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Cover Story
8 De-cheese your Valentine’s Whether you’re a couple needing inspiration, a singleton looking for love, or hate Valentine’s Day, we’ve got the solution for you. And it doesn’t involve roses and chain Italian restaurants
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4 Scouted Date Night, Places That Change Your Life, Book Now, Last Chance London
COVER PHOTO: JUDEPICS / THE BIG PICTURE: Uxbridge, by Charles Paine, 1921
6 Talent Scout Opera Gallery London director Jean-David Malat tells us about his favourite London haunts
The Big Picture
Sections 17 20 27 28 32 34 38 40 48 55
London Food & Drink Shopping Art & Culture Comedy Film Small Screen Music Theatre Competition
Some of the best Tube posters from 150 years are being exhibited – page 28
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The most fun you’ve had since childhood Half term activities aren’t just for kids, y’know
P
etulant brats or adorable darlings? However you view children, you’d best brace yourself for a week in which the city is theirs for the taking. This is half term week, and with it come scores of events designed specifically for kids…well, sort of. Although there’s a raft of activities on aimed directly at young people of all ages, London has wised-up to the fact that the really successful holiday events are those that parents enjoy as well. That’s how you end up with
# love
things like the Imagine Children’s Festival at the Southbank Centre. Yes, it’s aimed at children, but holy My Little Pony is there a lot of cross-generational appeal! If Noel Clarke hadn’t preemptively nicked the phrase from us and used it for a far less wholesome film, we’d say Imagine was the very definition of ‘kidulthood’. Take Mouth Open Story Jump Out, for example. An interactive show by Polarbear, a rapper-turnedmajorly-talented-spoken-wordartist, it’ll see him regaling kids (and
Date Night
gripped parents) with a story about international assassins, secret codes and a dog-eating boa constrictor. Like, OMGWTFLOL, that sounds frickin’ awesome. And then there’s Earth’s Dinosaur Petting Zoo, a kind of War Horse meets Jurassic Park shin-dig, just without any war, trenches or peckish raptors, but tons of fun to fill the gaps. Seriously, if you don’t have kids, you’ll probably want to steal one just so you can go along to this (please don’t actually do that – it’s frowned upon these days).
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And the same goes for The Great Escape: A Borrower’s Tale, which is based on the classic novel about the little people who live beneath the floorboards, and will see children led off on a clue-finding mission around the Southbank Centre. In fact, this one really is just for kids (ages six to 11). Damn you Southbank! But nae bother, making up for such outrageous discrimination is a show aimed directly at adults (in a kids’ festival – go figure). Bryony Kimmings’ Mega is a show “for children of the 80s and 90s… those
The one where you get dirty... VENUE Hackney City Farm PRICE £ PERFECT FOR The girl/guy you’d like to take home to mum
It’s a universally-accepted fact that people who are nice to babies and animals are nice to mums also. So do a quick spot check on your partner’s mumgreeting suitability by taking them for a day at the farm. Here you’ll have the chance to pet all your childhood favourites – goats, cows, donkeys, pigs, sheep, rabbits, guinea pigs and chickens (Can you pet a chicken? Worth a try) – before enjoying a nice cuppa and cake slice or roast lunch in 4
Nostalgia Bryony Kimmings’ Mega is for 80s and 90s kids
Frizzante, the on-site restaurant, which only uses fresh, local ingredients. Finish up by stocking up on mum-pleasing bribes such as eggs and chutney in the farm shop. hackneycityfarm.co.uk
FACT TO ENTERTAIN
If a goat and a sheep get amorous their baby is called a geep.
IT’S GOING WELL ...
You’re a 10 minute walk from the Birdcage pub on Columbia Road.
YOU NEED TO ESCAPE
Pretend you’ve trodden in pig poo and need to go home and change your shoes.
05: Maison Bertaux, Soho Victory is sweet The Great Escape: A Borrower’s Tale, coming to the Southbank Centre
who remember MC Hammer, Hubba Bubba, the running man, Global Hypercolour and the summer when Gazza cried his eyes out”. That would be us then. The specifics we’re not yet sure of, but we know it’s a trip down memory lane in a much better than those “I love the...” programmes because that you get to do it with a loaned Walkman, while wearing a specially-supplied shell suit. ’Nuff said. Anyway, the point of all this is that so-called kids’ events can be
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way more fun than adults might ever have imagined, and that the Imagine Festival might have got its name for that very reason (but probably not). So, if you don’t already have kids, find a friend or relative who does and get down to the Southbank Centre. And if you don’t know anyone with kids, well, you might just have to miss out. As cool as it all sounds, going on your own would just be weird. Imagine Children’s Festival, Southbank Centre, February 1124, southbankcentre.co.uk
Beyonce
The O2, April 29-May 3 on sale February 23 theo2.co.uk
Mare Rider Arcola Theatre Closes Sat Feb 16
last chance
LONDON
Cirque Du Soleil: Kooza Royal Albert Hall Closes Thur Feb 14 Journey’s End Greenwich Theatre Closes Sun Feb 17 Hamlet The Space Closes Sat Feb 16
GET IN TOUCH
Jeremy Hunter: High Resolutions Atlas Gallery Closes Sat Feb 16 Constable, Gainsborough, Turner and the Making of Landscape Royal Academy Closes Sun Feb 17 The Wind in the Willows Polka Theatre Closes Sat Feb 16
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Fleetwood Mac The O2 September 24 theo2.co.uk
Sour Lips Ovalhouse Theatre Closes Sat Feb 16
If you love nostalgia like a fat kid loves cake – and you’re also quite fond of cake – head down to Maison Bertaux on Greek Street. Established in 1817, it’s London’s oldest patisserie, but the bread, scones, pastries and croissants are morning-fresh, baked in a kitchen above the shop. Far from your average coffeebucks, this traditionallyFrench institution has that step-back-in-time mildreds.co.uk quality
and boasts three tea rooms, one of which features an impressive array of modern art (including work by Noel Fielding). The downstairs shop even has an accordion and a French piano, both of which are tinkled on occasion. Not as cheap as your local bakers, but the ambiance is delightful, the owners Michele and Tania are a hoot and the cakes are beyond compare. maisonbertaux.com
Send us your favourite spots of inspiration by email, Twitter or Facebook. You might end up in Scouted.
A$AP Rocky
O2 Brixton Academy May 21&22 o2brixtonacademy.co.uk
Harry Hill
Hammersmith Apollo March 26 & April 11 hammersmithapollo.com
BAD MEANING GOOD
BAD MEANING BAD
House of Cards. We needed a new series. We’ve found one. Social lives are on hold while we devour this Kevin Spacey/ David Fincher political thriller.
Another week, another London venue announces its closure. Kentish Town’s legendary Bull and Gate will become a gastropub in May.
We like this
We don’t like this
The Dreamer Examines His Pillow Old Red Lion Theatre Closes Sat Feb 16 Luisa Omielan: What Would Beyonce Do? Soho Theatre Closes Sat Feb 16
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Jean-David Malat Art dealer
Let’s go for a drink – Scout’s buying. Where shall we go? The Little House in Mayfair. It is the new place from Soho House Group. At around 7pm every day, they have a live band or a pianist playing. I really like the art-media crowd and the atmosphere. Sounds cool. Now how about a bit to eat? My favourite place to eat is Entrecôte in Marylebone Lane. It’s not far from my house, and the menu is very simple but lovely. Also, the house wine there is just perfect. But they don’t take reservations.
Scout London Cover Stars 0027 Joshua Checkley, 22, Freelance illustrator and cook, Camberwell
What in London inspires you? The speed of london causes people to act in special ways, things get left to the last minute and are sometimes done by half. This causes quirky changes to the structural way of life in the city.
better than looking at the floor.
Any London secrets to share? It would be quite cliché to say the skyline, but when you look up the reflections in the windows are a lot
How important is London in your work? As architectural development is a constant here, it’s great inspiration
Favourite part of London? Camberwell. Since moving here to study in 2009 I haven’t really wanted to be anywhere else. People don’t know enough about all the amazing things south of the river.
What’s a great cultural experience you’ve had recently? The last great cultural experience that I had in London was the pop-up show I curated with Opera Gallery London in Shoreditch, called Urban Masters. It featured 33 street artists from around the world who came together for a group show to pay homage to the art masters that inspired them to become artists. What’s your favourite outdoor spot in the capital? I love the Brick Lane area because it is full of culture. Every time I go there, I find some new street art on the walls, new bars and new restaurants. At the weekend I love to go to The Tramshed, a new steakhouse nearby. It is not only an incredible place to eat, but at the same time you can enjoy some of the latest contemporary art on the market. Contemporary Emotion opens on February 13 at Opera Gallery London, operagallery.com
for me as I mainly work with manmade imagery. What’s next for you? I’ll keep working on my personal stuff but mainly I’ll be working on my collectives stall at Pick Me Up. You can find out more at our website: day-job.org See more at: joshuacheckley.co.uk
Hey there, are you a talented creative? Fancy decorating the Scout London logo that appears on our cover each week? We welcome London-based artists, designers, illustrators, photographers. Get in touch: talent@scoutlondon.com 6
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Jean-David Malat is the director of the Opera Gallery London in New Bond Street. Having trained at Sotheby’s, he is now a wellknown mentor to up-and-coming contemporary artists such as Joe Black, Nick Gentry and Zoobs, and an art advisor to the likes of Jude Law, Pierce Brosnan, Dolce & Gabbana and Lionel Richie.
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e n T e R T A I n M e n T
Valentine’s ideas that don’t suck L et’s face it – Valentine’s Day is a made-up holiday. St Valentine was also the patron saint of bees and the plague, but you don’t see people marking the occasion by lying around in mass graves, smearing themselves with honey. However, as made up holidays go, it’s one that’s difficult to ignore, be you coupled-off or single.
Contrary to popular belief, there’s loads for singles to do in London on Valentine’s Day – it’s actually become a popular time to try and meet someone. And as for couples, you’re as spoilt for choice as ever – just don’t give in to the same old dinner routine. We’ve delved deep in to the core of London’s social scene to round up some of the coolest ways to get the heart racing. No bees in sight.
By Nicky Williams
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If you’re coupled up... You want some old fashioned romance (and you’re a bit cheap) Valentine @ late, February 14
Take a step back in time without the help of a Delorean by booking in to The Museum of London’s annual Valentine Late. This year the theme is the 1920s, so you and your beau will be invited to dance the Charleston, listen to talks on 20s style, fashion and sexuality, and sip Absinthe until the hallucinations drive you mad with lust. Not enough for you? The London Wall Bar & Kitchen just next door is offering cheap drinks with a ticket from the event. Also, it’s only £7 per head. There aren’t many places that’ll give you so much for under a tenner tonight. £7, museumoflondon.org.uk
Dance encounter You can dance the Charleston at the Museum of London
You’re a hedonist:
Wordsmith Dr Johnson
Claudia Dewald , getty / JOSEPH SCHERSCHEL, getty / National maritime museum
You’re a history buff and have some walking shoes
The Love Nest Valentine’s Ball, February 14-16
You want dinner and a show:
Deep within the vaults of the Old Vic Tunnels near Waterloo lurks your host, the Artful Badger, who will be laying on two rocking rooms of live music, DJs, kissograms, a secret Japanese Shibari room, a spanking parlour, body painting, fancy dress and other decadence. You’ll be able to woo your love with the Peacock Mating Dance or retire with them to a giant love nest – all to the backdrop of deep house, funk, techno and shimmering disco beats.
If you long for honour, valour and men in tights, this is the show for you. Unlike static theatre, here at the Medieval Banquet the action comes to you. You’ll be invited to don a Venetian mask and taught the Medieval version of Gangnam Style, before being seated and served a sumptuous feast in this ancient historic banqueting hall in St Katherine’s Dock. And all the while, minstrels, contortionists and jesters will be on hand to entertain. You’re in for a good knight (sorry).
£15-£25, secretgardenparty.com
£60, medievalbanquet.com
You’re long distance lovers
Dr Johnson’s Valentine’s Ramble, February 14
Love in the Archives, February 14
“Every minute’s like an hour. Every hour’s like a day. Every day lasts forever. But what else can I do?” Not every love letter can have the emotional cadence of a JLS song, but these never before seen love letters, displayed for one night only at the National Maritime Museum’s Caird Library, do try. After browsing the displays of letters sent by sailors in days of yore to their land-locked lovers, you’ll be whisked to the 16 Seconds West Brasserie for an exclusive three-course meal and a glass of Prosecco, while musicians serenade you with sweet, sweet music. All the romance of a sea captain and his wench, just without the scurvy.
Part tour, part live theatre piece, this event will take you from a historic townhouse in the City through ancient alleys, mournful churchyards and moonlit gardens as London historian and Guardian journalist Dr Matthew Green regales the tale of Dr Samuel Johnson – the man who revolutionised the dictionary. You’ll meet actors and musicians along the way, and hear a raft of exciting and amusing stories about damsels in distress, a bizarre love triangle and a “devious, oyster-guzzling cat”. The tour takes you through some real beauty spots and ends with champagne, chocolates and a stunning view on Waterloo Bridge. £17.50, johnsonvalentinetour.eventbrite.com
The Medieval Banquet’s Valentine’s Masquerade Ball, February 14
Jealous of Hardy? Emma Hamilton, Nelson’s love
£96 for two, rmg.co.uk scoutlondon.com Scout London
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If you’re coupled up... You’re Valentine’s cynics:
Natural History Museum’s Beauty and the Beasts Valentine’s Special After Hours Night Safari, February 13-14
You are yet to do the deed:
40 Winks Bedtime Stories Tales of Love Lust and Longing, February 13-15 Hugh Hefner understands the merits of good lounge wear, and so will you after this grown-up, pre-bedtime story session. Put on your poshest PJs and settle down with a delicious Hendrick’s cocktail and a selection of nibbles as you’re read a charming bedtime tale by storytellers Cat Weatherill and Sally Pomme Clayton at the acclaimed 40 Winks hotel. There is also music from Maud Madlyn and The Tiger’s Bride, as well as games and a £300 prize for the most glamourous nightwear. While the cost doesn’t include a bed for the night (the hotel has only three rooms and is one of the most exclusive in London) you’re only a slipper shuffle away from Stepney Green station and the last tube home. Ideal for a couple yet to consummate their relationship, because what’s there to do after a night-cap but go to bed? £30, 40winks.org
£28, nhm.ac.uk
A fin line A beastly fish
You never got the girl/guy back in school:
The Book Club’s Teen Dreams Prom, February 14 Remember all those high school movies you watched as a kid? Well what event was the pinnacle of every teenagers’ romantic coming-of-age? That’s right, the prom. And yet, the closest most of us Brits get to this moment is the sweaty and largely segregated school disco. Thankfully, The Book Club in Shoreditch is giving us a second bite at the cherry. Here you can play Yank teen games such as Beer Pong and Seven Minutes in Heaven, while also telling your “This one time, at band camp” stories for prizes. There will be plenty of booze, mac’n’cheese, spicy chicken wings and prom-themed movies screened downstairs, while the basement DJs will help you recreate that all-important slow dance. £5, wearetbc.com
Flower-buying tips by McQueens founder and celebrity florist Kally Ellis For a woman I think all flowers are a symbol of love, but you should think about your loved one’s personality and what flowers reflect it. Some people just go for roses, but that’s a bit of a cliché. Roses are also available all year round, so it’s nice to think about
something more specific to the time of year, such as anemones, ranunculus, forget me nots or even daffodils. Also, remember that small, simple and exquisite is often far more tasteful than a big statement. The temptation with young love is to go all-out, but if you want your relationship to last I would
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tone it down. However, if you’ve been in a relationship for a long time then size definitely matters. Either way, I’d go for yellows, pale blues, soft pinks – pretty, blousy tones.
For a man It’s no longer an embarrassment to buy flowers for a man. There are so many metrosexual men out there now, it’s just a question of the appreciation of beauty. I would probably stick to one type of flower,
because a mixed bouquet can become quite pretty and feminine. One type of flower can have more of a big, bold, monochrome statement, possibly with a bit of twiggery, pussy willow or blossom. I would suggest dark burgundy tulips – they’re sensual, they’re inexpensive and they’re quite a young flower.
george marks, getty / anemone projectors / the moviestore collection ltd
Bedtime fun Stories at the 40 Winks hotel
This event is perfect for new couples or those who can’t bear public romance. Why? Because there’s not much in the world that’s less demanding of awkward romantic gestures than fossils and reptilian bones (if your partner doesn’t agree, it might be time to look elsewhere). However, museums are great fun for dates – full of conversation-starters and what not. On this occasion you can choose between the Beauty and Beasts sides of the tour, where you’ll either be dazzled by the wonder and beauty of the natural world or be shown just how grim Mother Nature can be. Either way, the bar’s open and the pop-up restaurant serves delicious traditional English fare such as venison and wild boar stew, dumplings and mash. Far tastier than some of the post-copulation snacks you’ll have just learnt about at the exhibition.
If you’re single... You’re up for a wild night: The Valentine’s Animal Love Party in aid of Save the Rhino, February 14
Prom time Live your teen movie dreams with a high school prom at The Book Club
Your first love is film: H Armstrong Roberts, Getty / ejen chuang, getty / ryan lane, getty / MOVIESTORECOLLECTION.com
A classic movie at BFI Southbank, February 14 If you can’t be doing with the sight of over-amorous couples spooning gloopy pasta into each other’s mouths, this is the date for you. The BFI is screening five classic love movies in honour of St V: A Place in the Sun, A Matter of Life and Death, Weekend, A Perfect Ending and From Here to Eternity. While the cinema might not be the most inspired choice, it’s the BFI, so think super-comfy chairs and a swirl of sophistication (and far less popcorn throwing and loud talking). If you don’t fancy any of those, the Prince Charles Cinema is screening Breakfast at Tiffany’s (£6.50, princecharlescinema.com), and Riverside Studios is showing the immortal Casablanca (£8.50, riversidestudios. co.uk). “You must remember this...” £5.25-£10, whatson.bfi.org.uk Screen romance Montgomery Clift and Elizabeth Taylor in A Place in the Sun
Fancy dress Go wild at the Animal Love Party
You’re on the pull:
Slagbox Suck My Valentine at The Shackwell Arms, February 14 Slagbox is a singles night for people who hate singles nights. Sound like a cliché? Well, it is, but in a delightful way. You bring a friend of the opposite sex, get given a number to wear, then make your way to the dance floor. When a dreamboat catches your eye, you make a beeline for the compère, then write a note to your chosen sexpot, addressing them by their number and signing it off with your own, which is thrown in the Slagbox. The compère reads these notes out throughout the night, the idea being your eyes will then meet across the crowded dance floor and the world will turn all swirly. At the very worst, keep your ears open and you’ll know who to avoid, because the weirdos will be clearly stickered. £5, slagbox.com
You’re angry:
You’re cordially invited to the wildest party in town – literally. Hosted by The Last Tuesday Society, the Animal Love Party at Islington Metal Works in Angel encourages you to think like a beast, dress like a beast and act like a beast, by throwing on a colourful costume (be warned: no costume, no entry) and enjoying such beastly delights as the Animal Cinema, live music, hot tubs, ball pits, candy floss and chocolate fountains. It’s worth making the effort: 10 per cent of all proceedings will be donated to Save The Rhino and The Last Tuesday Society Institute for Beastly Transformation will be awarding The Order Of The Golden Snout to the best dressed Beasts. Try to keep leg humping to a minimum. £20, savetherhino.org
Want to end up like us? Try speed hating at the Blues Kitchen
Speed Hating, February 14
With their strict ‘no couples’ policy, this is one place you won’t bump in to your ex and that moron they dumped you for. Speed Hating at the Blues Kitchen in Camden encourages you to vent your dating peeves on a giant pin board while playing games, drinking copious amounts of booze and stuffing your face with sticky, calorific soul food. Big groups are welcome, as is talk about bacon. With all the fun and games, you might even meet someone you don’t detest – though that’s not the point. FREE, theblueskitchen.com scoutlondon.com Scout London
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If you’re single...
Dating disaster Shaggers’ Christian Schulte-Loh
You’ve been dumped:
Shaggers Valentine’s Special, February 14 It’s happened to the best of us: one minute you’re picking out place mats in Ikea, the next you’re beating them round the head with place mats in Ikea and picking up a frozen meal for one. Laughter is the best medicine, and laughing at other people’s misery is a double dose, so get down to Shaggers at the Leicester Square Theatre and laugh as the comedians spill the beans on dating mishaps, bad bedroom experiences and awful encounters. Hearing these tales of dating woe from comedians Christian Schulte-Loh, Paul Revill, Sameena Zehra, Toby Adams and Larry Dean should help to put your own disasters into perspective. £10, leicestersquaretheatre.com
Single ladies Comedian Luisa Omielan
You’re terminally single:
Luisa Omielan’s What Would Beyonce Do, February 12-16 What would Beyonce do if she found herself single on Valentine’s Day? Well, she’d probably sell her story to a high class glossy and stick pins in her Jay-Z voodoo doll, but you don’t have that option. Absolutely pingpong old chap Hit the crap out of Valentine’s at Bounce Seeing comedy genius Luisa Omielan’s first solo show, What Would Beyonce Singles rules Strictly no romance at Bounce Do?, at Soho Theatre would probably be her second choice. The show is Bounce Anti-Valentine’s, February 14 like a party with jokes, and you’re Say balls to Valentine’s Day with Bounce’s anti-Valentine’s encouraged to join in as Luisa bemoans pingpong and dance fest. They’ve banned slow dancing, kissing, her relationships, family, friends and red roses and other slushy gestures, so if you’re looking for the hard knock life that is being an candle light and schmaltz, this isn’t the place for you. For those independent woman still living at your of you with anger issues, there’s a Smash Your Ex game, or you mum’s house when you’re the wrong can join in the Cupid’s Day Off event, where Cupid’s inept work side of 30. You’ll laugh until you pee. experience student pairs-up bad matches and makes them Perfect for all the single ladies and compete in pingpong tournaments. laddies alike.
You’ve got a group of mates:
£15-£20, sohotheatre.com 12 Scout London scoutlondon.com
£10, bouncelondon.com
Exhibition sponsored by
presents & Asgard present
RICHARD THOMPSON
Wed 20 Feb I CARDIFF I St David’s Hall Thu 21 Feb I BIRMINGHAM I Symphony Hall Fri 22 Feb I BRIGHTON I Dome Sat 23 Feb I BRISTOL I Colston Hall Sun 24 Feb I CAMBRIDGE I Corn Exchange Mon 25 Feb I LONDON I 02 Shepherd’s Bush Empire Tue 26 Feb I LONDON I Barbican SOLD OUT Thu 28 Feb I EDINBURGH I Usher Hall Fri 1 Mar I LIVERPOOL I Philharmonic Hall Sat 2 Mar I SHEFFIELD I City Hall Sun 3 Mar I GATESHEAD I The Sage Gateshead Mon 4 Mar I LEEDS I Irish Centre EXTRA DATE Wed 6 Mar I NOTTINGHAM I Royal Concert Hall
MARISA MONTE
Verdade Uma Ilusão Sunday 14 April London Hammersmith Apollo
,
GORAN BREGOVIC
Thu 7 Mar I BEXHILL I De La Warr Pavilion Fri 8 Mar I BASINGSTOKE I Anvil SOLD OUT Sat 9 Mar I ST. ALBANS I Alban Arena EXTRA DATE Sun 10 Mar I SALFORD I The Lowry SOLD OUT
THE ELECTRIC TOUR New album Electric out Mon 11 Feb on Proper
Champagne for Gypsies Saturday 18 May London Royal Festival Hall
serious.org.uk
SWEET HONEY IN THE ROCK
Saturday 23 March London Barbican
SOUL REBELS
Sunday 12 May Norwich Theatre Royal
Full details of all shows can be found at serious.org.uk. Sign up to the Serious e-news for all the latest news and show information serious.org.uk/subscribe
MARIZA
Monday 13 May London Barbican Tuesday 14 May Norwich Theatre Royal
RODRIGUEZ
Searching for Sugarman Saturday 8 June London Hammersmith Apollo
If you’re single...
