Shows by pals

Maybe a personal record Thursday through Friday ... seeing three shows by three pals in 24 hours.

First was Wolfe Bowart, performing his La La Luna as part of the London mime festival. It was on at the Purcell Room, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment on in the Queen Elizabeth Hall next door. The video screen showed the orchestra at work. Coming out from La La Luna they were still at work, looking exactly the same. It was good to have laughed at such a quirky show in betweentimes ... one fun piece pictured, Wolfe entering a balloon.

Next up at the Actors Centre, a rehearsed reading of a play in progress by Iain Heggie, his adaptiation of Bukowki's novel Hollywood. Bracing stuff, great verbal play (about 80% of the daolgue coming from Bukowski), a Scheister and Flywheel type of energy but tremendously more scatalogical, strong performances and real fun.

Then on to Frank McGuinness's There Came a Gypsy Riding at the Almeida ... the pal this time Imelda Staunton, a blisteringly fine performance as a tough mother coping with her child's suicide. A very funny role by Eileen Atkins too. Fine one-liners in the play, though in the end it did not add up to a great deal for me ... too much sprawling emotion, too much left unexplored.

Best of the three? The Heggie. But then I'm a writer so am voting for all of that wild and free wordplay. The other pieces were more self-conscious.