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2011 – Issue Twenty Five – London

About the cover artist

House of Jonn House of Jonn is a London-based creative studio with a focus on architecture and urban dilemma. It was founded in 2009 and is co-directed by Jordan Hodgson and Niall Gallacher who met and studied architecture together at the Royal College of Art, gaining their Masters with Honours. They use this background to produce work that both critically questions and celebrates the potential of the city, challenging received expectations of the built environment and contemporary urban culture. They seek to explore architectural ideas through a range of alternative media and cut across professional boundaries in their working practices. Recent projects include the production of architectural tableware from a dystopian near-

future; construction of a recently opened nightclub and event space in Shoreditch; visualisations for a literary project by philosopher Alain de Botton; communication design for a leading architecture magazine and contribution to the set design of Beethoven’s opera ‘Fidelio’ in a decommissioned Russian gulag. Their work has been widely published, most recently in the book ‘Digital Architecture: Passages through Hinterlands’, and in magazines such as ICON, the Architects’ Journal and Building Design Magazine.

House of Jonn is part of The Hospital Club Creatives in Residence programme 2010.

h. ISSUE TWENTY FIVE | 2011 | THE HOSPITAL CLUB. LONDON

The Introduction

lad to see the back of 2010? What a corker. Wars continued in far flung corners while house prices fell and art became the new gold. The economy wobbled on like a drunk with legs of jam. In heels of humous. We got sucked into the X Factor, again. Dave C spanked Gordon B. Let’s not mention the football, MPs expenses or the BP oil spill. We lost Lena Horne, Alexander McQueen, Dino De Laurentiis, Dennis Hopper, J.D. Salinger and er, Paul the psychic octopus. Haiti got quaked, then riddled with cholera. Wikileaks continues to show the devastating power and weakness of the online world and it’s hard to tell if we’re entering a new era of inescapable and necessary truth or brain melting paranoia. However, it wasn’t all bad; the Chilean miners survived, Aung San Suu Kyi escaped house arrest….and Prince Willy and Kate Middleton are getting married just to cheer us up. Whatever your perspective, 2011 promises to be an interesting year. Paul Campion is a master of terror and humour, as can be seen in his short films, while his digi-animation work on Lord of

the Rings has dazzled millions of people around the world. He’s just cut his first feature and not only is he a member of the club, but also The Bournemouth Mafia. So don’t mess with him. In The Devil’s in the Detail, he spoke to us about KY, blood and levitating hamsters in this exclusive interview. Thelma Holt is a theatrical legend. She’s been treading boards, dazzling audiences and challenging perceptions since the ‘60s. For this issue, Thelma sipped tea with Joel Horwood, one of our 2010 Creatives in Residence. She shared her wisdom, hopes and survival tactics for a life behind the curtain and under the lights. New York Fashion Week can be a bit, well, beige. Hugely important, but dull. Since The Blonds took to the catwalk, Manhattan has enjoyed an explosion of platinum and diamonds. The Blonds deliver shows that gleam with a high-end glamour akin to a Paris couture salon. They’ve dressed Katy Perry, Beyonce, Lady Gaga, Kylie, Madonna and Britney. From a style perspective, they’re hotter than a handbag in hell. Nick Barron chatted to the duo about Cheryl Cole, corsets and Barbie dolls.

Dickie Beau has been stealthily storming the performance art scene for the past few years. His precision, surrealism and strangely moving shows have garnered critical acclaim and fans from Hackney to Melbourne. His ‘Marilyn Monroe’ show is still a work in progress, causing ripples from Hollywood to Vauxhall. In The Marilyn Tapes, he explains what inspired this dark homage. Joanna Dudderidge was an early participant in one of The Hospital Club’s philanthropic programs. She’s photographic proof that not only do we pick winners, but, with professional guidance they can excel in the commercial field. In this issue, she showcases her work in both a glorious spread and in the classy staff portraits. The OneTaste evenings held here at the club attract an enthusiastic, hip and whip-smart array of performers. Not been? You’re a fool. In this issue, Inua Ellams shares a tiny slice of his crowd wowing poetry. It’s the new rock & roll, right? Joel Horwood flexed his theatrical muscles by presenting six of his scripts in an experimental workshop in the TV Studio.

Playwright, librettist and acclaimed director, Phil Willmott reviews the evening in The Irreverence of Joel Horwood. Feargal Ballance & Matthew Green have graced this issue with a pair of quirky illustrations, watch out for more of Matthew’s work later in the year. The Music Sessions, with our friends at the Barclaycard Mercury Prize are one of the club’s events highlights. David Sutheran explains why he buzzed and beamed during sets from Chapel Club and Everything Everything. If you’ve been letting your hair down at our events, check out this issue’s bumper collage of party photos. If you weren’t there, you can see what you missed. Make sure you’re fully informed of forthcoming events and the work of fellow members by perusing the latter end of the magazine. Here you’ll find recipes, film schedules, revealing facts about the Hospital Club staff and essential cultural highlights in The Guide. Oh, and to all our members and readers, please have a happy, healthy, creative, prosperous and glittering New Year.

For Wendy: Nik Mackey www.topright.co.uk

h. ISSUE TWENTY FIVE | 2011 | THE HOSPITAL CLUB. LONDON

CONTENTS

Features 4. The Devil’s in the Detail

26. Club News & Events

Paul Campion spills his guts

What’s occurring and what you missed

7. Nick Jeffrey - Thermal Heights V

28. The Music Sessions

Waiting in the wings

David Sutheran feels the vibe

9. Tea with Thelma

30. Beautiful People

The mistress and her apprentice

Snap, slap and tickle

11. Blond Ambition

34. Members’ Profiles

Nick Barron chats to Queens of the Corset

Who’s who and what they do

14. Joanna Dudderidge

36. What are you up to

Stairs, chairs and unusual hair

Ian Wharton, Karen Cinnamon, Rob Tucker & Toby Bricheno

16. Onetaste presents...

40. What’s Cooking

Inua Ellams waxes lyrical

Duncan does detox

18. The Marilyn Tapes

41. Raising the bar

Monroe on mushrooms

Mixing with the best

21. The Irreverence of Joel Horwood

42. Shooting the staff

Phil Willmott casts a gimlet eye

Joanna Dudderidge focuses on our boys & girls

Club

Calendars

22. Feargal Ballance & Matthew Green

46. Members’ Film & Events Highlights

Upcoming Club art

The future, in words and pictures

49. The Guide

24. Creatives in Residence Programme 2010

Where to be and when…

Last year’s dilated pupils

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CONTRIBUTORS

© The Hospital Group Ltd 2008. The copyright and contents of this publication are owned by The Hospital Group and no unauthorized copies of the whole or part may be made without express permission of The Hospital Group Ltd.

Paul Campion began his career as fantasy/horror illustrator. After completing a Masters Degree in Computer Animation, he moved to New Zealand to work on Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings film trilogy. Before directing, Paul created digital effects on films such as Constantine, Sin City, 30 Days of Night, The Chronicles of Narnia and Clash of the Titans. His two short films; Eel Girl and Night of the Hell Hamsters won a raft of awards and he’s just completed his first feature film, ‘The Devil’s Rock’.

The Devil’s in the Detail by Stewart Who?

Were you a Tolkien fan before working on The Lord of the Rings? Yes, huge. I was doing my Masters Degree when the film version was announced. I remember telling everyone I was going to work on it, even though I had no idea how I was going to do it. The scene with the Balrog was always my favourite bit in the book - I have a small Dungeons and Dragons lead figure of the Balrog I painted when about 10 years old. When I got to work on the film, the first thing I asked to work on was the Balrog, which I painted the textures for and worked on for about 6 months.

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............................. Directors don’t make films, the actors and crew are the ones who actually create it. You need to step back and let them do their jobs. .............................

You completed a Masters Degree in Computer Animation, was it hard to go back to school? Quite the opposite! I knew exactly what I wanted to achieve from the course which was to break into the film industry. Living in your own home, having a bit of money in your pocket, not being a naïve first year and the subsidised bar made it a pleasure. Not that there was much time to enjoy all that, as we worked incredibly hard on that course – often working 12 hour shifts on the computers with half of the course having to work 8pm-8am for months on end. People from

that particular course are known as the Bournemouth Mafia as we end up working at the same visual effects companies all over the world. Lots of my friends from Bournemouth ended up working on Lord of the Rings and a few have stayed on and now live here in Wellington.

The Devil’s Rock is your first feature. What’s been the biggest lesson you’ve learned? To trust your cast and crew. Directors don’t make films, the actors and crew are the ones who actually create it. You need to step back and let them do their jobs.

Did the fact it’s a period film (World War II) present a new set of challenges for you? As my first feature film, the whole thing was a new set of challenges at every stage, but for a period film, the trickiest thing is getting the details correct – costumes, weapons, props, locations etc. I did months of research on the history of the SAS and the SBS (the Special Boat Service) in WW2 and German occupation of the Channel Islands. In the end, you try and do the best you can with the budget you have.

You came into contact with a 250year old book of black magic…did you have even a moment’s fear that you might dredge up an evil spirit? I’ve already made one film about demonic summoning and Ouija boards in ‘Night of the Hell Hamsters’. In fact, when we were scouting for the locations for that, we ran into a few problems because people didn’t want a real Ouija board used in their homes – which is why we changed it to a child’s alphabet toy instead. On this film, the schedule just happened to work out that we were filming a black magic ritual on Friday the 13th and came out unscathed (so far!).

