Weeknotes #143: from Bacchae to Bruce

Theatre, art, laughter, and music define a lively cultural week.

Week commencing Monday, 13 October 2025

Five male performers singing enthusiastically into microphones on stage at The Crazy Coqs, with a red curtain backdrop and neon signage, performing songs from Bruce Springsteen's catalogue
Performers belt out The Boss’s greatest hits with unrestrained passion at The Crazy Coqs’ Bruce Springsteen tribute evening.

Quantified Self

  • This week: Stand 7/7; Exercise 4/7 and Move 6/7. (81%). Morning walks: 0/3 (days in the office don’t count). Office days 2/5. Total steps: 62,275

Life

  • Monday was a day of meetings. Quite glad I finished at 5:30 p.m., as trespassers at Clapham meant all the trains were messed up and we really crawled into Waterloo. Any later would have been bad.
  • The Bacchae at the Olivier, at the National. Not much ancient in this Greek tragedy: it’s loud, contemporary, and full of attitude. All modern language, plenty of swearing, and bursts of rap and spoken word. I had no expectations going in, which added to the enjoyment.
  • Back to the National again on Wednesday evening. This time, the Lyttelton, for Shakespeare. Hamlet is bouncy: all bravado, beanie hats and oversized jumpers, a performance full of energy and humour. Ophelia’s descent into madness was raw. But it dragged compared with the energy of The Bacchae.
  • Frameless. Saturday, a wonderful immersive art experience near Marble Arch. You should go.
  • Who knew that the Lucky Saint company, known for alcohol-free beer, operates a licensed pub in Marylebone called The Lucky Saint? We were definitely on the alcoholic beer: it served a rather good pint of Beamish.
  • Also, the clock finally got replaced. It’s surprising how often we looked at the space where the clock used to hang.
  • It’s 23 years since one of my favourite stories on the Internet.
  • Sunday, lunch did not have the most auspicious of starts. We had to keep asking, but the food made up for it in the end. Still, a central London restaurant that couldn’t serve coffee at the end—really?
  • The weekend ended on a high: Crazy Coqs’ Bruce Springsteen night. I hadn’t realised how many songs I actually knew—or how much I enjoyed them all.

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