The Book - New Talent Special

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Contents Editor’s Letter

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Issue 6 OCT-Dec 2012

Features

Cover photo: Rachell Smith

26 30 34 38 43 44 47 49

usic: Dappy v. Tulisa M Film: London Film Festival Stage: race and theatre Art: Tate Modern’s Tanks Gadgets: games for Xmas Fitness: keep the torch burning Travel: have an ice stay Blogs: money-saving tips

Editor and Publisher: —Kohinoor Sahota Editorial Consultant: —Dominic Wells Art DirectIon: —Bb/Teasdale Editorial Assistant: —Emily Newsome Music Editor: —Laurence Green Film Editor: —Neil Clarke

New Talent TANYA LACEY

Editor’s Letter:

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I

Meet the stars of tomorrow, today.

The Book’s Editors introduce you to the young, talented Londoners ready to take on the world.

Photography: Rachell Smith

Nathan Bowen

The Singer

wenty-five-year-old Nathan Bowen makes me feel old. Not in a cosy, older-and-wiser way, but in a why-haven’t-I-done-more-with-my-life way.

Accepted to Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design a year early at age 17, he sees himself ‘going global’ with his big, bold street art within the next five years, and boldly proclaims: ‘Art is about spreading the love. I’d die for it. It makes me, me.’

Bowen’s anarchic demon builders have been popping up on walls and building site hoardings in central London for about three years now, ever since Nathan decided to side-step the gallery system and take his art directly to ordinary people ‘like my mum and your mum’ who are open to street art, even if they don’t know it yet. He has appeared on BBC’s The Apprentice and had his work in the

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‘I’m all fired up. It’s a competitive industry, no time to get complacent’

Tanya Lacey

The Artist

T

Fashion Targets Breast Cancer campaign, alongside a militant-looking Pixie Geldof.

Asked why his little workmen connect with so many people, he answers: ‘They represent humans, or at least a different version of us.

We see ourselves in their free-wheeling, spirited antics and we feel for them, like we would a bunch of kids.’

This kind of passion might seem at odds with a guy who has had business cards made up to introduce himself at prospective work sites, and whose mission is to take urban art out of the safe zone of Brick Lane and into the commercial City and shopper-friendly West End. Nathan’s no sell-out, but he does have a big vision. He’s inspired by Banksy, who reached an unprecedented audience: ‘He did for street art what Tupac and Biggie did for hip hop.’

Bowen loved art college but is resistant to its orthodoxy, saying ‘art is from the heart. It doesn’t have to be conceptual, it can be whatever you want it to be’. And never was a man more his message. He is evangelical about the possibilities for street art – ‘it has no limits’ – and wants to take those possibilities global.

His ‘After Lives’ movement (a title taken from a story he wrote) takes abandoned, derelict spaces and gives them new life through his art. He explains, ‘There’s nothing like seeing street art in the flesh, it wakes you up to the possibility of what truly public urban art can be.’ So if you look up at the sky in five years’ time and see the ‘demon’ builders, firemen, or cowboys plastered across the nearest high-rise, you heard it here first.

Faye Robson

T

anya Lacey isn’t your average pop starlet. Sure, she’s bubbly, confident, and has the tips of her hair dyed in an obligatorily eccentric colour, candy-floss pink to be precise.

But this 25-year-old also has a keen down-to-business attitude honed by a year that has already seen her split from her label Sony and set up her own label, Laceywood Records. Having grown up in a tough area of Bristol that suffered race riots in the ’80s, the half-Antiguan songstress moved to London in 2009, and is ready to step into the spotlight.

‘I’m all fired up, man, every day,’ Tanya declares. ‘Being in an environment where so many of your peers are go-getters; it’s a competitive industry, and it’s good. Everyone’s pushing,

there’s no time to slip or get complacent.’

If anything has defined Tanya’s career up to this point, it’s that gogetting attitude. Last year saw her co-write and guest on Loick Essien’s Top 10 hit How We Roll, and co-writing will.i.am’s The Hardest Ever (which featured both Jennifer Lopez and Mick Jagger) gave her claim to a global hit.

Doesn’t she wish she kept it for herself ?

‘I’m a firm believer that everything happens for a reason and if I do give a song to somebody and they get success from it, they’ve done a good job and made it their own. Success is success.

I’m just glad people are into my writing.’

Head Chef, her debut album, takes

into account her musical influences ranging from Missy Elliot and Rachelle Ferrell to reggae and even the traditional Chinese music beloved by her dad, who is white but a trained Cantonese chef. ‘It’s just who I am: I’m multi-dimensional and I find it really boring when you have to stay within certain parameters of music,’ she says.

‘Ultimately I make pop music, but I make different styles within that, so the EP reflects that versatility more than anything.’ London rapper Kano features on Greatness and the most recent single Too Many Cooks, which saw her returning to Antigua to film the video.

In an industry where female artsists are firing whipped cream and fireworks out of their bras, does she feel any

Photo-story HALLOWEEN

Photo-story HALLOWEEN

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Fright Night

Halloween is not just for kids. Grab it by the ghoulies and have a night with a difference

Last Tuesday Society The Coronet, SE1 6TJ, & The Orphanage, WC2N 6AA, Oct 26 & 27, from £15 Not content with just one Halloween ball, the Last Tuesday Society are putting on two. Satan’s Rout is in the huge, multi-roomed Coronet in Elephant’s Castle, and includes chocolate fountains, a hot tub, 150 performers, and guests dressed to kill. The Masque of the Red Death is a smaller masked ball off The Strand and offers dance classes in waltzing, swing and pole an hour before the party starts.

Sinan Bozkurt

Reviews

New Talent NATHAN BOWEN

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Reviews MUSIC

s s

4 T he List Top 10 events 6 The Big Question Will we ever have a black PM? 8 Cover Feature Our editors interview four young stars of tomorrow 12 The Mission 32 new ideas for you to try this autumn 18 Style Study The return of the moustache 20 Photo-story Halloween sorted 50 Inside Job How to be a chef

Make-up: Linda Wallsten Hair: Valerie Benavides Assistant: Rose Patterson

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Music ‘It falls to Tulisa to stand tall as the group’s reigning queen’

The Video Brandy feat.

Chris Brown/Put It Down There’s one ‘hit’ Laurence Green finds it hard to forgive

When an artist collaborates with Chris Brown, what are they saying?

That they endorse a man who violentally assualted his former partner, Rihanna? Or perhaps more worrying, that they are actively choosing to ignore it and employ him as a promotional boost to their own efforts?

Many industry experts bleakly proclaim Brown’s continued success as one of the most successful PR campaigns in popular music – discussion of the incident seems to have been banned from interviews while Brown has gone on to new heights of success, including a Grammy award for Best R&B Album with a high-profile performance at the ceremony.

The video for his collaboration with has-been singer Brandy

(previously of Brandy & Monica The Boy Is Mine fame) is typical of commercially orientated guestfeatures such as this, with Brandy cavorting against a backdrop of brightly-coloured paint spatters and sitting around on the bonnets of supercars. And there’s Chris Brown, gold chain round his neck, dancing; without a care in the world.

Perhaps it’s just me, but I think whatever Brown’s talents might be as a star, whatever he might bring to the video, they are effectively voided by the ever-present knowledge of what he did. The situation brings to mind that of Ike Turner, who became synonymous with spousal abuse (his wife Tina Turner then went on to far greater fame than him), or the way in

Dappy v. Tulisa

Jake Bugg Jake Bugg Release: Oct 15

A year on from N-Dubz’ split, Laurence Green picks the winner Musical history is littered with examples of band members parting ways to release their respective solo efforts, in an effort to create a ‘sound’ more personal to them. Waters and Gilmour, Lennon and McCartney, Gallagher and Gallagher – they’ve all been there. And now Dappy and Tulisa. With N-Dubz leaving their label Def-Jam in August last year and Tulisa taking on her new role as X Factor judge, it always felt like just a matter of time before the rap trio’s leading protagonists put down their own stamp of independence and utilised their new-found freedom to release solo albums.

The honour of going first fell to Dappy. When he released No Regrets in September 2011, it felt like he was striking while the iron was hot – N-Dubz fans eager for new material in the wake of the news that their favourite group was no more lapped it up. No Regrets bristled with arrogance; from the carefree abandon of the title to the pomp of lyrics like ‘this is my King’s Speech’. It promptly went to Number One in the

UK charts and went on to sell over 300,000 copies. Dappy, the solo talent, had been born.

All the while, N-Dubz’ female component, Tulisa, had been courting success in her own way – charming X Factor viewers across the country with her straight-talking, no-nonsense attitude. Just like her predecessor Cheryl Cole, Tulisa underwent the vital transformation from street-styled starlet – all Juicy Couture tracksuits and the like – to a genuine fixture in the ‘hottest look’ pages of glossy magazines. It was perhaps the finale of the X Factor circus that saw her lay down her masterstroke, though, taking to the stage with her mentees Little Mix to cover Alicia Keys’ Empire State of Mind. A nation of people who’d probably never heard an N-Dubz record in their lives all thought: ‘Wow, she can actually really sing!’

A bucket-load of scandal and courtroom drama followed in the wake of a well-publicised sex-tape debacle. For Tulisa, ever the budding

Stage Editor: —Sariel Heseltine Art Editor: —Faye Robson Gadgets Editor: —Emma Boyes

Contributors: — Christian Adofo, Lindsay Johns, Vaskar Szen Kayastha, Nora McLeese, Costas Sarkas, Neil Simpson

show-woman, this seemed to play into her hands as she released her debut single – the Ibiza-ready club anthem Young – and, just like Dappy, rocketed straight to the top spot in the charts.

With Dappy and Tulisa’s albums both scheduled for release this autumn, who will prove the ultimate winner? Despite featuring a guest appearance from Queen’s Brian May, Rockstar, Dappy’s follow-up to No Regrets, was a bit of a let-down, while a subsequent viral video effort centred on lewd verbal attacks on X Factor contestants felt more like a crude grasp for attention than an artistic statement.

It falls to Tulisa to stand tall as the group’s reigning queen. The second single Live It Up sees her returning to her urban roots, and with the new series of The X Factor on our screens, for Miss Contostavlos, what we’ve seen already is really just the prelude to superstardom.

Dappy’s Bad Intentions is released on Oct 1; Tulisa’s Tulisa on Nov 26

which only Michael Jackson’s death silenced the rumours that detracted from his recording accomplishments.

You’d think that a song where Brandy boasts ‘play your cards right, maybe we could fall in love...’ would send a message of female empowerment. But, by allying herself with Brown, it seems to me that Brandy instead sends out a message horribly reminiscent of Rihanna’s own quotes about him earlier this year. Speaking to Esquire, Rihanna commented on a remix of her track Birthday Cake, on which Brown featured: ‘In my mind, it was just music.’ It was as if working with Brown could be separated from any personal sense of what he had done.

It’s important to remember that Brown actually pleaded guilty to assault, before being sentenced to five years on probation. Yet still his domination of the charts continues untempered, undimmed.

Is this justice? Forgiveness? Or simply indicative of the music industry’s focus on money, no matter the ethical concerns?

Bat For Lashes The Haunted Man Release: Oct 15

Natasha Kahn, better known as the mystical Bat For Lashes, has caused a stir this year: the artwork for new album The Haunted Man depicts the singer and a man with no regard for personal boundaries, his body entirely draped across her shoulders and

torso. They are also both naked, hence the stir (above). Naturism aside, Bat For Lashes plays piano, bass, guitar and autoharp, has two Mercury Music Prize nominations and in July her single Laura was named Zane Lowe’s ‘Hottest Track in the World’. On top of all the nudity, talent and accolades, Bat For Lashes studied Visual Art, so expect an album that’s as eclectic as it is well-crafted. (NS)

Having appeared on Glastonbury’s BBC Introducing stage when he was only 17, Nottingham’s Jake Bugg has since appeared on Later... With Jools Holland and his songs have been used on a variety of TV adverts. His single Taste It is characteristic of the album, with gutsy bluegrass guitar licks underscoring vocals full of youthful abandon. From an English town to the sound of the American south, Jake’s album betrays an ambition and musical palate extending far beyond his scant years, and he’s all the better for it. (LG)

The Gig That Changed My Life Elsie is bringing back Blondie-esque pop with a bang. Here she shares her memories of Amy Winehouse I was at Amy Winehouse’s last ever gig. It was just a few weeks before she died so tragically, and Amy was about to start getting back in the swing of gigging after a long time off. So she set up an incredibly intimate gig at London’s famous 100 Club.

Luckily I’m friends with a couple of her band so I got the chance to join literally 50 people and see her on a stage from about four feet away. I was stood at the side and she came on saying hello to her dad and apologising to her school teacher aunt for swearing, she was really funny.

When she began to sing it was undeniable, it was like listening to an old record player. She sounded like a legend from a long, long time ago. There were times when her voice didn’t work, it cracked on notes, but she simply turned to the audience and asked if they had any honey in their handbags. She was a real character. What made it so memorable for me were the bits that she did get right. I know hundreds of people who can sing well but I’ve never heard a voice like that. It sounds like a cliché but there was just magic in it. I guess that’s what people felt when they went to watch Elvis, Aretha or Frank Sinatra.

As a singer myself, I wasn’t envious or jealous because her voice was so far out of reach from anything anyone else could do. I can’t see anyone ever topping that gig for me.

Elsie’s single London Town is out now, www.elsiemusic.com

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t’s one year since we launched. When we started we had more passion than funding and the magazine was being done in my bedroom. A lot has changed: we’ve got tons more contributors and become more confident about who we are, so much so that we believe we are the best youth magazine out there.

As it’s back to business after the summer, we felt it was the perfect time to do an issue on all things new. We picked out the new faces, places and experiences in London – from ping-pong restaurants to becoming a cinema ninja (p12).

Getting four rising stars together on the same day for a shoot is not easy (p8).

At 4.50pm, the day before, it wasn’t just a spanner thrown into the works, but a whole toolbox. Photographer Rachell Smith saved the day, organising new hair and make-up artists in 40 minutes flat.

Thanks to all who helped.

After the great reception for our Body Issue, we introduced a regular Fitness section (p44). We show you where to take up some of the Olympics’ more unusual sports – synchronised swimming, anyone?

Go on, try something new!

Kohinoor

ERS OFF

Turn to the following pages for exclusive reader offers:

17 10% off books and win tickets to Fuerzabruta 23 15% off fancy dress 25 Free student membership to Cable 32 £9.99 any-size Domino’s pizza 37 Win West End tickets 42 20% off Energenie 48 £15 off ethical fashion

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The List

3:/ Comics tOct 26-28

Join 60,000 fans at Comic Con at the Excel Centre who go from zero to hero, dressing as their favourite characters.

4:/ Fireworks sNov 3-5

Start the month off with a bang. Guy Fawkes fireworks include Barking Park, Battersea Park, Caterham, Carshalton and Morden Park on Nov 3, with Potters Bar, Roundwood Park, Walthamstow and Wimbledon Park on Nov 5.

5:/ Play 1:/ Twilight

2:/ Debate

If you think Twilight lacks drama, consider this: the promotional tour for Breaking Dawn 2 may feature K-Stew and betrayed boyfriend R-Patz together.

The film opens on Nov 16; the premiere, which last year was at Westfield Stratford East, has yet to be announced. Can they keep their red-carpet grins in place?

Love a good argument? Then head down to the Battle of Ideas. The festival, now in its eighth year, has moved to the Barbican, and its themes are freedom and equality. Lindsay Johns, who will be speaking at the festival, writes about diversity in politics for us in our Big Question on p6.

sNov 16

Oct 20-21

Oct 30

The Olympics missed a vital sport: Rock Paper Scissors! At the Knights Templar pub, 250-plus competitors battle for the UK Championship and a prize of ÂŁ100.

6:/ Black October

London celebrates Black History Month with talks and special events. Check www.blackhistorymonthuk.co.uk.

The LisT

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7:/ Skate

9:/ Wannabe

10:/ Drink

Pop-up ice rinks give you another reason to visit some of the city’s most famous landmarks. Get your skates on at the Tower of London (from Nov 19, above), Natural History Museum (Nov 2), Canary Wharf (Nov 3) and Somerset House (Nov 16). Winter Wonderland (Nov 23) in Hyde Park not only has a rink but also a Ferris wheel, circus and grotto for the big kid inside you.

Whatever you think of the Spice Girls – talentless wannabes or girl power icons – they left their mark. But as venues looking for a new We Will Rock You often end up with runs shorter than Ginger Spice’s Union Jack dress, is calling the show Viva Forever! asking for trouble?

Maybe not with Mamma Mia creator Judy Craymer and comedian Jennifer Saunders adding sugar to the spice.