When was the last time a horror film scared or impressed you? The Swedish vampire film ‘Let the Right One In’. It’s an incredible horror film – a tender love story, creepy as hell at times, sad, funny, disturbing and beautifully acted and filmed and stylishly gory. I also saw The Human Centipede recently, which I really enjoyed its reputation is far worse than the actual film. If you can handle the concept, it’s just a pretty standard horror film. I was surprised at how restrained it was, given the subject matter and how easily gratuitous and exploitative it might have been in the wrong hands. What is it about the horror genre that appeals to you? Good horror films create a reaction in the audience, they should all create an emotional state – tension, fear, revulsion sometimes and quite often humour. If your audience isn’t reacting, then you haven’t hit the right mark. Being scared and entertained is part of human culture, going all the way back to ghost stories round a campfire – it’s a bit of escapism, people enjoy being scared and feeling the thrill of a small slice of terror, knowing everything will be safe afterwards,

just like a rollercoaster ride. As a director, horror films are a good way to break into the industry – you can usually make a half decent film on a very low budget that will make it’s money back eventually and there’s always a market for new horror films. They also give you the opportunity to get really inventive with your camerawork and play with lighting and editing in a way that other genres don’t allow you to do. Some of the biggest directors out there - Sam Raimi, James Cameron, Peter Jackson, even Steven Spielberg started off learning their craft on low budget horror. Has working in special effects affected the way you view films - is it harder to suspend your disbelief? I used to find it tricky to watch effects driven films, as I was always trying to figure out how it was done, especially pre-computer graphics, when special effects were a lot more inventive. Nowadays it’s almost all CGI and I know how it’s all done, so I can just switch off and enjoy the story. The current problem is I’m picking the films apart trying to work out how

the director has filmed the scene, how many cameras were used, what coverage have they used etc. What do you make of the torture porn genre? Not a fan at all, but it does say a lot about human nature when films such as Saw and Hostel made so much money and Saw in particular is still spawning sequels. My feeling about onscreen violence is that it either has to be justified as part of the story, or it depends on the genre of the film. You can get almost as bloody and gory as you want with a horror film that involves monsters – vampires, zombies, aliens etc, because you have to suspend disbelief to enjoy the film. Watching a bunch of zombies rip someone in half (no matter how technically well done it is) becomes slightly ridiculous and you have to laugh at it.

However, when it’s straight horror, with people inflicting violence on other people, I think it’s far better to show less and let the audience’s imagination fill in the rest. On the other hand, Steven Spielberg often has horrendous acts of violence in his films – the knife fight in Saving Private Ryan and the killing of the female assassin in Munich are

two examples where the extreme violence is justified and necessary to the impact of the scene. What is the cheapest special effect you’ve used to greatest effect? The levitating possessed hamsters in Night of the Hell Hamsters. They were hanging from a fishing rod, using fishing line, with me standing off camera trying to lift them up behind the actress. We did think about digitally painting out the lines in the shots, as they’re clearly visible, but it seemed more fun to leave them in. Audiences really love those shots because they’re fun and not trying to wow anyone with expensive flashy digital effects. What was the black stuff in the bath that Eel Girl sat in? In the film industry it’s known as methocyl – but most people would be more familiar with it as KY jelly. We used 45 gallons of the stuff, which we kept specially heated so the actress didn’t get cold sitting in it for hours. I sat in the bath at the end of the shoot for the crew photo and I can say sitting in 45 gallons of warm KY jelly is a very pleasant experience. All kinds of potential fun to be had there.

h. ISSUE TWENTY FIVE | 2011 | THE HOSPITAL CLUB. LONDON

Nick Jeffrey - Thermal Heights V

On display - Second Floor. Contact AliH@thehospitalclub.com

............................. I may not be very clever, but I am nearly always right. .............................

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Thelma having make up applied by Director Charles Marowitz

Tea with Thelma a conversation interrupted by an interview by Joel Horwood

Above the smoking gun of Death Trap at the Noel Coward theatre, Thelma Holt has made me a cuppa. When we sit down to the first question, it feels like an interruption to a good old gossip.

How and why did you become a producer? “Alan Rickman always introduces me by saying, ‘This is Thelma, she’s an actress and she’s been out of work for twenty-eight years.’”

Immediately after leaving RADA, Holt began work as an actress. Playing Gertrude in Charles Marowitz’ legendary collage of Hamlet at just twenty-seven, “that was when it really started”. Thelma soon realised how sheltered RADA had been. Marowitz’ irreverent approach to Shakespeare’s text gave Thelma first hand experience with theatre’s genuine innovators and threw her into contact with Peter Brook. In the late ‘60s, when Thelma (with Marowitz) opened The Open Space Theatre on Tottenham Court Road, it was with a view to producing in exactly this manner.

“I wasn’t half the actress that friends of mine like Vanessa [Redgrave] were and I wanted to produce for them. I wanted to make it perfect for them… My attitude towards actors is that I’m there to serve.” In 1977, “after seven really glorious years” at The Open Space, she was invited to ‘tidy up’ The Roundhouse. As Artistic and Executive Director, she dragged the crumbling rock venue onto the theatre map. She admits, “I quickly realised I knew nothing about anything”. Holt began her first season with big ideas, bringing regional productions and European theatre companies their London debuts. On leaving the Roundhouse, Thelma launched her commercial career, producing in excess of sixty plays to date. “I put on plays that I want to do and do it mostly for friends.”

What makes a good producer? “Humility. A willingness to listen. You have to be tough, because if you’re in the love business, you could let down the very people you want to support.”

Beside Thelma a knitted cushion reads, ‘You can agree with me, or you can be wrong’. Asked if ‘toughness’ is a quality she’s learned, Holt chortles, “I had a sister eleven years older than me, that had a big effect on how I conducted myself.” She continues with a wry smile, “I do subscribe to the idea that I may not be very clever, but I am nearly always right.” As an ‘emerging’ playwright (and Hospital Club Creative in Residence), the West End is viewed as a series of landmarks (‘I’ll meet you next to Les Mis’ etc.). continued overleaf.

Tea with Thelma a conversation interrupted by an interview continued.

My writing will only make it to Theatre Land if I hit headlines in the subsidised sector or write The Goonies as a musical. This prompts the question; are there certain characteristics that make a play a commercial contender? “I don’t care, she admits. “I only care if it’s attractive to me. I never think about something being commercial.” Bang goes the bespoke West End smasher. So, given the economic risk, is there a place for new writing in the West End? “Of course. God help us if there isn’t. We need new plays. It’s how we keep a diary.”

I’m buoyed by Thelma’s opinions, but with the funding cuts to the institutions that support new writers, I’m interested in how this future might be secured. How do you think the cuts to subsidised theatre will affect our work? “Judging from the box office we have a committed audience. It’s time to find partners one may not normally have looked for… The subsidised sector and the commercial sector are getting into bed together and good will come

of that. We have enormous talent on our side. The small places will need help, actors will be helpful because they’re always generous and I have such belief in us getting where we ought to get.” What gives you your biggest buzz as a producer? “Seeing an audience relate to a play that I have been involved with. I get a hell of a buzz when I know someone has had a real experience.” Thelma must also get a kick from passing on her expertise. She’s a professor at Oxford University, a committed mentor, and on the board of the esteemed Stage One (an organisation dedicated to supporting new producers). “I’m glad there are so many young people producing and directing… The young are our insurance policy.” When was the last time you felt moved by a piece of theatre? “Last night. Tony. [Anthony Sher in Broken Glass at The Tricycle]. He gave a lesson in loneliness.” Is there a play that you have a yearning to see? “Well, there are actors I want to play something. I want to see

Sher play Lear, it’d be a hell of a challenge for the little bugger.” Do you have a career highlight? “The stoking of the fourteen fires in The Hairy Ape.”

This unexpectedly specific response stems from Peter Stein’s 1986 revival of the Eugene O’Neill play at the NT. The set was so extravagant that the deconstructed ocean-going liner for the second half had to be flown to London via the French Air Force to bypass the striking dock workers (a special favour to Thelma). Yet it’s not the feat of finding qualified welders willing to work on the set during their strike, nor welding vast panels of boat to the Lyttleton theatre that had the lasting impact on her career; it is Stein’s vision realised, the spectacle of bringing the engine fires of a dead hulking vessel, complete with sound, heat and authenticity to the NT stage, it is the theatrical coup itself.

Thelma Holt

After tea, I’m ready for the descent from the rafters of the Noel Coward but have to ask one more… After all this, do you have any ambitions? “I do have ambitions but then I fulfil them and have to find another. I hope I keep having them.”

Joel Horwood

Joel Horwood is a Hospital Club 2010 Creative in Residence and his panto Dick Whittington and His Cat is at The Lyric Hammersmith until Jan 8th. He can be contacted though his blog in the CiR section of the Hospital website.

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Blond Ambition by Nick Barron

We all have fantasies, all the time – we pretend it’s us clutching that Oscar, trying desperately hard to cry for the cameras; that the hottie on the bus is looking our way, not at the person behind. I’m actually having one right now – a litre of Grey Goose, ten cupcakes and a time machine. But I know that’s all it is, a fantasy. Not so, The Blonds - the designer duo taking the fashion world by storm with their sneaky plan to truss up every international superstarlet in a bedazzled, sometimes Vajazzled, corset. Or something else sparkled and spiked. And it’s all to do with fantasy.

avid Trujillo and Phillipe Rollano, aka The Blonds, met in 2000 at New York nightspot, The Roxy. As David tells it, Phillipe’s wild side played its part. ‘It was Prom Night and Phillipe and I ran into each other. He skipped his Prom to go out that night and, obviously, he was underage and having fun…’ Before long, the boys were channeling their shared sense of frivolity into fashion. ‘We’d make stuff to wear to go out. We’d play dress up with our girlfriends and it turned from a hobby into something more professional.’ Turned, it did, with the help of über-stylist Patricia Field of Sex and the City fame. ‘We met Pat and she said we should make a few pieces and put them in the store and it kind of went from there. She’s been our mentor really from the start.’ Of course, it’s not what you know, it’s who you know – and who THEY know – that counts. Before you could say ‘Put a ring on it’, Beyoncé was writhing through sparkly, reptile-ravaged dirt in a blinged-up Blonds corset for her and the hubby’s Upgrade U video and Fergie was looking G-L-A-MO-R-O-U-S on the Black Eyed Peas’ world tour, armoured in various metallic Blonds bodices. But there was one super-important, mono-monikered diva left to conquer. ‘Once we got something on Britney,’ says David, ‘that was another major push.’

Photography by Dan Lecca

h. ISSUE TWENTY FIVE | 2011 | THE HOSPITAL CLUB. LONDON

.......................................................................... ‘We can jump from world to world, working out these different fantasies. That’s the whole idea, bringing fantasy to reality.’ David Blond

..........................................................................