You like to understand the science of stuff:
Lluis Real, Getty / Buena vista images, getty / MJM Pictures
How to Mend a Broken Heart, February 13
You’re off dating:
Down With Dating Valentine’s Special, February 13
Forget tea and sympathy, red wine and chocolate are the best ways to heal a broken heart according to the bods at Bart’s Pathology Museum in Smithfield. At this popular event you’ll be plied with such remedies as the doctors detail the procedures that really do ‘mend broken hearts’, such as coronary artery bypass surgery, valve replacements and heart transplants, with the aid of video footage and computer graphics. Later, they’ll bring specimens down from the labs for you to gawk over. There will be a raffle in aid of the British Heart Foundation, with the top prize being a box of anatomical heart cupcakes donated by baker to the stars Lily Vanilli. Deliciously dark and not a red rose in sight.
Roses are red, violets are blue, and if you hate people, this event is for you. Run by the founders of The Feeling Gloomy club night (an event of solely maudlin tunes), this anti-dating dating night at The Phoenix near Oxford Circus promises “the most alternative way to meet people you will ever find”. The bar is bedecked with wilted blooms, while heartbreakers and tearjerkers are blasted through the speakers. If you change your mind and want some company they’ll be holding events such as Speed Hating and Blind Hate to help you find someone you can barely tolerate for the rest of your life. After all, misery loves company.
£6, eshop.qmul.ac.uk
£10, feelinggloomy.com
You like a drink and you’re open to meeting someone:
All About Sharing at Ben’s Canteen, February 14 As any single person knows, there’s no better coupling than good alcohol and good food, and Ben’s Canteen has both in abundance. You’ll be greeted on the door with a Sipsmith G&T before being shown how to make two delicious cocktails to wow your friends at your next party. Sharing platters are the dish de jour alongside a decadent chocolate fondue. Tickets are split into boys and girls to ensure an equal mix of both sexes. And there’s no chance of going home empty handed – each guest will be given a delightful goodie bag. So if you don’t pull, you can always eat your emotions.
The science of love How to Mend a Broken Heart at Bart’s
Two’s company The Scotch egg at Ben’s Canteen
£38, benscanteen.com scoutlondon.com Scout London 15
Theatre Bench in association with Ros Povey & Perfect Pitch
MUST END 24 FEB! The world premiere of a new musical by Craig Adams and Ian Watson about love, life and loss in a London lift.
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‘Knock-out performances.’
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‘A strong cast... Cynthia Erivo gives thrilling vocal expression.’
‘Engaging, funny and a definite stand-out.’
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Londonist
Blag it
Crash London Fashion Week
‘Frow’ invite lost in the post? Zoe Craig has some hot tips on how to get the best out of London Fashion Week without the hot ticket
F
or 10 days from Friday, London will be going fashion mad. Celebrities, models, designers, stylists and a slew of other fashion glitterati will be descending on the city in an insatiable clamour for glamour. For the rest of us, however, it can feel like we’re kids again, watching our older, cooler siblings go out to brilliant parties that we’re not invited to.
But it doesn’t have to be that way – you don’t need to be front row at the Tom Ford show to enjoy the event. London Fashion Week boasts accessible shows from high street labels such as Topshop, River Island and Whistles, plus new digital innovations and lots of tie-in events. All of which means that some of the event’s sizzling atmosphere is finally opening up to us civilians.
For the more ballsy among us, the obvious first approach is to use chat and charm to try and blag your way into a live catwalk show. Fashion blogger Milly Kenny-Rider of thoroughlymodernmilly.com suggests these insider tips: “Plan ahead: do your research, know your stuff and don’t be late, as the shows fill really early. Be polite and persistent with any clipboard Nazis you might encounter. If all else fails, disguise yourself as Anna Wintour with a bobbed wig, Chanel suit and massive shades.”
Go virtual A far more fool-proof solution is simply to avoid the queues and uncomfortable seating by enjoying LFW from the comfort of your own laptop (no-one will care that you’re actually slurping tea in a slanket at the same time). Last year, 70 per cent of the shows were livestreamed, accessories designer Anya Hindmarch pasted her LFW highlights on Pinterest and there were live Twitter Q&As from fashion stars such as Matthew Williamson.
Step back in time While top London fashion designers whinny on about “retro detailing”, you can see the real deal at Retrospective, a catwalk celebration of all things vintage. Sashay along to the Bloomsbury Ballroom on February 16 to enjoy fashionable blasts from the past by Dior, Chanel and Givenchy. Featuring top designer vintage outfitters (Lucy in Disguise, Vintage Modes, Catherine Walker and Violet’s Box), it mixes up tailored treasures from the 20s through to the 80s. fashionretrospective.com
Tasteful treats Get a taste of the highlife with a LWF-inspired cocktail or afternoon tea. Official LFW hotel The Mayfair is offering a collection of shoe-themed cocktails designed by Manolo Blahnik, with names like The Velvet Mule (geddit?). Over at The Berkeley, the Prêt-àPortea continues to have top designers begging to have their efforts immortalised in mouthwatering mousses and cakes. themayfairhotel.co.uk/lfw-designer-cocktails the-berkeley.co.uk/fashion-afternoon-tea
Get the look If you want the latest one-off designs from the catwalk, you’ll have to be in the know and fairly well-off. But with a little legwork, you can find unique designer looks for less in London. Boys can bag a bargain at the Designer Warehouse Sale from February 15-17; vintage lovers should sharpen their elbows for the Clerkenwell Vintage Fashion Fair LFW event on February 17; and everyone else should try the Designer Jumble Sale (February 15-19), which has pieces donated by models, editors and stylists at a fraction of their original cost, all in aid of charidee, daaahling. designerwarehousesales.com clerkenwellvintagefashionfair.co.uk facebook.com/DesignerJumbleSale
Wait For The Weekend You’ll need to wait until Fashion Week itself is over (call it being fashionably late), but you can get your fix at London Fashion Weekend once all the morselmunching models, diva-ish designers and their fash-pack entourages have moved on. There’ll be catwalk shows, exclusive shops, high-profile talks and other fashionista fabulousness at Somerset House from February 21-24. londonfashionweekend.co.uk scoutlondon.com Scout London 17
Facts, Fiction And Philosophy at London School Of Economics, Houghton Street, WC2A 2AE Temple From Jan 21, Mon-Fri 10am-8pm, ends Mar 2, FREE. An exhibition presented by the LSE Language Centre. Until Mar 2. Fruit And Vegetable Market: Workshop at Chelsea Theatre, World’s End Place, SW10 0DR Sloane Square Wed 11am-3.30pm, phone for prices. A small market that provides the local Community with the opportunity to buy affordable fruit and vegetables. Until Feb 27.
Monday February 11
Mimma Miccolis will lead rehearsals for this very large scale dance event.
Tuesday February 12 An Evening With Andrew Motion: Poetry reading at Lauderdale House, Highgate Hill, Waterlow Park, N6 5HG Archway £12.50, 8pm. The poet reads his poetry. Lyrically Challenged at Passing Clouds, Richmond Road, E8 4AA Dalston Kingsland £3, FREE before 10pm, 7pm. Poetry readings and an open mic. Resolution! 2013: Company Ben Abbes/Tamar Daly & Nicolette Corcoran/Kaonashi: Mixed Programme (White Room/Decode This/Fade) at The Place: Robin Howard Dance Theatre, 17 Duke’s Road, WC1H 9PY Euston £14, concs £11, 8pm. Triple bill of modern dance pieces.
Wednesday February 13 Alastair Sooke: Roy Lichtenstein: The Architect Of Pop Art: Talk at Victoria & Albert Museum, Cromwell Road, SW7 2RL South Kensington £15, adv booking required, 7pm-8.45pm. Talk by the Daily Telegraph art critic and broadcaster. Hammer & Tongue at The Green Note Cafe, 106 Parkway, NW1 7AN Camden Town £5, 7.30pm. Poetry slam. One Billion Rising London Flashmob at The Rose Lipman Building, 43 De Beauvoir Road, N1 5SQ Haggerston booking required FREE, book rehearsal classes via obr.londonflashmob@gmail. com, 7pm-9pm. Professional dancer
London Liming at Rich Mix, 35-47 Bethnal Green Road, E1 6LA Shoreditch High Street £8, concs £6, 7.30pm, doors. Spoken word and poetry performances with Soca, Brazilian and Reggae music.
Chill Pill Connects at Roundhouse, Chalk Farm Road, NW1 8EH Chalk Farm £5, 7pm. Poetry open mic, hosted by Mr Gee. Stephen Grosz And Andrew Solomon In Conversation With Cressida Connolly at Lutyens And Rubenstein Bookshop, 21 Kensington Park Road, W11 2EU Ladbroke Grove £8, 7pm, 6.30pm. The Examined Life distills over 50,000 hours of conversation into pure psychological insight.
Friday February 15
Carol Ann Duffy: Talk at Kings Place, 90 York Way, N1 9AG King’s Cross St Pancras £9.50, 7pm. The Poet Laureate reads from and discusses her book Love Poems. Last Man Standing at House Of Wolf, 181 Upper Street, N1 1RQ Highbury & Islington phone for prices, 7.30pm-11pm. Interactive quiz and stage challenges. The Moscow State Circus: Babushkins Secret at New Wimbledon Theatre, 93 The Broadway, SW19 1QG Wimbledon £15-£26, 8pm. The acclaimed circus performs its latest show of death-defying acrobatics.
Thursday February 14
Hartnell To Amies Couture Study Day at Fashion And Textile Museum, 83 Bermondsey Street, SE1 3XF Borough £60, NUS £45, 10.30am4.30pm. Explore the outfits in the exhibition, as well as the craft skills and training of the men and women who created them.
Live From Downing Street: The Inside Story Of Power, Politics And The Media: Lecture at London School Of Economics, Houghton Street, WC2A 2AE Temple FREE, 6.30pm-8pm. With Nick Robinson.
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Northern Line On Sunday: No service Camden Town to High Barnet / Mill Hill East until 8.30am southbound and 9am northbound and then Finchley Central to High Barnet and Mill Hill East until 12:00. London Overground No service Clapham Junction to Kensington (Olympia) on Saturday. On Sunday, no service Clapham Junction to Willesden Junction
For the latest information visit tfl.gov.uk
Saturday February 16 Come And Sing: Britten at Wigmore Hall, 36 Wigmore Street, W1U 2BF Bond Street £18, concs £10, 10am. Adult singing workshops, celebrating the 100th anniversary of Britten’s birth. London Children’s Bookswap at Rich Mix, 35-47 Bethnal Green Road, E1 6LA Shoreditch High Street FREE, 12noon-5pm. Swap old books. Slang At Sea at HMS Belfast, Morgan’s Lane, Tooley Street, SE1 2JH London Bridge FREE, plus admission £12.70, child FREE, concs £10.15, 11am12.30pm, 2pm-4pm, children must be accompanied. Find out about naval words.
Sunday February 17
Transport for London travel update
Central Line No service Woodford to Hainault via Grange Hill and no service Woodford to Laughton all weekend. Circle Line No service all weekend. Hammersmith & City line No service King’s Cross St. Pancras to Moorgate all weekend. Metropolitan Line No service Wembley Park to Northwood and Uxbridge and no service Baker Street to Aldgate all weekend.
Dancing Around Duchamp: In Conversation: The Bride Stripped Bare at Barbican Centre, Silk Street, EC2Y 8DS Barbican £10, adv £8, 7pm. A discussion about the legacy of Duchamp. John Hegley: Peace, Love & Potatoes at Jacksons Lane Theatre, 269a Archway Road, N6 5AA Highgate £14.95, concs £12.95, 8pm. Innovative performance poetry. Winding Of The Clocks: Talk at Wallace Collection, Hertford House, Manchester Square, W1U 3BN Bond Street FREE, 1pm-2pm. Conservation team members discuss the museum’s timepieces.
The Art Of The Amateur: Alan Rusbridger And Richard Sennett: Talk at London Review Bookshop, 14 Bury Place, WC1A 2JL Holborn £7, adv booking required, 7pm. Sociologist Sennett and editor Rusbridger discuss amateur musicians and their books. Ice Age Art: Curator’s Introduction at British Museum, Great Russell Street, WC1B 3DG Russell Square FREE, adv booking required, 1.15pm. Exhibition Curator Jill Cook discusses the exhibition. The talk is BSL interpreted. Dr. Sketchy at Royal Vauxhall Tavern, 372 Kennington Lane, SE11 5HY Vauxhall £15, adv £10, 8pm. A combined burlesque show and life class session.
Boroughs United 2013 at Hackney Empire, 291 Mare Street, E8 1EJ Hackney Central £5, 5pm. A variety show featuring singers and dancers from around the capital. Great Hall Sleepover at English Heritage: Eltham Palace, Court Yard, Off Court Road, SE9 5QE Eltham £85, child £75, mems £80, mems child £70, adv booking required, 7pm-9am. Stay the night at the childhood home of Henry VIII. Manga Comic Workshop (Over 7s) at British Museum, Great Russell Street, WC1B 3DG Russell Square FREE, ticketed, 11am, 2pm. Make a mangainspired comic story. Mwalimu Express at Rich Mix, 35-47 Bethnal Green Road, E1 6LA Shoreditch High Street FREE, 2pm. Experience African culture. Numbi Workshop at Rich Mix, 35-47 Bethnal Green Road, E1 6LA Shoreditch High Street £10, NUS/ concs £5, family £10, 11am-3pm. Explore how to use African dance and percussion. Vintage Fashion Fair at Hammersmith Town Hall, 275 King Street, W6 9LZ Hammersmith 10am-5pm £5, 8am10am £10, 8am-10am, 10am-5pm. Stalls and displays.
VICCHI
ONGOING
comono.co.uk
The London LaTin Music FesTivaL april
uk debut debut
the new band from OjOs de BrujO
beyond flamenco Part of the London flamenco festival
Village underground thursday 21 march doors 8pm
aLeXandeR aBReu Y havana d’PRiMeRa 12 April • Electric Brixton A Curva Da Cintura TouMani diaBaTe, aRnaLdo anTunes & edGaRd scanduRRa 12 April • Union Chapel Mexico Vs. Balkans Brass Band Battle: Banda esTReLLas de sinaLoa vs.BoBan & MaRKo MaRKovic 14 April • Barbican BuiKa 18 April • Union Chapel MaLa RodRiGueZ 18 April • Village Underground La RaZa: London LaTin hiP hoP FesTivaL 19 April • Rich Mix ana MouRa 20 April • Barbican MaRceLo BRaTKe 24 April • Purcell Room MeRidian BRoTheRs, chancha & eL G 25 April • Cargo www.lalineafestival.com @lalineafest lalineafestival
tickets £15 in advance + booking fee comono.co.uk ticketmaster ticketweb See tickets lenacay.com
fEATuRINg
quANTIc & MARIO gALEANO KOKO fRIdAY MAY 31 dOORs 7PM ONdATROPIcA ONsTAgE 8PM cOMONO.cO.uK ONdATROPIcA.cOM
PINK MARTINI Monday 29 April
ROYAL ALBERT HALL
comono.co.uk 020 7589 8212
ORquEsTA BuENA VIsTA sOcIAL cLuB™ fEATuRINg
ELIAdEs OcHOA OMARA PORTuONdO &
Monday 21 October
ROYAL ALBERT HALL
comono.co.uk 020 7589 8212
Valen-dines I
f you’re one of London’s loved-ups, Valentine’s Day is your chance to show it, and a romantic meal at a top restaurant is a sure-fire winner. If you’ve got the cash to splash, there’s no shortage of places to impress your loved one. From an aphrodisiac shellfish menu at renowned seafood restaurant Nathan Outlaw at The Capital
to a seven-course menu at Alyn Williams at the Westbury Hotel, which features lobster chowder and truffle-stuffed guinea fowl, London’s top restaurants are all laying it on in lavish style. Banca in Mayfair has put together three- and four-course menus that include beef carpaccio with black truffle and a grilled aged beef fillet. At The Old Brewery in
Greenwich, a set menu paired with beers from the adjoining Meantime experimental brewery is accompanied by a three-piece backing band. At Paradise in Kensal Green a special menu of sharing plates has been brought in to ensure maximum opportunity for sensuous interaction. A seafood platter of crab, oysters and pickled clams is followed by a whole
baked sea bass and a playful gooey chocolate pudding. Covent Garden’s Clos Maggiore, voted London’s most romantic restaurant, is going even further by pulling out duck and foie gras, as well as bespoke chocolate boxes to hide engagement rings in, should a diner wish to pop the question. You’ll find more Valentine’s options in our listings on page 24.
Top five foodie options for singles Don’t just stay at home and fill your face with the contents of your fridge. Get out to The Lucky Pig, where they’re putting on a couplesnubbing event perfect for large groups. Play It On The G-String is an evening of comedy and burlesque that’s accompanied by cocktails and porky meat platters. Clipstone Street, W1W 6BB theluckypig.co.uk
will be Craft Beer London author Will Hawkes and the brewery’s own Jo Miller, the only female brewery employee in London to have received the Beer Sommelier Accreditation. The event runs from 7pm-10pm and costs £25. Beer is included. Units 1 & 2 Yelverton Road, SW11 3QG sambrooksbrewery.co.uk
# 3 L augh at C ouples I n W apping Most singles try to avoid couples on Valentine’s night, but for waiting staff it’s unavoidable. Last year, the staff at Wapping Food got so bored by all the loving that they decided to turn the tables. This year, if couples want the £45 set menu, they
# 2 G et B eery E yed A t S ambrook ’ s The new bar at the Sambrook’s brewery in Clapham Junction is eschewing wining and dining in favour of a talk about beer. The only couple in question Cross-dressing dining The Wapping Project
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have to arrive cross-dressed. Head down with your mates for a laugh. Wapping Hydraulic Power Station, E1W 3SG thewappingproject.com
# 4 D rink F or L ess Whether you’re celebrating your freedom or commiserating your singledom, there’s no shortage of bars around town offering pick-me-up perks to those who are not in a relationship. At Zenna Bar in Soho, enjoy cocktails for £6.50 each and glasses of wine for a fiver; or get a free glass of Champagne on arrival at Babylon at The Roof Gardens just for being sans partner
# 5 E at C ake No, cake can’t replace love. But for one day only, it can help you laugh in the face of it. The barmy but brilliant Cakey Muto in Hackney has produced a range of cakes emblazoned with anti-Valentine’s messages. Go for “RIP Love” skull and crossbone cupcakes or take it a step further with “voodoo your ex” gingerbread figures. hatsworth Road, E5 0LH cakeymuto.com
Cake and mend Cakey Muto
CHAMELEONS eye, rex
# 1 P ig O ut
Top Ten Chocolate Shops
A Young Fine Chocolates, Wacky 1 Paul flavours; pioneered
Marmite truffles W1F 8WA Leicester Square
Curley Broad selection, plus a patisserie 2 William SW1W 8UN Victoria Ganaches including green tea, lavender 3 Demarquette and passionfruit SW10 9PZ Gloucester Road
Fresh chocolate truffles in aromatic flavours 4 Melange SE15 4BW Peckham Rye
Intricate and artistic creations, quality 5 Rococo, ingredients SW1X 8JU Knightsbridge
The UK’s oldest chocolatier, around for over 6 Prestat a century SW1Y 6DS Piccadilly Circus
7
Cocomaya Classic and inventive quaint boutique W2 2BS Marble Arch
Hefty dark chocolate slabs are a highlight 8 Melt W11 2AA Notting Hill Gate
& Jones Products from top chocolatiers the 9 Alexeeva world over W11 2QA Notting Hill Gate
du Chocolat Try chocolate cocktails as 10 Artisan you browse W2 4UL
Mews of Mayfair Mayfair £££ Tucked away behind the retail chaos of Bond Street, Mews of Mayfair is a slice of traditional British cuisine and service that feels miles away from the hustle and bustle. If you can find this welcoming eatery, nestled down a characterful Dickensian cobbled street, then you’re already in on one of London’s best kept secrets. And you’ll probably want to keep it that way. Hand-dived scallops have become a bit of a cliché of late, but with garnishes of raw cauliflower, raisins and cauliflower puree, a traditional starter is treated to a refreshing revamp. Many of the dishes see meat and fish take a back seat, and for vegophiles there is a much larger than usual selection for a primarily traditional menu. The superfood salad, with spinach leaves, beetroot and broccoli is a crunchy option for the health conscious, though the mix of textures, tastes and colours offers such vibrancy that it is more akin to art than anything nutritional. Downright tasty art, though. When meat features, it does so in style. A rib-eye steak is served on a wooden board with watercress, portobello mushrooms and grilled cherry tomatoes. It may sound less-thangroundbreaking, but it is cooked exactly as ordered and boasts a deep and hearty flavour, which is rarer
than it should be. In fact, it doesn’t even really need its added Stilton and port sauce. Sides also deliver: the buttery Mews Champ (mashed potatoes with spring onions) and creamy, dense macaroni cheese are both strong enough to be enjoyed alone. A roast squash main comes with an interesting golden raisin dressing, providing a sweet and pleasantly sticky base for a generous helping of beetroot and spinach. When it comes to desserts, they tend to be as classic as the service, but just as smiley, warm and comforting, too. Sticky toffee pudding is dense and gooey, with an almost silken, sponge-like texture. A hot chocolate pot is oozing and sweet, with a subtle bitterness adding to the depth of flavour. And a five-strong selection of exoticflavoured, vegan-friendly sorbets seems more indulgent than it really is. Despite the Dickensian settings, orthodox service and formal dining style, Mews of Mayfair has a progressive, experimental attitude to its dishes and the quality of ingredients used. Rarely do the traditional and the modern make such comfortable bedfellows. Kate O’Sullivan 10 Lancashire Court, New Bond Street, W1S 1EY Bond Street
Bayswater
scoutlondon.com Scout London 21
Sophie’s Steakhouse Covent Garden ££
The Oyster Shed The City ££
Sophie Mogford has a background at restaurants including The Conran Group, and it shows in the slick operation she runs here. The Covent Garden branch follows in the footsteps of the Fulham Road original; it may pull in more tourists than the regular-filled first, but the stylishly simple décor and produce-driven menu are the same. She’s recently upped the ante on the steak-sourcing front by bringing in whole carcasses from her own family’s Rofford Farm to be butchered on-site. Our rump steak is juicy and packed with a rich flavour that’s incredibly beefy. It outdoes even our beef carpaccio starter, which is itself a succulent and superb example of the dish. A crunchy breadcrumbed haddock ticks all the boxes and proves that Sophie’s can pull off more than just good steak. Ben Norum
The Geronimo Inns group of pubs is one that comes with a certain level of quality guarantee. This new leader of the pack is particularly special thanks to its riverside spot and panoramic views of London Bridge and The Shard. The bivalves which lend their name naturally feature on the menu and are plump and meaty. The fact that they come without any lemon for squeezing is a minor disgruntlement and one that is all the more apparent for the smooth running of everything else. Chicken liver pâté is silken, spreadable and unctuous; deep-fried goat’s cheese fritters are comfort food well-executed; and a ‘deconstructed’ fish pie that sees smoked haddock layered with thin pastry, potato and topped with a poached egg is a creamy triumph. Separate the dining area from the loud bar, lose the TV screens, and you’d have a proper pearl. BN
29-31 Wellington Street, WC2E 7DB
5 Angel Lane, EC4R 3AB
Covent Garden
Cannon Street
Lima Fitzrovia £££
Colchis Notting Hill £££
Lima comes with serious intentions. It wants to showcase the culinary developments in Peru in recent years and present the city of Lima to London as the gastronomic capital of the Americas. While everything from the food to the restaurant’s dedicated ‘art wall’ is dramatically beautiful, some of the flavours on show are nowhere near as well crafted. A sea bream ceviche with red onion in a milky marinade is picturesque and aromatic. However, on an equally pretty-looking asparagus dish, the accompanying blue potatoes that make up the bulk come in a mash that tastes underseasoned. A dish of thinly-sliced and dressed duck shows off the quality of the meat, but the scattering of clumsily hefty foie gras flakes cancels out much of its subtleties and feels a bit like over-egging the pudding. It is frustrating throughout the meal to know that you could dine on Peruvian cuisine more lavishly and for less at Ceviche in Soho. BN
Tucked away in a spiral of maze-like West London crescents and terraces, Colchis cannot rely on passing trade. It’s lucky for them, then, that there are regulars who know the route and are willing to walk it. What they get is a feast of traditional Georgian dishes cooked by newlyappointed head chef and TV personality Martin Blunos. He’s cleared the menu of some of the‘westernised’ dishes that were present on opening and concentrated on making classics well. There are hearty plates of grilled Georgian-style vegetables, succulent lamb kebabs, rich dips and indulgent cheese-stuffed flatbreads. The selection of burst-in-themouth meat dumplings filled with aromatic juices is a highlight, and the hefty Georgian-centric wine list will be a draw for oenophiles eager to taste wines from some of the world’s oldest vines. We’d happily become a regular on this basis, but the warm hospitality that comes with it is the deal-sealer. BN
31 Rathbone Place, W1T 1JH
39 Chepstow Place, W2 4TS
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Tottenham Court Road
Notting Hill Gate
At Last, A Family Day Out Where Everyone Is Happy
T
his summer a special event takes place for young families. It lasts about an hour. Yet those who attend will remember it many months, even years later. This event is In the Night Garden Live. It is not just for little ones, but for parents who want to share the best possible experiences with their children. In the Night Garden Live takes place in its own family-friendly Showdome. Everything is there to make your visit as easy and enjoyable as possible, from the warm welcome and child-friendly staff, to the ample buggy parks, microwaves, babychanging rooms, and many flushing toilets – with trainer steps and seat inserts.
