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Jul. 12th, 2009 @ 06:14 pm Book review: The Tale of One Bad Rat
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It's been a quiet weekend so I decided to have a look in the pile of graphic novels that have been sitting there unread, and picked up Bryan Talbot's 1995 book The Tale of One Bad Rat. A pretty dark but eventually hopeful story about a homeless girl called Helen, who ran away from home after years of abuse by her father. Talbot's twist to the story is to make her a big fan of Beatrix Potter, and tell the story as a sort of anti-Potter tale. So Helen's pet rat becomes a metaphor for how abused children blame themselves: As rats have been demonised so, in her own imagination, has Helen. Ultimately it's a story about how art can help your life, as a quest to follow in the footsteps of Potter gives Helen the strength to confront her demons and make a life for herself. A dark fairytale, but well-written and illustrated by Talbot.
Jul. 11th, 2009 @ 08:49 pm Limbo
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No, not the dance, the state of being neither one thing nor the other. That's kinda how I feel at the moment, with another three weeks to go at work. I don't have any plans for this weekend or next, which can be a bit boring: As part of The Plan, the idea is I'm going to be using these kinds of weekends to get extra writing done. It makes sense - there's more people about doing stuff, so it'll be easier to do shopping etc in the week and ensconce myself at home at the weekend typing up hopefully-hilarious dialogue. I just hope I can get into the mindframe to do it, because at the moment I'm nowhere near it. A month ago I could have got started straight away, but I guess all the getting messed around at work has got in the way.

I think I will be able to get started, hopefully a couple of weeks into my sabbatical. I'm keeping busy in the first few weeks anyway to clear my head, including lots of theatre (obviously) and a trip to visit friends I haven't seen for a couple of years. So I'm looking forward to all that. In fact at the moment I've got into the habit of every so often picking up my phone and looking at the calendar, at the things I've got planned from August onwards to cheer myself up - it's become like a comfort blanket or a nervous twitch. Most of them are theatre trips of course, but after a few weeks I also want to start going to the gym, partly to get fitter and partly to add structure to my days.

Meanwhile I seem to be sleeping a hell of a lot on these quiet weekends (although the muggy weather probably isn't helping with that.) Even starting a blog post seems like a lot of effort (though as you can probably tell once I start I keep going...) Don't worry, this isn't me getting depressed and thinking I'm doing the wrong thing by leaving work (that's not to say I'm not due a massive panic as it gets closer, I think we can assume that's going to happen.) But at the moment I'm quietly confident that once I've put some distance between myself and my current work situation I'll be able to start work on The Control Room. In fact I recently came up with a completely new ending for the play which I'm still not sure whether I want to use or not (it could be construed as what the Simpsons writers call "a screw-you to the audience.") But at the moment I think still being involved in office politics means I'm not ready to take a step back and write about it.
Jul. 11th, 2009 @ 03:07 pm Won't somebody think of the children!
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This year's been Whoniverse-lite, with only the Doctor Who Easter Special to keep us going so far. But SJA Series 3 is coming in a couple of months' time, followed by the final 3 David Tennant Specials. But to kick it all off we've had the new format of Torchwood: A single story, "Children of Earth," broadcast over 5 consecutive nights as a BBC1 "event." A risk, although arguably Torchwood never consistently kept to a style in the first place so it was a prime candidate to tinker with. In terms of ratings the risk seems to have more than paid off, hovering around 5m all week, very good for a midweek 9pm show. But was it any good?

Spoilerses! )
Jul. 9th, 2009 @ 10:20 pm Theatre review: Been So Long
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Che Walker and Arthur Darvill's musical version of the former's play has been described as feelgood, although bittersweet might be more accurate. In a bar that's about to close through lack of custom, barman Barney (Omar Lyefook) watches as the few remaining customers meet, flirt and argue. The central couple of Simone (Cat Simmons) and Raymond (Arinze Kene) meet one week and end up sleeping together; a week later their relationship has already become complicated. Although all the main actors have some very funny moments, the main comic relief comes from the sex-mad Yvonne (Naana Agyei-Ampadu, frequently stealing the show) and confused, homicidal virgin Gil (Harry Hepple.) While on the surface the most pathetic characters, they're in a way the easiest to sympathise with because while everyone in the play is a loser (as Barney admits, this is a bar for losers) at least these two are aware of it.