For David and Phillipe, these ladies are what it’s all about. Affectionately known to them as their Modern-Day Showgirls, their music and performances were the boys’ initial inspiration. ‘Definitely the key to our success is these girls that we work with and it’s great because it’s full circle - it’s a mutual collaboration between the two.’ The list also includes Rihanna, Katy Perry and Kylie, whose gleaming gold corset and claw in her recent Get Outta My Way video could only be a Blonds creation. ‘We made a few pieces for her recent tour and one of them ended up in the video. She was so charming - you can’t take your eyes off her, she’s so cute.’ With such a varied list of luminaries queuing up, The Blonds can experiment in all manner of ways with their work. ‘Katy and Rihanna both have extremely strong personalities in different ways, so we’re able to have fun doing very colourful, pop stuff with Katy and more hardedged, heavy metal with Rihanna. That’s really what we enjoy doing most – living out these fantasies through each girl.’ Ah, the F-word again. Fantasy is where The Blonds live their lives, quite literally for Phillipe, who rather enjoys modeling their collections himself… ‘I think that’s who we are and it just comes

out. Fashion should be about escape - we create these pieces that are heightened reality or hyperreality, we always say more is more. And it doesn’t have to mean a corset.’ Indeed it doesn’t; in fact, one of the boys’ most prominent creations is their penchant for mace-like spikes on the shoulders, as per their lethal red dress, cleverly thrown on Kim Cattrall to distract from the cagey caterwaul of the Sex and the City 2 karaoke scene and subsequently rocked by Ri-Ri and, erm, Adam Lambert. ‘We did a few pieces for Adam with a shoulder pad, then we doubled the pads, then it went to something more refined – a faux gorilla fur tailored blazer with crystals.’ See, not a corset in sight. But don’t be fooled – The Haus of Blond has a semi for a cincher – it’s their signature piece, literally the bones of their line. ‘A corset is really the exaggeration of the female form and what’s more famous than that? It’s started wars! There’s nothing more famous. Except maybe Barbie…’ The name-drop of the synthetic siren is no accident. This year, The Blonds combined their two obsessions, Barbie and the bodice, in designing a set of corseted collectables for the brand. ‘There are three which are one of a kind

and we’re currently working on a mass Barbie for everyone.’ They even sent a life-size Babs down the catwalk of their recent SS-2011 show. ‘The corset she wore will be on sale for anyone who wants to match their Barbie. It’s The Blonds’ recreation of the original Barbie swimsuit.’ So Barbie is undoubtedly their ultimate female icon? ‘She’s the epitome of the message we’re sending out - she’s a doll, a toy – it’s an escape.’ They may have re-vamped the bendable Blond, but the boys won’t stop there – they’re recruiting Modern-Day Showgirls of all ages. And sizes. ‘Anyone from Cher to Michelle Obama to Oprah we’d love to get. I think Oprah could pull off a cincher and still sit there and do her dog show, no?’ And what about British ladies? ‘I think Katie Price was going to work with us at one point…’ Oh dear. They can surely do better – what about Queen Chezza? ‘Oh, she’s beautiful! I’d love to collaborate with her!’ Cheryl, apparently you’re ‘woeth it, pet.’ Because The Blonds have a thousand Swarovski’s, some whalebone and a fanboy fantasy with your name on…

Nick is, among other things, a writer. He is fond of gherkins and enjoys fashion. He has contributed to The Observer. More of his fashion features can be found at TheHospitalClub.com

Joan Dudd 14

h. ISSUE TWENTY FIVE | 2011 | THE HOSPITAL CLUB. LONDON

Stairs and chair shots: Photography: Joanna Dudderidge Models: Danielle Judge and Maud Kealey Makeup: Sammy Mason Styling: Joanna Dudderidge/ Katie Burnett Black and white head dress shot: Photography: Joanna Dudderidge Heads dress: Designers Rachel Lattimore and Sarah Parker Hair: Simon Sparks Makeup: Ellie Tobin

nna deridge

We recently commissioned photographer Joanna Dudderidge to take a series of group portraits of the staff here at The Hospital Club, which have been featured in recent issues of h magazine. Joanna works primarily in the fashion and music scenes. This year her work was included in a touring exhibition by i-D magazine called ‘Soul i-D’, which celebrated Terry and Tricia Jones’ top 300 submissions to i-D’s Special Edition magazines over the years. Joanna is also tour photographer to Manchester based band The Travelling Band, and is manager to artist David Shillinglaw, whose work was exhibited on the 4th Floor of the Club last year. For more info visit www.joannadudderidge.com

presents

Inua

h. ISSUE TWENTY FIVE | 2011 | THE HOSPITAL CLUB. LONDON

Photograph: Blake-Ezra Cole - blakeezracole.com

The Scapegallow There’s a certain breed of Monday where morning comes with fangs, ones so straightouttahell, I imagine the horned one himself, hunched over workbench sanding down the best till its grain reads your name - each flint-sharp, Dickensian in darkness; a certain type of 9 a.m. where coffee tars the tongue, high fives hail Hitler and the postman’s whistlesong will strangle you from inside. The welcome mat will cuff you, the door resist your shoulder, outside the easy limp of wind will whip you like a bitch. If blades of grass that break concrete, their tips stiff as fists, lend none of their rebel-strength, drive or sapling hymns and journeying pollen pause just to poison, all this and the front gate is grating at your gait, do as I do: crawl for your sofa, flick for a channel find a thick book, paint, do nothing till Tuesday. Just wait.

Dear Tina, The day I discovered how she survived the civil war, how she saw her friends pass like minutes into oblivion, how she screamed through drop zones and Morse codes into jungle, dodging bullets, hiding and crying into rain,

Ellams

the day I discovered my grandfather heard her wailing, felt something enough to move him after her, in darkness, through rain, how her eyes, found in the flickering bounce of hurricane lamps, showed a place so pure, he sailed her away to the embrace of Paris, the kiss of Rome, the world with its wide welcoming dome. The day I discovered this, why she’d call him hero, she died. Peacefully, 90 years old. He followed an hour after, again into darkness all these years, he never let go. That day, I realised we live in different worlds; friends pass too fast for minutes, wars come after X factor, turtledove romances exist in the past. But I will send one sentence to you. One text message screaming through wifi zones, digital codes, dodging ones and zeros, like bullets and anti-heroes, promising if evr ur lst n ths urbn jngle, i’ll fnd n brng u in frm rain.

Inua Ellams, young writer, poet and visual artist from the OneTaste Collective, has been getting his name around town over the past year with one-man performances at the National Theatre, sell out UK poetry tours, and the imminent launch of his fifth book Candy Coated Unicorns and Converse All Stars. He performed at The Hospital Club’s second OneTaste event back in January 2010. In December he embarked on his Candy Coated Living Room Tour, travelling to all four corners of our fair city on foot to perform in people’s living rooms. Check out www.onetaste.co.uk for more details.

Photograph Darrell Berry

The

Marilyn Tapes by Dickie Beau

About five years ago, whilst communing with the cosmos on magic mushrooms, I was introduced to some notorious tapes of Judy Garland speaking into a dictaphone, ostensibly making notes for a memoir that was never written. These tapes are perfectly compelling because they are by turns wittily humorous, privately poignant and very, very angry. I was haunted for a long time after listening to them. It wasn’t just the naked human need I’d heard in the tapes, but how they captured the denuded emotional entropy of a ‘fallen idol’ who was in exile, not only from society, but also from herself.

........................... I created an additional two ‘Blackouts’, one based on Marilyn Monroe, the other on a fusion of Amy Winehouse and Judy Garland. ...........................

Some time later, whilst finding my feet on the performance art circuit, I returned to these tapes and, discovering them to be just as much of a ‘trip’ the second time around. I edited them into a threeact theatrical vignette, framed by the music of Britney Spears and Sakamoto. I performed the culminating piece, in nightclub drag terms, as an ‘epic’ lipsynch, for experimental performance forum, ‘UnderConstruction’, at Bistrotheque. The aim was not so much to impersonate Judy Garland, as attempt to embody the rock bottom of a dying swan. I omitted explicit references to her identity in the material, and presented ‘Judy’ as a cross between Dorothy Gale and a washed-up marionette, with a clown-face. I called the piece, in a nod to Vaudeville, ‘An Episode of Blackout’.

Apparently, it worked. A big part of what made it work was the spectral presence of Judy’s voice – it turned out to be a piece of theatre in which the lipsynching aspect, conventionally framed as a ‘low-culture’ activity, supposedly belonging in the back alleys of nightclub drag, actually elevated the piece and was essential to its success. This got me thinking, and I started to explore the idea of developing a series of neo-Vaudevillian vignettes, or ‘blackout skits’, using existing audio artefacts of the voices of our most troubled pop culture icons, to play out the dysfunctional dramas that seem to make them so compelling. Duckie commissioned me to be artist-in-residence and I created an additional two ‘Blackouts’, one based on Marilyn Monroe, the other on a fusion of Amy Winehouse and Judy Garland. continued overleaf.

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The

Marilyn Tapes continued.

As I scouted around for soundtrack ingredients, I learnt of the existence of tapes containing Marilyn Monroe’s last interview before she died, poignantly published in ‘Life’ magazine only a day before her demise, in which she talks candidly of her troubled childhood and the trials of fame. Some of this material had been used in a documentary called Marilyn on Marilyn, which I discovered in my research. Through the producer of this film, Paul Kerr, I tracked down the journalist, Richard Meryman, who had conducted the original interview. He is now an elderly man living in New York. I made a telephone call to Mr Meryman in the summer of 2008. Intrigued by my approach, he agreed to let me listen to the tapes, but was reluctant to give me a copy of the material outright, having had experience of such generosity being abused in the past. So, he regretted that I would have to be in New York to hear them. I held a fundraiser at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern to raise money for a flight and several of my peers, including David Hoyle, Timberlina and Ryan Styles, showed support by generously performing for free. I was successful in covering the cost of a flight and went to New York in October 2008. Across two afternoons, in Mr Meryman’s charming West Village living room, I listened to the five-hour interview, originally conducted nearly fifty years ago across two afternoons in Marilyn’s living room at the infamous address on Fifth Helena Drive in LA where she died. These tapes are not as viscerally dramatic as the Judy tapes, because Marilyn was giving an interview to a journalist and, having been fired from ‘Something’s Got to Give’ in the weeks before, was doing the interview as a PR exercise. But, nevertheless, there are authentic glimpses of her fragile humanity – mostly in the

moments that might be considered too banal for broadcast in a conventional documentary (and after she’d supped a few glasses of champagne). It was a thrilling privilege to be one of very few people in the world who have heard this final interview in its entirety.

of human life, it may be possible to open the door to an imaginary world of the unconscious in which no one is really an adult - internally, we’re all just playing at being grownups. In my perception of the world, it is ‘adulthood’ that does not really exist - we’re all just ‘big kids’.

