Slow on the updates, I realize. Thursday Mike and I went down to Leicester Square and checked the Half Price Theatre Tickets. We let availability and price dictate what we saw, and wound up seeing The Mousetrap by Agatha Christie. My memories of the play consisted of the Darien Community Theater production I saw when I was probably seven or eight years old with Mom and Annalisa. I remember the whistling of “Three Blind Mice,” screaming, and a general sense of fear. I also remember all three of us being terrified when we went home, as Dad was on a business trip, and it really got to me and Annalisa in the empty house. Correct me if I’m wrong, Annalisa, I remember it as both of us, but perhaps it was just me.

This production was excellent. We saw it at the St. Martin’s Theatre, which seemed to be rather old, and apparently this was the longest running show in England. While the acting certainly ranged from good to very good, with no particular weak links nor any real stand outs, what struck me the most were the technical aspects. The snow falling outside the window looked incredibly realistic. Actors coming in from the snow had snow on their clothing which actually melted as the jackets remained on stage. Lighting outdoors matched a Winter Afternoon to Evening transition, and seemed to match up with the lines very well. One murder done on stage was matched up with a radio program, and the voicing on that did sound old and very sinister.

The English audience laughed most about class jokes, and jokes poking fun at the English in general.

Thursday night I did not sleep well – in fact, I did not sleep at all. Once it got to be 7am and I still couldn’t sleep I just decided to see how late I could stay up on Friday, so as not to butcher my sleep schedule. Mike and I went to the zoo (note – as it is reading week, many of our friends are out of town). I remembered really enjoying the zoo with Dad years ago, however, then it was very hot and this visit was somewhere in the 40s with quite a bit of wind. The aviary wasn’t as nice as it had been as many of the trees were without their leaves. However, the reptile house and the Nocturnal exhibits were both indoors and fantastic. The tiger, as soon as we approached, came up right against the fence and paced angrily, letting out frustrated little growls and repeatedly making eye contact with Mike.

The African Hunting Dogs were great, as they ran about curiously, and played tug-of-war with a burlap sack. Other highlights included a meerkat that was very charming. It looked like he was smiling. He scurried right up to see the people, and then perched on a rock and began playing with the light fixture. The otters were all indoors and curled up into one big pile. Cute, but rather dull. On the whole I think we saw pretty much every animal, although I was half delirious from exhaustion at that point.

Once we returned, I made it until about 6pm, then passed out until 2am, and went back to bed again from 6am to Noon. I’ve been at the library ever since.

Pitchers & Catchers reported, and also, Happy Valentine’s Day to all.