Not Putting Up Shelves: Lord of The Rings and Spamalot in one day

Tim was telling me about his summer holidays of yore and how he'd sit in the cinema for the whole day. Watching four films in a row to pass the time. But even I think I may have gone one step to far booking theatre tickets for Lord of The Rings and Spamalot on the same day.

Lord of the Rings was up first, which was just as well. Getting the serious showy spectacular one, which needed some concentration, out of the way first. Had we done this 3 hour epic in the evening I think our leg muscles would have given up on us completely in the cramped seats and I'd have been even more confused than ever as to whether it was Aragon or Boromir on the stage.

I bought the tickets with the help of a website called Theatremonkey which helped me choose my tickets, (which I then bought on seetickets.) Theatremonkey gives you a seating plan of each theatre, telling you which seats to avoid at all costs, which are good for the money and then the ok seats.

It worked out brilliantly, sitting in the Upper Circle, in row F, we had a clear view of the whole stage. A warning to those silly enough to go spending the top whack of £60 for stall tickets, make sure you can see. You may be at the front but you'll probably see less than I did. There are also helpful theatre goers comments about their experiences for every theatre,which are worth reading before you plump for the cheapest ticket high up in the gods.

And so on to the play, it's true what's been said about the stage and staging. The revolving circles, rising and sinking throughout to create a moving landscape is fantastic. Silly things like 15 minutes before the show is due to begin the hobbits are all out on stage playing and catching fireflys. (So it's well worth arriving in plenty of time.)

Or during the mini break between the interval and the ending where everyone is 'entertained' by orcs running through the crowd. Scaring one poor woman to death on our tier , much to the amusement of everyone else.

Then there is the simplicity of having Gollum descending from the roof, head first, appearing to be climbing down trees branches that make up the stage curtain. I mean I knew he was on a wire, (and he was being played by a fully grown man who was more spritely than Gollums 600+ years,) but I believed it's magic just then. There were many more pieces of jiggery pokery using lighting making people disappear in blink of an eye that I can't explain.

All in all it was worth going for the staging. However I will just say for anyone whose seen Clerks II (You Tube Clip), it is just some little blokes walking, and walking again, and walking, oops there goes the ring...

Spamalot was as far across the otherside of the spectrum as it's possible to be when in the west end. Purposefully so. Here were digs at the very thing we'd just been to see. The stage had a much more sparse homemade feel, all very much fitting in with the Monty Python ethos. This was always going to be against the grain.

Without the any of the actual Monty Python team in the musical, we were going to have to heavily rely on the cast filling their shoes and us believing in them. A bearded Peter Davison (my second doctor who for anyone counting*) playing the Graham Chapman role of King Arthur could certainly pass for him at a distance. And did a very fine job. The guy playing Not Dead Fred and Prince Herbert was quite a sweet character, who endeared himself to the audience.

At first I was worried when I read that Evil Charlie from Coronation Street was playing Sir Lancelot. As part of one of his early roles he kept smirking, it was too reminiscent of his previous Corrie incarnation. But actually the role of the french soldier needed it and so he pulled it off, making us laugh. After that it became easier to like him. Perhaps I shouldn't say how he finally buries any memory of his alter egos womanising ways...

The standout member of the cast, by a mile, was of course the Killer bunny rabbit, though his part all too brief...

Run away!

But if you forget about lovely bunnies for a minute, then actually the standout actor (by a fanged tooth) was Lady Godiva, a character not even in the original film. Hannah Waddingham won a Laurence Olivier Award nomination for this musical and it was easy to see why. Her vocal range was both breathtaking and eclectic. And with perfect comic timing. Every style of singing was covered, sometimes several in a few seconds. But more importantly, she had the best lines and all the best songs. The obligatory love song, sung as such, taking the piss out of all those musicals which have one, The Song That Goes Like This. (I was reminded of one such song i heard just a few hours earlier.)

After she had been off stage for some time, the 'watery tart' came on in front of the curtain to sing of her woes that her part hadn't turned out as she was promised by her by agent. Whatever Happened to My Part? Perceptive of the writers to realise the characters presence is being missed the audience. For all the great actors on stage, the monty python jokes could, if your not careful, just end up sounding like schoolkids in the payground repeating the night befores tv. With this girl included it gives the show it's pizzaz.

Anyway it's worth going to see it, if not for her, then so you can get yourself a pair of Killer Rabbit slippers or hand puppet.

I got the latter with it's own spamalot carry bag. And was tempted to buy by much more.

We made it to the end, we just had our hour journey home. Tired but happy we'd done the theatre marathon.