Posts

Featured Post

The agony and the misogyny: Banging Denmark @finborough

Image
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...

Image
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...

Image
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

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

Movies: Mamma Mia! (the movie)

Image
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

Image
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

Image
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

Image
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...

Theatre: All Bob's Women

It isn't every time when you go to the theatre that there is a deathly silence at the end of the show... Only to be broken by somebody in the audience sighing and exclaiming, "Well... THAT was interesting..." But such was the case Sunday afternoon at the wake last performance of the musical All Bob's Women. The show opened Tuesday and posted closing notices the next day. Translated from an Italian show that apparently ran in Milan for months, it is billed as a sexy musical comedy. The problem with the show was that it was not sexy, not musical and it wasn't funny. But no point flogging a dead horse. The Evening Standard , The Stage and (most memorably) The Telegraph cover why it is a disaster. I was surprised by little things like: The actors had been rehearsing this show for many weeks Concert-like body mics and deafening sound to match it Half a taxi-cab appearing on stage Some weird woman in the audience who cackled every few minutes (I was half-expecting o

Scenes from Clapham Street Party Saturday

Image
280620086357 , originally uploaded by Paul-in-London . Hmm that's deliciously naughty too...