London has been almost uncomfortably hot and humid this Saturday morning. The market at Spitalfields was buzzing with activity and there had been just enough time to grab a bite to eat within the sound of the Shoreditch church bells before making her way south across the river, over London Bridge and towards the theatre for an afternoon performance. Shoreditch has, of course, its own important theatre culture but today she is headed for Bankside. The riverside views are, as usual, of a busy river, thronged with people and activity, and as she walks the sun still shines, but the lowering clouds on the skyline behind St Paul's seem ominous harbingers of a change in the weather.

As the performance beginning is sounded, the spectators, with the usual happy crush of bodies, chat and expectation, their food and drink in hand, press their way into the theatre yard. The musicians in the gallery sound their horns as the first drops of rain begin to fall…