The royal hunt for the sun

25 May 2006

On Saturday I was taken to the national theatre for the first time to see The Royal Hunt For The Sun , which was really good. I’ve never realy seen that much theatre, but I really love it when I do. I guess there’s something about seeing real people act out a drama that makes it much more immediately engaging than say film. Not that I wish to diss film of course – each medium has its advantages. Anyway, this was a particularly vibrant production telling the tale of a Spanish General who leads a group of men to Peru in search of gold, where they meet the Incas. The General captures their leader who claims to be a God on earth, and they bond together, but the Spanish troops and their palace representative aren’t going to let things end amicably. I really enjoyed the piece, which was well staged and had some quite good bits of dialog, particularly with the different views on religon between the Spanish and Incas, which was quite funny (and I imagine a lot more cutting back in 1964 when the play was first staged).

Whilst in London also met up with Jonathan for lunch, in a nice place called Giraffe (warning, that link annoyingly resizes your browser), and took in some of the South Bank, including going on the London Eye and briefly visiting the bar in Tate Modern (alas there was nothing in the main hall, as they were between exhibits). It was quite a fun day out, as I’ve never really done chilling in London, as typically I just go there for a specific purpose and leave. Was nice to chill.