Something Ain't Right? 🤔
So, a couple of weeks ago we popped along to Sadlers Wells theatre (not the one along by Kingsway as we originally thought), this branch of it is in Islington in North London, the journey was quite easy and we jumped a 214 bus just along by Finsbury Pavement for the journey up City Road to Angel station.
Time To Kill 🔪
We had plenty of time to kill before it started so we had a mooch around some shops and decided rather than having a drink in the theatre we would pop into a really old pub called The Old Red Lion, we were so glad we did, it is a beautiful old building with its own little theatre inside. I hope like so many that it manages to remain open as so many seem to be falling by the wayside.
Refreshed, we headed just down the road to Sadlers Wells. I have to say possibly the least attractive theatre building I have been in. It is very modern and pretty nondescript to be truthful. As this was another of those one night only productions (at least in London) it was heaving with people, all of the bars were chock full (we were so glad we popped into a much nicer and quieter pub earlier).
The Judge & Jury 👨⚖️
We eventually took our seats ready for the performance. The play ‘Murder Trial Tonight III - The Doorstep Case’ is as one expected a courtroom drama. Without giving everything away in case you get a chance to see it the play is based on a true story. A woman is found dead on her doorstep by her husband, despite trying to save her she is pronounced dead by the time emergency services get to them, she had been strangled to death. The police had very little leads and the only person on the scene was her husband, the couple had a stormy relationship and eventually the police arrest him and charge him with the murder.
The scenes are set as a courtroom with defence, prosecution, judge and the accused. It is held exactly as it would be (having sat on jury service before). Witnesses were brought forward and cross examined, exhibits were shown to the audience and there were also some comedic lines thrown in as well.
It was a long but brilliant play, the acting was marvellous and the crowning cherry on the cake was that the audience got to be the jury! Did he do it? What were the motives? Was the evidence enough to see a man be sent to a life sentence for murder? We all voted which was announced by an audience member pulled out as spokesperson for the jury, we waited with abated breath.... and then on the screen before us we all learned the outcome of the original story to some shocks to us, there was also an extra added twist at the end which made it one of the most enjoyable plays I have seen for a long time, it appeared that we voted the right way and walked out of the theatre feeling like we had done a good job as a jury.
Garage Rock Vibes 🤘
In complete contrast after the play we headed back along Pentonville Road heading down to Kings Cross to a pub we had been meaning to visit for a long time called ‘The Lexington’, again a really old pub that has changed its name a few times over the years. It is a music venue with the upstairs hosting bands and DJ’s doing sets. We were a bit early for that to kick off, but the music being played in there was some cool garage style rock which went down nicely.
I guess with that music genre imprinted in my mind I thought I would drag up a track by an Essex based band called The Vibes which have featured on this site before at the Essex Garage Rock Vibes from way back in 1985 with their track ‘Something Ain't Right’ (maybe something about having voted the right way as the jury during the play and the evidence presented to us?). Anyhow this little slice of Garage Rock heaven was originally released on the independent label ‘Chainsaw Records’. The B side of the single is ‘Watcha Gonna Do About It’ originally penned by Ian Samwell and Brian Potter and delivered by The Small Faces back in 1965, another cover of the track is also featured on a post on this site by a Street Punk band called Cock Sparrer at the link here 'I Need A Witness'.
If you like that whole garage rock style sound check out the link to other posts on this site here Garage Rock.
🤔🎸🤔🎸🤔🎸