The Wellcome Collection…

Yesterday Natalie and I went to visit The Wellcome Collection in London's glitzy Euston Road.

 

Sir Henry Wellcome was a collector who, through his agents, amassed well over a million books, paintings and objects from around the world, aiming to tell a global story of health and medicine.  Hence The Wellcome Collection was born.

 

There are three main exhibitions currently running; Medicine Man, Joy, and Being Human.

 

Medicine Man shows a small part of the collection including extraordinary examples of the many ways in which people, through time and across cultures, have sought to understand the workings of the human body, to protect themselves, and care for one another. It includes a wide range of objects relating to sex, birth and death. Oh and Napoleon's toothbrush.

 

Being Human explores what it means to be human. Hopes and fears about new forms of medical knowledge, and our changing relationships with ourselves, each other and the world. Featuring 50 artworks and objects, the gallery is divided into four sections: Genetics, Minds & Bodies, Infection, and Environmental Breakdown. A refugee astronaut carrying their belongings to an unknown destination, you can sniff a perfumed bronze sculpture that smells of breast milk, listen to an epidemic jukebox, and watch a fast-food outlet slowly flood.

 

Joy was the best though. It was an uplifting glimpse into what it is to feel joy. It can be intense but brief, and leaves you wanting more. Some find joy while losing themselves on the dance floor, others while catching up with friends over a meal. The exhibition explores the diversity of euphoric experiences and the effect of positive emotion on the body. Joy can bring catharsis, build resilience and bring people together. And it can be pretty funny too.

 

A nice little collection. Three exhibitions. And a lovely library too.  Recommended.

 

Lookie see what those fabulous folk @Arsenal did for me. A personalised matchday programme. Yippie! @gaygooners

“That rush, and the sights and the sounds and the smells… I want everyone to experience that.” - @Arsenal is for Everyone ✊ 🌈 @GayGooners My experience -->

I’m in this Arsenal video. I hope you like it. 😉

“That rush, and the sights and the sounds and the smells… I want everyone to experience that.”

Last Saturday Arsenal FC handed their platform over to GayGooners to share what belonging to Arsenal means to us 🏳️‍🌈. And I was lucky enough to be asked to contribute.

 

And the video they made had a powerful impact yesterday for me personally. Before kick off against Brentford people all around me in the stadium came up to me and shook my hand and thanked me. They had seen the video online already.

 

Then at half time in the bar area a cheer went up when the video was shown on all the screens. People looked, laughed, pointed, nodded, and gave the thumbs up. Six or seven people came up to me to talk about it and shake my hand.

 

Back in the stadium seats for the second half more people came over and shook my hand. It had been shown in the big screen too. Lovely comments, some jokes, “I’m not gay but proud of you mate”

Then in the pub afterwards three people asked for photos. Another guy came up and chatted to me about GayGooners.

 

It was all so overwhelmingly positive I became quite emotional.  

Arsenal is for everyone ✊ 🌈

Wuthering Heights @ Lyttelton Theatre...

Last night Stuart and I went to see Emma Rice's Brechtian take on Emily Brontë’s gothic novel Wuthering Heights at the Lyttelton Theatre on London's glitzy South Bank.

Good points: Self-assured. Self-conscious. Self-aware.

Bad points: Over-acted. Over-baked. Over-long.

While the narration, personified moor and singing chorus worked hard to add extra meaning to the harsh landscape and sheer unhappiness of the story's doomed characters, the overly self-aware nature of the production distanced us the audience too far from their heartache and tragedy. It was all a bit too broad for me.

"You don't think it's too gimmicky, the tandem?"

Piecrust Players https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qK80wVXZ9w

Van Gogh Self Portraits @ The Courtauld Institute of Art...

Last Saturday afternoon Stuart and I went to The Courtauld Institute of Art at the glitzy Somerset House to see the Van Gogh Self Portraits exhibition.  And we agreed with the critics - who simply loved it - in that we simply loved it too. 

 

★★★★★

“An exhibition of electrifying intimacy.”

