A More Than Helpful Nudge Awake...

If this blog were a workplace, then I would currently be walking in to the office hanging my head in shame. I’ve been unfeasibly absent from these pages for unreasonably long and I thought it about time I rectified this situation before it got out of hand.

Exploding me out of my stupor have been two on-going projects from two excellent friends of mine that I have had the privilege of witnessing in recent days and, to be honest, it would have been outright rude of me to not have mentioned them on here.

The first is the Oikos Project, which is currently still taking shape on a playground down near London Bridge as Martin Kaltwasser and his team of hardy volunteers put the last touches to a unique building in London, a theatre made entirely from reused and salvaged materials.

Project-managed by our very own Ben Melchiors, this is one of the most beautiful projects I have seen in recent memory. The idea is a holistic one as builders, playwrights and producers all collaborate to make the whole concept bloom as one.

Once this ode to the humble pallet crate is complete it will house two plays and an audience of around 120 people at each performance. The two plays by Simon Wu and Kay Adshead, Oikos and Protozoa, both examine the ways our society would adapt and survive if or when the worst happens. As a juxtaposition to the landscape and buildings around it, both the theatre and the plays should be a stark reminder of the unsustainability of current times and the dangers lurking should we ignore this.

Oikos will run from 26th August - 18th September with Protozoa on from the 23rd September - 9th October. Tickety things here...

Talking of stark reminders, there are few people out there at the moment more passionate to hold that mirror up to us or more lyrically equipped to get her message across, than the incredible Kate Tempest.

Possibly the hardest working poet/MC in London at the moment, every performance I catch of hers touches a nerve and fills the heart. Having travelled the country playing pretty much every British festival known to mankind, she is returned and has just released an accompanying video to her poem, Line In The Sand, which premiered at Rich Mix this week.

Despite her nervousness at how the words would deliver on film rather than through her electric live performances, the tone of both the direction of Joe Roberts and the aesthetic atmosphere matched the touching truth and passionate belief of her poem and I am reminded one more of her awesome talent and how it deserves a wider and wider audience.

The film will hopefully gain a small release around about the same time as the much anticipated Sound of Rum album. The world generally will feel a slightly better place when they do...

Update: Some Deep Throat style, anonymous reader has given us the link to Kate's film so without further ado...

Medea at Midnight

                            Photo by Allan Titmuss

With every passing year it seems, changes abound more abunduntly and more rapidly. To grab our attention, things apparently need to be bigger, better, newer, different, more outrageous, more involving. .

However, it is a rare occasion that something both pushes the envelope and entices in equal measure. With the advent of partipatory, promenade theatre there have been ever more daring performances, ever increasing boldness of location and new levels of audience interaction.

Taking all this to seemingly new heights is a production in association with LIFT and The Arcola Theatre. Hotel Medea, having been put on by The Arcola last year and currently on tour in Brazil, will be returning as a site-specific performance.

Leaving by boat from the QEII pier, near the living embodiment of human horror that is the O2, the journey will begin at midnight and go through the night until 5:30am, meanwhile, the full force of the melodrama of Hotel Medea will be scored live by DJ Delores as the marathon story unfolds around London.

This is going to be intense, powerful and, undoubtedly, a unique way to experience theatre.

I'm just buying my tickets now and I wouldn't want to have to try and put the experience into words for you...

More Than A Home For Dogs

I'm coming back to a theme that is always close to my heart here. How frickin' awesome and talented the people I call my friends are.

They're also, mainly, massive show-offs...which is lucky for the rest of us who thus have the opportunity to see the manifestations of such efforts.

One such opportunity is on the horizon and drawing ever closer as part of the Scratch Festival at that veritable and giant mine of cultural performance and exhibition, the Battersea Arts Centre (BAC).

The Scratch festival as a whole will be displaying an array of different artists in every corner of the canyon of a space they have there. To narrow this premise down, a Scratch "is a new theatrical idea developed by artists and shaped by audience feedback".

