To See Tennant, or Not To See Tennant? That, is the Question

And last night the answer was, unfortunately, ‘not’. As has been widely reported, David Tennant has had to pull out of his acclaimed and rapidly sold-out performance of Hamlet in London until at least Christmas. For those of us who had been excitedly waiting to see the man himself in action, having been fortunate enough to get tickets in the few hours they were available, this was a bit of a blow. Thankfully, the rest of the amazing cast put on a show that will not soon be forgotten, and his under-study – thrust unexpectedly into the limelight before a London audience for an extended run – does a bang up job. He’s not Tennant, although at times you feel from his mannerisms he’s trying to be, but Edward Bennet carries of a complex role with aplomb.

Aye, the play’s the thing, and all the world’s a stage. So what of it? The stage opens dark and mysterious, lit just by the lights of the soldiers on the battlements, and it is then you notice that the entire stage is semi-mirrored as the soldiers’ lights bounce off the ground onto their faces. This amazing setup is used to great effect throughout the play, with minimal stage furniture and subtle lighting you are transported to a gothic castle at various times of the day. The huge mirrored panels at the rear rotate, allowing people to enter and exeunt at various times in different ways – and semi-mirrored glass gives us the necessary arras to hide behind. Later, the rear glass itself becomes even more of an actor – refelecting the sudden death of a key character. I feel that we were lucky in the Grand Circle – seats C11/12 – in that we literally had a perfect view down onto this mirrored stage, seeing the actors from both sides is grabbing and makes you appreciate what can be done on stage.

Against this stunning scenery, the players are caringly lit as they deliver characters with such precision and emotional force that you’re swept along. Patrick Stewart’s Claudius is at times the caring father, at others the malevolent plotter, and at all points believable. Polonius, played by Oliver Ford Davis is a revelation – a stumbling buffon who mutters and loses words that can still be heard across the auditorium (thankfully unlike the time he has to stage whisper words to Laertes stand-in). Hamlet’s mother Gertrude was engagingly played by Penny Downie, capturing to full effect her concerns about Hamlet’s mind and soul. Strong players all, and the only flat spots seem to be where the understudies are having to find their feet suddenly as all the roles shift. So what of the biggest shift? Our new Hamlet was spot on – word perfect and emotionally ranging. Perhaps he’s not quite as mercurial as we would have expected Tennant to be, but he’s starting to make the role his own – and hopefully by the end of his run he will have done so. Even at such short notice he delivers the goods. Encore!

So, to David – get well soon, we hope to see you on stage somewhere somewhen. To the rest of the performers – thank you for popping my Hamlet cherry with a stunning show.

Inspiring Obama Mural

This inspiring Obama mural is highly prominent outside the Art Basel show in Miami right now. It’s another great example of the Obama fervour that is consuming the US and the rest of the world right now. Of course some folk are looking at the administration team he’s put together and saying “More of the same then…” as it’s so Clinton-esqe, and this resonates badly with Obama’s campaign cry of “Change”. For my mind we’ll have to wait and see, and given the amount of obviously disruptive legislation the Republicans are throwing up in their last few weeks, that wait might be a while. We can only hope part of the promised change includes suitable impeachments for people who felt that the US was allowed to operate outside of the moral consensus in its pursuit of so-called terrorists. Somehow I feel we’ll be disappointed on that front. [From coolHunting].

“Oh, the squirrel-manity!”

There’s one thing you can guarantee about an Eddie Izzard gig… that there will be a wide selection of animals exclaiming about some issue affecting their lives, oh and a healthy dose of history. Guess what – he still delivers all that, and much more, but what’s missing is his usual choice of sparkly clothing. For some reason, Mr Izzard is now cutting a suave figure in jeans, white shirt and a long backed jacket for his Stripped tour in London. This shouldn’t come as such a surprise, since last time we saw him in Montreal he was wearing much the same, but tonight was a much, much better show. Tighter, more laughs, and more cute animals complaining about over-crowding on the ark.

Stripped is standard Eddie fare, ramblingly hilarious discursions on how the world can be put to rights, how cool iPhones are and how giraffes hide. What’s good to see is that after so long punting the LA stand-up scene, he seems very happy to be back on home ground. The jokes seem more relevant to a UK audience, although at times the American references passed most of the audience by. That said, the audience didn’t seem to mind – and that audience included random celebrity attendees Lenny Henry & Dawn French.

So another big thanks to Mr Izzard for another splendid night, and to those of you who don’t have tickets – get your arses down to the returns queue like we did and keep your fingers crossed! It’s worth the wait.

Cross the Street, From Your Storefront Cemetary


TV on the Radio @ Shepherd’s Bush Empire
Originally uploaded by ultrahi.

Last night I was lucky enough to see the excellent TV on the Radio at Shepherd’s Bush Empire. Apparently I was luckier than I knew, as tickets sold out in three hours – thanks for the early warning TVOTR mailing list! Although I’m unlikely to beat the awesome first time I saw them in the back room of Union Pool, I have to say that last night’s gig was the second best – and that’s high praise indeed. The guys were rocking! Previous gigs had felt a bit like they weren’t comfortable on stage, but last night they owned it and offered us a mix of high energy versions of their rock out songs, and soulful introspection in spades where needed.

As usual Dave Sitek hid out back with Gerald and Jaleel – as Kyp and Tunde worked the front of the stage. Kyp’s usually epic afro was only at half mast, but the bushiness of his beard more than made up for it. Together they prowled the stage, after Kyp’s sit down opposite Dave for an opening intro to Young Liars – a great way to start. The set list ran the gamut of all their albums, with plenty of crowd pleasers such as Wolf Like Me. The highlight had to be the finale – a techno tinged version of Staring at the Sun. What could be better? Other than being back in Union Pool, of course.

