Kinky Boots London

Ladies, gentlemen and those who are yet to make up your mind...

It was a Tuesday  night and I had this urge to buy knee-length bright red boots and strut around London. At the same time, I was thinking 'Oh God! I hope this urge doesn't last!' I wasn't crazy, I'd just seen Kinky Boots and loved every minute. I was glued to my seat, my eyes following the actors around on stage, barely able to keep up. There was colour, attitude, hilarity and a touch of moving moments to give it heart.

The cast was brilliant, those actors playing drag queens can sure strut their stuff. I mean, I'm used to heels but never in a million years could I pull off some of the stuff they did! Splits, flips, jumps twirls, dance moves and more. (Were there specific training sessions on how to walk in six-inch heels? How many twisted ankles were there in rehearsals? And how on earth can you do a flip and land on heels!! Seriously, it shouldn't be possible.)

I think Lola and Lauren did an amazing job. Lola, had me wrapped around her little pinky from the moment she exploded onto the stage and Lauren was brilliantly awkward and perfectly imperfect.

Lola: [looks horrified] Burgundy. Please, God, tell me I have not inspired something burgundy. Red. Red. *Red*. *Red*, Charlie boy. *Red*! Is the color of sex! Burgundy is the color of hot water bottles! Red is the color of sex and fear and danger and signs that say, Do. Not. Enter. All my favorite things in life.*

*source

Seriously, Kinky Boots was awesome. It was the perfect antidote to my mid-week-itis, going-back-to-work-after-holidays-itis and general feelings of 'meh'.  Its lively, fun, made me want to dance in my seat and put me in a great, bouncy, this is why I love London, kind of mood.

It was all last minute, mind you, I scored FRONT-ROW tickets for £20 thanks to a nifty little app which I've now added to my 8 tips for booking theatre tickets post.

Be yourself, everyone else is already taken - Oscar Wilde (quoted by Lola)

Seriously, go see this show if you haven't already, and if you don't leave with a smile on your face, and feeling just happy to be you then I really will buy red boots and strut around London, twisted ankles be damned.

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7 Tips to see and enjoy Shakespeare

Photo by John Tramper. Courtesy of Globe Theatre.

Ok, ok. I know Shakespeare isn’t for everyone. I didn’t like it either thanks to English class at school. But I fell in love with it thanks to a friend of mine taking me to Twelfth Night performed by Sydney's Bell Shakespeare Company. Twelfth Night became my favourite play because of that production. Since moving to London however, I've been incredibly lucky to see many of Shakespeare's plays; Much Ado About Nothing by the RSC, Taming the Shrew at Kensington Palace Gardens, Twelfth Night at Richmond Theatre, A Midsummer Night's Dream & A Comedy of Errors at the Globe Theatre. And on Saturday I went to see As You Like It, also at the Globe Theatre.

So why? Why do I bother going to these plays? Because they are quite funny. Yes FUNNY. If you don’t know Shakespeare, each one of those plays I mentioned are one of Shakespeare's comedies. Aside from Hamlet in high school, I haven’t seen any of his tragedies or histories. So hear me out, I'm here to help you enjoy a night out watching Shakespeare. If it doesn’t work, you are welcome to come back and yell at me, I can take it ;) So for Shakespeare newbies, here is how to do Shakespeare.

1) First thing's first. Choose a Comedy. DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT be silly and pick a tragedy or history as your first Shakespearian play. Go for something fun, light and full of laughs. Some of Shakespeare's more popular comedies are those I've already mentioned.

2) Make sure its performed by a company known for good Shakespeare. This will probably cost a bit more but its worth it. Amateur productions may be interesting , have an interesting take, and done well enough but a high-end company will really make a difference to such a play. In the UK/London, you cant go wrong with the Globe Theatre or the RSC.

3) Get a good seat. I know good seats are expensive but here's the thing. A lot of what makes a play is the expressions on the actors faces…if you are too far to see it, you miss the emotion and impact of the words. It leaves a whole lot of talk and little meaning.

4) Get an idea of what the play is about. You don’t have to read the play – in fact, that’ll probably just bore you – just hop onto the interwebs to find and read the synopsis. This will help because, if you know basically what's happening, the language won't lose you.

5) Expect that you wont get all of it. And that’s ok. Even today, a lot of people who study his plays still arent sure what is meant by some of the things he wrote. But Shakespeare wrote for all audiences, some stuff is subtle, some slapstick. So if you get a few laughs out of it you have just rocked your first Shakespeare play, you awesome thing you.

