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High anxiety: Collapse - Riverside Studios

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It’s a brave or maybe slightly provocative production to use Hammersmith Bridge on their artwork for a show called Collapse, which is about how everything collapses—poorly maintained bridges, relationships, and jobs. Nothing works. That’s probably too close to home for Hammersmith residents stuck with a magnificently listed and useless bridge on their front door. It gets even weirder when you realise the piece is staged in what looks like a meeting room with a bar. However, keeping things together in the most unlikely of circumstances is at the heart of Allison Moore's witty and engaging four-hander, which is currently having a limited engagement at Riverside Studios . The piece opens with Hannah (Emma Haines) about to get an injection from her husband (Keenan Heinzelmann). They’re struggling for a baby, and he’s struggling to get out of bed. But he managed to give her a shot of hormones before she started worrying about the rest of the day. She’s unsure she will keep her job with ...
Art: Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy

Yesterday evening caught the The Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition 2005 with the man from the Eurostar. It was fun and there were some wonderful works on display and for sale. Some cost more than a luxury car but that's art for you. I thought the giant statue of woman made out of dominoes for £80k seemed like a bargain. The double-six cut in two for nipples was a nice touch. In the same room however were two "mixed media" pieces that took a cute teddy bears and gave them evil gnarling killer looks, holding bright red powertools, and an array of dead animals underneath them. I loved it. Never mind the rest of the art, this was something that just appealed to my sense of humour and aesthetics. I suspected that my taste (and perhaps my sanity) was coming under question, but hey, cute teddy bears turned evil killers I just couldn't resist. I think they should mass-market the things... They would be a hit.

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