Scenes from a Westminster Park


Picture 454, originally uploaded by Paul-in-London.

There are loads of things you cannot do, but it is nice to know the council would still like you to enjoy yourself while you are there...

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Heart and music: Don Black's From The Heart at the Garrick Theatre London

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By his own admission, it took about 30 years to bring this song collection to the stage, but Don Black’s From the Heart has been worth the wait. With a vibe designed to evoke a New York cabaret venue, albeit on a slightly grander scale, the piece showcases Black’s ingenuity in creating deceptively simple lyrics, along with his love of music and comedy. It’s running for a limited time at the Garrick Theatre .  The premise is simple: to capture the feel of New York’s cabaret venues. A series of songs, mostly new ones written for the show, run through a variety of moods. With each song running a little more than three minutes, the show moves briskly. Each offers a chance to appreciate Black’s economical lyrics, flashes of deadpan comedy, and occasional inspired choices, such as rhyming sex with the (artist) Lautrec.  A classy ensemble also brings these songs (and the stories they tell) to life. Clive Rowe delivers the first laughs with a song about doctors. The song is simpl...
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Gay Gore: Sex/Crime @sohotheatre

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At a point early on in Sex / Crime, the lights go dark in a room covered in plastic with a rubber floor, and all you can hear are the screams. The mind is left to imagine just what pre-negotiated terror is unfolding. Until it becomes clear, nothing is happening, and we can all laugh. Part tease and part terror, the piece unfolds against a backdrop of gay fetishism and modern-day neuroses. It’s currently playing at the Soho Theatre upstairs. Written and performed by Alexis Gregory, he’s visiting a man with a specialism, who goes by the name of A (Jonny Woo). He provides a service of reenacting the works of famous gay serial killers for the right fee. Just the thing for a man who is bored with his life and searching for the next extra special thrill.  With the promise of experiencing what it was like to be a victim of one of these killers. Or as close as far as health and safety regulations allow. If gay serial killers and the people who fetishise them seems a queasy topi...
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