Spring is here

Saturday couldn't have been better. The air filed with blossom and sunshine, I joined London Pride for dancing at a St George's Day Fayre in Acton.

The weather was perfect, the jousting and folk music was fun - and continued with an evening of blues and gospel, at the South London Liberal Synagogue in Streatham. Fresh from a gig at the Borderline, enthusiastic blues guitarist Simon Prager and Masha Vlassova - the Ma Rainey of Muswell Hill - gave us an evening to remember.

Saturday was more the kind of spring day you expect. An AGM at church, lots of rain, and we found we definitely have a hole in our roof. How are we going to pay to fix that? Simon Prager would have a song to get us through - probably from Blind Lemon Jefferson.

First night - the show is begun

You all want to know how the first night went, don't you? Just fine.

We all knew our lines pretty well, the actions all happened the way they should.

The problems -- the first act is way too long (some of the audience didn't come back after the interval) and the funniest stuff is in the second act which is much shorter (so they missed a treat).

It would be a hell of a job to cut the play though, since the first act is a mix-up of Queen Elizabeth's paranoia and obsession, a hatchet job on Hamlet and some historical games.