It was an impromptu girls' night out in London and we wanted to do something a bit different. So we met at Waterloo and strolled down to the riverside to sample the delights of The Chocolate Festival.
There were about 30 stalls in the area which is usually occupied by Slow Food events. The place was jumping. It was difficult to know quite where to start – the aromas in the air all shouted “Chocolate!”. With Easter round the corner we were both pretending that we were there to buy suitable but unusual gifts for our families – but our own chocolate desires were really the driving force.
We’d arrived too late to enjoy the chocolate cookery theatre events so we browsed the cookies on display at Galeta. Unable to restrain ourselves, my friend tried some arancini (Italian rice balls) from Arancini Brothers of the Old Kent Road – I’d made some at Christmas so thought I’d dare to try some chocolate arancini. It was like warm, dry, chocolate rice pudding – but surprisingly good. It kept us away from the Thornton’s chocolate liqueur stall.
The dappled eggs at Paul A Young, Herzog (German) and The Chocolatier (artisan British chocolate) were like tiny works of art – reminding me of the great abstract works in our national galleries. Too good to eat? Not a chance – we accepted samples happily.
I was amazed by the Crumbs and Doilies “cupcakes for weddings” display – some friends had bought me a similar arrangement for a recent birthday celebration.
My friend bought some 83% chocolate from Grenada (before spying the Black River Jamaican stuff) and after sampling some salted caramel dark chocolate I parted with £3.50 so I could take some home.
Lots of people were drinking warming hot chocolate and we could smell the Mexican churros and pancakes (with obligatory chocolate dip) everywhere. We chatted a while to the folk on the Outsider Tart stand (see the recent Dog Blog for details of this amazing Chiswick café which also boasts a “barkery”) who had sold out of everything!
There were more eggs and bunnies than you could shake a stick at but I found the perfect gift at The Village Workshop where I bought a do-it-yourself gingerbread picnic house kit. And then we turned our attention to the rest of our evening.
Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors – with Lenny Henry
With just a few minutes to spare, we secured the last standby tickets (reduced by £15 to £23) for this highly acclaimed production. I was pleased to see that there were lots of teens as well as the usual couples and groups making their way into The Olivier Theatre at 730pm.
In a nutshell, this famous play is about two sets of identical twins – the masters (Antipholus) and the servants (Dromio) – who are separated at a young age and one set is feared lost at sea (thus they have the same names) but then reunited in the same City without anyone’s knowledge causing hilarious confusion amongst wives, family, merchants, debt collectors and officials.
The staging and set was incredible – the huge structures were a ship in a storm one minute, a realistic street café the next, then an upmarket apartment block, then a rotating down-town scene for a fantastic chase (including scooters) and finally a grand abbey.
The West Indian vibe amongst the actors was in pleasant contrast to the live musical accompaniment which took a more Latin flavour – particularly with some recognisable pop tunes such as Crazy by Gnarls Barkley.
There were great action scenes – including the convincing lights and sounds of helicopters saving souls from the sea – and a real Ambulance with flashing lights.
The audience chuckled at the various jokes and funny scenes at the increasing confusion amongst the actors and roared with laughter at the passing wind scene.
Overall, it was an excellent production which will be remembered for a very long time. I would imagine that Shakespeare would have been very pleased at the popular allure of this production.
We left the theatre with big smiles on our faces – and happy in the knowledge of the chocolate stashes in our bags.
