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Wine time: The Frogs - Southwark Playhouse

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For a show called The Frogs, there isn’t much amphibian activity in the piece. But being a show with music by Stephen Sondheim, you could be mistaken for thinking it’s a critical theatrical piece. But like Sondheim’s final musical playing at the National Theatre, while it may not be a musical that fills you with provocative thoughts, it’s a fast-paced romp through hell and back to save the world for the sake of arts. With rousing choruses, thrilling choreography and plenty of cheap laughs, what more can you want from the theatre? It’s currently playing at the Southwark Playhouse (Borough) . There isn’t much to the plot, except that Dionysus (Dan Buckley), disillusioned by the state of a divided world, and his sidekick and slave, Xanthias (Kevin McHale), cross the river Styx to the underworld to find a great writer who they can return to the world to teach the world about life. He has his mind set on bringing back George Bernard Shaw until he hears the poetry of Shakespeare.  This v...

Theatre: I Love You Because...



Not content with seeing just Hairspray this week, on Wednesday I went with John to see I Love You Because... at the Landor Theatre in Clapham. The Landor is a bit of an oasis in a cultural desert known as Landor road that is better known for the number of local youths with ASBOs and shops converted into bedsits. A pity since the show has been drawing in the crowds from across London that they have nowhere to spend their money before or after the show... Still it is my local theatre pub so the thought of seeing something that was really good at it was even more of a reason to get there...

The show is a quirky off-Broadway New York show that is actually pretty darn good. I have had the cast album for some months now, but hadn't given it much thought until Wednesday because let's face it, dramatic context helps. It helps allow for some of the more curious artistic choices (such as writing a song that prominently features a barista). The show charts the life and loves of the four central characters and being a sucker for any sort of character-driven show it held my undivided attention. It held the rest of the audience's attention too, particularly since the first song opens with a shower scene with the lead character. Alas there is no nudity as it is all just smoke, tight pants and a plastic shower curtain. Nevertheless the show was so entertaining and well acted that it was hard to be too disappointed by anything on offer... even the man boobs...

It finishes Saturday but hopefully it will have another life soon. Returning to the tube John and I were confronted with one of the locals on Landor road who has eschewed the need to beg and just started shouting at anybody who passed "GIMMAAHPUND!" and "AAAAH NEEDA PUND!" and "APUND! APUND!". Having recognised him in a previous street begging scenes across SW London I didn't think much of it, but John suggested to him he would need more than one pound to get good elocution lessons... We were leaving the Oasis indeed... Still, having seen a show where a rickshaw peddler picks up an actuary I was willing to belive anything was possible...

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