Tag Archives: London

How The Other Half Loves, Theatre Review. Haymarket Theatre, London.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Nicholas Le Prevost, Jenny Seagrove, Tamzin Outhwaite, Jason Merrells, Gillian Wright, Matthew Cottle.

The perils of the affair, something that Alan Ayckbourn has spent his entire career getting a laugh out of, of making audiences take a look at themselves in the mirror and seeing just how farcical British morals are at times when confronted with a wrongly worded phrase of seduction and the results of a misunderstood feeling; it might never be how you live your life but it is certainly the impression of How The Other Half Loves.

How The Other Half Loves, Theatre Review. Haymarket Theatre, London. full post

(417 words, estimated 1:40 mins reading time)

Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version Of War Of The Worlds, Theatre Review. Dominion Theatre, London.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Liam Neeson, Michael Praed, Madalena Alberto, Jimmy Nail, Heide Range, Daniel Bedingfield, David Essex, Jerry Wayne, Will Barratt, Ethan Bradshaw, Charlie Bell, Antony Hansen, Matt Holland, Tash Holway, Chris Jenkins, Grace McKee, Jack Mitchell, Marios Nicolaidos, Simon Shorten, Jodie Steele.

The music is still the same, the feeling of beauty, of enormity unchanged from its conception and aside from the last arena tour, more than able to bring a tear to the eye of anyone who has taken Jeff Wayne’s musical War of the Worlds to their hearts; yet as the production enters a new phase of performance, the dynamic has shifted, it now resonates with a feeling of positive creativity and the truth of theatre, that all should be able to see the actors reactions to the immensity, the scale of the music on offer.

Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version Of War Of The Worlds, Theatre Review. Dominion Theatre, London. full post

(502 words, estimated 2:00 mins reading time)

The Day After Prizegiving (7/7).

The blown out shell of the bus

on route past Euston Station

is quiet and still now, destroyed a second

time to wipe out the memories of the act of barbarism

that took life, that took lives

in the space of a single moment in time

and the London streets fell victim one by one.

 

The television screens, the minds of the ordinary

London folk were still reflecting on what

it meant to have the world watching

their city five years later,

the beauty of togetherness, of games played;

The Day After Prizegiving (7/7). full post

(169 words, estimated 41 secs reading time)

Challenge

We sat back triumphant, but exhausted and overwhelmingly drunk

in a small public bar by Waterloo Station

full of football supporters letting off steam

after their team had lost in the capital again

and part of our collective soul didn’t care,

but the devilish, impish, teasing part thought,

we could wind them up after winning our own battle

with all that sits on the coloured squares and overpriced

bars and a tin of beer outside Holloway Jail.

 

Our own private Monopoly Board challenge.

February 17th 1996 and the first train up from Salisbury

Challenge full post

(624 words, estimated 2:30 mins reading time)

Russell Edwards, Naming Jack The Ripper. Book Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

It is one of the most baffling mysteries and indisputably one of the most horrific set of crimes in British detective police work to have ever been committed. Every corner of the Earth, from all walks of life, the foul and craven murder spree of Jack the Ripper is known, researched and poured over by amateur detectives, hunters of the truth, the rank and file and the ghoulish alike.

Russell Edwards, Naming Jack The Ripper. Book Review. full post

(707 words, estimated 2:50 mins reading time)

Kate Bush, “Before The Dawn” Gig Review. Hammersmith, Eventim Apollo, London.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Kate Bush’s songs root deep into the heart and soul of her fans. She is a genius, a strange phenomenon, an enigma and most importantly an artiste in her own right. Knowing what Kate and her music means to her fans, she does not disappoint from the first moment she steps onto the stage to thunderous applause and cheers taking the audience on a most incredible journey that ends in a most climatic explosion of rapture and delight.

Kate Bush, “Before The Dawn” Gig Review. Hammersmith, Eventim Apollo, London. full post

(433 words, estimated 1:44 mins reading time)

Great Britain’s Women’s Hockey Team Lose Semi-Final To Argentina.

Originally published by L.S.Media. ugust 8th 2012.

The sound of the two national anthems rang out over the Riverbank Arena on a sultry evening in East London. The 27th meeting between Argentina and Great Britain was the much anticipated match of the day as the two sides vied for a place in the final of the women’s Olympic Hockey final.

Great Britain’s women’s team has never made an Olympic final; their best placing was third at the Barcelona Games of 1992. Argentina for their part has made an Olympic final but came undone against a very good Australian side in 2000. The game had all the early indications of being a classic game between the two sides.

Great Britain’s Women’s Hockey Team Lose Semi-Final To Argentina. full post

(761 words, estimated 3:03 mins reading time)

Thomas Dolby, Gig Review. Union Chapel, London.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

There are very few truly unique entities in the world today, everything in the end has it’s time and yet something comes along in which carries on the flame. Not so with the extremely talented, the musical proficiency and singularly matchless Thomas Dolby. Add into a night of inventiveness, the shadowy, almost gothic–like structure and feel of the Union Chapel in Islington and the exceptional film that accompanied the evening and it was quite possibly the finest and most creative night of 2013.

Thomas Dolby, Gig Review. Union Chapel, London. full post

(438 words, estimated 1:45 mins reading time)

The Duckworth Lewis Method, Gig Review. Rough Trade Records, Whitechapel, London.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

There are just some things you cannot pass up the opportunity of witnessing in life.  The chance, if you should support England’s cricket team, to see the Australians flounder in two…hopefully three home test Ashes series on the trot in England is surely one of those, perhaps even seeing Lancashire’s Jimmy Anderson overtake Sir Ian Botham’s huge and long standing wicket haul is another. However, when it comes to music, being able to see The Duckworth Lewis Method kick start a tour of their latest cricket themed album, Sticky Wickets, in the sweet confines of Rough Trade Records in Whitechapel as part of a launch for the third edition of The Night Watchman, is just as sweet and just as palpable…records, new music, cricket, Neil Hannon and Thomas Walsh, there surely isn’t much else for the cricketing music fan to excited about.

The Duckworth Lewis Method, Gig Review. Rough Trade Records, Whitechapel, London. full post

(327 words, estimated 1:18 mins reading time)

The Pride, Theatre Review. Trafalgar Studios, London.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Hayley Atwell, Harry Hadden-Paton, Mathew Horne, Al Weaver.

Occasionally a play grabs you by the hand and takes you to places that you never thought you would ever see performed on stage, such was the power of Alexi Kaye Campbell’s writing and the absolute conviction of Hayley Atwell, Harry Hadden-Paton, Mathew Horne and Al Weaver’s performances and the nature of the subject made The Pride compelling, forceful and required watching.

The Pride, Theatre Review. Trafalgar Studios, London. full post

(429 words, estimated 1:43 mins reading time)