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Prayers and thoughts: The Inseparables @Finboroughtheatre

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The Inseparables brings Simone de Beauvoir’s posthumously published novel to life. It traces a lifelong friendship between Sylve and Andrée, two unconventional girls who grew up in a stifling world where being a woman meant getting married or entering a convent. With a quick pace and engaging performances from the two leads, it is a journey back into the 20th century that captures two unconventional women trapped in a conventional world that will have you reflecting on how much or little things have moved on in the last century. It’s currently playing at the Finborough Theatre .  We’re introduced to Sylve praying for her country, France, to be saved from the war and indoctrinated into the world of faith and obedience. But too smart for all that, her life was full of detached guilt and boredom. But when she meets Andrée, a new arrival at her school, she is struck by how different she is from everyone else. She was burned in a fire and had a passion for life that nobody else she knew...
The state of being alert but not alarmed...

Catching the tube from Balham into central London was an interesting experience today. Passing through Stockwell and Oval tube stations did cause pause for reflection on the past 48 hours. You can't exactly get back to normality when you're reading The Times which gives you great detail about the bombs that partially exploded on the tube Thursday, and looking at CCTV footage of a man fleeing the station you are just passing through.

The events of yesterday were also quite extraordinary (not to mention exhausting)... And as the police presence on the ground and in the air becomes ever more noticeable you can't help but wonder and hope if it is coming closer to endgame... Whatever the events of the next few days hold, it is now a case of be on the lookout for certain types of young men with rucksacks. They may be easier to spot if there are smart-casual trendy officers with Glock automatics drawn trailing them...

Today I picked up tickets at the TKTS booth for As You Like It tonight, and the police presence on the ground and in the are has noticeably increased with a new booth and lighting installed throughout the area. I'm Looking forward to seeing post-Jude Sienna Miller performing in the play tonight. Apparently she's putting on a brave face, and there's something we can all learn from that...

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Opera and full frontal nudity: Rigoletto

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Fantasies: Afterglow @Swkplay

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Play ball: Damn Yankees @LandorTheatre

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Damn Yankees at the Landor Theatre is one hell of a fun, sexy show. A great cast of dancers and singers give this show about a man who sells his soul to get on his beloved baseball team (and give them a chance of winning) new legs and balls. It also helps to up the ante with the sexiness with some healthy doses of cleavage and legs (and that's just the men). The musical is a retelling of the Faust story set in the 1950s when the New York Yankees dominated the game.
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