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Wee liberties: Beauty and The Beast: A Horny Love Story at Charing Cross Theatre

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It may not be a tale as old as time, but it’s still the same old story, almost, with Beauty and the Beast: A Horny Love Story currently playing at the Charing Cross Theatre .  As the title suggests, this is not family holiday entertainment, but neither is it all gay gore. And a surprisingly large number of clever gags, a gorgeous-looking production, costumes, and an ensemble make for a classy night out with the occasional lashing of sluttiness.  It’s been a while since I have seen an adults-only panto. Like many things at the theatre—ticket prices, opening nights, age of social media influencers—things have changed. Happily, things have changed for the better here. The show focuses on assembling an excellent cast. Elaborate costumes by Robert Draper and David Shields’ set pieces help give this adult panto a touch of class. There are the usual lewd jokes and a quick flash of buttocks.   The setting of the story is in the northernmost village of Scotland, Lickmanochers. Not...

We have ways of making you think: The Mosinee Project @newdiorama

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The revolution is partially re-enacted to scare the pants off an unsuspecting midwestern American town in The Mosinee Project. The piece, which was initially seen at last year's Edinburgh Fringe, is a retelling of the actual fake communist invasion of 1950s America, organised by ex-communists and funded by the American Legion. It's also an attempt to understand why a town would decide to stage a mock communist takeover, what it says about fear, and how it was a harbinger for a much darker period that would mark the Red Scares and witch hunts of the 1950s. It's currently playing at the New Diorama Theatre . Writer-director Nikhil Vyas deconstructs this obscure historical event, exploring what drives fear and how the use of the media to generate attention can manipulate viewpoints while assembling various facts behind the planning and preparation of the day. This includes exploring the motivations behind two ex-communists—Joseph Zach Kornfeder and Benjamin Gitlow—brought in b...