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MATCHDAY TOURS NOW AVAILABLE<br />
Exciting interactive tour<br />
Go behind the scenes at London Stadium<br />
Historic London 2012 Olympic venue<br />
Home to West Ham United and UK Athletics<br />
See the changing room, indoor running track,<br />
players’ tunnel, pitch side and much more<br />
Enjoy beautiful parklands in Queen<br />
Elizabeth Olympic Park<br />
Ideal for individuals and groups<br />
lstours@delawarenorth.com | london-stadium.com<br />
@londonstadium | #londonstadiumtours
CONTENTS<br />
Events 4<br />
Ascot’s Festival of Food and Wine<br />
Wembley Stadium Tours<br />
Music 8<br />
Dominion Theatre completes Restoration<br />
Ute Lemper at Cadogan Hall<br />
Exhibitions 12<br />
20/21 Art Fair at Mall Galleries<br />
Royal Miniatures Society Exhibition<br />
Photo: Lee Parker.<br />
Welcome to London<br />
Theatre 16<br />
Apologia<br />
The Girl from the North Country<br />
Proprietor Julie Jones<br />
Publishing Consultant Terry Mansfield CBE<br />
Associate Publisher Beth Jones<br />
Editorial Clive Hirschhorn Sue Webster<br />
© This is London Magazine Limited<br />
This is London at the Olympic Park<br />
Stour Space, 7 Roach Road,<br />
Fish Island, London E3 2PA<br />
Telephone: 020 7434 1281<br />
www.til.com<br />
www.thisislondonmagazine.com<br />
It’s the time of the year again when air ambulances across the UK are raising<br />
awareness of the fact that the Air Ambulance Services nationwide are all<br />
charities. National Air Ambulance Week, from 11 - 18 September, helps<br />
to spread the word and raise donations.<br />
There are an amazing 582 hours of collections happening all week at 15 of<br />
London’s largest stations. Also available are the new helicopter pin badges to<br />
give away – these fun pin badges are a great way to help raise awareness.<br />
You can find Londons Air Ambulance charity pin badges in 300 local shops<br />
all around London.<br />
For further information, or to make a donation visit<br />
londonsairambulance.co.uk<br />
Whilst every care is taken in the preparation of this<br />
magazine and in the handling of all the material<br />
supplied, neither the Publishers nor their agents<br />
accept responsibility for any damage, errors or<br />
omissions, however these may be caused.<br />
VISITOR INFORMATION<br />
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Visit London 020 7234 5833<br />
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t h i s i s l o n d o n m a g a z i n e • t h i s i s l o n d o n o n l i n e
4<br />
ASCOT’S FESTIVAL OF FOOD & WINE RACING WEEKEND<br />
A quintessentially British tradition, afternoon tea is one of the best-loved food<br />
offerings served at Ascot Racecourse. This year’s Festival of Food & Wine Racing<br />
Weekend, from 7-10 September – with Flat racing on Friday and Saturday – is set to<br />
be a glorious few days of feasting, drinking and racing with Great British Bake Off<br />
winner Candice Brown headlining the event, alongside two-Michelin star chef<br />
Raymond Blanc OBE on Saturday 9 September.<br />
CHINA CHANGING FESTIVAL<br />
RETURNS TO SOUTHBANK CENTRE<br />
Southbank Centre’s China Changing<br />
Festival returns for its second year, on<br />
Saturday 7 October, showcasing<br />
contemporary China and exploring its<br />
creative connection with the UK.<br />
Launched in December 2016, this<br />
three year international festival returns to<br />
London presenting some of the most<br />
innovative artists practising in China<br />
today and celebrating inspiring work<br />
from British-based Chinese and South<br />
East Asian artists.<br />
Over fifty per cent of the programme<br />
is free, bringing together an eclectic day<br />
including new perspectives on<br />
traditional sounds, digital and electronic<br />
art, surreal film, breakdance, comedy,<br />
modern puppetry, theatre and topical<br />
panel discussions.<br />
KLEZMER IN THE PARK:<br />
THE BIG MIX 2017<br />
Jewish Music Institute’s flagship<br />
annual one day Festival takes place this<br />
year on Sunday 10 September, a funpacked<br />
afternoon for all the family in<br />
one of London’s most beautiful parks.<br />
As well as BBC Radio 3 DJ Max<br />
Reinhardt, Community Hub and Kids<br />
Zone, this year’s live stage will feature<br />
Klezmer in collaboration with a global<br />
selection of artists. JMI Youth Big Band,<br />
is a brand new youth ensemble<br />
performing contemporary music of<br />
Jewish origin. The ensemble will draw<br />
inspiration from the great American big<br />
bands and Jewish music throughout the<br />
ages. The band is co?led by two world<br />
class Jewish Jazz musicians; trumpet<br />
player Sam Eastmond, and<br />
instrumentalist Stewart Curtis.<br />
WORLD-PREMIERE OF NETWORK<br />
AT THE NATIONAL THEATRE<br />
This autumn, the National Theatre will<br />
stage the world-premiere of Network,<br />
Lee Hall’s new adaptation of the Oscarwinning<br />
film by Paddy Chayefsky.<br />
Directed by Ivo van Hove, Douglas<br />
Henshall will play Max Schumacher in a<br />
cast which includes Tony award winner<br />
Bryan Cranston as Howard Beale, and<br />
Michelle Dockery as Diana Christenson.<br />
Howard Beale, news anchor-man,<br />
isn’t pulling in the viewers. In his final<br />
broadcast he unravels live on screen.<br />
But when the ratings soar, the network<br />
seizes on their new found populist<br />
prophet, and Howard becomes the<br />
biggest thing on TV.<br />
Network depicts a dystopian media<br />
landscape where opinion trumps fact.<br />
Hilarious and horrifying by turns, the<br />
iconic film by Paddy Chayefsky won four<br />
Academy Awards in 1976. Now, Lee Hall<br />
(Billy Elliot, Our Ladies of Perpetual<br />
Succour) and director Ivo van Hove<br />
(Hedda Gabler) bring his masterwork to<br />
the stage for the first time.<br />
Douglas Henshall.<br />
t h i s i s l o n d o n m a g a z i n e • t h i s i s l o n d o n o n l i n e
wembleystadium.com/tours<br />
0800 169 9933<br />
TOURS DEPART DAILY: 10:00 – 15:00<br />
PRINTED TRANSLATION GUIDES AVAILABLE IN 9 LANGUAGES
6<br />
INTERNATIONAL VISITORS TO<br />
LONDON – BEST ON RECORD<br />
London welcomed a jump in visitors<br />
during the first quarter of 2017, making<br />
it the best on record according to new<br />
figures released by the Office for<br />
National Statistics. The number of<br />
overseas visits to the UK for January to<br />
June this year hit a record-breaking<br />
19.1 million, up 9% on 2016. The past<br />
six months have seen a 25% rise in<br />
visitors from North America, thanks to<br />
the ‘Brexit effect’ and weak pound. As<br />
always, the transatlantic exchange has<br />
valuable economic benefits.<br />
There are some terrific shows running<br />
on Broadway, with a West End transfer<br />
for the juggernaut production of the<br />
musical ‘Hamilton’ opening in<br />
November. The story of America’s<br />
Founding Father Alexander Hamilton,<br />
the score blends hip-hop, jazz, blues,<br />
rap, R&B and Broadway – the story of<br />
America then, as told by America now.<br />
For those returning home to or<br />
through New York or UK travellers<br />
heading over the Pond, a rising star on<br />
the restaurant scene there is Thursday<br />
Kitchen in the achingly cool Lower East<br />
Side (thursdaykitchennyc.com)<br />
The meanu, created by Kay Hyun, is<br />
wonderfully eclectic. For veggies, angry<br />
sweet potato with sriracha goat cheese<br />
and chilla is a spicy favourite; there’s<br />
kale with house-made lemon ponzu<br />
dressing; and mapo tofu served with<br />
green lentils and chili bean sauce.<br />
The steak has a soy-garlic glaze and<br />
