If you were going to ask me what my perfect weekend away would look like, last weekend was pretty darn close. I spent the weekend in London with one of my oldest friends browsing in gorgeous bookshops, eating some lovely food and seeing some incredible theatre.

It had been a while since Erin had been to London and we were feeling the need for a big ol’ bookshop tour of the city. Highlights include the wonderfully cosy Libreria off of Brick Lane, finally getting to see the lovely Gay’s the Word and sharing two of my favourite bookshops with Erin; Daunt Books and Word on the Water. I’m moving soon so I was showing some herculean self-restraint and only picked up 3 books for myself in all that browsing. But even still, just being in the beautiful bookish environments filled me with joy. Then, not a bookshop, but we also browsed the exhibition at Queer Britain which was really cool to see and mad that it’s the only LGBTQ+ museum in the UK.

As for theatre, we were spoiled with brilliant shows. Up first was Next to Normal at the Donmar Warehouse – a show I’ve wanted to see for years! It was incredible, filled me with goosebumps and made me cry, and Caissie Levy was unbelievable in it.
The next day our matinée performance was Operation Mincemeat which was a lot of fun. We both went in with no idea what the show was about and left feeling very glad to have seen it. The small cast are so talented and it’s a brilliantly accessible show for people who are less familiar with going to the theatre.

That evening we headed to the Barbican to see A Strange Loop which was so exciting, and unlike anything I’ve seen before. It feels like something new in form, representation and just how brutally honest the writing is. It was also very funny at points. Kyle Birch is just brilliant.
Finally, on Sunday we managed to grab a wee lottery ticket to see Wicked, which is always a good time. We had both been deep-diving into Wicked by listening to the Sentimental Men podcast and were really keen to see this cast. I have a lot of love for the show anyway as it was the first show I worked as a dresser and have worked it as an usher on the last UK tour so it brings back a lot of memories.
Erin and I were massive theatre kids when we were younger (and still are) so it’s been a long time coming that we spend an MT weekend together in London and it couldn’t have gone better. Our 14 year old nerdy selves bonding over niche musicals would have been so happy.

In amongst all these activities, we got to eat some tasty things. Highlights for me were snacking my way around Brick Lane and Spitalfields Market, the fancy dining room we got to have our Time Out discount dinner in and our lush brunch at Caravan in Kings Cross enjoying the sunshine and watching kids run through the fountains. A final shout out to the other win of the weekend was stumbling across an amazing sale at nobody’s child where I managed to get two dresses and some jeans for only £25.

Not sure when I’ll next be back down but it’s never too long before the theatre summons me back, so see ya soon London!