Paul in London

Monday night I forgot I was at the National Theatre again to see "Burn, Chatroom and Citizenship" – three new one-act plays. Except that they only perform two and I was stuck with "Burn" during the first half. It was a bit of a bore, although had some nice commentary about social workers and car stealing. The second half was "Citizenship" and it was much more lively and funnier (no surprise when it was written by Mark Ravenhill of "Shopping and Fucking" fame). The tale about a boy who sees a girl and gets her pregnant while looking for a gay relationship was pretty funny. The characters and dialogue were fantastic (even if the plot was a bit suspect)… The crowd was a very young crowd as these performances were originally performed at the NT last year by school children, and they all have yoof feemes and all that… So once you got past the audience belching and laughing at the wrong parts it was a good night out…  

Scenes from Leicester Square Tuesday Originally uploaded by Pauly_ . Trying to get cheap ticks to Kathleen Turner's performance in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" I run into Tom Cruise worship. I got within 5 metres of him but was too busy purchasing theatre tickets to notice how small he really is... Besides I didn't have my water pistol on me...

Scenes from the Thames Monday 22.00 Originally uploaded by Pauly_ . Big Ben strikes 10...

Scenes from SW4 Saturday 19:46 Originally uploaded by Pauly_ . It wasn't all grey this weekend. Saturday was mild and sunny. The trees now have greenery on them too...

Friday night I caught a "work in progress" at the National Theatre called "The Menu". It is what they are referring to as a scratch performance where in essence they are workshopping a new piece but with an audience. There were enough disclaimers to lower anybody's expectations about what we were about to see but in essence it wasn't that bad. Sure the production was unfinished and there were enough subplots to drive anyone crazy (and some scenes didn't make any sense) but there is the potential there in this play set in the not too distant future Britain, where suicide bombings and lack of liberty are the norm. I thought the satire on the future (newsflash: Prince Harry was reprimanded today for wearing a fake Muslim beard) worked better than the love triangle between the three leads, but others with me went along with it all. I enticed people to come to it on the premise that it could be the next masterpiece to come out of the National. I don't th...

Scenes from Clapham Sunday 14.32 Originally uploaded by Pauly_ . Just what the hell are they doing to the place??

Scenes from Soho Sunday 00.27 Originally uploaded by Pauly_ . Waiting to get inside The Ghetto. It was some wait... Inside it was one of those bars where anything seemed to go... For instance, there were two lesbians getting it on in one corner leaving nothing to the immagination. They were doing it with enough vigour to suggest they had had a few vitamins over the course of the evening. Outside it may have been mild weather but inside it was rather hot. All that cigarette smoke and dancing no doubt contributed to the hot steamy atmosphere... Banal eighties, nineties and naughties music seemed to be the order of the day as well...

Scenes from Gordon's Bar Embankment Originally uploaded by Pauly_ . Friday night 10.49 - the crush before last orders...

Scenes from Covent Garden 16.49 Originally uploaded by Pauly_ . Shorts Gardens WC2

Tuesday night I caught The Musical of Musicals which is playing at the Sound Theatre (part of that Swiss Building where those hideous chiming things happen on the hour in Leicester Square). I understand that at some point the building will be demolished, which will be a victory for decent architecture. Having said all that, the theatre is not a bad space. Even better was this production. If you like your musical theatre (and hey who doesn't as what's there not to like??) then this show offers the same story about a girl who can't pay the rent, in the five different styles: Rodgers and Hammerstein, Sondheim, Jerry Hermann, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Kander and Ebb. The great thing about the show is even if the in-jokes sail over your head, the songs and the performances were good enough to stand on their own. While the Lloyd Webber segment managed to show how much the composer loves / copies / borrows from other composers, my favourite was the Kander and Ebb segment where ever...