feta grits; there is chicharron (confit pork<br />
belly, cashew creme, white kimchi, lime<br />
juice and cilantro) and local favourite<br />
popcorn chicken in a sweet and spicy<br />
sauce with black sesame crumbles.<br />
There is also ramen, truffle mac and<br />
cheese and edamame dumplings and the<br />
seafood offering is just as good –<br />
octopus served chilled with korean pear,<br />
sweet soy-scallion, riesling gellee and<br />
mango; tuna tataki and kimchi paella.<br />
The wines are from all over, bubbles,<br />
beer and Asian spirits and the amazing<br />
‘got light’ korean liquor steeped for two<br />
weeks with rose leaves, yuzu and egg<br />
which is literally lit from within<br />
(above) – available only on Thursdays.<br />
SPEND A NIGHT WITH THE LIONS<br />
AT GIR LION LODGE<br />
Fancy falling asleep to tropical<br />
birdsong, and waking up to a lion’s<br />
roar instead of your alarm clock? Then<br />
ZSL London Zoo has the experience for<br />
you, right in the heart of the Capital.<br />
Adventurous animal lovers can spend a<br />
night within a whisker of the lions at<br />
the Zoo’s Gir Lion Lodge overnight<br />
experience.<br />
Guests will be welcomed to nine<br />
colourful cabins nestled in the heart of<br />
the Land of the Lions exhibit. Beautifully<br />
decorated with a bespoke, hand-painted<br />
mural, each lodge has been named after<br />
an animal from the Gir Forest, home to<br />
the only wild population of Asiatic lions.<br />
ZSL London Zoo’s dedicated hosts<br />
will guide guests around the Zoo on<br />
exclusive evening and morning tours,<br />
sharing their insider tips on spotting<br />
species and fascinating facts about some<br />
of the Zoo’s 17,000 residents.You will<br />
also discover more about the work ZSL<br />
is doing with local communities and<br />
rangers in India’s Gir Forest to protect<br />
these endangered big cats.<br />
Sleeping within roaring distance of<br />
the pride of majestic Asiatic lions,<br />
guests will then be treated to an evening<br />
meal and breakfast, and each private<br />
lodge comes fully equipped with home<br />
comforts, including cosy beds and an<br />
en-suite.<br />
With places already selling fast, visit<br />
www.zsl.org/girlionlodge to book a night<br />
at the wildest overnight stay in London.<br />
t h i s i s l o n d o n m a g a z i n e • t h i s i s l o n d o n o n l i n e
WEMBLEY STADIUM TOURS<br />
Wembley Stadium Tour takes visitors<br />
deep into the heart of the stadium and<br />
into areas usually reserved for the<br />
biggest and best names in sport and<br />
music such as Beckham, Messi,<br />
Ronaldo, Tom Brady, Anthony Joshua,<br />
Ed Sheeran and Beyonce.<br />
The award-winning, 75 minute,<br />
guided tour includes access to the<br />
Dressing Rooms, Press Room, Players<br />
Tunnel, Pitchside and the iconic Royal<br />
Box to have a photograph taken with a<br />
replica of the world-famous FA Cup.<br />
With multiple accessible train routes,<br />
ample parking, a café, plentiful restroom<br />
facilities and the London Designer Outlet<br />
shopping centre next door, the Wembley<br />
Tour caters for all visitor needs. It is<br />
open 12 months a year and 7 days a<br />
week with the exception of certain event<br />
dates in the calendar. Tours depart at<br />
10:00, 11:00, 12:00, 13:00, 14:00 and<br />
15:00 with pre-booking advised.<br />
Easily accessible via any of these<br />
stations; Wembley Park via Metropolitan<br />
and Jubilee Lines, Wembley Stadium<br />
Station via Chiltern Line and Wembley<br />
Central Station via Bakerloo Line,<br />
London Overground and National Rail.<br />
All tours are conducted in English.<br />
Printed translation guides are available<br />
in 9 languages. Book online at visiting<br />
www.wembleystadium.com/tours or<br />
calling 0800 169 9933.<br />
THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA<br />
KEY CAST CHANGES<br />
As the musical heads into its 32nd<br />
year, there are key cast changes for The<br />
Phantom Of The Opera. Joining the cast<br />
from 4 September are Ben Lewis who<br />
will play the title role of ‘The Phantom’,<br />
Kelly Mathieson as ‘Christine Daaé’ and<br />
Jeremey Taylor as ‘Raoul’.<br />
The Phantom Of The Opera has won<br />
over 70 major theatre awards, including<br />
seven Tony’s on Broadway and four<br />
Olivier Awards in the West End. It won<br />
the ‘Magic Radio Audience Award’, voted<br />
by the public, in the 2016 Laurence<br />
Olivier Awards.<br />
Wembley Stadium.<br />
7<br />
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8<br />
DOMINION THEATRE COMPLETES<br />
£6M RESTORATION<br />
London’s Dominion Theatre, home to<br />
Christopher Wheeldon’s stunning<br />
reinvention of the Oscar® winning<br />
Hollywood musical An American in<br />
Paris, has completed a £6 million<br />
restoration and unveiled a brand new<br />
double-sided LED screen on Tottenham<br />
Court Road, the largest and highest<br />
resolution projecting screen on the<br />
exterior of a West End theatre.<br />
The extensive restoration of this<br />
landmark Grade II listed building, which<br />
sits majestically at the junction of<br />
Tottenham Court Road, Oxford Street<br />
and Charing Cross Road, was started in<br />
2014 and is now finally complete with<br />
the unveiling of the beautifully restored<br />
theatre façade and the brand new digital<br />
screen.<br />
An American in Paris has been<br />
ecstatically received by audiences and<br />
critics, earning an incredible 28 five star<br />
reviews when it opened at the Dominion<br />
Theatre in March this year. It has now<br />
extended booking though to the end of<br />
January 2018.<br />
The sumptuous new musical about<br />
following your heart and living your<br />
dreams is written by Craig Lucas and<br />
features the timeless music and lyrics of<br />
George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin,<br />
including the songs I Got Rhythm,<br />
‘S Wonderful, I’ll Build a Stairway To<br />
Paradise and They Can't Take That Away<br />
from Me, together with George<br />
Gershwin’s sweeping compositions<br />
including ‘An American in Paris’.<br />
Jerry Mulligan (played by Ashley Day,<br />
(pictured below) is an American GI<br />
pursuing his dream to make it as a<br />
painter in a city suddenly bursting with<br />
hope and possibility. Following a chance<br />
encounter with a beautiful young dancer<br />
named Lise, the streets of Paris become<br />
the backdrop to a sensuous, modern<br />
romance of art, friendship and love in<br />
the aftermath of war.<br />
For tickets, telephone 0845 200 7982.<br />
Photo: Johan Persson.<br />
LES ENFANTS TERRIBLES PRESENT<br />
THE TERRIBLE INFANTS<br />
Award-winning theatre company Les<br />
Enfants Terribles have announced the full<br />
cast for the anniversary production of The<br />
Terrible Infants. Staged at Wilton’s Music<br />
Hall in East London and featuring new<br />
creative material, it will run from<br />
27 September to 28 October.<br />
The Terrible Infants is a collection of<br />
twisted short stories by Oliver Lansley<br />
and Sam Wyer, which recall both Roald<br />
Dahl and Tim Burton, performed with<br />
Photo: Rah Petherbridge<br />
inventive puppetry and atmospheric live<br />
music. Following the phenomenal<br />
success of Alice’s Adventure’s<br />
Underground at The Vaults and to reflect<br />
Les Enfants Terribles’ bold and<br />
innovative theatricality, this ten year<br />
anniversary staging will feature new<br />
creative material.<br />
Featuring recorded narration from<br />
Judi Dench, The Terrible Infants<br />
originally debuted in 2007 before<br />
multiple appearances on nationwide<br />
tours and around the world. The<br />
