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Still here: While They Were Waiting - Upstairs At The Gatehouse

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As the song goes, time heals everything. Or as another song says, it's time after time. Yet waiting—for a moment, a minute, or even a while—can feel like a chore. In Gary Wilmot’s slightly absurd and silly While They Were Waiting, the focus is on waiting and wordplay. No opportunity is missed to find more than one meaning in what is said. A debate arises about the difference between a smidge and a whisker. There's a playful riff on how you can be here and over there at the same time, depending on your standpoint. If this piece has a point at all, it depends on what you find funny. The concept of waiting-related language is, in itself, amusing, and there is plenty to laugh about in this show. It’s currently playing at Upstairs at the Gatehouse . The premise is simple: Mulbery (Steve Furst) arrives for an appointment and is kept waiting. What the appointment is for, we are not clear about but he is waiting for a yellow door to open. Nobody answers when he rings. He’s joined by th...

Film: Troubled teens

Saturday I caught a series of shorts about troubled teens at the London Gay and Lesbian film festival. Who knew there was so much angst out there among teens?

 

Later that evening I was with a few friends who told me that they were not really into the film fest. I couldn't understand this especially given the quality of the shorts that I saw on Saturday. They may have been your typical boy is friends with a boy and one boy is a little bit gay and so one day the other boy jerks him off and now they don't talk to each other stories, but it is all in the acting and direction…

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