Posts

Featured Post

Bear with me: Sun Bear @ParkTheatre

Image
If The Light House is an uplifting tale of survival, Sarah Richardson’s Sun Bear gives a contrasting take on this. Sarah plays Katy. We’re introduced to Katy as she runs through a list of pet office peeves with her endlessly perky coworkers, particularly about coworkers stealing her pens. It’s a hilarious opening monologue that would have you wishing you had her as a coworker to help relieve you from the boredom of petty office politics.  But something is not quite right in the perfect petty office, where people work together well. And that is her. And despite her protesting that she is fine, the pet peeves and the outbursts are becoming more frequent. As the piece progresses, maybe the problem lies in a past relationship, where Katy had to be home by a particular hour, not stay out late with office colleagues and not be drunk enough not to answer his calls. Perhaps the perky office colleagues are trying to help, and perhaps Katy is trying to reach out for help. It has simple staging
Image
Scenes from Tate Britain Friday 18:54 - There was a long queue just to leave (or pick up as I was doing) your things at the cloakroom. The Degas, Sickert and Toulouse-Lautrec exhibition is closing soon and so Friday night at the Tate was popular (it was also half price). It is a smart idea going to the late night showings, just get there at 17:30 as by 7pm you could barely move. It's a great exhibition, but not when you need lubricant to get through the crowds...

Theatre: Epitahph For George Dillon

I spent the week catching up on a few things about to finish. One of these being Epitaph for George Dillon , which is a revival of a John Osborne / Anthony Creighton play starring Joseph Feinnes. It was a fascinating play that has held up well since the 1950s when it was written. When Feinnes walked in you could hear a collective swoon from the female members of the audience. I wasn't quite sure why as sitting in second row I could see he doesn't have any lips. Of course the makeup he had on accentuated this feature, he walked with a hunch, and the character he played wasn't such a nice chap, but obviously none of that mattered to the rest of the audience. The central message of the play seemed to be that it is fine to be a bohemian in suburbia as at least it pays the bills. Oh and marry somebody you don't really like as well. It is not surprising the play was written by two closeted bitchy queens who certainly knew how to write great one-liners, but they also created

No photos, only confusion

No photos today. The high street retailer that sold me my phone (oh which has a camera) on Saturday took it back today. It is all a rather long and involved story involving me, a sales assistant who didn't know what he was doing, and my strange desire to keep my old number. Keeping your number if you change mobile providers apparently isn't a popular thing to do in London (or at least you are given this impression by the store I went to), and it probably makes sense as if you have given out your number to so many loonies, every now and then it is probably smart to just disappear. Of course there are only one or two loonies who have my number and I have set them up in my contacts as "DO NOT ANSWER - Mormon" in my phonebook. To keep my number, I needed to set up a new contract and return the old phone… So some rather smashing photos of London were lost. Actually they probably weren't that great, but I was perplexed by returning a phone and then getting another bran
Image
Scenes from a Bloomsbury Art Gallery Wednesday 17:05 - Paper mach� animals anyone? 
Image
Scenes from the bowels of the Barbican Tuesday 17:38 
Image
Scenes from Tooting Common Tuesday 15:52 - A bit damp today... 

Movies: The Producers and the King

Tonight I caught the movie of The Producers as the weather is great for seeing a few films at the moment… As for the film, it isn't bad although I think Will Ferrell can neither act nor sing and Uma Thurman can neither sing nor dance (nor does she have the big tits required for the role). In a way it is amazing how little talent movie and television stars need nowadays. Unfortunately for Will and Uma the need to sing, dance, act and be funny in this movie does not make them look so good… Anyway the movie is pretty much the same as the show and the original 1968 film. Some scenes seem to be lifted straight from 1968, including the way they were shot which seemed either homage to the original movie or the movie musicals of the 1950s. Whatever the inspiration it looked great (not sure about Broderick's hair colour however). Pity about the cutting of "The King of Broadway" number however. Apart from being funny, if it were included it might have prepared the audience for
Image
Scenes from a Soho cafe Monday 20:51 - After catching a movie this afternoon went into Soho for a spot of people watching through the large glass windows facing out on Old Compton Street. There were people out there, but none worth zooming in on...
Image
Scenes from Tooting Bec Common Monday 14:17 - Another lovely overcast day. It had warmed up considerably today as it was at least eight degrees this afternoon. Actually it may have been warmer... It could have been nine or even ten... 
Image
Scenes from Soho Sunday 12:02am - Just after midnight and the party gets in full swing. New Year was a bit long for me as A and I got into Soho around 8pm. Four hours later I couldn't wait for 2006 to (finally) roll by. After midnight as I started sobering up and the rest of the punters started going the opposite I noticed: My friends slurring their speech A rough looking Scotsman taking an American tourist down to the bathroom By taking two steps back after some big scary person wishes you "happynewyeeaaaah" you avoid all physical contact with them As my friends got their coats to leave, the same rough looking Scotsman walking up the stairs putting his clothes back on... Being sober did have its pros and cons...