Wouldn’t it be great if there was a happy hour in which top cocktails were only £4, and if that ‘happy hour’ lasted all week? And if you were bussed for free from one trendy bar to the next? Well, London Cocktail Week gives you just that. Sign up for special wristbands, before Oct 8, to take a giant leap up from the traditional pub crawl at www.londoncocktailweek.com.

sFrom Nov 2

From Nov 27

tOct 8-14

8:/ Diwali

As the nights get darker, Diwali will quite literally light up London. The Festival of Lights is of importance to Hindus, Jains and Sikhs, but is open to all of London to celebrate. Trafalgar Square hosts the spectacle with garba dancing, dhol drums and tasty treats, which last year attracted 30,000 people.

Diwali: David L. Hone

Oct 28

­— 6

The BIG QUESTION

Q: A:

Will we ever have a black prime minister in Britain?

Writer & broadcaster — LINDSAY JOHNS

The short answer to that most frustratingly perennial of questions is, I certainly hope so and I don’t see why not, but you’ll have to give it a few years. If I’m honest, though, I don’t see it happening any time soon.

not there on the ethnic vote alone. On the left, the much-lauded (and photographed) Labour MP for Streatham and Shadow Business Secretary Chuka Umunna (left), constantly hailed as Britain’s Obama, with his undeniable photogenic allure and sartorial elegance, possesses the requisite style, but has yet to demonstrate the substance to be deemed PM material.

I’m not saying prejudice and racism don’t exist in Britain. Sadly such imbecility will exist at all echelons of any society, in some form or another. For me, the major stumbling block to a black PM right now is not white racism, but the frustratingly nascent, practically exiguous educated black British middle class, from which such a candidate could come. America may be racially intolerant and antediluvian in its beliefs, but an educated black middle class does exist, nay positively thrives over there.

Look at historically black universities such as Morehouse, Spelman and Howard, which have been educating great leaders for centuries. Look at Mayors Adrian Fenty and Cory Booker, not to mention Obama, who are all undeniably products of it. Look on these shores for their black British counterparts and you will practically search in vain.

Obama is Ivy League-educated, formidably intellectually gifted and a dazzling orator whose levels of erudition,

It should also go without saying that, however uplifting and empowering it would be to have a black British Prime Minister, I wouldn’t want to have a less gifted black leader at the expense of a more competent white one. A PM who got the job on the affirmative action vote would be as bad as a PM who got the job on dad’s money and old school tie connections. Regardless of the plethora of iniquities and injustices of history, merit alone should always decide these things, not melanin quotient.

Chuka Umunna may be Britain's best hope for a black PM, but does he match Obama?

charisma and accessibility for me wholly justify his election. Where are his black British equivalents? In terms of the development of a black British middle class, we are about 20, if not 30 years behind the US. The cream of black British actors, creatives and intellectuals have long headed to the US for the greater opportunities afforded to them. Look at the likes of Idris Elba, Adrian Lester, David Harewood, Caryl Phillips, Paul Gilroy and Gary Young, to name but a few of our high achieving black Brits abroad.

Of course there are exceptions in the UK. On the right, Conservative MP Kwasi Kwarteng seems like the most intelligent and credible of the bunch. Eton and Cambridge (not always, but often) indicate that the man is nobody’s fool and certainly

With the advent of (nominally) colourblind casting when it comes to the acting profession, I think we are much closer to having a black British James Bond than a black British PM. I for one think Colin Salmon would be an inspired choice for the role of 007, that consummately suave avatar of Englishness. But for Britain to have a black PM, we need to develop a far bigger educated black middle class, in order to get to the stage where the pool of intellectual talent is allowed to see itself as both consciously black and incidentally black, and not to have to define itself by its colour alone, as in the heady days of identity politics in the ’80s and ’90s.

Developing such a middle class takes time.

Give it 20 or 30 years and here’s hoping.∂ Lindsay Johns will be speaking at the Battle of Ideas at the Barbican on October 21. www.battleofideas.org.uk

OBAMICON.ME

And that’s not because I don’t think Britain is ‘ready’. Black and gay might be a step too far right now for gubernatorial office, but black I don’t see as being an issue per se. Call me naive, but despite what those in the race industry would have us believe, I don’t think middle England is as innately prejudiced, as foolishly myopic or as intellectually retarded as they make out, to judge a man for that highest of offices on the colour of his skin.

The Big Question

NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY 1 YEAR PART-TIME (EVENINGS) OR 3 MONTHS FULL-TIME FANTASTIC CAREER PROSPECTS World class education needn’t take forever. It should be well planned, continually adapted to the times and presented by passionate professionals.

That’s what happens at Shillington College and we have the record to prove it.

Our students are taught by outstanding designers and are getting top design jobs. Starting with no prior experience they graduate with a professional portfolio and an in-depth knowledge of the design programs.

Still time to enrol for our part-time courses starting September 2012 LONDON • MANCHESTER • NEW YORK • SYDNEY • MELBOURNE • BRISBANE

www.shillingtoncollege.co.uk

LEARN GRAPHIC DESIGN

­— 7

Make-up: Linda Wallsten at Era Management using Shu Uemura Hair: Valerie Benavides using Kiehis Silk Groom and Bumble and Bumble Classic Hairspray Photography Assistant: Rose Patterson Styling (for Tanya): Leeann Soki Mak. Shirt by Elly Cheng and necklace by Tatty Devine

—8

New Talent Nathan BOWEN

Meet the stars of tomorrow, today.

The Book’s Editors introduce you to the young, talented Londoners ready to take on the world.

Photography: Rachell Smith

Nathan Bowen The Artist

T

wenty-five-year-old Nathan Bowen makes me feel old. Not in a cosy, older-and-wiser way, but in a why-haven’t-I-done-more-with-my-life way.

Accepted to Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design a year early at age 17, he sees himself ‘going global’ with his big, bold street art within the next five years, and boldly proclaims: ‘Art is about spreading the love. I’d die for it. It makes me, me.’

Bowen’s anarchic demon builders have been popping up on walls and building site hoardings in central London for about three years now, ever since Nathan decided to side-step the gallery system and take his art directly to ordinary people ‘like my mum and your mum’ who are open to street art, even if they don’t know it yet. He has appeared on BBC’s The Apprentice and had his work in the

Fashion Targets Breast Cancer campaign, alongside a militant-looking Pixie Geldof.

Asked why his little workmen connect with so many people, he answers: ‘They represent humans, or at least a different version of us.

We see ourselves in their free-wheeling, spirited antics and we feel for them, like we would a bunch of kids.’

This kind of passion might seem at odds with a guy who has had business cards made up to introduce himself at prospective work sites, and whose mission is to take urban art out of the safe zone of Brick Lane and into the commercial City and shopper-friendly West End. Nathan’s no sell-out, but he does have a big vision. He’s inspired by Banksy, who reached an unprecedented audience: ‘He did for street art what Tupac and Biggie did for hip hop.’

Bowen loved art college but is resistant to its orthodoxy, saying ‘art is from the heart. It doesn’t have to be conceptual, it can be whatever you want it to be’. And never was a man more his message. He is evangelical about the possibilities for street art – ‘it has no limits’ – and wants to take those possibilities global.

His After Lives movement (a title taken from a story he wrote) takes abandoned, derelict spaces and gives them new life through his art. He explains, ‘There’s nothing like seeing street art in the flesh, it wakes you up to the possibility of what truly public urban art can be.’ So if you look up at the sky in five years’ time and see the ‘demon’ builders, firemen, or cowboys plastered across the nearest high-rise, you heard it here first.

Faye Robson

New Talent Tanya lacey

‘I’m all fired up. It’s a competitive industry, no time to get complacent’

Tanya Lacey The Singer

T

anya Lacey isn’t your average pop starlet. Sure, she’s bubbly, confident, and has the tips of her hair dyed in an obligatorily eccentric colour, candy-floss pink to be precise.

But this 25-year-old also has a keen down-to-business attitude honed by a year that has already seen her split from her label Sony and set up her own label, Laceywood Records. Having grown up in a tough area of Bristol that suffered race riots in the ’80s, the half-Antiguan songstress moved to London in 2009, and is ready to step into the spotlight.

‘I’m all fired up, man, every day,’ Tanya declares. ‘Being in an environment where so many of your peers are go-getters; it’s a competitive industry, and it’s good. Everyone’s pushing,

­— 9

there’s no time to get complacent.’

Last year she co-wrote and guested on Loick Essien’s Top 10 hit How We Roll, and co-writing will.i.am’s The Hardest Ever (which featured Jennifer Lopez and Mick Jagger) gave her claim to a global hit. Doesn’t she wish she kept the song for herself ? ‘I’m a firm believer that everything happens for a reason; if I give away a song and it gets success, they’ve done a good job and made it their own. Success is success.

I’m just glad people are into my writing.’

Head Chef, her debut album, reflects her musical influences: Missy Elliot, Rachelle Ferrell, reggae and even the traditional Chinese music beloved by her dad, who is white but a trained Cantonese chef. ‘It’s just who I am: I’m

multi-dimensional and I find it boring when you have to stay within certain parameters of music,’ she says.

‘Ultimately I make pop music, but I make different styles within that.’

London rapper Kano features on Greatness and the most recent single Too Many Cooks, which saw her returning to Antigua to film the video.

In an industry where female artists fire whipped cream or fireworks out of their bras, does she feel any pressure to sex-up her image? ‘It’s important to be yourself and know who you are. Luckily I’ve led a colourful life,’ she says. And with that yellow eye make-up, pink hair and can-do attitude, her colourful personality is more than a match for it.

Laurence Green

— 10

New Talent ELLA HICKSON

‘You can’t rely on inspiration; it’s 40 per cent put your arse on the chair and start writing’

Ella Hickson The Playwright

E

lla Hickson was just 23 when she wrote her first play, Eight. Having produced a few plays whilst studying in Edinburgh, she decided it was time to ‘stop doing the admin and start doing something creative’. It was just something she wanted to ‘have a bash at’ before she got a real job – until Eight won a Fringe First, toured to New York to raves and sell-out audiences, and ended up in the West End. For Ella, now 27, writing started as something ‘blissfully unselfconscious’.

Because she didn’t really know what made Eight successful, she believes that the value system that grew out of it was dangerous. ‘There’s no equation for the work you put in equalling the success you get out. You have to keep reminding

yourself that the work is the only thing that matters. Keeping your eye on the work and off the career is essential.’

The fact that her next two plays failed to repeat that level of critical acclaim threw her, and it’s only after four years and twice as many plays that she feels she has got her priorities back to honesty and craft, rather than keeping on-trend. ‘If you want to make it as a playwright,’ she says, ‘you can’t rely on a work ethic entirely based on inspiration; it’s 40 per cent put your arse on the chair and start writing.’

Yet there are difficulties in making a living out of writing. ‘A professional commercial value system starts interacting with an artistic value system and there’s a lot of conflict there.’ Ella

fears writing as a career negates artistic sensibility, which is dangerous – but not, as she wrily points out, as dangerous as failing to make the rent.

Ella’s next project is a feminist rewrite of Peter Pan, correcting the message that ‘it’s all right for boys to go out and fight pirates whilst Wendy’s having a lot less fun darning socks and cooking meals right from the get-go.’

If her early work saw her typecast as a university playwright, the voice of a disaffected young generation, Ella has outgrown those labels. ‘Playwriting should be about presenting questions that don’t necessarily have answers,’ she puts forward, ‘not teaching people something you already know.’

Sariel Heseltine

New Talent ­— 11 Morgan watkins

‘I’m obsessed with how to become a great, great actor and create pure, perfect drama’

Morgan Watkins The Actor

D

espite having received excellent reviews in the 2011 revival of Edward Bond’s controversial and previouslybanned play Saved, Morgan Watkins is not your typical ‘luvvie’ actor. One of four brothers, 26-year-old Morgan grew up in Camden wanting to be a footballer. ‘I didn’t think acting was something you could do as a job,’ he admits. ‘But I suddenly realised, I’m good at this, it’s fun – and it’s a way of getting some girls!’

After his dad gave him a DVD of On the Waterfront, Marlon Brando became a formative influence. ‘Best bit of acting you’ll ever see,’ Morgan raves. ‘Bizarre almost how good it is.

The problem with Brando is, he sort of dismissed it all, as if it was the easiest thing ever, and I find that really annoying.’

Despite an aunt insisting that he eschew

acting and ‘earn some bloody money!’, Morgan went on to study at RADA. ‘I learnt a lot of great things, but it was technical. That’s brilliant, but I’m obsessed with how to become a great, great actor.’ Robert De Niro is another role model: ‘The way he plays every scene, it’s beautifully accurate. How do you create pure, perfect, beautiful drama? I’m on a constant quest to find that out.

‘Fundamentally, for me, it’s about doing great work – that’s it: the goal is just to be great at what I do, and just keep on improving.

And whatever medium that may be in, I want to be part of interesting films and TV and plays that move and affect people.’

Morgan’s determination may well see him breaking out of TV roles in Silk and The Hour, and small parts in films like Dexter Fletcher’s Wild Bill, to more substantial parts. But first,

he returns to the Lyric Hammersmith – scene of his success in Saved, a play he considers more topical than ever for its presentation of ‘dysfunctional young people who don’t know what they’re living for, and an empty society – the materialist, consumeristic, mindless, passive, hedonistic society we live in’.

At the Lyric, he will be playing the youngest son in a revival of Eugene O’Neill’s great American tragedy, a ‘monster of a play’, Desire Under the Elms (Oct 3-Nov 10). ‘Drama puts a mirror up to nature – “Here’s life: look at it, and think about it.” It allows us to escape, relate, and understand, and think, and explore. As an actor you’re just one of the cogs in that machine, and you need to do your job; try and tell that story accurately and correctly, with integrity. I think that’s the key.’

Neil Clarke

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The Mission NEW LONDON

London’s had a changing of the old guard. Go to a film noir bar, be a ninja or learn graffiti – so you can paint the town red ATTRACTIONS Thames cable car

Who knew public transport could be so exciting? The £60m Emirates Air Line cable car, opened in June, has transformed the East London skyline: a new car leaves every 15 seconds, taking up to 2,500 passengers an hour across the Thames at 90m above the water. At £3.20 with an Oyster Card, it’s a lot cheaper than the London Eye. From Royal Docks to the Greenwich Peninsula, www.emiratesairline.co.uk

The Cutty Sark

The Cutty Sark, the last surviving tea clipper and the fastest of its time, reopened in spring after five years and £45m of restoration work to repair extensive fire damage. The outside now looks like a bus shelter, and recently won the worst building of the year award; once inside, however, the ship has been raised by three metres and a spectacular glass canopy added, so you can walk under the hull as well as doing your best Captain Sparrow impression on-board.

2 Greenwich Church St, SE10 9BG, www.rmg. co.uk/cuttysark

Tate Modern extension

Since it opened in the year 2000, Tate Modern has become a key part of London, and with 4.7m visitors a year it’s most visited modern art gallery in the world. Yet even this old power station with its vast turbine hall is not big enough: they have embarked on an ambitious £215m building programme, to be completed in 2016. The first phase, the £90m Tanks space converted from the vast subterranean chambers (see Art, p38), opened in July.

Bankside, SE1 9TG, www.tate.org.uk

The Mission NEW LONDON

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Climb the O2

I

St James Theatre

London’s first newly built theatre complex in 30 years opened in mid-September near Victoria station. Robert Macintosh, younger brother of the legendary West End producer, is the man behind the ambitious scheme, which combines a mid-sized, 312-seat theatre, a 100-seat studio theatre and a brasserie and lobby bar. Sandi Toksvig’s Bully Boy has the honour of opening the brand-new venue, playing until Oct 27.

12 Palace St, SW1E 5JA, www.stjamestheatre. co.uk The Elizabeth Tower

You may know it as Big Ben, but London’s most famous landmark was actually only ever called the Clock Tower (Big Ben is the bell inside it), and as of September 12 it’s officially been rebranded as Elizabeth

Tower. You can go up it: just write a nice letter to your MP, wait a few months, and you’ll get a free tour.

House of Commons, SW1A OAA, www. parliament.uk/visiting/visiting-and-tours/ ukvisitors/bigben Lee Valley White Water Centre

With the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park not re-opening until July 2013, the Lee Valley White Water Centre is the first brand-new Olympic venue to open to the public. You can go white-water rafting along a challenging 300m course of holes, eddies, drops and waves for £49 a head, or kayak for just £5 an hour. The park itself is 26 miles long, and includes a riding centre, golf course, a huge ice rink, cycle trails and nature reserves.

Station Road, Waltham Cross, Herts, EN9 1AB, www.visitleevalley.org.uk/whitewaterrafting

’m afraid of heights. When I visited Zaha Hadid’s MAXXI Museum in Rome I couldn’t bring myself to walk across a glass strip that overlooked the floor below. I don’t even like sitting at the top of buses. So climbing 52 metres up to the top of the O2 Arena isn’t high on my wish-list. On the way to North Greenwich I read two articles about freak accidents. I feel nervous. Can I turn back now?

