Tower Bridge Concert in the Bascule Hall – 21 September 2017. Reviewed by Andrew Kennedy
3***
There was something vaguely threatening about the mock gothic of Tower Bridge, in rapidly fading autumn light. We were waiting to descend into the brick cavern or ‘bascule’ hall in the bottom of one of the towers. In the distance the illuminated Bloody Tower stood out – a reminder of an earlier era of menace.
We were warned not to loiter, after the concert, as a 1000 ton counterweight of the bascule would rotate into the hall, when the roadway lifted.
Down a narrow stairwell we went into an Orwellian dystopia: concert sounds ringing out round us. Through musty, dusty, neon lit machinery spaces; down past a huge redundant steam boiler and into the dank, darkened bascule hall.
All eyes looked upwards to the underside of the roadway, carefully sizing up where we might savely retreat, if it suddenly swung into descent.
Rumblings, hissings and crankings were supplemented by sounds of attempts to tune an old fashioned wireless to Handel’s water music by two earnest gents at a table (Langham Research Centre). Loud dripping noises sounded. I looked but no water could be seen.
The second entertainment was poetry describing time, change and flow along the South Bank. Kayo Chingonyi’s recitations perfectly pitched in the gloom.
Kate Romano’s ‘Clarinet in a Resonant Chamber’ did what it said on the tin and as we left Coco Mbassi serenaded us quietly to the accompaniment of a double bass – lost at times as numerous feet shuffled up the narrow stairs.
It was a relief to emerge back onto the bridge, breathe ‘fresh’ air and feel the wind on your face. A unique experience – worth doing once – but not to be repeated!