The Guardian

 

★★★★★

“A landmark exhibition.” “Sensational.”

The Telegraph

 

★★★★★

“An unprecedented and not-to-be-missed show.”

The Times

 

★★★★★

“Van Gogh’s art at its rawest and most intimate.”

The Independent

 

★★★★★

“That search “deep in the soul” for an original form of expression, is abundant in this extraordinary show.”

Evening Standard

 

Taking as its springboard Van Gogh’s iconic Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear, one of the most celebrated works in The Courtauld’s collection, the exhibition brings together around half of the self-portraits Van Gogh created during his short years as a painter.

 

This is the first time that the full span of Van Gogh’s self-portraiture has been explored in an exhibition. Several works in the exhibition were last together in Van Gogh’s studio and have never been reunited, until now.

 

There is an outstanding selection of 16 self-portraits tracing the evolution of Van Gogh’s self representation, from his early Self-Portrait with a Dark Felt Hat, created in 1886 during his formative period in Paris, to Self-Portrait with a Palette, painted at the asylum in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence in September 1889, one of his last self-portraits before his death in 1890.

 

The myth of Van Gogh today is linked as much to his extraordinary life as it is to his stunning paintings. This exhibition allows both aspects to be explored.

 

 

London Transport Museum...

Last Saturday Stuart and I went to the London Transport Museum in London's glitzy Covent Garden.

Steam trains, omnibuses, taxis, posters, tickets, art work, and tube trains - there was lots to see and do. It was an entertainment and an education. Who knew the London Underground network used to go out as far as Southend-on-Sea?

If you're ever at a loose end in town and you like that sort of thing - go. And they have a shop!

 

Francis Bacon: Man and Beast @ Royal Academy of Arts…

Last Saturday morning Stuart and I went to see the Francis Bacon: Man and Beast show at the Royal Academy of Arts in London's glitzy West End.

As you may know, artist Francis Bacon was one of the most important painters of the 20th century. What you may not know is, he was an Irish-born, horse-breeder’s son.

An openly gay man at a time when homosexuality was illegal, he was banished from his conservative family home by his father at 16. After that, he drifted through Berlin and Paris before establishing himself in London, with his formative years running parallel with some of the 20th century’s most profoundly disturbing events.

This powerful Man and Beast exhibition focuses on Bacon’s unerring fascination with animals: how it both shaped his approach to the human body and distorted it; how, caught at the most extreme moments of existence, his figures are barely recognisable as either human or beast.

It also explores how Bacon was mesmerised by animal movement, observing animals in the wild during trips to South Africa; filling his studio with wildlife books, and constantly referring to Eadweard Muybridge’s 19th-century photographs of humans and animals in motion. Whether chimpanzees, bulls, dogs, or birds of prey, Bacon felt he could get closer to understanding the true nature of humankind by watching the uninhibited behaviour of animals.

Spanning Bacon’s 50-year career, highlights of the show included some of Bacon’s earliest works and his last-ever painting, alongside a trio of bullfight paintings which will be exhibited together for the first time.

Seen together, these raw expressions of anxiety and instinct – both animal and human – feel poignantly relevant today.

 

The Chairs @ Almeida Theatre...

Last Friday night Stuart and I went to see Eugène Ionesco's surreal, absurdist play The Chairs at the Almeida Theatre in London's glitzy Islington.

Initially we hear the actors backstage deciding whether they want to put the play on that night or not. "It doesn't make much sense." "Do you think people will walk out?" "Too many words. They'll get bored. And I'll forget them." It's funny - but unsettling.

The curtain drops.

An old man (Marcello Magni). An old woman (Kathryn Hunter). An empty stage. And the water is rising.

Alone in a room, the couple set out the chairs ready for the arrival of a very special audience. They’ve invited everyone. The dancers, the chancers, the editors, the creditors, the picketers, the hecklers, the Leavers, the Remainers, the Remoaners. Even the bankers. All the movers and shakers are gathering to hear the old man’s final message to humanity. But will the message ever be delivered?

