Monday, February 16, 2009
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Hot news this week in London...
East Sussex is pretty grim, But it may not be so grim after all... The boy may not be the father as the girl may have been the town bike...
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Theatre: On The Waterfront
If there was too much sex on stage at the opera on Tuesday, there didn't seem enough of it on Wednesday in this engaging stage adaptation of On The Waterfront at the Theatre Royal Haymarket. There is a lot of excitement and dramatic tension in this tight production directed by Steven Berkoff... Assuming you overlook some unintentionally hilarious moments such as when the actors play pigeons (the effect is funnier than the scenes of singing birds in The Producers).
But with all that tension and bitterness, I thought perhaps a bit of roughing up of the actors could have helped. Well at least in the climatic fight scene, it would have been nice to see Simon Merells (who plays the Brando character), have some of his clothes ripped off... Alas it wasn't meant to be.
Still there is enough violence implied in this shadowy story of corruption and mob violence on the New Jersey docks in the 1950s. Berkhoff sees the story as relevant for any age. Whatever the case is, it is a great story well acted and presented.My only question would be (assuming I wasn't going to ask about the pigeons), why was a silhouette of Abu Hamza at the back? The show runs until April and worth a look...
Opera: Rigoletto
Tuesday night I found myself watching full frontal nudity and simulated sex at the Royal Opera House during the opening few minutes of Rigoletto. Now normally I would not have such a problem with seeing this, but I found myself preoccupied trying to work out if the actress having sex with a reasonably endowed actor had a Brazilian or a French. After much checking... It was definitely French. By the time the first act closed, I was distracted so much that I had to read the synopsis to work out what happened.
It is a pity that this production (which has only been around since 2001) seems now to be full of distractions, but the performances made up for it. The last few operas I had caught had singers that were at times a bit suspect - both vocally and in the acting department - but this was not the case on Tuesday night. The audience reserved its most cheers for Leo Nucci in the title role.
Rigoletto is a great story as well so there is so much going for this production... Even if on Tuesday night the direction and the set felt a little superfluous....
It is a pity that this production (which has only been around since 2001) seems now to be full of distractions, but the performances made up for it. The last few operas I had caught had singers that were at times a bit suspect - both vocally and in the acting department - but this was not the case on Tuesday night. The audience reserved its most cheers for Leo Nucci in the title role.
Rigoletto is a great story as well so there is so much going for this production... Even if on Tuesday night the direction and the set felt a little superfluous....
Monday, February 09, 2009
Monday, February 02, 2009
Scenes from Clapham Common
Pubs did a brisk trade today, but for those who took to the parks, the thing to do was to make snow balls. Big, dirty, muddy snow balls...
Sunday, February 01, 2009
Scenes from South London tonight
Heavy snow has been falling all evening and is expected to get worse overnight and in time for rush hour... Looking forward to the mass hysteria that will then ensue...
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Scenes from the Roundhouse Friday night
Grace Jones singing Slave to the Rhythm with a hula hoop. It had to be seen to be believed. Surely the Roundhouse this week with Grace Jones was the best place to be in London... Of course on Flickr there are better shots of this moment, but I enjoy working within the limitations of the iPhone and my standing position...
Later at Chalk Farm tube a girl was overheard saying, "I've just got to get me a hula hoop"...
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Theatre: Spring Awakening
Tuesday I caught a preview of Spring Awakening at the Lyric Hammersmith. It is one hell of an energetic show (and hopefully by the time it is out of preview all the cast will have grown into their roles). Teen angst, sexual discovery, masturbation, abortion and suicide have never looked better on stage or been presented with a great rock (? - well it's hard to classify it) score. It isn't quite a musical in the traditional sense but it presents it concept in such an interesting way that I only wished they turned up the volume more and blasted the audience... Well, when everyone is singing "Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah," and looking so good, it just seems like the most logical thing to do...