I arrive and there are 15 of us. Most of the group is made up of young couples, presumably as a romantic experience. The guide confirms this: ‘There have been three proposals this week. I had one in my group; it was awful weather the whole way up, but by the time we got there and he had got down on one knee it had cleared. It was perfect.’

We’re made to sign some forms to prevent us from suing if things were to be, er, less than perfect. We are shown a safety film and kitted out. Climbing suits and shoes are offered, but not compulsory. Nothing is allowed in our pockets, and belongings are put into lockers.

Before we begin I am put at ease, the guide checks our harnesses and locks us onto a railing for our ascent. We learn how to force our clip through larger parts of the railing, which becomes a frustrating part of the climb.

The start and the end, which are at a 30-degree angle, are the toughest, however as you’re upright and can hold a handrail for support it feels safe. Even fun. I feel like I’m in the circus with the marquee dome below and a bouncy blue walkway in front of me.

I reach the top, out of breath but in one piece – more than James Bond could manage in The World Is Not Enough. Having seen London from Primrose Hill, St. Paul’s and the London Eye, I was a little disappointed by the view. There’s no Big Ben or typical tourist icons. Instead you catch a glimpse of the Olympic stadium, Canary Wharf, the Thames cable car and, well, the roof of the O2. For me, however, the walk was more about the experience: 90 thrilling minutes of something I wouldn’t normally do, which has now made my thank-God-I-tried-that list.

Kohinoor Sahota The O2, Peninsula Square, SE10 0DX, from £22, www.theo2.co.uk/UpAtTheO2

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The Mission NEW LONDON

SHOPS Burberry

Learn to graffiti

I

can smell the paint fumes on the walk up to West Bank Gallery in Notting Hill. The ambience, perfectly cultivated for a graffiti workshop, is making me feel more artistic already. I might have an Art degree, but my practical skills amount to those of a toddler that’s just discovered finger painting. But I’m here to try. And try I shall. Luckily, everyone is here is a beginner.

The workshop starts with sketching.

According to our teacher, Gabriel, creating fonts is the basis of all graffiti. By manipulating what the ‘sticks’ of each letter look like we can produce block, bubble and wildstyle fonts.

In the brief lesson on graffiti history, we are taught what a tag is and that making our own would be the day’s end goal. Drawing in shadows and 3D perspective were added to our toolbox of brand new graffiti tricks. Mix in a corner sparkle, and we were ready to throw up a dynamic tag.

Finally, we get to paint. That’s what we’re here for, right? The West Bank Gallery has an enclosure with plywood walls primed for graffiti practice. In true graffiti form, we’re painting our tags over ones that already exist.

As it turns out, spraying a straight line is harder than it looks. Sure, I’ve used spray paint before. For stencils and coating unfinished furniture. This requires technique and precision. Unfortunately, I seem to be producing my fair share of drips and rogue sprays. At least I look the part: the mask and plastic glove I’m wearing make me feel a little more competent than I am. Gabriel reminds us encouragingly that in graffiti, when you mess up, you can just paint over it.

I spend the better part of an hour trying to apply the techniques learnt in sketching to the paint. By the end, my name is up there on the wall as a moderately sloppy but perfectly passable tag. It may not give Banksy any sleepless nights, but there’s a definite feeling that I’ve arrived.

Nora McLeese London West Bank, 133-137 Westbourne Grove, W11 2RS, £49 for two hours, www.londonwestbank. com

Burberry’s new flagship store (right), just opened in September, is spectacular: a four-storey, 44,000 sq ft space with a grand cantilevered staircase and art deco chandeliers, it’s a clever mix of old and new.

The 19th-century building was lovingly restored by British craftsmen, but there are cutting-edge technological touches, too, like the ‘magic mirrors’ embedded with a chip that sense the clothes you are trying on, and become a screen to show that garment on the catwalk. The days when Burberry was a chav emblem now seem far away.

121 Regent St, W1B 4TB, www.uk.burberry.com McQ

And another flagship store opened in September: McQ , the ‘affordable’ end of the Alexander McQueen range. This one is a ‘boutique’ flagship store, however, which means a mere 3,000 sq ft over three floors of a Georgian townhouse. This, too, has come over all digital, with gesturecontrolled mirrors that allow you to photograph yourself in looks which you can then Tweet or Facebook to your friends. It’s a brilliant idea: if you can’t afford the clothes, you might as well get maximum fun from trying them on.

14 Dover St, W1S 4LW, www.alexandermcqueen. com Paul A. Young

Aida

The sort of place that would have to be in Shoreditch: a combination café, clothes shop and vintage beauty parlour for 1930s makeovers. There’s loads of space in which to chill, the clothes are well chosen indie labels with a vintage feel, and they are passionate about their coffee, for which they roast their own beans.

133 Shoreditch High St, E1 6JE, www. aidashoreditch.co.uk The Spontaneous Prose Store

This has to be the smallest, most pop-up shop in all of London. It consists of a stool, a woman called Kaile Glick, and a battered manual typewriter. You choose the subject, Kaile bashes out some beatnik prose on the spot. Last seen in Brick Lane, though there is no guarantee of where the former Torontonian will pop up next. www.thespontaneousprosestore.wordpress.com Did you know that if chocolate is really well-made and expensive, it’s actually good for you? That’s what we’re telling ourselves anyway, as we head to Paul A. Young’s new flagship shop on Wardour Street. The purple frontage is off-putting (they went for a luxury chocolate-box vibe, and ended up with estate-agent), but the chocs are hand-made in a vast basement kitchen that spans three shops. They won two golds and a silver at the International Chocolate Awards semi-finals in July; the finals are in National Chocolate Week, Oct 8-14.

143 Wardour St, W1F 8WA, www.paulayoung. co.uk

Made in Britain Market There was a time when Brits were too embarrassed to wave the flag, it was more nationalistic than patriotic. The Olympics have changed that: we’ve had Union Jack nail art, exhibitions on the best of British athletes, and now a Made in Britain market. The market has plenty of posh snacks from cheese to olives. With exhibitors like Sweet Tooth Factory and Outsider Tart, however, for us it’s all about the desserts, including macaroons, cheese cakes and brownies.

Central Saint Giles Piazza, 1 St Giles High Street, WC2H 8AG, Fridays 11am-6pm, Saturdays 11am-5pm, www.madeinbritainmarket.com

The Mission NEW LONDON

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Evans & Peel Detective Agency

This quirky venue inspired by Prohibitionera speakeasies adds a new meaning to a ‘quiet drink’. Make an appointment to visit, and speak into an intercom for access. The whole experience feels like you’re in a film noir: you’re led to a detective’s office, and then suddenly a bookshelf is pushed to reveal the bar. Immerse yourself in a world where beer is served through an old radiator and teacups replace cocktail glasses. Just don’t tell anyone.

310c Earl’s Court Road, SW5 9BA, www. evansandpeel.com Bubbledogs

Celebrating doesn’t have to break the bank.

If posh restaurants scare you and KFC’s not quite suitable for a toast, Bubbledogs gets the balance just right. The menu is simply champagne and hot dogs, and every dog will have its day: there are 13 different types to choose from, starting at £6.

70 Charlotte Street, W1T 4QG, www.bubbledogs. co.uk

FOOD & DRINK Alcoholic milkshakes

Milkshakes are too good to leave to kids. At the recently opened MeatMarket the sound of adults slurping on their alcoholic shakes can be heard. There’s everything from vanilla with rum to bourbon with maple syrup. Most hard shakes are served at the city’s retro hotspots. At All Star Lanes, try a rum and coconut or a Jack Daniel’s and mint. The American-inspired Ed’s Easy Diner in Soho, complete with jukeboxes, wins the price battle: for £5.15 you can get two servings of baileys or dark rum and chocolate. Perfect for sharing.

MeatMarket, The Deck, Jubilee Market Hall, Tavistock Street, WC2E 8BE, www. themeatmarket.com. All Star Lanes, Victoria House, Bloomsbury Place, WC1B 4DA, www. allstarlanes.co.uk. Ed’s Easy Diner, 12 Moor Street, Old Compton Street, W1D 5NG, www. edseasydiner.com

Rita’s Bar & Dining

Queues snake outside. The smell of barbecued food fills the air. This is a hipper and tastier version of Nando’s, Dalston’s new go-to destination. The margaritas are tasty, and prices are affordable: try the popular ox heart taco (£5).

33-35 Stoke Newington Road, N16 8BJ, www. ritasbaranddining.com Ping-pong bars

The Olympics clearly didn’t just inspire a generation of youngsters, but restaurateurs, too. Table-tennis player Dov Penzik and All Star Lanes co-founder Adam Breeden are opening a new ping-pong restaurant and bar called Bounce on September 29. With 17 tables, this is more high-end than what you’ll remember from your common room.

If you want the same concept but at a lower price, head to the recently opened Ping, or The Book Club.

121 Holborn, EC1N 2TD, www.bouncelondon. co.uk. 180-184 Earl’s Court Road, SW5 9QG, www.weloveping.com. 100-106 Leonard Street, EC2A4RH, www.wearetbc.com

Become a ninja

S

ince the dawn of cinema, a civil war has been conducted in mutters and tuts between those being annoying and those trying to watch a film. The magic of cinema can be reduced from ‘I’ll be back’ to ‘I’m just going to the loo’; from crisp dialogue to crispmunching. Enter the Prince Charles Cinema in Leicester Square, where a stupendous solution exists: an elite, anonymous task force, readying itself within the building, has been unleashed. The cinema ninjas have arrived and, for one day, I joined them.

Morphsuits, the makers of skin-tight body suits which entirely shroud the wearer, recently sent ninjas to clean up Clapham on the anniversary of the riots, and are now teaming up with the Prince Charles Cinema to deploy them into their screens. They lurk in anticipation of poor cinema etiquette, which can be anything from over-loud chat, to rustling packets or ringing telephones.

My rookie experience started inevitably: I put my suit on back to front, which explained why the crotch was so baggy (‘That’s where your bum goes, Neil’) and led to a spot of ninja dithering in the foyer, which somewhat spoilt our mystique. I was stationed with two slinky lady ninjas, Elizabeth and Katherine, both lifetime members of the cinema and experienced ninjas. They explained that anybody can join the task force which, considering you remain totally anonymous and get to watch a film, makes it a great way to spend an afternoon.

Katherine, 25, told me her greatest pet peeve was bright mobile-phone screens. We discussed whether or not, as punters, we would stick our neck out and tell off fellow customers for bad movie manners. We both said we would, but I’m sure there are many who seethe in silence.

During our afternoon mission, only good behaviour was observed and I never got to unleash my potent ninja powers. This may have been due to my foyer dither announcing our presence, but nevertheless it shows that the mere threat of a ninja has the desired effect: mission accomplished.

Neil Simpson www.morphsuits.co.uk

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The Mission NEW LONDON

NIGHTLIFE Rockaoke

Crash a wedding

‘A

re you with the bride or groom?’ This is not what a bouncer usually asks you as you enter a club. But as you descend into the unpretentious, tinsel-strewn basement of the Phoenix Pub near Oxford Street, it quickly becomes apparent that Four Weddings and a Disco is not your usual club night.

On this opening night in September, only a few people are dressed in bridal gowns or morning suits, but everyone’s getting into the wedding spirit. Or, more likely, spirits. One man carries his laughing girlfriend on to the dance floor, exactly as a groom might carry his bride over the threshold – if the groom was pissed and on the verge of dropping her on her arse. A happy hen-night shouts along to Heaven Is a Place On Earth, closely followed by the boys playing air guitar to Born To Run. Later, a conga line weaves across the dance floor to Kylie’s Do The Locomotion. Many London clubs are about dressing to impress, seeing and being seen. Here, embarrassing ‘dad-dancing’ is positively encouraged.

‘This is something I’ve been wanting to do for years,’ says Carl Hill, the young maverick behind the dress-up club nights Club de Fromage and Feeling Gloomy. ‘It’s hard for anyone to have a fight or take themselves too seriously when Dancing Queen is on.’

The fun’s not just in the music, but in the theming. A giant screen displays famous nuptials such as Prince Charles’ and Diana’s, Prince William’s and Kate’s, but once regulars start sending in their own wedding photos and videos these will take pride of place.

It has all the simple fun of a wedding do, with none of the inappropriate speeches and elderly drunken relatives. Carl swears that the more raucous hen nights, ‘like those Surbiton High Street rampages where they are physically attacking men to get their underpants’, will not be encouraged. But all the same, men-folk should beware: with those powerful wedding hormones flying around, they may find themselves living out a Bruno Mars song before they’ve fully sobered up.

Dominic Wells Four Weddings and a Disco, the Phoenix, W1G OPP, first Saturday of every month, 9.30pm, £5, www. fourweddingsandadisco.com

Standard karaoke can be as boring as watching Cheryl Cole mime – but Rockaoke, well, rocks. You play lead singer to a three-piece backing band, with 200 songs to choose from. Rockaoke has recently moved to a new venue, Mayfair’s Mahiki, on the last Friday of every month, and the crowd is waiting to cheer you on.

Go on, get your rocks off.

Various venues and dates, www.rockaoke.co.uk The Upfront Project

This new club night (below) is a shrine for electronica lovers. Launched in late July, it has already boasted names like Paul Woolford and Darling Farah, and the Fire & Lightbox Club, with its wall-to-wall LED lighting, provides it with a worthy venue.

Friday nights at the Fire & Lightbox, 6a South Lambeth Place, SW8 1SP, www.theupfrontproject. com The Hippodrome

The Hippodrome was once London’s greatest venue. It opened in 1900 as a circus space, with a 230ft aquatic tank. In the ’50s it was the nightclub Talk of the Town, where Judy Garland and Frank Sinatra sang, and it was even briefly taken over by Peter Stringfellow. Recently it opened as Britain’s largest casino and hosts live music.

This autumn’s line-up includes Gwyneth Herber, who uses instruments as varied as a ukulele and, er, children’s toys (Sep 25, 27, 29), and Cerys Matthews of Catatonia fame (Nov 21-24).

Cranbourn St, Leicester Sq, WC2H 7JH, www.hippodromecasino.com

Game shows

The good old-fashioned game show format has had a camp revamp. There’s Last Man Standing at the Concrete (Oct 11, Nov 14), a ‘true or false’ quiz show. Musical Bingo with Jess Indeedy (above) is at Drink, Shop, & Do in Ming’s Cross (Oct 18, Nov 22), and the Balham Bowls Club (Oct 5, Nov 9).

Jess also presents I Love Lists at Foyles (Oct 11, Nov 8). Cocktails are mixed with list-making and prizes are awarded for the best list. Let’s hope it’s not just a cuddly toy. www.concretespace.co.uk, www.musical-bingo.co.uk XOYO

Just two years after it opened, the two-floor Hoxton club and gig venue has been taken over and spruced up a treat. After a shut-down of a few weeks, XOYO reopened in mid-September with a killer new sound system and a variety of structural improvements. For anyone tired of the boozed-up crowds of the wild West End, it cements Shoreditch’s status as the beating heart of London’s nightlife.

32-37 Cowper St, EC2A 4AP, www.xoyo.co.uk Compiled by Kohinoor Sahota and Dominic Wells.

Additional research by Emily Newsome

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Style Study MOUSTACHES

GROWTH INDUSTRY

Wouldn't Britain be greater if every man sported a moustache? If the Movember movement has its way, they will. Neil Simpson explains why hirsute pursuits are on everyone’s lips

A

s we welcome ‘Movember’ into our lives and onto faces once more, we should remember when a moustache was for life, not just for a month in aid of charity.

During the Crimean War in the mid 1800s, the face ferret was king: the droopy ‘Walrus’ style was in vogue; the Austrian Emperor Franz Josef even merged his with side-whiskers. Before long, soldiers had spread the fashion homewards and the moustache became synonymous with a forthright, masculine style of dressing.

Various styles sprouted up all over, with the handlebar winning dominance in America in the 1890s.

There’s a good chance that if somebody says the words handlebar moustache now, you picture The Village People. What

caused this cultural shift from masculine to Macho, Macho Man? Enter Tom of Finland: obsessed with the muscular farmboys he encountered during a rural childhood, Tom countered the prevailing attitude that gay men were effete with prolific, explicit drawings of strapping young men who had found a remarkable way to pass the time together. All sported a chevron moustache, later adopted by Freddie Mercury.