The performances are all excellent and the songs are great, although in the second hour especially they seem to hold up the action rather than help advance it. Walker also directs and the whole thing is very slick, and I have to mention designer Dick Bird's gorgeous set. Overall it's very funny and well worth seeing, but there's definitely a bitter edge to the comedy.

Been So Long by Che Walker and Arthur Darvill is booking until the 15th of July at the Young Vic.
Jul. 8th, 2009 @ 07:30 pm Twitter ye not 16: Ketchup
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Apart from reviews I've not had much to blog about in the last week, but I've been tweeting a bit so maybe that'll make up for it...

Bloody hell today's boring. I think I've already read the whole internet. Maybe a nap at lunchtime will pass the time.
12:20 PM Jul 1st from web

New MD was introduced to us today. I say introduced, Headless Chicken pointed at us and told her our names while she waved regally.
1:09 PM Jul 1st from web

Co-workers are making the window-cleaner look at pictures of their houses on Google Streetview. WHY?
3:28 PM Jul 1st from web

Cut for ketchup and Mel Giedroyc )
Jul. 7th, 2009 @ 11:22 pm Mysterioso
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With the moon coming out of the clouds behind it, the pub across the road looks rather gothic and mysterious.


It's not though. It's where chavs go on a Friday night to do karaoke.
Jul. 6th, 2009 @ 01:26 pm Book review: The End of Mr Y
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In Scarlett Thomas’ The End of Mr Y a PhD student, Ariel, discovers a copy of a book by the same name in a second-hand bookshop. She’s an expert on its author, an obscure Victorian scientist, so she knows almost no copies of Mr Y are meant to exist, and also that everyone who’s read the book dies shortly afterwards. Of course this “curse” doesn’t stop her from reading it.

Although it’s got a pretty standard horror story plot as its starting point, the novel is actually a lot different to what I expected, but I really enjoyed it nevertheless – in fact I was hooked within a couple of chapters. Thomas muses on philosophy, quantum physics, time travel and the meaning of language, and although she comes close, never actually goes too far into making the book boring as a result. Probably the kind of book people either love or hate, there are perhaps moments when Thomas is a bit too clever for her own good, but the story keeps going off in unexpected directions so it doesn’t get bogged down in theory.
Jul. 3rd, 2009 @ 10:42 pm Theatre review: The Things She Sees/The Seance
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*phew* I made it then - 5 shows in 4 days. Two short plays tonight, part of the National Theatre's New Connections programme. Every year the National commissions about a dozen short plays for young people from established playwrights. Schools around the country choose one to put on, and then one production of each play gets to do a single performance in the Cottesloe. They're showing two plays every night until Tuesday. I'd like to say I was interested in supporting a worthy scheme, but actually one of tonight's plays was by Anthony Neilson, and I enjoyed the last two shows of his I saw so much I didn't want to miss out.

First up The Things She Sees by Ben Power, based on a novella by Charles Boyle, and performed by the Dukes Youth Theatre, Lancaster. Dizzy is a girl of Moroccan descent who can draw pictures of the future. Together with her friend Tad she tries to track down her father who's disappeared somewhere in London. The kids, directed by Louie Ingham, do a really good job of it and are very likeable, although I didn't think the play itself was all that memorable.