production received numerous awards<br />
when it debuted a decade ago including<br />
Best Entertainment and Outstanding<br />
Theatre in the Fringe Report in 2008<br />
For tickets, telephone 0207 702 2789.<br />
t h i s i s l o n d o n m a g a z i n e • t h i s i s l o n d o n o n l i n e
10<br />
CRAIG REVEL HORWOOD TO PLAY<br />
MISS HANNIGAN IN ANNIE<br />
Michael Harrison and David Ian,<br />
Producers of the West End production of<br />
Annie have announced that from<br />
18 September to 26 November, Craig<br />
Revel Horwood will join the West End<br />
Company to play the role of Miss<br />
Hannigan for 10 weeks, as Nikolai<br />
Foster’s production extends booking at<br />
the Piccadilly Theatre to 18 February.<br />
Best known on television as a judge<br />
on the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing and<br />
for a role he returns to this Autumn,<br />
Craig Revel Horwood received great<br />
critical acclaim in Foster’s production of<br />
Annie that toured the UK in 2015.<br />
Previously in the West End he has<br />
performed the role of Munkustrap in<br />
Cats, was Dance Captain in Miss Saigon<br />
and played the role of Harry in Crazy for<br />
You. His production of Son of a<br />
Preacher Man will open in Bromley in<br />
September before embarking on an<br />
extensive UK tour. During his 10-week<br />
run, because of his Strictly Come<br />
Dancing commitments, Craig Revel<br />
Horwood will not play the role of Miss<br />
Hannigan on Saturdays.<br />
Set in 1930s New York during The<br />
Great Depression, brave young Annie is<br />
forced to live a life of misery and<br />
torment at Miss Hannigan’s orphanage.<br />
Her luck changes when she is chosen to<br />
spend Christmas at the residence of<br />
famous billionaire, Oliver Warbucks.<br />
Meanwhile, spiteful Miss Hannigan has<br />
other ideas and hatches a plan to spoil<br />
Annie’s search for her true family...<br />
Foster’s production arrived in the<br />
West End 40 years after the original<br />
Broadway production opened in 1977<br />
and received seven Tony awards<br />
including the Best Musical, Best Score<br />
and Best Book. In 1982, Annie was<br />
adapted for the big screen directed by<br />
John Huston with a cast including Carol<br />
Burnett, Bernadette Peters and Albert<br />
Finney. The much-loved score includes<br />
the classics It’s A Hard Knock Life,<br />
Tomorrow and Easy Street.<br />
Box Office telephone 0844 871 7630.<br />
ROY ORBISON TRIBUTE SINGER TO<br />
PERFORM BLACK & WHITE NIGHT<br />
Roy Orbison had an extraordinary,<br />
unique voice that ranged from baritone<br />
to tenor, spanning three to four octaves,<br />
including a superb and soaring falsetto.<br />
Elvis Presley said Orbison had the<br />
greatest and most distinctive voice he<br />
had ever heard. Bruce Springsteen and<br />
Billy Joel both commented on the<br />
otherworldly quality of Orbison's voice<br />
while Barry Gibb of The Bee Gees said<br />
of Orbison’s voice in ‘Crying’ that ‘To me<br />
that was the voice of God’.<br />
Londoner Dave Collison, has<br />
mastered the Roy Orbison sound. Dave<br />
is the first to admit his voice isn’t Godgiven.<br />
His voice has always had an<br />
uncanny similarity to the Big O’s but he<br />
has studied and trained very hard over<br />
20 years to perfect the tone and reach<br />
the very high and low notes with the<br />
seeming ease that Roy Orbison had.<br />
Dave will perform The Black & White<br />
Night Revisited as a special, one-off<br />
event next week and will cover exactly<br />
the same set-list as the original concert.<br />
Backing singers for the original show<br />
included KD Lang, Jennifer Warnes and<br />
Bonnie Raitt, so Dave has carefully<br />
chosen female backing singers with the<br />
same vocal style to match the sound as<br />
closely as possible.<br />
Visit tickets.halfmoon.co.uk<br />
Dave Collison will perform a tribute to Roy Orbison.<br />
t h i s i s l o n d o n m a g a z i n e • t h i s i s l o n d o n o n l i n e
UTE LEMPER’S THE 9 SECRETS<br />
ALBUM LAUNCH AT CADOGAN HALL<br />
Grammy-nominated and<br />
internationally acclaimed artist Ute<br />
Lemper’s collaboration with renowned<br />
best-selling author Paulo Coelho,<br />
The 9 Secrets, has been released via<br />
Steinway & Sons. The launch will be<br />
celebrated with a concert at Cadogan<br />
Hall on 15 September at 19.30.<br />
The album presents a song cycle<br />
composed and sung by Lemper, set to<br />
words by Coelho from his 2012 novel<br />
Manuscript Found in Accra, the thematic<br />
content of which may be encapsulated in<br />
the lines, ‘After lying undiscovered for<br />
over 700 years, a manuscript holding<br />
the answers to questions about life and<br />
humanity is unearthed. Simple<br />
questions about our lives torn between<br />
happiness and sorrow and defined by<br />
hope, intelligence and desire to love as<br />
much as the capacity to hate and<br />
destroy.’ Coelho himself is featured on<br />
two tracks.<br />
Ute was born in Munster, Germany<br />
and completed her studies at The Dance<br />
Academy in Cologne and the Max<br />
Reinhardt Seminary Drama School in<br />
Vienna.<br />
Her career has been vast and varied,<br />
having made her mark in films,<br />
recordings and on theatre and concert<br />
stages around the world. As a recording<br />
artist, her discography thus far<br />
encompasses more than 30 albums over<br />
30 years, including 2012’s Grammynominated<br />
Paris Days, Berlin Nights on<br />
Steinway & Sons.<br />
She has been lauded for her<br />
interpretations of Berlin cabaret songs,<br />
the works of Kurt Weill and Berthold<br />
Brecht and the Chansons of Marlene<br />
Dietrich, Edith Piaf and many others.<br />
She has recorded the music of Elvis<br />
Costello, Tom Waits, Philip Glass and<br />
Nick Cave, and was named Billboard’s<br />
Crossover Artist of the Year for 1993–<br />
1994.<br />
For tickets, telephone Cadogan Hall<br />
box office on 020 7730 4500.<br />
Ute Lemper.<br />
Photo: Brigitte Dummer<br />
11<br />
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12<br />
Yoshijiro Urushibara (1889-1953): (London<br />
1910-1940): ‘Anemones in Black Vase’.<br />
Coloured woodcut c.1930. 305 x 203mm.<br />
From Hilary Chapman Fine Prints.<br />
THE FINEST MODERN BRITISH AND<br />
POST-WAR ART<br />
The 20/21 British Art Fair, one of the<br />
UK’s most popular art fairs and the only<br />
one to specialise exclusively in Modern<br />
and Post War British art, returns in a<br />
new venue after its former location was<br />
suddenly unavailable in 2016. After<br />
some 25 years at the Royal College of<br />
Art, it is moving to Mall Galleries in<br />
central London close to the art market<br />
hub of St James’s. The 28th staging will<br />
take place between 13–17 September.<br />
The fair is supported by 34 of the<br />
UK's leading art dealers, some of whom<br />
have exhibited at the fair since its<br />
inception in 1988, which clearly<br />
demonstrates the remarkable loyalty<br />
which underpins this event. Its great<br />
strength lies in the excellence and<br />
variety of Modern (1900-1945) and<br />
Post-War art (1945-1970). However,<br />
work from 1970 to the present day will<br />
also be on show.<br />
Most of the great names of 20th<br />
century British art will be represented:<br />
Bomberg, Freud, Frink, Frost, Hepworth,<br />
Hockney, Lowry, Moore, Nash, Piper,<br />
Riley, Spencer and Sutherland to name a<br />
few. Much of the work is privately<br />
sourced and fresh to the market and<br />
dealers keep work back for the fair. The<br />
result is a niche event showcasing<br />
paintings, prints, drawings and sculpture<br />