By the 1980s, the moustache became increasingly linked with gay culture (the Parisian gay club Café Moustache opened in 1979, and still stands today); with the AIDS virus in the headlines, it attracted negative connotations. Onstage with Queen, Mercury roared to the crowds: ‘A lot of people hate it, but I don’t give a f*$k, actually. It’s my moustache and I’m

gonna keep it.’ The moustache had become a furry flag of gay defiance.

The straight world, however, dropped it like a hairy tarantula. The moustachioed Smokey and the Bandit legend Burt Reynolds, once one of Hollywood’s biggest stars, fell from grace. Tom Selleck’s once-feted face duster saw him consigned to sitcom hell.

And yet the lip sweater is a durable, versatile garment, and surely ripe for a comeback. Fashionistas agree, and the moustache has sprouted up all over the high street, even if not on faces: the moustache print has arrived. T-shirts, leggings, necklaces… it’s a ’tache torrent.

As a friend in the industry put it, ‘it’s so East London right now’. In my personal attempts at lip gardening I have managed

Style Study Moustaches

only to cultivate incongruous ginger prickles, so I’ll be off shopping.

A vehement and bloody battle (primarily fought with razors) rages over the ultimate moustache hero. Jon Chattman and Rich Tarantino, the authors of Sweet ’Stache: 50 Badass Mustaches [sic] and the Faces Who Sport Them, name The Big Lebowski star Sam Elliott. His superb handlebar version led to roles in many Westerns. A Hollywood legend with a more modest approach to facial hair was Charlie Chaplin, who favoured a small square mat at the entrance to his nostrils: an instantly recognisable, utterly iconic choice. After it was seemingly copied by a certain German leader, Chaplin’s riposte was to mimic him in turn in his film The Great Dictator.

The mouthbrow was even unleashed as a sporting weapon for the discerning Olympian: US swimmer Mark Spitz (seven-time Olympic champion) convinced the Russian swimming team at the 1972 Munich Olympics that he kept his because ‘it deflects water away from my mouth, allows my rear end to rise and makes me bullet-shaped in the water’. A year later, most of the Russian team sported a moustache. More recently such follicallycharged tactics have been applied to the moustache’s (twice removed) cousins the

sideburns, as seen on Bradley Wiggins. (At the time of going to press, studies into how sideburns aid cyclists were still in progress.)

There has long been a power to facial hair: according to St. Augustine, ‘The beard signifies the courageous… the grown men, the earnest, the active, the vigorous.’ You can’t argue with a Saint. Islam and Judaism also brandish beards for the masculine cause, whilst designer facial hair conveys the message with extra personality points (give Ludacris a call for tips).

Movember’s International Grooming Ambassador, Jim BBQ , sums up the cultural territory moustaches currently occupy: ‘The heart of a man’s health is his “mo”. Just like a Labrador, a luxurious moustache shows his good health and the great lover that he is.’

That may be overstating the case, but what is certain is that the moustache can also be a symbol of sheer fun: an annual Beard and Stache Festival in Seattle promises ‘30 days of hairy fun and festivities’. In 2007 Brighton had the honour of hosting the eighth annual Beard and Moustache Championships, which includes categories like Hungarian and Freestyle Moustache.

So for anyone thinking of going razor-free this Movember, remember that how you

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style it will say a lot about you: you can be as bohemian as Johnny Depp; as creative as Salvador Dali; as hunky as Tom Selleck; as fun as Charlie Chaplin. It’s time London got rid of its stiff upper lip, and grew something more suited to the urban jungle. Ω For information, see www.uk.movember.com

Which ’tache to choose?

The Pencil What it says: You’re a stylish dresser, great Samba dancer, and possible sex pest.

Made famous by: Film-maker John Waters The Chevron What it says: You either ride a Harley Davidson, or you’re gay. Most likely both.

Made famous by: Rock star Freddy Mercury The Toothbrush What it says: You are a petty, joyless egomaniac on a short fuse. Have fun

with that one.

Made famous by: Dictator Adolf Hitler The Handlebar What it says: You’re a hip Hoxton retronaut, who may like tying women to train tracks in your spare time.

Made famous by: Eugene Hütz of Gogol Bordello The Walrus What is says: You are sensual, earthy, single-minded, and a nightmare to be with when eating soup.

Made famous by: Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche

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Photo-story HALLOWEEN

Fright Night

Sinan Bozkurt

Halloween is not just for kids. Grab it by the ghoulies and have a night with a difference

Photo-story HALLOWEEN

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s s

Last Tuesday Society The Coronet, SE1 6TJ, & The Orphanage, WC2N 6AA, Oct 26 & 27, from £15 Not content with just one Halloween ball, the Last Tuesday Society are putting on two. Satan’s Rout is in the huge, multi-roomed Coronet in Elephant’s Castle, and includes chocolate fountains, a hot tub, 150 performers, and guests dressed to kill. The Masque of the Red Death is a smaller masked ball off The Strand and offers dance classes in waltzing, swing and pole an hour before the party starts.

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Photo-story halloween

s Rocky Horror Picture Show Prince Charles Cinema, WC2H 7BY, Oct 26, £15 Join the unconventional conventionalists celebrating the greatest cult movie of all time. The Sing-a-long-a shows at the Prince Charles are always riotous, with much of the audience dressed as their favourite characters, singing, doing the Time Warp and mimicking the action on-screen, but the fact that it’s at Halloween should make you shiver with antici… pation. So come on: don’t dream it; be it.

Photo-story HALLOWEEN

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s

Mark Hucks

Spook Season The Book Club, EC2A 4RH, & The Queen of Hoxton, EC2A 3JX, Oct 29-Oct 31 Ever dreamed of making your own movie? Well, in the School of Spooky Slapstick you can make your own silent horror flick. They’ll provide you with cameramen, props and a DVD for you to take home (Oct 29, 7.30-11pm, £20). If you loved Damien Hirst’s exhibition, DIY Taxidermy might just be for you: watch Charlie Tuesday Gates turn dead animals into art (Oct 30, from £10). Or get slaughtered on Halloween itself with the Bones and McGibbor’s Funeral Parlour where there’s a casket, Dead Portrait photo booth, edible hair and dry-ice cocktails (Oct 31, £5).

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Photo-story halloween

s Download Festival, June 8-10 Where? Donington Park, Leicestershire, £155 Who? Black Sabbath, Metallica, The Prodigy, Tenacious D, NoFX, Rise Against Why? The incredible costumes prove that heavy metal fandom is not all doom and gloom. This year is Download’s tenth anniversary, so it should be wilder than ever.

Bedtime Stories 40 Winks, E1 4UJ, Oct 10 & 11, from £30 Storytelling nights have popped up all around London and our favourite is Bedtime Stories. It has spruced up the art form with adult stories, but also the whole experience is more kinky than kiddy.

In an elegant Queen Anne townhouse on Mile End Road, you are served cocktails out of china cups, instructed to dress in pyjamas or a nightie, and told stories that are likely to make you blush – or, in the case of Halloween, and the Ghost Stories nights, have nightmares.

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Music ‘It falls to Tulisa to stand tall as the group’s reigning queen’

Dappy v. Tulisa

A year on from N-Dubz’ split, Laurence Green picks the winner Musical history is littered with examples of band members parting ways to release their respective solo efforts, in an effort to create a ‘sound’ more personal to them. Waters and Gilmour, Lennon and McCartney, Gallagher and Gallagher – they’ve all been there. And now Dappy and Tulisa. With N-Dubz leaving their label Def-Jam in August last year and Tulisa taking on her new role as X Factor judge, it always felt like just a matter of time before the rap trio’s leading protagonists put down their own stamp of independence and utilised their new-found freedom to release solo albums.

The honour of going first fell to Dappy. When he released No Regrets in September 2011, it felt like he was striking while the iron was hot – N-Dubz fans eager for new material in the wake of the news that their favourite group was no more lapped it up. No Regrets bristled with arrogance; from the carefree abandon of the title to the pomp of lyrics like ‘this is my King’s Speech’. It promptly went to Number One in the

UK charts and went on to sell over 300,000 copies. Dappy, the solo talent, had been born.

All the while, N-Dubz’ female component, Tulisa, had been courting success in her own way – charming X Factor viewers across the country with her straight-talking, no-nonsense attitude. Just like her predecessor Cheryl Cole, Tulisa underwent the vital transformation from street-styled starlet – all Juicy Couture tracksuits and the like – to a genuine fixture in the ‘hottest look’ pages of glossy magazines. It was perhaps the finale of the X Factor circus that saw her lay down her masterstroke, though, taking to the stage with her mentees Little Mix to cover Alicia Keys’ Empire State of Mind. A nation of people who’d probably never heard an N-Dubz record in their lives all thought: ‘Wow, she can actually really sing!’

A bucket-load of scandal and courtroom drama followed in the wake of a well-publicised sex-tape debacle. For Tulisa, ever the budding

show-woman, this seemed to play into her hands as she released her debut single – the Ibiza-ready club anthem Young – and, just like Dappy, rocketed straight to the top spot in the charts.

With Dappy and Tulisa’s albums both scheduled for release this autumn, who will prove the ultimate winner? Despite featuring a guest appearance from Queen’s Brian May, Rockstar, Dappy’s follow-up to No Regrets, was a bit of a let-down, while a subsequent viral video effort centred on lewd verbal attacks on X Factor contestants felt more like a crude grasp for attention than an artistic statement.

It falls to Tulisa to stand tall as the group’s reigning queen. The second single Live It Up sees her returning to her urban roots, and with the new series of The X Factor on our screens, for Miss Contostavlos, what we’ve seen already is really just the prelude to superstardom.

Dappy’s Bad Intentions is released on Oct 1; Tulisa’s Tulisa on Nov 26

Reviews MUSIC

The Video Brandy feat.

Chris Brown/Put It Down There’s one ‘hit’ Laurence Green finds it hard to forgive

When an artist collaborates with Chris Brown, what are they saying?

That they endorse a man who violentally assualted his former partner, Rihanna? Or perhaps more worrying, that they are actively choosing to ignore it and employ him as a promotional boost to their own efforts?

Many industry experts bleakly proclaim Brown’s continued success as one of the most successful PR campaigns in popular music – discussion of the incident seems to have been banned from interviews while Brown has gone on to new heights of success, including a Grammy award for Best R&B Album with a high-profile performance at the ceremony.

The video for his collaboration with has-been singer Brandy

(previously of Brandy & Monica The Boy Is Mine fame) is typical of commercially orientated guestfeatures such as this, with Brandy cavorting against a backdrop of brightly-coloured paint spatters and sitting around on the bonnets of supercars. And there’s Chris Brown, gold chain round his neck, dancing; without a care in the world.

Perhaps it’s just me, but I think whatever Brown’s talents might be as a star, whatever he might bring to the video, they are effectively voided by the ever-present knowledge of what he did. The situation brings to mind that of Ike Turner, who became synonymous with spousal abuse (his wife Tina Turner then went on to far greater fame than him), or the way in

which only Michael Jackson’s death silenced the rumours that detracted from his recording accomplishments.

You’d think that a song where Brandy boasts ‘play your cards right, maybe we could fall in love...’ would send a message of female empowerment. But, by allying herself with Brown, it seems to me that Brandy instead sends out a message horribly reminiscent of Rihanna’s own quotes about him earlier this year. Speaking to Esquire, Rihanna commented on a remix of her track Birthday Cake, on which Brown featured: ‘In my mind, it was just music.’ It was as if working with Brown could be separated from any personal sense of what he had done.

It’s important to remember that Brown actually pleaded guilty to assault, before being sentenced to five years on probation. Yet still his domination of the charts continues untempered, undimmed.

Is this justice? Forgiveness? Or simply indicative of the music industry’s focus on money, no matter the ethical concerns?

Jake Bugg Jake Bugg Release: Oct 15

Bat For Lashes The Haunted Man Release: Oct 15

Natasha Kahn, better known as the mystical Bat For Lashes, has caused a stir this year: the artwork for new album The Haunted Man depicts the singer and a man with no regard for personal boundaries, his body entirely draped across her shoulders and

torso. They are also both naked, hence the stir (above). Naturism aside, Bat For Lashes plays piano, bass, guitar and autoharp, has two Mercury Music Prize nominations and in July her single Laura was named Zane Lowe’s ‘Hottest Track in the World’. On top of all the nudity, talent and accolades, Bat For Lashes studied Visual Art, so expect an album that’s as eclectic as it is well-crafted. (NS)

Having appeared on Glastonbury’s BBC Introducing stage when he was only 17, Nottingham’s Jake Bugg has since appeared on Later... With Jools Holland and his songs have been used on a variety of TV adverts. His single Taste It is characteristic of the album, with gutsy bluegrass guitar licks underscoring vocals full of youthful abandon. From an English town to the sound of the American south, Jake’s album betrays an ambition and musical palate extending far beyond his scant years, and he’s all the better for it. (LG)

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The Gig That Changed My Life Elsie is bringing back Blondie-esque pop with a bang. Here she shares her memories of Amy Winehouse I was at Amy Winehouse’s last ever gig. It was just a few weeks before she died so tragically, and Amy was about to start getting back in the swing of gigging after a long time off. So she set up an incredibly intimate gig at London’s famous 100 Club. Luckily I’m friends with a couple of her band so I got the chance to join literally 50 people and see her on a stage from about four feet away. I was stood at the side and she came on saying hello to her dad and apologising to her school teacher aunt for swearing, she was really funny.

When she began to sing it was undeniable, it was like listening to an old record player. She sounded like a legend from a long, long time ago. There were times when her voice didn’t work, it cracked on notes, but she simply turned to the audience and asked if they had any honey in their handbags. She was a real character. What made it so memorable for me were the bits that she did get right. I know hundreds of people who can sing well but I’ve never heard a voice like that. It sounds like a cliché but there was just magic in it. I guess that’s what people felt when they went to watch Elvis, Aretha or Frank Sinatra.

As a singer myself, I wasn’t envious or jealous because her voice was so far out of reach from anything anyone else could do. I can’t see anyone ever topping that gig for me.

Elsie’s single London Town is out now, www.elsiemusic.com

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Reviews MUSIC

Devlin A Moving Picture Release: Oct 29

Laurence Green Music Editor

Dagenham-based Devlin created one of the UK’s best rap albums of recent years with his 2010 debut Bud, Sweat and Beers, which netted two Top 40 singles and a MOBO nomination, so the pressure is on for his follow-up.

Preceded by free mixtape The Director’s Cut, new album A Moving Picture sees Devlin collaborating with man-of-the-moment Ed Sheeran on Watchtower, a neat urban reorientation of the Bob Dylan classic.

Meanwhile Devlin and Sheeran feature in their very own gritty drama serial on the video. (LG)

Favourite new artist: I’m a big fan of Brightonbased newcomers Kovak.

They’ve been touted as the UK’s answer to the Scissor Sisters and their fizzy brand of synth-pop seems to have taken Radio 2 by storm!

Debut album on repeat: It’s been massively hyped, but Jessie Ware’s debut Devotion is well deserving – a remarkable talent.

Green Day Dos Release: Nov 12

Favourite music night: This Must Be Pop Live features top-notch acts on the up, and lots of catchy tunes.

A quality night out; and only £4 for advance tickets!

The ageing US punk-rockers return with potentially their most ambitious project to date: not one, not even two, but three brand-new studio albums in the space of four months; each named after a Spanish numeral.

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Taster single Oh Love hints at a band as bombastic as ever, though whether they can carry that quality over three hours’ worth of material remains to be seen. Those who prefer to leap around to the group’s older hits can catch the acclaimed American Idiot: The Musical at the Hammersmith Apollo from Dec 5. It’s like 2004 never ended. (LG)

Reviews MUSIC

Nightlife

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More Music

Shake Rattle & Bowl, every Sat at All Stars Lane, WC1B 4DA, free Going out dancing takes a turn for the retro with tunes ranging from Motown to Elvis Presley, plus bowling lanes and classic diner food and cocktails.

Calvin Harris 18 Months Release: Oct 29

If the past year belonged to anyone, it’s Calvin Harris. The Scottish synth-popper turned global producer has been everywhere, adding his touch to tracks from Rihanna and Cheryl Cole, Number One singles glittering about him like gold-dust.

His third studio album is a similarly star-studded affair, with guest stars including Ellie Goulding, Tinie Tempah, Kelis, Ne-Yo, Ayah and Example, while his single Sweet Nothing is a collaboration with Florence Welch. When it comes to having his finger on the pulse of club-ready sounds, Harris can seemingly do no wrong. (LG) Music previews by Laurence Green, Neil Simpson and Costas Sarkas

Cable, Fri-Sun, some weekdays, SE1 2EL, from £8 This banging underground club near London Bridge offers bass music on Fridays, We Fear Silence on Saturdays, and house from Jaded on Sunday. They also do student discounts, with free entry and drinks if you want to get involved in promotion.