Then Neilson's play is The Séance, in which a group of teenagers try to contact a girl from their school who recently died - except they can't seem to get round to starting the séance. Performed by the Moat School, London and directed by Matthew Potger, this is essentially a sitcom where not a lot happens but the dialogue is what it's all really about. Of the two plays it feels the more authentically teenaged as the dialogue is absolutely filthy but very funny. And bonus points to Anthony Neilson for including a Buffy joke (as the resident goth girl enters: "Oh hi, Evil Willow.")

More plays from the New Connections season are booking until the 7th of July at the National Theatre's Cottesloe.
Jul. 3rd, 2009 @ 12:01 am Theatre review: All's Well That Ends Well
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Here's something I don't get to do very often: See a Shakespeare play I know nothing about before going into the theatre. All's Well That Ends Well was the only "Problem Play" not covered on my University English course, and I've not seen a production before. Marianne Elliott's production at the Olivier is so assured it makes you wonder why it's not put on more often. Yes, there's some tricky morality to deal with but there's also some great comedy along the way. It's interesting that here we have a central romantic couple, neither of whom we can particularly sympathise with. Bertram (George Rainsford) may act pretty appallingly, but Helena (Michelle Terry,) although more immediately likeable, still spends the whole play trying to entrap a man who clearly doesn't love her into marriage.

Elliott plays up the fairytale elements of the plot, but it's a dark fairytale - Rae Smith's set is straight out of a Tim Burton movie, aided by Gemma Carrington and Jon Driscoll's cartoonish projections which tend to include a lot of spiders, owls and wolves. It's really hard to pick a standout performance because they're all so good, although I have to mention Claire Higgins (Being Human fans will remember her as Josie, Mitchell's ex-girlfriend from the 1960s who appeared in the last two episodes)who makes the Countess warm and flirtatious. The sub-plot featuring Parolles (Conleth Hill) reminded me of the similar fake attack on Falstaff, and is well done here.

On the traditional shallow note, after two shows where George Rainsford has seemed on the verge of getting his shirt off but didn't, he finally does here and it was worth the wait. ([info]vanessaw, like me, approved of the amount of time the male cast spend wearing jackets with no shirts underneath; although she was about as taken with the shoes, and would probably have tried to nick Helena's Cinderella-ish slippers at the interval if she thought she could get away with it.) The assorted lords and soldiers aren't hard on the eyes either - I particularly noticed Jolyon Coy. (I couldn't help noting where both Rainsford and Coy studied, and how often I seem to fancy people who went to that particular drama school. I think it's time someone on my flist confessed: The admissions process there is just a beauty contest, isn't it?)

Anyway, back to the production itself and it's hard for me to fault: Lots of fun, but dark where it needs to be. All's Well That Ends Well by William Shakespeare is booking until the 30th of September at the National Theatre's Olivier.
Jul. 1st, 2009 @ 10:26 pm Theatre review: Wolfboy the Musical
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A slight variation on the usual disclaimer: This was a preview performance, as are all the handful of London shows. Wolfboy is actually opening properly at this year's Edinburgh Fringe.

So the second of my four consecutive nights at the theatre, and a choice not made for the most artistic of reasons. Yes, adaptor/director Russell Labey was the local newsreader when I was at university, and the comedy gold one Children In Need night as he tried to present while getting progressively, obviously more sloshed means I feel I owe him my support. But basically I trudged all the way to Turnham Green because the lovely Gregg Lowe is in this.


Then again, judging from the response to Lowe when I reviewed New Boy a couple of months ago, I'd probably be in a minority if I didn't go a bit funny over him. The good news is, considering how silly the show sounds on paper it's surprisingly good. I'm not familiar with the original play by Brad Fraser but I don't imagine the musical deviates from it that much. Bernie (Lowe) is a 17-year-old who on the surface has it all, but has recently attempted suicide. In the psychiatric hospital where he ends up he refuses to cooperate with the medical staff but instead strikes up a friendship with the boy in the next room, David (Paul Holowaty) who thinks he's a werewolf and frequently tries to bite people. The two strike up a plan to escape, as Bernie has his reasons for not wanting to go home to his older brother (Lee Latchford Evans. Yes, that Lee Latchford Evans. LeeFromSteps.)

