Top 'n Tail

There seems to have been something deeply frenetic about the opening of the new season here in London. Aside from vague attempts to continue some kind of personal life – more of that later – I seem to have been seeing loads of shows. Sometimes up to four in a week. It’s been mad. It’s almost as if, with the credit crunch looming, producers are desperate to grab your entertainment budget for the rest of the year, before you spend it on food.

To begin with, upon returning from Gran Canaria, I went to see Joan Rivers at the Leicester Square venue, courtesy of PR guru Kevin Wilson. ‘Nana Newface’ was on top form as usual although there was an odd twist to her usual stand-up routine, in that she fashioned and marketed it as a play. It was her usual routine except with a set and 3 other playing the roles of producer, make-up artist and flunky. Whilst I was not reviewing Miss Rivers I was reviewing Miss Barr at the end of October. I was a big fan of Rosanne through the eighties and early nineties, so I was really looking forward to seeing one of my heroines live.

Had I had to buy a ticket to this show I would have been severely disappointed and I can only wonder what Ireland and Amsterdam are going to make of her act. She was only doing two dates in London and the evening I was there, there were plenty of seats available.