of the highest quality.<br />
Mall Galleries is a well-known venue<br />
which hosts art events on behalf of the<br />
Federation of British Artists such as the<br />
New English Art Club. Many of the<br />
artists represented at the fair would have<br />
belonged to this group some 50 or even<br />
100 years ago.<br />
‘We are delighted to be back and are<br />
very excited by the response to the new<br />
venue’,say the founders and organisers,<br />
Gay Hutson and Angela Wynn. ‘We are<br />
confident that this select specialist fair,<br />
with its great line up of dealers, will be<br />
a feast for collectors.’<br />
Open Wednesday 15.00-21.00;<br />
Thursday: 11.00-20.00; Friday/Saturday<br />
11.00-19.00; Sunday: 11.00-18.00.<br />
www.britishartfair.co.uk<br />
Patrick Procktor, RA (1936-2003): Jimi Hendrix.<br />
Watercolour, 33 x 33 cm. Signed and dated ‘73.<br />
From Christopher Kingzett Fine Art.<br />
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame<br />
describes Jimi Hendrix as ‘arguably the<br />
greatest instrumentalist in the history of<br />
rock music’. He died in London at the<br />
age of twenty-seven.Hendrix was a friend<br />
of Patrick Procktor having been<br />
introduced to him by Ossie Clark. He<br />
made one oil and a number of<br />
watercolours of Hendrix. This is the<br />
largest and strongest of the drawings.<br />
Edward Bawden (1903-1989): ‘Queen’s Garden’ 1983 (Kew Palace) Linocut<br />
and lithograph. 470 x 609mm. From: Dominic Kemp Modern British Prints.<br />
t h i s i s l o n d o n m a g a z i n e • t h i s i s l o n d o n o n l i n e
FOLLOW IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF<br />
WORLD ATHLETES AT LONDON<br />
STADIUM<br />
Hot on the heels of the IAAF World<br />
Athletics and World Para Athletics<br />
Championships this summer, tours<br />
around the former Olympic Stadium are<br />
available to book now.<br />
The tour gives exclusive access to<br />
usually private areas of the stadium,<br />
superstar interviews and unique photo<br />
opportunities. Visitors will be able to<br />
re-imagine the success of the Super<br />
Saturday athletes as they made their<br />
preparations on the warm up track and<br />
out to the main arena where the roar of<br />
the crowds spurred them on to gold.<br />
And football fans will not be left<br />
disappointed as they follow in the<br />
footsteps of their heroes from the<br />
changing rooms and make the walk<br />
along the players’ tunnel, out to the<br />
manager’s dug out before standing pitch<br />
side.<br />
In addition, the London Stadium are<br />
now offering guided football specific<br />
match day tours, so visitors can take a<br />
behind the scenes view of the stadium<br />
only hours before the players battle it<br />
out on the pitch. This is a different style<br />
of tour, as it tour will be guided in small<br />
groups and everyone on the tour will be<br />
accompanied by one of the exceptional<br />
Experience Makers. The guides are full<br />
of character, knowledge and stories<br />
about West Ham United, athletics and<br />
the incredible feat of architecture that is<br />
the London Stadium, so guests will be<br />
entertained on your journey through the<br />
stadium.The popular areas of this tour<br />
will still be visited, but the excitement of<br />
a match day will be in the air.<br />
Either way, the tour is ideal for all,<br />
including families visiting the Olympic<br />
Park, the stadium comes alive through a<br />
75 minute interactive multimedia tour<br />
that has been specifically developed for<br />
the venue. www.london-stadium.com<br />
The London Stadium is just a short<br />
walk from Stratford Station, which is on<br />
the Jubilee, Central and Overground<br />
lines.<br />
The magnificent London Stadium from the air.<br />
13<br />
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14<br />
TECHNIQUES OF THE MINIATURE<br />
ARTIST REVEALED<br />
How do they create something that<br />
small? That is usually the first question<br />
you hear from people visiting The Royal<br />
Society of Miniature Painters Sculptors<br />
and Gravers’ (RMS) Annual Exhibition at<br />
The Mall Galleries in London.<br />
Two members of the RMS, wildlife<br />
painter Jenny Musker and wildlife<br />
sculptor Paul Eaton, reveal how they<br />
create their tiny artworks.<br />
Jenny works in watercolour on<br />
polymin, the modern equivalent of ivory.<br />
‘This is a man made cellulose, like<br />
painting on the surface of a ping pong<br />
ball. Before 1960, the surface would<br />
have been ivory which is now banned for<br />
wildlife conservation. Vellum, canvas,<br />
board and paper are also acceptable; in<br />
fact anything with a smooth surface<br />
helps with the detail.<br />
‘Polymin is an interesting surface to<br />
paint on, the paint tends to ‘slide’ on the<br />
surface, so you have to dry excess paint<br />
off your brush first then build up layers<br />
by stippling – dotting the paint on to<br />
the surface. Each layer must be allowed<br />
to dry before the next can go on and<br />
one splash of water can lift the painting<br />
right off!<br />
‘The painting of wrens on cherry<br />
blossom is approximately actual size at<br />
just 1.5”x2.5”. Even at this scale it takes<br />
many thousands of dots to make up the<br />
layers. I am often asked why I work with<br />
such a difficult medium. It adds a<br />
beautiful translucency to the watercolour<br />
and to the end result of the painting, and<br />
I like the challenge of working on such a<br />
tiny scale.’<br />
Paul Eaton sculpts metal into<br />
beautiful miniature masterpieces.<br />
‘I sculpt from wax that is normally used<br />
in injection moulding and comes in<br />
pellet form. I use a low voltage soldering<br />
iron to drip and mould wax almost like<br />
painting, then I use various tools, some<br />
made specifically for my own use, some<br />
dental and engraving tools, to carve<br />
more detail.<br />
‘The subject is roughly assembled to<br />
create a posture or pose, then detail is<br />
Jenny Musker: Dancing in the Dog<br />
Roses. Watercolour on polymin. Image<br />
size 4.5x6.5cm with frame 9x11cm.<br />
Left: Love Blossoms.<br />
added and slowly the subject comes to<br />
life. Once I am pleased with the<br />
composition the wax is then cast into<br />
metal using the lost wax process.<br />
‘This process involves attaching a<br />
wax bar or sprue to the subject and<br />
immersing it in a liquid called<br />
‘investment’, similar to clay slip. Many<br />
layers are added to create a shell around<br />
the subject and when dry the model is<br />
fired in a kiln like a piece of porcelain. In<br />
the kiln the wax burns away and leaves a<br />
hollow shell into which molten bronze or<br />
silver can be poured to create the final<br />
piece. I then add further fine detail with<br />
small drills and hand engravers before<br />
adding patina and polish to bring out the<br />
natural look of the metal. My love and<br />
fascination of the natural world keeps<br />
me inspired.’<br />
The Royal Society of Miniature<br />
Painters Sculptors and Gravers’ Annual<br />
Exhibition opens on Wednesday<br />
evening, 20 September, with the work on<br />
view daily from 10.00-17.00 until<br />
1 October.<br />
A selection of artists will be<br />
demonstrating different techniques<br />
throughout the exhibition.<br />
For details go to the website<br />
www.royal-miniature-society.org.uk<br />
Left: Paul Eaton miniature sculptures.<br />
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DOROTHY CIRCUS GALLERY OPENS<br />
IN NOTTING HILL<br />
Dorothy Circus Gallery is opening the<br />
doors of its British branch in Notting Hill<br />