PARENTS AND CRITICS GIVE RAVE REVIEWS You may have seen the reviews, or heard other parents raving about it – 339,266 people have attended so far! And 9 out of 10 parents give 5/5 stars and would also recommend it to friends and family. We know this from thousands of parents’ reviews and post-show surveys.
In the Night Garden™ Ragdoll Worldwide Limited 2007.
One mum, Kirsty, wrote: ‘Our little boy was mesmerised from the minute we arrived, and didn’t want to leave when the show ended! The facilities are fantastic for families. This is an absolute must for all parents – trust me, you will not be disappointed!’
Children are thrilled to meet their favourite characters as if they’re actually inside the Night Garden. And parents love watching the look on their children’s faces.
THERE’S NOTHING ELSE LIKE IT There are other shows for young children. ‘But,’ as The Independent wrote, ‘there’s, nothing quite like In the Night Garden Live.’
BOOK EARLY AND SAVE £75 This summer the Showdome is coming to London, Birmingham and Manchester. You can book tickets now – there’s no booking fee online – and save money using the special coupon below. The purpose-built Showdome
But hurry, seats are limited, and our premium tickets always sell out first.
IT MELTED MY HEART Gemma Ashbrook was worried that her 7 month old was too young, ‘Because of his age I was worried he wouldn’t enjoy it. But he loved it, and his face at the end melted my heart! A must see show. I can’t wait to take him next year.’ Another mum, Jacqueline Fenn, said simply, ‘The whole experience was so easy it made it a magical day.’
BOOK EARLY AND
SAVE UP TO £75* With Coupon:
HAPPY55 www.NightGardenLive.com HURRY, this offer is valid for the first 55 bookings only! FOR £5 OFF ORDERS OVER £50 AND 5% OFF ORDERS UNDER £50
* 4 weekend standard tickets and 2 goody bags booked at lowest advance rate using coupon costs £90, compared with 4 weekend standard tickets and 2 goody bags purchased at highest rate on the door costing £165. Subject to availability, terms and conditions apply, see NightGardenLive.com.
CENTRAL
OKKU 16 St James’s Street, SW1A 1ER Green Park Japanese £££ This is the second London opening from the Japanese team behind one of Dubai’s most glamorous restaurants. Cocktails and sushi are the corner stones of this new Mayfair venture. Ametsa with Arzak Instruction Halkin Hotel, 5-6 Halkin Street, SW1X 7DJ Hyde Park Corner Spanish £££ More details have emerged about this forthcoming restaurant that’s set to take the place of Nahm in the Halkin Hotel. “New Basque cuisine”, which merges classics with more modern dishes, flavours and techniques, is set to be a thrilling gastronomic journey Chotto Matte 11-13 Frith Street, W1D 4RD Tottenham Court Road Japanese ££ While exact details are thin on the ground, it’s been announced that this site previously occupied by Giraffe has been taken over by the team behind dim sum group Ping Pong. It is to be turned into a high-end Japanese restaurant, though isn’t thought to be opening until September. Barrafina 43 Drury Lane, WC2B 5RT Leicester Square Spanish ££ The Hart brothers, who are behind Quo Vadis and Fino, are to open a second branch of their popular high-end tapas restaurant. The Fitzrovia original will be joined by this new venture in the heart of Theatreland. Edition 10 Berners Street, W1A 3BE Oxford Circus Hotel ££ Two restaurants are set to open in his new hotel replacing Fitzrovia’s Berners Hotel, which is part of the Marriott group. Details are to be confirmed, but it is thought that one will be a fine-dining venue, and the other a more casual eatery.
NORTH
Wahaca 68 Upper Street, N1 0NY Angel Mexican ££ The ever-growing Mexican street food chain headed up by MasterChef winner Thomasina Miers is expanding fast. The latest opening announced – after the soon-to-launch Waterloo venue – is this one near the Green in Islington, close to Angel tube. The restaurant is due to open in spring. Artigiano 12a Belsize Terrace, NW3 4AX Belsize Park Italian ££ An old-school Italian restaurant that oozes character and charm, but that manages to slip in a few contemporary twists among the classic dishes. A dessert of tiramisu made with goat cheese rather than mascarpone is an example.
EAST The Three Stags 67-69 Kennington Road, SE1 7PZ Lambeth North Gastropub ££ This locals’ favourite gastropub in Kennington, close to the Imperial War Museum has recently brought out a new menu. Included is the brilliantlynamed Lambeth Pie, making a joke of the fact that the filling is lamb and the pub sits in the borough of Lambeth. The award for best pun, however, goes to the vegetarian option, which is ingeniously named Silence of the Lambeth Pie.
WEST
Casa Negra 54-56 Great Eastern Street, EC2A 3QR Old Street Mexican ££ This sister restaurant to Soho’s trendy La Bodega Negra will open in May, bringing the popular brand of Mexican food to Shoreditch. It will take the place of Great Eastern Dining Room, which is also owned by Will Ricker. Bird of Smithfield 26 Smithfield Street, EC1A 9LB Farringdon British ££ This eponymous new restaurant is owned by Alan Bird, who was formerly executive chef at the Ivy. It’s split between five floors including a roof terrace, bar and private dining areas, and serves modern British food. Mikkeller Bar 54 Farringdon Road, EC1R 3BL Farringdon Bar ££ Danish microbrewery Mikkeller is about as highly regarded as they come in the brewing industry. While its beer is stocked at several craft beer pubs throughout the city, its first real foray into the London bar scene comes with this opening, run in partnership with Brewdog. At the moment it’s rumours rather than facts, but from what we hear, they’re quite reliable ones.
SOUTH
Camden Blues Kitchen 111-113 Camden High Street, NW1 7JN Camden Town American ££ Taking inspiration from New Orleans, Camden is celebrating its very own mardi gras at the Blues Kitchen. A street fiesta to mark the occasion will be accompanied by free gumbo, a hearty and spicy soul food stew with chicken, smoked sausage, sweet potato, tomaatos, beans and pepper topped with grilled king prawns, served with Cajun rice.
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Balthazar Bakery Hercules Road, SE1 7LD Lambeth North Bakery £ The much-hyped opening of Balthazar this month in Covent Garden brings with it the launch of a separate bakery, which will provide all the bread and baked goods for the restaurant, the bakery shop next door to it and some other London restaurants, as well as being open to members of the public. The bakery will open in one of the empty railway arches on Hercules Road, close to Waterloo station. Old School Pizza 115 Long Lane, SE1 4PH Borough Pizza £ What was formerly Britannia Pizza has been renamed, revamped and re-opened under this new name, which ties in with the nearby bar/club The Old SchoolYard. Pizzas are available every day until late, to order in, eat in or have delivered.
The Goat 333 Fulham Road, SW10 9QL Fulham Broadway Gastropub ££ The Goat In Boots pub as was has just relaunched as The Goat. Taken over by the people behind restaurants including Cocoon, it has had a major refurb and been remodeled as a New Yorkinspired restaurant and cocktail bar with a menu focusing on steak and pizza. Notting Hill Kitchen 92 Kensington Park Road, W11 2PN Notting Hill Gate Spanish / Portuguese £££ Renowned Portuguese chef Luis Baena is at the helm of this revamped and re-opening restaurant that was once the Notting Hill Brasserie. It is due to open in March and will serve a mix of Portuguese and Spanish seasonal dishes with creative twists. Bacon crumble is said to feature. The Five Fields 8-9 Blacklands Terrace, SW3 2SP Sloane Square Modern British £££ Assembling an impressive selection of New York restaurant scene names, along with a head chef who’s previously worked under Marcus Wareing, The Five Fields has an impressive pedigree. The new fine dining restaurant takes the place of El Blason Tapas Bar and will serve modern British food with a particular focus on produce and provenance.
Scout London Price Guide ££££ Over £19 per main £££ £14-18 ££ £9-13 £ Under £9
EAT IN
TAKE OUT
Melt’s Valentine’s Hearts
Gelupo Hamper
While you won’t want these carefully shaped and intricately decorated beauties to melt, that’s exactly what they might do to the heart of the person you give them to. Presented in beautiful jewel-coloured boxes, the hollow hearts can be cracked open to reveal a love letter.
The Soho gelateria brought to us by the team behind Bocca di Lupo opposite have created a special Valentine’s hamper to be collected at the store. The luxurious package includes a bottle of Prosecco, a jar of Guido Gobino’s Gianduja cream (the Rolls Royce of chocolates), a selection of classic Italian candied fruits and some homemade Gelupo biscuits as well as a copy of Niki Segnit’s Flavour Thesaurus book.
Available online for £17.50 meltchocolates.com
Available in store to be picked up or delivered nationwide. £89.95. Gelupo, 7 Archer Street, W1D 7AU gelupo.com
scoutlondon.com Scout London 25
★★★★★ ‘MASTERFUL, MIND-ALTERING COMEDY’ SPOONFED
WILL FRANKEN THE ONE-MAN ‘MONTY PYTHON’S FLYING CIRCUS’ MAKES HIS LONDON DEBUT AT THE SOHO THEATRE
ID D E W S G THIN Y T I L A E R E BEFOR
★★★★
‘SIMPLY HILARIOUS’ THE TIMES
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INDEPENDENT
SUNDAY TIMES
28 FEB - 9 MAR 9.30PM £10 - £15
020 7478 0100 / sohotheatre.com / 21 Dean Street W1 Registered charity number 267234
mickperrin.com
In association with Michael R. Blaha Management
Love shopping
Chocolates and flowers are all well and good, but a more imaginative gift is sure to set your Valentine’s off with a bang
Grow-ko ono
scent and sensibility
Love sparkles
This organic plant/artwork by Yoko Ono consists of a ‘magic bean’, which when grown, reveals the word Love. Yes, it is an actual plant! Yoko Grow Love With Me, £20 from The Serpentine Gallery
Cologne. It’s a bit obvious but also a safe-as-houses bet. He’ll be mad not to love this seductive signature fragrance from style king Tom Ford. Tom Ford Noir, from around £50, widely available
Inspire your sweet nothings with this heart pen, made with Swarovski Elements. Ice London Hearts Princess Pen, £69.50 from Ice.co.uk
Cuff said
light up her life
if music be...
For the man who likes words (particularly those that make up his name), these personalised cufflinks are made from official Scrabble tiles. Scrabble cufflinks, £26.50 from scrabbleart.co.uk
Most people love sweets. Most women love candles. Put them together and... Love Heart tea lights, £6 from
Any music lover will be dancing with joy to receive one of these vinyl art display frames. The records can be removed easily whenever the urge to play them strikes. Art vinyl range, £20 from John Lewis
John Lewis
scoutlondon.com Scout London 27
Tubular sells
Powerful Power; The Nerve Centre of London’s Underground, by Edward McKnight Kauffer, 1931
Colourful Behind the Seen; at London’s Service, image, by James Fitton, 1948
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Many posters have adorned the walls of the London Underground over the past 150 years, but a new exhibition reveals that the most impressive were those advertising the Tube itself
Striking Where is this bower beside the silver Thames, by Jean Dupas, 1930
Creative The Quickest Way to the Dogs, by Alfred Leete, 1927
Historic Underground - The way for all, by Alfred France, 1911
O
ver the 150 years since it opened, the London Underground has promoted itself in an impressively artistic array of advertising campaigns. Because the Tube isn’t the easiest thing to market, Underground bosses hired first-rate artists and photographers to produce their posters. The end results are incredibly stylish and creative adverts that, as well as being promotional tools, act as ambassadors for various movements of art and design through the ages. Now there’s a chance to see some of the best examples at a special exhibition at the London Transport Museum. The Covent Garden museum has selected 150 posters for the display, all taken from its collection of 3,300, and produced by artists including surrealist
photographer Man Ray, avant garde designer Edward McKnight Kauffer and celebrated second world war artist Paul Nash. The museum is also hosting a series of late openings to tie in with the exhibition, including one this Friday (February 15). You’ll be able to enjoy a glass of wine while you check out the exhibition and hear talks by guest authors from Penguin Books’ forthcoming Line Series. There’ll also be curator-led tours, a transportthemed quiz, and a special playlist from renowned music journalist Paul Morley. Poster Art 150, London Transport Museum, February 15-October 27, exhibition included in overall museum entrance – £15, £13.50 concessions, ltmuseum.co.uk
Informative Four Times the Number Carried, by Theyre Lee-Elliott, 1936
scoutlondon.com Scout London 29
A ÂŁ3 booking fee is included in the price of discounted tickets. No booking fee on full price. TKTS is run by the Society of London Theatre. All profits support the theatre industry.
Central
The Art Of The Elegant Nude at Belgravia Gallery, 45 Albemarle Street, W1S 4JL Green Park FREE, Until Mar 1. Figurative paintings, drawings and sculpture from the past 100 years. nwaged £4, family £18, ages 12-18 £4, under 12s FREE, Until Feb 17. More than a hundred works by three significant British landscape painters. Becoming Picasso: Paris 1901 at The Courtauld Institute Of Art, Somerset House, Strand, WC2R 0RN Temple £6, concs £5, NUS/under 18s/unwaged/ disabled carer FREE, Mon £3, Starts Thu, Until May 26. Major paintings originally shown at the artist’s debut exhibition. BP British Art Displays 1500-2010 at Tate Britain, Millbank, SW1P 4RG Pimlico FREE, Until Mar 4. The Collection displays at Tate Britain. Constable, Gainsborough, Turner And The Making Of Landscape at Royal Academy Of Arts, Burlington House, Piccadilly, W1J 0BD Green Park £8, OAP/disabled/Art Fund mems £7, NUS £5, Thomas Joshua Cooper: Messages at Haunch Of Venison, 51 Eastcastle Street, W1W 8EB Oxford Circus FREE, Until Mar 28. Dancing Around Duchamp: The Bride And The Bachelors: Duchamp With Cage, Cunningham, Rauschenberg And Johns at Barbican Centre, Silk Street, EC2Y 8DS Barbican £12, adv £10, concs £8, adv concs/ages 13-17 £7, adv ages 13-17 £6, under 13s/mems FREE, Starts Thu, Until Jun 9. Around 90 works highlighting the influence of Marcel Duchamp on American artists, composers and choreographers. John Davies: Highways at Museum Of London, 150 London Wall, EC2Y 5HN Barbican FREE, Until Jun 16. Photographs of major London thoroughfares. Oskar Fischinger at Tate Modern, Bankside, Holland Street, SE1 9TG Southwark FREE, Until May 12. Restored film footage of the artist’s 1926 performances. Jeremy Hunter: High Resolutions at Atlas, 49 Dorset Street, W1U 7NF Baker Street phone for prices, Until Feb 16. North Korean propaganda photography. Ice Age Art: Arrival Of The Modern Mind at British Museum, Great Russell Street, WC1B 3DG Russell Square £10, NUS/ages 16-18/disabled/unwaged £8, Art Pass £5, disabled carer/under 16s
FREE, Until May 26. A display of Ice Age artifacts from across Europe, being shown in the country for the first time. Lichtenstein at A&D Gallery, 51 Chiltern Street, W1U 6LY Baker Street FREE, Starts Wed, Until Apr 12. Prints, posters and ephemera by the famous pop artist. Manet: Portraying Life at Royal Academy Of Arts, Burlington House, Piccadilly, W1J 0BD Green Park £15, OAP/disabled/NAFDAS/Art Fund mems £14, NUS £10, unwaged/ages 12-18 £6, disabled carers/under 12s FREE, inc gallery guide, Until Apr 14. The first major UK exhibition of the 19th-century, French painter’s portraiture.
Sabi Westoby: Stitched at Artisan80, 80 Harlesden Road, NW10 2BE Dollis Hill FREE, Until Feb 23. Contemporary, mixed-media assemblages and textiles.
East
Pauline Boudry & Renate Lorenz: Toxic Play In Two Acts at South London Gallery, 65-67 Peckham Road, SE5 8UH Elephant & Castle FREE, Until Feb 24. The Berlin-based duo showcases film installations Toxic and Salomania. British Wildlife Photography Awards at Horniman Museum And Gardens, 100 Forest Hill London Road, SE23 3PQ FREE, Until Feb 24. An exhibition of the winning images from the British Wildlife Photography Awards 2011. Bettina Schroeder: Future Relics at Vibe Gallery, Tower Bridge Business Complex, 100 Clements Road, SE16 4DG FREE, Until Feb 12. A comment on environmental issues, featuring everyday objects.
West The Grit And Glamour 1930s Photography Of C.R. Hughes at Penny Fielding Gallery, Orford Road, E17 9NJ Walthamstow FREE, Until Mar 31. Reprints of some of the amateur photographer’s exhibited work, including the racing driver Malcolm Campbell and the entertainer Josephine Baker.
Light Show at Hayward Gallery, Belvedere Road, SE1 8XX Waterloo £10, OAP £9, NUS £8, ages 12-18 £6.50, Until Apr 28. Sculptures and installations from the 1960s to the present, exploring the nature of light. Bruce Nauman: Mindfuck at Hauser & Wirth, 23 Savile Row, W1S 2ET Oxford Circus FREE, Until Mar 9. A selection of works which cover the artist’s career. Man Ray Portraits at National Portrait Gallery, 2 St Martin’s Place, WC2H 0HE Embankment £12.70, OAP £11.80, concs £10.90, ages 12-18/unwaged/NUS/ disabled/disabled carer FREE, Until May 27. A major retrospective featuring more than 150 vintage prints. Schwitters In Britain at Tate Britain, Millbank, SW1P 4RG Pimlico £10, concs £8.60, Art Fund mems £5, concs £4.30, Until May 12. Late collages, sculptures and assemblages from the British period of Kurt Schwitters.
North Doug Corker: A Life...A Body Of Work: 1939-2012 at Lauderdale House, Highgate Hill, Waterlow Park, N6 5HG Archway phone for prices, Until Feb 17. Abstract art, collage and bright canvasses. Film In Space: An Exhibition Of Film And Expanded Cinema Selected By Guy Sherwin at Camden Arts Centre, Arkwright Road, NW3 6DG Finchley Road FREE, Until Feb 24. Experimental films by emerging British artists and filmmakers.
Steve Bishop: An Escalator Can Never Break, It Can Only Become Stairs at Carlos/Ishikawa, Unit 4, 88 Mile End Road, E1 4UN Whitechapel FREE, Until Mar 2. Contemporary art. Matt Bryans at Kate MacGarry, 27 Old Nichol Street, E2 7HR Liverpool Street: FREE, Until Mar 2. Sculptural installations and collages made from erased newsprint. Gerard Byrne: A State Of Neutral Pleasure at Whitechapel Gallery, 80-82 Whitechapel High Street, E1 7QX Aldgate East FREE, Until Mar 8. A major survey of the Irish artist’s work from 2003 to the present day. Kiss Me Deadly: A Group Show Of Contemporary Neo-Noir From Los Angeles at Paradise Row, 74 Newman Street, W1T 3EL Shoreditch High Street FREE, Until Mar 9. A group show of contemporary neo-noir from Los Angeles. Sanja Ivekovic: Unknown Heroine at Calvert 22, 22 Calvert Avenue, E2 7JP Liverpool Street FREE, Until Feb 24. Collage, film, performance and installation.
South Ansel Adams: Photography From The Mountains To The Sea at National Maritime Museum, Romney Road, SE10 9NF Greenwich £7, concs £5, mems FREE, Until Apr 28. Photographs of the natural landscapes of America. Astronomy Photographer Of The Year 2012 at Royal Observatory Greenwich, Greenwich Park, Blackheath Avenue, Greenwich FREE, SE10 8XJ Until Feb 12. Images from this year’s competition.
Shima Amen: Love Looks Not With The Eyes, But With The Mind at The Chelsea Club, Stamford Bridge Fulham Road, SW6 1HS Fulham Broadway FREE, Until Feb 28. A display of recent works from the artist’s most recent series. Breaking The Ice: Moscow Art, 196080s at Saatchi Gallery, Duke Of York’s HQ, King’s Road, SW3 4RY Sloane Square FREE, Until Feb 24. A group show of works by 20 Russian artists. Codebreaker: Alan Turing’s Life And Legacy at Science Museum, Exhibition Road, SW7 2DD South Kensington FREE, Until Jul 31. Photographs and objects celebrating the centenary of the British computing pioneer. Gaiety Is The Most Outstanding Feature Of The Soviet Union: New Art From Russia at Saatchi Gallery, Duke Of York’s HQ, King’s Road, SW3 4RY Sloane Square FREE, Until May 5. A large survey featuring contemporary works by 18 artists. Last Of The Dictionary Men at The Mosaic Rooms, Tower House, 226 Cromwell Road, SW5 0SW Earl’s Court FREE, Until Feb 22. An exhibition featuring verbatim interviews and portraits of Yemeni sailors who settled in South Shields, Tyneside. Light From The Middle East: New Photography at Victoria & Albert Museum, Cromwell Road, SW7 2RL South Kensington FREE, Until Apr 7. More than 90 photographs by 30 artists from 13 countries. New Year 2013 at Cadogan Contemporary, 87 Old Brompton Road, SW7 3LD South Kensington FREE, Until Feb 22. Works by gallery artists in a range of media and a variety of styles. Pain Less: The Future Of Relief at Science Museum, Exhibition Road, SW7 2DD South Kensington FREE, Until Nov 8. An exhibition investigating the future of pain relief. Rosemarie Trockel: A Cosmos at Serpentine Gallery, Kensington Gardens, W2 3XA South Kensington FREE, Starts Wed, Until Apr 17. Contemporary works in a variety of media exploring spaces for interdisciplinary ideas.
scoutlondon.com Scout London 31
Family politics “I
’m late for a meeting so I might be a bit brief with you,” Mark Thomas warns me at the start of our chat. With books, radio appearances, political campaigns and a family to look after on top of it all, you can hardly blame the agitprop comic for having a full schedule. Indeed, he sounds a little worn down. But such is the price you pay for hard work – something that Thomas has never been afraid of. As he approaches his half century (in April), the dad of two appears to be in a reflective mood as he chats about Bravo Figaro!, the acclaimed show that he brings back to London at the end of this month after a successful national tour. “The show is about my dad and the relationship we had,” he tells Scout, “and an unlikely love of opera.” It was initially commissioned by the Royal Opera House, then played to rave reviews at the Edinburgh Fringe, which Thomas followed with a late summer run at the always politically-astute Tricycle in Kilburn. “It’s about how he became ill with a debilitating illness called Progressive Supranuclear Palsy.” He pauses. The silence is full of tension. “It’s a form of dementia. Your dad is what you’re losing.” As his dad began to suffer more and more with the disease, Thomas began to listen to opera as a way to reach out to his father – to share something his dad, a builder, always loved. To become close to him, really.
