Supermarket Shakespeare, on his Birthday, in Sainsbury’s (Yes, Sainsbury’s!)

As I scanned the listings in the Metro on the 23^rd, the word “Sainsbury’s” caught my eye. Some mistake, surely? But no: there was going to be Shakespeare in the local Sainsury’s that night. Well, I couldn’t miss that. Even at the risk of missing a beer session.

So off I trotted, at the appointed hour, for a short 321 bus trip. I asked at customer services where the performance was, and the young lady pointed and said “It starts in the vegetables.” Starts in? What could that mean. I hung around the quick snacks and waited.

You know how some people eat things on the way round the supermarket, and then don’t pay at the end? Well, I don’t: OK?

A Tannoy announcement told us it would start in 10, then 5 minutes, then “Starting now in the vegetable section”. Before it started, there was a stage manager to tell us that there would be several performances, so that we might follow all the characters in turn, which puzzled at least me. And then it began. And the players all rushed off in different directions!

I tagged along behind the last two, mainly because I was too slow on the uptake to follow any others. And we were plunged into the play. Which claimed to be loosely based on the sonnet ‘My Mistress’ Eyes’.

It quickly became apparent to me that following one player round the store was just a bit conventional. I find my journeys to and from the theatre contain their own excitement and interest. So I decided just to wander round the store and see if I could tell which bits of excitement and interest were in the play, and which were not. And for me, at least, this produced a terrific theatrical experience. Although there were only five of them, they seemed to around every aisle. Not only that, but several shoppers were not listening to the Tannoy (well, you don’t, do you?). So they found themselves turning into an aisle and being confronted with a confrontation. Which does sometimes happen in Sainsbury’s, between ordinary members of the public. Some of them looked as though they might intervene, some turned and ran, some forced their trolleys right through the scene, eyes firmly averted. So, for me at least, the play swirled through the store, sucking bit players in and spitting them out willy-nilly. It was exactly my idea of perfect theatre: it was hard to tell where the action stopped and the audience began. The Tannoy, by the way, was an active participant, even, at one point, giving us the sonnet (I think).

So well done and thank you Teatro Vivo, who produced it. And well done and thank you Sainsbury’s for having the nerve (and, I guess, the sense of fun) to support it. I really, really enjoyed myself.

Do you think it would be a good idea to have something uplifting on the 8.07 to Charing Cross? Something to give everyone a better day. Do you think Teatro Vivo could get the NHS to pay for it?

If you think about it, this must be expensive, highly consumed theatre. They didn’t get to build the scenery round the play, they had to build the play round the scenery. Which doesn’t sound easy, and probably isn’t.