6) This is a Globe Theatre specific tip. Those £5 standing only tickets are a really good deal, you're as close as you can get to the stage and, often have actors walk right past you. Don’t buy them for your first play. Just no. After about maybe 15 minutes or half an hour the novelty of being close to the action will wear off and all you'll think about is sitting or getting out of there. And lets not even mention how wet and miserable you'll be if it rains. If you get a seat, fork out an extra £1 for a cushion – trust me, your bottom will thank you.

Alternative 6) Buy 2 £5 tickets to the same play on different nights. Watch the first half one night and the second half another night. Bring a rain poncho - I doubt they'll let you obstruct other peoples views if it starts to drizzle.

7) Its ok if you do all of the above and still don't like Shakespeare! I'll still love you, and you'll still be awesome ;)


Do you have any of your own tips or experiences to share?

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Against Captain's Orders

Welcome aboard the HMS Adventure! We're a little cheesy here but totally awesome too. To get you ready for your immersion, floatation vests! You there, you look like you like shiny objects, you can be part of our Salvage crew. And you, the tall gangly one, you look like you have a sharp eye, we'll put you in Ships Watch. Right-o, have we got everyone? Navigation crew? Midshipmen? Ready? Good. Let's go!

Its Thursday night and I've dashed out of work to make one of the 'Against Captain's Orders' adults only (no, not that kind of adults only!) sessions at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. I could tell you what happened. I could. And I so, SO want to. But really, do you want me to spoil it for you? What I will tell you is that the sets are jaw-droppingly detailed, the actors funny, the story clever and, at just under an hour, it left me wanting more. I wanted time to wander around the set, like I had in The Drowned Man, and lose myself in this 'other' world.

Against Captain's Orders is an immersive theatre collaboration between the incredible Punchdrunk and the National Maritime Museum. The adults only sessions are open to Punchdrunk Keyholders and Museum members. But anyone can become a key holder or a member, for a price. I myself am just crazy enough about Punchdrunk that a became a Keyholder just for this event, and in the hopes that there might be more this year. Or, if you have kids, this is a great thing to do with them, you dont have a member or keyholder to attend with kids.

So, will you be brave and dare sail into the unknown???

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8 Tips for Booking Theatre Tickets in London

I have been on a theatre booking binge lately. If you have been following my twitter feed, you'll have noticed. I have now booked so many tickets I'll be going to the theatre each month till the end of the year! I'm not crazy (OK maybe a little) but seriously, only in London can you get a theatre ticket at the same price of a nice dinner somewhere, in some cases, even less. 

London's theatres and shows is one of the things I absolutely love about this city. It is affordable, there is so much variety to choose from and its such a nice night out. Over the past couple of years I have seen, Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables, Lion King, Much Ado About Nothing, The Cripple of Innishman (hilarious), Lady Windemeres Fan, A Midsummer Nights Dream, The Woman in Black and The Drowned Man. And I have enjoyed each and every one.

Much Ado About Nothing - Noel Coward Theatre

Now I have booked:

1. The Man Who Climbed Out Of His Face - this month
2. A Comedy of Errors - September
3. Book of Mormon - October
4. Twelfth Night - November
5. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime - December

And I still have so many more on my list! Actually, I think I might try to get myself to the BBC Proms too, not strictly theatre but still...

Phantom of the Opera - Source

If you think you cant afford to go to the theatre, think again! Here are some tips to get you booking too!

1. Approach the theatre company direct! Often ticketing agencies, even 'discount' ones, will add a hefty markup on the value of a ticket and you can end up paying more!
2. Book waaaaaaaaay in advance, cheap seats go fast so get in early. Some places will even give you a discount for doing just that. For example, Book of Mormon don't charge a booking fee if you book ahead by 12 weeks.
3. Book mid week. Often midweek tickets are much cheaper than Friday night or weekend tickets.
4. Signup for newsletters. OK, OK, we all hate spam mail, but sometimes you will get notified of specials or given promo codes. Find a show you want to see and sign up to its newsletter. Don't worry, you can always unsubscribe after you've seen the show ;) You can also keep an eye on Time Out's offers. Occasionally they will have a really good deal. I managed to get a tickets to the Woman in Black for £10 pounds back in June because of it.
5. If you are a student, a lot, if not all, theatre companies will give you a discount.