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“I’ve recorded interviews for the show with my dad, my mum, my brother,” he explains. “The audio interviews are interwoven into the show.” Bravo Figaro! is less overtly political than what traditional Thomas fans will be used to. “But I’ve looked at it the same way I’d look at any issue,” he says, “whether it’s the Israeli barrier or the right to protest.” I ask Thomas whether his dad was an influence, an inspiration? “I don’t know about that! I mean, the relationship you
have with your parents can be very problematic.” Did his father’s politics play a part in his own interest in the subject, which has come to define his more-than three decades of work? “Our politics were very different!” Thomas says. His own conversion to the cause came elsewhere: “In fact, it was religion that got me interested in politics. I discovered that things weren’t always what they were said to be.” It’s that interest in hidden truths that has marked out Thomas as an investigative comic on a mission. His TV shows, books and stand-up sets have shone a torch onto subjects rarely considered worthy of news coverage – let alone as viable topics for comedy club material: Turkey’s contentious Illisu Dam, the arms trade and the British government’s woeful part in promoting it, the way the rich can slither their way out of paying taxes through kinks in the system (ok, that one’s had fairly good coverage). Thomas – who has listed George Orwell’s Homage to Catalonia as his favourite book – has ploughed a fascinating furrow in the face of the supposed collapse of Britain’s left wing. And, as it turns out, many of those generational political changes played out for Thomas in his family’s front room. “My nan, who I adored, came from the pit villages of Newcastle and was from a tradition of collective politics,” he reveals. “My dad was more interested in the family and less the collective. His view was, ‘Bollocks to everybody else!’” Mark Thomas, February 28, Arts Depo, markthomasinfo.co.uk
dil Sukan Draw HQ
At the end of a national tour, political comedian Mark Thomas is bringing his unusually personal show back to London for one final date. He chats to Chris Beanland
ONGOING
Thursday February 14
NewsRevue at Canal Cafe Theatre, Bridge House Pub, Delamere Terrace, W2 6ND Warwick Avenue Thu-Sat 9.30pm, Sun 9pm, £11, concs £9.50. Comedy sketches and songs inspired by current affairs. Until Feb 28. Lewis Schaffer Is Free Until Famous at The Source Below, 11 Lower John Street, W1F 9TY Piccadilly Circus Tue & Wed 8pm, FREE. Self-deprecating standup. Until Feb 27.
Banana Cabaret at The Bedford, 77 Bedford Hill, SW12 9HD Balham 9pm, £14, concs £11. Roger Monkhouse, John Moloney, David Haddingham and John Whale. Big Night Out: Valentine Special! at Rumba, 36 Shaftesbury Avenue, W1D 7EP Piccadilly Circus phone for times, £9.99. With James Dowdeswell, Sarah Bennetto and MC Chris Gilbert.
Monday February 11 Peacock & Gamble: Don’t Even Want To Be On Telly Anyway at Royal Albert Hall, Kensington Gore, SW7 2AP South Kensington 8.45pm, £12. Two-time Chortle Comedy Award nominees.
Rich Hall’s Hoedown at Soho Theatre, 21 Dean Street, W1D 3NE Tottenham Court Road 7.30pm, £15-£20, concs £12.50-£17.50. Musical comedy. The Alternative Comedy Memorial Society at Soho Theatre, 21 Dean Street, W1D 3NE Tottenham Court Road 8pm, £12.50. With MCs Thom Tuck and John-Luke Roberts. David Baddiel: Fame: Not The Musical: Work In Progress at Soho Theatre, 21 Dean Street, W1D 3NE Tottenham Court Road Mon-Sat 9.30pm, £12. The novelist and TV presenter tries out new material. Simon lu: Works In Progress at Downstairs At The King’s Head, 2 Crouch End Hill, N8 8AA Finsbury Park 8.30pm, £5. The character comedian tries out some new material. Comedy Bin at The Rhythm Factory, 1618 Whitechapel Road, E1 1EW Whitechapel 8pm-11pm, FREE. With Al Cowie, Robert Withworth, Simon Hofmeister, Nick Root, Robert Hughes, Max Davis, Leanne Davis, Stephen DiPlacito, Eddie Twist, John Talbot and MC Gwilum Argos. No One Man No Cry at Pleasance Theatre, Carpenter’s Mews, North Road, N7 9EF Caledonian Road 8pm, £5. New work by Adam Drake. Tom Rosenthal: Work In Progress at Hen & Chickens, 109 St Paul’s Road, N1 2NA Highbury & Islington 9.30pm, £4. Intelligent humour and social commentary.
Tuesday February 12 The Joy Of Sketch at Pleasance Theatre, Carpenter’s Mews, North Road, N7 9EF Caledonian Road 7.30pm, £12. With Cardinal Burns, Jigsaw, Sheeps, The Pin, Holly Burn, Thomas Nelstrop and Eleanor Thorn.
Josie Long: Lost Treasures Of The Black Heart at The Black Heart, 3 Greenland Place, NW1 0AP Camden Town 8pm, £5. Long unearths obscure facts and unsung heroes in the company of guest standups. Luisa Omielan: What Would Beyonce Do? at Soho Theatre, 21 Dean Street, W1D 3NE Tottenham Court Road Tue-Sat 9.15pm, Feb 12-14 £15, concs £12.50 & £13.50, Feb 15 & 16 £20, concs £17.50 & £18.50. Contemporary stand-up and improv. We Love Comedy at The Old Kings Head, Kings Head Yard, SE1 1NA London Bridge 7.30pm-10.30pm, adv £5 & £7, NUS £4.50. With Tony Law, Luisa Omielan, Tobias Perrson and Luke Toulson, plus MC Sean Brightman. Josh Widdicombe: The Further Adventures Of... at Soho Theatre, 21 Dean Street, W1D 3NE Tottenham Court Road Tue-Sat 7.45pm, £15, concs £12.50. Quirky observations from the 2011 Foster’s Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee.
Wednesday February 13 The Decapitated Puppy Dark & Rude Comedy Night at The Intrepid Fox, 15 St Giles High Street, WC2H 8LN Tottenham Court Road 9pm, £6, concs £4. With Stuart Black, Alfie Brown, Bobby Carroll, Harriet Kemsley, Slak Sanchez and MC Tyson Boyce. Matt Forde’s Political Party at St James Theatre, 12 Palace Street, SW1E 5JA Victoria 8pm, £10 & £12.50. Topical stand up in which Forde grills eminent politician George Galloway. Sean Hughes: Life Becomes Noises at Tricycle Theatre, 269 Kilburn High Road, NW6 7JR Kilburn Wed-Sat 8pm, £18 & £24, concs £16 & £22. Quick-fire intelligent wit. The New Wave at The Invisible Dot Ltd, 2 Northdown Street, N1 9BG King’s Cross St Pancras 7.45pm9.45pm, £8. Claudia O’Doherty, Jamie Demetriou, Toby, Oyster Eyes, Mat Ewins and MC, Tony Law.
Rainer Hersch’s Classic Comedy Orchestra at Hen & Chickens, 109 St Paul’s Road, N1 2NA Highbury & Islington 9.30pm, £12.50. The stand-up and conductor shares his love of classical music.
Saturday February 16
Valentine’s Special at Tattershall Castle, Victoria Embankment, SW1A 2HR Charing Cross 8pm, £13.50, concs £11. With Topping & Butch, Paul Tonkinson, Stephen Grant and MC Craig Murray. Impropera’s Songs From The Heart at Kings Place, 90 York Way, N1 9AG King’s Cross St Pancras 8pm, £12.50, adv £9.50, £29.50 inc meal. The group performs a surreal improvised opera. WitTank at Soho Theatre, 21 Dean Street, W1D 3NE Tottenham Court Road 7.15pm, £12.50, concs £10. Sketch comedy.
Friday February 15 The Boat Show at Tattershall Castle, Victoria Embankment, SW1A 2HR Charing Cross 8pm, £13.50, concs £11, standing £10, £26 inc meal. With Topping & Butch, Paul Tonkinson, Stephen Grant and MC Craig Murray. Boyd & Laws’ Natural Disasters at The Camden Head, 100 Camden High Street, NW1 0LU Camden Town 7.30pm, £3. Stand-up looking at natural disasters. Rich Hall’s Hoedown at Soho Theatre, 21 Dean Street, W1D 3NE Tottenham Court Road 7.30pm, £15-£20, concs £12.50-£17.50. Musical comedy. Magic Night at Madame Jojo’s, 8-10 Brewer Street, W1F 0SE Piccadilly Circus 7.45pm, £25 inc meal, £12. With the Duo Bogof, Josephine Shaker, Javier Jarquin aka Card Ninja, Lee Hathaway and MC Christian Lee. Up The Creek at Up The Creek, 302 Creek Road, SE10 9SW Cutty Sark 8.45pm, £12, adv £11. With MC Damian Clark, Andre Vincent and Barry Castagnolla.
Amused Moose Soho at Moonlighting, 16-17 Greek Street, W1D 4DR Tottenham Court Road 8.20pm10.30pm, £10. Danny Bhoy, Kerry Godliman, Mark Dolan, James Dowdeswell and: Matt Richardson. Banana Cabaret at The Bedford, 77 Bedford Hill, SW12 9HD Balham 9pm, £16, concs £13. Roger Monkhouse, John Moloney, David Haddingham and James Dowdswell. Comedy Carnival at The Clapham Grand, 21-25 St John’s Hill, SW11 1TT Clapham Common 8pm-10pm, £14. With Zoe Lyons, Roger Monkhouse and MC Pete Jonas. Alan Davies: Life Is Pain at Hammersmith Apollo, Queen Caroline Street, W6 9QH Hammersmith 7pm, £25. The QI regular’s latest show. Foster’s Comedy Live at Highlight, Camden Lock, Middle Yard Chalk Farm Road, NW1 8AB Camden Town 8.15pm-10.15pm, £17 & £18. With Ian Stone, Benny Boot, Luke Toulson, Carl Hutchinson and Luisa Omielan. Rainer Hersch’s Classic Comedy Orchestra at Hen & Chickens, 109 St Paul’s Road, N1 2NA Highbury & Islington 9.30pm, £12.50. The stand-up and conductor shares his love of classical music.
Sunday February 17 Comedy Clinic at Soho Theatre, 21 Dean Street, W1D 3NE Tottenham Court Road 10am-6pm, £160, concs £125. With the Pyjama Men, Lee Griffiths and Morgan Lloyd Malcolm. Comedy Store Players at Comedy Store, 1a Oxendon Street, SW1Y 4EE Piccadilly Circus 7.30pm, £17, NUS/ concs £12. Improvisational humour. Alan Davies: Life Is Pain at Hammersmith Apollo, Queen Caroline Street, W6 9QH Hammersmith 7pm, £25. Sharp and inventive wit from the QI regular.
scoutlondon.com Scout London 33
The mistress of suspense M
eeting any famous actress can be pretty daunting, particularly if they’re a dame and have won an Oscar for playing the Queen. But Dame Helen Mirren is delightfully down-to-earth – and looking remarkably good for her age. Known almost as much for stripping off in Calendar Girls and those candid red bikini pictures from 2008 as she is for her screen credits, the 67-year-old has bared almost all again in her latest film, Hitchcock, 34 Scout London scoutlondon.com
in which she plays Alma Reville, the wife of the great Hollywood director. There’s a scene where Alma, in defiance of their economic situation, buys a new red swimming costume and plunges into the couple’s pool, which they might lose if Alfred’s next film, Psycho, doesn’t sell. At the start of the film she’s also in her underwear so, as tacky as it sounds, I simply can’t stop myself from marvelling at her figure. How does she do it? “Oh God, don’t ask!” she says,
laughing, raising her eyes to heaven in mock exasperation. “I don’t know. Judicious cutting and editing, it’s a very good thing. If you look there’s some very clever editing going on...” Careful editing or not, Hitchcock, in which Anthony Hopkins plays the director, is a fascinating insight into Alma Reville – how incredible a woman she was, and how much she was responsible for making Psycho the success it would become. As a script and film editor, Alma was the strong woman behind the
powerful man, and made clever choices that would shape the classic film, including insisting on the shower scene’s iconically screechy soundtrack. “I didn’t know anything about their relationship before,” admits Mirren, revealing that it was Alma’s “strong character” that drew her to the script. Hitchcock was obsessed with his leading ladies, almost to the point of cheating on Alma. Psycho was no different, for which he cast Janet
PA Photo / 20th Century Fox
Dame Helen Mirren is back on the London stage as The Queen and back on the big screen as Alfred Hitchcock’s wife. She chats to Kate Whiting about almost becoming one of the director’s famous ‘blondes’ in real life
Psycho thrillers Anthony Hopkins and Helen Mirren in Hitchcock
PA Photo / 20th Century Fox
Hard-knock wife The pair of screen icons star as Alfred Hitchcock and his wife, Alma
Leigh (played by Scarlett Johansson) as the tragic heroine – the latest in a long line of ‘Hitchcock blondes’. But Alma overlooked these dalliances, and spent 54 years as his wife and collaborator. “It is a love story,” says Mirren. “And I think that Alma and Hitch were, in their own funny, unglamorous way, a great kind of Romeo and Juliet partnership. They were amazing partners in life and I think they could teach us all something about how to make a successful marriage.” This is something Mirren herself knows a thing or two about, having been in a relationship with American director husband Taylor Hackford since 1986 (they married in 1997). She says her own experience helped her identify with Alma. “When I first went to Hollywood,
I was with my husband who was at that time a very successful film director. He’d made An Officer and a Gentleman and was very recognised in Hollywood. “I did experience people walking through you to get to the great and glorious Taylor Hackford,” she admitted at a recent Bafta event held in her honour. And the same was true of Alma in her marriage to Hitch. This, of course, is no longer the case for Mirren, who is also about to return to the role of The Queen, this time on the West End stage, in Peter Morgan’s new play The Audience (see p48). But back to Hitchcock. Surprisingly, Mirren and Hopkins had never worked together before. Then, like buses, two film projects came along at once – Hitchcock and Red 2, the action movie sequel.
“We worked really really well together and I think it’s because we have a similar background of acting,” she says. “We’ve both come from the theatre to start off with. So we both knew how to give each other room to work, the kind of support we needed. He was absolutely wonderful to work with, always in a good humour even though it was really, really irritating sometimes to have to wear that sort of make-up and [fat] body suit.” Hitchcock is the latest in a string of films featuring older relationships, following the recent Quartet with Dame Maggie Smith, and last year’s Best Exotic Marigold Hotel with Dame Judi Dench. “I think it’s just a question of finding an audience that they’d forgotten about,” says Mirren on the trend for appealing to the ageing
baby boomer generation. “And they didn’t think anyone over the age of 50, let’s say, wanted to go to the cinema. But they didn’t want to go to the cinema because there were no movies they wanted to see!” Bizarrely, Mirren once auditioned for Hitchcock’s London film Frenzy, but didn’t get on with the director. “Back then I didn’t understand, I was an idiot, I thought he was just an old-fashioned director,” she explains. “I wanted to be in Easy Rider, I didn’t want to be in a Hitchcock movie – I was a fool. Now I know better and would love to be in one of his movies. I also think my work ethic would suit him very well. He did what great directors do: create an environment for the actor to get on with their part. I would love working like that now.” Hitchcock is on general release now scoutlondon.com Scout London 35
new releases
A Good Day to Die Hard (15 TBC) Take a walk down memory McClane. It’s been an incredible 25 years since John McClane (Bruce Willis) first stormed the Nakatomi Plaza in Los Angeles to rescue his wife from German terrorist Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) in the original Die Hard. Since then, the wise-cracking hero has battled terrorists in an airport, played deadly games with Gruber’s psychotic brother in New York City and hacked down a gang of cyber terrorists. For the fifth dose of overblown carnage, McClane teams up with his son Jack (Jai Courtney) to stop a dangerous Russian general (Sebastian Koch), who has broken out of prison. Expect the usual bombardment of pyrotechnics and pithy one-liners. Damon Smith A finished cut wasn’t available as Scout went to press.
This is 40 (15) Pete (Paul Rudd) and Debbie (Leslie Mann) have raised two daughters, 13-year-old Sadie (Maude Apatow) and eight-year-old Charlotte (Iris Apatow), and are now stuck in a rut. As they prepare to turn 40 in the same week, husband and wife agree an emotional spring clean is in order, which has dramatic repercussions for Pete’s cash-strapped father (Albert Brooks) and Debbie’s employees (Megan Fox, Charlyne Yi) at her clothing boutique. Writer-director Judd Apatow returns to characters we first met in The 40 Year Old Virgin for a bittersweet snapshot of modern family life. Sadly, lightning doesn’t strike twice. There are some very funny interludes – a marijuana-spiked vacation, Rudd examining his lower portions in a mirror – but the various emotional crises scream out for resolution well before Apatow decides that he’s had his fill. DS
Run For Your Wife (12A) First staged in 1983, Ray Cooney’s farce Run For Your Wife enjoyed an eight-year jolly in the West End. The playwright and John Luton co-direct this film adaptation which, sadly, doesn’t possess the same stamina and runs out of puff before 94 laboured minutes are up. Danny Dyer plays bigamous taxi driver John Smith, whose attempts to juggle wives Michelle (Denise Van Outen) in Stockwell and Stephanie (Sarah Harding) in Finsbury necessitates a domino rally of lies that must eventually topple over. Wildly over-the-top performances, which work on stage, are toe-curling in close-up and one member of the main cast is more wooden than the sets. An end credits title card promises Smith will return in a film version of stage sequel Caught In The Net. Run for your life. DS
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Also showing
Baz Luhrmann for Valentine’s
Casablanca: A live cinema experience (U)
Love is in the air at Cineworld and Vue as the two chains court Valentine’s Day audiences with modern day classics from Australian visionary Baz Luhrmann. Cineworld falls under the spell of the exuberant and dazzling love story Moulin Rouge set against the glamorous and decadent façade of Paris’ infamous nightclub, where poet Christian (Ewan McGregor) engages in an illicit affair with legendary courtesan Satine (Nicole Kidman). Meanwhile, Vue swoons to William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet, Luhrmann’s breathlessly daring re-invention of the Bard’s tragi-romance across social barriers featuring tour-de-force performances from Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes. To quote disco diva Kym Mazelle from the film’s eclectic, toe-tapping soundtrack: young hearts run free.
Of all the gin joints in all of London town, you have to walk into the specially recreated Café Americain, which forms the dazzling backdrop to Future Cinema’s latest immersive big screen experience. The Troxy will be transformed into the exclusive hotspot from Michael Curtiz’s classic 1942 wartime romance where ticketholders are invited to sing a rousing chorus of La Marseillaise around Rick’s piano or sample tempting North African food before settling down to one of cinema’s most memorable farewells. Humphrey Bogart plays American expatriate Rick Blaine, who gets burnt by old flame Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) when she arrives in Casablanca with her husband, resistance leader Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid) seeking exit visas to escape the Nazis.
(PG)
Cineworld and Vue cinemas across London, Feb 14, times and prices vary.
Feb 14-Mar 3, 6.30pm, mats Feb 17, Mar 3, 12.30pm, £25, concs £20, The Troxy, 490 Commercial Road, E1 0HX Limehouse
The Pianist (15)
Edible Cinema presents
The Pianist was a highly personal project for director Roman Polanski. As a child, he witnessed unspeakable atrocities at the hands of the Nazis in the Krakow ghetto and survived thanks to the kindness of strangers, as does the laconic hero of his Oscar-winning film, Jewish musician Wladyslaw Szpilman (Adrien Brody). More than this, Polanski’s gut-wrenching drama is a testament to the endurance of the human spirit in horrific circumstances. Brody is transformed from a suave, charming musician into an emaciated, withered husk, clinging onto life through the music of his piano. The anguish and despair in Szpilman’s eyes is like a silent scream drowned out by the blitzkrieg of German bombs, which eventually reduces Warsaw to rubble. Feb 13 & 17, 8.10pm, Feb 19, 5.50pm, £5-£10, concs/mems £5-£8.50 BFI Southbank, Belvedere Road, SE1 8XT Waterloo
Some Like It Hot (U)
Experimental food designer Andrew Stellitano delivers another mouthwatering feast for the senses to enhance Billy Wilder’s classic comedy featuring Marilyn Monroe in one of her most famous roles as sex-pot Sugar Kane. Throughout the film, placards direct the audience to consume the contents of numbered packages containing bite-size morsels, which correspond to the action on the screen. Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon star alongside Monroe as struggling musicians Joe and Jerry, who witness the 1929 St Valentine’s Day Massacre and dress up as saxophonist Josephine and double bass player Daphne to evade the mob in the company of an all-girl travelling band. Feb 17, 3pm & 6.30pm, £23 & £28, luxury sofa for two £60 & £64 The Aubin Cinema, 64-66 Redchurch Street, E2 7DP Shoreditch High Street scoutlondon.com Scout London 37
Mad, fat and very, very funny…
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he only thing more excruciatingly embarrassing than being a teenager, is reading back your sappy, angst-ridden teenage diaries as an adult. But it sure does make for great comedy, which is precisely why so-called cringe nights – where audiences gather for this very reason – are catching on as an alternative night out. And also why E4’s My Mad Fat Diary is proving such a hit. The series is based on the real-life experiences of writer Rae Earl, who in 2007 turned her own diaries into a book called My Fat Mad Teenage Diary, a toe-curlingly honest account of an overweight, Morrissey-obsessed teen in the 80s. The book was a hit, and has now been transplanted to the 90s for the TV series, with newcomer Sharon Rooney as Rae. The Rae of My Mad Fat Diary, as the series is called, is 16 and weighs 16 stone. Episode one saw her return home after a spell in a psychiatric hospital, and we’ve since seen her get in with a new bunch of ‘cool’ mates. She’s now trying to fit in and
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compete for attention from the boys under the shadow of slim, pretty gang leader Issy, while struggling with her destructive relationships with food and her mother. But Rooney, a 24-year-old from Glasgow, wishes her character had a bit more confidence. “I’m so in love with her,” she says. “It’s such an honour to play her because she’s one of the bravest people that I think I’ll ever come across. She’s just this breath of fresh air that doesn’t realise just how fantastic she is, and how cool she is. She makes everyone feel good and happy and she doesn’t see it. She’s too wrapped up in wanting to be normal, whatever that is.” As you’d expect from a show about the innermost thoughts of a troubled teenager, there have been some emotional scenes. “Beverly, our script supervisor, would sometimes get a bit teary on set. That’s when I’d know that we’d done well. When she cried, it was like, ‘Beverley’s crying?! Yes! This was a good day at the office!’.” And, as with other awkward teen shows like The Inbetweeners,
there were some mortifying scenes too, including the series opener, in which Rae is evacuated from a shop changing room after her mate lights up a cigarette, setting off the smoke alarm. Wearing only her underwear, she’s offered an inflatable crocodile to protect her modesty. “It was 2pm on Watford High Street. People were everywhere!” recalls Rooney. “But no one said anything. I suppose I would do that. I wouldn’t go, ‘What is that big girl doing?’ I’d be like, ‘Why has she got a crocodile?’.” Through all her toe-curling moments, Rae is someone you can relate to – which is why the actress thinks the show has struck a chord. “The good thing about her, whether you’re a boy or girl, fat or thin, or whatever ethnicity, is that if Rae’s going through something, you can go, ‘Ooh yeah, I remember that’, or, ‘I feel like that today’.” Recalling her own teenage years, Rooney says: “When you’re a teenager, your hormones are raging, you’ve got all these issues, the world is against you. Sometimes you’re just sad, sometimes you’re just
angry, and you don’t always know why. You’re just a bit grumpy.” Rooney has wanted to be an actress since she was three years old and prepared herself for showbiz with regular comedy stints at the Edinburgh Festival. “My friend Hannah and I were this double act. I’d sing songs like I’m Not Pregnant, I’m Just Fat in a Glaswegian accent,” she recalls. The part of Rae came at the perfect time, as she’d just been turned down for several other roles. “My ma always said I should never change just to tick someone’s box, ‘cos I’m Scottish and I’m bigger than most girls. But if I had changed I wouldn’t have gotten this. So I’m so glad everyone else said no.” Rooney’s now hoping for a second series. But the experience has already given her the confidence her character so desperately lacks. “If you can stand in a bikini on Watford High Street with only a crocodile for company, you can do anything!” Rooney says. My Mad Fat Diary is on tonight (Monday) at 10pm on E4.
