Coming up in December...

Overheard at a dodgy hotdog stand on the south bank

141020072666-revised, originally uploaded by Paul-in-London.

Rough looking woman cooking sausage like things in a large amount of oil: Now careful kids the plate's hot and it might spit
Adam: Eww... So might the woman cooking 'em

Scenes from the Tate Modern Sunday

141020072641, originally uploaded by Paul-in-London.

The thing to see this weekend was Doris's Crack. Everyone was there looking at it, putting their foot in it, some even got into it. I tried sniffing it... It was big and deep and reinforced... Outside Louise Bourgeois's giant spider is on show... It makes you wonder about those Tate curators...

Overheard at the gym today

Man #1: You see, if you make sure your (golf) swing is like this, then you aren't going to have any problems...
Man #2: But when I do that it hurts...
Man #1: Oh...

News this week in London

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

Hampstead is one tough part of London...

In the news during the week

evening standard, originally uploaded by quarsan.

Crossrail, Spice Girls and another Maddy story. London has it all...

News: Doris's Crack on show at the Tate Modern

Doris Salcedo "Shibboleth" at Tate Modern, originally uploaded by darrenjle15.

All the talk this week has been around Doris Salcedo's Shibboleth (otherwise known as Doris's crack) at the Tate Modern, which chops up the floor of the Turbine Hall to represent the great divide... This photo was taken by a Flickr visitor, but the story today was that two people fell into the crack at a private viewing... But were they pissed?

I was at the Tate on the weekend but the crack was under wraps. Now that is on show and people are falling over themselves to get into it, it is on the list of things to do...

Theatre: Parade

Source: www.donmarwarehouse.com

I found myself having a discussion this week with a lady who suggested to me that Parade at the Donmar is the type of music theatre that young men go for. I was thinking about this all last night as I watched this great production. Is there something about (relative) youth that makes one enjoy a music piece about a Jewish factory owner who is accused of raping and murdering a young girl, found guilty and sentenced to death only to have his sentenced commuted but then lynched by an angry mob? Ok so it isn't the happiest night at the theatre but it was so well told, well sung and well staged you didn't mind the lynching and the preaching. You even had to look hard to see the trademark Donmar black brick wall.

Looking around the theatre there was an over-representation of young men there interspersed among the usual Donmar types. The story is based on the true story of Leo Frank and the press frenzy that was whipped up by the case. The show works best when it focusses on the two central characters of Leo and his wife Lucile (played by Bertie Carvel and Lara Pulver). Mind you, there was so much angst, agitation and other odd mannerisms the two expressed throughout the play. Toward the end of the show when the two climb into bed together I couldn't help but think "Eeeeeeeeeewwwwweeewww". It was like watching stick figures on heat and seemed a little forced (and not just because the characters had been apart for a year)...

Anyway, Jason Robert Brown's music is great and Alfred Uhry's book keeps things moving along. So while it is a depressing story, it is still one that is curiously enjoyable. Well if you are a young man perhaps... And it probably helps if you have younger buttocks to withstand those Donmar seats... Act one runs for almost 90 minutes... A cast recording of this production is due out soon and dare I say it is probably worth getting...

This week in the news

HOT WAX, originally uploaded by the_moog.

I hear she was a bit of a babe...

Overheard outside the Scientology Centre on Tottenham Court Road Tuesday Evening

Woman: Oh that was interesting...
Man: Yeah it was...
Woman: Fancy some KFC?

Hot news this week in London...

The Brits love their tabloids., originally uploaded by fueledbycoffee.

They may not be able to find her, but she is talking to the Evening Standard about her dad...

Scenes from the East End this week...

BETHNAL GREEN, originally uploaded by the_moog.

Those Bethnal Green rodents are good chameleons...

Theatre: Rhinoceros

Source: www.royalcourttheatre.com

Saturday night I found myself with Fliss at Rhinoceros at the Royal Court. I figured any play where pachyderms spontaneously appear and start running around the stage is my kind of show. Besides, I had studied it in high school so I knew it already. Fliss on the other hand declined to investigate further then knowing it was one of those weird-ass plays that Paul drags her to from time to time, but since it was my birthday she was bound to put up with it.

Our evening started out as a comedy of manners as Fliss thought my paté starter for dinner looked like dog food (it did). Well that's those Sloan Square bistros for you. But during the second act the evening had taken its absurdist tone, as she leaned over to me and whispered, "You didn't tell me there was going to be full-frontal nudity in this". Well I didn't know that was going to be the case either. She declined to answer whether it was the first time she had seen a middle-aged white man naked before (it was the first time I had ever paid money to see that) but whatever the case was, we had very good seats to observe it all.

Still nudity aside, there was so much to like about this new production. Ionesco's satire on mindlessness, conformity and banality was written as a response to the rise of fascism in Europe. But it could apply to many things these days. The Rhinoceros could be anything that refers to pack mentality, such as the way the West End theatre critics review things I suppose.

This new translation by Martin Crimp gives a new lease of life to this play as well and sounds a lot more like dialogue too... Actually the banal office banter was all too familiar for Fliss and I, although we often talked more about sex than socialism. I guess Ionesco didn't have as filthy a mind as we did. Or he had more important things to say.

The Royal Court itself was a great venue for the production as the distant rumbles from the tube trains passing could easily have been mistaken for galloping rhinos. The full-sized rhino that bursts through the wall before intermission was also a highlight that had the audience breaking out into applause. Of course the down side to all these walls being broken and stairwells collapsing and buildings falling apart was that there was a thin layer of chalky dust on everything... Those rhinos by the end of it all sure looked like they meant business. And with all that dust its best advised to avoid wearing black to the Royal Court for the next month or so.... Press night is this week and it runs through to November.

Scenes from the Royal Court Theatre Saturday

220920072512, originally uploaded by Paul-in-London.

Theatre dust thanks to the sets being smashed by a rhinoceros... More later...

Overheard at the Sainsbury's Checkout Saturday

Man #1: Look you are a 50 year old man. Deal with it.
Man #2: Yeah yeah yeah... Shush.

Theatre: Bouncers

Midweek theatre this week entailed going to the Greenwich Theatre to see a 30th anniversary production of Bouncers. For somebody turning 32 this week I figured I wasn't showing my age as much as this production. Sure the music had been updated and the cultural references had been too. But a night out had never seen so dated. If they were updating the play surely there should have been experiences of bouncers patting people down for knives, turning a blind eye to the GHB usage, and making sure everyone is drinking out of plastic cups if they are on the footpath. Alas it wasn't to be.

Essentially the play is an extended comic routine involving four men who are bouncers and their experiences picking up women and observing men at pubs. It's meant to be hilarious but I suspect that depends on how much you have drunk at the bar. The four men as women seemed to be collectively channelling John Inman. I would have preferred it to remain a period piece but that might have been a tad confusing for the large crowd of school students in the audience who were ready to laugh at it. Such a pity what is on the school curriculum these days... Well it is still a classic... Apparently...

In the news this week...

IT'S HARDER TO HOLD YOUR PINT WHEN YOU'RE STONED, originally uploaded by the_moog.

Not sure what the story is about but it probably doesn't matter. The South London Press is an entertaining read for those who like to read lovingly retyped press releases and filler before the ads for Foxtons...

Scenes from Open House Weekend Sunday

160920072484, originally uploaded by Paul-in-London.

Admiring some of the best architecture London has to offer as part of London Open House weekend... In (informal) architectural terms it is called "big penis structures"... Goldfinger (the architect) obviously had some issues there... They don't build 'em like that anymore...