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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 SW4 Saturday 13:43


Scenes from SW4 Saturday 13:43
Originally uploaded by Pauly_.

If you drive a really crap-looking car in London, then the chances are that you will have St George flags protruding from the back windows of it to show your support for England in the World Cup.

The flags are sold everywhere and are really cheap. This makes up for the extra £10-20 you are likely to spend on fuel consumption due to their drag if you have them up for the entire duration of the cup.

To be fair to England supporters, now that the cup has started other flags have appeared as well. On Friday I saw a Merc sporting both English and Mexican flags...

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