PA Photo / Channel 4
As new E4 comedy My Mad Fat Diary continues to win fans, its star Sharon Rooney tells Lisa Williams why the show’s the best thing that ever happened to her
Beasts Of The Southern Wild (12)
Available on DVD, Blu-ray and iTunes
“Once there was a Hushpuppy and she lived with her daddy in the Bathtub...” The opening voiceover of director Benh Zietlin’s extraordinary debut suggests a modern day fairytale. However, there’s no happy ever after in Beasts Of The Southern Wild, a poetic and grimly compelling portrait of shattered lives in a fictional bayou, where six-year-old Hushpuppy (Quvenzhane Wallis) lives off the sodden land with her father, Wink (Dwight Henry). He practises tough love so his little girl can survive the unforgiving elements, but like all children she rebels against his teachings. Hushpuppy’s journey of self-discovery is brilliantly realised, anchored by a tour-de-force, Oscar-worthy performance from non-actor Wallis, who could become the youngest ever winner of the Best Actress statuette later this month. Magical realist flourishes, such as a stampede of mythical creatures called aurochs, invite us to see this ramshackle world through Hushpuppy’s eyes as the levees burst, threatening to wash away her childhood innocence forever. Undoubtedly one of the best films of the year. Damon Smith
Sinister (15)
Available on DVD, Blu-ray and iTunes Novelist Ellison Oswalt (Ethan Hawke) moves to a leafy community with his wife and children. The father neglects to mention to his brood that the previous owners of the house came to an unfortunate end, and the sole survivor – a little girl – disappeared without trace. In the attic, Ellison is intrigued to discover a box of Super 8 home movies. As he watches the shocking footage in the privacy of his office, the writer connects brutal murders across the country and senses a potential movie deal, but loosens his grasp on sanity in the process. Sinister is a predictable ghost story that has a few decent scares as Ellison wanders around his house at night, twitching nervously at every creaking floorboard. The plot of Scott Derrickson’s film necessitates an acrimonious divorce from common sense. Few people would willingly move into a house where four members of a family were found hanged by the neck from a gnarled tree in the back garden. Fewer still would remain in the property when someone or something starts opening locked doors and crashing about in the attic in the dead of night. DS
The Perks Of Being A Wallflower (12) Available on DVD, Blu-ray and iTunes
Sensitive and withdrawn Charlie (Logan Lerman) is devastated by the suicide of a good friend, but plucks up the courage to chat to openly gay classmate Patrick (Ezra Miller). In turn, he introduces Charlie to his free-spirited step-sister, Sam (Emma Watson), who encourages Charlie to take the terrifying leaps of faith faced by every teenager. The Perks Of Being A Wallflower is a bittersweet anthem to emotionally damaged youth, adapted by writer-director Stephen Chbosky from his own critically-adored novel. The central cast are universally impressive, including Watson, who makes confident strides away from her Harry Potter days. Fluffiness and mawkish sentimentality are absent here. Instead, the film ventures into some incredibly dark recesses of the human experience with sensitivity and restraint. DS
Gossip Girl – The Complete Sixth And Final Season (15) Available on DVD and Blu-ray box set
Dry your eyes as the beautiful people from the Upper East Side bid farewell with a final series of back-stabbing, betrayal and heartbreak. Gossip Girl used to be a guilty pleasure, but the show lost its way some time ago. There are flashes of the good old days here and the last ever episode is determined to please everyone by tying up a lot of loose ends. DS
Fitbit Activity and Calorie Tracker
Available free on iPhone and Android Lots of us want to improve our fitness or shed a few pounds, but time can be an issue – as can knowing whether you’re doing the right things. Fitbit’s activity and calorie tracker will keep a record of how active you’re being each day – whether you’re sweating it out in the gym or simply running for a bus – and tell you how many calories you’re burning as a result. If you’ve struggled with exercises regimes in the past, this addictive app may be just the ticket. Sam Wylie-Harris
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A rich career It’s been 10 years since Brit Asian producer Rishi Rich rose to stardom through collaborations with Jay Sean and Juggy D. Now he has produced soundtracks for a forthcoming Brit-Asian film. He gives Scout a sneak preview of what to expect
R
enowned London producer Rishi Rich pioneered the Asian R’n’B crossover sound, through massive hits such as Dance with You and Eyes on You – both collaborations with international stars Jay Sean and Juggy D. And he has since gone on to produce and remix work for the likes of Madonna, Britney Spears and Craig David. Now he has teamed up with Ask 4 Entertainment trading as Ask UK Entertainment Ltd to compose and produce music for its forthcoming Brit Asian film, set for release in summer. Rishi Rich has composed and produced three tracks for the film, including The Way You Look, which he describes as an “up tempo bhangra club anthem”. It features Punjabi vocals from Amarjeet Bolla and an English hook from Karun Sharma aka The Artist KcK. The Love Song takes a slow, soulful, urban orchestral approach, with composition & vocals from KcK. And Top of The World is more of a ‘feel good’ number, again with KcK as writer, composer and vocalist, plus vocals from up-and-coming female artist Roma. Scout London and Ask 4 Entertainment caught up with Rishi Rich, to talk about the film and his role.
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Being a recognised figure in the Brit-Asian music industry, it must be quite satisfying to now be making your mark in Brit-Asian cinema as well? Absolutely. Being British Asian myself, I feel like I’m representing my culture in cinema as well as in the music industry. Sometimes I feel like I am the voice for British Asians on a musical level, but now it’s my chance to represent that visually as well. What appealed to you most about this project? For me, I always look at the team I’m going to work with. I’ve worked with people that combine allowing me to do what I do with ideas from others and a lot of what they want. But when you sit down with a team and they say what they want the final result to sound like, then allow you to go away and do what you’re good at doing – as with this project – that’s when you get the best marriage between what they want and what you do. If you get it right, as I think we have done, you get a product that satisfies everyone and brings the best out of the artists that have been involved. It is showcasing the existing artists like KcK along with the new artists too. It has been one of the easiest projects that I have worked on.
You’ve done a lot of music for the film industry, as well as chart music. Is there one you’d prefer to stick to? I took a decision to go into film music, because my career began with scoring. This has always been a part of my songwriting and producing. When you are producing a ballad for an artist, you are still scoring – just with vocals. Are you scoring for this film? I will be involved, but more in a co-scoring role. I don’t live in India, so if scenes are done in India I wouldn’t want to score them, because that’s not what I represent. However, if you give me a scene in West London, I could score that. Which of the tracks that you’ve produced for the film is your favourite? All three of them are great. One is a dance track, mainstream, one is a Punjabi track and the other a love track. They are all different, so it has been really nice for me to work on them. Was this the right time for you to take on a film project, with your next album due for release soon? Yes of course. I’m working on three films, with this being one of them. I’ve always been the type of person who loves to come to the studio and work on different things, as well as working on my album – I like to have different things running in parallel. It’s nice to work on your album
and take a break to work on other stuff. It keeps me inspired. Which composers have been your inspiration? RD Burman, Quincy Jones, AR Rahman, Teddy Riley, Soul2Soul. From a UK point of view, they broke a lot of barriers, which is amazing. I also like Gipsy Kings and a lot of Arabic music. Adnan Sami is probably one of my idols because he really coached me about music when I was in India. When I worked on the Jay Sean album, he listened to every track and said ‘try this’ and ‘try that’. He is an amazing musician. Will you, Juggy D and Jay Sean be getting back together? This year is the 10th anniversary since we got together. The funny thing is we were never a group, just three guys from West London that got together. Jay Sean was doing his R’n’B stuff, I was producing and Juggy was starting off, so we did the tracks Dance With You and Eyes on You. We have only done two tracks together and that was that. Now, 10 years on, we are looking to do a reunion concert. I’m working with Jay Sean when I go back to America, working on Juggy’s album here, and a new Rishi Rich project album soon. ask4entertainment.co.uk Facebook.com/Ask4 EntertainmentMedia @Ask4Ent
PAPHOTO / BRYAN SHEFFIELD
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hen their debut, Gorilla Manor, was released in 2009, Local Natives were pretty much unheard of. A bunch of friends living together in a shared house, they’d written the material at home (also called Gorilla Mansion; hence the title) and recorded it in a tiny studio in California. But a wave of four- and five-star reviews rapidly rolled in, drawing comparisons to the likes of Fleet Foxes, Arcade Fire and Vampire Weekend, which started serious word-of-mouth excitement. Soon, Local Natives found themselves embarking on an extensive tour that would last almost three years, taking them round the world twice over. After such extreme start-up success, following up Gorilla Manor was never going to be easy. Today the band’s guitarists, Taylor Rice and Ryan Hahn, are in London, collapsed on a large leather sofa in their management office. Whether it’s jetlag or delayed exhaustion from working on their second album, the pair look tired. They explain how, unlike first time round, they decided to work with a producer this time: Aaron Dessner of US indie stars The National. “We went on tour with The National at the end of 2011, and just hit it off [with Dessner],” says Rice. The band had previously been against bringing in a producer, believing it was too difficult to explain what they wanted to sound like to a third party. That Dessner would get involved was something of a tour joke initially, but upon returning to LA and meeting with other producers, they realised it made perfect sense. “He was on holiday in Hawaii when we emailed him to ask him, but he replied straight away. He was so excited. As were we,” Rice adds. Unlike some producers, whose fingerprints will be all over whatever they’ve worked on, Dessner’s mark on Hummingbird is subtle – but that’s not to say it’s insignificant. Rice says: “We had no idea how this record was going to come out beforehand. None at all. It’s a very direct, personal album, and I think we really eliminated that wall between
Going Native Local Natives overcame personal tragedy to record Hummingbird, an early contender for album of the year. Ahead of their UK tour, they tell Andy Welch about the painful inspiration behind it the song as it was written and how we imagined it, and how it is actually expressed on the album.” In 2011, Local Natives parted ways with bass player Andy Hamm. They say the split was “devastating”, but won’t go into more detail. There was another, more serious event that year too – the death of main vocalist Kelcey Ayer’s mother. Much of Hummingbird deals with the loss, or death in general, and where Gorilla Manor had moments of out-and-out boisterousness, this follow-up is strong yet sombre, heartbreaking even. “Things got pretty difficult for a while that year,” says Hahn. “We’ve all been friends since school, and we hang out so much, so when something happens to one of us, it happens to all of us. All of us feel it. “There was other stuff going on, relationships breaking down back home because we’d been on tour so long, Andy was gone, and then the death of someone close to us all. I don’t know how much more I want to say about that.” In truth, he doesn’t have to
say much more. Ayer’s lyrics on Hummingbird say it all. The penultimate track, Colombia, is the most honest, recounting his mother’s final moments. “The day after I had counted down all of your breaths, down until there were none,” he sings. “A hummingbird crashed down in front of us, and I understood all it did for us.” The rest of the song, set to glorious harmonies and gentle piano, deals with Ayer’s subsequent fear that his mum might not have known how much he loved her, and later the promise to her that he won’t make the same mistake again with those close to him – “Every night I’ll ask myself, am I giving enough?” It’s difficult to listen to, once you know the story behind it, but at the same time, mesmerising. When things looked most bleak, the band, now a foursome, decided to take themselves off to the Joshua Tree National Park, not too far a drive from LA and isolate themselves from everything happening around them. “We just had to get away,” says
Hahn. “We all lived together on the first record, so we wanted to get back to that, just us.” “That was a nice time,” says Rice. “It added a burst of spontaneity to the record that I think we were missing beforehand.” Now it’s done, they can reflect on Hummingbird differently. Hahn wanted to make an album he’d be proud of when he’s old and grey, and is satisfied they’ve done so. “To go through what we have, and come out of it like this, I think that’s a real achievement. People might say there’s a sadness on the album, but I think there’s a sense of elation. Recording it was definitely catharsis, and it will be good to play these songs.” Rice, meanwhile, hopes the album will propel Local Natives to a new league. “Playing live has always been more important to us than anything else, and the tour in February is going to be fantastic, I can’t wait.” Local Natives play Scala on February 14 scoutlondon.com Scout London 41
THIS WEEK
The Datsuns
February 15, Dingwalls, £10 Next to Flight of the Conchords, Peter Jackson and a few movies that speak for themselves, the fabulously energetic Datsuns are quite possibly New Zealand’s finest cultural export. Balls-out rock of the highest order, last year’s psyche-rock tinted album
Death Rattle Boogie was a spectacular return to form. Flying V guitar? Check. Big rock posturing? Check. Foot on monitors... you had us at Flying V. We’ll see you down the front. Camden Lock Place NW1 8AF
Camden Town
Little Mix
February 13, Hammersmith Apollo, £19.50-£32.50
Proving that they’ve grown-up from talent show contestants to proper pop contenders, Little Mix are now strutting their stuff on their debut headline tour. The winners of the eighth series of X Factor – and the only group to win in its history – will be showing off what they’ve learned in the 12 months since they scooped 42 Scout London scoutlondon.com
the top spot. With only one album of tracks to pick from, the girls are expected to sing a medley of songs by artists that inspired them, such as Destiny’s Child and Nicki Minaj. Queen Caroline Street W6 9QH
Hammersmith
Scout Stereo
1 2
Tom Waits Blue Valentines Stripped-back and soulful hymn to broken hearted memories from the monster-voiced maestro.
Cherrelle, feat Alexander O’Neal Saturday Love This song lets you do the Valentine every day of the week.
Chase & Status February 15, Village Underground, £20
One of Britain’s biggest exporters of bass and beats, Chase & Status are accustomed to arenas and festival main stages. Now they’re getting set to tear the considerably smaller
Village Underground a new bass hole. For this Mixmag night they’ve also drafted in some of their favourite artists. KillSonik, Dream Mclean, Kove and Josh Butler will join Will and Saul on
the bill, showcasing the scope of Chase & Status’ taste and the MTA label roster Holywell Lane, EC21 3PQ Shoreditch High Street
Also this week:
Toddla T Sound ft Mike Skinner February 16, XOYO, £12.50 Widely respected DJ and producer Tom Bell (aka Toddla T) has launched a new concept that bridges the gap between his renowned DJ sets and a full-on live show. The Toddla T Sound features elements of live performance and DJing with live vocalists. This time around it’ll
feature a special guest DJ set from The Streets’ Mike Skinner, while Mr T is also joined by drum’n’bass/dubstep producer Breakage. Cowper Street
EC2A 4AP Liverpool Street
All Time Low, Lower Than Atlantis Feb 14-Feb 16, O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, £22.50 Bleech Feb 15, KOKO, £5 Darwin Deez Feb 12, Heaven, £15 Dead Wolf Club Feb 15, The Sebright Arms, £4 Dutch Uncles, Coves Feb 14, Hoxton Square Bar And Kitchen, £10 Local Natives, Balthazar Feb 14, The Scala, phone for availibity £13.50 Modestep Feb 14, KOKO, £14 NME Awards Shows 2013: Everything Everything Feb 13, Heaven, £15.60, phone for availability NME Awards Shows 2013: Kate Nash Feb 13, The Sebright Arms, £12.50 NME Awards Shows 2013: Kodaline Feb 14, Dingwalls, adv £10.60 NME Awards Shows 2013: Toy, Charlie Boyer And The Voyeurs Feb 12, The Scala, £11.60 NME Awards Shows 2013: Wolf
3
My Bloody Valentine Only Shallow
4
Johnny Cash One
5
Bright Eyes First Day of My Life
Sweetly melodic shoegazing classic from the fuzzed-up favourites.
Raw. Honest. As moving as they come. Contender for best cover ever.
As perfect a summing up of the excitement of a new relationship as we know of.
Listen to our playlist: j.mp/scout0027
Kraftwerk: The Catalogue 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Feb 11-Feb 14, Tate Modern, £60, phone for availability Alice Feb 11, The Waiting Room, £7.60 Olly Murs Feb 11, IndigO2, £15-£75 Roundhouse Rising: Bass Culture Showcase Feb 15, Roundhouse, £6 Roundhouse Rising: Roundhouse Records 30/30 Album Launch Feb 14, Roundhouse, £6 Salif Keita Feb 13, Southbank Centre, £10-£30, concs £5-£15 Soweto Kinch Trio Feb 16, Stratford Circus, £9-£12
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BOOKING AHEAD ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead Apr 25, O2 Academy Islington, £14 ASAP Rocky May 22, O2 Academy Brixton, £20 Adrian Edmondson And The Bad Shepherds Dec 14, O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, adv £20 Alchemy: Hariharan Apr 19, Southbank Centre, £10-£55, concs £5-£22.50 Alchemy: Martin Simpson & Arieb Azhar Apr 17, Southbank Centre, £10 & £15, concs £5 & £7.50 Alicia Keys May 30 & May 31, The O2, £39.50 & £45 All Tomorrow’s Parties I’ll Be Your Mirror: I’ll Be Your Mirror 2013: Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Grizzly Bear May 4 & May 5, Alexandra Palace, weekend £110, oneday £59 Alt-J May 16, O2 Academy Brixton, £16 AlunaGeorge Feb 19, XOYO, £11.50 Amon Tobin Mar 8, Hammersmith Apollo, £28.50 & £35 Anastacia Apr 6, O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, £32.50 And So I Watch You From Afar Apr 16, The Garage, £11 Angel Haze May 7, The Scala, adv £12.50, and May 9, Heaven, phone for prices Angelique Kidjo And Fatoumata Diawara Mar 8, Southbank Centre, £10£27.50, concs £5-£13.75
Athlete May 10, O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, adv £21.50 Bad Ass Brass Mar 16, The Hideaway, £12 Bastille Mar 28 & Mar 29, O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, adv £13 Beach House Mar 25 & Mar 26, O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, £18 Biffy Clyro, City And Colour Apr 3, The O2, £26.50 & £29.50 Big Country Apr 21, The Forum, £23.50 Billy Bragg Jun 5, Union Chapel, £20 Billy Cobham Band Feb 18-Feb 23, Ronnie Scott’s, £30-£50 Black Rebel Motorcycle Club Mar 27, O2 Academy Brixton, £22.50 Bloc Party, The Joy Formidable, Old Men Feb 22, Earls Court, adv £29.50 Blondie Jul 7, Roundhouse, £37.50 Bring Me The Horizon May 7, KOKO, £16.50
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British Sea Power Apr 17, O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, £15 Bruce Foxton Apr 12, The Clapham Grand, £17 Bryan Ferry Nov 4, Royal Albert Hall, £35-£95 Buddy Whittington Apr 7, Half Moon, Putney, £13 Bullet For My Valentine, Halestorm Mar 17, Roundhouse, £20 C2C: Country to Country Mar 16 & Mar 17, The O2, day ticket £35-£65, weekend ticket £130 Cancer Bats Mar 15, KOKO, £12.50 Chas & Dave May 18, IndigO2, £26.50£45 Chris De Burgh Apr 24, Royal Albert Hall, £35-£50 Chvrches Feb 27, ICA, £12 Cold War Kids May 9, The Forum, £15 Crystal Fighters May 23, KOKO, £14 D-A-D Mar 2, O2 Academy Islington, adv £15 Death Grips May 2, The Forum, £15 Deftones, Letlive, Three Trapped Tigers Feb 20, O2 Academy Brixton, £28.50 Depeche Mode May 28 & May 29, The O2, £40 & £50 Dexys Apr 15, Apr 16, Apr 18-Apr 20, The Duke Of York’s, £26-£41 Dog Is Dead Apr 24, KOKO, adv £11.50 Don Broco Apr 18, KOKO, £12 Ebony Day Apr 4, The Borderline, adv £6 Edwyn Collins Apr 24, Union Chapel, £25 Eels Mar 21, O2 Academy Brixton, £30 Egyptian Hip Hop Mar 4, XOYO, £10 Eliza Carthy & Jim Moray May 16, Union Chapel, £20 Elvis Costello & The Imposters Jun 4 & Jun 5, Royal Albert Hall, £45 Emeli Sande Apr 8, Hammersmith Apollo, £25-£29.50 Esben And The Witch, Thought Forms Feb 26, The Scala, adv £10 Example Feb 23, Earls Court, £28.50 FM Mar 23, O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, £18.50 Fenech Soler Feb 25, Birthdays, £10 & May 22, Electric Ballroom, £12 Field Day Festival 2013: Bat For Lashes, Solange, Animal Collective May 25, Victoria Park, £49.50 Finley Quaye May 29, 100 Club, phone for prices Four Tet Feb 28, Heaven, £15.50 Foy Vance Mar 13, Islington Town Hall, £15 Frank Hamilton May 3, The Borderline, £7.50 Frank Turner And The Sleeping Souls Apr 25, The Forum, £22.50 Frankie Valli And The Four Seasons Jun 25 & Jun 26, Royal Albert Hall, £55-£65 Fucked Up, Titus Andronicus May 30, Electric Ballroom, £16.50
Classical
Rascal Flatts Jul 11, O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, £25 Fun Apr 12, Hammersmith Apollo, £18.50 Funeral For A Friend Feb 18, The Garage, £16 Gallops, Portasound Feb 21, The Lexington, adv £7 Gaz Coombes Apr 25, The Garage, £13.50 Girls Aloud Mar 1-Mar 3, The O2, £42.50-£49.50 Green Day, Kaiser Chiefs, All Time Low Jun 1, Emirates Stadium, £45-£65 Hadouken! Apr 25, Electric Ballroom, £14.50 A Hawk And A Hacksaw Apr 17, The Lexington, phone for prices