with a new exhibition. On the occasion<br />
of their unique anniversary, the Gallery<br />
have prepared a celebration in the form<br />
of a Group Show, with a splendid<br />
reunion of its most important pop and<br />
surreal icons. These artists will<br />
collaborate with new international<br />
figures in a magical meeting, beginning<br />
in October.<br />
Pages from Mind Travellers Diaries is<br />
the name of the Group show, the title<br />
mirrors the Gallery’s restless mood and<br />
ideologies. That is the way it all started,<br />
with the idea of a journey toward the<br />
most remote corners of surrealism. It is<br />
a journey full of surprises and<br />
significant meetings of minds which<br />
have shaped the gallery’s identity.<br />
With the aim of spreading its image<br />
around the world while absorbing new<br />
cultural concepts, the Gallery started its<br />
journey around Europe from Rome,<br />
heading towards London. Shifting from<br />
extremely bizarre and unusual tastes to<br />
the most refined tendencies, what could<br />
have been a better first destination for<br />
the Circus if not the magnificent<br />
London? The city of extreme glamour<br />
and the dynamic centre of the fashion<br />
industry, which can suddenly turn into<br />
the elegant abode of the classy and<br />
refined afternoon tea. The directors<br />
decided that London has the perfect<br />
atmosphere to welcome Dorothy Circus<br />
Gallery’s unique style.<br />
The first Group Exhibition in London<br />
will feature popular names in pop art,<br />
and surreal characters already present in<br />
the art scene. These great artists’<br />
extravagant pieces are made from<br />
multiple artistic mediums and personal<br />
styles, ranging from highly detailed<br />
digital images to a more traditional<br />
approach of brushes on canvas.<br />
Following the Group show, the artists<br />
will continue to work with the Gallery on<br />
a brilliant series of solo exhibitions, one<br />
per each artist that will begin in 2018.<br />
Joe Sorren - Coney Island Supper Club<br />
25x100 cm (49x39inches) oil on canvas<br />
15<br />
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16<br />
Photos: Marc Brenner.<br />
APOLOGIA Trafalgar Studios<br />
As playwrights have constantly<br />
discovered, sending their characters on<br />
overnight visits to town or country<br />
houses reaped dividends. Back in the<br />
twenties Noel Coward had a hit with Hay<br />
Fever, in the thirties George S. Kaufman<br />
and Moss Hart wowed Broadway with<br />
The Man Who Came to Dinner and,<br />
striking a more serious note in the<br />
sixties were Edward Albee‘s a Delicate<br />
Balance and Harold Pinter’s The<br />
Homecoming. In 2004 David Eldredge<br />
successfully adapted the Danish film<br />
Festen, a recriminatory drama that<br />
centered around a celebratory 60th<br />
birthday.<br />
Four years after Festen, the Bush<br />
Theatre presented Alexi Kaye Campell’s<br />
Apologia, in which a formidible<br />
matriarch invites her two sons and their<br />
girlfriends to an informal birthday dinner<br />
in her country home. It’s now being<br />
revived in the West End as a vehicle for<br />
the American actress Stockard Channing<br />
who was last seen on the London stage<br />
in 1992 in John Guare’s Six Degrees of<br />
Separation.<br />
She plays Kristin, a published arthistorian<br />
and fervent 1960’s political<br />
activist around whom the play revolves.<br />
As originally written, Kristin was<br />
British. She’s now morphed into an<br />
American (‘by birth not by choice’)<br />
thereby necessitating some rewrites<br />
which work well enough but without<br />
going too deeply into her political<br />
origins. What hasn’t changed, though,<br />
is the superior moral high-ground she<br />
adopts when her views are challenged or<br />
those held by others differ from her own.<br />
First to arrive is her son Peter, an<br />
international banker (a taker rather than<br />
a giver as Kristin puts it) and his rather<br />
vanilla, deeply Christian fiancee Trudi.<br />
Next up is Claire, a successful soap<br />
actress who drives a Porsche and wears<br />
a Japanese number that costs £2000.<br />
She has come from London without<br />
Peter’s unemployable brother Simon, a<br />
would-be writer who arrives after<br />
everyone has gone to bed.<br />
What follows as Kristin monstrously<br />
hurls insults at the two young women,<br />
scoring cheap points as she dismisses<br />
their beliefs and life-styles, raises<br />
rudeness and insensitivity to an art form.<br />
Not that she shows much compassion<br />
for her sons either. The family dynamic<br />
reaches a climax when Peter and Simon<br />
confront her at different times for not<br />
even mentioning them in a memoir she<br />
has just published.<br />
There are, of course, deep-rooted<br />
reasons for Kristin’s behaviour and they<br />
go way back to her divorce. She was in<br />
Florence with her very young sons at the<br />
time, and did nothing to regain custody<br />
of them when they were taken from her<br />
by her ex-husband. Living with the<br />
burden of this guilt clearly resulted in<br />
self-hatred which, in turn hardened her<br />
into the lonely monster she’s become.<br />
Also present at this dinner from hell<br />
is Hugh, an outspokenly camp old<br />
queen who holds the same political<br />
beliefs as his host and probably knows<br />
her better than anyone else. There’s a<br />
scene the play desperately needs in<br />
which he sets out to explain Kristin’s<br />
behaviour to Peter but which,<br />
unfortunately, is interrupted and goes for<br />
nothing.<br />
The raison d’etre of Jamie Lloyd’s<br />
laid-back production is, clearly,<br />
Stockard Channing and she’s terrific.<br />
Watching her navigate her way around<br />
Campbell’s razor-edged text or just<br />
listening, as in a scene in which her son<br />
Simon describes an experience he had<br />
at age 12 when he was picked up by a<br />
man in Genoa, is to appreciate an<br />
actress working at the very top of her<br />
form.<br />
As Trudi Laura Carmichael slowly<br />
peels off layers of her character not<br />
initially in evidence; while Freema<br />
Agyeman also brings out unexpected<br />
facets in Claire. Desmond Barritt does<br />
the best he can with the marginalsed<br />
stereotype Hugh, and Joseph Millson,<br />
playing both Peter and Simon,(obviously<br />
never seen together) gives each brother<br />
a convincing personality of their own.<br />
Adding to a flawed but entertaining<br />
evening is the excellent set by Soutra<br />
Gilmour.<br />
CLIVE HIRSCHHORN<br />
t h i s i s l o n d o n m a g a z i n e • t h i s i s l o n d o n o n l i n e
18<br />
Photo: Brinkhoff Mogenburg<br />
Olivia Colman and Olivia Williams in<br />
Mosquitoes by Lucy Kirkwood<br />
MOSQUITOES Dorfman Theatre<br />
Lucy Kirkwood’s award-winning<br />
Chimerica was one of the theatrical<br />
highlights of 2013, a brilliant, ambitious,<br />
and visually exciting cross-continent<br />
meld of the personal and political. Her<br />
new play for the National Theatre doesn’t<br />
have quite the same impact, but it’s<br />
pretty impressive nonetheless – not least<br />
because of a handful of top notch<br />
performances under Rufus Norris’s fluid<br />
direction.<br />
Jenny and Alice are sisters – but<br />
although they share the same parentage,<br />
the similarities end there. Whilst Alice is<br />
a highflying particle physicist working<br />
on the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva<br />
and bringing up her teenage son alone,<br />
Jenny, at the beginning of the play is an<br />
anxiously expectant, Luton-based<br />
mother-to-be who sells medical<br />