The show won eight Tony Awards including for best new musical in 2007 and the creative team from the New York production are here at the Lyric. It is interesting that the Columbine massacre was part inspiration for this show and that the source material is from Frank Wedekind's sometimes-banned play from the nineteenth century. That is not to say that all this teen angst and period drama makes for a downbeat evening. The music and energy make up for that. A highlight is the song Totally F***ed, which I thought was not just relevant to teenagers. To give away anything further of the plot is neither necessary nor relevant. It is a show to experience. Many of the cast are also making professional acting debuts here too.
The ten of us (who tended toward the other end of the age spectrum) who caught the show thought it was great. Although John did fall asleep in the second half. I attributed this partly to the fact that the second act is a bit ballad-heavy, and that he was exhausted from taunting the man in front of him for the early part of the evening...
The man in front, who I decided to dub Rain Man at some stage during the first act, kept turning around at the slightest noise you would make. No cough, or rustle of the programme was quiet enough for his liking. And when I periodically opened my bottle of sparkling water (only during moments of applause I might add), you could imagine the death stares I started to get when there was a slight Pfffffft. Well, it may have been more than a slight Pffffffft as later John confessed that he was creating additional sound effects to accompany my bottle opening...
Anyway, normally I am the first to object to noise in the theatre, but I suspect this man had hearing issues, or was a tad odd... He seemed to be quite unreasonable with his non-verbal complaining so for most of the first act, John made it his mission to flick his programme and rustle his belongings at any chance just to wind him up. Along with my periodical Pfffft-ing, it was hard at times to concentrate on the show as Rain Man kept turning around. But I did my best to ignore him. For the second act, we all stocked up on fizzy water and bags of crisps... We munched and pfft'ed our way through the second act with such defiance that woe betide anyone that objected... It was probably watching all that rebellion on stage that made us do it...
The show runs until March 14. See it with attitude too...
Saturday, January 24, 2009
a big breakfast in East Dulwich
With the weekend a bit of a washout, it was a time for Full English Breakfasts. Saturday's was at Liquorish... It may not look as good as the food presented at Tom's Kitchen (which is where I ate Sunday)... But it gives it a run for its money (and cheaper too)...
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Theatre: Complicit
At intermission at Complicit Monday evening at the Old Vic it was a case of some people being complicit in staging photos featuring a very nice looking celebrity and director. Well some people at least seemed to be unnaturally excited to be in his theatre...
Kevin Spacey is directing this new play by Joe Sutton with Richard Dreyfuss, Elizabeth McGovern and David Suchet in the cast. It is still in preview but early word has been all about Richard Dreyfuss using an earpiece to remember lines. It is earpiece-gate. Now after seeing it I have to sympathise with all the actors as they have some weighty dialogue to deliver at times. It is afterall, another play about life under the Bush administration. And perhaps as a new president is innaguarated, the punters aren't ready to relive the horrors of the past eight years.
The play itself centres around a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist (Dreyfuss) who has to face a Grand Jury and divulge the name of his source on stories about the use of torture and rendition. The story has echoes of the Judith Miller / New York Times case and as the play unfolds it is the subject matter that keeps you hooked. And waiting. For the dramatic. Pauses. To pass.
Well I wasn't bothered by that and I wasn't bothered about Dreyfuss's earpiece either (it could have been a hearing aid as he looks much older than he is). His delivery was fine too. What was a shame was the less-than-convincing relationship between Dreyfuss's character and his wife (McGovern). She seems to have not much to do at times other than act with her back to the audience. Perhaps the big ideas of politics, journalism and power get in the way of developing sympathetic characters. Maybe another week of previews could help smooth things. Or maybe I was just too fussy. At the end of the performance there were more than a few people on their feet applauding.
All told while it isn't a brilliant play, it is still worth catching. It looks great too and so does the Old Vic with its new theatre space and bars. There is Sino Thai or Meson don Felipe nearby for a bite to eat. It all adds up to a rather sensible evening of good dining and modern politics and moral dilemmas if you ask me... It is on until 21 February.
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