I just found a PDF of my initial application to become an Olivier Awards Panellist, back in 2018. I was rather surprised to be invited for an interview and then gobsmacked when I was chosen to be a panellist. The year of theatre 2018-19 remains one of the most spectacular years of my life. I mean, I went to the theatre a lot back then anyway, it was simply turned up several notches, and to things that I would have normally missed.

The Oliviers are fantastic and London theatre is fantastic, and I would not hesitate to do it all over again. The ceremony and aftershow were fabulous too.

A moment here to thank Catherine at SOLT during that time, who was a superstar in booking everybody’s tickets for every single show and organizing so much more beyond that. A superstar.

The initial application email

Here are the details of my application. I had to write a 150-word review of a play (from the last year, I think) and list any shows I’d seen too.

150-word review:

It’s a leap of faith to accept Rupert Murdoch as David fighting the Goliath of old-money Fleet Street, as we know how the story continues, but James Graham’s play paints both Murdoch and Lamb as plucky upstarts who overtake The Mirror’s circulation in a year of sensationalism. “I want to disrupt this street,” says Murdoch, a sentiment which has new meaning in our technological age. Perhaps inspired by The Sun, Graham doesn’t always let the facts derail a gripping tale: The Sun didn’t overtake The Mirror in a year: it took nine; But without the pressure of time, the achievement wouldn’t be quite as celebratory, and anyway, Bertie Carvel and Richard Coyle are fabulous as Murdoch and Lamb, and Graham provides plenty of surprise-and-delight moments such the banging-out of retirees. No moralizing here, just a good story with a great cast.

Against - Almeida
Albion - Almeida
Anatomy of a Suicide - Royal Court
Angels in America I+II - National Theatre
Art - Old Vic
Barber Shop Chronicles - National Theatre
Beginning - National Theatre
Bucket List - Battersea Arts Centre
Chummy - White Bear Theatre
Deposit - Hampstead Theatre
Dessert - Southwark Playhouse
Don Juan in Soho - Wyndham’s Theatre
Escaped Alone - Royal Court
Filthy Business - Hampstead Theatre
Five Guys Named Moe - Marble Arch Theatre
Follies - National Theatre
Guards at the Taj - Bush Theatre
Ink - Almeida
Labour of Love - Noel Coward Theatre
Life of Galileo - Young Vic
Lost Without Words - National Theatre
Mary Stuart - Almeida
Mosquitoes - National Theatre
Network - National Theatre
Nuclear War - Royal Court
Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour (twice!) - Duke of York’s Theatre
Peter Pan - National Theatre
Queen Anne - Theatre Royal Haymarket
Road - Royal Court
Rosencranz and Guildenstern are Dead - Old Vic
Saint George and The Dragon - National Theatre
Sex With Strangers - Hampstead Theatre
The Children - Royal Court
The Ferryman - Gielgud Theatre
The Kid Stays in the Picture - Royal Court
The Lie - Menier Chocolate Factory
The Lorax - Old Vic
The Majority - National Theatre
The March on Russia - Orange Tree
The Snowman - Old Vic
The Treatment - Almeida
The Twilight Zone - Almeida
The Wind in the Willows - Rose Theatre Kingston
The Woman in Black - Fortune Theatre
Twelfth Night - National Theatre
Ugly Lies the Bone - National Theatre
Victory Condition - Royal Court
What Shadows - Park Theatre
Who’s Afraid of Virgina Woolf? - Harold Pinter Theatre
Wings - Young Vic
Wish List - Royal Court
Yerma - Young Vic

For many years, the food stalls around Chinatown were a great stop-off for me, good, fast and cheap. Originally, the stalls were around the section of Newport Place at the top of Newport Court, protected from the road by red bollards, you could even sit on the steps of the old pagoda and eat.

Here’s a link to a picture of what Newport Place used to look like - on Alamy

The stall I frequented made Hong Kong Waffles(Google Search), which are egg waffles in a bubble-form and I would have mine with a vast amount of Nutella, folded and wrapped in a paper bag. Eating this while walking down the road was a show-stopper, as gawking pedestrians sudddenly felt hunger pangs and looked to trace my steps back to the stall.

The stalls had tacit rental agreements with the restaurants and shops they were parking outside, with the shops providing electricity and cables hoisted overhead with poles. Until one evening, when Newport Place was clear of the stalls, with nobody around. Hungry, I walked down Newport Court and noticed that a couple had moved further up Charing Cross road to the sheltered section oppsite the few bookshops left. And I was especially pleased to find my usual stall there. They explained that they’d all be turfed out and luckily made a deal with restaurant just here. The husband-wife team were from China, trying to make a living, but tonight it was just the guy on duty. He asked if I was hungry, I said yes, and he said, I know what to make you, I make something special for you. Which he did. Delicious. No idea what it was called.

The couple had a baby, maybe a year younger than junior, who would usually also be in the buggy if I was down there on a Saturday, but recently, I hadn’t see them with their kid. The guy explained that the baby was back in China with his in-laws, while they worked here. They’d not seen them for nine months. That must be very hard, I offered. He said, it was, but much worse for his wife. I’ll bet.

We used to visit regularly on Saturdays for Hong Kong Waffles with Nutella, until one day, everything was gone, and things started shutting down. Eventually, the ground-floor of the entire block was rebuilt and right out to the pavement, no more sheltered undercroft to hide from the rain, and it all looks like this now.

What it used to look like, complete with stall

I honestly still hunt around for the stall, but it’s long gone, they’re long gone, I hope they’re doing well.

We went to one of the new shops down Newport Court that advertised Hong Kong Waffles, and I’m sorry to say that it was absolutely fucking horrible, slightly burnt taste and fake Nutella, at about twice the cost. If I could remember who they were, I’d tell you, but I can’t. A complete disaster.

Anyway, I was thrilled to find a short video I’d taken of the stall one evening while he was making me some food.