Gathers (No) Moss…

I guess I’ve now blown any chance I ever had of joining The Rolling Stones. 

(Mark would have approved though ❤️)

Yup. #fergieleft

The Other Place @ Lyttelton Theatre...

Last Friday night Stuart and I went to see Alexander Zeldin’s new play The Other Place at the Lyttelton Theatre on London's glitzy South Bank.

 

It was fab.

 

Based on the Greek tragedy Antigone, what starts as a respectful family gathering to scatter the ashes of a deceased relative soon descends from a light amusing comedy of manners to a night of raw grief, greed, insanity, incest, fratricide, suicide, and good old general homicide.

 

Tobias Menzies (him off of The Crown) and Nina Sosanya (her off of everything) are excellent as the grown-ups in the room.

 

Emma D’Arcy (them off so House of the Dragon) and Lee Braithwaite (them off of Cowbois) are fantastic as the grieving sisters.

 

If you like you entertainment dramatic fierce whilst not being too melodramatic - this is the play for you. In truth, it's quite funny too.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Arsenal 3 -1 Southampton…

There was a lovely meet-up with Southampton LGBT+ group @Rainbow_Saints yesterday before the joyous @gaygooners meet-up and ticket hand-out. 

And the joy continued, admittedly after a bit of a bumpy start, at the Emirates too.   

Our boys came from behind to maintain our unbeaten start to the season. Southampton remain winless.  

Archer’s opener was soon cancelled out by Havertz and Martinelli replies and a third by Saka sealed the win. In fact Saka was the star of the match having either assisted or scored each of Arsenal’s three goals. What a player!

Nice to see our ex-keeper Aaron Ramsdale get some warm chanting too (albeit in the dying minutes when the win had been secured!)

Onwards and up with my friends. 

@Arsenal 

@gaygooners 

#ARSSOT

Look Back in Anger @ Almeida Theatre...

Last night, Stuart and I went to see John Osborne’s landmark play Look Back in Anger at the Almeida Theatre in London glitzy Islington. 

 

The play caused a sensation when it was first performed in 1956 with some of the people it was attacking (yes, Noel Coward I’m looking at you) walking out during at early performance.

 

It is the very epitome of the Angry Young Man play.

 

Jimmy Porter (the brilliant Billy Howle) is smart and well-educated but an incredibly angry young man. Angry at society. Angry at the past. Angry at his wife Alison (the excellent Ellora Torchia). Angry at his flatmate Cliff (the handsome Iwan Davies). Angry at himself.

 

Silence is Alison's only weapon against Jimmy’s barrage of bullying words. Their parlour is their battleground. It's domesticity as war.

 

As the insults and the misogyny rages, Jimmy lashes out at anyone who will listen. You can't help thinking his issue with womankind is because he realises what power they hold over him. His closest friendships seem to be with men.

 

It was a cracking night at the theatre. We were made to laugh one minute and to feel acutely uncomfortable the next. Some of the language and attitudes are genuinely shocking. But you know what, sometimes theatre should be shocking and it should highlight the bad buys, the anti-heroes, and point the finger at the establishment too.

 

There’s a rather famous scene in the play with one of the female characters threatens to slap Jerry across the face to shut him up and he replies by saying "if you hit me, I will hit you back."  It’s a clever scene because objectively you realise the male character is a bully and potentially a violent misogynist but at the same time it’s told in such a way as to wrong-foot the audience. Who started the fight?  Who was provoked? It's a sort of Richard III moment. The anti-hero as the villain. But a villain you can at least try to understand. 

 

It's certainly no pantomime. No simple goodies and baddies. It's a just a great night out. Challenging but fun theatre.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

 

Waiting for Godot @ Theatre Royal Haymarket...

Last night Marcus and I went to see Waiting for Godot at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in London’s glitzy West End. 

 

Godot is a play where nothing happens. And as the second Act is almost a mirror of the first - it’s a play where nothing happens… twice. 

 

I’m joking of course. Godot is one of the great plays in the 20th century. And has many interpretations. Freudian, religious, sexual, comical to name but a few. 

 

Still difficult, still challenging, Godot isn’t for everyone. But this new production largely plays it for laughs. It was great evening out. Beautifully staged. Wonderfully acted. Especially the second act.

 

Directed by James Macdonald we saw Ben Whishaw as Vladimir, Lucian Msamati as Estragon, Tom Edden as Lucky, Jonathan Slinger as Pozzo, and Alexander Joseph as the Boy.

London Film Music Orchestra @ St Paul’s Cathedral…

Last night Darce and I went to a special evening with the London Film Music Orchestra performing their Best of Hans Zimmer & Film Favourites Illuminated Tour at St Paul’s Cathedral in London’s glitzy City.  

It was a fun night listening to live renditions of some of cinema's most iconic music, illuminated by light; E.T, Jaws, Sherlock Holmes, Gladiator, Harry Potter, Inception, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park, Man of Steel, Interstellar, Superman Returns, Schindlers List and many more.

Maybe it has been done better at other places (RFH and Barbican) but you can’t knock the venue.

Mark and Sarah…

Lovely to see these two last night. Good fun. 

@marksmaguire 

@sarahjnorris69 

Arsenal 4 - 2 Leicester…

Fresh from the gaygooners AGM yesterday afternoon and after a lovely pre-match meet-up we headed to the Emirates stadium to watch Arsenal take on Leicester City. 

Less of a kick-about, it was a bit of a nail-biter in the end. 

Arsenal had dominated in the first half and were 2-0 up at the break with goals from Martinelli and Trossard. Then the Foxes fought back to make it 2-2, both from Justin, by the 90 mins. 

Seven minutes of extra time beckoned. Yikes! 

A dominant attacking reply from Arsenal lead to frantic scenes on the pitch and even more so in the stands. All that hard work paid off though; an own goal by Ndidi and a funny deflection by Havertz allowed the Gunners to grab all three points.  

Onwards and up with my friends.

@Arsenal

@gaygooners

#ARSLEI

#COYG

Mr Compromise…

They call me Mr Compromise. 

Not my choice of name, but I can live it. Let's move on.

Arsenal 5 - 1 Bolton…

After a lovely pre-match meet-up with the gaygooners we all watched Arsenal thrash League One Bolton at the Emirates last night to reach the Carabao Cup fourth round. 

Teenager Ethan Nwaneri scored his first Arsenal goals as we cruised to an easy victory. The 17-year-old, making his first senior start for the club, slotted into an empty net from Raheem Sterling's cross, before taking advantage of some sloppy Bolton play to pick up the ball from Declan Rice and roll under visiting goalkeeper Luke Southwood. 

Aaron Collins had pulled one back for Bolton in the 53rd minute after a good counter-attack. It was ultimately a consolation for them, but one that denied teenage Arsenal goalkeeper Jack Porter a clean sheet on his record-setting senior debut. 

At 16 years and 72 days old, he became the youngest player to start a first-team game for the Gunners. Porter is the club's fourth choice, but got the call after number one stopper David Raya was ruled out with a thigh injury, summer signing Neto was cup-tied, having already featured in the competition for parent club Bournemouth, and Tommy Setford was also out injured. 

The five Arsenal goals came from Rice (16'), Nwaneri (37', 49'), Sterling (64'), & Havertz (77').

Next stop Preston (in this competition anyway).

Onwards and up with my friends. 

@Arsenal
@gaygooners
#ARSBOL
#COYG