It's a very, very confident production - you wouldn't have known from the performances that this was only the second public performance. They've put together an engaging 75-minute show and you do get involved in the characters. Some of what we find out about their pasts is stuff we've seen before, but part of David's backstory is quite genuinely shocking. The music actually works well with the story, although Leon Parris' songs don't have much variety and Holowaty's singing voice is, er, not the best. Although it's a moody piece there's a few laugh-out-loud moments, mostly provided by Katie Beard's deadpan nurse. The ending edged a bit too much into melodrama for me, but I like that they took the risks they did with it. And yes, Lowe and Holowaty strip down to their boxers so even if you don't like the play you probably won't mind.

Wolfboy the Musical by Brad Fraser, Russell Labey and Leon Parris is booking until the 4th of July at the Tabard Theatre, then from the 7th-31st of August at George Square Theatre 4, Edinburgh.
Jul. 1st, 2009 @ 02:03 pm Twitter ye not 15: Upstaging Mother Theresa
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Here's what I've been up to on Twitter this week:

900th tweet! Only 100 away from "oh god I really spend too long on the internet."
7:47 PM Jun 24th from web

Only 6 shopping months left until Christmas! Hurry, hurry!
10:13 AM Jun 25th from web

O hai, builder wearing shorts. What is it with me and rough trade lately?
12:40 PM Jun 25th from web

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Jun. 30th, 2009 @ 11:03 pm Theatre review: Dorian Gray
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A quick review as Linnie Reedman's adaptation of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray didn't exactly fire me up with energy. Stuck in a terribly unsuitable performance space in the Leicester Square Theatre's basement, the company doesn't give much life to what was, let's not forget, considered a scandalous story in its day. Punctuated with occasional snatches of maudlin music, the story of a man who sells his soul in exchange for youthful looks doesn't have a hint of glamour and decadence, and for such a Faustian tale lacks any kind of dramatic buildup to the conclusion. Matthew James Thomas is pretty enough to be Dorian but also rather bland - again, we don't see anything to suggest he's a good person at the start, so why should we care as he's corrupted? Reedman, who also directs, has her cast speak in stilted upper-class tones that border on parody - I was trying to work out what they reminded me of, and realised it was Eddie Izzard's routine about 1940s films ("Don't go Daddeh, don't go!") As Lord Henry, Vincent Manna's accent is so outrageous I couldn't work out if it was meant to be a joke. It's left to Ilan Goodman as Basil, the artist who creates the infamous portrait, to inject some life and personality into proceedings.

Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, adapted by Linnie Reedman, is booking until the 2nd of August at the Leicester Square Theatre.
Jun. 30th, 2009 @ 01:16 pm Book review: Beautiful People
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The TV adaptation of Simon Doonan’s Beautiful People was one of my favourite shows last year – although adaptation probably isn’t the right word, since the TV show was simply “inspired by” the book and huge changes were made, most notably moving the action to the 1990s. In fact Simon Doonan grew up in the 1950s and ‘60s in Reading, so some of the atmosphere of the original book is understandably different. The basics remain the same though, with Doonan getting his taste for high camp from his mother Betty, who can turn the smallest thing into an EVENT, inviting the family to watch her put her bracelet on or paint her toenails. There’s also a blind aunt who finds it hilarious when she falls into an open grave, and the lobotomised grandmother, Narg.