insurance by phone, consults her<br />
horoscope and believes whatever she<br />
reads on the internet.<br />
Kirkwood covers a lot of ground in<br />
what is primarily an account of the<br />
siblings’ combustible relationship with<br />
each other, and at times the science<br />
(despite a white-coated Paul Hilton’s<br />
passionate delivery) seems more of an<br />
excuse for some beautiful, bubbling<br />
visuals. But the antagonistic<br />
co-dependency of the sisters on a very<br />
human collision course holds one’s<br />
attention. Olivia Williams’ dedicated<br />
scientist is quick to jump on a plane<br />
when her sister needs her (but can’t see<br />
that her exceptionally bright but socially<br />
inept, reluctantly sexting son – excellent<br />
Joseph Quinn – will never fit in at the<br />
Swiss school he hates). Olivia Colman’s<br />
bereaved, train wreck Jenny, her limited<br />
intellectual abilities constantly<br />
undermined by the academics who<br />
surround her, is the one who somehow<br />
keeps the family practically afloat. And<br />
Amanda Boxer is a hoot as their<br />
querulous, insensitive mother, still<br />
resentful that her errant husband long<br />
ago received the glory of the Nobel Prize<br />
she thought should have been hers as<br />
she battles, now, with encroaching<br />
dementia and incontinence.<br />
Until 28 September.<br />
Louise Kingsley<br />
JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR SEASON<br />
EXTENDED AT OPEN AIR THEATRE<br />
Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre’s<br />
production of Tim Rice and Andrew<br />
Lloyd Webber’s Jesus Christ Superstar<br />
is now playing until 23 September.<br />
The production returned to the Open<br />
Air Theatre following a sell-out run in<br />
2016, with critics proclaiming it<br />
‘adrenaline-pumping’ (The New York<br />
Times), and ‘a gorgeous, thrilling,<br />
heavenly musical’ (The Guardian).<br />
Directed by Timothy Sheader, the<br />
production won the 2016 Evening<br />
Standard Award for Best Musical, and<br />
the 2017 Olivier Award for Best Musical<br />
Revival, with the Open Air Theatre<br />
announced as ‘London Theatre of the<br />
Year’ in The Stage Awards 2017. Tyrone<br />
Huntley who reprises his role as Judas<br />
this year, also won the Evening Standard<br />
Award for Emerging Talent, and was<br />
nominated as Best Actor in a Musical in<br />
the Olivier Awards. The production also<br />
picked up Olivier Award nominations for<br />
Best Lighting, Best Sound, Outstanding<br />
Achievement in Music, and Best Theatre<br />
Choreography for Drew McOnie.<br />
This is the UK’s first outdoor<br />
production of Jesus Christ Superstar,<br />
and 2017 also marks the 45th<br />
anniversary of the show first opening in<br />
the West End.<br />
Established in 1932, the award<br />
winning Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre<br />
is one of the largest theatres in London.<br />
Situated in the beautiful surroundings of<br />
a Royal Park, both its stage and<br />
auditorium are entirely uncovered. Voted<br />
London Theatre of the Year in The Stage<br />
Awards 2017 and celebrated for its bold<br />
and dynamic productions over 140,000<br />
people visit the theatre each year during<br />
the 18-week season. Timothy Sheader<br />
and William Village were appointed Joint<br />
Chief Executives in 2007.<br />
For tickets telephone 0844 826 4242.<br />
t h i s i s l o n d o n m a g a z i n e • t h i s i s l o n d o n o n l i n e
Company of Girl From The North Country at The Old Vic.<br />
GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY<br />
Old Vic<br />
Having experienced a resounding<br />
Broadway flop in 2006 with Twyla<br />
Tharp’s The Times They Are A-Changin’,<br />
song laureate Bob Dylan was<br />
understandably protective when it came<br />
to future theatrical presentations of his<br />
work. Yet out of the blue, Dylan’s<br />
manager contacted Irish playwright<br />
Conor McPherson who, at the age of 25,<br />
in 1997, was catapulted to fame with his<br />
Olivier Award winning ghost story The<br />
Weir. What was on offer was an open<br />
invitation to McPherson to use Dylan’s<br />
catalogue of songs in any manner he<br />
chose.<br />
As McPherson had never written a<br />
musical before and neither had Dylan,<br />
he didn’t give the suggestion much<br />
thought until one day an idea struck<br />
him: he would write a play set in a<br />
rundown guest house in Dylan’s<br />
birthplace of Duluth, Minnesota during<br />
the height of the the Depression. It<br />
wouldn’t be a conventional jukebox<br />
musical in the mould of Jersey Boys but<br />
a character-driven drama in which<br />
Dylan’s songs would provide a soundtrack<br />
appropriate to the mood of any<br />
given moment without the necessity of<br />
furthering the plot. It would, said Conor,<br />
‘free the songs from the burden of<br />
Photos: Manual Harlan<br />
relevance for our generation and make<br />
them timeless.’<br />
It’s a brilliant concept and with a<br />
multi-talented cast to prop it up, Girl<br />
From the North Country works<br />
thrillingly. Despite the familiarity of a<br />
context exhaustively explored in so<br />
many Depression-era books, films and<br />
plays, Dylan’s songs lend it a freshness<br />
and a contemporary relevance that<br />
resonates powerfully and movingly.<br />
Bronagh Gallagher (Mrs Burke).<br />
The time is 1934 – one of the<br />
bleakest years of the Depression. A<br />
world in microcosm exists within the<br />
confines of the shabby guest-house run<br />
by Nick Laine (Ciaran Hinds) whose<br />
parlous financial circumstances are<br />
exacerbated by a wife (Shirley<br />
Henderson, wonderful) suffering from<br />
dementia, a layabout alcoholic son (Sam<br />
Reid) with unfulfilled literary aspirations,<br />
and a black adopted daughter (stunning<br />
Sheila Atim) who is pregnant though the<br />
father is nowhere to be seen. Nick is<br />
doing his best to marry her off to an<br />
elderly shoe salesman (Jim Norton)<br />
while he himself is having a liaison with<br />
a widow (Debbie Kurup) who occupies a<br />
room upstairs.<br />
Other characters wrestling despair,<br />
disillusion and survival include a<br />
destitute factory boss (Stanley<br />
Townsend), his pill-addicted wife<br />
(Bronagh Gallagher), their grown-up son<br />
with the brain of a four-year-old (Jack<br />
Shalloo), a boxer (Arinze Kene on top<br />
form) whose promising career crashed<br />
after he was wrongfully arrested, a local<br />
morphine addicted doctor (Ron Cook)<br />
who also serves as an occasional<br />
narrator, and an unscrupulous, blackmailing<br />
bible-salesman (Michael<br />
Schaeffer, effectively creepy).<br />
Reminiscent of plays by Eugene<br />
O’Neill, William Saroyan, Thornton<br />
Wilder, Arthur Miller and Maxim Gorky<br />
in which a group of men and women<br />
collectively represent humanity in its<br />
desperate fight for fulfilment and<br />
survival, McPherson’s drama and<br />
Dylan’s songs (from 1963 to Duquesne<br />
Whistle in 2012) attempt to take the<br />
pulse of the human condition and<br />
succeed.<br />
The play is compellingly directed by<br />
the author whose multi-tasking cast,<br />
apart from delivering sharply delineated,<br />
vividly observed characterisations, are<br />
also terrific singers who happen to play<br />
several musical instruments. They<br />
deserve to be seen and heard.<br />
CLIVE HIRSCHHORN<br />
19<br />
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20<br />
Photo: Charlie Gray<br />
PLAYS<br />
CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF<br />
A major revival of Tennessee Williams’<br />
