions rhubarb in the Scottish play? we had both completely forgotten that -  [Act V Scene3] What rhubarb, senna or what purgative drug would scour these English hence? 

Not actually grown in the UK till the 1620s, but its medicinal uses were already well known in the Bard's day.

Do you have a favourite Shakespeare play?

Do you get to much live theatre? 

We enjoyed the Christmas Carol, but before that our last trip was Open Air in the rain in 2022, we usually go for low budget/small company/AmDram stuff.