Although understandably protective of the tapes, Mr Meryman’s curiosity was sufficiently aroused for him to confirm a willingness to let me use some of the material, upon agreement of a fee. At the time I didn’t have the means to make a transaction, however modest, so I thanked him for his time and told him I’d be in touch. I went off, continued developing my ideas, and earlier this year I spent a threemonth sabbatical as a nanny in the Australian outback writing an Arts Council proposal for a grant to ‘write’ a digital audio ‘script’ for Blackouts as a ‘lip-synched musical’ – an inversion of a traditional Hollywood musical paradigm in that the spoken word content would be performed by lipsynching to the edited audio, and the ‘numbers’ would be performed live.

My principal preoccupation with Judy Garland is in part because she embodies this idea so pertinently. In talking of Garland, her daughter Lorna Lufte has said that, whilst she is wary that the word “victim” can be misused, she feels it is appropriate in connection with her mother “because it is a word that pertains to children”. And, in Lorna Lufte’s eyes, her own mother was a child who never truly grew up; mainly because, perversely, she was never given a ‘childhood’ to begin with.

My experimental tenure as a nanny, isolated on the other side of the world from my very adult network of friends and associates in London, and spending almost all of my time with children, widened my eyes to a novel perspective of the project I was planning. As well as upending the Hollywood musical paradigm, I woke up, whilst inventing bedtime stories for my charges, to a further artistic inversion: Blackouts would be a collection of surreal fairy tales – but not for children, for adults; a kind of adult ‘Alice in Wonderland’. In pre-Victorian times, the concept of ‘childhood’ did not exist as we know it today. Children, instead, were viewed as ‘little adults’. Through inverting, and consequently challenging, conventional notions of ‘childhood’ and ‘adulthood’ as tangible stages

Marilyn, too, was deprived of a conventional secure ‘childhood’, growing up in orphanages and foster homes. Consequently, a significant part of her charm was the childlike quality she possessed, and there is something distinctly warped about the fact that this is often acknowledged as central to her ‘sex appeal’. That she harboured fervent hopes to have children of her own is well-known and there’s a bleak irony in the Hollywood tittle-tattle, designed to harm her reputation, that held her uterus was so scarred by having endured too many (studio-enforced) abortions that her body was unable to support a pregnancy to full-term. If I can find, in the tapes of her last interview, a taste of Marilyn’s tragic truth, told in her own tell-tale timbre, and am able to rephrase it theatrically, I have a hunch I might be onto something. It’s nearly two years since I first heard the tapes, and my quest is akin to a crumb trail: I’ve no idea where it leads. I’m only hoping, if I’m lucky, to discover something like the opposite of a happy ending. by Dickie Beau

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Dry Write Presents

The Irreverence of Joel Horwood

FEATURE by Phil Willmott

If, like me, you’ve come to regard script writing as more of a grind than a means of self expression, you’d be very inspired by the work of theatre company DryWrite. In November, they took over the Hospital Club TV studio to present 6 short pieces by Joel Horwood, one of 2010’s Creatives in Residence.

round two hundreds of us sat around the fetchingly lit acting area whilst a “voice of God” (Ferdy Roberts) irreverently compered the selection as if it were a bout of pro wrestling. As well as providing continuity through the disparate excerpts, this established the perfect gladiatorial atmosphere for our writer to offer a selection from his past work, in response to a series of challenges set for him by the directors. The tasks were lively and provocative, encouraging Horwood to offer pieces that induced the audience to heckle, incorporated violence and which excused the inexcusable. Although the framework gave little opportunity to be subtle and was heavily biased towards the grotesque, it proved a great workout that any writer would relish. Horwood confidently grabbed the opportunity with a scene of family

Photography by Suzie Blake

Christmas scrabble that descended into violence and death, a son’s justification for murdering and eating his terminally ill father, a life story crammed into a 10 minute monologue, a provocative account of taboo sex, a plea for understanding from The Big Bad Wolf and a scene of gay/straight bromance that also spiralled into violence. In every case, an impressive economy of language and clarity of focus plunged us into each scenario, engaging the audience from the start, like the best short story writing. The evening was at its most powerful in the longer pieces where there was time to establish a three dimensional central character before the situation spiralled into horror. I particularly enjoyed watching actor Danny Rigby, who brought enormous wit and warmth to his portrayal of Viki, an arrogant Icelandic youth driven to patricide and cannibalism. The vivid account of his childhood rooted the story in a clear context, allowing

empathy and understanding before fate struck a cruel blow and pushed everyone to the edge. At the climax our hero serves his father’s heart at his brother’s wedding reception and it’s a measure of Horwood’s skill that he managed to win our sympathies for the murderer with a mere ten minutes of back-story. Most of the audience voted for his acquittal at the climax. The shorter pieces came across as clever improv exercises. But the fact that they retained that sense of spontaneity is a credit to everyone involved. The format made it impossible to tell whether the obsession with violence and the macabre was the writer or the director’s but on this evidence we can conclude that our man has a rare talent for balancing the horrific with the humane. Perhaps this was best demonstrated by the short monologue Charlene. Horwood’s brief was to “write something that tests the boundaries of comedy”.

He came up with a lascivious young woman’s account of wild sex with an under-age Down’s Syndrome boy and facing his family over breakfast. We laughed and gasped, but unexpectedly it ended rather touchingly. His family decided to take her bowling with them… and a connection was made. Suddenly, there was a humanity and vulnerability amongst the alienation. All the violence was beautifully choreographed by Bret Yount, who’s long been my fight director of choice. Everything was energetically directed by Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Vicky Jones, although they should beware of making choices that show off their skills, rather then those of the writers. Putting actors who’ve barely had time to learn the lines in front of an audience without a script usually results in nervy, tentative and probably paraphrased performances. Let ‘em read to us from the text. It’s not as satisfying to stage, but the audience gets a better account of the writer’s work.

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Matthew Green

in collaboration with Feargal Ballance Bubble Series by Matthew Green & Feargal Ballance. Look out for an exhibition of Matthewâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work at The Hospital Club in 2011.

The Club has always dreamed of having a studio space attached to the CiR programme….so far we’ve been able to support our Residents in numbers of ways but until now have been limited in terms of being able to offer a place for them to create work.

2. Photograph courtesy of Son Gallery

n collaboration with Helen Starr (Club member and Director of Fuse Arts) and Rukhsana Jahangir (Committee member and independent curator) we’ve recently been working on the launch of Dean St Atelier, a multi disciplinary studio space based in Soho. The Atelier brings together a specially selected group of emerging creative practices which span technological and object design, architecture, visual art, fashion and film. Each creative practice is an independent business running within the studio, and CiR has a strong presence amongst them. Another milestone for us is the application process for CiR 2011. We would like to thank everyone who has applied, nominated and generally spread the word, the response in 2010 has been incredible, over tripling our previous round of submissions. So now we start the exciting process of reviewing all the fantastic applications. Our panel of judges have been reviewing the entries and candidates will be notified by the end of January. Look out for more exciting news in the New Year and we hope to see you in March at our annual CiR showcase to welcome the Residents of 2011. Lolo Philanthropic Manager

1. Spheres and Splinters, Produced by Faster than Sound, performed by Peter Gregson, written by Tod Machover and visuals by United Visual Artists. 2. Alex Shepherd Gravity in a Non-Gravitational Field. 3. Luc Mollinger’s new musical The Three Musketeers. 4. Joel Horwood’s Dick Whittington and his Cat. 5. Destiny Ekaragha’s Gone Too Far rehearsal on the first floor of the Club. 6. House of Jonn’s recent renovation project, XOYO.

1. Photograph Jana Chiellino

Alex Shepherd

Peter Gregson As part of a stellar line up of performers and music industry figures, Peter performed live at the TEDx Aldeburgh Music towards the end of last year. Hosted by TED Music Director Thomas Dolby, with speakers including Grammy award-winner Imogen Heap, producer William Orbit, music journalist David Toop and renowned pianist Louis Lortie, the day included mind blowing talks and performances. TEDx events are based on those of world-famous conference organisers TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design), with whom TEDx organisers are affiliated.

Further extending his month of experimental audiovisual performance, Peter also formed part of a brand new collaboration between Tod Machover, Ben Bloomberg and United Visual Artists for the cutting edge performance Spheres & Splinters. Produced by Faster Than Sound, this ambisonic audio environment with an interactive laser light show, was based around a new piece of solo cello music written for Peter by Tod Machover. The performance explored the properties of acoustic and electronic music to create a unique experience for audiences at Snape, Suffolk and Kings Place, London.

Exhibiting through the autumn last year, Alex’s successful show Gravity in Non-Gravitational Space, at Son Gallery, Peckham, consisted of colour being placed within the circle somewhere other than the circle’s point of centre. In so doing, the colour disturbs the utopian nature of geometry by drawing our gaze away from the circle’s true the point of centre. Keep an eye out for Alex’s solo show in February in The Hospital Club gallery.

24 Music

Art

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BEFORE

5. Photograph Anna Raad. AFTER

6. Photograph Dan Dennison

Luc Mollinger

Joel Horwood

Destiny Ekaragha

House of Jonn

Just finishing its run is Luc’s big new musical The Three Musketeers at the Rose Theatre Kingston. But no sooner has one thing finishes as another begins, watch out for a project he is developing here at the Hospital Club in the New Year.

In November last year Joel contributed to The Children’s Monologues for Dramatic Need, a charity dedicated to helping young people in South Africa. This oneoff event was directed by Oscarwinner Danny Boyle and included a star cast with the likes of Sir Ben Kingsley, Gemma Arterton and Benedict Cumberbatch performing at The Old Vic. Joel’s thigh-slapping panto Dick Whittington and His Cat played at The Lyric Hammersmith over the Christmas period and will be running until January 8th. Joel also did a great show with Dry Write in out TV studio, see page 21 for more.

Destiny has put together the pilot for Gone Too Far, a coming of age comedy based in Peckham based on Bola Agbaje’s Olivier Award winning play. The first floor of The Hospital Club lent itself as rehearsal space for the film that in 2011 will be made into a full feature.

House of Jonn recently completed work on XOYO, a new 800-capacity club near Old Street. Working directly with the client, they advised on the renovation of a former printworks and designed the basement event space. The idea was to build on the industrial character of the existing premises and, by keeping the new works very raw and direct, to make something that would stand out against the increasing blandness of so many other venues. It’s not all tidy and polite - and it feels all the better for it.

