Our second morning in London began with another run through St James Park followed by a search for coffee in Fitzrovia. We’re amazed that a lot of the cafe’s aren’t open before 8am, and given we’re waking with the light at around 5am it makes a long wait until a morning coffee can be enjoyed.
Bacon Naan at Dishoom
The focus for the morning was to find ourselves a bacon naan at Dishoom, which we had discovered on one of our favourite YouTube channels, Sorted Food. Dishoom is located in Covent Garden and is an Irani restaurant that pays homage to the cafes that once existed in Bombay - think eclectic interiors with cosy little booths and bottomless cups of chai. Unfortunately Dave suffered a spontaneous and very painful mid-back spasm whilst there so perhaps didn’t enjoy the experience as much as he should have.
After breakfast we wandered our way to Oxford St in search of a dress for Steph to wear to the upcoming wedding in Scotland. We visited Selfridges and Harvey Nicholls and gawked at the ridiculous price tags, before forfeiting the idea and heading somewhere Steph found more reasonable. We continued along Oxford St to Hyde Park and then through the backstreets of the very lovely and very posh Chelsea, where we found a small pub for a bite of lunch.
The Burnt City by Punchdrunk
The evening found us at an immersive theatre show called The Burnt City. The show is a new retelling of the Trojan War, set in a series of industrial warehouses in Woolwich, South East London. This was by no means an ordinary theatre experience. We found the following explanation summed it up perfectly:
The audience enters through the mock-up of an archaeological exhibition about Troy, which introduces the idea of sifting layers of evidence and significance. From then on, everyone’s experience will be slightly different. Speech is banned and spectators are obliged to wear bone-white masks covering foreheads and noses. Actors are the only ones with faces here; scenes are surrounded by a throng os identical blank, beaky stares. Audiences can try to piece together stories by following one actor, or drift around the space, soaking and accumulating. Their movement becomes part of the disturbing current of the evening. Some rummage through rooms turning over objects as if there were sanitary inspectors or spies; others push people aside to be close to their favourite character. Everyone is likely in turn to feel bewilderment, exasperation, quickening, wonder.
Within two minutes of entering the show, we had lost one another and spent the next three hours following our own favourite characters, only reuniting in the bar which had a non-stop, drag cabaret show. It was definitely the most curious, exciting and interesting thing we’ve ever done! Highly recommend.
