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I happened to mention to Jon that Return to the Forbidden Planet was one of my all-time favourite musicals. I’d seen it a couple of times in the West End in the 90s. It’s a combination of The Tempest meets Star Trek with a 50s/60s back catalogue.
Jon (bless him) then went online and found that it was on at Bath in April. The further we looked into it, it was on a small stage at the Theatre Royal, Bath and their youth theatre company were the stars. We did umm and ahh about whether to go for it. At £15 a ticket, we took the plunge and I kept my fingers crossed that Jon and Callum would love the show as much as I did.
We’d been to Bath previously on the train and decided the Park & Ride would be less hassle than trying to find somewhere in town to park – and cheaper too. It was a bit of a drive from the motorway but we did wonder if we were heading in the right direction as the lanes got narrower and narrower.
Plenty of parking available and buses were every 15 minutes. It was around 15 minutes for the bus to get into the centre of Bath and it was close to where we needed to be.
As we’d visited the Roman Baths previously, we decided to look around the city on this visit. Armed with a Treasure Trail, we were hoping to see some sights no-one of us had seen before. The trail started from outside the entrance to the Roman Baths and the impressive Cathedral.
Shortly after we’d started, we had to pass a small bakery, Bakervee, with the most amazing display of cookies in the window. Needless to say, Callum wanted to sample and as there was an offer on, Callum treated us all to a cookie. They were huge, really filling and delicious!
We wound our way through the streets to the Roman Baths – and we followed the clues from there. The trail would take us passed the infamous Sally Lunn’s Eating House. I was hoping we could pop in for a Bun Bath … but as we’d just finished the cookie, it was just as well the queues were heading out into the street.
The place is over 450 years old!
The trail took us to the iconic Pulteney Bridge – it one of the most famous view points in Bath. We visited a little shop of the bridge on our last visit and bought a couple of WW1 cap badges. We were hoping it would still be there as Jon wanted a cap badge that would remind him of his Dad’s time in the Merchant Navy, but alas they seemed to be more focussed on postcards.
We picked the trail back up and found a lovely little Italian Restaurant called Colosseo for lunch. We shared a garlic bread with cheese and a bruschetta for starters. Jon was pleased there was a tuna pizza on the menu, I had the Tagliatelle Scoglio (Tagliatelle pasta served with prawns & scallops in a rosemarie sauce) and Callum had the Colosseo Risotto (selection of mixed fresh seafood with garlic, white wine, saffron & pomodoro sauce). A fab meal and would absolutely recommend.
Although Jon and I had been to Bath a couple of times previously, we had never seen the The Crescent before. I was really pleased the trail took us right the way around. Jon and Callum were more interested in the cars parked up outside. The view from the front of the houses was over the park, so these house prices would be at a premium.
One of the houses had a magnificent display of Wisteria outside.
Conveniently, the trail finished just around the corner from the Theatre Royal so we found the entrance to The Egg and decided to grab a pre-show drink in the foyer.
Most of the audience were families of the actors and actresses so we did feel as though we were gate crashing!
The Egg itself is a small, intimate theatre seating around 150 people. You are within touching distance of the stage. We had seats at the very back which you kind of perched on rather than sat!
The youngsters put on a great show. One of the actors really threw themselves into their performance – couldn’t say they weren’t giving it their all.
Stage set was brilliantly interpreted with the inclusion of the fridge, washing machine and ironing board!
The songs were brilliant and may just have persuaded them to go and see it in the West End should it ever return!
After the show, we headed back to the car. Jon found the Return to the Forbidden Planet playlist on Spotify – a good sign (I hope) that they enjoyed it!
