Confession time: I only went to see October because my Mum (who has an allergic reaction to online booking-charges) sent me down to the box office to buy tickets and in a reward for ‘beating the system’, she said she’d bring me along too. I had never been to the Olympia to see a play, it was definitely more of a live-music sort of venue for me, so I was really intrigued to see what it could offer as a theatre space. The theatre night in question was really bizarre for me. I was used to taking my comfortable seat in the Abbey or the Gate while listening to tinkling piano and discussing the set and ambience knowingly with a fellow drama student. Here I was squashed into (let’s be honest) a terribly painful seat in the Olympia while ushers were selling ice-cream and advertisements were being projected onto the fire safety curtain onstage.
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