Two Strangers (Carry a Cake across New York)

Opening with a meet-not-very-cute at the airport, this sweet musical romcom squeezes in all the 'first visit to NYC' cliches and I am slightly embarrassed to note that I got nearly a full house, including the NYC snow globe. This is a two hander with a couple of musicians and is a slight but highly enjoyable couple of hours as pretty much all of the romcom New York cliches are visited and lightly made fun of. We had understudy Ellis Kirk playing Dougal as the wide eyed newbie who has seen far too many movies set in the city and assumes that NYC is just like in Home Alone. Partnered with him is Robin (Duyonna Gift), the tired and hard bitten, cynical native. During the 2 hours 15 minutes they do, unsurprisingly, carry a cake but have plenty of other adventures together and learn who and what really matters.

I enjoyed the very clever set made from piled up suitcases that turn into beds, wardrobes, fridges and any other props needed. The songs were good, and the couple of musicians were excellent. It has off- Broadway vibes (although it appears it was actually grown at The Kiln in Kilburn) and I thoroughly enjoyed it, as did the younger than usual, really enthusiastic, audience. Recommended if you fancy something light, funny and heartwarming and as it is running till the end of August not too late for tickets - worth knowing that the £20 restricted view seats in the Dress Circle are pretty good.

Earlier in the day we popped into the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition and had a lot of fun choosing what we would buy with an unlimited budget. I have a couple of hours in exhibitions before my brain gets overloaded and so, as this one is huge we only got about halfway round. To be honest I liked a lot of the smaller and less expensive pieces more than the more famous entries, and these are some of my favourites from the rooms we visited.

Mentation by Abigail O'Brien