To find out more, visit thehospitalclub.com/cir or email loloc@thehospitalclub.com

25 Theatre & Opera

Film

Architecture

Club News & Events Dear Members… The end of last year was particularly busy. We hope that you enjoyed November’s festivities at our Somerset House winter wonderland birthday party; or perhaps you spent New Years’ with us as well? We’ve had great feedback on the “What you are up to?” feature, so are continuing to bring you the low down on some of your fellow members. We’ve had tonnes of entries but if you wish to be one of the chosen ones please contact us and we can send you through the questions, everyone will either get published in the magazine or online. We’re also continuing to help you get to know our staff better, this time round check out the Restaurant and our lovely Reception team. Also don’t miss out on handy hints and recipes put together by our Bar team and Duncan (Head Chef ). The website has had a particularly busy quarter developing new products and beefing up our content. We hope you’ve noticed the mobile optimised version of the site helping you access The Guide, Features, News as well as book into Events on the move. We have also launched a new site section called The Hospital Club Zeitgeist where we follow some of the UK’s best creative thinkers by integrating their twitter feeds and blogs under one roof including

Martha Lane Fox (e-commerce business woman), Richard Titus (C E O of Plinyminor) and Lauren Laverne (music journalist and radio presenter). With partners such as NME, MySpace, Resident Advisor, Upbeat, Film 4, Mubi, Little White Lies, Grazia, Frukt Communications, Brand Republic and Press Association, our weekly News content continues to grow; a mix of album reviews, music news, label profiles, guest DJ mixes, streamed audio, film gossip, movie trailers and interviews, new media features, opinion pieces, top websites and of course a dose of innovative marketing campaigns. The focus has been on Music, Film, Marketing and New Media so far but there are several more sectors to follow. If you’re liking what you see, please share it with your social networks, we’ve made it easier to share content from the site with our handy facebook and twitter buttons and it’s great to have your support for our community (don’t forget to tag your photos!). Our Creatives in Residence have also been hard at work. Check out

their section in the magazine for more details. We’ve also had some very impressive submissions for CiR 2011 and more than three times the number of people applying. We’re wading through the applications with the help of our esteemed judging panel and will be announcing the finalists in March. Watch this creative space. Congratulations to all the winners of our various online competitions with prizes ranging from tickets to London Film Festival gala screenings to a private tour with acclaimed photographer Uli Webber when he exhibited in our Gallery; and not to be forgotten those cocktail connoisseurs whose creations have won a place on the Holy Grail that is our drinks menu. Now we hope to see you at our monthly Back to Ours or the fantastic Music Sessions with the Barclaycard Mercury Prize in our TV studio. Take care,

Marketa and Oliver Membership

Cance

Gracing the 4th floor walls are Robi Walter’s peace portraits (pictured) Featured in our 2nd floor lounge and restaurant is the handiwork of natural artist, Nick Jeffrey.

MUSIC Sessions

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Music Sessions F

irst to grace the stage are London’s own gloomy pop magnates Chapel Club; recipients of ever growing volumes of hype in ever broadening circles, as their Paul Epworth produced debut album takes shape, following a series of limited release singles and downloadable gifts, for an early assault on 2011.

............................. ...complex bass licks and energetic falsetto vocals. .............................

The five-piece, led by diminutive vocalist and elaborate lyricist Louis Bowman, take the stage under a blanket of purple light and hushed voices, as a packed crowd move closer to see, and indeed hear, if all the fuss made over this act has been worth it. Opening their set with Roads the shimmering reverb sounds of Michael Hibberts lead guitar lines complement perfectly the baritone lovelorn delivery of Bowan’s vocals, as his captivating tales of romance, violence, sex and jealousy echo out. At the climax of many tracks Chapel Club’s is a sound sitting somewhere between the emotionheavy output of Editors and the catchy yet brooding pop

Tonight the cool subterranean air of The Hospital Club’s impressive gig space hangs with anticipation for live sets from a choice pairing of 2010’s most talked about indie newcomers. With a brace of bands as strong as that of Chapel Club and Everything Everything, it can only mean one thing; the next-not-tobe-missed instalment of the Music Sessions with the Barclaycard Mercury Prize.

sensibilities of fellow newcomers White Lies, swirling next to the shoegazey melodic breakdowns of My Bloody Valentine. It is with this connection to MBV’s squalls of powerfully composed noise that Chapel Club often mark out urgent tempo changes mid song, as with Fine Lights, which simmers and blends perfectly into an accomplished and gutsy outing for the attention grabbing single Oh Maybe I from earlier in the year. Surfacing reprises the 1930s old standard Dream a Little Dream of Me across its chorus, but here the words take on sinister of over tones, a hallmark of the heavy and textured approach of the band. Their carefully crafted and considered sound may be confident and epically inclined, but it walks a different line to that often ill placed arrogance of bands who’re told the world may soon be theirs. All The Eastern Girls pounds away with a desperate and doomed romanticism, hinting at the band’s full capabilities with its understated vulnerability, while still retaining a burning feeling

of desire as Bowan repeats again and again “this is a love song…”. Chapel Club are a band whose debut album is sure to make big waves through British music in 2011. Next, Everything Everything flood the room with light and a deft musical touch, shifting proceedings out of the shade and into a more funk tinged and eclectically jaunty direction. Tracks from the Manchester bands summer debut album Man Alive are given an impressive airing, complete with complex bass licks and energetic falsetto vocals. Frontman and singer Jonathan Higgs’ command of the high notes is flawless, as is the transformation to the live stage for the musically ambitious and adventurously produced collection of diverse songs crafted in the studio. Often such complexities can be lost in translation from the studio to the stage, but here, with such technically proficient musicians manning guitars, drums and synths there is no such danger, as each track takes on a life of its

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own, expanding brilliantly on the concepts laid down on record.

Everything Everything take cues from such diverse sources – from Radiohead and Talking Heads in their lyrical dexterity and musicianship, to commercial R&B in their willingness to borrow the newest and most forward thinking production methods. Here is a group destined for big things in the year to come – although to try and predict any direction they may choose to pursue would be impossible.

by David Sutheran

Photography by Steve Glashier

My Keys, Your Boyfriend and Photoshop Handsome showcase a band with lofty ambitions for their live sound, and the skill and determination to realise such self enforced high standards. Paint by numbers indie this is not – here is a band who push the tempo and time structure of tracks in directions that dazzle technically, at the same as they create a need to move to the beat, as shown by the appreciative hip-shaking crowd.

Are you one of the beautiful people in some of these shots? Here is a selection of pictures from the glamorous Back to Ours, ping pong madness at Membersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Drinks, the Music Sessions with Barclaycard Mercury Prize, Halloween, Funky Brunch. To see more scandalous photos from our events, join the Party Nights group online or check them out on facebook.com/TheHospitalClub Photography by Joanna Dudderidge, Anna Raad, Suzie Blake and Mindaugas Armonavicius

Birthday Party Nov 2010 Our 6th Birthday Party, iceskating at Somerset House and then back at the club for the after party - an amazing night!

Members’ PROFILES

So what is it you actually do? Freelance print and broadcast journalist specialising in investigations and features on the sex industry, dating and relationships. I write for most national newspapers and several magazines and have a monthly column in The Erotic Review. My first book Sugar Daddy Diaries is out in March.

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Helen Croydon Company Freelance Industry Journalism

When and where did you last have a really good night out? Last month an old group of old university friends congregated. For one evening I was flown back to that carefree world where the only the thing you worry about is how hard you laugh. I went away thinking I must see more of good friends. If you were about to be marooned on a desert island, what would you take with you? Laptop (PRESUME is solar powered), Clarins suncream, various Clinique lotions, toothbrush, YSL superplumping lip-gloss (just in case), Louboutins (obviously), couple of bottles of wine and a cooler. What would you do if you won the Lottery tomorrow? Probably nothing different. It has taken a few years of ‘career tweaking’ but for the first time ever I am doing exactly what I want to do – namely writing and forging out a niche area. But I would probably stop into Prada.

www.helencroydon.com

So what is it you actually do? I am Director of a creative software design and development company, whose aim is to create systems which are very easy to use, be it email marketing systems or ecommerce and web-to-print platforms.

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James Morgan Hitchcock Company

Abcum Ltd Industry Software design and development

When and where did you last have a really good night out? Being a huge sports fan, for me a good night out involves hours of playing sport followed by sushi at Sushi of Shiori or Ikkyusan. If you were about to be marooned on a desert island, what would you take with you? As a keen amateur magician, being marooned would give me a good opportunity to practice some new magic tricks, so a deck of Bicycle cards would suffice. What would you do if you won the Lottery tomorrow? Exactly what I am doing now.

www.abcum.co.uk

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So what is it you actually do? RadioWorks is a radio specialist advertising agency. I’m head of Sponsorships & Promotions so deal with anything that isn’t a straight spot ad - all the fluffy stuff.

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Lehvashnee Sequeira Company RadioWorks Industry Media/Advertising

When and where did you last have a really good night out? When I went to an intimate gig with Lionel Richie and got so overwhelmed I jumped on stage and danced with him while he sang “All Night Long” - the memory will stay with me forever.. If you were about to be marooned on a desert island, what would you take with you? The husband - he can’t get away from my moaning that easily! What would you do if you won the Lottery tomorrow? I’d do my big shop at Waitrose rather than Tesco and I wouldn’t use a rewards card..!

So what is it you actually do? In a nutshell, I run a full-service boutique independent Music PR company. We cover TV, Radio, Press and Online promotion for a broad variety of independent (and occasionally, major label) bands, festivals and events.

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Michael Eccleshall Company Music Media Relations Industry Music / PR

When and where did you last have a really good night out? Apart from The Hospital Club (obviously), my very favourite place to hang out is Hootananny in Brixton. Great live music, free entry all night, open till 3am and a really relaxed, friendly vibe. If you were about to be marooned on a desert island, what would you take with you? A notepad, a bottle, a cork and a pencil. What would you do if you won the Lottery tomorrow? I’d actually carry on pretty much exactly as I am now. I do what I do because I love it, not because of the money (which is lucky!). I might stretch to a new pair of converse though, and possibly a Bugatti Veyron.

www.facebook.com/meccleshall

WHAT ARE YOU UP TO?