The Drowned Man - source

6. Get a good group of friends together. Almost all theatre companies will give discounts for group bookings. Too easy!
7. Check the ticket prices. Don't just assume its expensive. If you follow tip number 2, you'll be surprised by how 'cheap' the tickets are to some of the big shows.
8. Put the cost in perspective!!! Look at what you currently spend your money on... coffee? lunch? eating out? drinks on weekends? brunch with the girls? A cute top or must have shoes? There are so many ways you can find the money for a ticket, just make tiny adjustments to what you currently do.
9. [Added 11th August 2016] Download an app called 'Today Tix' onto your phone. A couple of nights ago I got £20 front row tickets to Kinky Boots by entering their daily ticket lottery. You can book regular tickets through this app too, but as I was mainly interested in the special deals so I haven't tried that out. Do let me know if you have used or had any luck with this app!

Do you have any theatre going tips?

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Enter the world of Temple Studios

Photo by Pari via NT

There is darkness...

A nervous excitement...

The labyrinth of the studios swallows my friends...

I am alone.

Or am I?

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Much Ado About Nothing - Royal Shakespeare Company 26th September 2012 Social Media Call

Much ado has been made about the new adaptation of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing by the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC). Mainly talk has been about the fact that it is sent in modern day Delhi and it is the first all-Asian cast do perform such a play at the RSC. And while all that is true, the fact is Shakespeare originally set the play in Sicily and this adaptation isn't that far removed from how Shakespeare probably originally intended it; its a story that you can very much see play out in modern day India without suspending your disbelief.


Benedick after "overhearing" that Beatrice has feelings for him

Wednesday afternoon (26th Sept 2012) found me at the Noel Coward theatre in London for the RSCs social media call for their production of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing as part of the World Shakespeare Festival. A bunch of theatre reviewers, bloggers, twitter-ers and other social media folk were shown a scene from the play followed by a Q&A with those members of the cast.


Members of the cast and the Director Iqbal Khan during the social media call Q&A


After watching a scene from the play (Act 2 scene 3) i asked the cast "If there is one thing you would like the audience to take away from this production, what would it be?". I received mixed answers.

Madhav Sharma (Leonato) said "Happiness and joy, that there is love in this world" and Shiv Grewal (Don Pedro) said "family is important". My favourite response however was from the Director Iqbal Khan
who candidly said "Its a fucking good play...and its a much better play than people give it credit for, it think it might be his [Shakespeare's] best comedy..."




And for whatever my 2 cents are worth, I'm going to reiterate what Iqbal Khan said...it is a fucking good play...seeing it that Wednesday night (thanks to the RSCs complimentary ticket) only served to prove that. Walking in to the auditorium that evening....i was met with a raised curtain and a recreated scene of daily life in in a bustling Delhi neighbourhood, the set was designed around a courtyard space, with curved doorways, balconies, an old tree wrapped with wires and a light streetlight protruding from the center as though it had grown there complete with a simple rope swing that had a wood seat. People were milling around on stage as though this was their daily life, a maid plaited the hair of a younger maid, a young man was fixing an upright fan, young girls returned home from a shopping trip and stopped for a chat. And that was all before the play even began.

Benedick eavesdropping on Leonato and Don Pedro

During the play itself, Paul Bhattacharjee who plays Benedick and Meera Syal who plays Beatrice were simply fantastical in their witty repartee and awkward affection. The entire cast did a fantastic job in transporting me to modern day Delhi and telling a great story. There were even a few scenes that were quite moving, one in particular gave me chills.

Don Pedro takes advantage of Benedick disguised as a servant

I've already recommended this play to my flatmates and my friend at work is already booking her tickets. Give it a go, its one of the few RSC plays for which you don't have to travel to Stratford-upon-Avon to see and will be gracing the Noel Coward Theatre stage till 27th October 2012.

Leonato and the maid

Benedick and the set for Much Ado About Nothing

If you do go see it or have seen it already, let me know what you think.

Links
Play Synopsys
Cast and Crew
Production Photos
Audience feedback
Director Q&A

VP

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A Soldier in Every Son and the Royal Shakespeare Company

I show my ticket to the lady at the door and she points to the fourth row just in front of the stage. Premium seats! I grin, step down and find my seat. I sit and wait; i have no idea what to expect. Admittedly, from the title and promotional poster it is not something i would have gone to see but this was a free ticket and a new experience so why not?

The lights dim, the doors close and the music starts. The first thing that hits me is the colour and detail of the costumes. The next thing that hits me is the language. Aside from names that i couldn't pronounce, spell or remember if i tried, its normal everyday English. Its very easy to understand, not elaborate and even has a few swear words thrown in. And its funny! It is not a comedy but the writing and execution is clever and provides some genuine laugh out loud moments and cheeky chuckles. I relax and the next few hours fly by as the play unfolds. Sure, I'm not always able to follow who's who due to the names and some actors playing dual roles but when i walk out at the end i feel two things: One, I'm disappointed that not all the seats were filled for such a play, on a Saturday night too. And two, I'm glad that not all the seats were filled because when i go back to see it again, i know I'll get a good seat ;)

The new Royal Shakespeare Company's (RSC) production has murder, warring houses, betrayal, poison, revenge, people going crazy, ghosts, sacrifice, deception and humor. But. It is not written by Shakespeare.

