Friday's rainy day activities incl Open Air Theatre

"Rain, rain rain", as the Beatles sang. What else is new? It rained in Boston for most of the summer, and I guess it rained a lot here in London, too. It's still raining. The Brits are still grumbling about the rain. There is nothing new under the sun (from Psalm X, a reading at our wedding) Actually, there is nothing at all under the sun; it's all under a heavy cloud cover.

This was conducive to giving the flat a good cleaning. "Hoovering" (they use the brand name for both the appliance (noun) and vacuuming activity (verb), scrubbing the bathrooms, doing the ubiquitous laundry, and a coat of non-slip floor polish on the hardwood floors were among the activities I enjoyed. The whole picture can be completed by your imagining me in my purple pajamas with the monkees and bananas motif. This all brought me to about 2:30 (oops, 14:40), just in time to shower and dress so the returning family members would think I'd been dressed all day.

We had been planning to attend the theatre Friday evening. A theatre in nearby Regent's park was putting on the Lerner & Lowe musical "Gigi". Master Thespian "Topol" (i.e. he's so famous he only needs one name) and some other notables would star. I had scored the tickets the week earlier on a beautiful, sunny-day stroll through Regents Park.

There was just one catch. The theatre is called the Open Air Theatre. As in We Have No Roof.
Not Even Over the Stage. There "weather policy" stated that they get through 94% of their performances, although the sign on which this was posted had gotten a little damp and the statistic was somewhat blurry. Even if they have to stop the action due to a shower, they wait until it's over and resume the play.

That particular day's weather did not bode well for the Open Air Theatre-goer. The forecast called for rain, heavy at times, and strong winds. This is a pretty graphic forecast for the Brits. Their penchant for understatement extends even to their weather reports. American "Partly cloudy with clearing later" is "cloudy, with bright spots breaking out in the afternoon". It was coming down in torrents all day long, and the radar map did not look like any bright spots would be making an appearance.

I had little hope that the production would go on as planned, so rang the box office so I could confirm that the show was off. Wrong. There policy is to get everyone there, and then call off the performance if within a half hour or so of start time it will not clear up at any time during the evening. The reason why this is their policy became clear later.

I figured we'd go down to the park by bus, catch some dinner at the nearby Garden Cafe, go over to the theatre, and be told to go home. We walked into the park as the clouds ceased their deluge, and did enjoy a very tasty meal. As we finished paying, TeenE said "Look outside". The floor-to-ceiling windows were starting to stream with raindrops. We walked two minutes to the theatre, and were admitted. We then milled around the covered bar area for about twenty minutes. Aha! The reason for the delayed cancellation policy became apparant. At one point the lady on the PA said " Ladies and Gentlemen. We are still assessing the weather situation, and will make another announcement in fifteen minutes. Please stay in the bar area." Everyone laughed at management's transparent motives. Meanwhile, the rain increased to the hardest of the day. I thought to myself "there is no way this production can go on". Another announcement of delay, and then the rain ceased. The bells rang, and the voice announced "Ladies and Gentlemen, please take your seats. The performance is about to begin.

We entered the theatre. We had seats in Row R, in a raised area three rows from the back.
The very wet stage was set out before us. The orchestra arrived, and spent a few moments clearing the water off their seats. I had cleverly packed plastic carry-bags (sacks) to place on our seats. Unfortunately, what I thought was a bundle of three bags turned out to only be two, so TeenE and I ripped one in half and shared it. The cushy seats were completely soaked, and when we sat down water squeezed out onto the cement floor below.

I decided to take a few photos of the stage (old set decorator's habit). As I was putting my camera away, a stagehand came out and actually started squeegee-ing water across the stage!

Very shortly, it began to rain. Umbrellas opened. Official policy states that umbrellas may not be used during the performance. It rained very hard. The really hardy souls had plastic ponchos on. I regretted not packing the $12 Icelandic ponchos from several summers ago.
People began to grumble, then to complain outright. "Be patient" I told Hubster. There is absolutely no way this show can go on. We'll be able to go home and make an early night of it.
They made us sit there for another five minutes in the rain, and then announced:
"Ladies and Gentlemen: Metro Weather informs us that this rain will be continuing throughout the evening" (this was news to them?) We must therefore cancel this evening's performance. As per our cancellation policy, you may apply your ticket purchase to any performance for the rest of the season or next year. Please note, you MUST exit to the sides, not through the rear entrance through which you came in. Thank you".

The band did NOT play on; they folded up and left the stage, and we all filed out in an orderly queue. A ten-minute walk back through the park in the dark brought us to the Baker Street area where I led TeenE and Hubster to the nearest bus stop of the 189, having reconnoitered the various options the previous week.

"Gigi" is only on through this weekend, and the weekend calls for rain. If I can't score exchange tickets for THIS Wednesday night, we'll see something else next summer. And pray for good weather.