Beautiful People’s chapters jump backwards and forwards in time so we go from Reading in the ‘60s to London in the ‘70s to LA and New York in the ‘80s, but whatever the time or location it’s fun to see Doonan retain his sense of his own ridiculousness, and deep affection for his bonkers family. When he eventually meets his much younger American boyfriend’s family, he’s only able to really relax when he realises they’re also completely insane. It’s a fun read and if you liked the TV show I can’t see why you shouldn’t like this. It’s also fun to try and guess what anecdotes might find their way into the second series – Jonathan Harvey must be very tempted to try and get the scene with the amorous horse onscreen somehow.
Jun. 28th, 2009 @ 08:33 pm Theatre review: Naked Boys Singing 2009
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This afternoon Evil Alex, [info]vanessaw and I went to Naked Boys Singing 2009 at the King's Head Theatre - I know, you never would have guessed I'd go to that, would you? The "2009" tacked on to the end of the title doesn't signify any new songs, but instead means this is a new production of the long-running off-Broadway revue, with an all-British cast. Director Phil Willmott's big change compared to the US version could be called controversial considering the show's title: Not as much nudity. Where in the original the boys are naked for almost the whole show, here it's set up as 7 guys "auditioning" for the show and then going through rehearsals. So the opening songs are done fully clothed, and slowly more clothes come off until the last 10 minutes or so are done naked. Opinion seems divided on whether this makes the show come off as less or more exploitative - certainly where the US version makes the nudity matter-of-fact by the end, here it's been built up throughout the show. Overall though I think it seems less tacky this way. The nudity's still played mostly for laughs and it just comes off more like a nude scene in any other show.


(The photos in the programme are very blurry but I'm fairly confident that in that picture we have L-R Duncan Leighton, Stephen Butler, Nathan Taylor, Matthew Russell-Jones, Adam Mendelsohn, Joe van Haeften and David Lucas.) Certainly one thing I liked about this production is that although all the men are good-looking, you get a variety of physical types and not identikit gym-bunnies. As for the show itself, it's hit-and-miss. The songs are written by a variety of people, and for the most part the comedy songs work OK, while the ballads fall flat on their arses, clothed or otherwise. All the performers are talented in ways other than physically anyway, both with their singing voices and some fun, energetic choreography. (Joe van Haeften sweated so much it ended up being treated with a bit of a nod and a wink - god knows how much he sweats if he has to dance fully-clothed.) I've got to say although I don't normally go for the twinky type, little Stephen Butler (not so little, as it turns out) was my favourite, and Vanessa's too. The "rehearsal" conceit really makes no sense whatsover in terms of the songs, and in a couple of cases is a hindrance, but essentially it's only there as a device to explain them keeping their clothes on for most of the show. Don't worry though, eventually the show does exactly what it says on the tin:

FULL-FRONTAL MALE NUDITY ALERT!

Obviously, I'm not so tacky as to review the guys' bits (no, now Nicholas de Jongh's retired it fell to The Stage to do that.) I wouldn't even dream of it, except to say that Adam Mendelsohn and Duncan Leighton (his professional debut - talk about a baptism of fire) sing the two songs that make specific reference to being Jewish, "The Bliss of a Bris" and "Perky Little Porn Star" respectively. Once the clothes are off it transpires that the production has been cast with an eye to religious accuracy. And to say that Leighton may or may not have some relevance to the choice of avatar on this post. And obviously I've mentioned that Stephen Butler turns out to have a lot more to offer than you'd first expect. In fact his parts go on show first, before they actually turn around to do the full frontal, due to a considerable amount of through-the-legs danglage while they're still facing the back of the stage. And, by some mysterious alchemy the boys seem better-endowed when they come back from offstage than when they've been onstage for a while, I can't imagine why that would be (David Lucas rather gave the game away by returning to the stage in a state of semi-excitement.) But anyway, apart from that I certainly wouldn't be so crass as to review the genitalia on display.

Oh and one other thing the King's Head really should have learned by now: In a very small auditorium less dry ice might be a good idea, having the audience choking to death isn't ideal.

Hey, funny how some of my theatre reviews end up being more detailed than others, eh?

