My Nights Out At London Theatre

Jussi Kangas: Pyynikki Summer Theatre, Tuntematon Sotilas 12.7.1961
(Tampere Museum picture archive)

One of my real passions in life is theatre. Ever since I was a little girl and my mother dragged me and my sister to the summer theatre in Tampere (a revolving stage in Pyynikki which is still going strong and which you absolutely must visit if you're in central Finland during summer), and later to the grand Swedish Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm, I've loved the stage. As a little girl I wanted to become an actress (who doesn't?) and then a theatre critic, but as often happens life got in the way, we moved to the country, and I became a novelist instead.

Now that I'm finally living in London, the capital of good theatre, I'm taking every opportunity to see as many plays as humanly possible (and my back and wallet allows…) I've seen great performances on all the notable theatres such as The Donmar Warehouse, The National Theatre, Hampstead Theatre, The Almeida as well as some famous West End Theatres (too many to mention!) and some small stages such the Arcola and The New Diorama Theatre. There are so many stages, so much on offer here in London that some time ago I decided to set up a designated blog for my reviews.

Me as aspiring actress during my Dr Zhivago phase.

If you like theatre, and want to find out if a play is (in my humble opinion) worth seeing or not, go and visit my theatre site, Strindberg's Daughter. There you'll find stories on all my nights out at the theatre, the good, the bad, and the totally disastrous ones when the only option is to walk out of the theatre…and get a headache.

London Life: Shakespeare's Globe Theatre

Eve Best as Beatrice in Much Ado About Noting at The Globe. Picture: The Guardian

I'm sure most tourists who come to London go and visit the lovingly rebuilt Globe Theatre when in town. I am, therefore, quite ashamed that until yesterday I hadn't even been inside this important landmark of British (theatre) history.

Yesterday with a little help from the Englishman who booked the tickets, I righted this wrong. We saw Much Ado About Nothing in a matinee performance. Although the Englishman's motives may not have been wholly pure - he told me during the interval that Eve Best (star of Nurse Jackie) would have to go on his approved list - I must really thank him for his foresight.  (What you ask is the approved list? Well, for instance if George Clooney offered me a tumble in the hay, it'd be OK by the Englishman as he's on my 'approved list'. Like that's going to happen...)

The matinee performance was absolutely heaving; there wasn't a free seat in the house. Even the erratic British summer weather hadn't put people off this partly outdoor venue.

A full review of the play is here on my other site. I recommend you book to see a play by Shakespeare at The Globe if you haven't yet - it's not cheap but not terribly expensive either. We paid £79-00 for two tickets right at the front of the third tier balcony. The atmosphere alone is worth it - when you add the historical significance of watching the master's work in the surroundings he designed, it could only be called priceless. The season runs from April to early October.

Strindberg's Daughter - my new blog

Me posing as Strindberg's Daughter

For my birthday a few days ago I decided to give myself a rather unusual present: a new blog. For some time I've been writing theatre reviews here but thought that they deserved their own place in the blogosphere. Strindberg's Daughter was born!

Those of you who've been reading this blog for a while know about my slight obsession with Strindberg; being his daughter is a fantasy that I may yet write about. I don't want to say too much about this here in order not to jinx it, but that's where the name came from.

To celebrate the launch of my new theatre blog, the blogger extraordinaire, fashion editor who divides her time between London and Manhattan and writes about love, life, fashion, design and food, LibertyLondonGirl, asked me to write a guest post on her LLG blog. I am so terribly honoured that I can hardly speak...or write. 

So, here it is, my first guest post ever on LLG. Hope you like and it - and like my new blog too!