News this week in London


Swan Bites Dog, Hampstead, originally uploaded by Fin Fahey.

Hampstead is one tough part of London...

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Bare emotions: Gods and Monsters @swkplay

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Gods and Monsters , now playing at the Southwark Playhouse is a showcase of incredible performances from its terrific cast and an engaging story. Oh and there is a bit of full frontal nudity too. Based on the novel Father of Frankenstein (which was also the source material for the film of the same name ), the story is a blend of fact and fiction. Age, memory, fame, youth and loss collide in the story of the last few months in the life of English director James Whale. Whale director and creator of the first two Frankenstein films, had a moderately successful career in Hollywood which enabled him to live comfortably in Los Angeles. He was also openly gay. But following a series of strokes in his sixties, he lost his ability to prevent painful memories from his past flooding back. And without giving too much away, his most successful creation, the monster in Frankenstein, seems to become something far more personal.
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Buttocks up: Derrière on a G String at Kings Head Theatre

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A show with a title called Derrière on a G String conjures up all sorts of expectations about the type of smut that you might encounter. And what flesh might be on display by some unsuspecting performers. But fortunately, we’re at the Kings Head Theatre in Islington, not some seedy location elsewhere in London, so there isn’t much to fear. What we have is a mostly silly dance-and-movement spectacle set to classical music.  If there is a way to describe the piece, it would be: a day in the life of a young man (played by Sammy Moore), surrounded by his friends, told through dance and movement and comic sketches. There’s waking up in the morning and getting to work, waiting for a bus, builders on a construction site, swimmers getting a bit frolicsome, and party goers getting nasty. Things take an interesting turn with ladies shaving in the bathroom and men tap dancing while farting. It all is done in the best possible taste, with only the occasional flash of a buttock. Moore has a na...
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Fantasies: Afterglow @Swkplay

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Nowadays no self-respecting gay play can be staged without full frontal nudity of some kind. It feels like the default response for the modern gay play now that gay rights are no longer an issue .   Afterglow, currently playing at Southwark Playhouse , serves it up in spades. From the beginning, three men are in a bed, naked. There’s what appears to be a very brief exhalation of ecstasy, before the obligatory rush to the shower. But the gratuitous nudity and excellent performances can’t conceal this is a pretty conventional and predictable story about a fantasy couple.  The three men in the simultaneous orgasm at the start of the piece are Josh, Alex and Darius. Josh and Alex seem to live in a New York world where they can afford a rooftop apartment in Manhattan while holding jobs as a theatre director and a grad student in chemistry. As writer S. Asher Gelman based it on his own experiences, perhaps gay plays with full frontal nudity are the way to achieve financial ...
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