WetYourSelf, every Sun at Fabric, EC1N 3HM, £5 in adv Whilst everyone gets ready for the working week, spend Sunday night throwing shapes at the powerhouse, Fabric, where the music goes on until 6am.

Bad Sex, every Thur at Proud Camden, NW1 8AH, from £5 Listen to Camden’s best unsigned acts, all introduced by drag queen Jodie Harsh.

Go before 10pm for free entry on the guest list or with an NUS card. DJs continue into the night.

Robyn

O2 Academy Brixton Nov 2

The former teen star has successfully reinvented her career, fully 15 years after she first found worldwide fame. Fresh from supporting Madonna and Coldplay, the Swedish pop dynamo now lands in Brixton as part of her own international tour.

Alt-J

Electric Ballroom Nov 5

Trailing good reviews for debut album An Awesome Wave and buzz from festivals including Latitude and T In the Park, Alt-J return to London. Their melodies emerge triumphant from heavy basslines and swirling acoustic guitars, pushing Alt-J further into XX greatness territory. Start practising your finger-triangle signs.

M83

O2 Academy Brixton Nov 8

Ellie Goulding Halcyon Release: Oct 8

British pop’s golden girl returns after massive success in the US with her long-awaited sophomore album.

Tinie Tempah collaborates on the soaring heights of standout track Hanging On, and the new album sees Goulding reaching for a more

polished, mature sound than the whimsical flights of fancy on her debut. Lead single Anything Could Happen is co-produced by Will Young and Kylie Minogue collaborator Jim Eliot, which is indicative of Goulding’s wider-reaching ambitions for the album. The track’s video was something of a group effort too, with fan-submitted photos coming together to reveal the song’s lyrics picture-by-picture. (LG)

Building on the buzz created by 2011’s Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming, French electronic band M83 return for their third and biggest gig of the year. The live show is a euphoric big bang of pink and green, twinkly fairy lights and eerily cinematic visuals.

Jessie Ware

Brixton Electric Nov 13

South Londoner Jessie Ware’s atmospheric, haunting brand of

synth-soul, best heard on standout track Running, has brought comparisons to Sade and Annie Lennox. Catch her while she’s hot.

Rizzle Kicks

O2 Academy Brixton Nov 16

Jordan ‘Rizzle’ Stephens and Harley ‘Sylvester’ Alexander-Sule (above) have come a long way since BRIT school, turning out platinum-selling debut album Stereo Typical and three Top 10 singles over the past 18 months. Their Brixton show promises the mix of credibility and youthful vigour that has seen them win a glut of celebrity fans.

Elbow

O2 Arena Dec 2

Fresh from the Olympic ceremony, Elbow’s uber-anthem One Day Like This from the triple-platinum-selling The Seldom Seen Kid LP chimes with the patriotic spirit, and promises a phenomenally moving experience live. We’ve heard that it’s even enough to make grown men cry.

Madness

O2 Arena Dec 14

It’s been quite the year for Madness: they’ve done high-profile performances at both the Olympics and the roof of Buckingham Palace. Their new tour marks 30 years since their first Number One single, House of Fun. The O2 Arena makes for a big ‘house’, but the fun comes guaranteed.

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Film

‘Not every exploration of this territory can muster immaculate pedigree’

Young at art

When will the coming-of-age story come of age? asks Neil Clarke Coming-of-age stories are a perennial format due to the universality of the experiences they encapsulate, and the desire of jaded grown-ups to recreate the heady feelings of first love, puberty, and sexual fumblings. Even the BFI’s recent decennial ‘greatest films’ rundown was peppered with illustrious examples from around the globe – Pather Panchali, The Spirit of the Beehive, Fanny and Alexander, Kes, even My Neighbour Totoro.

It’s unfortunate that not every attempted exploration of this territory can muster such immaculate pedigree, and The Perks of Being a Wallflower (Oct 3), despite deriving from decent-if-you’re-16 source material, is a case in point. It features exactly the sort of airbrushed world that no real teenager can possibly relate to, with reality supplanted by a twee, picturesque version of alienation and populated by pod-people teens who speak in platitudinous slogans. It’s as if they’ve ingested the self-help section of the campus library (‘We accept the love we think we deserve’; get bent.)

The same sort of idealised, unfeasible level of

attractiveness and slightly flat worthiness appears to afflict Walter Salles’ handling of hipper-thanthou Beat text On the Road (Oct 12, above).

Though it’s understandable how the director of The Motorcycle Diaries might seem a logical choice to helm the adaptation (they both involve roads, and the ’50s, you see), the presence of the slack-jawed homunculus Kristen Stewart in Kerouac’s magnum opus in no way bodes well.

Pitch Perfect (Dec 21) may only be a glossy, autotuned riff on the plot of Sister Act II – and any other films structured around talent competition rivalries that you care to mention – but it does have a sense of humour. Said humour may revolve around, say, rape whistles, but at least you know no one’s going to get all teary and say things like, ‘At this moment – we are infinite,’ in a grotesquely sincere way. Also, Kristen Stewart isn’t in it.

Capitalising on the purple patch brought about by the National Theatre’s all-conquering production of War Horse, Michael Morpurgo’s wartime love-triangle, Private Peaceful (Oct 12), has been adapted for the big screen starring Jack

O’Connell. By all accounts a relatively unsanitised story of war and fraternal rivalry, Private Peaceful will hopefully provide a little dramatic substance in a month whose cinematic output will see auditoriums across London a-slosh with burgeoning hormones.

In Ginger and Rosa (Oct 19), a new film by Sally Potter, director of Rage, Yes, and the sublime Orlando, we have a cause for major celebration.

Handling two girls coming to grips with life at the beginning of the uncertainty of the Cold War, this is a strong prospect. Having the redoubtable Mrs Warren Beatty, Annette Bening, on hand is never bad news.

Given the sad number of mainstream releases that dismally fail to satisfy the gender-biasdetermining Bechdel test (which amounts to quantifying how often two female characters talk to each other about something other than a man), let’s cross our fingers in hope that Potter will deliver a film which can authentically represent the experience of girls teetering between childhood and the adult world, perhaps the last frontier in mainstream cinema.

Reviews Film

The meaning of LFF

So many films, so little time. Neil Clarke picks the best of the fest

Well, well – it’s that time of year again: pay-dirt for film lovers.

There’s plenty of heavyweight offerings in the BFI London Film Festival’s 56th year, including early screenings of several titles previewed elsewhere in the Film section, such as Love, Ginger and Rosa, Argo, Beasts of the Southern Wild, and The Hunt. Gala-wise, a starry Mike Newell Great Expectations (with Helena Bonham-Carter on Miss Havisham duties) and Tim Burton’s feature-length version of his own animated short, Frankenweenie, may dominate headlines, but the meat is in the aforementioned Love/Amour; Ben ‘Kill List’ Wheatley’s black comedy, Sightseers; and the return of Cristian Mungiu (of 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days) with intense love story Beyond the Hills (above right).

In the Official Competition, too, there are strong names: Michael Winterbottom’s Everyday, a tale of a mother raising four children while their father is imprisoned; In the House, from Potiche director François Ozon; Rust and Bone, with Marion

Cotillard as a legless killer-whale trainer (natch). An adaptation of Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children (above left) is an enticing prospect, but it remains to be seen whether Seven Psychopaths, by Martin McDonagh, is a worthy successor to In Bruges.

Elsewhere, the new artistic director has divided the programme into strands such as ‘Love,’ ‘Dare,’ ‘Laugh,’ and ‘Debate’, rather than by region.

The wisdom of coercing films into such restrictive slots aside, hot picks include Iranian master Abbas Kiarostami’s Japan-set Like Someone in Love, and Carlos Reygadas’ difficult, experimental Post Tenebras Lux. Meanwhile, the queer angle (the quangle, yes) is covered in Keep the Lights On, a depiction of a bruising NYC relationship, and by 23-year-old wunderkind Xavier Dolan’s third film, Laurence Anyways, about a college professor’s sex-change.

Also worth checking out: Danish piracy-thriller A Hijacking; Kenyan sex-tourism in Ulrich Seidl’s

Paradise: Love; Brady Corbet’s sociopath unravelling in Simon Killer; Horses of God, a study of Moroccan suicide bombers; Isabelle Huppert visiting Korea in In Another Country, and taken hostage by Islamic separatists in Captive. Takashi Miike strikes again with For Love’s Sake, a ’60s pop-musical take on Romeo and Juliet, while Blancanieves, a melodramatic, silent adaptation of Snow White, sounds delicious. Best title goes to John Dies at the End, from the director of Bubba Ho-Tep. So, get booking. And if none of that appeals, there’s no hope for you.

The 56th BFI London Film Festival in partnership with American Express, Oct 10-21, www.bfi.org.uk/lff

Festivals Russian Film Festival, Nov TBA, Apollo Piccadilly Circus Intended to forge cultural ties between Russia and the English-speaking world – a task somewhat hindered by the Pussy Riot trial – the RFF is now in its sixth year.

The London Korean Film Festival, Nov 3-24, ICA Ranging from action-packed costume epic War of the Arrow, to the all-singing, all-dancing Sunny.

London Turkish Film Festival, Nov 22-Dec 6, various venues Seventeen years old, the LTFF disseminates Turkish cinema around London, from its Odeon West End gala opening to screenings at the Rio, Cine Lumiere, and Apollo.

London Underground Film Festival, Dec, Horse Hospital That's as in alternative, not as in Northern Line.

Skyfall Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem, Judi Dench, Ralph Fiennes Release: Oct 26

When a series of films operating within such strict parameters reaches 50 years on the big screen, it’s obviously doing something right – but, equally, you’ve got to query its continued relevance. There still seems to be a market for a suave aspiration figure who knobs and/or kills his way around exotic locales, but, really, aren’t we over this by now?

God knows things got pretty painful in the dog days of Brosnan (an invincible car? An albino

henchman with diamonds in his face? Madonna?), so the Casino Royale reboot didn’t come a moment too soon; when Batman becomes a bastion of unremitting realism, it’s no surprise 007 and his exploding trousers (or whatever) might be deemed in need of an overhaul.

Hiring Sam Mendes as director couldn’t be a more barefaced attempt to scrabble for credibility, but casting as the latest Bond villain Javier Bardem – who is

more anthropomorphised bull than man – is much more exciting. Let’s just hope that ‘not as execrable as Quantum of Solace’ doesn’t come to form Skyfall’s back-handed epitaph.

(NC)

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Rewind

A classic scene revisited Film: The Thing (1982) Director: John Carpenter

Charlie Higson, Fast Show veteran and writer of The Enemy series, on The Thing The Thing is about a group of scientists in an Arctic research station which gets contaminated: we realise it’s by an alien life form that can impersonate other creatures. One by one they get bumped off, and they all know that at any point one of the other scientists is The Thing – but they don’t know which one. It’s wonderfully paranoid.

There’s this particularly great scene where one scientist has a heart attack, and a doctor tries to revive him with a defibrillator. He thrusts the pads onto the guy’s chest, at which point it opens up like a giant mouth and bites off the doctor’s forearms. All hell breaks loose – and the guy’s head falls off, sprouts legs and scuttles across the floor.

The first time you see it this comes out of nowhere, it’s a real shock, so over the top it makes you scream, and then makes you laugh. I’ve written comedy and I’ve written horror, and you realise that need is exactly the same. In both of them you manipulate the audience, you set up the situation, you lead them up a blind alley, make them think one thing is going to happen, then bang! You get a scream. Or a laugh. Or both.

Actually, the book I’m writing now in The Enemy series is inspired by The Thing, that idea of something getting inside you, of bodies being twisted. The series was originally intended as a trilogy, now it’s seven books – and there’s a limit to what you can do with zombies!

The Sacrifice is out now from Puffin. View Charlie Higson’s trailer at tinyurl.com/8g6ekwp

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Reviews FILM

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Neil Clarke, Film Editor Best new talent in film: Portuguese director Miguel Gomes continues to make a name for himself; Tabu, his third film, looks sublime.

New movie I can’t wait to see: Sightseers, Ben Wheatley’s coal-black follow-up to Kill List, with Alice Lowe from Radio 4’s demented and inspired Alice’s Wunderland (‘The Poundland of magical realms’).

Best debut performance ever: Orson Welles in Citizen Kane. As well as acting he co-wrote, produced and directed what was one of the greatest movies ever. He was 26 years old.

The Tempest Zephryn Taite, Paris Campbell Release: Oct 26

Courtesy of the London riots – footage of which features in the trailer to this documentary about rehearsals for a South London youth production of The Tempest – we’re going to be inundated with explorations of underprivileged, alienated youth. While it could be seen as crass to present Shakespeare as a way to tackle social ills, there’s something gloriously audacious about exploring contemporary youth culture through the prism of a 400-year-old play, with the young actors’ stories shown alongside that of Shakespeare’s characters. (NC)

Pusher Richard Coyle Release: Oct 12

Beasts of the Southern Wild Quvenzhané Wallis Release: Oct 19

Big at Sundance and Cannes, and with whisperings of a possible best-actor Oscar nod for nine-yearold Quvenzhané Wallis, this micro-budget bayou fairytale has the potential to reach a far greater audience than its artists-collective production team could have forseen.

The story of an intrepid little girl battling a shake-up of the natural order in her Deep South hometown (director Benh Zeitlin sees parallels with the self-sufficiency he saw after Katrina and the BP disaster), Beasts of the Southern Wild is a mesmeric arthouse kids’ fantasy, perhaps comparable to Spike Jonze’s paradoxically realist take on Where the Wild Things Are. (NC)

If you’re going to cash in on the success of Drive by remaking Nicolas Winding Refn’s 1996 Danish break-out, why cast a lead actor best known for the lightentertainment sitcom Coupling? Any buzz liable to be generated – presumably among people allergic to subtitles – is surely going to be immediately mitigated by a shedload of reservations.

Throw in Paul Kaye, a model turned actress in the shape of Agyness Deyn, a bunch of Mockney accents and a soundtrack

by Orbital, and it’s as if we’re timewarping back into the ’90s.

That said, it doesn’t look as lousy or with the same gimmicky editing as much sub-Ritchie underbelly-ofthe-city pablum. (NC)

Reviews Film

Hit So Hard Patty Schemel, Courtney Love

More Film Call Me Kuchu Release: Nov 2

Release: Nov 16

After spending my teenage years locked in my box of a bedroom screaming the lyrics to Hole’s Violet, there’s a certain nostalgia to this documentary about the life and near-death of the band’s drummer Patty Schemel.

A good friend of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain before he even married Courtney Love, Schemel found fame, drugs and grunge hedonism when she joined Love’s band Hole in the early ’90s, only to crash and burn in a whirlwind of snares and syringes.

This is the second music documentary in as many months (after Searching For Sugarman) to chronicle the trajectory of a musician from heady highs to dark lows, through to eventual triumph and salvation. The biggest draw here is all the backstage material shot by Schemel herself during Hole’s mid-’90s heyday. (CS)

During the filming of this documentary about the struggle against Uganda’s monstrous anti-homosexuality bill, David Kato, the country’s first openly gay man, was murdered in his home. A timely call to arms against inhuman and repressive legislation.

The Hobbit Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Andy Serkis Release: Dec 14

With the announcement that the planned two-part adaptation of The Hobbit has been bumped up to a trilogy, it appears Peter Jackson is eschewing a straight adaptation of a, let’s face it, quite lightweight story that prequels The Lord of the Rings to create a new franchise.

Whatever you think of Tolkien’s Middle Earth, there’s no denying

The Master Joaquin Phoenix, Philip Seymour Hoffman Release: Nov 2

Paul Thomas Anderson’s five-year absence since There Will Be Blood ends with The Master, which is being talked about as an early Oscar contender after premiering at this year’s Venice Film Festival, and has broken art-house records in the US. Gloriously shot in eye-popping 70mm, this is the enigmatic tale of soft-spoken intellectual Lancaster Dodd (Philip Seymour Hoffman) who returns to the US after WWII to found his own religion, called The Cause: a story inspired by the founding of Scientology. Joaquin Phoenix’s character is the aimless drifter enlisted and mentored by Dodd. (CS)

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Love Bite

Release: Oct 12

Frankenweenie Release: Oct 17

Twilight: Breaking Dawn 2 Release: Nov 16

Horror-comedy is tough to get right. Evil Dead II, Shaun of the Dead and Severance nailed it, but most fall between the two stools. In Love Bite, a bunch of teens in a faded British seaside resort discover that a

the commitment and integrity Jackson brings. It’s almost certainly a mercy that Guillermo del Toro didn’t get his hands on the series, as his more stylised and baroque style might have negated the emotional honesty and relative realism Jackson injects into the fantasy genre.

