Venue:

Leicester Square Theatre, London

Date: 12/03/2018

You often read tales of the late Robin Williams turning up at comedy clubs, going on and sucking all energy and laughs out of an audience. Well I hadn’t witnessed that first hand until last night as Brian Blessed took over Rcihard’s podcast. Many find Blessed an annoying bore – I am so not one of them.

Of course he came on and yelled “GORDON’S ALIVE!!!!”. Of course he swore more in the first 30 seconds than the whole of the Goodfellas script. Of course he told stories you had heard before but with such enthusiasm and energy it was like it were for the first time.

His tales, whether tall or true took in Picasso, General Zhukov, Paul Robeson, Peter O Toole, John Geilgud, randy gorillas, Patrick Stewart, Huw Weldon, going to Mars, Everest, nudity, all manner of bodily functions and parts. The man in in his eighties but seemed incapable of sitting still, preferring to act out his adventures. I think Richard may have got four questions asked in 90 minutes which Brian’s publicist later told him was more than anyone else so far on the book tour. He » Continue Reading.

Venue:

Theatro Technis, Camden Town, London

Date: 02/03/2018

On a bitterly cold snowy night, down a darkened lane we knock loudly on the assigned but resolutely closed wooden door. After some scuffling a bearded figure appears and brusquely enquires “Are you here for the induction?” before we are hurried inside the Ministry Of Truth. After our names and motives are noted we assemble in the Party bar with encouragement to drink Victory gin. The times of the days executions are displayed for our information.

As you may have guessed, Angharad Ormond’s staging of George Orwell’s dystopian benchmark by which all other dystopian or fascist regimes fictional / real have been measured, endlessly parodied and lovingly plagiarised is an immersive experience. Normally these would fill me with dread as I am very much of the “look I paid to see you to the entertaining, not to be a prop” school but the more you go with the world created the more affecting and intense the experience. Those who sit at the front needn’t worry that they will be dragged up into Room 101 in some twisted pantomime but there are plenty of interactive devices deployted to make the audience » Continue Reading.

Venue:

Royal Festival Hall, Southbank, London

Date: 13/12/2017

I think anyone who has followed The Unthanks career from small folk club nights above pubs to the acoustic dreambox on the south of the Thames knows this is exactly where they were headed. Although at the same time it shows a will to break out from their roots and do what they bloody well please.

I recall when I first saw them I went online to discover more and encountered unrest on the folk forums. They had just signed a deal with a major label to distribute their acclaimed 2nd album ‘The Bairns’ and this was seen as worse than the devil himself. I thought notions of ‘selling out’ or ‘breadheads’ had died with Jerry Garcia but it was alive and well in the straitjacket folk cognoscenti. They appeared to miss that this was a fresh unique pair of voices that could reach a larger audience. They hate being labelled, as anything and have always defied expectations.

I had seen The Unthanks perform with an orchestra in Liverpool in 2015 and they were clearly nervous about the performance. Tonight they showed no signs of anxiety as an early doors » Continue Reading.

Venue:

Royal Festival Hall, Southbank, London

Date: 13/12/2017

I think anyone who has followed The Unthanks career from small folk club nights above pubs to the acoustic dreambox on the south of the Thames knows this is exactly where they were headed. Although at the same time it shows a will to break out from their roots and do what they bloody well please.

I recall when I first saw them I went online to discover more and encountered unrest on the folk forums. They had just signed a deal with a major label to distribute their acclaimed 2nd album ‘The Bairns’ and this was seen as worse than the devil himself. I thought notions of ‘selling out’ or ‘breadheads’ had died with Jerry Garcia but it was alive and well in the straitjacket folk cognoscenti. They appeared to miss that this was a fresh unique pair of voices that could reach a larger audience. They hate being labelled, as anything and have always defied expectations.

I had seen The Unthanks perform with an orchestra in Liverpool in 2015 and they were clearly nervous about the performance. Tonight they showed no signs of anxiety as an early doors » Continue Reading.