Pulitzer Prize-winning play, starring Sienna<br />
Miller and Jack O’Connell. Closes 7 October.<br />
APOLLO THEATRE<br />
Shaftesbury Avenue, W1 (020 7851 2711)<br />
THE COMEDY ABOUT A BANK ROBBERY<br />
One enormous diamond, eight incompetent<br />
crooks and a snoozing security guard. What<br />
could possibly go right?<br />
CRITERION THEATRE<br />
Piccadilly Circus, (020 7492 0810)<br />
THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG<br />
A Polytechnic amateur drama group are<br />
putting on a 1920s murder mystery and<br />
everything that can go wrong... does!<br />
DUCHESS THEATRE<br />
Catherine Street, WC2 (0330 333 4810)<br />
INK<br />
James Graham's acclaimed new play transfers<br />
following a sold-out season at the Almeida<br />
Theatre in North London. From 19 September.<br />
DUKE OF YORK’S THEATRE<br />
St Martin’s Lane, WC2 (020 7492 1552)<br />
THE WOMAN IN BLACK<br />
An innocent outsider, a suspicious rural<br />
community, a gothic house and a misty marsh<br />
are the ingredients of this Victorian ghost story.<br />
FORTUNE THEATRE<br />
Russell Street, WC2 (0844 871 7626)<br />
THE FERRYMAN<br />
In Jez Butterworth’s new major drama, multi<br />
award-winning actor, director and writer Paddy<br />
Considine is joined by Laura Donnelly and<br />
Genevieve O’Reilly. Directed by Sam Mendes.<br />
GIELGUD THEATRE<br />
Shaftesbury Avenue, W1 (0844 482 5130)<br />
QUEEN ANNE<br />
Royal Shakespeare Company production of<br />
Helen Edmundson’s new play, set in 1702,<br />
with William III on the throne and England is<br />
on the verge of war. Until 30 September.<br />
VENUS IN FUR<br />
A major production of David Ives' dark<br />
comedy starring Natalie Dormer and David<br />
Oakes. Opens 17 October.<br />
HAYMARKET THEATRE<br />
Haymarket, SW1 (020 7930 8800)<br />
OSLO<br />
Bartlett Sher's acclaimed production of<br />
J.T. Rogers' new Tony Award-winning play. A<br />
darkly funny political thriller, this production<br />
comes to the West End following a three week<br />
run at the National Theatre. Opens 2 October.<br />
HAROLD PINTER THEATRE<br />
Panton Street, SW1 (0844 871 7627)<br />
Royal National Theatre<br />
Plays in repertory<br />
OLIVIER THEATRE.<br />
FOLLIES<br />
Tracie Bennett, Janie Dee and Imelda Staunton<br />
play the magnificent Follies in a dazzling new<br />
production of Stephen Sondheim’s legendary<br />
musical staged for the first time at the National.<br />
LYTTELTON THEATRE<br />
OSLO<br />
Bartlett Sher's acclaimed production of<br />
J.T. Rogers' new Tony Award-winning play.<br />
5-23 September, then transfers to Harold<br />
Pinter Theatre from 2 October.<br />
DORFMAN THEATRE<br />
MOSQUITOES<br />
Olivia Colman and Olivia Williams play sisters<br />
in a world premiere from Chimerica writer<br />
Lucy Kirkwood, directed by Rufus Norris.<br />
NATIONAL THEATRE<br />
South Bank, SE1 (020 7452 3000)<br />
LABOUR OF LOVE<br />
World Premiere of James Graham's new<br />
comedy starring Martin Freeman and Sarah<br />
Lancashire. Set in the Labour Party's<br />
traditional northern heartlands, a clash of<br />
philosophy, culture and class.<br />
Opens 25 September.<br />
NOEL COWARD THEATRE<br />
St Martin's Lane, WC2 (0844 482 5141)<br />
GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY<br />
Conor McPherson beautifully weaves the<br />
iconic songbook of Bob Dylan into this new<br />
show full of hope, heartbreak and soul.<br />
Until 7 October.<br />
DR SEUSS’S THE LORAX<br />
The return of David Greig's stage adaption<br />
returns to London for a special three week<br />
season. Opens 15 October.<br />
OLD VIC THEATRE<br />
The Cut, Waterloo, SE1 (0844 871 7628)<br />
HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED<br />
CHILD PARTS I & II<br />
A new stage play based on the Harry Potter<br />
franchise written by Jack Thorne, based on<br />
an original story by J.K Rowling.<br />
PALACE THEATRE<br />
Shaftesbury Avenue, W1 (0330 333 4813)<br />
DERREN BROWN<br />
Derren Brown's 'greatest hits' show<br />
Underground in London promises to be a<br />
spell-binding experience of magical genius<br />
and epic showmanship.<br />
PLAYHOUSE THEATRE<br />
Northumberland Ave, WC2 (0844 871 7631)<br />
JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR<br />
The return of the Timothy Sheader's acclaimed<br />
revival of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's<br />
seminal musical featuring songs I Don't Know<br />
How to Love Him, Gethsemane and Superstar.<br />
REGENT'S PARK OPEN AIR THEATRE<br />
Regent's Park, NW1 (0844 826 4242)<br />
THE MOUSETRAP<br />
Agatha Christie’s whodunnit is the longest<br />
running play of its kind in the history of the<br />
British theatre.<br />
ST MARTIN’S THEATRE<br />
West Street, WC2 (0844 499 1515)<br />
APOLOGIA<br />
Jamie Lloyd's production of Alexi Kaye<br />
Campbell's play, starring Stockard Channing.<br />
A witty, topical and passionate play about<br />
generations, secrets, and warring perspectives.<br />
Until 18 Noember.<br />
TRAFALGAR STUDIOS<br />
Whitehall, SW1 (020 7492 1548)<br />
A WOMAN OF NO IMPORTANCE<br />
A major revival of Oscar Wilde's classic<br />
starring Eve Best and Anne Reid and directed<br />
by Dominic Dromgoole. From 6 October.<br />
VAUDEVILLE THEATRE<br />
Strand, WC2 (020 7400 1257)<br />
HEISENBERG: THE UNCERTAINTY<br />
PRINCIPLE<br />
Marianne Elliott's West End Premiere of<br />
Simon Stephens' play starring Anne-Marie<br />
Duff and Kenneth Cranham.<br />
WYNDHAM’S THEATRE<br />
Charing Cross Rd, WC2 (0844 482 512)<br />
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MUSICALS<br />
KINKY BOOTS<br />
Inspired by a true story and based on the<br />
Miramax film, the show tells the story of Charlie<br />
Price who has reluctantly inherited his father's<br />
Northampton shoe factory.<br />
ADELPHI THEATRE<br />
Strand, WC2 (020 3725 7060)<br />
STOMP<br />
This multi-award winning show continues to<br />
astound audiences across the world with its<br />
universal language of rhythm, theatre, comedy<br />
and dance.<br />
AMBASSADORS THEATRE<br />
West Street, WC2 (020 7395 5405)<br />
WICKED<br />
Hit Broadway story of how a clever,<br />
misunderstood girl with emerald green skin<br />
and a girl who is beautiful and popular turn<br />
into the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda<br />
the Good Witch in the Land of Oz.<br />
APOLLO VICTORIA THEATRE<br />
Wilton Road, SW1 (0844 826 8000)<br />
EVERYBODY’S TALKING ABOUT JAMIE<br />
New musical starring John McCrea transfers<br />
to the West End following a sold-out run at<br />
Sheffield's Crucible Theatre. Opens 22 Nov.<br />
APOLLO THEATRE<br />
Shaftesbury Avenue, W1 (020 7851 2711)<br />
MA<strong>TIL</strong>DA<br />
Critically acclaimed Royal Shakespeare<br />
Company production of Roald Dahl’s book,<br />
directed by Matthew Warchus.<br />
CAMBRIDGE THEATRE<br />
Earlham Street, WC2 (0844 800 1110)<br />
AN AMERICAN IN PARIS<br />
The award-winning, thrillingly staged and<br />
astonishingly danced Broadway Gershwin<br />
musical featuring some of the greatest music<br />
and lyrics ever written.<br />
DOMINION THEATRE<br />
Tottenham Court Rd, W1 (020 7927 0900)<br />
THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS<br />
Major new musical based on Kenneth<br />
Grahame’s book, starring Rufus Hound.<br />
A riotous musical comedy that follows the<br />
impulsive Mr Toad whose insatisable need for<br />
speed lands him in serious trouble. To 9 Sept.<br />
LONDON PALLADIUM<br />
Argyll Street, W1 (0844 412 4655)<br />
THE LION KING<br />
Disney‘s phenomenally successful animated<br />
film is transformed into a spectacular stage<br />
musical, a superb evening of visual delight.<br />
LYCEUM THEATRE<br />
