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Last week of November, and I was worried for a second there I won't be able to give my account for October. It was a bit of an insane month, yet nothing compared to November.

So let's get cracking. First show of the month was Space Karaoke on the 2nd, who did a great job at transforming the space at Barons Court. Great set design, good actors, unfortunately not a script to match.

First weekend it was Marius' visit to London, so I took him to London Cabaret Club to see London Never Dies, and I have to say I enjoyed the show more as a spectator than I did teching it.

Saturday they went to Harry Potter studios, but then on Sunday we wanted to see a West End show. Titanique at the Criterion ended up being the most attractive option. Not the best introductory show, but silly enough to not elicit too much of an effort.

Second week was the calm before the storm. I watched the last week of Reboot Festival on Tuesday, Molly's Four Sisters on Wednesday, and Emigrantii on Sunday, so spent the week locally.

The first week of Grimfest I only saw Unlikely and The Quiet Light, but Velouria was definitely the highlight of the month. Ella's Cabaret 4 Cause could have been great, but as it turns out, her producing skills are not as honed as she thinks they are.

Bit more Grimfest for the second week, seeing The Constant Cold, Falling For, Montselier, and culminating with October's Burlesque Idol, which I am marking as a separate show from the September one or from the final in November.

It was good to see Maggie Castro and her direction of This App is a Haunted House at the Etcetera even if Maggie won't work with us anymore. But it was during the day and close to home, so I could go and see Conspiracy at Barons Court in the evening. 

Quick flight to Italy on Tuesday morning to see Ambra in The Beauty Queen of Leanne (La Reginetta di Leanne) in the good old Franco Parenti, a lot less welcoming in the winter. But it's how I discovered Ivana Monti, who did a great job in the play.

Back in London the next day, and straight to Bread & Roses to see Roger's Lucifer, 'the play I inspired writing'. Which is a pretty big deal I guess, I just wish the play was better.

But then I went for the record. 7.30 at Bread & Roses, show finished 8.35, and I was aiming to get to CPT at 9 pm. Bike to Clapham North, Northern Line to Warren Street, and I was only 6 minutes late, which allowed me to get into CPT from the back for the first time. I did want to see Maria Telnikoff's Just the Two of Us though. Super-chaotic, yet still charming.

And on the last day of the month I went to Theatre Deli to see Jessie's reading of a very interesting script, Abortive Attempts at Explaining Myself. I hope it goes to production soon. This and Maggie's show I marked as halves, so both of them make one. Plus another 17 shows, that's 18 for the month, 115 for the year. It sounds pretty incredible to me too, but it does look like I'm actually seeing closer to 200 shows per year, and probably more than 300 performances. Though in fairness, this has been something of a busy year.