The Rest Is Noise: London Philharmonic Orchestra with Simon Trpceski Feb 15, Southbank Centre, £9£39, concs £4.50£19.50 Aled Jones May 12, Union Chapel, adv £35 April Fool’s Day Comedy Concert 2013 Apr 1, Southbank Centre, £9.50-£34.50 BBC Symphony Orchestra Nov 10, Royal Albert Hall, £8-£36 Blackheath Halls Orchestra Feb 17 & Mar 3, Mar 1-Mar 10, Blackheath Halls, £57, concs £51 Britten Intercollegiate String Quartet Competition Apr 22, Royal Academy Of Music, FREE Brussels Philharmonic Mar 8, Cadogan Hall, £18-£39 Concordia Duo, Dennis Cooke, Nick Hartley Mar 17, All Saints Arts Centre, phone for prices
The Smashing Pumpkins Jul 22, Wembley Arena, £38.50 & £48.50 Helloween, Gamma Ray Apr 16, The Forum, £25 I Am Kloot Feb 19, Barbican Centre, £25 Iamamiwhoami May 30, Electric Brixton, £15 Imagine Dragons Apr 11, The Forum, £13 Inspiral Carpets Mar 22, KOKO, £18.50 JLS Dec 21 & Dec 22, The O2, £25 & £33.50 Jaguar Skills Mar 23, KOKO, £15 Jah Wobble & Bill Sharpe Apr 26, Islington Town Hall, £17.50 & £20 Jake Bugg, Valerie June, Hudson Taylor Feb 27 & Feb 28, O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, £14 James Last: One More Time Apr 26 & Apr 27, Royal Albert Hall, £35-£60 James, Echo And The Bunnymen Apr 19 & Apr 20, O2 Academy Brixton, £38.50 Jamie Lidell Mar 8, Heaven, adv £16 Jazzsteppa, Ma’Grass, John Blood & The Highlys, Lyric L Feb 22, Passing Clouds, £8, £5 before 10pm
RCM Philharmonic Feb 14, Royal College Of Music, FREE, ticketed Geoffrey Woollatt Mar 17, Westminster Cathedral, FREE, donations welcome Katya Apekisheva Feb 21, Kings Place, £14.50-£29.50, adv £9.50 LSO String Orchestra Feb 19, LSO St Luke’s, £10-£22 Marie Seidler, Richard Walshe, Yi-Ru Hung And Nick Fletcher Feb 19, Royal Academy Of Music, FREE Orchestra Of The Swan Feb 19, Cadogan Hall, £10-£35, mems £25 RCM Wind Ensemble Feb 26, Bishopsgate Institute, FREE Sam Furness Jun 20, The Temple Church, FREE The Animal Kingdom Feb 19, Royal Albert Hall, £5, child £3.50
The Who Jun 15 & Jun 16, The O2, £60-£70 Jessie J Oct 29 & Oct 30, The O2, £25 & £33.50 Jessie Ware Mar 13 & Mar 14, O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, £16.50 Joe Satriani Jun 17, O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, £40 Johnny Marr, F.U.R.S Mar 15, O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, £22.50 Journey/Whitesnake, Thunder May 29, Wembley Arena, £48 Kaiser Chiefs, This Many Boyfriends Mar 1, O2 Academy Brixton, adv £27.50 Kate Nash May 1, 100 Club, £15 Katie Melua Oct 2, Roundhouse, £37.50 Kid Koala Feb 22, The Scala, £15£19.50, adv £12 Killswitch Engage May 5, O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, £18 Kings Of Leon Jun 12 & Jun 13, The O2, £57.50 Lana Del Rey May 19 & May 20, Hammersmith Apollo, £28.50 Lawson Mar 1, O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, £15.50 Leona Lewis May 8 & May 9, Royal Albert Hall, £35-£65 Leonard Cohen Jun 21, The O2, £25£75 Lianne La Havas, Rae Morris, George Ezra Mar 11 & Mar 12, O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, £15 London International Ska Festival 2013 Mar 28-Mar 31, Various Venues, weekend ticket £99.99 London Pop Fest 2013 Mar 1, Mar 2, Mar 3, Various Venues, Fri £6, Sat £15, Sun £10, weekend ticket £25 Loudon Wainwright III May 3, Southbank Centre, £25-£35, concs £12.50-£17.50 Low Apr 30, Barbican Centre, £17.50£22.50 Major Lazer, Angel Haze May 4, Roundhouse, £17.50 Mark Knopfler May 27-Jun 1, Royal Albert Hall, £37.50-£52.50 Marlena Shaw Mar 26-Mar 30, Ronnie Scott’s, £30-£50 Maroon 5 Jun 23 & Jun 24, The O2, £40 & £45 Matchbox Twenty Apr 16 & Apr 17, Hammersmith Apollo, £29.50
McFly May 18, Wembley Arena, £31.50 Meat Loaf: Last At Bat Tour Apr 10, The O2, £57.50 Michael Ball: Both Sides Now Tour May 4, Hammersmith Apollo, £37.50 & £42.50 Michael Buble Jul 1, Jul 3-Jul 5, Jul 7, Jul 8, Jul 10, Jul 12, Jul 13, The O2, £50£75, phone for availability Michael Buble Jun 30, The O2, £50£75, phone for availability Mudhoney Jun 8, The Forum, £18.50 Mumiy Troll May 25, O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, £20 Muse Feb 18, O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, £50 & May 25 & May 26, Emirates Stadium, phone for prices My Bloody Valentine Mar 12 & Mar 13, Hammersmith Apollo, adv £25 My First Tooth, Among Brothers, The Spare Room Feb 21, Bull And Gate, £10, adv £5 My Vitriol May 8, KOKO, £17 NME Awards Shows 2013: Brooke Candy Feb 25, Madame Jojo’s, £9.10 NME Awards Shows 2013: Doldrums Feb 20, Corsica Studios, £10.60 NME Awards Shows 2013:
Wiley, Skepta, JME Apr 20, The Forum, £15.95 Exclamation Pony Feb 19, Hoxton Square Bar And Kitchen, phone for prices NME Awards Shows 2013: Fiction Feb 25, Electrowerkz, £8.60 NME Awards Shows 2013: Fidlar Feb 25, The Garage, £11.60 NME Awards Shows 2013: Jagwar Ma Feb 26, Birthdays, £8.60 NME Awards Shows 2013: Savages Feb 21, Electric Ballroom, £12.50 NME Awards Shows 2013: The Cribs, And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, Deap Vally, Drenge Feb 22, O2 Academy Brixton, £20.60 NME Awards Shows 2013: Tim Burgess Feb 21, Birthdays, £15.60 Nas Mar 19, The O2, £34-£39, w/CD £44.99-£49.99 Ne-Yo, Tulisa Mar 15, The O2, £36 & £40 Neil Young & Crazy Horse Jun 17, The O2, £45-£65 Netsky Mar 1, The Forum, £15 Nitin Sawhney Jun 27, Roundhouse, £23.50-£25 Noah And The Whale Apr 28, May 5, May 12, May 19, Palace Theatre, £26.50 & £32.50
Ocean Colour Scene Feb 25-Feb 27, Electric Ballroom, £28.50 Of Monsters And Men Mar 5-Mar 7, O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, £16, phone for availability Olivia Newton-John Mar 13, Royal Albert Hall, £45 & £55 Olly Murs Mar 10, Wembley Arena, £34 & Mar 29 & Mar 30, The O2, £34 Omar Feb 23, Millfield Arts Centre, £20, adv £19, concs £17, adv concs £16 One Direction Feb 22 & Feb 23, Feb 23 & Feb 24, The O2, £25 & £33.50 & Apr 1, Apr 2, Apr 4, Apr 5, Apr 2, The O2, £25 & £33.50 Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark May 3, Roundhouse, £33.50 P!nk Apr 24, Apr 25, Apr 27, Apr 28, The O2, £42.50-£55 Paloma Faith Jun 7, The O2, £22.50 & £28.50 Paper Aeroplanes, Zervas & Pepper May 22, Bush Hall, adv £10 Parquet Courts, Cold Pumas, Sauna Youth Mar 20, Shacklewell Arms, £5 Patrick Wolf Apr 6, Southbank Centre, £17.50-£22.50 Pere Ubu Apr 23, Bush Hall, £20 Pet Shop Boys Jun 18, The O2, £35 Peter Gabriel Oct 21 & Oct 22, The O2, £40 & £50 Planes Mar 6, Birthdays, phone for prices Portico Quartet Apr 17, KOKO, phone for prices Post War Years Feb 25, Cargo, adv £8 Richard Hawley Feb 23, Troxy, £22.50 Rod Stewart: Live The Life Tour Jun 4 & Jun 6, The O2, £60-£70 Rodriguez Jun 8, Hammersmith Apollo, £10-£29.50 Ron Sexsmith Mar 7, Royal Albert Hall, £22.50-£32.50 Roots Manuva Mar 16, KOKO, £17, adv £15
Willy Moon Mar 5, XOYO, £11.25 Roundhouse Rising: Best Fit Recordings Feb 22, Roundhouse, £6 Roundhouse Rising: Lil Simz: Wishes Feb 23, Roundhouse, £6 Roundhouse Rising: Moshi Moshi Feb 18, Roundhouse, £10 Rush May 24, The O2, £60 & £75 Saxon Apr 27, O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, £20
Shockwaves NME Awards Show: Django Django, Miles Kane, Palma Violets, Peace Feb 23, O2 Academy Brixton, £20 Sigur Ros Mar 7-Mar 9, O2 Academy Brixton, £30 Sinead O’Connor Mar 27, Barbican Centre, £18-£25 So Solid Crew Mar 21, IndigO2, phone for prices Space, Dollface Mar 7, O2 Academy Islington, £17.50 Squarepusher Mar 30, Roundhouse, £25 Teenage Cancer Trust: Kasabian Mar 22, Royal Albert Hall, £25-£75 Teenage Cancer Trust: Noel Gallagher With Damon Albarn & Graham Coxon Mar 23, Royal Albert Hall, £25-£100
Santana Jul 19, Wembley Arena, £38.30-£65.80 Teenage Cancer Trust: Paul Weller, Palma Violets Mar 25, Royal Albert Hall, £25 Teenage Cancer Trust: Primal Scream Mar 21, Royal Albert Hall, £25-£75 Teenage Cancer Trust: Rizzle Kicks, Labrinth Mar 24, Royal Albert Hall, £25-£50 Teenage Cancer Trust: Ryan Adams, Beth Orton Mar 19, Royal Albert Hall, £25-£75 The Chapman Family, Ravens In Paris, Terminal Gods, Wildlife Feb 20, Surya, £8 The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster Apr 12, O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, £15 The Jacksons: Unity Tour Mar 3, Hammersmith Apollo, £45-£60 The Selecter, Zion Train, Talisman Mar 23, Islington Town Hall, £19.50 & £24.50 The Stone Roses Jun 7 & Jun 8, Finsbury Park, £55 The Vaccines May 2, The O2, £27 The Wonder Stuff Apr 17, O2 Academy Islington, £18 The X Factor Live Tour 2013 Feb 22, Feb 23, Wembley Arena, £32.50 Two Door Cinema Club Apr 27, Alexandra Palace, £20, disabled £10 Villagers Feb 20 & Feb 21, Village Underground, £14 Yo La Tengo Mar 20, Barbican Centre, £15 ZZ Top Jun 24 & Jun 28, Hammersmith Apollo, £45
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C LU B B I N G Monday February 11 Barfly Presents at The Barfly, Camden, 49 Chalk Farm Road, NW1 8AN Chalk Farm phone for prices, 10pmlate. Motown, pop, hip hop and dance courtesy of DJs 12 Dirty Bullets. Funky W12 Club at Bush Hall, 310 Uxbridge Road, W12 7LJ Shepherd’s Bush £5, 7.30pm-late. A club night for people with learning disabilities, with DJs playing dance, pop and indie music. Hoxton Ukulele Hootenanny at The Queen Of Hoxton, 1-5 Curtain Road, EC2A 3JX Shoreditch High Street £20, 7.30pm-12midnight. Resident DJs play ukulele-inspired music, plus live performances. Popcorn- I Love Carnival at Heaven, Charing Cross Arches, Villiers Street, WC2N 6NG Charing Cross £8, £5 before 1am, 11pm-5.30am. Doug Silva, Fabio Luigi and Ariel spin progressive house in the Main Room while DMS plays pop and chart in room two, hip hop and R&B courtesy of T-Rex in room three and tech house in the Departure Lounge from Terry Vietheer.
Tuesday February 12 Desire at Covert, 65 Albert Embankment, SE1 7TP Vauxhall £8, w/flyer £6, 3am-11am. DJs Steven Geller, Bruno Nouer and Sven Jon spin house and electro records. Wonky Square Presents: Grab a Valentine at The Queen Of Hoxton, 1-5 Curtain Road, EC2A 3JX Shoreditch High Street £4, 7.30pm11.30pm. Resident DJs play mainstream, dance, house, hip hop and electro with speed dating.
Wednesday February 13 Girls-A-Loud at Candy Bar, 4 Carlisle Street, W1D 3BJ Tottenham Court Road FREE, 8pmlate. DJs play pop, chart and electro, while Seauntelle hosts the weekly karaoke session. Kid Kanevil at Vibe Bar, 91 Brick Lane, E1 6QL Aldgate East FREE, 7.30pm11.30pm. The Yorkshire-based DJ spins electro and hip hop. Kraftwerk- The Backup Plan at The Star Of Bethnal Green, 359 Bethnal Green Road, E2 6LG Bethnal Green FREE, 7.30pm-late. Christopher F and Nadean D spin house, techno and electro. London Lyricist Lounge at The Lockside Lounge, 75-89 West Yard Dock, NW1 8AF Camden Town FREE, 7pm-12midnight. Hip hop and R&B from DJ Sai and LeeN with support from MCs, poets and freestylers. Seahawks Boat Party at The Big Chill Bar, Drury Walk, E1 6QL Liverpool Street FREE, 7pm12midnight. Jon Tye and Pete Fowler spin 1970s rock, disco, shoegaze and groove. Trannyshack at Madame Jojo’s, 8-10 Brewer Street, W1F 0SE Piccadilly Circus £5, w/flyer £3, FREE in drag or suitable attire before
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12midnight, 10pm-3am. Miss Dusty O, Tasty Tim and Lady Lloyd spin commercial dance and pop at a weekly celebration of glamorous polysexuality.
Friday February 15
Thursday February 14 Anti Valentine’s Party at Bounce, 121 Holborn, EC1N 2TD Holborn £10, adv £8, 7pm. Sean Rowley and Guilty Pleasures DJs play pop and party classics, plus ping pong. Bad Sex at Proud Camden, The Horse Hospital, Chalk Farm Road, NW1 8AH Camden Town £7, £5 guestlist, £5 before 10pm, FREE guestlist, 7.30pm2.30am. Phaze One, Mayton DJs and Fin Munro play rock, pop and indie records. Diverge Valentine’s Special at The Lock Tavern, 35 Chalk Farm Road, NW1 8AJ Camden Town FREE, 6pm-late. House, funk, disco and R&B courtesy of Bain3z, Skybosh and Milk Tray. Elektika Love at The Queen Of Hoxton, 1-5 Curtain Road, EC2A 3JX Shoreditch High Street w/flyer £5, 9pm-2am. Dove Bombsoda, Matt Banga, TJ Hook-A, Sevenbreads and DJ Sebastian Flow spin deep house, techno and bass. Kilamandemjaro Valentine Charity Bash at East Village, 89 Great Eastern Street, EC2A 3HX Old Street £5, 9pm-3am. Drum’n’bass, garage, bass, hip hop and house courtesy of London Elektricity, Zed Bias, Semtex, Bailey and Edu, with proceeds going to charities GOSH, Help For Heroes and The Magical Taxi Tour. Porn Idol at Heaven, Charing Cross Arches, Villiers Street, WC2N 6NG Charing Cross w/flyer FREE, 11pm4am. Resident DJs spin pop and dance while plucky punters are invited to demonstrate their talents for a shot at a cash prize. Sessions at Corsica Studios, 4-5 Elephant Road, SE17 1LB Elephant & Castle £3, 11pm-3am. House, garage, dubstep and drum’n’bass courtesy of Hackman, Danuka, Temple and Sepia. Teen Dreams Prom at The Book Club, 100-106 Leonard Street, EC2A 4RH Old Street £5, 8pm-2am. Resident DJs play 1990s and 1980s pop with an American prom theme, including teen movie stereotype fancy dress, games such as Seven Minutes In Heaven, This One Time At Band Camp and Beer Pong, teen movie showings and American food. Wedding Disco at The Barfly, Camden, 49 Chalk Farm Road, NW1 8AN Chalk Farm phone for prices, 7.30pmlate. DJs Barry Tidal Wedding, Rubber Johnny and Billy Best Man spin pop, dance and wedding classics. Xclusivetouch Present Valentine Special Lock & Key at Funky Buddha, 15 Berkeley Street, W1J 8DY Green Park £20, ladies FREE before 11pm, 10pm-3am. Resident DJs spin R&B, house and club classics, plus locks for the ladies and keys for the gents to try and find a match.
Church at Corsica Studios, 4-5 Elephant Road, SE17 1LB Elephant & Castle £8 & £10, 10pm-6am. xxxy, Jon Convex, Dauwd, Seb Wildblood and Apes spin garage and house.
Drop Acid Not Bombs at E1 Photographic Studio, 110 Pennington Street, E1W 2BB Shadwell phone for prices, 10pm-6am. DJs Dixon, Rocky, Terry Farley, Daren Nunes and The Jades play deep house and techno. Fabriclive at Fabric, 77A Charterhouse Street, EC1M 6HJ Farringdon adv £21 in cd, £17, adv £16, mems £12, NUS £10, £8 after 3am, 10pm-6am. Caspa, The Others, Kryptic Minds, Subscape, Uncle Dugs, Mydas, Dirty Dog, Roska, Riva Starr, Artwork, Preditah, Ossie, Shox, Jamie George, Klute, Dom And Roland, Nymfo and Seba play drum’n’bass, dubstep jungle and bass music across three rooms, plus MCs Fava, IC3, Ken Mac and Evil B.
Anthem at Royal Vauxhall Tavern, 372 Kennington Lane, SE11 5HY Vauxhall £8, adv £6, 9pm-5am. DJs Andy Almighty and Sean Sirrs spin old skool classics. Apex Ape at Plan B, 418 Brixton Road, SW9 7AY Brixton £4, FREE before 12midnight, 10pm-4am. Coma King, Soul Circuit and Dr Specs spin hip hop and house.
Full On Fluoro at The Ministry Of Sound, 103 Gaunt Street, SE1 6DP Elephant & Castle £16, mems £14, 10.30pm-6am. Dance and house courtesy of Paul Oakenfold, Richard Durand, Ben Gold, Charlie Hedges, Steve Lee, Cole Jonson and Shane Davies.
Huntleys & Palmers at Bar A Bar, 133-135 Stoke Newington Road, N16 8BT Dalston Kingsland adv £10, early bird £8, 10pm-4am. DJs Veronica Vasicka and Trevor Jackson play electronica, post punk, new wave and house music. B-Side at Notting Hill Arts Club, 21 Notting Hill Gate, W11 3JQ Notting Hill Gate £8, £6 before 11pm, FREE before 8pm, 7pm-2am. Matt Smooth, Tomski, Richy Pitch, Lyley and MC Tukka spin bass, garage, house, electronic, hip hop, grime, future soul and funk with a live performance from ARP101. Disco Shed at The Book Club, 100-106 Leonard Street, EC2A 4RH Old Street £5 after 9pm, 8pm2am. Adam Buxton, Peepshow Paddy, Del Gazeebo and DJ BarryDark spin an eclectic mix of disco, hip hop, reggae, indie, soul and funk.
Flumo Recordings Presents at Cargo, 83 Rivington Street, EC2A 3AY Old Street adv £10, 7pm-3am. DJs Ekkohaus, T.W.I.C.E, Miguel Colmenares and Oliver Brunetti play house music. For The Love of Mic Valentine’s Special at House Of Wolf, 181 Upper Street, N1 1RQ Highbury & Islington FREE, 10pm-4am. Resident DJs play party, pop, hip hop, g-funk, early 1990s rave, R&B, garage and grime. The Funk, Soul & Rare Groove Review at The Bussey Building/CLF Art Cafe, 133 Rye Lane, SE15 4ST Peckham Rye FREE, 10pm-4am. Jazzheadchronic plays funk and soul with a live performance from the Gold Diggers Brass Band and Jon Kennedy. G-A-Y Camp Attack at Heaven, Charing Cross Arches, Villiers Street, WC2N 6NG Charing Cross w/flyer FREE, 11pm-4am. Pop and retro classics from the 1970s to the 1990s, plus songs from musicals in the Departure Lounge with a chance to perform at 1am.
Jungle Syndicate at The Rhythm Factory, 16-18 Whitechapel Road, E1 1EW Whitechapel £10, £8 before 11pm, 10pm-6am. Ricky Force, Smyla, IJO, Senor Scram, Otako, Raggamuffin, Sargy and Doomham spin jungle and drum’n’bass records. Nite On The Tiles at The George Tavern, 373 Commercial Road, E1 0LA Shadwell £5, 8pm-3am. Resident DJs Puss Puss The Wondercat and Steve Davies spin northern soul, 1960s pop and 1990s Britpop, with live performances from Kent trio The Laurels, London threepiece Peter Parker’s Rock ‘n Roll Club and acoustic music from Blackmail Man. Run Tingz Sessions at Jamm, 261 Brixton Road, SW9 6LH Brixton £10, adv £5, 10pm-6am. DJs Benny Page, Serial Killaz, Nicky Blackmarket and Ragga Twins spin jungle, drum’n’bass and bass music. Tonker at Eagle, 349 Kennington Lane, SE11 5QY Vauxhall £6, mems £5, FREE before 10pm, 9pm-3am. DJ Tim Jones spins house and dance.
Saturday February 16 101 Klub & Depeche Mode London Present at 229 The Venue, 229 Great Portland Street, W1W 5PW Great Portland Street £8, adv £6, 10pm-3am. Resident DJs spin new wave, post-punk and synth-heavy electro-pop from the 1980s. Big Vinyl Circus at Cable, 33A Bermondsey Street, SE1 2EG London Bridge £15, adv £10, mems/ NUS £8, 5am-12noon. DJs Gianluca Sved and Valentina Colvin play deep house music. Dick And Fanny Presents at Shacklewell Arms, 71 Shacklewell Lane, E8 2EB Dalston Kingsland £7, 9pm-3am. DJs Hannah Holland, The Lovely Jonjo, David Oh and Sandra Le spin house, techno and electro. Duckie at Royal Vauxhall Tavern, 372 Kennington Lane, SE11 5HY Vauxhall £6, 9pm-2am. Resident DJs spin pop and indie hosted by the inimitable Amy Lame, plus cabaret performances. Exclusive Valentine’s Glow Party at Nomad, 58 Old Street, EC1V 9AJ Barbican £15, adv £10, 9pm-3am. DJ Funky East and DJ Sly mix R&B, hip hop, electro, house, bashment and club anthems with Bhangra, Latino, Arabic, Turkish, Greek and Iranian music. Fabric at Fabric, 77A Charterhouse Street, EC1M 6HJ Farringdon adv £24 in cd, £20, adv £19, NUS/mems £14, £10 after 4am, 11pm-8am. DJs Michael Mayer, Craig Richards, Terry Francis, Ben Klock, Steve Rachmad, PBR Streetgang, Waifs And Strays and Futureboogie DJs play house, disco and techno across three rooms, plus a live performance from John Heckle. Nuestra Casa at Relay, 33 Bermondsey Street Tunnel, SE1 3JW London Bridge adv £12, NUS £10, 10pm-6am. Tom Middleton, Broken DJs,
Cosmique and Oliver James spin house and disco, plus a live performance from Robert Babicz. Omega Launch Party at The Finsbury, 336 Green Lanes, N4 1BY FREE, 8pm2am. Tom Bellamy and Discobits DJs spin underground house and disco with live performances from Beach Blood and The Bohemianauts. Plastic Fondu at Gigalum, 7 Cavendish Parade, Clapham Common South Side, SW4 9DW Clapham South FREE, 7pm-late. Resident DJs play disco and house music. Size Matters at The Ministry Of Sound, 103 Gaunt Street, SE1 6DP Elephant & Castle £18, mems £15, 11pm-7am. Third Party, Qulinez, Wayne And Woods, Nathan C, Kaz James, Patrick Hagenaar and Shane Patrick spin house and dance. Mr Scruff at KOKO, 1a Camden High Street, NW1 7JE Mornington Crescent £15, 9.30pmlate. Hip hop, soul, jazz, broken beat, reggae, deep house and funk courtesy of veteran DJ Mr Scruff. Space at Pacha, Terminus Place, SW1V 1JR Victoria £10, 11pm-late. House and dance music courtesy of Bruni, Danielle, Ben Roberts, Nick Yockney, Lola, Shaun Miles, DJ Cassa and DSP in the main room and CK, Women Beat Their Men, Gareth J Sutcliffe, Miles Lloyd, Ivan De La, La Williams, Swift Villain, Fabien Sense and Joz F in the global room. Submit 1st Birthday at Plan B, 418 Brixton Road, SW9 7AY Brixton £8-£12, 10pm-6am. Loefah, Dark Sky, DJRUM and Indigo spin drum’n’bass, garage, house and hip hop. Supernova 2013 Opening at Egg, 200 York Way, N7 9AX King’s Cross St Pancras adv £13 & £15.50, 10pm-11am. DJs Mark Farina, Marco Bailey, Sian, Luigi Madonna, Inland Knights, Nils Hess, Kevin DCruz, Groove Tempest, Varon V, Joyce Brooke, Gavin Stockman, Max Lenski, Tangle and Eric Gaciag play deep house and techno. Timeless 11th Birthday at The Scala, 275 Pentonville Road, N1 9NL King’s Cross St Pancras £5 & £10, 8pm-6am. Classic hard house, dance and trace courtesy of Chris C, with more DJs TBA. Toddla T Sound at XOYO, 32-37 Cowper Street, EC2A 4AP Old Street £12.50, 9pm-3am. DJ and producer Tom Bell aka Toddla T draws from his albums Skanky Skanky and Watch Me Dance to meld hip hop, house and breakbeat with support from Breakage and Walter Ego, plus a DJ set from special guest Mike Skinner. We Fear Silence Presents Blueprint at Cable, 33A Bermondsey Street, SE1 2EG London Bridge adv £13, NUS/mems £12, early bird £11, 10pm-6am. Speedy J, Regis, James Ruskin and Daniel Miller play techno and electronica. We Love Soul Valentine’s Session at Hidden, 100 Tinworth Street, SE11 5EQ Vauxhall adv £12.50,
10pm-7am. DJs Aitch B, Jigs, Bigger, Sammy Confunktion, Mike Gee, Victor Anderson and DJ Vybz play 1980s classics, soul and R&B in room one, while Greg Edwards, Paul Anderson, Bobby And Steve, Fitzroy Da Buzzboy, Gordon Mac and Sticko Zaza spin soul, funk, disco in room two, plus Clemy Riley, Rob Wallace, Jazzi Q, Stumpi, Lady T and Professor Xavier mix house classics in room three.
Sunday February 17 Hi-Fi at East Village, 89 Great Eastern Street, EC2A 3HX Old Street £8, £5 before 11pm, 9pm-2am. Drum’n’bass and electronica courtesy of Jumping Jack Frost, Bryan Gee, Chris Interface, Jordan V and MC Moose in the basement and Dego, Mark Force, Sophie Callis and Marcia Carr in the Lounge. Horse Meat Disco at Eagle, 349 Kennington Lane, SE11 5QY Vauxhall £6, 8pm-3am. Resident DJs spin dance, house and disco. Jaded at Cable, 33A Bermondsey Street, SE1 2EG London Bridge £12, concs £8, 5am-1pm. DJs Okain, Raymundo Rodriguez, Unai Trotti and Dax J spin house and techno. Love Lounge at Plan B, 418 Brixton Road, SW9 7AY Brixton £10, concs £5, 7.30pm-1am. DJ Larizzle spins pop and party tunes, plus live performances from Victor Taiwo, Brewer, Jake Issac, Leanne Robinson and The Love Lounge House Band.