Don’t Burn After Reading!

Last night we went to see the Coen Brothers’ latest, Burn After Reading, at the Curzon Soho – after an abortive attempt to go see it at the over-mirrored, off-putting Apollo Picadilly. For those of you who don’t know, Burn After Reading is a dark comedy set around the ‘Intelligence’ scene in Washington DC, with a roster of acting stars the likes of which is normally only seen in Soderberg movies – Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Tilda Swinton, John Malkovitch, Frances Dormand and many more. With all those talents vying for space you’d think the movie might end up over-baked, but it’s an amazing set of twists, turns, laughs and surprises as you might expect from such talented film makers as the Coens. Definately a must see, especially for fans of the Coens.

The Curzon was, as usual, showing an interesting range of previews most of which looked like great films. One in particular caught my eye – Steven Soderberg’s two part epic Che. This true to life biopic, previously called ‘The Argentine and the Guerilla’, follows the life of Che Guevera from his early days as an Argentine doctor through to cultural icon that he is now. Che is played by Benicio del Toro and goes through an amazing range of body sizes along the way. All looks very exciting, although the early reviews are somewhat mixed.

BTW, How come it costs £12 or more to go to the cinema in London these days? This comes as a brutal shock after getting used to $12 in New York for, what I’d imagine, is the same film just with bigger, more comfortable seats (to fit the larger gentleman). I don’t think cinema’s can blame pirates for a decrease in film attendance when they’re gouging us like that!

New Job

I’ve been pretty quiet blogging recently, and most of that has been down to being back in the daily 9 to 5 of a full-time position again. The lucky folks to have the pleasure of my company are Mkodo – who make one of the best mobile platforms in the biz, ready to provide all your SMS, WAP and other mobile delivery needs as and when you want. All very exciting, and only a short(ish) scenic walk from home in the center of happening Shoreditch. Splendid news indeed for all fans of Nathan Barley such as I.

Huzah – I Was Right!

Surprisingly, my joke post from the morning of the US Election turned out to be correct. We sat in the Sun and Doves and watched the results roll in till 4am British time, when Barack Obama was confirmed as the first black President of America. An auspicious night indeed, and a welcome one as witnessed by the raucous cheering whenever Obama won a state and booing when McCain did the same.

So now we just have to wait and see how Obama’s winning campaign based on positive forward thinking translates into a post-Bush administration. As Obama himself says, America won’t turn itself around overnight, but I believe that he’s given many Americans something they haven’t had in a long time, perhaps in their entire lives – hope, and a vision of a future where individuals can effect positive change not only in themselves, but in their country. One can only hope that this new vision of the American Dream, writ in human flesh by Obama, survives meeting reality. Even if it only inspires a small percentage of people, these people are likely to be in the parts of society where hope is most needed as a valuable currency.

For me the best part is that the nightmare that was George W Bush can shortly end, and not just end with a tailing off, but end with a full stop. The end. Finito. I truly believe that people will look back on his time in the White House as some of the darkest days of American history. America needs hope and positivity right now, not just for themselves, but also to restore their lost goodwill in the rest of the world, and Obama is the right choice at this time. Huzah!

EU Facists Ban Un-Aryan Vegetables?

One of the great things about being back in the good ol’ U of K is that now our century old ways of doing things get regularly over-turned by the bunch of failed politicians who comprise the EU. In all fairness, some things they do are quite sensible, but other rules just seem to be rules for rules sake. For example, national supermarket Sainsbury’s is currently complaining to the EU about their ban on ‘ugly’ veg. This ban prevents any shop from selling veg that doesn’t meet certain standards – such as too small cauliflowers, forked carrots and the like. In this time of eco-policies and tight financial markets, being told to throw away up to 20% of their supplies seems a bit bonkers mental to me. What’s next? EU veg inspectors setting up checkpoints down the allotment to check every vegetable you take home to your family?

Right, rant over.. I’m back off to finish reading my Daily M*il.

The Results Are In: Obama Wins!

Yay, Obama! Unfortunately, that’s only for the first town in America to open it’s poll.. Dixville Notch. the 21 registered voters gathered just after midnight and declared themselves overwhelmingly for Obama, in a town that has consistently voted Republican since 1968. Now if this result were to be repeated across the US today we could expect Obama to win in a landslide, taking 71% of the vote.

Of course anyone with even a slightest understanding of statistics will realise that one small town of 21 voters is never going to offer a reliable poll for the whole nation. Still, we can but hope – and with McCain now fervently spouting Obama’s ‘We need change’ slogan himself, you can only agree with his obvious endorsement of Obama’s presidency. So off you go good gentlefolk of the fine United States, head to the pools and do some good for yourselves and the rest of the world today.

The Next Doctor?

Well it’s now official that David Tennant is leaving Doctor Who. Sad news indeed as he created such a great take on the character, one that has introduced the Doctor to a new generation and even convinced a few die hards that Tom Baker’s run could at least be equalled. Unfortunately although Tennant’s Doctor is as compelling as Baker’s, his run on the show is nowhere near as epic – Baker did seven series, man and scarf.

So now it’s a big thanks to David for all the good times, and onto the usual flurry of speculation as to who will be next. I don’t envy them, they have some hard shoes to fill. David gave as a dark, somewhat tortured Doctor, so you have to think another direction would be good – lighter, but not too comedic. I’d still love to see Eddie Izzard give it a go, but suspect that won’t happen. Perhaps they could get Mitchell and/or Webb to try, that’d be an interesting twist to follow on from the Two Doctors storyline at the end of the last series. All these folk would be fun to watch, but I suspect we need someone with a few more actorly chops, and a bit of Shakespearean experience as the ‘Sci Fi Shakespeare’ angle is always a winner.