Naked Boys Singing 2009 by various writers is booking until the 5th of July at the King's Head Theatre, and then transfers to the Arts Theatre.
Jun. 27th, 2009 @ 09:06 pm I like you, you're mental
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Today was a coffee posse, my second one officially as organiser, and I really enjoyed it. Nice mix of people, including some new faces, and the ratio of people I like vs those I don't like was very good. Plus we got some sun, but the thunderstorm later cooled things down so didn't end up feeling ill from the oppressive heat.

However my favourite person of today was someone I didn't even speak to. I got the bus to come back home, and along the way a group of teenagers came on. Now they do this sometimes and it annoys me: One or two of them come on, then say to the driver "wait a minute while my friend catches up" and you're sitting there while their mate slowly ambles towards the bus. This bunch tonight, four of them, stood up against the front doors as well so the driver couldn't close them, so he'd be forced to wait (and everyone else on the bus stuck there waiting as well.) Obviously the kids had the upper hand because there's no way the driver would be insane enough (and willing enough to risk his job) to move away while they were standing by the open door and could fall out. Or so they thought. But maybe it was his last day on the job, or maybe he was just a bit mental and didn't care about the consequences, but the driver had other ideas, and promptly drove off. Cue kids shrieking, trying not to fall off the bus, while still holding the doors open! Meanwhile their mates are coming out of the shop slowly (hey you can wait to get where you're going, we wanted crisps dammit!) realise the bus is going without them and desperately start running. Sadly we stopped at a red light so they managed to get on. Yes, I know the driver shouldn't have done it, but it was really funny (and nice to see the kids' bullying tactics not work for a change.) So that mental bus driver's my new favourite person. I just wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of him.

(Before this bit of fun there was a laugh at the bus stop as well - while we were waiting, a car drove past and someone leaned out of the window to shout "bus stop wankers!" The best thing was that everyone at the stop had obviously seen that episode of The Inbetweeners because everyone laughed and nodded.)
Jun. 26th, 2009 @ 07:53 pm Book review: Once Upon a Time in the North
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Philip Pullman's novella Once Upon a Time in the North is a mini-prequel to the His Dark Materials trilogy, set in Lyra's Universe and featuring the first meeting between Lee Scoresby and Iorek Byrnison. It's a little adventure sequence in which Lee crash-lands in an Arctic town and defends a mistreated ship's captain against a corrupt politician. It's a fun story and this time instead of organised religion Pullman attacks big businesses that impose their own interests. Lee Scoresby is a good choice of character to get a spin-off as his sardonic daemon, Hester, was one of the best-characterised daemons in the original novels so she provides a good counterpoint to his personality. A fun little addition to the mythology, with some interesting illustrations and "clues."
Jun. 25th, 2009 @ 11:20 pm Theatre review: Collaboration
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The Duchess Theatre is currently showing two plays by Ronald Harwood, one revival and a new play, both on the theme of German musicians accused of collaborating with the Nazis. I opted to go just to one, and went for the new play, Collaboration. The title has a double meaning; it is, of course, about the fact that Richard Strauss was commissioned to work for the Nazis (although apparently he was quickly rehabilitated everywhere else, in Germany itself he was still viewed with suspicion after the war.) But more central is an artistic collaboration, with the Jewish writer Stefan Zweig, with whom he wrote an opera at the same time as Hitler was gaining power. Harwood is sympathetic to Strauss, showing him having great affection for his Jewish friend and clinging on to every last chance of being able to continue working with him, even as the Nazis threaten him. Eventually it's the fact that they make specific threats against his Jewish daughter-in-law and grandchildren that makes him drop his public antagonism towards the party.

Michael Pennington is good as Strauss although he edges a bit into melodrama at times. Overall I preferred David Horovitch who gives a very moving and dignified air to Zweig. The play itself is interesting, although it does end on a couple of unnecessary cheap shots (Pennington asks the audience "what would you do?" as if we hadn't already figured out what an impossible moral dilemma Strauss had been placed in.) Philip Franks' production also contains something that's mercifully becoming less prevalent: An interval that serves no apparent purpose other than to sell drinks and ice-creams. Without it, the performance would have run at only 100 minutes, not an impossible time to sit through by any means, and as there's no obvious act break the timing seems pretty arbitrary, and only serves to take away from the action's impetus. Luckily the actors manage to restore this when they return, and overall it's a thought-provoking if not revolutionary piece, with a nicely developed central relationship.