Dirty & Deep Launch Party at The Scala, 275 Pentonville Road, N1 9NL King’s Cross St Pancras £20, adv £17, earlybird £10 & £15, 2pm-1am. The label launches with 11 hours of deep and minimal house featuring the final performance in the UK from Amine Edge & Dance, plus Jobe, DJ Majesty, Lance Morgan, Mark Radford and Carlos Aries. Soul Power at Hackney Attic, 270 Mare Street, E8 1HE Hackney Central £5, concs £4, mems £3, 7pm-11pm. DJ Juggy Jones spins soul and funk, with a rare screening of Jeff Levy-Hinte’s 2008 documentary film about the Zaire 1974 soul music festival, which accompanied the Rumble In The Jungle heavyweight boxing championship match between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman.
Dialling up top pop every week!
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FROMAGE
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A royal subject With Helen Mirren returning to the role of Her Maj, Peter Morgan’s new play The Audience charts the private meetings between the Queen and her Prime Ministers over 60 years. Caroline Bishop talks to two of the ‘acting’ PMs about the challenges of playing a real person in a fictitious drama 48 Scout London scoutlondon.com
aydn Gwynne and Rufus Wright are discussing the etiquette of being in the presence of their co-star. “The protocol is such that you can’t just say, ‘oh I think I’ll get up’,” says Gwynne. “Oh no, I’ve got it wrong, it’s you can’t sit down.” “You certainly can’t sit down but you couldn’t get up either, really,” adds Wright. “The rule is that you stand up when she stands up and vice versa.” These are things you must consider when your co-star is The Queen, otherwise known as Helen Mirren, the Oscar-winning actress in Peter Morgan’s 2006 film The Queen. Now she’s playing Elizabeth II again, in Morgan’s new play The Audience, which charts the monarch’s weekly meetings with a succession of 12 prime ministers (although only seven feature) over her 60-year reign. As Margaret Thatcher (Gwynne) and David Cameron (Wright), the actors must learn the protocol followed by the head of government in the presence of the head of state. Beneath the protocol lies an intriguing relationship, one which changes as the unelected, apolitical Queen grows in experience and age from 26 to 86, and her Prime Ministers come and go. It is the personal interaction between them, rather than the politics, that Morgan’s play explores, says Wright. “And what the meetings are for different people – that will change at different times, at moments of political crisis,” he adds. “For some PMs it was a kind of therapy session.” As the meetings are private and unrecorded, The Audience is a work of fiction by Morgan, who has made a career out of imagining famous rendezvous: Gordon Brown and Tony Blair in TV drama The Deal; Richard Nixon and David Frost in play-turned-film Frost/Nixon. But his meticulous study of the people involved means the conversations he’s written may well mirror reality. “You hope, even if it’s not accurate in terms of docudrama, that it brings out truthful elements to that relationship,” says Gwynne.
The Queen’s Prime Ministers Winston Churchill (1940-45 and 1951-55)
Britain’s wartime leader became Elizabeth II’s first Prime Minister, upon her accession to the throne in 1952.
Anthony Eden (1955-57)
Eden’s brief turn as PM was overshadowed by the Suez crisis and he resigned under a cloud after just 18 months.
with trade unions, miners’ strikes and violence in Northern Ireland. He secured Britain’s entry to the EEC.
James Callaghan (1976-79)
Labour PM Callaghan faced a wave of strikes in the so-called ‘winter of discontent’, leading to a vote of no confidence against him.
(1957-63)
PA PHOTO / Johan Persson
To get under the skin of their characters, Gwynne and Wright undertook vast amounts of research, watching footage and reading books that wouldn’t ordinarily be on their reading lists. “I’m not a Tory in any way and I’m having to read a lot about Tory politics of the early 90s,” laughs Wright, eliciting an “Oh God” from Gwynne. “I’m ploughing through a rather dull but worthy tome about Cameron,” he continues. “There’s quite a lot about his family life and the fact that he had his disabled son, Ivan, who died. It does humanise politicians very much when you find out stuff about their private life. When you are playing someone who is still alive you have to slightly put aside your political sympathies and just play the truth of the character on the page. The fact that he is the serving prime minster makes it stranger.” “It’s a curious process,” says Gwynne. “With most characters, the outline or the voice or how they dress comes later, out of discoveries you’ve made in rehearsal. But with this you are trying to fill it from the outside in.” The level of research is evident in Gwynne’s discovery that Thatcher wore the same bangle and ring from the 1960s to the present, a fact she passed on to the costume department. “If you’d said I would be sending an email saying ‘having fun looking at pictures of Margaret’, I’d have had you committed – or myself! You start obsessing over these little details.” When we speak, they are looking forward to technical rehearsals, when they will finally don their costumes. “There will be a lot of wiggage,” says Gywnne, “and not just Margaret Thatcher. That whole half day of laughing every time you see somebody, that’s going to be a hoot.” They may not feel quite so relaxed should Cameron be among their own audience one night. Wright has experienced something similar before. When appearing in Morgan’s Frost/Nixon at the Donmar, in which Michael Sheen played interviewer David Frost, the real Frost turned up
Tony Blair (1997-2007)
Coming to power on a wave of optimism, Blair’s leadership came to be defined by his controversial decision to take Britain to war in Iraq.
Gordon Brown (2007-2010)
A supposed pact between Blair and his Chancellor, Brown, saw the latter become PM after Blair resigned. But worldwide economic meltdown took its toll and he failed to win a general election.
Harold Macmillan Playing the Iron Lady Haydn Gwynne
sleaze led to the Tories’ defeat after 18 years in government.
Macmillan’s time in office was marked by economic crisis and the damaging Profumo affair, which ultimately led to his resignation.
Alec Douglas-Home (1963-64)
Margaret Thatcher
Douglas-Home became the fourth successive Tory PM, (1979-1990) ending up losing to Labour after The Falklands War, less than a year in office. privatisation, miners’ strikes... the Iron Lady certainly made an impact. Her unpopular Poll Tax (1964-70 and 1974-76) and wrangles over Europe led The Queen’s first Labour PM her own party to oust her. was a moderniser, abolishing capital punishment, enacting social reform and tackling (1990-1997) discrimination. Major took Britain into the first Gulf War, while progress was made in Northern Ireland. (1970-74) In-fighting and allegations of Tory PM Heath bore tussles
Harold Wilson
John Major
Edward Heath
David Cameron (2010-present)
Cameron became PM under a Tory-LibDem coalition characterised by unpopular NHS reform, spending cuts and triple-dip recession.
one night. “A lot of the play was about ‘huh, look at this idiotic man, isn’t he an idiot’, but if you are sitting anywhere near the real David Frost you are not going to want to laugh out loud. Whispers had gone round the theatre so no one laughed at anything. So if Cameron decides to come and watch, it will be interesting to see what the atmosphere is like.” But it’s unlikely to put Wright off playing him again. Referring to the fact that Sheen has played Blair many times, he says: “It would be lovely to be the go-to guy who plays Cameron.” Maybe you could ask Morgan to write a Cameron/ Clegg drama, I suggest. “After his Thatcher piece, obviously,” jokes Gwynne. “Get in line! We’ve done all this research, we’ve got to do something with it!” The Audience, Gielgud Theatre, February 15June 15, theaudienceplay.com
Dame of thrones Helen Mirren plays the monarch again
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PR E V I E W S
The Pinstripe Trilogy Theatre Delicatessen until February 23, £10-£16
The Paper Cinema’s Odyssey Battersea Arts Centre, February 14-March 9, £15 Battersea Arts Centre is setting sail on a long and treacherous journey that will involve violent weather, vicious monsters and pioneering puppetry. The Paper Cinema is an acclaimed company that projects intricately-drawn paper cut-outs onto a screen to create beguiling silent films, accompanied by atmospheric live
If You Don’t Let Us Dream, We Won’t Let You Sleep Royal Court, February 15- March 9, £10-£28
soundtracks. This telling of Homer’s landmark epic was critically praised when it played at BAC early last year, and is now returning after a successful national tour. SW11 5TN bac.org.uk
Clapham Junction
The Lab Collective’s trilogy of financial crisisthemed plays includes a piece delivered by a final trader, stood standing amid the rubble of his former glory, and a work that wryly suggests the way to best prepare for the future is by privatising childhood. W1U 4QA Baker Street theatredelicatessen.co.uk
The Cabinet of Dr Caligari Arcola Theatre February 12-16, £12-£17 Following the successes of its Les Enfants Du Paradis and The Four Stages of Cruelty, celebrated theatre company Simple8 is to apply its experimental style to this classic silent horror movie, adapting it for the stage in a “fast and frenzied fairground sideshow performance”. E8 3DL Dalston Junction arcolatheatre.com
We’re now into the final season before Royal Court artistic director Dominic Cooke steps down. Not surprisingly, it would appear he wants to go out on a bang. This potentially controversial new play by Anders Lustgarten – winner of the inaugural Harold Pinter Playwright’s Award in 2011 – asks what would happen to the economy, the country and the world if the City’s financial agenda was pursued to its logical conclusion. Simon Godwin will direct, following his work on Lucy Kirkwood’s NSFW, with a cast including Goodness Gracious Me’s Meera Syal (pictured, right) and Game of Thrones actor Lucian Msamati.
Alexander Moschos’s affecting play is a nostalgic and romantic journey through the memories of a woman who has dementia. It was well-received at the theatre in 2011 and is being revived for a strictly-limited run of eight performances.
SW1W 8AS Sloane Square royalcourttheatre.com
SE4 2DH Honor Oak Park brockleyjack.co.uk
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Brainville at Night Jack Studio Theatre February 14-23, £13
Trelawny of The Wells Donmar Warehouse, February 15-April 13, £15-£35 Acclaimed film director Joe Wright (pictured, above left), who made Oscar-nominated movies such as Atonement and Anna Karenina, will make his theatre debut with this new production of Arthur Wing Pinero’s 1898 theatre-world comedy. It tells the story of a young actress who attempts to give up the theatre life for love, but finds it hard to adapt to the high-society world of her aristocratic suitor. A variety of stars of both stage and screen, including Daniel Mays (above, right) and Aimeé-Ffion Edwards (above, centre), will star. WC2H 9LX
Covent Garden donmarwarehouse.com
The Tailor-Made Man Arts Theatre, February 14-April 6, £20-£49.50 This brand new musical, from a book by Amy Rosenthal and Claudio Macor, with music by Duncan Walsh and Adam Meggido, tells the true story of silent movie star William Haines, who was fired by MGM for being gay and refusing to give up his lifelong partner. Faye Tozer (pictured, above centre), from pop band Steps, is among the cast, which also includes West End star Dylan Turner, whose credits include Chariots of Fire, Rock of Ages, Mamma Mia!, and Grease. WC2H 7JB
Leicester Square artstheatrewestend.co.uk
LISTINGS WEST END
One Man, Two Guvnors booking until Aug 31 2013, Theatre Royal, Haymarket, 18 Suffolk Street, SW1Y 4HT Piccadilly Circus £15-£55, premium seats £85, concs available, Mon-Sat 7.30pm, mats Wed, Sat 2.30pm. Richard Bean’s comic tale, based on Carlo Goldoni’s The Servant Of Two Masters. The 39 Steps booking until Oct 19 2013, Criterion Theatre, 218-223 Piccadilly, Piccadilly Circus, W1J 0TR Piccadilly Circus £15-£55, Mon-Sat 8pm, mats Wed 3pm, Sat 4pm, extra mat Feb 21, 3pm. John Buchan’s thriller. The Audience Starts Fri, booking until Jun 15 2013, Gielgud Theatre, 35-37 Shaftesbury Avenue, W1D 6AR Piccadilly Circus £10-£59, concs available, limited number of £10 day seats on sale from 10am on day of performance from the box office, From Feb 15, MonSat 7.30pm, mats Wed, Sat 2.30pm, no mats Feb 20, Mar 6 (press night Mar 5, 7pm). Peter Morgan’s fictional renditions of private meetings between Queen Elizabeth II and her Prime Ministers. Billy Elliot - The Musical booking until Dec 21 2013, Victoria Palace, Victoria Street, SW1E 5EA Victoria £19.50£65, Mon-Sat 7.30pm, mats Thu, Sat 2.30pm. Adaptation of the film about a miner’s son, who dreams of becoming a ballet dancer. The Bodyguard booking until Sep 28 2013, Adelphi Theatre, 409-412 Strand, WC2R 0NS Charing Cross £20£67.50, Nov 11-Apr 27 2013, Mon-Sat 7.30pm, mat Nov 11-Apr 27 2013, Wed, Sat 3pm, Apr 29-Sep 28, Mon-Thu 7.30pm, Fri 5pm & 8.30pm, mat Apr 29Sep 28, Sat 3pm. The stage adaptation from director Thea Sharrock, of the early 1990s film which starred Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston A Chorus Line booking until Jan 25 2014, London Palladium, 8 Argyll Street, W1F 7TF Oxford Circus £19.50£65, Feb 2-18 previews £10-£55, MonSat 7.45pm, mats Wed, Sat 3pm (press night Feb 19, 7pm). Revival of Michael Bennett’s award-winning musical. Fiesta (The Sun Also Rises) booking until Mar 2 2013, Trafalgar Studios, 14 Whitehall, SW1A 2DY
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Charing Cross Feb 5-7 Tue-Thu 7.45pm & 3pm previews £15, Feb 7-28, Mar 1 & 2 Mon-Sat 7.45pm & 3pm £15£25, Mon-Sat 7.45pm, mats Thu, Sat 3pm. A musical adaptation of Ernest Hemingway’s first novel, The Sun Also Rises, from Alex Helfrecht and Sam Snape. Great Expectations booking until Jun 1 2013, Vaudeville Theatre, 404 Strand, WC2R 0NH Embankment Mon-Thu/ Sat mats £25-£50, Fri & Sat eves £25£55, Feb 1-5 previews £25-£45, Premium Seats £75, Mon, Wed-Sat 7.30pm, Tue 7pm, mats Wed, Sat 3pm. Jo Clifford’s adaptation of Charles Dickens’s novel. Jersey Boys booking until Oct 20 2013, Prince Edward Theatre, 28 Old Compton Street, W1D 4HS Tottenham Court Road Tue-Thu £20-£65, Fri-Sun £20-£67.50, Premium Seats Tue-Thu £85, Fri-Sun £95, Tue-Sat 7.30pm, Sun 5pm, mats Tue, Sat 3pm. Musical drama about the career of Frankie Valli And The Four Seasons. The Judas Kiss booking until Apr 6 2013, The Duke Of York’s, St Martin’s Lane, WC2N 4BG Leicester Square £15-£52.50, Premium Seats £65, MonSat 7.30pm, mats Wed, Sat 2.30pm. Rupert Everett plays Oscar Wilde in David Hare’s drama. Les Miserables booking until Oct 26 2013, Queen’s Theatre, 51 Shaftesbury Avenue, W1D 6BA Piccadilly Circus £20-£85, Mon-Sat 7.30pm, mats Wed, Sat 2.30pm. Musical based on Victor Hugo’s classic novel. Let It Be booking until Oct 5 2013, Savoy Theatre, Savoy Court, Strand, WC2R 0ET Charing Cross £20£60, Mon, Wed-Sat 7.30pm, Sun 7pm, mats Sat & Sun 3pm. Marking 50 years since the release of their first single, The Beatles are celebrated in this musicalnarrative, created by RAIN Productions. The Lion King booking until Jun 30 2013, Lyceum Theatre, 21 Wellington Street, WC2E 7RQ Covent Garden Tue-Thu £25-£62.50, Fri, Sun £27.50£65, Sat £30-£67.50, Premium Seats £70-£95, Tue-Sat 7.30pm, mats Wed, Sat & Sun 2.30pm, extra mats Feb 21, Apr 4, no perf Apr 14. Musical based on the Disney film about a cub’s journey to pride leader. Mamma Mia! booking until Apr 13 2013, Novello Theatre, 5 Aldwych, WC2B 4LD Covent Garden Mon-Fri £15-£64, Sat £15-£67.50, Mon-Sat 7.45pm, mats Thu, Sat 3pm. Musical comedy based at a family wedding and set to the ABBA songbook. Matilda: The Musical booking until Dec 22 2013, Cambridge Theatre, Earlham Street, WC2H 9HU Covent Garden Oct 25 2011-Dec 22 2013 £19-£58.50, disabled £28.75, Tue-Thu under 18s £19-£48.50, Feb 14 2012-Feb 17 2013 £20-£62.50, disabled £31.25, Tue-Thu under 18s £19-£52.50, Tue 7pm, WedSat 7.30pm, mats Wed, Sat 2.30pm, Sun 3pm, extra mat perf Nov 1, 2.30pm. Dennis Kelly and Tim Minchin’s musical adaptation of Roald Dahl’s tale.
Macbeth booking until Apr 27 2013, Trafalgar Studios, 14 Whitehall, SW1A 2DY Charing Cross Mon £15 available online on the first day of each month, Tue-Sat £24.50-£54.50, Premium Seats £65, £10 day seats available in person at the box office from 10am on the day of the performance, Mon-Sat 7.30pm, mats Thu, Sat 2.30pm, no mat Feb 14 (press night Feb 22, 7pm). James McAvoy and Claire Foy headline Jamie Lloyd’s staging of Shakespeare. Monty Python’s Spamalot booking until Apr 13 2013, Playhouse Theatre, Northumberland Avenue, WC2N 5DE Charing Cross £15-£85, Mon-Sat 8pm, mats Wed, Sat 2.30pm. Eric Idle and John Du Prez’s musical comedy featuring Stephen Tompkinson as King Arthur. The Mousetrap booking until Dec 21 2013, St Martin’s Theatre, West Street, Cambridge Circus, WC2H 9NZ Leicester Square £16-£42, Premium Seats £61, Mon-Sat 7.30pm, mats Tue 3pm, Sat 4pm. Agatha Christie’s murder mystery. Old Times booking until Apr 6 2013, The Harold Pinter Theatre, 6 Panton Street, SW1Y 4DN Piccadilly Circus £10£49.50, £10 front row day seats available at the box office from 10am on day of the performance, Mon-Sat 7.30pm, mats Wed, Sat 3pm. Harold Pinter’s sexually charged drama starring Kristin Scott Thomas, Rufus Sewell and Lia Williams. The Phantom Of The Opera booking until Oct 26 2013, Her Majesty’s Theatre, 57 Haymarket, SW1Y 4QL Piccadilly Circus £22.45-£85, Mon-Sat 7.30pm, mats Thu, Sat 2.30pm. Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Gothic musical about a masked man and his dangerous obsession. Privates On Parade booking until Mar 2 2013, Noel Coward Theatre, 85-88 St Martin’s Lane, WC2N 4AU Leicester Square £10-£57.50, Premium Seats £85, Mon-Sat 7.30pm, mats Wed, Sat 2.30pm, captioned perf Feb 23, 2.30pm. Peter Nichols’s awardwinning comedy set during the Malayan Campaign. Quartermaine’s Terms booking until Apr 13 2013, Wyndham’s Theatre, Charing Cross Road, WC2H 0DA Leicester Square £25-£58.50, Mon-Sat 7.30pm, mats Thu, Sat 2.30pm. Rowan Atkinson stars as the teacher St John Quartermaine in Simon Gray’s tragicomic play.
Rock Of Ages booking until Nov 2 2013, Garrick Theatre, 2 Charing Cross Road, WC2H 0HH Charing Cross £25£65, Mon-Sat 7.45pm, mats Fri & Sat 3pm, transfer from Shaftesbury Theatre. Chris D’Arienzo’s musical celebrating Los Angeles rock culture. The Royal Ballet: Frederick Ashton Programme (La Valse/Meditation From Thais/Voices Of Spring/ Monotones I And II/Marguerite And Armand) Starts Tue, ends Feb 23 2013, Royal Opera House, 45 Floral Street, WC2E 9DD Covent Garden £4£63, Feb 12 & 13, 15, 21, 23, 7.30pm. The acclaimed company performs works by Frederick Ashton, the Founder Choreographer. Shrek - The Musical booking until Feb 24 2013, Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, Catherine Street, WC2B 5JF Covent Garden £20-£65, Wed & Thu eves family of four £99-£150, additional seats £29.50 (upper circle) & £45 (best available), Premium Seats £95, Mon, Thu-Sat 7.30pm, Wed 7pm, mats Thu, Sat & Sun 3pm. Musical based on the computer-animated film. Singin’ In The Rain booking until Sep 1 2013, Palace Theatre, 109-113 Shaftesbury Avenue, W1D 5AY Leicester Square £14-£84, £25 day seats available from the box office from 10am on day of the performance, Oct 1-Aug 31 2013, Mon-Sat 7.30pm, mat Oct 1-Aug 31 2013, Wed, Sat 2.30pm. Musical based on the MGM film about the end of silent movies. Stomp booking until Dec 22 2013, Ambassadors Theatre, West Street, WC2H 9ND Leicester Square £20-£49.50, Mon, Thu-Sat 8pm, Sun 6pm, mats Thu, Sat & Sun 3pm, no perf Jul 27, Aug 12. Steve McNicholas and Luke Cresswell’s percussion-based spectacular. The Tailor-Made Man Starts Thu, booking until Apr 6 2013, Arts Theatre, 6-7 Great Newport Street, WC2H 7JB Covent Garden £20-£39.50, Feb 1320 previews £10-£29.50, From Feb 14, Mon-Sat 7.30pm, mats Thu, Sat 2.30pm (press night Feb 21, 7pm, extra mat perf Feb 20, 2.30pm). The true story of silent screen actor William Haines who lost his MGM contract due to his homosexuality, written by Claudio Macor. Thriller Live booking until Oct 15 2013, Lyric Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue, W1D 7ES Piccadilly Circus £26£87.50, Tue-Fri, Sun 7.30pm, Sat 8pm, mats Sat 4pm, Sun 3.30pm. A celebration of the music of Michael Jackson. Top Hat - The Musical booking until Apr 27 2014, Aldwych Theatre, 49 Aldwych, WC2B 4DF Covent Garden £20£65, Mon-Sat 7.30pm, mats Thu, Sat 2.30pm. Irving Berlin’s romantic musical. Vincent Simone And Flavia Cacace: Midnight Tango booking until Mar 2 2013, Phoenix Theatre, 110 Charing Cross Road, WC2H 0JP Leicester Square £20-£55, Premium Seats £90, Mon-Sat 7.30pm, mats Thu, Sat 3pm. The dance professionals present a showcase of tango routines.
Viva Forever! booking until Jun 1 2013, Piccadilly Theatre, 16 Denman Street, W1D 7DY Piccadilly Circus £20£67.50, Nov 27-30, Dec 1-10 previews £20-£52.50, Mon-Thu, Sat 7.30pm, Fri 5pm & 8.30pm, mats Sat 3pm. Jennifer Saunders’s comedy musical, featuring the songs of the Spice Girls.
Dancing Around Duchamp: Rhinoceros Starts Thu, booking until Feb 16 2013, Barbican Centre, Silk Street, EC2Y 8DS Barbican £25-£35, Feb 14-16, 7.45pm. Eugene Ionesco’s classic absurdist play, performed in French with English surtitles. Dear World booking until Mar 30 2013, Charing Cross Theatre, The Arches, Villiers Street, WC2N 6NL Embankment £15-£42.50, Mon-Sat 7.30pm, mats Wed, Sat 2.30pm (press night Feb 13). A new version of Jerry Herman’s musical fable, written here by David Thompson.
War Horse booking until Feb 15 2014, New London Theatre, 166 Drury Lane (corner of Parker Street), WC2B 5PW Covent Garden £15-£55, Premium Seats £85, Mon, Wed-Sat 7.30pm, Tue 7pm, mats Thu, Sat 2.30pm. Michael Morpurgo’s story about a farm horse caught up in the horrors of the First World War. We Will Rock You booking until Mar 23 2013, Dominion Theatre, 268-9 Tottenham Court Road, W1T 7AQ Tottenham Court Road Mon-Fri £27.50-£55, Sat £27.50-£60, MonSat 7.30pm, mats Sat 2.30pm, Feb 27, 2.30pm. Futuristic musical set to the hits of Freddie Mercury’s Queen. Wicked booking until Apr 27 2013, Apollo Victoria Theatre, 17 Wilton Road, SW1V 1LG Victoria Mon-Fri eves/ mats £15-£62.50, Sat eves £15-£65, 24 front row day tickets priced £27.50 each released 10am at the box office, maximum two per person, Mon-Sat 7.30pm, mats Wed, Sat 2.30pm, extra mats Feb 16 , Jul 26, Oct 25, Dec 27 & 28, 30, Jan 3, Feb 21 2013, 2.30pm, no perf Jul 27, Dec 25, Dec 26-29, 2.30pm & 7.30pm, Dec 30, 2.30pm. Musical charting the early years of the Wicked Witch Of The West. The Woman In Black booking until Dec 14 2013, Fortune Theatre, Russell Street, WC2B 5HH Covent Garden £16.50-£45, Premium Seats £55, TueSat 8pm, mats Tue, Thu 3pm, Sat 4pm. Adaptation of Susan Hill’s ghost story.