Featuring in one of these Scratches is our resident cynical font of knowledge and creator of beautiful visuals, Justin Beardsall. In collaboration with composer Caroline Devine and Dancing Brick, "A L I C E" will be a piece lamenting the decline of analogue technology, harking back to a more innocent and clunky era and celebrating these icons of our childhood.

8-bit computer games, VHS, cassette tapes, that creepy girl with the doll and chalkboard. Ah, joy! Halcyon days indeed and, frankly, I couldn't think of a more capable pair of hands to bring this back to life than VJ Meno's.

Right, I'm off to spend 45 minutes listening to preternatural screeching and vibrating lines of colour just so I can play Arcadians on my Acorn again...

May 5th and May 6th
7:45pm
BAC

Tickets £5 (plus there is a 3for2 offer)

Hollywood Comes to Hackney

 Well, kind of. Allow me to elaborate...

That little Hackney treasure, The Arcola Theatre, is currently hosting 2 plays, as is usual with their continuing success and subsequent expansion.

Both of them seem worth a butchers but for differing reasons.

The first is 1936, focussing on the run-up to the controversial, but also now legendary Berlin Olympics. On all sides a tense affair, the story unfolds through the eyes of an American journalist and touches on the unmistakeable American unease at the occasion and Jesse Owens spectacular embarassment of the supposed Aryan dominance that Hitler was expecting to parade.

The second struck me simply because it is a play written by Laurence Fishburne. Yes, he of Morpheus, Matrix and other subsequently rubbish films since.

This is the UK premiere of Riff Raff and by all accounts is a coarse and blistering ride through the story of two Lower East Side gang members.

It might be rubbish but it might, equally, be brilliant which in itself intrigues me enough to want to go.

It's at least got to be an improvement on standing next to Keanu Reeves telling him he's The One...

Punch Upside The Head

The last few years has seen the inexorable rise of the immersive, interactive theatre experience. Audiences wanting to be transported to other worlds, to feel a part of their encountered surroundings and to really get their noses and hands in the dirt.

Leading the way has been the Punchdrunk Company who from their earliest shows in 2000 have steadily ramped up the vision, scope and imagination of their productions.

Personally, my first experience of the Punchdrunk world was The Firebird Ball that really saw Punchdrunk make a name of itself and since that point the magnitude of each subsequent show has unequivocally expanded to the point where they are now one of the most well known and oft spoken of theatrical collectives, with every new show being discussed in hushed and hallowed terms.

Now despite my tendancy to dismiss anything that suddenly comes to the verge of being popular culture, I am GENUINELY FUCKING EXCITED to hear about the next Punchdrunk project.

Aligning themselves with the English National Opera (ENO), they are currently hard at work squirreling words down, badgering routines and foxing plotlines for a collaboration that will give birth to a captivating, consuming and undoubtedly conspicuous production of The Duchess of Malfi.

Here's where I shoot you all a creepy wink, a sly nod and an unnecessary nudge by directing you to where you can be among the haughty few to find out when tickets for this will go on sale as soon as they do.

Now don't say I don't spoil you...

Enter Stage Right

A little theatrical interlude here as I was just in the mood to extol the virtues of one of the best plays and, indeed, lead performances I have witnessed in a good long while.

Jerusalem had a fine run at the Royal Court Theatre, located in the home of the urban tractor, Sloane Square and I was fortunate enough to stumble upon this. Given the huge success it had here, it has now been given a full west-end transfer to the Apollo Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue.

There is a whole cast of great performances, including Mackenzie Crook, but it is impossible to really notice anything other than Mark Rylance's outstanding portrayal of the pikey pied piper Johnny 'Rooster' Byron, a lunatic, drunkard, drug-dealing raconteur in the finest English sense of the words.

At turns both a hero and an anti-hero, it's a performance that is throroughly enticing, engaging, powerful and thought provoking. It never lets up for a second and the whole play grabs you and hangs on, like a small, yappy-type dog with something to prove, until it's bitter end.

Jerusalem is a celebration of a particular kind of England that is loved and loathed in equal measure. Never dull but evidently being eroded by 'progress' and gentrification.

