We decided to go the theatre on Sunday night. With ‘the kids’. Both our kids and their kids. Part of their cultural education for which I’m the main protagonist. Well, I’m in charge of culture, football and punching. Eclectic, innit. Anyway, Joey wanted to see Uncle Vanya, what with being a big Chekhov fan an’ all, whereas Lila wanted anything by Shakespeare, preferably one of the more obscure tragedies. We searched to find Death of a Salesman playing but to no avail. So we ended up going to…

Starlight Express.

Which may lack the moralistic punch of Miller, lack the subtlety of Shakespeare (it lacks the subtlety of the Russian invasion), and the nuanced wit of Oscar Wilde, but fuck its brilliant. Loud as a really loud thing, brighter than firework night, all-action, fast-n-furious, live music, song, dance and great costumes, which reminded Joey of Power Rangers, reminded me of Star Wars.

My girls loved it 25 years ago, but absolutely loved it, saw it twice, bought the cd, sang all the songs repeatedly, we all loved it. Then it stopped!!! In 2002. Left its home in Victoria, for the dumping ground for obsolete rolling stock and done-with musicals in the sky. Then, like Jesus Christ Herself (just sayin’), it was resurrected this year in… Wembley!!! Yes, Wembley. That home of culture and… other things. Mainly sport. But right next to the stadium they’ve built a theatre. A really big, really modern (ie: your knees don’t touch your chin like in the seats of a West End theatre), fantastic venue. Big enough to run, fr’instance, a roller-blade race track round the stage. The production is super modern too. So they’ve modified it a bit. But only a weeny little bit, just to make the message a bit more ‘environment friendly’. But that’s hard when the star of the show is a filthy, dirty old steam train, running on coal and spewing out pure pollution. So they ‘enhanced’ it by making ‘Rusty’ hydrogen powered. Tossers. The lights and effects are so brilliant that at the end of the very first number, Joey asked if it had finished now. Oh. But he stayed the course. Lila loved every second of it, but that was never in doubt. But our boy, with an attention-span measured in milliseconds? Which can be extended artificially. Only til the Haribos run out. But he lasted the course. All 2 hours 20 minutes, including the interval. Ok, bit long perhaps but a total assault on the senses. In a really good way. Even if you’re older than 5. Or 7. Possibly much older.

There’s a light at the end of the tunnel.

Happy Tuesday

A xxx