Someone's sitting there, mate!

Saturday night is Theatre night and Mrs T, Mr. M, Miss F and myself all headed up to the bright lights of the West End in order to catch James McAvoy shine in "Three Days of Rain" at the Apollo Theatre. The term "Stage Presence" does seem to be handed out rather cheaply these days, but, from the moment McAvoy stepped onto the stage, he just held the audience captive and never dropped a beat. Ex-Eastenders hearthrob, Nigel Harman was quite a revelation, too. Both he and Lyndsey Marshal were equally as good as the young McAvoy and I can't recommend this intense and riveting play highly enough.

As Mrs T and I took our seats in the stalls (D9 & D10, in case you are wondering - excellent view too), two old dudes were sitting in Mr. M and Miss F's seats. Fortunately for said wrinklies, Messrs M & F were late and did not make the start of the show (There were allegations, by Miss F, of a late exit by Mr. M from the Irish bar due to Grand Slam Rugby shenigans, but, the jury has yet to deliver it's verdict). When questioned about the validity of their tickets, old dude No.1 muttered something about having seats 5 & 6. Old dude No.2 stayed completely schtum and pretended to search for his last werther's original, obviously realising that it was, indeed, "pants down" time. The Rugby loving, late arrival(s) were led to the bar and then to some seats at the back of the stalls, so our new found, senior citizen friends were able to watch the entire first act in seats D7 & D8. When the lights came on for the intermission, we spotted our original friends and headed towards the bar with them for some much needed libation. A word of warning if you are thinking of catching the show; wear shorts and a T-shirt - it's Africa hot in the Apollo! I can only attribute this wretched heat to the female members of the audience, who must have taken the temperature up to boiling point at the sight of the young McAvoy in boxer shorts. Miss F, of course, constantly dreams would never dream of such a thing! On returning to our seats, Waldorf and Stadler had miraculously managed to find their correct seats some 6 rows back! The second act was thoroughly enjoyed by all four of us and, in our our correct seats, to boot.

Old people - you've got to hand it to them; feigning senility in order to sit in a better seat than the one you actually paid for.