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Sleight of hand: The Fabulist @charingcrossthr

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Billed as a musical comedy, The Fabulist is actually a rare chance to see Giovanni Paisiello’s rarely performed light opera, The Imaginary Astrologers , translated and updated to Mussolini’s Italy. With sublime music, fine singing and a bit of additional silliness thrown in for good measure, it’s a welcome addition to the choices available on the West End. It’s currently playing at Charing Cross Theatre . In this update, the action moved to Italy in 1929. A magician (or, as he prefers to be called, Fabulist), Julian is on the run from both the fascists and the Catholic Church. On the run, he stumbles on a film shoot and dazzles the screenwriter Clarice with his charm while her sister tries to complete a series of mildly subversive historical films. What will win in a battle of ideas between science and magic, the church and the Fabulist? It’s an evening of light operatic comedy, so there are no prizes for guessing.  Experts in clerical fascism and fascist mysticism may find some of the

Scenes from N1 Saturday 15:16


Scenes from N1 Saturday 15:16
Originally uploaded by Pauly_.

It is going to be a quiet month if England do as well as expected in the World Cup. England's first match yesterday afternoon against Paraguay emptied the streets and filled the pubs. It also closed shops (such as this one). I was in a pub where the match was only on a 42" CRT television set so it wasn't quite such a focus of attention (a true sports pub should have nothing smaller than a standard issue plasma television nowadays)...

Interestingly England's performance yesterday wasn't as crash hot as everyone was expecting. Their victory (thanks to an own goal by Paraguay) wasn't really celebrated on the streets of London. The reaction was more like relief... Assuming the team picks up their game, it is going to be a long month...

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