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The brown word: Death on the Throne @gatehouselondon

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We’re warned at the start of the show with an upbeat number that this is not the usual sort of musical. And it turns out to be just that. But with boundless enthusiasm and energy from its two leads, who deploy a range of voices and breathtaking energy to create a series of voices for puppet characters, a bedtime story becomes a silly oddball tale about four souls stuck in purgatory. With puppets. And various toilet humour references. It’s currently playing at Upstairs At The Gatehouse . The piece starts as a bedtime story. Daddy (Mark Underwood) is about to read a bedtime story for Louise (Sarah Louise Hughes). But her stomach felt funny, and soon, she went to the bathroom. Then, for reasons that seem to only make sense in the confines of the show, they start telling the story of four people who died in unfortunate circumstances in the bathroom. Depicted as puppets, they’re stuck in purgatory as St Peter doesn’t have enough space for each of them in the afterlife. And so begins a puppe...
At the hairdressing salon in Covent Garden

Asian woman: You are very rude man. You give bad service
Hairdresser Luke: Well I think you are rude. You wanted your hair straightened and now you want it curled but there isn't enough time to do this before we close
Asian woman: You are hopeless and your work is rubbish
Hairdresser Luke: Lady, go and get FUCKED!

At this point Hairdresser Luke threw the rubber anti-static thing that goes around the neck at her and picked up his bag and stormed off out of the shop. I sat there wondering whether (a) he hurt the woman with this rubber device and (b) whether he was coming back as until this little drama unfolded he was due to cut my hair. Fortunately he did come back to cut my hair. He didn't say much but it was the most aggressive chop I have had. There was raw aggression in his texturing...

This woman sounded like she was a nightmare. I say sounded as I sat in a chair on the other side of the mirror where she was. I couldn't see what she was like except for noting her cheap shoes. Well, Covent Garden hairdressers are passionate about their craft...

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Play ball: Damn Yankees @LandorTheatre

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Damn Yankees at the Landor Theatre is one hell of a fun, sexy show. A great cast of dancers and singers give this show about a man who sells his soul to get on his beloved baseball team (and give them a chance of winning) new legs and balls. It also helps to up the ante with the sexiness with some healthy doses of cleavage and legs (and that's just the men). The musical is a retelling of the Faust story set in the 1950s when the New York Yankees dominated the game.
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