If you lean toward the more Machiavellian, sex-and-violence, Game of Thrones end of the fantasy spectrum, the bucolic trailer may bode ill, but you might as well get used to it: there’ll be no getting away from Bilbo Baggins, sweeping shots of New Zealand filmed from helicopters, and people saying, ‘Preesssciousss’ until 2014. (NC) werewolf is preying on virgin flesh – so they have to lose their virginity sharpish. Performances seem decent, the humour nicely deadpan; could end up better than it sounds.

Tim Burton, of course, does horror comedy better than most.

And given that most studios would gladly greenlight £40m to shoot Burton’s laundry list if Johnny Depp were starring as two odd socks, it should be no surprise that Disney has dusted off his animated short, Frankenweenie, from way back in 1984, and stretched it into a feature (left). But they’re out of luck: Depp’s not in the cast, nor Burton’s missus, Helena Bonham-Carter, though Winona Ryder is back for her third Burton outing.

And finally, a film with vampires and werewolves that’s neither horror nor comedy, except off-screen: Breaking Dawn 2. If you’re a fan of the first four Twilights, you’ll be ticking the days off on your R-Patz calendar, and nothing we can say will stop you. (DW) Film reviews by Neil Clarke, Costas Sarkas and Dominic Wells

Argo Release: Nov 7

Ben Affleck follows up solid directorial efforts Gone Baby Gone and The Town with this strange but true tale of CIA specialists who, in 1979, planned to smuggle US citizens out of Tehran by pretending to be members of a Hollywood film crew scouting for locations.

Son of Sardaar Release: Nov 13

Ajay Devgn, who stars in and produced the film, has had to deny that Son of Sardaar ridicules Sikhs. It doesn’t help that the turbaned Rajveer is a hapless brute: dancing his pecs, falling out of a train, and hitting someone so hard with a bucket it leaves an imprint of their face. Sing Is King, another Bollywood film, courted similar complaints in 2010 but was still successful, so the controversy shouldn’t hurt.

Love Release: Nov 16

The astonishing White Ribbon suggested a maturation of Michael Haneke’s filmmaking. In exploring the trials of love between an elderly couple, Love (Amour), another Palme d’Or recipient, suggests a balance between the increased poignancy of his approach against a still formidably bleak approach to life.

Life of Pi Release: Dec 21

Belated adaptation of Yann Martel’s tricksy 2001 tiger-in-alifeboat fable, directed by Ang Lee after Alfonso Cuarón, Jean-Pierre Jeunet and (thankfully) M. Night Shyamalan left the project. Looks saccharine and CGI-happy, with an oddly unreal aesthetic on which it could stand or fall.

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Stage

‘Theatre audiences are overwhelmingly middle-class, middle-aged and white’

Theatre’s dark side There are more ethnic minority actors; now what about the audience? asks Sariel Heseltine The struggle for racial equality has come a long way since Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the Montgomery bus, but in the case of theatre it sometimes seems that art lags behind life.

Despite the Arts Council’s stated commitment to equality and diversity, which they say is necessary to ‘sustain, refresh, replenish and release the true potential of England’s artistic talent’, it’s not long ago that the only classic parts open to black actors were ones laden with negative racial connotations such as Caliban or Othello. And not long before that that even those parts were nabbed by white actors. We didn’t get a black actor playing a Shakespearean king until 2008 – David Oyelowo, in Michael Boyd’s Henry VI for the RSC. So it’s particularly heartening to see Iqbal Khan’s all-Asian Much Ado About Nothing [see also Backstage, right] being staged by the RSC at the Noel Coward Theatre on September 22.

In modern theatre, the Young Vic are doing

their bit with Nathaniel Martello-White’s Blackta, a biting satire which traces the difficulties faced by ethnic minority actors. The play takes the form of ‘the world’s most unusual talent contest’, in which everyone is seeking to outdo each other for fame, recognition, or just a foot in the door. Blackta moves beyond The X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent, going backstage to explore the hopes, fears, loves and losses of non-white contestants.

At the Tricycle Theatre, Indhu Rubasingham has been appointed artistic director and has opened her new season with plays focusing on the interaction between different cultures. Red Velvet, directed by Rubasingham, is based on the true story of Ira Aldridge, an African-American who emigrated to England in order to escape the persistent discrimination faced by black actors in America. It’s 1833 and in the streets outside the theatre the crowds are rioting; the Abolition of Slavery act has just been passed.

The revolution extends to inside the Royal Court where Edmund Kean, the greatest actor

of his generation, has just collapsed – leaving Aldridge, played by Adrian Lester, to step in.

Rubasingham believes that theatre has the power to change the way we think, but to do so it has to connect with people, especially those on its own doorstep. London is one of the world’s most ethnically diverse cities, yet theatre audiences are overwhelmingly middle-class, middle-aged and white. So, the Tricycle hopes to appeal to a new audience by drawing on its local community.

With plenty on offer this autumn, it’s time for life to imitate art and for more to be done about attracting a diverse audience, and not just diverse shows.

Blackta plays at the Young Vic Oct 26-Nov 17, www. youngvic.org, SE1 8LZ. Red Velvet plays at the Tricycle Theatre Oct 11-Nov 24, www.tricycletheatre.co.uk, NW6 7JR. Much Ado About Nothing is at the Noel Coward Theatre, WC2N 4AU, Sep 24-Oct 27, from £12.50. www.delfontmackintosh.co.uk

Reviews stage

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Fairy peculiar Sariel Heseltine on why Christmas shows aren’t just for kids

The theatre world have announced their Christmas shows and the long wind-up to the day has already begun. It’s quite natural to feel an aversion to shows famed for their tackiness and aimed at sproglets.

But fear not, a quiet revolution is taking place: grown-ups are reclaiming our most treasured stories from these pint-sized tyrants.

Matthew Bourne’s Sleeping Beauty completes his trio of Tchaikovsky’s ballet masterworks and promises to be darker than any previous incarnation. It features a struggle between the forces of good and evil set in the fin de siècle, the era which gave birth to Gothicism, when imaginations fed voraciously on stories of faeries, vampires and ghosts. With the inclusion of new and nefarious characters such as the sinister yet charming Caradoc, son of the Dark Fairy Carabosse,

it’s sure to appeal to the darker nature in all of us. Carol Ann Duffy has also caught the fairy tale bug.

Her first collaboration for dance, with Liv Lorent, is inspired by the darker themes of Rapunzel, and tours before arriving in London in March.

The Republic of Happiness is set against the backdrop of a family Christmas, interrupted by Uncle Bob with an outrageous message – and his wife left strangely in the car.

I doubt that this violent satire will leave you with the same warm and tingly feeling as A Christmas Carol.

It’s unnerving in the same way Christmas dinner can be, where seating plans are as inescapable as Brussels sprouts and you are told in advance what not to discuss.

The shift is happening in circus, too. Scottee’s CircusFest show Camp is being repurposed as

Backstage:

Why is Much Ado About Nothing set in India?

The RSC is running its World Shakespeare Festival and we wanted it to take a look at our own multicultural society. We found that contemporary India with its honour culture, arranged marriages and its hierarchical society was a very useful metaphor for the play.

Tom Piper, RSC

While reading Biology at Cambridge, Tom Piper designed a set for his friend Sam Mendes (now the latest James Bond director) and realised that a re-evaluation was in order. Tom is the Associate Designer to the Royal Shakespeare Company, and worked on their new all-Indian Much Ado About Nothing.

What got you into set design?

I always enjoyed building stuff, but it was a History of Philosophy course that changed my mind.

Theatre has a transforming and enlightening power, and the speed at which that can be realised is far greater than what it takes for a scientific theory to be accredited.

What is the purpose of a set?

I guess it’s to create the world of the play. I tend to create spaces which engage with the audience’s imagination. Having fewer things telling people what to think allows them to do some of the work.

How do you take a play from script to stage?

I start by reading the script to get an understanding of it, working out who’s in what scene and doing

Camp (as Christmas), a cabaret spectacular of Christmas TV rip-offs and limp-wristedness (above right). And then there’s Circus (above), in a Covent Garden site that once housed the Royal Opera’s elephants and is now a cocktailcabaret bar/restaurant where acrobats descend from the ceiling, back-flipping on tables. Oh, go on.

Who will the play appeal to?

Obviously the RSC is keen for it to appeal to as broad an audience as possible, and certainly a young Asian audience would be great. drawings. I try not to storyboard too much, it’s a collaborative process and in rehearsal ideas often come up.

What do you do before a show?

Once the show is on I disappear.

The production managers take over the responsibility for keeping the set operational.

What kind of relationship do you have with a director?

It can really depend on what director you’re working with.

Sometimes you respond to their ideas and at others you both arrive together, but creatively I don’t like working with people who have a fixed idea, because it effectively makes me an interior designer.

And why should we watch it?

It transports you to another world.

I have tried to recreate what I experienced when I went to Delhi, this feeling of layeredness – the modern piled on top of the old, with cables everywhere. I’ve tried to use moments in India where you turn a corner and suddenly you’re in a little courtyard away from the chaos, and there is a moment of stillness and focus. There is a progression in the play from a world of phones, sunglasses and crappy T-shirts to something more mythical, more beautiful.

Much Ado About Nothing is at the Noel Coward Theatre, WC2N 4AU, Sep 24-Oct 27, from £12.50. www. delfontmackintosh.co.uk Interview: Sariel Heseltine

Sleeping Beauty is at Sadler’s Wells, Dec 4-Jan 26, www.sadlerswells.com, EC1R 4TN. The Republic of Happiness is at The Royal Court, Dec 6-Jan 19, www. royalcourttheatre.com, SW1W 8AS. Camp (as Christmas) is at the Roundhouse Dec 13-22, www. roundhouse.org.uk, NW1 8EH. Circus is at 27-29 Endell Street Covent Garden, www.circus-london.co.uk, WC2H 9BA.

Comedy The 99 Club, Storm, 28a Leicester Square, Tues-Sun, from £8 Winner of the Chortle Awards for best London club in 2011 and 2012, the 99 Club has a riotous mix of rising and established stars. After the show, you can stay to dance in the low-ceilinged club.

Shappi Khorsandi, Dirty Looks and Hopscotch, Soho Theatre, Oct 16-Nov 4, from £10 Shappi is an Iranian-born British comedian, but unlike another famous Iranian ‘Compare the market’ comedian, her race isn’t the butt of her jokes. Instead the gags come from her recent relationship with an ageing rock star.

Andi Oshi, All The Single Ladies, Bloomsbury Theatre, Oct 27, from £13 Andi’s second show looks at the highs and lows of trying to find The One. Don’t be put off by the title, boys, at the end of each night she dates an audience member.

Michael McIntyre, Wembley, Nov 28-Dec 3, £35 The gags come as often as the hair fIops. The likeable comedian brings his 58-date tour to Wembley.

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Reviews STAGE

The River

Jerwood Upstairs Theatre at the Royal Court, SW1W 8AS, Oct 18-Nov 17, £20 (£10 Mondays). www. royalcourttheatre.com

Sariel Heseltine, Stage Editor Best new playwright: Freddy Syborn, I saw his work in Edinburgh. He’s still rough around the edges, but he has a strong voice and isn’t afraid to tackle difficult topics in a less than orthodox manner. And of course Ella Hickson (p10).

Must-see new play: Much Ado About Nothing, it sounds awesome (see Backstage).

Top Fringe show coming to London: There was a lot at the Fringe and not much sleep so it would be unfair to choose a best, but Strong Arm was pretty good.

Jez Butterworth’s new play The River has already made ripples due to the Royal Court’s decision not to sell any advance tickets. In the interest of fairness, tickets will be on sale on the day of performance, with virtual and real box offices opening at 9am and 10am respectively.

It’s a brave move, but they can be pretty sure of success, even though there is little information to go on aside from the tagline ‘A remote cabin on the cliffs, a man and a woman, and a moonless night’. For one thing, it should sell on Butterworth’s name alone. His first play, Mojo, garnered five awards, including the Evening Standard’s Most Promising Playwright; his most recent, Jerusalem, stormed both sides of the Atlantic, winning Olivier and Tony Awards. For another, Ian Rickson, who directed both, is back on The River, with a youthful and more than competent cast of

Dominic West, Miranda Raison and Laura Donnelly. And finally, the intimate theatre has only 85 seats!

If you can’t get in, next up is Hero (Nov 23-Dec 22), which is about a gay primary school teacher who desires to tell his students his sexuality. It’s by a recent graduate of the Royal Court’s Young Writer’s Programme, EV Crowe.

Twelfth Night

Shakespeare’s Globe, Sep 22-Oct 14, from £15, and Apollo Theatre, Nov 2-Feb 3, W1D 7EZ, from £32. www. apollotheatrelondon.co.uk

The Globe’s 2002 celebrated all-male-cast production (above right) of one of Shakespeare’s best-loved comedies returns with the Olivieraward-winning Mark Rylance back as Olivia and Liam Brennan and Peter Hamilton as Orsino and Feste.

As an added bonus, Stephen Fry makes his first return to the stage since he sensationally fled the West End for Belgium in mid-production 19 years ago, contemplating suicide after a negative review. Neither he nor the critics can surely take issue with his perfectly cast role as the

pompous and ultimately unfortunate, deceived Malvolio.

Originally written to accommodate the fracas of a riotous Christmas audience, this story of mistaken identity, same-sex attraction, deception, and unrequited love is still so popular that the Globe production is sold out, though you can queue on the day for returns. Failing the acquisition of a highly prized Globe ticket, Twelfth Night transfers to the Apollo Theatre in November, running in repertory with Richard III, where they hope to recreate the Shakespearean feel of the Globe with stage seating. So if you’ve always wanted to be on stage in the West End, here’s your chance.

Battersea Arts Centre Tue 20 Nov – Sat 1 Dec 2012 Tickets: £17, £13 concs Box office: 020 7223 2223 www.bac.org.uk

DESIGN: THE CAFETERIA / PHOTO: HUGO GLENDINNING

The book advert.indd 1

forcedentertainment.

14/09/2012 16:52:36

Reviews STAGE

Uncle Vanya

Win tickets

Vaudeville Theatre, WC2R 0NH, Oct 24-Feb 16, from £25. www.nimaxtheatres. com

This often comic and tragic story of unreturned love, things better left unsaid, and things that should have been said takes place within the household of Uncle Vanya, who manages the country estate through which his late sister’s husband supports his lavish urban lifestyle.

Vanya and his old friend the village doctor are bored to death with provincial life, but their lives are turned upside down when the owner visits, bringing his beautiful, much younger wife, and a fateful announcement.

Vaudeville Theatre’s revival of one of Chekhov’s most popular plays is produced by the team behind the very successful A Long Day’s Journey into Night and All My Sons, in a translation by Christopher Hampton. Ken Stott (soon to be seen in The Hobbit), Anna Friel and Samuel West are the talented actors sent into the depths of despair in a love triangle with no exit.

Jonzi D – Lyrikal Fearta – Redux

Lilian Baylis Studio Sadler’s Wells, EC1R 4TN, 0ct 18-20, £15. www.sadlerswells.com,

This is likely to be an exhilarating, eye-opening and thought-provoking tour de force through the backcatalogue of one of the forerunners of British hip-hop, a man voted by MOBO as one of the top ten positive black musical role models, and now a Sadler’s Wells Associate Artist. Lyrikal Fearta seeks to engage debate on many issues that affect London’s inner-city youth, using a blend of hip-hop dance, rap, physical theatre, spoken word and poetry.

Stage previews by Sariel Heseltine

More Stage Akram Khan – DESH Sadler’s Wells Oct 2-9

Assisted by visual artist Tim Yip (production designer for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), Khan revives his solo Olivier award-winning dance production DESH. Meaning ‘homeland’ in Bengali, it is the story of a man astride two worlds searching for his identity.

People Lyttleton, National Theatre Nov 1-Feb 9

Alan Bennett collaborates once again with artistic director Nicholas Hytner, and with actress Frances de la Tour, on a new play in which a woman with a house full of clutter and an aversion to people wonders whether an attic sale could solve her problems.

The Effect National Theatre Nov 6-Feb 23

This new work from the writer of Enron, Lucy Prebble, is billed as a clinical romance that is both moving and humorous as it

explores neurology and asks what sanity really means.

The Coming Storm Battersea Arts Centre Nov 20-Dec 1

Forced Entertainment have been joyously disrupting theatre for nearly 30 years now, but still appeal to a young crowd. Their latest show will switch absurdly from love and death to sex and laundry, from shipwrecks to snow.

The Architects – Shunt Collective The Biscuit Factory Nov 27-Jan 6

A collective of artists use the story of the Minotaur as inspiration for a labyrinthine promenade performance in the custard halls of an old biscuit factory.

The Shawl Young Vic Dec 5-15

Is Charles a gifted psychic or a conman? David Mamet’s play is directed by the 2012 Genesis Future Award winner Ben Kidd.

