Soho Rep

“We been kilt. Again and again. More than one way to die. How we still alive after all the times we been passed around? How we still alive after all the times we got hit?”

I take today off. Subway back to Times Square to meet up with Jutta and see the St Paddy’s parade. The place is swarming with green-attired New Yorkers and masses of police. Around Rockefeller Plaza there’s a squad with machine guns and bullet proof vests.

The parade starts by St Patrick’s cathedral and that’s where it’s busiest. We head down 6th Avenue looking for a gap, and take a detour through Central Park. It’s cold in the shade, but there’s a patch of sun on the corner from where we can see the parade. It’s almost exclusively military and police bands. No floats, just drums and bagpipes. We’re disappointed.

Jutta has a flight to catch. We abandon the parade and grab a light lunch at Beer Culture. I continue alone down Broadway into Soho where I graze on chicken broth and Eileen’s Special Cheesecake (which is astoundingly light and cheesy).

I’m queuing at Soho Rep for Is God Is again at 6 - first in line, chatting with Fay and Kurt who have driven up from Maryland to see the show. Their friend is playing God.

Street theatre is unfolding down the road. A young drunk has been thrown out of a bar and he’s screaming “do you know who my father is?” We don’t. The bouncers are passive and professional, but he rants on for ages. His friends, equally drunk, come out and eventually they move on.

I get a ticket and it’s an intense experience in a tiny theatre space. The staging is innovative, there’s plenty of shouting and murder, and the audience get blood-splattered in the process. https://mobile.nytimes.com/2018/02/18/theater/is-god-is-review.html

My new friends and I drink a beer next door. It’s a huge bar called MI5 - empty just now, but getting busier. We talk about theatre, travel, and collapsing bridges. Then it’s time to go. I walk back through Chinatown, collecting a tub of Zen Butter (white sesame) ice cream on the way.

A good day.