OFF WEST END 1001 Nights: Unicorn Theatre (Over 6s) Ends Mar 17 2013, Unicorn Theatre, 147 Tooley Street, SE1 2HZ London Bridge Feb 7-28, Mar 1-17 £16, under 21s £10, concs £13, Feb 5 & 6 previews £10, Feb 23, Mar 2, 7, 5pm, mats Feb 12, 26, 28, Mar 7, 12-14, 1.30pm, Feb 12 & 13, 26, 28, Mar 1, 7 & 8, 12-15, 10.30am, Feb 16 & 17, 19, 23 & 24, Mar 2, 9 & 10, 16 & 17, 2pm, Feb 19, 22, 11am, Feb 22, 3pm. Drawn from the stories of the Arabian Nights, Douglas Rintoul’s adaptation offers an adventurous drama featuring Rita Arya. BalletBoyz: Spring Tour The Talent 2013 Artsdepot, 5 Nether Street, Tally Ho Corner, N12 0GA Finchley Central £20, concs £16, Feb 12, 7.30pm. A double bill of recent works choreographed by Russell Maliphant and Liam Scarlett. Boxed In Starts Wed, ends Feb 16 2013, New Wimbledon Theatre, 93 The Broadway, SW19 1QG Wimbledon £10, Feb 13-16, 7.45pm. A comedy about two out of work warehouse workers performed by Shifting Sands Theatre.
Mare Rider Ends Feb 16 2013, Arcola Theatre, 24 Ashwin Street, E8 3DL Dalston Junction Jan 22-24 £14, £18, concs £14, mats £16, concs £12, Mon-Sat 8pm, mat Feb 16, 2.30pm, no perf Feb 14. An in-house performance of Leyla Nazli’s drama.
Brendan Cole: Licence To Thrill Barbican Centre, Silk Street, EC2Y 8DS Barbican £36.50, Feb 13, 8pm. The popular dancer from Strictly Come Dancing embarks on a nationwide tour featuring Ballroom and Latin dances and big band sounds. The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari Starts Tue, ends Mar 16 2013, Arcola Theatre, 24 Ashwin Street, E8 3DL Dalston Junction £17, concs £12, From Feb 12, Mon-Sat 8pm, mats Sat 3pm (press night Feb 13, no mat perf Feb 16). A thrilling adaptation with music from simple8 theatre, of the silent horror movie from 1920. The Captain Of Kopenick booking until Apr 4 2013, National Theatre: Olivier, South Bank, SE1 9PX Waterloo Jan 29-31, Feb 1 & 2, 4 previews £12-£30, Feb 5-28, Mar 1-31, Apr 1-4 £12-£47, concs available, Jan 29-31, Feb 1 & 2, 4, 6 & 7, 12-16, Mar 1 & 2, 4-6, 12-14, 21-23, 25, Apr 2-4, 7.30pm (press night Feb 5, 7pm, mats Feb 6, 13, 16, Mar 2, 6, 13, 23, Apr 3, 2pm, Feb 17, Mar 3, 24, 2.30pm). Antony Sher plays the title role in a very funny version, by Ron Hutchinson, of Carl Zuckmayer’s satire. Cirque Du Soleil: Kooza Ends Feb 14 2013, Royal Albert Hall, Kensington Gore, SW7 2AP South Kensington £20£95, concs £22.50-£76.50, under 12s £17.50-£66.50, Premium Seats £85 & £95, Tue-Sat 8pm, Sun 7.30pm, mats Wed, Fri & Sat 3.30pm, Sun 3pm, no perf Feb 11-13. The Canadian company returns to its circus and clowning roots. Cocktail Sticks booking until Mar 30 2013, National Theatre: Lyttelton, South Bank, SE1 9PX Waterloo £12-£32, Feb 12 & 13, 18, 20 & 21, 25 & 26, Mar 16, 18, 28, 30, 6pm, mats Mar 10, 17, 3.30pm. An oratorio without music by Alan Bennett, with Alex Jennings and Janet Dale.
Di And Viv And Rose Ends Feb 23 2013, Hampstead Theatre, Eton Avenue, NW3 3EU Swiss Cottage Mon £22, concs £15, Tue-Sat £29, concs £18, Wed, Sat mats OAP £15, Jan 17-22 previews £22, Mon-Sat 7.30pm, mats Wed 2.30pm, Sat 3pm, audio-described perf Feb 16, 3pm. Amelia Bullmore’s insightful comedy drama, featuring Tamzin Outhwaite, Gina McKee and Anna Maxwell Martin. The Effect booking until Feb 23 2013, National Theatre: Cottesloe, South Bank, SE1 9PX Waterloo £12-£32, Feb 11-16, 18-23, 7.30pm, mats Feb 13, 16, 20, 23, 2.30pm. Lucy Prebble’s drama looks at sanity, neurology and the limits of medicine. Feast Ends Feb 23 2013, Young Vic, 66 The Cut, SE1 8LZ Waterloo Jan 25-31 previews £10-£19.50, Feb 1-23 £10-£30, Mon-Sat 7.30pm, mats Wed, Sat 2.30pm. A vibrant musical tale about the Yoruba culture which originated in Nigeria. Glasgow Girls Ends Mar 2 2013, Theatre Royal Stratford East, Gerry Raffles Square, E15 1BN Stratford Mon-Thu/Sat mats £5-£20, Mon-Thu concs/Sat mats concs £5-£15, Fri & Sat eves £12-£24, concs £10-£18, Feb 8 & 9 previews £12, Tue-Sat 7.30pm, mats Sat 2.30pm, extra mat Feb 14 (press night Feb 12). David Grieg and Cora Bissett’s musical based on a true story. Hamlet Ends Mar 3 2013, The Rose, Bankside, 56 Park Street, SE1 9AR London Bridge £12, concs £10, TueSat 7.30pm, mats Sun 3pm. An intimate production of Shakespeare’s Denmark tragedy, directed by Martin Parr. Imagine Children’s Festival: Mega Starts Sat, ends Feb 22 2013, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, SE1 8XX Waterloo £8, Feb 16 & 17, 12noon-5pm, every 30 minutes, Feb 18-22, 11am-4pm, every 30 minutes. An interactive theatre piece created by the performance artist Bryony Kimmings. Journey’s End Ends Feb 17 2013, Greenwich Theatre, Crooms Hill, SE10 8ES Cutty Sark 7.30pm £15 & £17.50, concs/1pm, 2.30pm, 4pm £12.50, Mon-Sat 7.30pm, mats Sun 4pm, Feb 16, 2.30pm, Wed & Thu 1pm. R. C. Sherriff’s anti-war classic first performed in 1928.
Kiss Me Kate booking until Mar 2 2013, Old Vic, 103 The Cut, SE1 8NB Waterloo £11-£60, Mon-Sat 7.30pm, mats Wed, Sat 2.30pm. The awardwinning, Cole Porter classic musical is directed by Trevor Nunn. The Magic Flute Ends Mar 3 2013, Riverside Studios, Crisp Road, W6 9RL Hammersmith Feb 5 & 6 previews £22.50, concs £22, Feb 7-28, Mar 1-3 £25, concs £22.50, Tue-Sat 7.30pm, Sun 5pm, mats Sat 2.45pm. Kit HeskethHarvey’s translation of Mozart’s opera. Merrily We Roll Along Ends Mar 9 2013, The Menier Chocolate Factory, 53 Southwark Street, SE1 1RU London Bridge £35, concs £27.50, £43 inc meal, Premium Seats £37.50, Tue-Sat 8pm, mats Sat & Sun 3.30pm. Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s musical, based on the 1934 drama by George S Kaufman and Moss Hart. Money: The Game Show Ends Mar 2 2013, The Bush Theatre, 7 Uxbridge Road, W12 8LJ Shepherd’s Bush Jan 31, Feb 1 & 2, 4 & 5 preview £15, concs £10, Feb 6-28, Mar 1 & 2 Mon-Sat eves £19.50, concs £12, Sat mats £15, concs £10, Feb 27 mat £15, concs £10, Mon-Sat 7.30pm, mats Sat 2.30pm, captioned eve perf Feb 15, audio described mat perf Feb 16, extra mat Feb 27. Satirical performance exploring the origins of the banking crisis. Oh What A Lovely War Ends Mar 15 2013, Theatre Royal Stratford East, Gerry Raffles Square, E15 1BN Stratford Feb 4-6 previews £15, Feb 1-3, 7-28, Mar 1-15 Mon-Sat 7.30pm & 2.30pm £12£22, concs £8-£14.50, Fri-Sun 7.30pm & 3pm £14-£28, concs £9.50-£18.50, Mon-Sat 7.30pm, mats Sat 2.30pm, Sun 3pm. Satirical musical about world war one, originally adapted by Joan Littlewood, from Charles Chilton’s 1961 radio play. The Paper Cinema’s Odyssey Starts Thu, ends Mar 9 2013, Battersea Arts Centre, Lavender Hill, SW11 5TN Clapham Junction £15, concs £10, From Feb 14, Mon-Sun 7.30pm. Homer’s epic poem is retold using cinematic projection and puppetry. People booking until Apr 2 2013, National Theatre: Lyttelton, South Bank, SE1 9PX Waterloo £12-£47, MonFri under 18s £19 & £23.50, other concs available, Feb 11-13, 18-21, 25-28, Mar 7-9, 15 & 16, 18-20, 26-28, 30, Apr 1 & 2, 7.45pm, mats Feb 13, 20, 27, Mar 9, 27, 30, 2pm. Alan Bennett’s drama about the owner of a British stately home contemplating a sale of the house’s contents. Playing Cards 1: SPADES Ends Mar 2 2013, Roundhouse, Chalk Farm Road, NW1 8EH Chalk Farm £15-£45, Feb 7-9 previews £15-£40, concs available, Mon-Sat 7pm, press night Feb 11. The first in a quartet of plays which are each shaped around a suit in a deck of cards, from Robert Lepage. Contains nudity and scenes of a violent nature.
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LISTINGS You Sleep Starts Fri, booking until Mar 9 2013, Jerwood Theatre At The Royal Court, Sloane Square, SW1W 8AS Sloane Square Mon £10, Tue-Sat £12-£28, Thu, Sat 2.30pm and all on perfs until Feb 23 concs £12, £15, £23, 25s and under £8, From Feb 15, Mon-Sat 7.30pm, mats Thu, Sat 2.30pm (press night Feb 20, 7pm, no mat perf Feb 16, 21, 28). A political play on the ethos of austerity and offering an alternative, by Anders Lustgarten.
FRINGE
LIFT Ends Feb 24 2013, Soho Theatre, 21 Dean Street, W1D 3NE Tottenham Court Road Jan 30 & 31 previews £15, standing £10, Feb 1-24 £29.50, Slips £19.50, Standing £10, concs £22.50, Tue-Sat 7.30pm, mats Sat & Sun 4pm. An original musical set around the Covent Garden tube station lift, featuring music and lyrics by Craig Adams. Port booking until Mar 24 2013, National Theatre: Lyttelton, South Bank, SE1 9PX Waterloo £12-£34, concs available, Feb 14-16, 22 & 23, Mar 1 & 2, 4-6, 11-14, 22 & 23, 7.45pm, mats Mar 23, 2pm, Mar 2, 6, 13, 2.15pm, Feb 17, 23, Mar 3, 24, 3pm). A young girl despite everything, looks to the future and for something better, in Simon Stephens’s drama. Salad Days Ends Mar 2 2013, Riverside Studios, Crisp Road, W6 9RL Hammersmith £25, concs £20, Premium Seats £30 & £35, Cafe Seats £40, Tue-Sat 7.45pm, mats Thu, Sat & Sun 3pm. Julian Slade’s and Dorothy Reynolds’s sunny and romantic musical. The Secret Garden Ends Mar 17 2013, King’s Head, Islington, 115 Upper Street, N1 1QN Angel £10-£25, concs £16, Mon, Sun 7.15pm, mat Mar 17, 3pm. Musical based on Frances Hodgson Burnett’s children’s novel. Trelawny Of The Wells Starts Fri, ends Apr 13 2013, Donmar Warehouse, 41 Earlham Street, WC2H 9LX Covent Garden Feb 15-25 previews £10-£27.50, standing £7.50, Feb 26-28, Mar 1-31, Apr 1-13 £10-£35, standing £7.50, From Feb 15, Mon-Sat 7.30pm, mats Thu, Sat 2.30pm (press night Feb 26, 7pm, no mat perf Feb 16, 21, 23). Arthur Wing Pinero’s homage to the stage, directed by BAFTA award-winning director Joe Wright. The Turn Of The Screw Ends Mar 16 2013, Almeida Theatre, Almeida Street, N1 1TA Highbury & Islington Jan 18-23 previews £8-£26, concs available, Jan 24-31, Feb 1-28, Mar 1-16 £8-£32, concs available, Mon-Sat 7.30pm, mats Sat 2.30pm, extra mat perf Feb 13, Mar 6, 2.30pm. Henry James’s ghostly novella, adapted by Rebecca Lenkiewicz.
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Are You Sitting Comfortably? Secrets Toynbee Studios, Toynbee Studios, 28 Commercial Street, E1 6AB Aldgate East £8, Feb 15, 7.30pm. An evening of original short stories by London-based writers. Boy George’s Taboo Ends Mar 31 2013, Brixton Clubhouse, 467 Brixton Road, SW9 8HH Brixton £10, £25, Meal Deal with top price ticket only £32.50, Oct 31 £20, Tue-Sun 7.30pm, mats Sat & Sun 3pm. Boy George’s romantic musical set during the era of the New Romantics The Cherry Orchard Ends Feb 17 2013, Theatre Collection, Above The Lord Stanley Pub, 51 Camden Park Road, NW1 9BH Caledonian Road phone for prices, Wed-Sat 7.30pm, Sun 5pm. A production of Chekhov’s play. Chess The Musical Starts Wed, ends Mar 16 2013, Union Theatre, 204 Union Street, SE1 0LX Waterloo £18, concs £16, Feb 13 & 14 previews £15, From Feb 13, Tue-Sat 7.30pm, Sun 2.30pm & 7pm, press night Feb 15, 7pm. A fully staged production of the definitive version of the musical by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus, and Sir Tim Rice. Don’t You Know Who I Am? Starts Wed, ends Feb 17 2013, Pleasance Theatre, Carpenter’s Mews, North Road, N7 9EF Caledonian Road £12, concs £9, Feb 13-16, 8pm, mat Feb 17, 3pm. A comedydrama about the ex-star of a boyband. The Dreamer Examines His Pillow Ends Feb 16 2013, Old Red Lion, 418 St John Street, EC1V 4NJ Angel Tue-Sat £15, concs £12, Sun £7, Tue-Sat 7.30pm, Sun 3pm. A story set in a dingy apartment in the Bronx, exploring how humans deal with emotions beyond their grasp. Fiesco Ends Feb 23 2013, The New Diorama Theatre, 15-16 Triton Street, NW1 3BF Great Portland Street £15.50, concs £12.50, All three plays in The Faction Rep Season £40, concs £35, Feb 15, 20, 7.30pm, mats Feb 16, 23, 3pm. Freidrich Schiller’s republican tragedy, adapted by Daniel Millar and Mark Leipacher. Five Kinds Of Silence Ends Feb 17 2013, White Bear Theatre, 138 Kennington Park Road, SE11 4DJ Kennington £12, concs £10, Tue-Sat 7.30pm, Sun 6pm. Chris Loveless directs Shelagh Stevenson’s family drama. In The Beginning Was The End Ends Mar 30 2013, Somerset House, The Strand, WC2R 1LA Temple £24.50, concs £19.50, Mon-Thurs, average journey time 70 minutes. Dreamthinkspeak’s
site-responsive promenade through an underground labyrinth. London Wall Ends Feb 23 2013, Finborough Theatre, 118 Finborough Road, SW10 9ED West Brompton Jan 29 & 30 previews £9, Jan 31, Feb 1-10 Wed-Sat £14, concs/Tue £10, Feb 12-23 Wed-Sat £16, concs/Tue £12, no concs Sat, Tue-Sat 7.30pm, mats Sat & Sun 3pm. A look at the life of female office workers in the 1930s, written by John Van Druten. Macbeth Ends Feb 24 2013, Camden People’s Theatre, 58-60 Hampstead Road, NW1 2PY Euston £10, concs £8, Tue-Sat 7.30pm, mats Sun 4.30pm. Shakespeare’s famous play of murder and vengeance.
Fashion Victim - The Musical Starts Fri, ends Feb 16 2013, Roxy Bar And Screen, 128-132 Borough High Street, SE1 1LB Borough £10, Feb 15 & 16, 7pm. A modern morality tale set in the world of fashion, written by Toby Rose. Othello Ends Feb 22 2013, The Bussey Building/CLF Art Cafe, 133 Rye Lane, SE15 4ST Peckham Rye Mon Theatre For A Fiver Night £5, Tue-Sat £12, concs £10, Mon-Sat 7.30pm. The Othello Peckham Theatre’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s tragedy is set in the world of western military security companies. Our Country’s Good Ends Mar 9 2013, St James Theatre, 12 Palace Street, SW1E 5JA Victoria £25-£42.50, Mon-Sat 7.30pm, mats Thu, Sat 2.30pm. Timberlake Wertenbaker’s drama, based on The Playmaker by Thomas Keneally, is directed by Max Stafford-Clark. The Road To Qatar! Starts Sat, ends Feb 17 2013, Landor Theatre, 70 Landor Street, SW9 9PH Clapham North £12, concs £8, Feb 16 & 17, 7.30pm, mat Feb 17, 3pm. Romeo & Juliet Ends Mar 2 2013, Upstairs At The Gatehouse, Hampstead Lane, N6 4BD Highgate Tue £10, Wed-Fri/Sun £14, concs £12, Sat £16, concs £14, Tue-Sat 7.30pm, mats Sun 4pm. Shakespeare’s tragedy of forbidden love, here set in 1960s Brighton. The Saint Valentine’s Day Murder Starts Thu, ends Feb 16 2013, LOST Theatre, 208 Wandsworth Road, SW8 2JU Stockwell £10, concs £8, Feb 14-16, 8pm. A speed dating event organised by a website takes an unexpected turn, in this comic thriller from Newgate Productions.
The Showstoppers Ends Feb 25 2013, Royal Albert Hall, Kensington Gore, SW7 2AP South Kensington £18, Mon 7.30pm. Improvised musical comedy from the acclaimed troupe. Sour Lips Ends Feb 16 2013, Ovalhouse, 54 Kennington Oval, SE11 5SW Oval Jan 29 & 30 previews £7, Jan 31, Feb 1-16 £14, under 26s/Equity £10, concs £8, Tue-Sat 7.45pm. A fusion of fantasy and non-fiction in Omar El-Khairy’s drama, following the story of the young Syrian blogger Amina Arraf. Tango Fire: Flames Of Desire Ends Feb 24 2013, Peacock Theatre, Portugal Street, WC2A 2HT Holborn £15£42, Tue-Sat 7.30pm, mats Sat 2.30pm, Sun 4pm. The history of tango told via a series of dance vignettes. Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch: Two Cigarettes In The Dark Starts Thu, ends Feb 17 2013, Sadler’s Wells, Rosebery Avenue, EC1R 4TN Angel £15-£60, Feb 14-16, 7.30pm, mat Feb 17, 4pm. A rarely performed work from the repertoire of the acclaimed choreographer. Three Sisters Ends Feb 23 2013, The New Diorama Theatre, 15-16 Triton Street, NW1 3BF Great Portland Street £15.50, concs £12.50, All three plays in The Faction Rep Season £40, concs £35, Feb 16, 19, 23, 7.30pm. The Faction presents Ranjit Bolt’s translation of Anton Chekhov’s play. Too Many Penguins?: Mcrobert/Frozen Charlotte (Ages 1-4) Ends Feb 16 2013, Polka Theatre, 240 The Broadway, SW19 1SB South Wimbledon £10, concs £8, Feb 12 & 13, 15, 2.05pm, Feb 12 & 13, 15 & 16, 10.35am, Feb 16, 12noon. Children’s show telling a whimsical tale of friendship. Twelfth Night Ends Feb 23 2013, The Lion & Unicorn, 42-44 Gaisford Street, NW5 2ED Kentish Town £12-£17.50, Tue-Sat 7.30pm, mats Sat 3.30pm. Custom/Practice Theatre presents Shakespeare’s comedy. Vanity Von Glow Ends Feb 24 2013, The Green Carnation, 5 Greek Street, W1D 4DD Leicester Square phone for prices, Sun, phone for times. Drag act. The Wam Bam Club Cafe De Paris, 3-4 Coventry Street, W1D 6BL Piccadilly Circus phone for prices, Feb 16, 7pm-10pm. Burlesque and variety show. The Will Gompertz Fringe Ends Feb 15 2013, ICA, 12 Carlton House Terrace, The Mall, SW1Y 5AH Charing Cross £10, concs £8, mems £7, Fri 7.30pm. The Wind In The Willows (Ages 5-11): Polka Theatre Ends Feb 16 2013, Polka Theatre, 240 The Broadway, SW19 1SB South Wimbledon £16, concs £11, Nov 23 & 24 previews £11, mat Feb 16, 2pm. Kenneth Grahame’s story of friendship and bravery. A Woman Of No Importance..Or Somewhat Little Importance Anyhow Ends Feb 23 2013, Hen & Chickens, 109 St Paul’s Road, N1 2NA Highbury & Islington £12, concs £10, Tue-Sat 7pm, mats Sat 3pm.
Celebrate the release of new comedy Hit and Run, starring Bradley Cooper, with a chance to
WIN a HD TV and tickets to an exclusive screening
G
et ready for a comedy that never takes its foot off the gas as HIT & RUN is released on DVD and digital download on February 18 from Momentum Pictures. To celebrate this release we are giving away tickets to an exclusive VIP screening of Hit and Run, only available to Scout readers. From the producers of Wedding Crashers, comes a fast-paced and
action-packed road trip comedy starring Bradley Cooper (Silver Linings Playbook, The Hangover) – almost unrecognisable as a villain looking to settle a debt from his past. Cooper is joined by Dax Shepard (Employee of The Month,
Parenthood), as a getaway driver with a questionable past who risks everything when he breaches his witness protection program to deliver his fiancé Annie (real life partner Kristen Bell; Forgetting Sarah Marshall, ‘Veronica Mars’) to Los Angeles in order to seize a once in a lifetime opportunity. You could be among the lucky few to see this film on the big screen in style as it comes to the small screen, at The Hospital Club, London – along with refreshments – on Thursday February 21 from 6pm. All attendees at the screening will have chance to be entered into a draw to win the grand prize of a HD TV, as well as a copy of the DVD.
To be in with a chance of winning, just answer the following question:
Hit and Run stars which famous Hollywood Oscarnominated actor? A) Bradley Cooper B) Denzel Washington C) Daniel Day Lewis To enter text SCO and your answ UT HIT er to 88010 or head to scoutlondon. com/win Texts cost £1* , and for TWO entrie count s!
* TERMS & CONDITIONS: Messages cost £1 each + standard network rate. 18+ bill payers only. Send STOP to end. Number may show on bill. A2B 08700460138. Contest closes Sunday Feb 17. You must be available at 6pm on February 21, 2013 to attend the screening in London. There is no cash alternative. Prize is non-transferable and not for re-sale. The promotion is open to residents of the UK except employees of the Promoter, their families, agents or anyone professionally connected with the promotion. Promotion limited to one entry per person. Responsibility is not accepted for entries lost, damaged or delayed as a result of any network, computer hardware or software failure of any kind. Proof of sending will not be accepted as proof of receipt. For full T&Cs for all competitions, visit scoutlondon.com/win
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Wonder
Art and Science on the Brain Mar–Apr A season to light up the mind with film, theatre, music, talks and participation barbican.org.uk/wonder #wonderseason