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Two Ladies: La Bella Bimba at Barons Court Theatre / Canal Cafe Theatre

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T hey sing. They dance. They clown around. They even wash clothes! Such is the story of La Bella Bimba, part of the Voila Theatre Festival, which highlights new and emerging artists. A tale of two Italian ladies who land in 1920s New York, trying to break into Broadway without speaking a word of English. It’s harmless, primarily even if a little nonsensical, and is currently playing as part of the Voila! Theatre Festival .  I caught the performance at the Barons Court Theatre , where the intimate setting created an evocative atmosphere reminiscent of dark New York alleyways. The space was almost claustrophobic with a distinct smell of rising damp, making you feel immersed in the story of two Ladies hanging around the theatre doors of Broadway. On the plus side, the theatre has some of the most comfortable seats you will find in any pub theatre in London. As the naive and hopeful singers, Co-creator Lucrezia Galeone as Carlotta and Sarah Silvestri as Cecilia are fine singers with co...
Theatre: What the Butler Saw

The opportunity arose on Thursday to see the Hampstead Theatre production of Joe Orton's What the Butler Saw with A. After a day of near-miss bombings on the public transport network it seemed like a sensible antidote. Or a silly one anyway. I thought the cast were great and it is such a great play full of witty one-liners about sex, incest and psychiatry so who could ask for anything more on a night like Thursday night was?

It was press night as well so there were all sorts of press reviewers there with their little notebooks (including former Tory MP Michael Portillo - who we made stand twice because we had to get past him to get to our seats in the theatre). The production kept the story set in the 60's which was a good idea since the story while witty and fully of funny lines does tend to go on a bit and all the psycho-talk is very out of date. After the show there were some murmurings about how it was a little amateurish but I thought the story was more at fault than anything else. All the actors did remarkably well screaming and running around in their pants if you ask me...

Incidentally it was a warm day yesterday too and I arrived feeling a little perspired having had to take three tube lines to avoid all the network closures. It was a bit of a tense commute yesterday with everyone checking out everyone else - especially if you had a backpack or bag. By the time I reached Swiss Cottage I was a little bit hot and bothered. Fortunately somebody shoved a drink in my hand shortly after arriving and after a glass of wine I never have to look back...

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