Wellington Street, WC2 (0844 871 3000)<br />
THRILLER – LIVE<br />
High octane show celebrating the career of the<br />
King of Pop, Michael Jackson. Over two hours<br />
of the non-stop hit songs that marked his<br />
legendary live performances.<br />
LYRIC THEATRE<br />
Shaftesbury Avenue, WC2 (0330 333 4812)<br />
SCHOOL OF ROCK<br />
Andrew Lloyd Webber's new stage musical<br />
with lyrics by Glenn Slater and book by Julian<br />
Fellowes, adapted from the film.<br />
NEW LONDON THEATRE<br />
Drury Lane, WC2 (020 7492 0810)<br />
MAMMA MIA!<br />
Hit musical based on the songs of ABBA, set<br />
around the story of a mother and daughter on<br />
the eve of the daughter’s wedding.<br />
NOVELLO THEATRE<br />
Aldwych, WC2 (0844 482 5170)<br />
EVITA<br />
A major revival of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd<br />
Webber's legendary musical.<br />
PHOENIX THEATRE<br />
Charing Cross Road, WC2 (0844 871 7627)<br />
ANNIE<br />
Revival of the famous musical starring<br />
Miranda Hart. A Depression-era rags-toriches<br />
story featuring the songs It's The Hard-<br />
Knock Life, Easy Street and Tomorrow.<br />
PICCADILLY THEATRE<br />
Denman Street, W1 (0844 871 7630)<br />
ALADDIN<br />
The classic hit film has been brought to thrilling<br />
life on stage by Disney, featuring all the songs<br />
from the Academy Award winning score.<br />
PRINCE EDWARD THEATRE<br />
Old Compton Street, W1 (0844 482 5151)<br />
LES MISERABLES<br />
A spectacularly staged version of Victor Hugo’s<br />
epic novel about an escaped convict’s<br />
search for redemption in Revolutionary France.<br />
QUEEN’S THEATRE<br />
Shaftesbury Avenue, WC2 (0844 482 5160)<br />
DREAMGIRLS<br />
Set in the USA during the late 1960s and<br />
early 1970s, it follows a young female singing<br />
trio as they become music superstars.<br />
SAVOY THEATRE<br />
Strand, WC2 (020 7492 0810)<br />
MOTOWN THE MUSICAL<br />
Featuring all the much loved classics from<br />
Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder, and the Jackson 5,<br />
the show tells the story behind the hits.<br />
SHAFTESBURY THEATRE<br />
Shaftesbury Avenue, WC2 (020 7492 0810)<br />
42nd STREET<br />
The song and dance, American dream fable of<br />
Broadway returns to the West End. The<br />
timeless tale of small town Peggy Sawyer’s<br />
rise from chorus line to Broadway star.<br />
THEATRE ROYAL<br />
Drury Lane, WC2 (020 7492 0810)<br />
21<br />
YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN<br />
Legendary filmmaker and comedian Mel<br />
Brooks brings his classic monster musical<br />
comedy to life on stage in an all-singing,<br />
all-dancing musical. Opens 10 October.<br />
GARRICK THEATRE<br />
Charing Cross Road, WC2 (0330 333 4811)<br />
THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA<br />
Long running epic romance by Andrew Lloyd<br />
Webber, set behind the scenes of a Paris opera<br />
house where a deformed phantom stalks his prey.<br />
HER MAJESTY’S THEATRE<br />
Haymarket, SW1 (0844 412 2707)<br />
Clare Halse & Company in 42nd Street.<br />
Photo: Brinkhoff & Moegenburg<br />
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22<br />
CIGALA<br />
One of the secret delights of London,<br />
the backstreets of Bloomsbury remain<br />
unknown to many visitors, who find<br />
themselves culturally exhausted by the<br />
British Museum. Who can blame them?<br />
Such a treasure trove of antiquities<br />
makes shopping seem lightweight.<br />
Yet just a few hundred yards from<br />
Russell Square is the fascinating<br />
Brunswick Centre – a sort of<br />
architectural monument to civic pride,<br />
1970s style. It has been renovated and<br />
given listed building status so that no<br />
future arbiters of taste can knock it<br />
down.<br />
Those who feel like scowling at its<br />
pre-formed concrete balconies will<br />
almost certainly take more pleasure in<br />
the Foundling Museum, which tells the<br />
story of Britain’s first home for<br />
abandoned babies, set up by Sir Thomas<br />
Coram and his friend, the composer<br />
Friedrich Handel. The little mementoes<br />
left by the mothers of the foundlings – a<br />
lock of hair, a scrap of card – are heart<br />
breaking. Outside is Coram’s Field – to<br />
this day a park and playground where<br />
adults may only enter if accompanying a<br />
child.<br />
The best treat of this wander through<br />
the area, however, is Lamb’s Conduit<br />
Street. Together with Rugby Street (a<br />
side turning) it is home to some of the<br />
best boutiques and restaurants of<br />
Bloomsbury. Many are niche menswear<br />
outlets, like Oliver Spencer, Universal<br />
works or Simon Carter. But there is also<br />
the feminist publisher, Persephone<br />
Books, Susannah Hunter, who makes<br />
elaborate leather bags and even The<br />
People’s supermarket, a true cooperative<br />
store where locals can play<br />
shop and get a discount on their<br />
groceries.<br />
Still, if you don’t live there and will<br />
never benefit from such a scheme, I<br />
recommend a quick peek in Maggie<br />
Owen’s shop on Rugby Street, where the<br />
costume jewellery is both beautiful and<br />
surprising.<br />
And then there is always dinner.<br />
Or lunch. Lambs Conduit Street is a<br />
bustling hub for diners. At the top end,<br />
closest to the playground, families eat<br />
pasta on the pavement outside Ciao<br />
Bella. It is wildly popular and aroma of<br />
warm garlic quite hard to resist. Further<br />
south, Noble Rot is the name of a<br />
magazine for wine aficionados, now<br />
given to the wine bar where you can<br />
imbibe any number of luscious vintages<br />
alongside a simple British menu.<br />
Which brings us to Cigala, plumb<br />
opposite Noble Rot, a Spanish eatery<br />
beloved of local business people and<br />
doctors from Gt. Ormond Street hospital.<br />
It is also a favourite haunt of a lot of<br />
English people, who swear by the paella<br />
and tapas. In fact the family at the table<br />
closest to ours leant over to tell us that<br />
the paella was ‘just like you get in Spain’<br />
while I goggled at the sheer quantity of<br />
rice and seafood that three adults can<br />
apparently eat.<br />
Anyway we were not to be swayed.<br />
My main quest was a whole sea bream<br />
grilled to perfection, with creamy<br />
broccoli on the side. Then, serially, we<br />
tried lots of tapas. The salted Marcona<br />
almonds (£4.60) are excellent. The<br />
‘Jamon Serrano’ (£9) – a cured<br />
mountain ham – makes you swoon to be<br />
in Spain again, I would say. Lots of<br />
regulars were hoovering up the patatas<br />
bravas (fired potatoes with spicy tomato<br />
sauce) and the toast with ripe tomatoes,<br />
olive oil and garlic, but if you are ‘agin<br />
carbs’ then try the squid sizzled up with<br />
hot peppers for a protein treat. The only<br />
disappointment was a tiny dish of baked<br />
crab which turned out to be mainly<br />
breadcrumbs. The cheese board comes<br />
with very nice crisp bread full of fennel<br />
seeds and the dessert of orange jelly,<br />
chocolate mousse and black bean ice<br />
cream – a cute and tangy tower – is<br />
wonderful. It is apparently the invention<br />
of the restaurant’s owner and founder,<br />
Jake Hodges, and has been described as<br />
a chef’s satire on the Jaffa cake.<br />
The atmosphere at Cigala is sweetly<br />
relaxed. Not everything comes just at the<br />
right time, but the waiters are eager<br />
young Spaniards and the old-fashioned<br />
décor makes you think of a seaside<br />
eatery near the beach.<br />
Sue Webster<br />
54 Lamb’s Conduit Street,<br />
WC1N 3LW<br />
0207 405 1717<br />
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