Invisible guests arrive. An emperor appears.

Part-meta, part post-modern, and part panto - translated and directed by Omar Elerian - it's all very silly and a lot of fun.

The audience are part of the performance. I was thrown a handkerchief. Then later I was called up on stage. A bit of chat (the old woman liked my shoes) and then asked to help with the chairs. All in character.

Eventually the Orator (Toby Sedgwick) arrives. The stage begins to attack him.

Meta, meta, meta, meta, meta....

Today’s FaceTime chat topics with my 85 year old mother ->

My mum is 85. Topics she brought up in our usual Sunday morning FaceTime today: how corrupt the UK banking system is, the best recipe for Vichyssoise, the merits of the NHS vs private healthcare, the potential benefits but cost/benefit hurdles of nuclear fusion, alternate Wordle strategies, how to best support a driver from the passenger seat, WhatsApp’s confusing Archive interface, how limiting immmediate post-War education was for girls, how much we both like Clive Myrie, and how funny it was we both had eggs, marmite on toast and home-made marmalade for breakfast. Oh and we pissed ourselves laughing at Liz Truss in that stupid fucking hat.

 

& Juliet @ Shaftesbury Theatre...

Last night Stuart and I went to see coming-of-age jukebox musical & Juliet at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London's glitzy West End.

Cut to the chase: It was shit. And a mess. A shitty mess.

Ok, let me explain a bit more... & Juliet features the music of Swedish pop songwriter Max Martin, with a book by David West Read. The story focuses on a 'what if' scenario, where Juliet does not die at the end of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.

"What's in a name, anyway? That which we call a nose by any other name would still smell."

Playing like a badly thought-out end of term skit at a sub-par stage school the 'comedy' is lame, the plot eye-rollingly bad, the acting dreadful, and singing barely passable.

The songs are crow-barred in so badly it would make any other self-respecting jukebox musicals squirm with embarrassment. "At least it's not as bad as Bat Out Of Hell" is small compliment.

Judging by the half-empty auditorium word has got around.

The karaoke-slaughtered songs (or parts of them) were:-

Larger than Life
I Want It That Way
...Baby One More Time
Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely
Domino
Show Me Love
Blow
I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman
Overprotected
Confident
Teenage Dream
Oops!... I Did It Again
I Kissed a Girl
It's My Life
Love Me Like You Do
Since U Been Gone
Whataya Want From Me
One More Try
Problem
Can't Feel My Face
That's the Way It Is
Everybody (Backstreet's Back)
As Long as You Love Me
It's Gonna Be Me
Shape of My Heart
Stronger
Fuckin' Perfect
Roar
Can't Stop the Feeling!

An Evening Without Kate Bush @ Soho Theatre...

Last night I went to see cabaret star Sarah-Louise Young perform her tribute to Kate Bush at the Soho Theatre in London's glitzy West End.

Developed alongside Russell Lucas, An Evening Without Kate Bush is just over an hour long but boy did it pack a lot in. Wow. It was fab.

Ms Young has an amazing voice, is obviously a super-fan, and knows how to gently find the humour in La Bush's work and in her fellow fans. We laughed, we sang, and we laughed some more.

We heard about fifteen or so KB songs - some just as KB would perform them, some as clever reworkings. There was some funny stage craft pointing out KB's "five signature dance moves", the props were fab, and the costumes and wigs all playing their part. 

First, she was herself as a school girl performing at assembly, then as a cleaner sweeping up the confetti from the stage at Hammersmith Apollo gigs, and then reading out YouTube comments verbatim from beneath KB videos.  

We were schooled in the correct pronunciation of 'Babooshka'. We were asked to name our favourite KB song (I had to explain what One Last Look Around the House Before We Go was about). We were encouraged to join in with some communal singing and, yes, muggins here with the trio as my table were all hauled up on stage to sing backing vocals to Cloudbusting.

The songs were, if I remember correctly:-

And Dream of Sheep

Hounds of Love

Wow

Babooshka (in Russian!)