Go see, celebrate, cerebrate before it is too late.

Until 24th April
Cheaper tickets are available from Lastminute.com and occasionally from the Tkts booth in Leicester Square.

The Empire Strikes Back

The Hackney Empire is a true London institution, from when my grandmother frequented it when she was young (apparently some branch of my family used to own it!), to the regular visits I and probably many of you have made through it's doors.

Charlie Chaplin, Stan Laurel and WC Fields have all famously appeared on it's stage and since its already long overdue renovation and re-opening in 2004 it has been a source of genuine community spirit and local pride.

The recent decision, therefore, to have a temporary blackout on shows at the Empire is extremely sad and, at the moment, not a little baffling.

However, this Thursday 11th March, sees a free and open forum being held at the venue as an opportunity to hear why this decision was taken, what the future holds for the Empire and to ask questions of a panel made up of senior staff and trustees and officers from the Arts Council and Hackney Council.

If you have been touched in any way in your life by the Hackney Empire or simply just care about the maintenance and continuation of a rich tradition of beautiful, vintage venues, then get your behind down to this.

I will see you there.

Thursday 11th March
18:30 - 20:00
Hackney Empire, Mare Street, Hackney
FREE

Documentary Theatre

Modern theatre is seemingly constantly evolving, engaging audiences and capturing imaginations in new ways. We've had a raft of interactive productions and sandbox plays and now a new genre seems to be on the horizon.

Documentary musical theatre.

In a new production by Victoria Brittain at the Southbank Centre, that pillar of British theatre, Juliet Stevenson leads a cast telling real stories and exploring real issues around the so-called 'War On Terror'.

'Waiting' features stories of women from places as diverse as Senegal, Palestine and the Midlands, unfolding through song, an original score and the sopranos Anna Dennis and Carole Wilson.

Hoping to provoke thought and argument through this unusual medium, helpfully the performance is followed by a formal debate with a panel including Baroness Heleana Kennedy QC, Riz Ahmed, Vanessa Redgrave and Moazzam Begg.

Friday 12th March and Saturday 13th March
Tickets £15 (concessions 50% off)

Our Cola

One of the reasons I consider myself most fortunate to call Hackney my home is the theatrical treat that is the Arcola Theatre.

One of the top fringe theatres in the country, with a pay-what-you-can policy every Tuesday and it is walking distance from where I and many of m'colleagues reside.

Their latest productions, Knives in Hens and Heldenplatz, have been ratcheting up the laudings and praise and seem well worth the stroll. The fact that one can feast in Mangal's or, indeed, 19 Bos Cirrik beforehand is a huge but mere bonus.

Knives in Hens runs until the 27th February
Tickets are £14 or Pay What You Can on Tuesdays.

Heldenplatz runs until the 6th March
Tickets are £16 or Pay What You Can on Tuesdays.

East Innit Blud

Having made a brief allusion to this in a previous post I thought I'd fully big this up now that more details have been released about it. Drum roll please....................The East Festival!

This is a six-day event that celebrates, promotes and educates about the creative, multi-cultural, diverse jumble that is East London.

There are 4 main themes across the 6 days which are the Asian Sub-Continent, Travel, Architecture and Minimalism. Hmm, so covering random bases there but some of the events planned across venues including The Barbican, The Rich Mix Gallery, The Whitechapel Gallery and The Bethnal Green Working Men's Club look frickin' awesome and are, invariably, FREE.

And all on many of our doorsteps. By which I obviously mean, my doorstep.

Yesblud!

Huzzah!

So, there is blessed news on the cultural battle front! The incredible Shunt are being permitted to remain in the vaults under London Bridge for a further year!

The Theatre Company itself had found alternative premises in a huge, old tobacco factory but have successfully fought to keep the vaults open despite the looming shadow of the ridiculous Shard building which is being plonked on top like some gargantuan, fetid, severed digit upon a deliciously, disguised cake.

