Paul in London

Saturday morning over breakfast, we were discussing how it was possible to have sex with a cat. There was a general consensus at the table that it would be quite difficult as unlike a cow, a goat ( Silvia perhaps), or a big dog , a cat would have other ideas. I hypothesised that perhaps the cat could be used like some sort of muff . Such was the fascinating conversation that ensued after seeing Grasses of A Thousand Colours at the Royal Court on Friday evening. This play is part of the Wallace Shawn season at the Royal Court , and is a world premiere featuring Miranda Richardson , Jennifer Tilly and Shawn himself. Shawn plays a scientist who has managed to manipulate the food chain with rather surprising results. In amongst all that he has three women in his life and sex with a cat that ends up bruising his penis (or giving it a funny colour at least). Most of the story unfolds through a series on monologues. A series of monologues that lasted nearly three hours with only two ten m...

Thanks to the West End Whingers , I had long held a ticket to Tuesday night's preview of The Cherry Orchard. This was a show that Time Out listed this week as the one thing you should go and see. I always have relied on friends, bloggers or just passing people on the street to be slightly fashionable and this was no exception. I was lucky too as the play turned out to be a real treat. Confusingly however, I had the play in my diary as the Bridge Project . Well that is the name of the co-production between the Old Vic, the Brooklyn Academy of Music and Neal Street Productions, under the direction of Sam Mendes . The acting troupe including Simon Russell Beale, Ethan Hawke and Rebecca Hall will perform Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard and Shakespeare's The Winters Tale at the Old Vic over the summer here before continuing to various other locations around the world for the next two years. It has been described as a new model for theatrical productions , which hopefully does no...

Headline News , originally uploaded by SteveM51 . The third tube baby in history... Ew...

Gnomes Invade Chelsea Flower Show , originally uploaded by LinkMachineGo . The invasion of the gnomes starts in Chelsea...

Maybe after watching Angels and Demons on Friday, I was in the mood for something with a little less action, fewer explosions and better dialogue; but I actually enjoyed watching the Saturday matinee performance of Madame De Sade . The play, which is nearing the end of its run, has had largely negative reviews in The Times and The Telegraph (and luke warm reviews in the Guardian and Evening Standard ). The review in the Telegraph prompted Dame Judi Dench to describe the Telegraph's critic as an absolute s--- . Well to be fair to both, the quality of theatre criticism in London is dire, and this will probably not be the most memorable of Dench's performances on stage (as she mostly has to move between being outraged, cunning and just over it all). However all that being said, there is much to go for the play, particularly the quality of the acting, the fabulous costumes, wigs, lighting and set. I had been forewarned that the action takes place off stage and the drama unfolds...

Sometimes it is good not to be the first to see some things. In the case of the first preview of La Cage Aux Folles I saw in November 2007 it was hard to tell what would become of it. Particularly since many technical problems (like curtains not coming up and so forth), made it hard to watch. Well last year it transferred to the West End and became one of the big hits of 2008. Having finally caught it in a proper theatre it is easy to see its appeal. Some updated observations: It is a family musical (of sorts) and the enjoyment of the show probably depends on how much you believe the performances by the two male leads. In this case, the run now has Roger Allam and Philip Quast in the lead roles and they can come up with the goods. Within moments from when they appeared on stage and started arguing you could believe that they were a couple who had been living together for over twenty years. The group I was with were initially disappointed that Graham Norton had finished his run, but...

img_0893 , originally uploaded by Paul-in-London . The slow and overly detailed drip of news about MPs expenses continues... Well at least the headlines are sort of entertaining...

Hackney Gazette, Stoke Newington , originally uploaded by Fin Fahey . Or rather... Something for everybody in Stoke Newington...