Ian Wharton Company Creative Director and partner at Zolmo Industry Software Publishing and Development

What project in your career have you been most proud of? Last year I was part of the team that designed and developed an iPhone app with Jamie Oliver called Twenty Minute Meals. Our goal was to completely redefine the cookbook, it has since become one of the top-grossing and top-rated apps. Earlier this year we were honoured to win the prestigious Apple Design Award. Working with someone as inspirational as Jamie certainly helps project become a labor of love. How do you let off steam? I’m a fairly obsessive gym-goer and when I get the chance, a keen rock climber. They are the only occasions I can clear my head and pause work-mode. My second escape from reality is music, I have been playing guitar since I was 7 (I was a 12 year-old convinced I would be a rockstar by now). I still try and play a little every day. If you could be trapped in a lift with any 3 living people who would they be and why? JJ Abrams - I love great story telling and I think he is an

absolute master of his craft. Jonathan Ive - he is a hugely inspirational designer and his work has quite simply changed the world. Natalie Imbruglia - I have the biggest crush on her. What are you currently working on? (Where can we see your work?) I have just launched my 2010 portfolio at http://www. ianwharton.com to coincide with being part of this year’s Art Directors Club Young Guns 8. I am working on exciting new products with the team at Zolmo, including our next project with Jamie Oliver. Away from normal day-to-day I am tremendously passionate about championing young creative talent. For that reason I am planning a project to help UK creative grads and undergrads in their early career. What one thing really annoys you about your industry and how would you change it if you could? I’m from the school of thought that experience isn’t everything and if you are passionate, dream big and work hard anything

is possible - at any age. Many agencies and post-production houses still adopt the oldfashioned notion of “the longer you have been here, the better you are” and I just don’t think that’s the case any longer. There should be more room and flexibility for hungry young creatives to excel and challenge themselves beyond their years. www.ianwharton.com @ianwharton on Twitter

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WHAT ARE YOU UP TO?

Karen Cinnamon I’m the Creative Director and owner of London-based design agency, Cinnamon Creative (www. cinnamoncreative.com). What project in your career have you been most proud of? I have two - one from the small client, and the other from the big corporate, spectrum. The biggie was redesigning Marks & Spencer’s website to a widescreen format to allow for more vibrant landing pages, as well as upgrading the core functionality, usability and design. The new site launched at the end of last year and has since been voted the most user-friendly website of all UK high street brands. The 2nd was my rebrand in 2005 of Jewish Book Week, London’s leading literary festival, which has blossomed into a wonderful collaboration, my work has grown and developed alongside the festival over the last 6 years. Away from client work, I am superproud of those personal projects one does for good friends, what can beat working straight from the heart? How do you let off steam? Some may know about my penchant for Scrabble which lead Sukima and I

to start the Club’s inaugural Scrabble Lounge evening. Additionally I love balancing the hours spent in front of my Mac with physical activities such as kickboxing, yoga and ski-ing. I was called Sporty Spice long before Mel C made a name for herself! If you could be trapped in a lift with any 3 living people who would they be and why? Max Azria, the man behind Herve Leger’s bandage dresses, to find out how he gets sensible women like me to pay that much for a little frock; Jonathan Ross - simply because I love him; and Anya Hindmarch, to pick her brain about rising to the top in a creative business. What are you currently working on? I have several absorbing projects on the go - a nice mix of digital and branding. I’m working with New Look, the High Street fashion retailer, on Phase 2 of a social media community website for their loyalty scheme, Fashion Rewards. The site features heavily on editorial content, games, forums, and social networking spaces as well as allowing shoppers to check their points and update their account.

I’ve also just begun work on all the branding and print design work for ‘Friends Life’ the new brand formed by Axa’s UK Life and Pensions business merging with Friend’s Provident. Who would have thought it, I have succeeded in mentioning the word, ‘pension’ in The Hospital Club magazine!

Company Cinnamon Creative Industry Design

Finally, I am also in the midst of branding a new British name in the luxury swimwear market. What one thing really annoys you about your industry and how would you change it if you could? Common to all service industries is one of the biggest challenges in design; namely, how to handle illogical client comments. Some memorable ones I’ve heard in my time include “I’ve attached an image of [an absurd picture stolen from a search engine]. Can you just blow it up and make it our logo at the top?” and “It’s pretty easy, isn’t it?.. after all nowadays it’s all done by computers” and my favourite: “my wife didn’t like it”. Having said that, I am lucky enough to have really super clients, many of whom have become good friends, and in the end I’m usually able to persuade them to my point of view.... so I wouldn’t actually change a thing.

WHAT ARE YOU UP TO?

Rob Tucker Company Three Feet High Worldwide Industry Digital Media & Broadcast Design & Production

What project in your career have you been most proud of? When we covered the 2010 Euroleague Final Four Tournament, we had to take care of everything. Initially, this was negotiating the UK Broadcast rights with the league directly, then planning the entire production, designing the broadcast, filming at the Finals in Paris, on location edit & turnaround, then packaging up and delivering to Sky through our own broadcast delivery platform, www.nuview.tv. It was quite a sense of achievement to see every part of the process through. How do you let off steam? Playing basketball; or drinking whisky…Not necessarily in that order, never both together.

If you could be trapped in a lift with any 3 living people who would they be and why? Luis Alberto Urzúa, Mario Sepúlveda and Yonni Barrios [Chilean miners disaster survivors]. Those guys know how to party in a small space. What are you currently working on? (Where can we see your work?) We’re just finishing off the biggest project we’ve ever produced, which is a 7-part documentary series for Red Bull, and is their premiere worldwide programming for 2010/2011. Oooooh. It’s currently being broadcast worldwide and will be shown in the UK early next year. In TV production, alongside The Wingman for Red Bull, we’re negotiating bringing bigger coverage of the 2010/11 Euroleague Finals to Sky Sports again this year and we’re just putting the final touches to a 2 x 1 hour documentary for the ICC for worldwide promotional broadcast in the run up to the 2011 World Cup. In design & marketing, we have an ongoing account with Apple California to create concepts, design, artwork and promotional videos worldwide. Popping into any UK

electronics retailer will give you some examples of this work. On the development side, we’re producing a new in-car iPad application for Aston Martin, which has allowed us to really expand and push our existing application team. Our TV broadcast distribution software, NuviewUp, is currently being trialled by BBC Sport and ESPN for delivering rushes and edits back to London for transmission, so it’s an exciting time seeing some of your pet projects gaining traction and becoming useful to the entire industry, and not just us! What one thing really annoys you about your industry and how would you change it if you could? People assume that a big name means a great service. They don’t realise that going for a smaller, lesser known company (us) would mean they would get a more dedicated service, and they would have talented, passionate people working on their project. We constantly lose out on projects as clients want a “safe pair of hands” even though the reality is that the bigger company throws entry level staff at the project and its way down on their priority list. In a fair world, you would be judged on the quality of your work only.

h. ISSUE TWENTY FIVE | 2011 | THE HOSPITAL CLUB. LONDON

Toby Bricheno What project in your career have you been most proud of? I‘d say the Japanese film, Rain. It recently won an award at the Independent Film Festival in the U.S. which I am delighted about! I clicked very well creatively with the director, Aki, and enjoyed every moment working on it – I’m really pleased how the music works with the imagery of the film, which is quite hazy and impressionistic. It’s a far cry from some of the theme tunes I’ve done but one of the things I love most about writing music for media is the enormous variety of work. How do you let off steam? More often than not it is a combination of friends, laughter and beer. Also, I find a good session of karaoke hard to beat for de-stressing! If you could be trapped in a lift with any 3 living people who would they be and why? David Bowie, as I think he is one of our greatest living musicians and has a stunning voice - Heroes is my favourite song ever. He has been important to me at almost every stage of my life and his relentless pursuit of musical innovation is something very dear to me.

Chris Morris would be a fascinating person to meet; I’m a big fan of his television work, especially Brass Eye and Nathan Barley. He is a superb satirist and I would be really interested to find out what he’s like in person. Having just finished Gary Shteyngart’s novel Super Sad True Love Story I would love to have a chat with him. The book is a romance set in a dystopian nearfuture where the United States is collapsing and reads rather like a cross between Clockwork Orange and Annie Hall. It manages to be funny, romantic and terrifying simultaneously and often feels worryingly prophetic. If it ever gets made onto a film I’d absolutely jump at the chance to write the score! What are you currently working on? (Where can we see your work?) I’m halfway though composing a library music album for Deep East Music featuring live string orchestra and rock band, it is sounding truly epic! I’m completing the score for a live action/CG film, Sk8rz, and am also collaborating on a surreal but hard-hitting video installation about Japan with visual artist Stella Whalley.

I recently completed a film for the Summer Sunset Festival with director/photographer extraordinaire Cereinyn Ord who funnily enough I first met in the Hospital Club’s main bar. She was directing a promo film for fellow Hospital Club member Amy Winters’ incredible soundreactive dress (see pic above right) which I wrote the music for and was shown at Milan last year. I have clips of all the finished stuff on my website at www. tobybrichenomusic.com What one thing really annoys you about your industry and how would you change it if you could? To be honest, a 10 second commute to a fascinating job is pretty hard to complain about. However…there seems to be more and more media composers chasing a limited amount of jobs, with some composers working for next to nothing just in order to get work. This readiness to work for nothing has resulted in music budgets lowering dramatically and consequently music has become devalued. How would I change it? It’s hard to say, as we are in a situation where there are too many composers chasing too few jobs.

Company Toby Bricheno Music Limited Industry Media Composer

If you would like to take part in “What Are You Up To?” email membership@thehospitalclub.com

by Duncan Cruickshanks

What’s Cooking? While the weather may lead one towards stodge, chocolate and crisps, after Christmas and New Year the body is crying out for nutrition. Of course, you’ll all be well aware that walnuts are an excellent source of Omega-3s and are known for cardiovascular protection, cognitive function and anti-inflammatory properties. Likewise, cranberries are packed full of phytonutrients and antioxidants, while dandelion leaves are good for cleansing the liver. Of course, you may not have touched alcohol, duck fat, custard or cocaine over the holidays…. in which case, you’ll still find this salad refreshingly delicious.