Harold Pinter Theatre 17 September for 16 weeks

Making his West End theatre debut, Rob Brydon stars alongside Nigel Harman (Shrek, EastEnders) and Ashley Jensen (Extras, Ugly Betty) in Alan Ayckbourn’s riotous comedy A Chorus of Disapproval, directed by Olivier and Tony awardwinner Trevor Nunn.

To book tickets call the box office on 0844 871 7622 or visit achorusofdisapproval.com.

To enter, email your name and number before November 18 to: offers@thebookmag.com T&C: Prize is a pair of tickets valid for Monday-Thursday performances until 20 December 2012, subject to availability. There is no cash alternative to the prizes, they are non-refundable and non-transferable and not for resale.

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Art

The space race

Faye Robson steps into Tate Modern’s latest space I had been primed to expect – from Tate Modern’s coolly elegant marketing campaign – something quite different at The Tanks, the gallery’s newly opened space dedicated to participatory and live artworks. I had begun to believe that beneath the Southbank, in an underground architectural echo of its imposing and brutal facade, was lurking a dark, phantasmal space, haunted by its former industrial life (these vaults were once the oil storage tanks of Bankside Power Station) and enlivened only by the flickering artworks one searched its recesses to find. What you actually encounter, on entering this massive subterranean space, is a slightly more familiar experience.

The architecture is undoubtedly bold but the lighting is bright, and Tate branding and interpretative materials are cheerily in evidence.

It is only on entering the curated spaces – two galleries containing works from Tate’s own collection and one vast space containing a new commission by Sung Hwan Kim – that you begin to feel more truly immersed. But then this is rather the point. Tate have opened The Tanks in an

effort to engage with some of the most challenging and radical art of the last 60 years – films, installations, performances and live actions, which privilege the value of the ever-changing present and take their shape in and through human intervention and participation.

The Tanks investigate how these works – by their nature impermanent and mutable – can be presented in the traditional gallery environment, if indeed they can. Yes, the space is pretty cool, but it’s the art that is really meant to take you places.

presented next door in slightly more static fashion, as a quilt, video, film documentary and sound installation. Documenting the three-year Whisper Minnesota Project, in which Lacy explored society’s responses to older women, this work engages the viewer more cerebrally with the political and performance-based strands in contemporary art since the 1970s.

As part of an inaugural 15-week festival, The Tanks are also hosting a series of performances and live events, extending into October, which will transform the space, and (the curators hope) your definition of what art can be.

The events will range from Aldo Tambellini’s experimental films and media environments in Retracing Black (Oct 9-14), through Juan Downey’s installation Plato Now in which the audience watch nine performers as they meditate, their backs turned to the viewers while their faces are simultaneously shown on video screens, all the way through to Performance Year Zero, a two-day series of performances, talks and screenings exploring the history of dance and performance art through seminal and more recent works. In short, more art than you can shake a participatory stick at.

‘Tanks will transform your definition of what art can be’

So it is that, on entering Lis Rhode’s Light Music film installation, you almost forget where you are altogether. Suspended in a darkened, foggy room, you pass between two bright projectors, casting your shadow against two walls simultaneously, as you seem to ‘enter’ the abstract film work being projected. All the time, a subtle and haunting soundtrack is generated (complicatedly) by the film running through the projectors. The artwork is never the same twice. Suzanne Lacy’s The Crystal Quilt is

Reviews ART

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In the studio: Paul Benney

Paul Benney’s exhibit of otherworldly Night Paintings is at the atmospheric, underground ‘Deadhouse’ space at Somerset House, where Benney is artist-inresidence. We spoke to the artist about his influences and his ‘poetic’ work.

How did this exhibition come about?

It was suggested at the start of my time at Somerset House that there

would be an opportunity to exhibit the work done whilst resident artist.

The Deadhouse was my idea, as I was interested to see how my work would resonate in such a space.

countless other painters before me, portrait work has also enabled me to keep afloat financially and fund work like Night Paintings that is often of an experimental nature.

Night Paintings are far more mysterious, abstract and universalising than the portraits for which you are known. How did they start?

My portraits are a bit like a writer’s prose – it tends to be about the real world and will, even if fantasy, be written in a realistic manner. My Night Paintings are, for want of a better word, more like poetry, in that they spring from the unconscious and, like poetry, can seemingly be abstract or unrealistic.

There are a lot of references to film and photography in Night Paintings – are there particular twentieth-century practitioners in these media who influence you?

I suppose the most consistent twentieth-century influence on me has to be Andrei Tarkovsky. Not just his cinematic work, but his poetry and brilliant writing on the nature of creativity.

How do these paintings and the portraiture relate to each other? Are they related or do they demand completely different working habits?

The portraits involve a rigorous discipline that my personal work has benefited from. As with

Fair shares Faye Robson on buying your first masterpiece

It’s that time of year again, when the great and good of the art world descend on a small patch of Regent’s Park to decide what’s big in contemporary art and exactly how much it should cost. But, although Frieze Art Fair is now ten years old, the team behind it aren’t resting on their laurels, with two new sister fairs this year – Frieze

Art Fair New York and Frieze Masters – and a stated aim to ‘make London the focus for the whole art world’.

The separate, and prescient (Olympics, anyone?), launch of Frieze Projects East earlier in 2012, which saw four new public art projects commissioned for eastern boroughs of the city, kicked off

Describe your studio in less than five words.

A place of redemption.

Night Paintings, Somerset House, WC2R 1LA, Oct 4-Dec 9. Free. www.somersethouse.org.uk

Faye Robson, Art Editor New artist to watch: Jackson Lam is part designer, part curator, part artist and all-round nice chap. Look out for his work with Serpentine Gallery’s Edgware Road Project.

Favourite new art space: I love the newly refurbed Photographers’ Gallery, and The Tanks.

Favourite new public art: Not quite ‘public’, but you can see it from the outside of the Hayward Gallery, Sun Yuan and Peng Yu’s Freedom on the Hayward outdoor terrace is spectacular.

Interview: Faye Robson the Frieze campaign for global supremacy with supreme confidence.

Last year, The Book bemoaned the high price of attending Frieze, and it’s true that tickets aren’t cheap. Day entry costs £27 to the main fair alone, and a guided tour will set you back another £14. A weekend ticket to the Affordable Art Fair, by contrast, is half the price. International street art festival, the Moniker Art Fair, meanwhile, is free, as is the ever-energetic London Art Book Fair at Whitechapel Gallery (where you’re as likely to pick up a print or special edition as a book or magazine).

So, where to spend your hard-earned pennies? If you’re genuinely interested in starting your own art collection, you could do a lot worse than the Affordable Art Fair, where works range from £40 to £4,000 and talks are being held to guide you through selecting and buying your first masterpiece. This year, a Recent Graduates Exhibition also showcases new work by 20 ‘hand-picked’ new talents.

This year’s Moniker promises an ‘Experiential Edition’, bringing the recent

fashion for all things performative and participatory (see The Tanks, opposite) to street art fans.

This is a big theme at Frieze also, where the Emdash commission for a non-UK artist to produce new work has gone to Cecile B. Evans, whose holographic host will guide you through the fair. In the Frieze Projects series, similarly, Ash Cavusoglu is presenting a performance-slash-investigation into the exhibition as crime scene, and a food-focused series

by Grizedale Arts and Yangjiang Group features new commissions from Welsh prankster Bedwyr Williams and performance icon William Pope L. Which fair to frequent? My money (and everyone else’s, apparently) is still on Frieze.

Frieze: Regent’s Park, Oct 11-14, www.friezefoundation.org. Moniker Art Fair: Village Underground, Oct 11-14, www.monikerartfair.com.

Affordable Art Fair: Battersea Park Oct 25-28 and Hampstead Heath, Nov 1-4, www.affordableartfair.com.

London Art Book Fair: Whitechapel Gallery, Sep 21-23, www. whitechapelgallery.org

Reviews ART

uMel Bochner: If the Colour Changes

qHollywood Costume

New Yorker Mel Bochner is a founding father of conceptual art and the contemporary art exhibit, with its embrace of varied media and site-specific installations – his first British survey show, including his recent, colourful Thesaurus paintings, finds him still on wild and witty form.

Ever imagined yourself in Dorothy’s apron, off to see the wizard? Or cracking Indiana Jones’ whip? Either way, you can cosy up to iconic characters, and costumes, at this in-depth V&A show, which features designs, scripts and, crucially, clothes from films including Fight Club, Titanic (below), Edward Scissorhands and even Avatar.

V&A, SW7 2RL, Oct 20-Jan 27. From £9. www.vam.ac.uk

tRichard Hamilton: The Late Works National Gallery, WC2N 5DN, Oct 10-Jan 13. Free. www.nationalgallery.org. uk

Just what is it that makes this show so different, so appealing? Well, possibly the absence of Hamilton’s most famous early Pop masterpieces (such as Just What Is It That Makes Today’s Homes So Different, So Appealing?), in favour of paintings, photography and collage from recent decades, selected and arranged by Hamilton himself before his death last year. Hamilton’s work, with its themes of voyeurism, consumerism and power, seems more relevant now than ever.

uFramed Most street artists work in stencil or spray paint. Our cover star, 25-year-old Nathan Bowen (page 8), paints all his works in pen and acrylic. All of which makes this colossal painting, at New Inn Yard in Shoreditch, opposite the Amnesty International building, even more remarkable. Nathan has become known for his demon builders and demon Beefeaters, like a portal into an alternative London dimension that’s more sinister, yet amusingly mischievous. This is a truly apocalyptic example of the genre.

20th Century Fox/Paramount/The Kobal Collection

Whitechapel Gallery, E1 7QX, Oct 12-Dec 30. Free. www. whitechapelgallery.org

Portrait of a woman as an artist, 2007 © Richard Hamilton estate

Master of the Universe, 2010 © Mel Bochner

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Reviews ART

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More Art

qSeduced by Art: Photography Past and Present

Turner Prize

Tate Britain

National Gallery, WC2N 5DN, Oct 31-Jan 20. From £6. www. nationalgallery.org.uk

The annual ‘yes, but is it art?’ moaning in the papers starts here.

The four artists shortlisted for the £25,000 prize for an outstanding exhibition by an artist under 50 are performer/painter Spartacus Chetwynd, film-maker Luke Fowler, draughstman Paul Noble, and video artist Elizabeth Price.

It’s a busy time for photography fans, with this exhibition competing for attention alongside Somerset House’s Cartier-Bresson: A Question of Colour. The National Gallery take a more historical view, looking at how tropes such as society portraiture, battlefield tableaux and religious mysticism have all migrated from painting into photography, from the nineteenth century right up to the present day.

Dale Grimshaw: Moreish

Signal Gallery

Oct 31-Nov 23

Light from the Middle East: New Photography V&A, Nov 13-Apr 7. Free. www.vam.ac.uk

Featuring over 90 artists, this exhibition – the first major UK showing of contemporary Middle

Eastern photography – will be divided into three sections: Recording, Reframing and Resisting. From nineteenth-century Iranian portraits, updated with soft-drink cans and sunglasses, to war photography made with a primitive camera, the artists featured here are testing the limits of their medium in a region defined by rapid change.

qMughal India: Art, Culture and Empire

British Library, NW1 2DB, Nov 9-Apr 2. Free. www.bl.uk

William Klein: School Out, Dakar 1963

The Mughal Dynasty, at its height, ruled over most of the South Asian subcontinent. Connoisseurs of art and culture, patrons of science and canny statesmen, the Mughal emperors and their milieu are captured here in over 200 objects and artworks from the British Library collection, including court documents, portraits, and stunning paintings of historical and domestic scenes (look out for the squirrels).

Dale Grimshaw has established himself as one of the superstars of the urban art scene, and this solo show is said to contain some of his most remarkable work yet.

A Bigger Splash: Painting after Performance Art

Tate Modern Nov 7-Apr 1

Jackson Pollock hurling, dribbling and spattering paint across giant, prone canvases was just the beginning of a half-century of ‘action’ in painting, from loaded paint-guns to art as drag.

Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize

National Portrait Gallery Nov 8-Feb 17

This ever-popular competition is always packed with visitors. It’s a great chance to review the year’s best editorial photography, and to find out if photos of a gingerhaired girl holding an animal can win for the third year running.

Gaiety is the Most Outstanding Feature of the Soviet Union

Saatchi Gallery

William Klein/ Daido Moriyama Tate Modern, SE1 9TG, Oct 10-Jan 13. From £10.90. www. tate.org.uk

The rise of the photobook in critical and public estimation continues, with this show dedicated to two

giants of the medium. Klein and Moriyama share an energetic, politicised approach to their (mostly urban) subject matter, as well as a bold and graphic, high-contrast aesthetic. Over 300 works will be on display, including the seminal photobooks Life is Good & Good for You in New York, Trance Witness Revels and Sayonara Photography.

Nov 20-May 5

Contemporary Russian artists are brought together at Saatchi HQ for a show that favours the punchy, postmodern and political. Look out for the documentary photography of Boris Mikhailov and the lurid, surreal paintings of Dasha Shishkin.

Art previews by Faye Robson

Copyright V&A. Art Fund Collection

Oct 2-Jan 6

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­— 43

The Nook

Let us play

Emma Boyes rounds up the latest games Let’s face it, the run-up to last Christmas was pretty rubbish for hot new game releases, but fortunately this year more than makes up for it. First, even though it’s already out, Square Enix’s Sleeping Dogs deserves more than a passing mention. The open-world sandbox game is being described as ‘a Grand Theft Auto set in Hong Kong’, but it’s so much more than that.

Sleeping Dogs has a better story, a fantastically detailed, colourful world and some interesting game mechanics. You play as Wei Shen, an undercover cop who’s infiltrated the notorious Sun On Yee gang.

You’ve got to keep suspicion away from yourself by taking on gang missions, and keep the cops happy by doing their missions, too.

Levelling up on each side will give you different combat moves and skills, which keeps things interesting. It may be too early to predict a game of the year, but this may well turn out to be it.

In good news to Microsoft shareholders, Master Chief is back on the 360 in Halo 4 (Nov 6). The first in a new trilogy of games, it’s set five years after the end of Halo 3. As you’d expect, developer 343 Industries is heavily pushing the multiplayer aspects of the game, called Halo Infinity Multiplayer, which takes place on board the UNSC Infinity – the biggest

starship in the fleet. It’s as sure to sell a gazillion copies as we are to never see what’s behind Master Chief ’s helmet.

One of the most intriguing games shown at E3 was Bethesda’s stealth action adventure game Dishonored (360, PS3 and PC, Oct 12). It’s set in the industrial city of Dunwall (an early 1900s amalgamation of London and Edinburgh), where you play as Corvo Atano, a bodyguard to the Empress. Corvo is framed for her murder and becomes an assassin in order to seek vengeance on those who betrayed him. Interestingly for a game featuring an assassin as the hero, it can allegedly be fully completed without actually killing anyone at all. The screens and trailers seen so far look moody, atmospheric and incredibly creepy.

If it sounds a lot like Assassin’s Creed, the developer would like you to know that you’re wrong, oh so wrong. But judge for yourself, as Assassin’s Creed III is also out soon (Oct 31). This time you step into the shoes of Connor, a half Native American assassin in the time of the American Revolution.

You’ll get the chance to free-run through a whole load of new environments, including peaceful forests, frontier towns and battlefields. There are sure to be plenty of new people for you to meet and kill in horrible ways, too.

The ebook marketplace in the UK is starting to get competitive: Amazon have finally announced the Kindle Fire in the UK, and the Nook is now also making its way across the Atlantic. Due for release in October online at www.nook. co.uk and a variety of retailers, the Nook comes from popular US bookshop chain Barnes & Noble.

Whilst some of the features likely won’t be available here – for example, being able to read books for free when you go to a physical store with your ebook reader – it still has lots to offer.

Nook Simple Touch and Nook Simple Touch With GlowLight will be the first two available, hopefully with a colour model following shortly after. The devices both come with Wi-Fi and support ePub and PDF formats. No word yet on price, but in the US they are $99 (£63) and $139 (£88) respectively.

Gamer soaps Gaming and personal hygiene don’t readily go together, but online gadget seller Firebox has seen a gap in the market. These realistic soaps look just like your favourite video game controllers. They also smell great and are vegan-friendly. The PS3, 360 and Mega Drive versions are £12.99, while the NES and SNES ones are £9.99 each, from www.firebox.com.

Archos GamePad Emma Boyes Gadgets Editor

The PlayStation Vita hasn’t exactly been flying off the shelves, despite having some great games. The announcement of the cheaper Archos GamePad (www.archos. com), an Android-powered tablet shaped suspiciously like Sony’s offering, may well signal its final death throes. The Vita starts at £200 for the basic model, with no price cut likely until the new year, while the GamePad, out in October, will be less than £130.

