He Is Risen!

Easter Sunday was great fun and I thoroughly enjoyed the cooking, eating and alcohol frenzy that seemed to ensue. Paul and Simon joined us for a lunch of Roast Lamb and later I went mad with a Chocolate Fountain.

You need the sound on for this bit!

Retro Who

Saturday night I met up with Howard and Jonathan to watch Doctor Who and the Planet of the Dead on the big screen at the Retro Bar. It was really good to see them both again and I paid Howard for my portrait. It was also good to see Robin again, who looks very well and Griff who is as cheeky as ever. Lloyd was working there too and a good time was had by all. I must say, though, that I was a complete lightweight later on and refused to carry on to Duckie. To be honest, I was really knackered from only having about four hours sleep the night before and…. I hadn’t planned it, of course! Hee hee

Big Weigh-In

Well, not particularly special but eventful in that I have now lost 9lbs. Wowsa!

Meet Chick

Sean brought this from John Lewis for his two year old niece. Naturally I had to have one too. He’s sooooo cute!

Seasonal Baking

In my bid to become even more of a catch for a busy working man, here is an example of my first ever home made Hot Cross Buns!

Great Thursday, Good Friday

I was really looking forward to Easter this year. I think it was because I hadn’t been on any sort of holiday and whilst money hasn’t been tight, I have had to be a little more careful because I no longer have the hotel job. Either way, I had bought lots of gorgeous things to eat over the holiday and with Lent ending, I was looking forward to a few of those naughty goodies I had missed to much. Sean always tells me that I plan things too much and I suppose I do. It’s odd really and whilst not a bad thing as such, when things don’t go according to my plans I get easily frustrated. The thing is, I have had such a precarious life, short term plans represent stability and comfort for me.

Anyway most of my plans came to fruition over the weekend so naturally, I was pretty much made up. There was also room for some changes too! I ordered chocolate goodies from Montezumo, Sean’s favourite chocolatier to be delivered to his home for Easter. Expensive but definitely worth it! On Thursday evening we both met up at Waterloo and travelled to the New End Theatre for a production about Gertrude Lawrence staring Anita Harris. For a woman pushing 70 she still looks amazing! Sadly, the play was a little lame and the wigs, atrocious! You know when wigs or make-up are good or bad in a show if I mention them as I generally don’t mention them in a review.

Travelling home Sean took me to Livebait for fish and chips, which was terribly romantic and then we grabbed the train back to Kingston. The next morning, late (ho-hum :-)) I cooked Kedgeree for Sean and we settled down to watch The Greatest Story Ever Told before I trundled home – with a Montezumo egg of my own, of course.

Howard's View

Commissioned work by Howard James Hardiman.

Facebook

I am now on Facebook, although I am not sure how long for. It all seems really complicated and appears to take for ever to download. I don't know if I am doing it right, but let's face it, if I can get this blog up and running then Facebook should be a cinch. To be honest, I am not sure if I will find it all that useful.

Here to fight the force of Evil!

1000mm x 1000mm Acrylic and Diamante on canvas - For Sale

A Life In Theatre

Of course, one of the reasons that I have not been blogging much recently is that I have been working quite hard, trying to save enough money for a holiday with Sean this year. It is interesting to see the West End during a recesion; hearing all the gossip and speculation. Artistically I think we are in an interesting theatrical period which will provide much for the future. The changes are not so much on stage at the moment as off stage as a new creature - the 'people who don't normally go to the theatre' - ventures into town.

For years we have been bitchin' that shows are not getting the audiences they require in order to survive a decent run. Well the emergence of the 'PWDNGTTT' appears to be addressing that balance and we have to deal with it. Essentially, it refers to a generation who behave in a theatre as if they were in a bar/cinema/their own lounge. They have no sense of theatre etiquette and will innocently chat, pop out for a cigarette or to replenish their drink as if no one notices.

On the whole I welcome these changes - audiences in the West End used to Boo, Jeer or Riot if the leading lady never turned up. We are far to polite these days, in my opinion. Anyhow, I have been all over the place over the last few weeks, from Priscilla through to Polly Rae. Polly proved to be fun as I was offered as many ticket as I wanted so it was a chance to catch up with people and we all went in a group which was great fun. I also got to meet Paul's boyfriend, Alberto who was lovely.

