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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

Hot news this week in London...

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police arrest batman , originally uploaded by secretlondon123 . Apparently it was something to do with a kapow in the Dorchester Sunday evening...

Music: There's No Place Like Homo

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After a month which has been so far taken up with being in concerts or rehearsing for concerts or travelling to get to concerts rather than seeing them, it was a refreshing change to just watch one. Mind you, Monday night was the second and final preview of the London Gay Men's Chorus show for this year's Edinburgh Fringe , so it was still chorus related. Sometimes when you join a group you forget that you almost join a cult (albeit one that sings and can party hard as the recent tour to Spain proved). This show was performed by the Far From Kansas group within the chorus. It had all the usual references to be expected and cheap laughs abounded. There were some great musical numbers as well, including ones from the recent shows from the main chorus. Watching the show in the third row I got a bit carried away... It was probably the overly warm theatre on a hot July night and the cheap bubbly that caused me to yell out among other things "nice legs" to the boys in ki

Hot news this week in London...

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Doomed , originally uploaded by Martin Deutsch . And you're fat, you're lazy, you're single, and you're gonna die!

Music: Mahler's 8th

I caught the second performance of the London Symphony Orchestra playing Mahler's 8th as part of the City of London Festival at St Paul's Cathedral tonight. I wondered whether I would enjoy listening to it as much as performing in a choral concert. Well when it is Mahler it isn't such a problem. What is more a problem is whether in a piece like this everything is held together ( apparently it wasn't last night ) and if the soupy acoustic of the Cathedral makes for a rather lost cause. It might all depend on where you sat, but sitting in the north transept there were some startling moments of clarity and subtlety amongst the great forces at play (big choirs, huge orchestra, big soloists and gigantic cathedral). But there was also a lot of soupy ones... At the end of both the first and second movements, the audience stayed transfixed on the dome... We were all watching the music bounce around and around until it went up to God. The last time I saw Mahler's 8th I wa

Hot news this week in London...

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DEAD NUNS DUG UP AND SENT HOME , originally uploaded by gilesbooth . The South London Press goes where other papers just couldn't be arsed to...

Cheap scenes from Gay Pride Saturday

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2008 Gay Pride, London , originally uploaded by randydandy . The moths in London are getting worse...

Movies: Mamma Mia! (the movie)

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After all the excitement of the weekend where one was part of the London Gay Men's Chorus performing their summer concert at Cadogan Hall, it was nice to unwind with a quiet movie at the Odeon Leicester Square Sunday evening. Well not quite quiet... It was Mamma Mia! And a special Gaydarnation preview for Pride weekend so a lot of the audience was gay, drunk, coming down whatever they took from last night, or all of the above. All the stops were pulled out for tonight's preview, including organ player as pre-show entertainment, free lollipops and a souvenir brochure which made the exorbitant admission price for this exclusive preview week worth it (which was almost the cost of a theatre ticket - albeit not one to see Mamma Mia in the West End). The Odeon is still decked out in the cladding from Friday's premiere (above) as well so that was a nice touch too... I have yet to see the stage musical after being put off by the awful cast recording of the show which I can onl

Scenes from London Pride Saturday

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IMG_0064 , originally uploaded by Tom S Crowley . Another year, another pride... Bit chilly for the skimpy costumes flogging some cheesy gay internet site I would have thought... But anyway...

News this week in London

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SHIT! , originally uploaded by Igor Clark . The Hackney Gazette tries to give the knife crime story a local angle... As for Torn , I am hoping to catch it later this month...

Words: Just so random

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What Wordle thinks about my blog postings of late... Shows, musicals and bit of pants... I'd like to think that sums things up quite nicely...