The GamePad has a seven-inch screen, handily placed gaming buttons and analogue sticks, access to Google Play, and also works as a mini tablet for checking email, surfing the net and obsessively updating your Twitter feed.

Best recent invention: Necomimi mind-controlled cat ears. You wear them like a headband, and they supposedly sense your mood and move accordingly. On sale in Japan and on eBay, their UK launch is rumoured to be very soon.

New game I can’t stop playing: Guild Wars 2. It’s immersive and life-stealing.

The graphics are drop dead gorgeous, the new races interesting to play and unlike many other premium MMORPGs there’s no monthly subscription.

Favourite new app: Prospective students can be greener by using Prospectus Library by Harland Simon plc (from the iTunes App Store): download and peruse them on your iPhone or iPad.

– 44

Fitness

You’ve got Games

Inspired by the Olympics? Christian Adofo finds the more unusual events where you can unleash the medal-winner inside

Diving

Of all the Olympic sports, diving has probably made the biggest splash in Britain, in large part due to Tom Daley’s phenomenal, ahem, form. Yet generations of health and safety regulations and council cost-cutting have caused a dearth of even the most basic diving opportunities in British pools, and there are only five ten-metre boards in the country.

Diving is not for the fainthearted: it may look effortlessly graceful, but there is phenomenal effort and training involved – hardly a muscle in the body does not get a work-out. And even a top diver can slip up, as double gold medallist Greg Louganis proved when he hit his head on the board at Seoul in 1988.

Crystal Palace Diving Centre,

Ledrington Rd, SE19 2BB. Adult classes are on Wednesdays, 7.308.15pm, £150 a quarter

Canoe sprint

Rowing may be a popular sport at university, the Oxford v.

Cambridge matches being legendary, but canoe sprinting can be just as competitive. The sport is much-loved in Hungary, but look to Tim Brabants, the first Briton to win a gold medal in the sprint and slalom at the Beijing Olympics, for inspiration. Paddling works the upper arm and chest area, perfect for men who want to impress the ladies and ladies who want to fend off men.

Hammersmith Blades Club, Queens Wharf, W6 9RJ. Weekly Thames sessions May-Oct, pool sessions in winter months,£130pa

Greco-Roman Wrestling

If you think wrestling is about slamming rivals through tables, scantily-clad divas and dancing fat blokes with bleached goatees, you’re mistaken. Its traditional counterpart, whether it’s the freestyle or Greco-Roman discipline, is a lot more purist: the goal is simply to force the back of your opponent’s shoulders on to

the mat. The sport is held in high regard in Russia where it has produced Aleksandr Karelin, the greatest Greco-Roman wrestler of all time, who won three Olympic Golds and was undefeated for 13 years. Wrestling builds up strength and flexibility in your core, giving a toned torso and abs of steel.

Legion Wrestling, Unit 5 Transform House, 16 Wellington Road, Leyton, E10 7QF. Tuesdays 7-8pm (Beginner Freestyle), £7 per class

Reviews FITNESS

Synchronised swimming

Synchronised swimming has struggled for respect, conjuring up visions of kaleidoscopically choreographed Busby Berkeley musicals. But sparkly sequined dresses and beaming veneers aside, synchronised swimming is a strenuous sport. One of two women-only sports at London 2012, the other being rhythmic gymnastics, it originally started out in the eighteenth century as a male preserve. The sport was initially dominated by the USA, but is popular in Russia due to its strong background in artistic disciplines such as ballet. American Marion Kane is a pioneering figure: she has

Handball

Despite being Europe’s second most popular team sport, to Brits ‘handball’ is just a foul in football. It’s such a minority sport, many people don’t even know the rules. Handball is like basketball, in that you throw to your team-mates and dribble, but there’s a football-like goal instead of a hoop, and a lot more contact. It’s a thrilling, fastflowing game with lots of goals, which proved the sleeper hit of the Olympics. Frenchman Bertrand Gille is a stalwart of the indoor game: a former World Player of the Year, he was part of the historic French side which became the first nation to win Gold at consecutive Games.

Throwing at speed works the quadriceps and abdominal muscles, so you’ll be leaping through the air like Spiderman in no time.

Olympia Handball Club, Pimlico Academy, Lupus Street, SW1V 3AT. Saturdays 11am-1pm, free

– 45

coached over 50 national champions and secured nearly 70 national titles.

Her early efforts brought a quality and classiness to the sport which led to it to be recognised at World Championship and Olympic levels.

It’s not just about looking good: you have to hold your breath and perform difficult lifts underwater, and pros are second only to long-distance runners in aerobic capacity. Lungs the size of beer-barrels wouldn’t go amiss.

Aquavision Synchronised Swimming Club: Waltham Forest College, 707 Forest Road, E17 4JB, Fridays 7.30-8.30pm; Waltham Forest Pool and Track, 170 Chingford Road, Walthamstow, E17 5AA, Sundays 2-3pm. £40 for monthly synchronised membership

Archery

Archery is about 12,000 years old, though for most of that time it had more to do with necessity than sport.

Britain was conquered by an arrow, which pierced King Harold’s eye in 1066. And it was saved by the arrow, when British longbows won the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. Anyone can take up archery, as demonstrated by south Korean Im Dong-hyun, who is a double Olympic gold medallist despite being registered blind, and American Matt Stutzman, who took silver in the Paralympic Games despite having no arms. Archery uses the triceps, deltoids and lats. Rowing exercises are the best for helping you get those muscles in shape. You need some power, but most of all a steady hand. Or foot.

20/20 Archery: Downside Centre, Coxson Place, Druid St, SE1 2EZ, Wednesday evenings and Saturday afternoons; F Block Halls, Tower Bridge Business Complex, Clements Rd, SE1 4DG, Tuesday evenings; Sports Hall, Southwark Academy, 240 Lynton Rd, SE1 5LA, Monday evenings.

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– 47

Travel

Ice, ice baby

Winter doesn’t have to mean staying indoors.

Vaskar Szen Kayastha finds the hotspots in the cold climate

Shopping

Medieval Bruges (www.brugge. be) provides ancient cobbled streets and horse-drawn carts across the Burg Square. Be sure to pick up Belgian chocolates and tick off your Christmas list from the 30 traditional stalls on Market Square and Simon Stevinplein, arranged around an open-air ice rink.

The streets of magical Copenhagen will be adorned with garlands of fir (for some smooching) and markets filled with edible treats. Be hypnotised

by Tivoli Gardens’ captivating lights – the city’s magnificent amusement park (www.tivoli.dk).

The city once famous for its Nazi rallies now spreads festive cheer: the Christmas Markets in Nuremberg are one of the biggest and most famous in the world. Over 200 festive stalls decorate the medieval squares

where you can sample traditional steaming ‘Glühwein’ and delicious ‘Lebkuchen’ figures.

Shoppers with bigger budgets (and bigger labels) on their Christmas list can find bargains in New York. On Black Friday (Nov 23), the day after Thanksgiving, the city proves it really doesn’t sleep: retail doors open as early as 4am.

Thrills

After an extensive refurbishment period, Zakopane (www. zakopane-online.eu) is now Poland’s most popular snow resort providing 14 separate zones with around 50 ski lifts.

Bargain ski or snowboarding package deals, including flights and accommodation, can be found for around £200 in November. The Tatras

Mountains in Slovakia are also a cheap alternative to the Alps.

Dogsled over to Svalbard in Norway (www.svalbard.net) to experience Europe’s largest glacier (over 200 km). Take a trip to ‘Mine no. 2b’ nearby where a certain Mr S. Claus resides. If dogs aren’t your style, join a Super Jeep safari in Iceland to the pitch-black wonderworld of Leidarendi. Walk, crawl and climb this kilometer-long tube-cave containing some astonishing stalagmites hanging from magma sculpted rocks.

Prefer the mercury a little higher? Try Quad Biking round the Sharm El Sheikh desert in Egypt (www.sharm-club.com/ quad_biking_sharm.htm). With prices starting at £15 for a two-hour ride, take the opportunity to explore the mystical dunes at both sunrise and sunset.

Partying

Avoid the typical dance clubs and head over to Tresor (www. tresorberlin.com) in Berlin. This converted power station (think Tate Modern) only accepts hard-core techno enthusiasts who are willing to hit it hard and hit it fast across the venue’s three gigantic halls. For a more chilled and sun-kissed environment, try Club Ivy in north Goa, with its glossy white interior and outdoor cocktail bar. The flights may set you back, but once you’re there the partying’s cheap.

For drinking holidays, Riga provides the pure and simple: cheap alcohol. Or add some class by visiting Budapest for its gothic surroundings or Sofia for a student-friendly city hiding behind gorgeous mountains. For something a bit closer to home, celebrate New Year’s Eve with Hogmanay in Edinburgh (www. edinburghshogmanay.com). Make new friends at an 80,000-strong street party or join the annual Loony Dook where you take a splash in the River Forth under the iconic Forth Bridge. You don’t have to be loony to join in – but as the river is freezing, it helps!

Romance

Ever wished you were in Narnia?

Well, in St Petersburg you almost are with the snowy surroundings, the Winter Palace that was previously home to the Tsars and is now a museum with over 2.7 million artifacts, and the 42 islands that include the beautiful 17-hectare botanical garden Aptekarsky Island. Just don’t expect to find a talking lion.

If you want more islands, where else to head but Venice.

There are 118 islands for exploring. Forgot the overpriced gondolas and try the public waterbus instead. There may be misty spells, but they provide an enchanting backdrop to warm any heart. Prague, on the other hand, transforms into a Baroque painting at night whose cinematic views are best exploited on an enchanted cruise across the Vitava River. Drink in the remarkable cityscape – and Czech wines – at the Villa Richter, next to the biggest castle in the world (www. praguewelcome.cz/en).

For those with a good threshold for cold (and expense), get cosy in Sweden’s famous Ice Hotel (www.icehotel.com, open from Dec 7, top left). They do reindeer and other tours (above), and on a clear night, you may see the mesmerising aurora borealis, a natural light show that puts even a Muse concert to shame.

Topdeck Travel specialise in tours for 18-30 year olds. Their many winter packages include Spires in the Snow, a seven-day trip to Budapest, Krakow and Prague, from £320; a two-day trip to the Bruges Christmas markets for £159; eight days in Riga, St Petersburg and Talinn for £699; and a four-day Hogmanay in Edinburgh package for £339. Tel 0845 257 5420, www.topdeck.travel/thebook

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Blogs

www.prettymuchpenniless.com

Behind the Blog Ellie Loughran, 26, lives in Primrose Hill. As she spent so much on rent, she was determined to save money elsewhere. She started Pretty Much Penniless three years ago to help her on her quest, and posts her budget finds and advice.

What made you want to start your own blog?

I wanted somewhere to share my charity shop and jumble sale finds.

None of my friends are really interested in vintage and thrifting, but I knew there were a lot of people out there who would be. It also gave me an outlet for the writing bug that’s been hounding me since leaving education.

extreme, I know I can’t be the only one who doesn’t fancy using bicarb of soda to brush my teeth. I wanted to create something that was a bit more achievable. I want to be more creative with moneysaving, to still do the things I want to do, just on a budget without sacrificing too much.

You were invited to Bestival with fellow bloggers. What other freebies have you had off the back of your blog?

I prefer to call them perks, as nothing is really free. I’ve received clothing and items to review, but Bestival has been the best so far.

Ice-cream rates pretty high, too.

Does your blog make money?

My blog makes money from advertising and sponsored posts. I would recommend bloggers to be wary. I never promote anything I myself wouldn’t be happy to use. It’s hard when someone’s offering you cash for something seemingly easy, but remember your readers didn’t start reading for regurgitated adverts.

If it’s something you really can’t turn down, negotiate with the company to have your own spin on it.

There are lots of blogs with cash-saving tips. What makes yours different?

I think some blogs are a bit

What are your tips for building traffic to your blog?

Tone of voice is important. People want to read something that sounds personal and professional.

Posts that read like press releases are monotonous and dull, whereas opinionated blogs are always popular. Community is important, too: make sure that you interact with people in your blogging circle.

Using Twitter to promote blog posts also tends to have a big impact on stats.

Youth Marketing Blog

Goldsmith student blogs

Thieves and Marketers

Ever wonder how the business world sees students? This marketing blog from the popular moneysaving website distils university life into brands and numbers. With subjects ranging from ‘youth attitudes to digital’ to (our favourite) ‘university students think red wine counts as one of their five-a-day’, it should make students more aware of their consumer power.

A wonderfully random collection of blogs from Goldsmith students.

One opens portentously with ‘Mythical creatures from ancient times and their direct link to our subsconscious is my main focus’; the next with a smiley ‘Hello Timbuktu!’ and a picture of a dog blowing bubbles. Somehow it all gloriously adds up to being young and in London.

An MA student’s posts about digital design, media and communication, this is a lot more fun than that sounds: few words, lots of pictures and videos, every one a marvel.

Find out why blue is the most popular colour for a brand; covet the world’s smallest house (just 1 sq metre); see typefaces made from food; and discover where you can buy a 3D chocolate printer.

www.youthmarketingblog. studentbeans.com

www.gold.ac.uk/student/ blogs/

What money-saving tip can you give our readers?

Buy your fresh food from farmers’ markets. The fruit and vegetables are cheaper and fresher than in

thievesandmarketers.tumblr. com

supermarkets and it supports the community. Also, if you like vintage clothing, look out for the Affordable Vintage kilo sales. They’re big in Europe but still rare here.

Where do you see your blog going in the future?

As an off-shoot I’d like to create an online junk shop specialising in original homeware. I would also like to be self-employed, either as a full-time blogger or content writer.

The blog has forced me to manage my free time efficiently and helped me realise that my dream of working for myself is achievable.

Interview: Emily Newsome

Tweets SBTV’s inspirational 21-year-old founder Jamal Edwards, who has been named a Virgin Media Pioneer, recently got in a Twitter spat with Maria ‘TOWIE’ Fowler, but often tweets about rap and spreads his own positive vibe: @jamaledwards: Good morning everyone. Even though the weather ain’t all that. Think sunny.

Derren Brown isn’t just a mind-reader, but a witty Tweeter with over a million followers, wrily commenting on politics, medicine and life. @derrenbrown:Faintmemories from last night of not really knowing what to say to Nick Clegg and air-kissing Jasper Conran.

Follow us on: @

thebookmagazineforupdates and exclusive offers.

— 50

Inside Job CHEF

Chef —Ben EbBrell

Ben Ebbrell, 25, trained as a chef. He runs the online food hub SORTED from a kitchen studio in north London with a bunch of close mates. They have over 14 million hits on YouTube and have just published their first recipe book, Beginners Get… SORTED. How did you get into the food industry?

I’ve always had a love of food and this continued when I headed off to University College Birmingham to study Culinary Arts Management.

‘It kicked Beyond that, my skills have off in a pub been honed through nearly eight years in a variety of with me kitchens, restaurants, hotels and private dining venues, not to offering mention cooking with the lads.

recipes on the back of beer mats to my friends’

Why did you start SORTED? The idea kicked off in a pub four years ago, after a few pints, with me offering recipes on the back of beer mats to my closest friends as they were eating trash at university. It started as a bit of fun, but with my recipes and Barry’s photography, we soon realised that there might be more to it. Using skills we had between us to publish cookbooks and online videos was the obvious next step.

It’s just grown from there.

Tell us your daily routine at SORTED. Every day is different. Constant conversation on social media platforms plays a big part. On top of that we have recipe development, filming, editing and proofing for our regular online videos.

Then work on our cookbooks, live demonstrations at foodie events and goodness knows how many other projects we have up our sleeves.

What do you love most about your job?

No two days are the same. Plus it doesn’t really doesn’t feel like work.

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Y

What are the biggest challenges?

On the internet everything is instant, and it’s expected to be that way. Whereas offline we’re booking things into diaries and working on projects that won’t actually appear in public for months. Sometimes in the case of publishing it takes as long as six or nine months. The challenge is switching between the two.

Recommend a dish that is easy, cheap and can be eaten again and again.

One-pot lamb with orzo is a new favourite of mine (www.sortedfood.com/orzolamb).

It uses only one pot to cook, which reduces the washing up, and it tastes amazing.

What would you recommend to aspiring chefs?

Cooking schools are useful and work experience in restaurants and hotels is invaluable. The best advice to any aspiring chef would be to just cook – lots! Cook for yourself, for friends and family and in any professional environment you can get yourself into. Practice makes perfect. Just remember nothing is instant and it will take lots of time and effort, but if you have the passion, you’ll get there.

Beginners Get… SORTED is out now, RRP £16.99, www.sortedfood.com Interview: Emily Newsome

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10 – 21 October 2012

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