Other shows included Blok Busta - a dreadful example of a team who assumed witing a musical is a piece of piss and wrote one that sounded like a stream of piss. Too harsh? Probably. Some of the songs were OK but there was no narrative structure to them and the story was terrible. The leading man was quite good though, although I have never seen an actor who is impossible to Google. Ben Craig seems to have no history.

We Ate All The Pies was a chance to see Bears in burlesque and only proved that they should stay in the pubs. Thoroughly unprepared and shoddily put together. In fact the PR of the venue suggested I have a few drinks before seeing the show?!?!?!?!

Baking

I must say, I am really getting into baking this year and bread in particular. Aside from the satifaction it can bring, it tastes really good. I would recommend it to anyone and particularly to Mums and Dads who want to get their kids interested in cooking. There. That's my Delia moment over and done with.

Cassie Does Cornwall

Despite this cunning disguise...

Rowah does not get served at the bar.

A Mini Break

It is extremely rare that I get out of London and when I do, I usually can't wait to get back home. That said, I ended up really looking forward to going down to Cornwall to celebrate Janine's 40th birthday this month. Admittedly I had to forego several jobs and an opening night to do it but once it was fixed in my mind I began to look forward to the event. The lovely Cassie - Jule's mate was kind enough to drive us down there and we were joined - by way of a surprise - by Janine and Julie's friend Alex from the US. The four of us huddled into Cassie's car and began the long journey, via several service stations, to Northshore, Bude.

Whilst it is a cripplinly long journey - min 5 hours - it went by surprising smoothly and it wasn't long before we were making Janine cry. Tears of joy I hasten to add!



The party took place on the Saturday and I must say I had a fabulous time. Rory and Marina came too and arrived at Saturday lunch time and I used the weekend to spend some quality time with their little boy who is a complete sweetheart. The party went with a bang and we all nursed sore head on Sunday morning. It was great to see Janine and Sean looking so happy together and to make matters even better - the weather was gorgeous too!

Oliver Who?

I much prefer my own fella in the big hat!

Feathers and Glitter and Fluff – oh my!

As usual, I became monstrously behind with my feature for Make-up Artist Magazine. I don’t know why as I only have to write three pieces a year. The problem usually lies in the nature of make-up in the West End (my remit.) On the face of it - if you will forgive the expression – there appears to be very little make-up on stage in the West End. Obviously there used to be the BIG make-up shows like Cats! and Starlight Express but of those glory days only Phantom of the Opera remains with Tanya Noor doing sterling work at the Prince of Wales Theatre. The problem lies in the productions themselves where all actors seem to be constantly told that 'Nobody wears make-up in theatre anymore.' Over the years I have seen all sorts of excuses for no make-up from budget cuts to (bizarrely) over-spending. Whatever the results please make a note of this statement -

YOU NEED MAKE-UP WHEN YOU APPEAR ON STAGE !!!

I review a lot of plays, seeing various budgets and I never (or rather rarely) comment on the look of the actors - there simply isn't time in my review. But so often I seen poor complexions, anachronistic eye-make and many other examples of the actors personal life slipping into the characters on-stage life.

Being Unwell!

Earlier last month I had a bad cold that knocked me sideways. I hate being ill and I am possibly the worst patient going so naturally everything in my life fell apart. I couldn’t see Sean, I couldn’t swim, I couldn’t got to work and to top it all off, I lost 6 pounds! I suppose it could be considered the light at the end of the tunnel.

Shocking!

You know, for a writer I am absolutely hopeless at trying to keep this blog up-to-date. I apologise to those who actually read it and I shall endeavour to bring myself up-to-date as quickly as possible this fine, Sunday morning. Sean has commented that I should write no matter what happens, rather than waiting for an event and he has really hit the nail on the head with that. This is supposed to be a kind of therapy - not a Z-list version of Hello! I shall therefore do a bulk post now and SERIOUSLY try to keep up - with both images and copy. Enough said.