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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...

Scenes from Liverpool St Station Thursday 17:35


Scenes from Liverpool St Station Thursday 17:35
Originally uploaded by Pauly_.

Watching England beat Trinidad and Tobago... At this stage no goals but plenty of beer... While I didn't watch the game you could tell how well England was doing by the silence. If there was a roar that dropped off instantly you knew there was a near-miss. A roar that continues means there was a goal... England are now through to the next round.

Interestingly at a hardware store the other day I was offered one of those flags for cars for free. I told the lady behind the counter I would be just fine without one...

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