When i first stumbled across the social media call on the RSC's website, the play they were promoting was not something i was really interested in. In fact, why was the RSC showing something that wasn't Shakespeare? It just looked like it was a boring war story with weird tattoos. But i had never done a social media call before so i thought why not? I tossed my name into the RSC's proverbial hat and was lucky enough to be selected by the organisers. So allow me now a moment to take my foot out of my mouth and say I'm glad i was selected otherwise i would have missed out on a great play.

A Soldier in Every Son - The Rise of the Aztecs is part of the RSC's Nations at War trilogy commissioned for the World Shakespeare Festival. The play is a co-production with the National Theatre of Mexico (Compagna Nacional de Teatro de Mexico) from which 6 actors the set designer, costume designer and composer are working with the RSC on this production. Originally written by Luis Mario Moncada in Spanish as a 3 part play, it has been condensed into one play and translated into English. Put simply, it is about warring tribes during the 15th century before the Aztecs came to power.

The play starts with 2 main tribes - Acolhuas (Blue costumes) and Tepanecas (Gold/Brown costumes) - setting up a marriage to unite them. The Tepaneca princess Tepca (Susie Trayling) and the Acolhuas prince Ixtlixochitl (Alex Waldmann) however cant play nice and the arrangement is broken. Ixtlixochitl then ends up marrying into the Aztec tribe (Red/Black costumes) who at that point are mercenaries for the Tepanecas. After poison, madness, a brother killing a brother and war and you find the puppet master Itzcoatl (Brian Ferguson) manipulating his way to the top of the Aztec clan killing Maxtla (Mark Holgate) who is now head of the Tepanecas and setting up an alliance with with Ixtlixochitl's son who was thought dead thereby beginning the 100 year reign of the Aztecs.

Yesterday was the actual social media call. I joined the 10 or 12 bloggers/facebookers/twitter-ers who showed up to watch a scene from the play followed by a Q&A session with 3 actors (Susie Trayling, Alex Waldmann and Diego Jáuregui) and the Assistant Director (Luke Kernaghan).

I wont repeat each question and its answer because this would turn into a very long post (although if you are interested, email me). But i will say a few things that i found interesting especially after coming home and reading some reviews written by mainstream media, most of which have a gripe with the names of people/places/relationships or the depth of the play. Regarding the names, Alex Waldmann put it best when he said (and I'm paraphrasing here) that Shakespeare is as complicated as a Soldier in Every Son but people already know or are familiar with the names in Shakespeare's plays whereas most people come to this play cold.

As for the depth, the thing you need to understand about this play is that it is new and based on a history of which a lot is unknown. Luke Kernaghan said that it was hard to research a period for which no history exists. That period is about survival. Daily life is a risk, you cant relax. Its not very British and its one of those things the company  had to come to terms with. The actors also have had a challenge in finding a voice for these characters as well as creating a world that is different from the contemporary world. They created movements, stances and used the costumes to help generate an "other-worldly" feel.

This play is new but it definitely has parallels and shadows of Shakespeare. It is entertaining, absorbing and fresh. Make up your own mind, go see it and let me know what you think - but better be quick, once the play wraps up here, it moves to Mexico along with with whole cast, costumes and set.

By the way, ignore the "trailer" on the RSC website (sorry RSC!), it doesn't tell you anything. Have a look at this clip though. Its the scene where Ixtlixochitl (Alex Waldmann) and Tecpa (Susie Trayling) spend some time together...arguing. Background information for this scene is that Zilamiauh (sounds like Zila-Miow) is Ixtlixochitl's slave who he has just spent time rolling around with in a previous scene causing him to be delayed from courting Tecpa.

I do hope you get the chance to see this wonderful new play.

Vanishing Point 

Note: I was not paid to write this post. The RSC only provided me with the opportunity to see the full play (free of charge) and attend the social media call. My opinions as expressed in this post are entirely my own.

Additional information

A Soldier in Every Son - The Rise of the Aztecs

Tickets

Production photos

Costume designs

Director Q&A

Links to others who attended the social media call:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/charlesbudd/7546048388/in/photostream/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHX9r83lS0k

http://idealword.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/sustainability-of-shakespeare.html

http://www.lynderslove.blogspot.co.uk/

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