He bought another book! I go to London quite a lot, and I’m very familiar with the secondhand bookshops in the centre of the city. So, gradually, I’m trying to venture out to the ones I’m less likely to stumble across – though, sadly, there are far fewer than there were even a decade ago.
One of the bookshops on my list was World’s End Bookshop in Chelsea (or Chelsea adjacent?), which isn’t exactly off the beaten path, but is off the paths that I tend to beat. Well, imagine my surprise when I happened to walk past it yesterday! I was in the area because I was going to Finborough Theatre to see The Truth About Blayds by A.A. Milne.
(I will get onto the Project 24 purchase, but let’s take an A.A. Milne interval.)
I think it was my friend Jane who alerted me to Finborough Theatre’s production, and I am so grateful she did. It’s a tiny theatre, seating maybe 40-50, and you have to walk through a restaurant to get to it. How they landed on The Truth About Blayds, I don’t know – but I knew I had to go.
As you may know, A.A. Milne was a successful playwright before he wrote Winnie the Pooh, and there is a volume called Three Plays that has arguably his best work – The Dover Road, The Great Broxopp, and The Truth About Blayds. I have loved them for more than 20 years, but I never thought I would get to see them on stage. The tiny Jermyn Theatre put on The Dover Road a few years ago and that was absolutely wonderful – and now I can say the same about The Truth About Blayds.
It’s a play about a revered poet on his 90th birthday. His family are gathered to celebrate him with a special address from a representative of the younger generation of writers (who I think is meant to be in his 40s, but was played by someone in his early 60s). Blayds’ grandchildren are tired of growing up in his shadow, his daughter (also meant to be 47 but…) has long-sufferingly devoted her life to serving his whims, and his other daughter and son-in-law have done the same with less regret and more sycophancy.
At the beginning of the second act, we learn that all is not as it seems…
It is a very funny play, and surprisingly fresh and timely in its examination of authenticity – and how much being authentic might suffer when profit is to be made. The acting was wonderful, with the whole cast on exceptional form. Sometimes bringing across 1920s comedy can feel a bit stilted or stylised, but they did it in a way that felt funny and genuine – and the pathos and moral elements of the play were done beautifully too. Rupert Wickham was the standout for me, as the ‘younger writer’, though I will also rush to see Catherine Cusack (the put-upon daughter) anywhere again. The two, with a secret history between them, share tender, moving, believable scenes – which, again, feel slightly different from how they’re written when the actors are a decade or more older than the roles suggest. William Gaunt, as Blayds the poet, was beautifully characterful. Helpfully, for such a small theatre, no changes of scenery were needed.
As I sat there, I kept feeling wonder that I was getting to see this play I love so much. I never thought it would happen, and I’m so grateful it did. And you can do the same until 4 October, although apparently a lot of performances are sold out. (I did enjoy the woman forcing her way into a front row that clearly didn’t have room, because she couldn’t see the back row – though I can’t mock, as I struggled to find the way to get to the back rows, and the punter I asked wisely ignored me.)
Oh, one lovely coincidence – as I walked to the theatre, I went down a back street and – completely unknowlingly – stumbled across the house where A.A. Milne lived! So many of his early Punch columns are about living there, and it was special to be able to picture the house now.
ANYWAY onto the book! It wasn’t by A.A. Milne, though wouldn’t that have been pleasing. Rather, it was The Flying Fox by Mary McMinnies – with rather a striking dustjacket. I absolutely loved her novel The Visitors, so was delighted to come across her only other novel.
I’m still a little ahead of target (Book 19 should come midway through October), but my birthday is in November and, of course, Christmas is not far ahead – so those are good times to wave lists of book-wants in front of friends and family.
All in all, a really wonderful London day – and I haven’t even talked about the delicious pizza I got at Mucci’s and the ice cream I got a Venchi. Hope you’re having a good weekend, and sorry for slightly intermittent blogging of late!
I’m going to be in London in a couple of weeks and hope to do a lot of bookstore shopping. Used bookstores are my favorites—it feels like treasure hunting. Can you share your used bookstore recommendations?
Sadly I’d say there are now no ‘must visit’ secondhand bookshops in London – so many have closed, downsized or got much worse. Having said that, Any Amount of Books on Charing Cross Road is always worth a visit, and Walden Books in Camden is small but has very interesting things. Huffingham Books is a bit of a trek, but worth a visit if you can cope with the chaos. (Notting Hill Books & Comics used to be my favourite, but it has gone massively downhill.)
Sounds a really lovely day Simon!
A special one :)
What a lovely theatre outing — and a new book, ice cream and pizza; I call that the perfect day out!
It really was!
What a lovely day out! The show sounds marvellous and that’s a very pretty book find!
A triumph all round, definitely
So pleased you found a first edition of The Flying Fox, Simon, with that amazing cover. There is a Fontana paperback as well, with a very different cover! intriguingly, The Flying Fox was published just a few months before Anthony Burgess’s Time for a Tiger, the first instalment of his Malaya Trilogy. Personally, I think The Flying Fox is the better novel. I hope you enjoy it.
May I also plug my academic book – just published! – which has a chapter on The Flying Fox?
https://www.waterstones.com/book/british-decolonisation-and-the-female-middlebrow-novel/anne-wetherilt/9783031923241 (the chapter on McMinnies can be downloaded on its own).
You can! I remember you mentioned your book when I wrote about The Visitors, and it encouraged me that The Flying Fox would definitely be worth looking out.
Thanks Simon
The play sounds right up my street and I have managed to get tickets for the end of the month.
Deb
Oh perfect, I’m so glad
What a lovely day out with very fortuitous wanderings! Lovely to see you here again, too.
A joyful day!
Absolutely green with envy over here at your luck in getting to see The Truth About Blayds!
I thought you might be!!
Not only are the actors playing Royce and Isobel considerably older than the playscript suggests but there has also been a fair bit of editing of their lines in Act Three, so there is none of the Punch-style playacting in the propo
(Sorry, sent my comment too soon.) Not only are the actors playing Royce and Isobel considerably older than the playscript suggests but there has also been a fair bit of editing of their lines in Act Three for this production, so there is none of the Punch-style play-acting (addressing Isobel as though she is her own mother) when Royce proposes. I’ve discussed this at greater length in my own blog but, like you, I’m so grateful to have had the chance to see a play I never thought I’d see.