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.

A Little Gem Of A Post?

We are eating salad. Lots of salad ["I am half sick of shadows salads" said the Lady of Shallot Bob] I have tomatoes, potatoes, radishes and herbs and leaves from the garden [we finished the two cucumbers] supplemented by red and white cabbage, celery, carrots etc from the shops. All so very healthy, and whirled in my OXO Good Grips spinner.

I bought this gadget with some tokens - not cheap, but I am using it so often that it is earning its place in the kitchen. 

We are currently enjoying 'mixed leaves' in red and green, along with some baby spinach - and I have chard, rocket and pak choi just coming along nicely. 

Two of my nieces are expecting babies, and I was wondering what names they will choose. You don't hear the name "Lettice" any more, do you? It is another form of Lætetia, meaning joy and happiness [like Letetia Dean aka Sharon Watts in EastEnders]

The only famous Lettice I could discover was Lettice Knollys [pictured left] - mother of Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, a favourite of Elizabeth I. And later she became the second wife of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. He was another of the Queen's favourites- so her majesty banned Lettice from court... permanently!

Lettice is a popular girl's name in fiction - in "Murder At The Vicarage", Christie introduces us to Lettice Protheroe "a pretty girl, tall, fair and completely vague", and in The Importance of Being Earnest, Miss Prism, the hapless governess, has the name Lætitia.

Peter Shaffer wrote a play especially for Dame Maggie Smith, called Lettice and Lovage - how I should have loved to have seen her perform this on stage with the great Margaret Tyzack. Lettuce is a tour guide in a stately home owned by The Preservation Trust - but it is the most uninspiring, uninteresting property they own. So Lettuce takes it upon herself to...embellish... the historical details, adding much that adds colour, if not veracity. Inevitably she goes too far and loses her job. You can read a synopsis of the plot here. In 1990, Smith and Tyzack won Tony Awards for best actress and best supporting actress. This is the clip shown at the ceremony. 

Fortunately my nieces are sensible girls, and there is no danger of the newest niblings being named after salads!