Cranberry, Pear and Walnut Salad with Baby Broccoli Shoots and Dandelion Leaves Salad Ingredients (serves 4)

Dressing Ingredients (makes 250ml)

50g Broccoli Shoots

15 Tarragon Leaves, Finely Chopped

50g Dandelion Leaf 50g Pea Shoots

1 William Pear

200g Fresh Cranberries 40g Walnut halves

2 Cinnamon Sticks

2 Whole Star Anise

1 Whole Nut Meg

2 Medium Oranges (Juiced)

80g Caster Sugar

1 Clove of Peeled Garlic, Crushed 125ml Olive Oil 75ml Sunflower Oil 50ml White Wine Vinegar 10ml Fresh Lemon Juice

Dressing Recipe This can be made well in advance and is a great simple dressing for all salads. Place the tarragon, garlic, vinegar and lemon juice together in a mixing bowl | Mix together the Olive Oil and Sunflower Oil | Slowly pour the mixed oils into the bowl whisking constantly to create a thick emulsion. Salad Recipe Set the oven to 180˚c Add the walnut halves to a roasting pan and dry roast in the oven until golden brown, approximately 8 – 10 minutes | Take the juice from the 2 oranges and pour into a sauce pan. Add the cranberries, cinnamon sticks, star anise and grate approximately 1/5th of the whole nutmeg into the pan. Bring to the boil and then simmer for 5 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat; take out the cinnamon sticks and star anise and leave to cool | Wash and pat dry the broccoli shoots, dandelion leaves and pea shoots | Slice the pear into quarters, removing the seeds and stalk. Slice thinly | In a bowl, lightly dress the leaves and season gently | Strain the cranberries and reserve the spiced orange liquor | Add the cranberries, pear and roasted walnuts to the leaves and drizzle with a little of the spiced orange liquor.

h. ISSUE TWENTY FIVE | 2011 | THE HOSPITAL CLUB. LONDON

Detox // Retox

Best of British

Now that the New Year’s party poppers have been cleaned up and the hangover beaten into submission with liberal doses of Nurofen, we can all get back to the annual routine of trying to convince ourselves that ‘this year, we are going to be healthy’, only to jump head first into a cocktail list when you are next at the bar.

Advances in air travel and exotic cuisine have led to international taste buds. That means we can sometimes forget that there are a lot of amazing treats on our very own doorstep. We’d like to introduce you to a few new additions to the Clubs drinks list that celebrate what’s Great about Britain.

To help you feel good about your start to the year, we’ll make it easier for you. One of the most enjoyable ways of soothing the body with nutrients is via a fresh juice. To help you detox, we’ll be charging up the juicer and mixing up a daily fruit medley in the club. So, you can sit back and feel smug while enjoying a delicious glass of carrot and ginger juice or refreshing mix of watermelon and mint leaf... …and to help you break those resolutions we’ll also be tempting you with a selection of cocktail specials. These include the Peach and Earl Grey Tea-ni, which consists of bergamot infused tea syrup mixed with pureéd peaches and Vodka.

Chase Vodka Some people like their potatoes roasted and others like them mashed, however we prefer ours fermented. This spirit from Herefordshire is the latest vodka to sit on the Hospital Club bar and cocktail list. You can enjoy it in a Gooseberry Sour which mixes our own gooseberry marmalade with freshly pressed lemons and Chase vodka.

Balfour Brut Rosé France will of course always have Champagne, but the discerning drinker has become accustomed to looking further a field for a bit of fizz. Now we can return home to deepest Kent and an amazing sparkling wine from Hush Heath Estate. It’s made using the same classic grape varieties as our French cousins. Available in the club by the glass for £14.50 or by the bottle for £70. Sipsmith’s London Dry Gin We are loving this small batch Gin from Hammersmith. It’s distilled from the finest English Barley spirit with 10 carefully selected botanicals, and blended with the exceptionally pure water of Lydwell spring, one of the sources of the River Thames. It’s a wonderful choice for your Martini or you could mix it up in a classic Martinez with sweet vermouth and Maraschino cherry liquor served in an elegant coupe glass.

Raising the bar by the bar team

SHOOTING THE STAFF | Reception

h. ISSUE TWENTY FIVE | 2011 | THE HOSPITAL CLUB. LONDON

1. Jenny Beardshall

5. Alyssa Carrigan

8. Silvana Lagos

When did you last shed a tear? Why? Toy Story 3 - Sobbing alone on a plane wondering what happened to my childhood… come back to me… life was so easy!

When did you last shed a tear? Why? Seriously, every time I see that advert with the little dog left behind in the camper van, looking out the window, waiting for his owners to come home, but they never do, I get a little misty.

When was the last time you embarrassed yourself to the point that you blush inwardly when you think about it? When I accidentally spat my chewed burger at Ezra Koenig from Vampire Weekend. Landed right in the middle of his crisp shirt, no way I could avoid that! Why would you ask me what the time is at a festival when I’m stuffing my face with the hugest burger in the world? He couldn’t get away fast enough. Dear oh dear.

How do you deal with a difficult member? As a rule It’s not the members who induce rage… it’s visitors… but if they get really difficult we beat them with a big stick which is kept in the cloakroom. Top 3 films? Labyrinth, My Fair Lady, Breakfast at Tiffany’s.

2. Nele Meinhof

How do you nourish your creative side outside of work? Sing (only when I’m alone… sounds like cats dying worldwide), dance (while singing), make jewellery, write (dribble) and think about taking guitar lessons, but never actually take guitar lessons.

When did you last shed a tear? Why? I’m always crying, I think it’s healthy to have a good cry whenever you need to. Even if it’s whilst you’re watching Gossip Girl!

Anything else we should know about you? I have never lived in an igloo, and do not even know how to build one. Though, I think I should look into learning. I have, however, lived in a 1976 Dodge Tradesman camper van in the middle of a majestic rain forest, back in my hippie days.

Where do you relax? On the beach.

6. Sukima McCollins (Reception Manager)

What album will you keep listening to and never get bored of? Either Cold Fact by Sixto Rodriguez, a staple for years now. Physical Graffitti by Led Zepplin, or Led Zeppelin III, or Miike Snow’s debut album, or Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours, Cults – Go Outside, Little Dragon - Yukimi’s voice is stellar! This is like asking who my favourite child is, it’s not a fair question.

3. Harriet Shillito

When did you last shed a tear? Whenever I have given up smoking and I am an emotional wreck!

9. Giovanah Henry

You’ve got a hot date/guest you wanna impress- what do you cook them? Spaghetti Bolognese because that is the only thing I know how to make. When did you last shed a tear? Why? I shed a tear every time that I laugh so I basically cry every day.

Favourite book? South of No North, Bukowski. When did you last shed a tear? Why? Tube strike. It took me THREE hours to get home. Train rage. Elbow to stomach. Pain. Who or what would you take with you to a desert island? A fully stocked yacht.

You’ve got a hot date/guest you wanna impress- what do you cook them? Chicken, rice & peas, roast potatoes, mac cheese and coleslaw.

4.Paul McDonald

7. Rosa Lamche

Who or what would you take with you to a desert island? Hawaiian Tropic Sun Lotion and Colin Farrell.

When was the last time you embarrassed yourself to the point that you blush inwardly when you think about it? A man barged me really hard on the tube so I started yelling at him that he should look where he was going. When he turned around I noticed he was carrying a white stick. The dirty looks I got from passing commuters as I spluttered my apology only added to my acute embarrassment.

How do you deal with a difficult member? Smiling, lots of smiling – failing that I bribe them. What song will you have played at your funeral? Keep Young and Beautiful – Annie Lennox.

When was the last time you embarrassed yourself to the point that you blush inwardly when you think about it? A long time ago actually! Thank God. The last time I really embarrassed myself was by buckling down some escalators in some really un-practical high heels. It made the most horrible scrapping sound that alerted a lot of people to the fact that I had dropped. And to top it off my sister stood behind me nearly dying of laughter. Not helpful at all.

What’s your favourite item of clothing and why? My yellow hotpants because they show off my long legs.

When did you last shed a tear? Why? Not too long ago, Saturday 6th November. I got a bit emotional saying my good byes to Dianne on her last shift. You’ve got a hot date/guest you wanna impress- what do you cook them? I just cook. Not being the greatest chef in the world, I would hope and pray that whatever it is tastes okay. And that my date doesn’t end up with food poisoning.

When did you last shed a tear? Why? Last week my friend and I were in a restaurant being shown our seats by a very cute waiter, but when my friend sat down she accidentally farted. Loudly. I laughed til I cried. Anything else we should know about you? I mentor ex-offending children, I love hot cross buns, I hate being pigeonholed.

5. 2. 3.

Photography by Joanna Dudderidge

SHOOTING THE STAFF | Kitchen

h. ISSUE TWENTY FIVE | 2011 | THE HOSPITAL CLUB. LONDON

1. Duncan Cruickshanks Head Chef

7. Reinaldo (Rey) Rivas

What’s your favourite item of clothing and why? My Birkenstocks because they are like slippers.

Who or what would you take with you to a desert island? A wok.

What song will you have played at your funeral? The Caterpillar by The Cure. Top 3 films? Class of 1984, Quadrophenia, Rumble Fish.

2. Daniel Brooks When did you last shed a tear? Why? Yesterday, cos I chopped up a whole lot of shallots! What album will you keep listening to and never get bored of? Blood Sugar Sex Magik by Red Hot Chili Peppers. How do you deal with the pressure in the kitchen? I become the pressure!

3. Taylor Lamey-Golding When was the last time you embarrassed yourself to the point that you blush inwardly when you think about it? I fell over dancing at a club last week. When I think of all my mates laughing at me it makes me blush, but then I smile. Favourite book? Eleven Minutes – Paulo Coelho. How do you nourish your creative side outside of work? Writing music mostly.

4. Martins Ankalnins What song will you have played at your funeral? Beastie Boys – Fight For Your Right To Party You’ve got a hot date/guest you wanna impress- what do you cook them? Chicken Caribbean dish. Who is your favourite fictional character? Homer Simpson.

5. Junior Nadje You’ve got a hot date/guest you wanna impress- what do you cook them? J’aimerais Faire Cuire Poulet. What album will you keep listening to and never get bored of? Ryan Leslie by Ryan Leslie!

How do you deal with the pressure in the kitchen? Scream in the walk in freezer. Who is your favourite fictional character? Indiana Jones.

8. Anna Rosenquist You’ve got a hot date/guest you wanna impress - what do you cook them? A Margarita. What album will you keep listening to and never get bored of? The Dark Side of the Moon - Pink Floyd. How do you deal with the pressure in the kitchen? I just enjoy it.

9. Lucas Rangel When did you last shed a tear? Why? When my mum told me off for stealing out of the cookie jar. Who is your favourite fictional character? Super Ted. Who or what would you take with you to a desert island? A blow up doll.

10. Michelle Taylor How do you deal with the pressure in the kitchen? Count to ten or walk away for a while. You’ve got a hot date/guest you wanna impress - what do you cook them? Rump steak with red wine sauce. Where do you relax? I always try to relax even when I’m at work. But I must say I relax more at church.

11. Guillaume Guei What album will you keep listening to and never get bored of? JLS. Top 3 films? Terminator, Platoon, Rambo II. How do you deal with the pressure in the kitchen? Not very well if the chef’s short tempered.

