A total Betty

February was a much richer month in terms of shows. I started the month in Bucharest and unfortunately I didn't see as much theatre as I would've liked in Bucharest. I did manage to see Madame Butterfly at the National Opera on 2 February though, the second time ever I've been to the Bucharest National Opera, and the first time in more than 20 years.

Acid's Reign - a play for our times

Contrary to the vibe of the room, I was disappointed with the production. Madame Butterfly is a problematic piece as it is, so having European actors play Japanese characters only exacerbates its issues. Apparently, Italy and the English speaking world has switched to Japanese actors at least for the leads as far back as 1930s. Surely a thriving cultural metropolis as Bucharest desires to be can afford to get a Japanese star to play Cho Cho San. Or just stop doing the piece, Puccini has so many much better operas anyway.

Back in London, and the first show of the month was Acid's Reign in the main house at Pleasance Theatre. A camp drag extravaganza with a much more solid story than expected from a drag show. An environmental message in the background and seeing Gigi Zahir perform, Acid's Reign was really a great evening out. I hope the show goes further, it fully deserves.

Next up it was friends' week. Went to see Everleigh's J [A Working Title] for my first-ever visit to the Space Theatre. I'm glad people moan so much about how hard it is to get to the space - less competition for us, but I really enjoy the walk along the Isle of Dogs.

Thursday 13 February went to see the opening of Akin's Dating Whilst Black, and I had another great evening at the very friendly Libra Theatre Cafe. Closed the week with the sold ut show Exs & Ohs at Barons Court Theatre, which I'm really glad I got to see, as it was sold out more than a week in advance.

The show that counts for half this month is Youth in Flames, a work in progress that we did two showings of on Wednesday 19. I watched the 3 pm one, and I feel it unfair to call this half a show. Work in progress it might be, but what I saw was very close to a fully realised show, and not a bad one at that. Fully ready for Edinburgh, I hope it comes back to us some time.

Friday 21 I stayed for Avocado. Powered by goodwill more than anything else, Avocado are ploughing on, more than 2 years after their first Barons Court performance.

Then lastly, Tuesday 25 we had our first West End outing since before the pandemic. Clueless at Trafalgar Studios. I love the, and the people who turned it into a musical probably do too, but we clearly understand it differently. I'm by no means sorry I've seen it, but it's not a show, it's a tribute act. And, hard act to follow as Clueless the film might be, it's worth deconstructing it and reconstructing it anew, thus creating an original piece of work, rather than just reenacting the best bits of the film, only with less interesting acting but perfect choreographies. Whatever!

So let's say 7.5 shows for February (Youth in Flames being the 0.5), plus obviously the 3 out of four Speakeasy, which I see every week. They alone account for 50 of my 100 shows, but I haven't yet decided how to count them for the purpose of this exercise.