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The agony and the misogyny: Banging Denmark @finborough

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Banging Denmark, the comic play by Van Badham, answers the question, what lengths does a misogynistic pickup artist go to date with a frosty Danish librarian? It may be an uneasy farce given the subject matter, but it is made more palatable by the cast assembled to convince you of it. It's currently having its European premiere at the Finborough Theatre .  It opens with Guy DeWitt (Tom Kay) at one end of the stage. His real name is Jake, and he's a part-time podcaster whose expertise is misogyny and playing the role of the pickup artist. That is, someone who attempts to coax women into having sex with a mix of flattery or manipulation. His podcast attracts a variety of involuntarily celibate men (or incels), so call in asking for advice. And while he gives the impression of living the high life, he is in a grimy flat strewn with empty pizza boxes.  At the other end of the stage is feminist academic Ishtar (Rebecca Blackstone). She lives out of the photocopy room, losing all her

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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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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