The Man with the Child in His Eyes

James and the Cold Gun

Rubberband Girl

Moments of Pleasure

Under the Ivy

Cloudbusting

Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)

Don't Give Up

Army Dreamers

This Woman's Work

Wuthering Heights

Here's the promo clip

https://youtu.be/fUUPKtxtbkU

Pretty Woman: The Musical @ Savoy Theatre...

Last Friday night Stuart and I went to see Pretty Woman: The Musical at the Savoy Theatre in London's glitzy West End.

Audiences seem to love it. Critics seem to hate it. I think you might be able to tell who I side with...

Based on the 1990 film of the same name the songs by Bryan Adams are all rather bland and the plot's gender dynamics have aged pretty poorly.

The story is one of a free-spirited ravishing prostitute Vivian and her bestie chasing after men to love them and give them money. Yup, it pretty much fails the Bechtel Test at the first note.

Sure, it's escapist clap-trap but it can't quite decide if it wants to be Cinderella or Pygmalion - the trope of both being that it's the handsome, rich men who hold all the cards (and shoes), the women should be grateful of the attention. There is precious little female backstory.

The shirts might be short, the mini-skirts may be tight - but this just goes to prove how a lot of thought has been given to Vivian's curves, but not much to her arc.

The audience were something else though. Drunk, noisy, shouting out stuff - it was like 1500 people on a hen night. A couple near us got thrown out mid-way through the first act.

The Gin Journey…

Stuart, Kerry, Sheila, Angie, and I took the Soho Gin journey last Saturday afternoon. Maestro @theginmann schooled us in sustainable gin production. 5 venues, 5 shots of gin, 5 gin cocktails. Great fun.

Back to the Future: The Musical - 🚘 88mph⚡️🎸

Last night Stuart and I went to see big-budget musical Back to the Future: The Musical at the Adelphi Theatre in London's glitzy West End.

Based upon the 1985 sci-fi nostalgia blockbuster the show is full of songs (some good, some not quite so good), loads of in-jokes, hammy performances, crowd-pleasing call-backs and call-forwards to the film franchise, and buckets good-will to spare.

BttF:TM stars mother-fucking Marty McFly (played solidly by Olly Dobson) who with the help of weird science chum "Doc" Brown (played hilariously by Roger Bart) goes back from 1985 to 1955 to give some dating advice to his dad George McFly (played to the goofiest hilt by Hugh Coles). Farce ensues as Marty mum (beautifully played by Rosanna Hyland) tries to get into  his rather over-padded pants (purple Calvin's if you must know) and they 'all sings songs about it'.

It's a great, fun night out. It won't scare the horses but it does exactly what it says on the tin; a wonderful tribute to the film and the final action sequence alone was worth the price of admission.

Being interviewed @Arsenal for #LGBTHistoryMonth. Gay, dear? Me, dear? YES, dear!

Life of Pi @ Wyndham's Theatre...

A couple of weeks ago Stuart and I went to see Life of Pi again at the Wyndham's Theatre in London's glitzy West End.

Based upon Yann Martel's eponymous philosophical novel and the 2012 film, Life of Pi is an epic show adventure full of hope... and puppets.

The protagonist is Piscine "Pi" Patel (played brilliantly by Hiran Abeysekera), an Indian boy from Pondicherry who explores issues of spirituality and metaphysics from an early age. He survives 227 days after a shipwreck while stranded on a lifeboat in the Pacific Ocean with a Bengal tiger called Richard Parker which raises questions about the nature of reality and how it is perceived and told.

The show is very special effects heavy (hence our second visit, the boat broke down first time) but all the better for that. The multitude of animals were puppets; some with single human handlers, some with many - Richard Parker alone took three people of control him.

There were lots of laughs too. The staging was great. And the philosophical magical realism worked well too.

Some of the supporting roles perhaps didn't meet the high-water mark set by Abeysekeraof but it was him we came to see / sea.

Coffee or Tea?