We were rushing down Hornsey Rd., in front of the Emirates Arsenal Stadium, and then over to the Holloway metro station. We were careful because the cars drive on the other side of the road and it would be easy to step out in front of a car coming from an unexpected direction. We were on our way to Her Majesty’s Theatre in the West End. From the Picadilly line we would only have to pass 6 stations with famous names like King’s Cross and Coventry before coming to the Picadilly Circus Station, right in the middle of the West End Theatre district.
When I was a drama major in college I had heard about the West End. I imagined that it was a street lined with theatres. The reality was a very upscale district with buildings and theatres . . lots of lights and advertising, but not like Broadway, which has a tendancy to be crass and tasteless.
We were headed to Her Majesty’s Theatre which was built in 1897 and was the original home of RADA (only drama students know that that is the famous Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts). It was interesting to find out that the backstage is virtually unchanged from 1897. Everything is done manually with ropes and manpower. Normally, this would not be an issue with a play with fixed sets, but because we were going to see the Phantom of the Opera, it was a seriously complicating factor.
We were at Ole and Stearns on Haymarket Street enjoying a glass of wine with a chicken stuffed pastry when Nancy started talking to a woman who was on the staff at the Phantom. She was a drama student who found work on the West End. I always wondered what happened to drama students who were not actors. Of course, the most recalcitrant, like me, ended up working in some one-off activity like information technology, playing video games in a sleazy bar or being a carnival barker.
Back to Ole and Sterns. It was glass and stainless steel on three levels. You could buy food and wine there, access the internet, and chat while waiting for your show. It was very intimate thanks to the nooks and crannies created by glass partitions and furniture arrangements. It gave us a respite from the bustling crowds.
We did have wine before the show which was a great privilege since I knew I didn’t have to drive home. And, there were a lot of drunks in and around the subway station, so I didn’t think I would stand out.