Pub Night--Sorta

We sort of spent the evening in a pub tonight.  In a minute I'll explain what I mean.

First it was working my afternoon at Logos.  This was absolutely the quietest day I've spent since I started volunteering.  By 4:30 p.m., I had sold a grand total of two books and the place had been empty most of the time.   Things picked up, slightly, around 4:30, so that when Susan arrived to relieve me, the log where I record the books sold didn't look quite so pathetic.  But still, as days go, it was pretty pathetic.  I guess the rain may have been partly to blame, though it wasn't really rain per se, but just a grey drizzle which stopped quickly.

We rushed home to see Jeopardy and eat dinner in time to make the 8 p.m. show start time at the University.  I had planned things well and knew I had enough leftovers that, with some rice or spaghetti to go under the remains of the chicken casserole I had cooked a couple of days ago, dinner could be put together quickly.

I got the water boiling for spaghetti and got the spaghetti in the boiling water, but when I went to get the leftovers out of the refrigerator, they were gone.  Walt had eaten them for lunch.  I couldn't really be angry about it, because I hadn't warned him--and he's a big one for leftovers, but it did leave me without anything to cook in a short amount of time.

Walt suggested we have the almost-cooked spaghetti with butter, Parmesan and sauteed mushrooms and it turned out just great.  Carbo-load on a plate. That and a dish of ice cream for dessert and we were ready to see what the University had to offer.

The show we were going to see was something called The Undoing of Prudencia Hart, which was apparently a big favorite at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, so even though the company is the National Theater of Scotland, you know it's not going to be your run of the mill play.

And it wasn't.

For starters, we were kept outside the door to the theater and then taken in in groups of about 10 at a time, so that someone could explain how the evening was going to work.  The theater had been converted into a kind of a pub.  Gone were the theater seats, and in their place were tables and chairs, and on one side of the theater a big bar, where they were serving free "wee drams" of Scotch whiskey.   Along the other wall was a stage area, where musicians were playing (can an evening be wrong when it starts with someone playing a Uillean pipe?)

We were told to sit anywhere, but not to worry about getting close to the stage, since the actors would be using the entire room during the course of the evening.

We found a table and discovered we would be sitting with Kathy Tucker, a retired teacher we have known for decades.  I worked for her daughter for a few years, and actually taught the daughter how to do medical transcription (which ultimately became her primarily work).

When we looked around we saw a sea of white hair and bald heads.   No university students at this production (the price of a ticket obviously kept them from coming).  We saw more people we knew at this show than we have seen at a show in ... well, maybe forever.

One of the actors was visiting each table and asked us to take some of the paper napkins provided and to tear them up so they could be used as snow later. 

  

(I should add that I hate audience participation shows, but for some reason the amount of actor-audience interaction in this show didn't bother me at all...I even waved my arms in the air, when asked, which is so not me!)

The show started and I was glad I've been spending so much time with Diana Gabaldon audio books, because it was easier to follow the Scottish accent.   They set the scene by describing a snowy day in Scotland in 2010 and we, of course, provided the snow.

It was a bit convoluted and silly, but after a night of drinking, Prudencia finds herself in Hell and has to work to get herself out.  It ends with a struggle between the Devil and her friend Collin.

(I should add that at this point Collin has a bunch of ice cubs in his pants.  Don't ask!)

It was really a fun, if odd, evening.  One of those delightful surprises that you sometimes discover when you go off to review a show you've never heard of before!

(Oh...and at intermission, there was more free Scotch and finger sandwiches passed around by the ushers!)