Favourite book? The Bible.

6. Myles Borges What’s your favourite item of clothing and why? My Superman underpants, because I have special powers when I wear them. Who or what would you take with you to a desert island? A jigsaw.

Favourite book? The Kama Sutra.

4. 5.

Photography by Joanna Dudderidge

10.

Thanks to Direct Meats for supplying Duncan with all the meat for the photo shoot. tomroberts@directmeats.co.uk

11.

January

highlig The Green Hornet screening

What’s the buzz on yet another comic book adaptation to add to the pile and bring glee to geeks across the world? Well, in the director’s chair is the Michel Gondry, who’s sure to bring something fresh to the superhero oeuvre. Quite what funnyman Seth Rogan will bring to the starring role is anyone’s guess. But the reappearance of Inglorious Basterds Oscar-winning villain Christoph Waltz will surely give this hornet wings.

127 Hours screening

Academy award winner Danny Boyle, still riding the tidal wave of goodwill following the supreme triumph of Slumdog, takes on the real life story of mountaineer Aron Ralston (played here by James Franco) who became trapped by a boulder in Utah, stranded in the middle of nowhere with six days to contemplate his life and how to survive his terrifying predicament.

Back To Ours

Our monthly Friday night shindig that’s guaranteed to kick your weekend into shape. Last year we had a bohemian art bash with the help of our friends at Jotta and Halloween saw the Club descended on by troupes of hideous ghouls with DJ sets from the likes of Laura Whitmore and Jameela Jamil. Check the Party Nights group online to see the photographic evidence.

Members’ Drinks If you’re new to the Club, come along and meet some of your fellow members, perhaps make some connections and have some fun on the Games Room ping-pong table. But beware of the reigning champion from Membership, Marketa.

The King’s Speech screening What to do when you’re the future king of Britannia and your stammer makes it an awfully embarrassing bother when trying to make a speech to the masses? Back in the roaring 20’s the future King George VI (played by Colin Firth, last seen in the impressive A Single Man) had just that problem, and turned to the speech therapy skills of Australian gent Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush) for a helping hand.

Comedy Night

Laugh and the world laughs with you, and always fear the front row, especially if you’re one of those awkward latecomers with an ineffective line in heckles. See the kind of standup talent you’re likely to find in far bigger venues and on the telly too.

h. ISSUE TWENTY FIVE | 2011 | THE HOSPITAL CLUB. LONDON

Paul screening Shaun of the Dead & Hot Fuzz duo Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are comic book geeks on the roadtrip of a lifetime across the US, touring backwater UFO spots. When they get a close encounter of the third kind with a friendly affable alien fellow called Paul, they’re roped into a bumbling rescue plan to get him back to the mothership and out of the clutches of federal agents.

Black Swan screening

Poker Night

ghts Nerve, guts and schadenfreude this is just for fun (with a small buy-in) but enjoy the thrill of the game and the banter of the table. Spot a cheeky chancer bluffing their way into the lead, or be that cheeky chancer stunning all comers with a jammy royal flush. Come to Poker Night and learn the game. It’s simple to pick up and tricky to be great at. But there again, it’s all about luck, right? Beginners welcome.

From Darren Aronofsky, director of The Wrestler and Requiem for a Dream, Black Swan is a dark and threatening thriller. Envy and jealousy in the world of professional ballet, Natalie Portman plays Nina, a dancer under extreme scrutiny and pressure from her pushy mother whose role in a major show comes under threat from new talented rival.

February

MEMBERS’ EVENTS HIGHLIGHTS

Music Sessions Thanks to our partnership with the folks from the Barclaycard Mercury Prize we profile some top live acts in our TV Studio. Recently we’ve been treated to some amazing sets from the likes of the hard rockin’ Band of Skulls, melodic scousers The Coral and the thrilling Everything Everything. If you’d like to be the first to hear about new musical events in the Club, head online and join the Music Sessions group. Be sure to check out the Barclaycard Mercury Prize Sessions with The Hospital Club on Channel 4 on Friday nights (they’re also available again on 4oD).

Gnomeo and Juliet screening Creative Capital A meeting of minds where specialists are brought in to discuss hot topics of the moment, ranging from business to creativity. There’s plenty of opportunity to join the discussion, pose questions and chat to like minded folk. Recently we’ve debated future scenarios for the Internet, designers crossing boundaries to inspire with performance and raising venture capital in the age of austerity/skintness.

Our special relationship with our stateside chums reaches its zenith in February with this animated tale of gnomes, adventure and romance, co-produced by British & US based animators and voice actors. Loosely based on the play written by that famous bard bloke, star crossed gnome love is in trouble when neighbourhood feuds and rampaging lawnmowers threaten the path of true love.

March

Book Club Quite literally a literary heaven. Share thoughts with fellow bookworms on up and coming novels; see insight into those allegories that you didn’t first grasp; challenge yourself and reap the rewards of a flourishing vocabulary bought about by such an effortless insight into literature. If you’re well behaved we’ll give you a copy of the book to read in time for the next month’s critique.

Sucker Punch screening Zach Snyder’s follow up to Watchmen is another hyper-reality feast of comic book violence and fantasy following the plight of mental patient Babydoll, her mission to escape and take revenge on her evil stepfather. Jumping between reality and imagination, she enlists the help of a gang of equally oppressed young lassies and springs into action.

Cocktail Competition

Route Irish screening

Once a month we give you the opportunity to make up some crafty concoctions with a different spirit each month. The most delectable and quaffable creation of the night will be awarded a coveted place on the pages of The Hospital Club cocktail menu for a month, and full bragging rights in the Martini Lounge. Keep a keen eye on the events page online for other tempting tasting events.

Ken Loach tweaks the tail of the controversy tiger in this story based around controversial contractors out to make some fast money from privatised contracts during the post 9/11 Iraq war. Route Irish is the nickname given to the most dangerous road in Iraq between Baghdad and the airport, and in the wake of his best friend’s death on said road, Fergus rejects the official explanation of events and investigates to find the truth.

Quiz Night If you’re in the know then you’ll be aware that once a month members can bring in a team of worldly wise friends and take part in our evening for the generally knowledgeable; alternatively, it’s time for some drinks, some laughs and a chance to make up silly teams names and win prizes whilst exploring your pop culture wisdom.

The Adjustment Bureau screening Agents of fate are out to get us and change the course of time! Or is this just a paranoid delusion? Ambitious politico David (Matt Damon) has ambitions that seem to depend on getting together with the lady of his dreams Elise (Emily Blunt). But mysterious forces seem determined to keep them apart. Looks like he’ll have to get all Bourne Supremacy on their asses to secure his uncertain future… For more detailed information, check out our ‘Events’ section at www.thehospitalclub.com

The Guide January

February

March

until 30 Jerry Sadowitz, at the Leicester Square Theatre

4-6 The Kinetica Art Fair Ambika P3, University of Westminster

7- 10 Jack Bruce at Ronnie Scott’s

Not for the faint hearted, but he’s a dark master of sick and vicious humour and a deft magician to boot. Harsh, unpredictable and hilarious - if you want gentle observation, go to Michael McIntyre.

19 January – 25 April Gabriel Orozco exhibition Tate Modern

An exhibition of works by legendary Mexican artist Gabriel Orozco, famed for creating art from found objects. He uses sculpture, photography, painting and video to explore philosophical conundrums via whimsy and paradox.

13 January to 5 March Becky Shaw at Almeida Theatre Gina Gionfriddo’s comedy of bad manners is a twisted tale of love, sex and warped morals among a quartet of men and women in their 30s. Compulsive, bracing and viciously funny. Directed by Peter DuBois.

29 (6pm to 2am) Long Night of Museums Berlin, Germany Between Glienicke Palace, the Museum at the Waterplant Friedrichshagen and the Museum of Local History Reinickendorf – more than 100 museums give access to their exhibitions throughout the night. After that, drop by Berghain/Panorama Bar, Berlin’s uber afterhours hotspot, housed in a former power generation plant.

13 January - 5 February As You Like it Roundhouse Studio Theatre RSC artistic director Michael Boyd’s interpretation of Shakespeare’s pastoral comedy.

25 The Walkmen on tour 02 Shepherds Bush Empire Touring the UK throughout January to promote their excellent album ‘Lisbon’. Intense, gripping and brilliant live.

Last year, the show boasted holographic light beings, robots and a milk float orchestra. Showcasing the creative bridge between technology and art, this exhibition is never less than dazzling. Held in a 14,000 square foot, triple height space, converted from the vast former concrete construction hall for the University of Westminster’s School of Engineering.

17 - 23 Anna Nicole - world première Royal Opera House The Royal Opera’s latest wheeze is its first from British composer Mark-Anthony Turnage. Anna Nicole retells the story of the Playboy pin-up who married rich and died young. Music director Antonio Pappano conducts Richard Jones’ production starring Eva-Maria Westbroek.

24, 7pm Chris Cunningham at The Roundhouse Creator of legendary videos for artists ranging from Aphex Twin and Squarepusher to Madonna and Bjork. Cunningham presents a live multimedia AV show featuring remixed, unreleased and brandnew videos. Expect face melting electronica and eye watering visuals.

24 February to 12 March Madam Butterfly Royal Albert Hall The floor of the Royal Albert Hall will be flooded with water to create David Roger’s audacious in-the-round design, where Madam Butterfly’s house is perched on stilts above the shimmering surface of a traditional Japanese water garden. What more do you want?

The greatest bass player of all time? Some say so. Bruce rose to fame in Cream as the singer/songwriter in the band and was as much a star as Clapton. Catch a rock legend and extrordinary talent in this rare four-night run.

3 Afghanistan: Crossroads of the Ancient World The British Museum Over 200 objects from the National Museum of Afghanistan in Kabul will be on display. Dating from 2000 BC to the 1st century AD, it’s the first time since 1967 that a significant number of works from Afghanistan have travelled here. Don’t mention the war.

2 March - 18 June Noël Coward’s Blithe Spirit at the Apollo Theatre Alison Steadman returns to the London stage for Thea Sharrock’s production of a play that’s been a hit comedy since 1941. With Steadman at the helm, this is bound to be a storming sell out.

25 Primal Scream O2 Brixton Academy 20 years after Primal Scream released their seminal debut ‘Screamadelica’ the band play the album in its entirety. The gigs conclude at Brixton Academy on March 25. Just what is it that you want to do? We wanna be free. We wanna be free to do what we wanna do. And we wanna get loaded. And we wanna have a good time.

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