The Woman in Black

Yes, yes y'all. I woke up today, thinking to myself, hmmmmm I know I have to go somewhere tonight, but I couldn't quite remember, then it hit me, yeah, I was gonna see 'The Woman in Black', with Forgemates Hal & Jess, according to Hal, the play was scary as hell! I thought to myself "I can handle it!"

I felt a craving for something sweet in the afternoon, so I went to the laundry to get as Snickers bar, to my annoyance, not only was the vending machine out of Snickers, but it wouldn't even accept my 50p for a Mars bar, I swear that vending machine has issues, it randomly decides what coins to accept and reject, I absoultely hate it!Arghhh. So, still with a sweet-tooth, I thought to myself, I might as well go to the shops a few blocks away and get some chocolate, but I was like Nahhhhh, its too bloody freezing, and the ground is icy, so I went back to my room, hungry and dejected.

Still hungry, I decided to cook something at least, so I had chicken noodles and three pieces of Southern Fried Chicken, yes smackingly delicious, but I would have prefered something sweet. Anyway, the hour arrived, and Jess, Hal and I were off to the Theatre Royal in Newcastle to get the scare of our lives, or so we thought.

But First! FOOD, yes F.O.O.D. We wandered rather aimlessly around the city centre, peeping into restaurants trying to find a suitable place to eat. Finally our wanderings brought us to Chinatown, and we found a restaurant- 'Ho Buffet', yes HO Buffet, HO hahahaha, funny name, but no there were no Hoes in there. The food was great, so much to choose from (self service baby!), I loved it. The funny thing about Ho Buffet was the part in the menu about kids, for a child to be charged a certain amount, he/she had to be of a certain height, that's Chinese people for ya! We gobbled up our Oriental Nutrition and trudged on to the theatre.

When we got into your seats we realised we were like a light-year away from the stage, high up in the stands, good view nevertheless.

And then, the show began. I was expecting to get frightened from the start, but it was rather comedic at first, and later grew darker and darker. I cannot divulge the premise of the play, but its basically consists of three people, the solicitor, another guy (who plays many characters) and the woman in black, who randomly appears and freaks the living shit out of the audience. Her first appearance wasn't all that scary, but, the part that freaked me, and Jess was- the SCREAM. Totally unexpected extra-loud shreiking scream, almost everyone jumped, some women in the crowd screamed. It's funny, when you think of a theatre, you imagine old bearded men in suits watching Shakespeare and nodding their heads, while silently reciting the lines along with the players, these old men accompanied by their grey-haired wives, all engrossed by high-art. But no, this was a different experience, this was full of laughing and screaming and gasping and "Oh My Gods!" and "Nooooos" and what have you. So there, yes I said it, I jumped, it was freaky, but I was scared only once. The other appearances from the Woman in Black were less terrifying.

The play was generally good, loved it, I expected it to be freakier, like a horror movie, fast paced and unending terror. It was a great fulfilling experience though. We stayed back for a post-show discussion with the actors (I wonder why the actress who played the Woman in Black didn't come out) then we headed back home, while poking fun at ourselves for not being brave enough. I dunno, but going to the theatre makes one feel kind of bourgeois, I enjoyed it.

Next up- Lenny Henry live! (Laura- hahahahhaa sorry you can't be here), now that's gonna be an experience.

Ho Buffet- Hoes in different area Codes. hahahahahaha