This is being viewed as a new project and will be a different kettle of fish to the previous incarnation of the vaults but give their track record should be squeezing out plenty of superb little nuggets.

The new venue for the theatre company is currently running an extended second season of the critically acclaimed production, Money. Taking place in an immense space with part of the intention being one of disorientation, this is not for the feint hearted. Go boldly, soldiers...

Master of Puppets

A small theatre section this week after previous elaborations.

A recommendation from one of our wizened stage correspondents is Three Sisters, which is currently showing at the Lyric theatre, Hammersmith. Based on Anton Chekhov's creation and involving the highly respected Filter theatre group, according to my friends of spies, it's definitely worth the trip.

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Last, but by no means least, as one is oft fond of saying, it is brought back to one of my other loves. The canal boat.

This is not just any ordinary canal boat though. This is the Puppet Barge! Yes! The barge moves around the canals in London and rocks up to present their marionette theatre every weekend.

The current show is called Joey's Fireworks and features Punch and Judy, Burglar Bill and a string of dancing sausages, apparently. Let's go!

Tickets are £10 or £8.50 for concessions.

The Perfect Hangover Cure

So. It’s January. You’re back at work with memories of the festive period as fresh in the mind as the bastard behind the eyes still lingering this morning. 

Fear not though. We live in a city that continually offers the plink-plonk-fizz of the Alka-seltzer of cultural remedy and, even as the first solar flare pierces the horizon of 2010, opportunity abounds.

Let’s start with the old-old-school.

The British Museum is playing host to an epic exhibition on the Aztec ruler Moctezuma, whose name roughly translates as “he who is angry in a noble manner”. Ultimately, he was the fall guy to the Spanish invasion but the legacy of the Aztec’s ritual and architecture is revealed in exhibits being seen in the UK for the first time ever.

http://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/all_current_exhibitions/moctezuma.aspx

As I know you all enjoy getting your own hands dirty, to tie in with this, the British Museum is hosting two one-day Mexican sculpture workshops with the ceramic artist Tiburcio Soteno.

These will take place on Friday 15^th and Saturday 16^th January from 11:00 – 17:00 and cost £30 or £20 for concessions. Very limited places so book soonest.

http://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/events_calendar/january/mexican_sculpture.aspx

The Host Gallery is, well, playing host to an affecting show from photographer Rena Effendi.

In her first UK exhibition, her images highlight and explore the lives of those living on and affected by the 1700km long BTC pipeline that flows through Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey.

Tuesday 12^th January also sees the gallery as the setting for an evening conversation with the artist herself.

FREE

Flipping over to the contemporary, place-to-be Berlin art scene, SilberkuppeRooms Without Walls take over the Hayward Gallery Project Space with their exhibition. Usually an independent contemporary art space in Berlin, the group use this opportunity to reflect on the collective cultural scene in the two decades since the fall of the Wall through the medium of pop and art.

FREE

In the main Hayward Gallery, in a slightly less free exhibition is a 50 year retrospective of Ed Ruscha, an important figure in both the pop-art and beat movements.

Tickets are a tenner although there is a sneaky little two-for-one offer here.

Sticking with the Southbank Centre, that loveable scamp and one man vocal orchestra, Shlomo is still Artist in Residence.

His long running Music through Unconventional Means series continues with the Concerto for Beatboxer and Orchestra.

Working with one of the most exciting UK composing talents, Anna Meredith, Shlomo will be performing the Concerto alongside a full orchestra made up of parts from the London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightment and Philharmonia Orchestra.

