Pushing 28

It's probably preposterous bad luck to mention it but I am 1 single pound away from having lost 2 stones, since I have been on my diet. For the tens of you out there who may read my blog, it started in February and I have gradually lost an average of a pound and a half per week since.

According to the slips that get printed from the weighing in machine each week, I am still overweight and have a good 2 stone 9 pounds to loose before I reach my ideal BMI. BMI, my arse!!!

Swimalot!

It is now only Thursday and I have already swum 7 miles this week. This has partially been due to the fact that I have decided to take full advantage of my Swim London Membership - £26 per month - that allows me access to any of 40 council pools in the London area. As I was going to The Stag twice this week, rather than hanging around waiting in a pub spending money, I decided to brave visiting a new pool - namely the Oasis Leisure Centre on Shaftesbury Avenue. Going to a new pool is a bit daunting for me and I knew that Oasis might be really popular, ie full of gorgeous hunky men.

It is actually true. Oasis is full of gorgeous hunky men and it is really odd to suddenly go from being one of the youngest people in the locker room (Streatham Common) to being one of the oldest. There is a choice of two pools to swim in, one indoors and the other outside and after the usual game new people play in a locker room - the "How Do I Get To The Pool" dance - I was rather surprised. Both pools seemed really small but I opted for the outside.

I realise we are blessed in Streatham with a 30m pool but even at 27m it seemed tiny - and very full. Very fit guys were hanging around doing very determined lunges and pools-side stretching whilst others appeared to be doing specially measured strokes up and down the pool. I tentatively dipped my toe in and prepared for the worst. Further surprises! It was REALLY warm. Warmer than Streatham Pool. In fact, it took me all of about 5 minutes to work out that the muscle guys who were lapping the pool were not doing special excercises - they were simply slow swimmers. Pretty to look at but a bit slow and even slower to get out of the way for a turn. Still it was great fun swimming outdoors in the centre of London and I look forward to doing it more often in the future. Hurrah for Swim London!

Blink! And You Missed It

I never really expected it but the Above The Stag Theatre has provided me with my first official Fringe Theatre credit. Yes, after all these years of seeing theatre on the Fringe somebody has actually stopped and asked my opinion. Whilst I was attending a production earlier this year, Artistic Director Peter Bull said that he had some spare time free in the theatre and what did I think about them doing a revue - songs from the shows, that sort of thing. My response was that if he wished to do a show then to do something with a theme, rather than a selection from Les Mis, Funny Girl and the like... Peter went on to elaborate on prospective performers from Imagine This, Marguerite, Desperately Seeking Susan, Gone With The Wind and then it occured to me that he had his perfect theme - songs from the shows that closed. We talked excitedly - the only possible way to talk with Peter - on the prospect of other corkers that might be included and how you could also include well-known tunes from shows that did badly when they originally opened.

Before long, Peter was announcing Blink! and would I like a credit in the programme?

Well naturally I was not asked to review the show but I have now seen it 2 1/2 times - don't ask me to explain - and I think it is REALLY great! I hasten to add that all of the credit has to go to Peter, Tim McArthur and the excellent cast for choosing the numbers and actually putting the show together. I have to admit, I expected a rather bemusing evening instead of which I was thoroughly entertained and informed. Additionally there have been some really good reviews, not only from The Stage but also Whatsonstage, Roger Foss, Mark Shenton and even QX magazine.

Catch the show if you can. You won't regret it, whether you are a Musical Theatre lover or not.

It's True There Were Storm Clouds.....

Heavy, black and pendulous.

The Ghost of Auditions Past

A couple of weeks ago I traveled back down to the city where I was born - Gloucester. It was terribly sad to see how the mixture of apathy and a recession seems to have hit the place. The city centre, normally alive on a Saturday night was like a ghost town and whilst I was rather looking forward to a meal at the New Inn carvery, the place was deserted, the toilets filthy and the staff, perhaps understandably, bored. Instead we ate at the Bell Inn, managed by the gorgeous Nick Fullbrook where I treated my guests to a delicious fillet steak.

On the up-side, I did attend no less than THREE community fetes on the Saturday afternoon and little has changed with these. The cake stands groaned with food and I relished both my Rock Cake with the traditional plastic cup of tea and a whole Coffee and Walnut Cake - albeit shared with my colleagues on the day of the auditions.

The auditions were for the Gloucester Operatic & Dramatic Society production of Scrooge! It was rather a fun day, filled with old familiar faces and a few surprises along the way. All in all it was a good weekend. It was lovely to spend some quality time with Rowena and we managed to catch up on things. I also got to see Nick again - always a joy - and my nephew George, who recognised me, which actually made my night. On the down side, I have had to question some old friendships and to an extent, I felt let down. Perhaps they may come around, I don't know. Time will tell.

Eek! Too exciting!

They have released the first images of Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. Notice the Mad Hat! designed by the sexiest milliner in Norbiton.

Hoxton & Islington

Two very artsy, fartsy places where this week I saw two plays on gay themes. Not unusual in itself, but very different in terms of concept and aim. Frank's Closet evidently had a large amount of money behind it, evidenced by the design and a big cheque to the Arts Council. The problem is that the show wasn't particularly good and was badly miscast. It was obvious that they were aiming at merging gender roles but it was at the expense of narrative clarity. It seems to have been produced by a committee, judging by the amount of boxes being ticked. And whilst the pretty boys in underwear were indeed pretty - that's all they were. No great shakes at singing, acting or dancing - in fact, completely superfluous. So much so, that they were hired from a Model Agency rather that a drama school. Well I am sure the auditions must have been a hoot!

Narrative clarity wasn't so much in question at What's Wrong With Angry? at the King's Head Theatre. Cutting edge when it appeared in the 90's it now comes across as sounding like the rather petulant ranting of a middle aged gay man, speaking through a teenage school boy. I couldn't help compare it to another play of the period, Beautiful Thing. At a recent revival of BT at the late Sound Theatre I was rather surprised at how the emotional centre of the play is actually the Mother's struggle to bring up her son, rather than her sons burgeoning relationship with the boy next door. To this end, Beautiful Thing will remain a timeless classic because its centre is emotional rather than political.

Boots of Shame 2009

Once again this year I was asked by Howard to assist with what turned out to be the final installment of Gay Shame. This year the venue was the Brixton Academy and the theme was Femininity. Howard came up with the idea of a Beauty Salon offering treatments and makeovers on both the clients faces and their clothes. Their clothes were passed through a hatch to a sweat shop, where others attempted to earn money by embellishing t-shirts and jeans with flounces, rosettes and glitter. My task along with Paul Rogers, was to do the make-up, whilst Howard stood on reception looking girly.
We all agreed to shave our beards off for this and I must say, I can 't wait to get mine back. Happily I look dead rough as a woman, whilst Paul managed to look totally fabulous. Big thanks to Jules for doing my make-up, a hard job at the best of times!