Well, I guess a firetrap combined with poor kiosk and automated ticket machine that does not want to give you your credit card back is all part of the intellectual enrichment that FACT offers our sorry Merseyside existences.
At the entrance stands a begger with a Big Issue in his hand and no Sellers ID, who gets 50p nonetheless, and lets us know that prebought tickets are obtainable at the machine.
On to the machine, just in time to see a girl get her credit card stuck in it, and the attendant find she herself has something missing in the crowd. We have our tickets issued manually by the efficient lady, who handles things well in spite of it all.
On up the stairs to the bar, hosting a long queue of people waiting to be allowed access to order a drink, and servicing the tail of a queue going up to the screening area. Is this the queue for the film, now due to start in a few minutes? Surely not, but to be sure, we'll take the lift and bypass all that if possible.
On to the second floor - where the 3 main screens are, serviced by a foyer sized about 5 yards x 5 yards. Each of those screens was showing a box office film, namely BORAT, CASINO ROYALE, and PAN'S LABYRINTH, each just released.
On to the kiosk, no bigger than a cigarette stall on the street, with a meticulously slow attendant, and stationed facing the top of the stairs to the floor, up which stand a stream of cinema goers looking to start the ritual with popcorn buying.
To the right of the kiosk is the waiting area for three films due to start within 15 minutes of each other, and CASINO ROYALE is traffic lighting people in in bundles of 30.
People not knowing what part of the crowd to push through to get to which screen, and all screen entrances being served from a common pool of confusion, standing souls with money in their pockets, and their hands full of treats, brushing against each other, easy prey for prospectors.
The melee was a tribute to the poor planning of the complex, whose structure needed repair shortly after it opening.
CASINO ROYALE, however is a great film, and I wish I had been at a picture house which would have allowed my to enjoy a dry martini as an aperitif, instead of a scrum at every turn. What a missed opportunity that place is.