Tickets are £20 or £10 for concessions

On the gig front, as usual, there is a veritable smorgasbord (love that word!) of aural delights to partake in…here is a little selection to swill around before deciding whether to spit or swallow…

Mozart’s Requiem at St Martin-in-the-Fields 8^th January

Tchaikovsky and Mussorgsky by Candlelight at St Martin-in-the-Fields 19^th January

Buffy Saint-Marie at The Shepherds Bush Empire 30^th January

Four Tet at The Dome (Yes, as in the dive in Tufnell Park!) 12^th February

Philip Glass and The London Symphony Orchestra at The Barbican 21^st February

Polar Bear at The Garage 2^nd March

The Gift of Gab at The Jazz Café 5^th March

Plaid and Luke Vibert at Koko 6^th March

The Bays at The Jazz Café 12^th March

Grizzly Bear at The Roundhouse 13^th and 14^th March

And one to consider in Spring when those lambs are a-leaping…

Handel’s Messiah at The Royal Albert Hall 2^nd April

Moving swiftly on to that bastion of trendy noisecore bands and fine film, the ICA, there are a couple of interesting celluloid additions.

That doyen of eclecticism, Jim Jarmusch, has a new release, The Limits of Control, and he of Being John Malkovich fame, Jon Malkovich takles JM Coetzee’s Booker Prize-winning novel in Disgrace.

Another new cinematic release that has been hotly anticipated, not least in my household, is the Ian Dury biopic, Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll. Starring the much underrated Andy Serkis in the lead role, this opens in cinemas this weekend including at The Barbican, Screen on the Green and The Ritzy.

A late recommendation, and I have it on very good authority that the new Mexican film Voy A Explotar (I'm Gonna Explode) is a bit of a cracker. I think it only prudent to take the advice of a source as reliable as this.
Showing at The Barbican, tonight at The Ritzy and at The Renoir.

January also strikes me as an excellently apt month to remind oneself of the experience of Waiting For Godot and we are blessed to be able to have the opportunity to see one of the finest actors around leading this. Magneto. Sorry, my bad, I meant Gandalf, of course.

Running from the 21^st January for 11 weeks.

In other more cosy theatrical surroundings, the Arcola Theatre is running a mini German season featuring their new production Innocence showing from the 6^thth January. There are the usual pay-what-you-can evenings on Tuesdays but also the opportunity, should you be young and fresh-faced enough (alas!), for a FREE ticket… – 30

Alongside this, between the 10^th and 17^th Jan, the Arcola Bar will be turned into a 1989 Berlin bar for an interactive recreation of the night the wall fell and the 15^th and 16^th will play host an evening of Kurt Tucholsky music, a satirist, writer, poet and cabaret singer of the Weimar Republic. These are both FREE.

Given my penchant for musical obsession and geekery, I am taking the liberty of including a segment with my current soundtrack to life.

Naturally, you also have the liberty of ignoring this but I can assure you that, as anyone who knows me can attest, I have impeccable taste in music… ;)

Fever Ray – Fever Ray.  The new solo project from Karin Dreijer Andersson of famously reclusive sibling electro duo The Knife. Dark, haunting and mesmeric. Get yourself lost in this.

Birds Demo – Kuryakin. Little known Swedish duo making beautiful music by exchanging samples through the post. It’s all about the Scandinavians…

Snowdonia EP – Mechanical Owl. This falls under that unfortunate moniker of ‘folktronica’. Despite that happenstance, this veers between tender indie and cultured electronica. With a bit of Stuart Murdoch-style storytelling thrown in for good measure.

Sing Along To Songs You Don’t Know – Múm. One of my favourite bands, ever. Consistently innovative, always beautiful, defiantly intricate. Their new album hits the heights again after the only very good, rather than brilliant, Go Go Smear The Poison Ivy. In case of emergency of never having heard Múm, follow these simple instructions.

1. Stop whatever it is you are doing right now.
2. Use Spotify to immediately fill this gaping hole in your life
3. Go out and buy this album to satisfy those long-term cravings.
4. And relax.

Cymande – Cymande. Depending on your musical leanings Cymande are either a band you worship or a band you have never heard of. A band from Birmingham making Rastafarian-influenced funk doesn’t immediately sound promising but even on the first listen to this album, subsequent artists who have begged, borrowed or stolen from them start to pile up in your head, from A Tribe Called Quest to The Fugees to DJ Yoda. Impossibly tight.

Although not on this album, to really put a bounce in your stride, and the roll into your stroll check out Brothers On The Slide. Fuck yeah…