An Evening in West End

The West End here in London is the theatre district, and since this is the London Theatre Study Abroad program, we are going to be spending quite a bit of time there in the next five weeks. This evening after our jaunt to Buckingham Palace my friends Becca and Kenzie and I went over to the West End to catch one of the final showings of The King's Speech. SO good, by the way. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

So we went and bought our tickets, and then we had an hour to kill before we could go in the theatre. I was ravenously hungry, and I decided to splurge and get the traditional British fish and chips (9 pound 25! So expensive!). So I march into this pub and order my fish and chips, and when I was ordering I (stupidly) asked for water. I thought it was just going to be a glass of water, but no--it was gourmet glass-bottle Strathmore Still Spring Water. That cost 3 pounds! For one tiny bottle! That's like, 5 American dollars! Ridiculous.

Kenzie pointing out the water on the menu--we didn't get the price, unfortunately.

Anyway, I also didn't realize that when they say "fish and chips" they mean almost an entire fish--deep-fried, tail, skin, and all. Do you see this? Do you see how huge this is?? See the tail??

But once I got past that, the fish was really good. Excellent flavor, and so tender that it was falling apart. This was good, in that it tasted good, but it was also problematic, because when one is attempting to dip one's fish into one's tartar sauce one has a difficult time when one's fish is so tender it won't stay on one's fork.

Becca got ahold of my camera and had a good time watching me try.

Sometimes I was less than successful. But I managed to eat nearly all of it without too much mishap. 

Kenzie and Becca helped me finish it off, because there was no way that it was going to waste after all the money I paid for it.

Becca wanted the lemon. And I took this picture to get back at her for stealing my camera. Hahaha.

After we were done we proceeded to Wyndham's Theatre around the corner.

The Wyndham Theatre was built in 1899, and was as richly furbished as the Noel Coward Theatre. I love these old historic buildings. They seem to reek of class and style. There's a real ladies' powder room!

Becca modeling the powder room for me

They get mad at you if you take pictures in the auditorium, but I snapped this picture before they could catch me. Sneaky sneaky. Super fancy, huh? What you can see of it, of course.

The play itself was brilliant. It's about Bertie, Duke of York, who becomes King George VI after his brother's abdication, and his struggle to overcome a debilitating speech impediment and "find his voice as king." So beautiful. My favorite lines?

"Why should I listen to you?"

"Because I have a VOICE!"

Chills.