Collaboration by Ronald Harwood is booking until the 29th of August at the Duchess Theatre.
Jun. 24th, 2009 @ 07:49 pm Book review: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
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You can't judge a book by its cover but let's face it, this book has got a very good cover.


I'd been looking forward to reading this, Seth Grahame-Smith's re-write of Pride and Prejudice but with added zombies and bloodshed, although basically it's just one joke carried over a whole book, and I didn't know if the joke would be strong enough to sustain it. I was surprised to find that for the most part it does manage to stay funny - as well as plonking scenes of zombie attacks where they never were before, he also makes some tweaks to the plot so that one beloved character begins to turn into a zombie while nobody seems to notice; and Wickham's fate is a lot grislier than before. Lizzie is recast as a fearsome zombie slayer, and Lady Catherine's dislike of her is only made worse when Lizzie kills three of her favourite ninjas. Her final confrontation with a nunchuck-wielding Lady C was a highlight.

Not all Grahame-Smith's jokes work; he drops in too many Americanisms for his passages to fit that well with Austen's, and the repeated references to the Bennett sisters' combat training in China get tiresome very quickly. I did get through it quickly though, and chuckled out loud quite a few times - even if the best jokes are still Austen's.
Jun. 24th, 2009 @ 07:40 pm Twitter ye not 14: It doesn't rhyme, but it's true
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I'm coming dangerously close to my 1000th tweet... now that The Apprentice isn't on I won't get there quite as quickly but it's looming all the same...

If you're going to wear shorts, skinny Chris Klein lookalike, I'm going to look at your legs. I'm only human.
8:15 AM Jun 17th from txt

33 working days to go. Today started with bonus cunty email from boss. Clearly there's going to be a theme to my last few weeks.
9:13 AM Jun 17th from web

I saw a mouse! Where? Not on the stair, in the warehouse. It doesn't rhyme, but it's true.
11:45 AM Jun 17th from web

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Jun. 22nd, 2009 @ 10:36 pm Theatre review: Aunt Dan and Lemon
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After being less than bowled over by his newest play two weeks ago, tonight it was the turn of one of Wallace Shawn's earlier works, Dominic Cooke's revival of Aunt Dan and Lemon. This was a lot more satisfying, albeit by no means comfortable viewing. The sickly, probably anorexic Lemon (Jane Horrocks) recalls a summer in her childhood when every evening she'd be visited by Aunt Dan (Lorraine Ashbourne,) a friend of the family who would tell her stories. These range from tales of her earlier life and friends, whose sexual exploits sometimes veer into violence, to right-wing rants as Aunt Dan is obsessed with Henry Kissinger and instills in Lemon a belief that violent solutions are a reasonable way for nations to get what they want. The adult Lemon (appropriately it was Aunt Dan who gave her that nickname as she ends up so bitter) has taken this to its natural conclusion and is a cheerful Nazi apologist. Casting Horrocks is genius as her brightness and sweetness make her shocking views all the more upsetting to hear. The contradiction is that you can't help but agree with her that governments do, on a regular basis, commit atrocities while insisting they're not as bad as the Nazis, while at the same time be repelled by the character's obvious feeling that this is a good thing.

A quick mention of designer Lizzie Clachan, and in particular a very clever bit of stage trickery where characters appear and disappear under the covers of a bed. I'm guessing it's a straightforward trapdoor but I was impressed by how smoothly and silently the transitions were done - on both occasions I wasn't entirely sure I hadn't imagined it.

Aunt Dan and Lemon by Wallace Shawn is booking until the 27th of June at the Royal Court Jerwood Theatre Downstairs.