Wassuuuuuup. Happy 2015! I was going to wait to do a hello again post until after I’d caught up with all my reviewing, but to be honest that day may never come (see list below). So here I am. Still alive, still pigging about in south London and you know, various theatres. However, I have some news. From mid-April this year I will be trotting myself back up to my homeland of the north (Newcastle, to be precise) to live there instead of here. I won’t technically be a Brixpig any longer (even though now I’m really a Hernepig anyway), and I’m not sure what I’ll do about this blog. I’ll probably carry on. I’ll let ya know.
In the meantime, I am planning to massively enjoy my last few months in our fair capital. I spent New Year’s Eve at my friend’s lovely boarding school in Banbury, drinking half pints of prosecco in the common room and dancing round tables, eating excessive amounts of carrot sticks and dicking about with sparklers. And this year I have already seen some stupendous theatre, eaten a load of leftover Christmas cheese, discovered Magic FM’s new Sunday evening radio show starring John Barrowman (you know you want to), and eaten more bags of Mini Eggs than I care to think about.
Music-wise, I am still loving Bleachers who I get to see in February (yesssss), and HIGHLY recommend Marina and the Diamonds’s new stuff – she is releasing one new song a month until the Froot album release in April and I can confirm that they are all brilliant so far (particularly Immortal). And in my traditional style, I’m about six months behind the rest of the world and have just discovered how amazing Sia is. I am obsessed with her album. This video of her new single Elastic Heart is amazing (and features Maddie from Dance Moms – who knew my mother’s TV viewing was actually on trend?).
Telly-wise, I’m catching up with new episodes of Girls and Glee (both underwhelming but I’m sticking with them), and undertook the perhaps unwise feat of watching series 1 and 2 of Broadchurch simultaneously. I have now seen the whole of series 1 so can rumble along with the rest of the nation from this point on – so glad to see Eve Myles back on my screen, she is a cracker. Episodes is also back in the US (and therefore online…) and is on top form so far – Greig, Mangan and le Blanc are a dream trio. Final recommendation is Catastrophe, which started a couple of weeks ago on channel 4 and is fucking hilarious – just watch it and I guarantee you’ll be laughing out loud.
COMING UP IN 2015: The Changeling at the Wanamaker How to Hold Your Breath at the Royal Court (Maxine Peake!) London Gin Festival Bleachers at Bush Hall Stevie at Hampstead Theatre (Zoe Wanamaker!) Antigone at the Barbican (Juliette Binoche!) The Broken Heart at the Wanamaker Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown at the Playhouse (Tamsin Greig!) Sweeney Todd at the Coliseum (Emma Thompson!!) Fleetwood Mac again in Leeds (Christine McVie!)
And when I finally get my writing shit together, here is what you can expect to see, reviews-wise: ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore Kylie Electra Urinetown The Crucible Dirty Rotten Scoundrels Chrissie Hynde Edward Scissorhands Elephants Made in Dagenham (Can you see why it takes me so long??)
Well now, and how is 2013 treating you all so far? I’ve been
watching a LOT of telly, mainly due to the fact that I’ve got well back into
the Gilmore Girls thanks to my mother’s Christmas present to herself of
the complete boxset. Even though I’ve seen every episode at least 7 times (I
jest not), it’s still like hopping into a cosy jumper or pulling on your bunny
slippers and closing the curtains – comforting and funny and just a cracking
good show. Although if you watch too much of it you start speaking really fast
and drinking excessive amounts of coffee… Also I can now only ever hear my
brother’s impression of Emily Gilmore saying ‘Looorelaaaiii’ (if you’ve seen it
you will definitely know what I mean).
I also had a happy evening re-watching Angels in America
(romance, philosophy, apocalyptic visions, Emma Thompson dressed as an angel
and Meryl Streep dressed as a rabbi – what more could you want?), and yesterday I watched Lie With Me, an ITV drama from 2004 which I got off ebay for like a
pound because it has Eve Best in it. It’s not a brilliant show, by any stretch
– standard police/victim drama stuff, but at least the acting was good. Andrew
Lincoln and Eve Best, good combination.
In more modern viewing, I’ve obviously been loving the
new series of Sun, Sex and Suspicious Parents on BBC3 – it makes me
simultaneously quite want to go out on the lash, and never ever go clubbing
again. Quite a feat. There have been quite a few poor innocents this series,
sweet daft youths with no experience of the world and lots of boys used to
being waited on by over-indulgent mamas, who end up bouncing around the gutters
of Kavos or snoozing in A&E. I love that pretty much every family ends up
telling their kids they’re proud of them no matter what hideous shit they’ve
been up to, it’s oddly heartwarming. There’s only been one boy who has really
repulsed me, who was totally unrepentant for his horrible behaviour to girls,
and in the face of his parents’ genuine horror and disappointment tried to pass
off his misogynist crap as “just how our generation speak to each other” – just
hope he grows out of it eh.
One final nerdy TV high point was in a new episode of Glee,
where a vision of high-school Rachel tells New York Rachel that she’s orange
and has out of control hair. It was BRILLIANT because that’s basically what
I’ve been shouting at my screen for the last few months and made me feel like
old-school Glee was on my side. Yes I’m a dork.
I also popped in to see Les Mis the other week, after
a hearty Nando’s where I nearly froze my head off thanks to a broken heater…
got a free ‘chicken cheque’ after complaining though, score. Came home with
mascara all over my jumper sleeves which is always a good sign of movie
enjoyment I think. Winners of the film were: Eddie Redmayne (voice of an angel,
face of an angel), Helena B-C and Ali G (hilario), and that kid who gets shot.
Ooh and also Eponine, who apparently was the actress from the stage show. She
was BRILLIANT. Less winning (I hesitate to say loser) was: the Crowe. Now I
am NOT fussy about singing ability – one of my favourite film performances ever
has to be Pierce Brosnan in Mamma Mia – but Russ seemed to be so busy
concentrating on getting it out in tune that he neglected to like, act at all
during the songs. Which form quite a large portion (aka all) of the film. He
does look good in a hat though, to be totally fair. Anyway I would def watch it
again, which is more than I thought I would say.
New music-wise, I am completely obsessed with Ra Ra Riot’s
new album Beta Love. It’s a bit of a break away from their two previous
albums, bit more electronic and funky, but it’s a good direction (and obviously
draws a bit more on some of the side stuff with Vampire Weekend as Discovery).
Top tracks are Angel Please and Beta Love.
Book-wise (because I may as well update you on all the
entertainment aspects of my life) I finished JK Rowling’s new one, The
Casual Vacancy, on a rammed train journey back from the north with half a
Scottish rugby team wedged in the aisle reading over my shoulder. I have always
loved her writing style (simple, direct, engaging) so it was good to get back
into that, and there are some striking character moments in it (she is good at
writing teenagers, you can’t deny), but as a story it was a little bit… dull.
Lots of characters, bit of a boring topic and kind of too long to be worth it.
I hope she writes something else that’s a bit more cohesive and focussed next.
Booze news: As you know, I am a big fan of the Craft Beer Co in Brixton so I was stoked
to discover the one in Angel last week too. This pretty much means that I can
access a beardy ale or a deceptive 7% pear cider both near home AND near work!
Nice work, world. *hic*
Combining both previous points, I have discovered (through
Facebook) a cool tumblr page entitled Book
and Beer, a regular update detailing the divine combination that is a good
book and a good pint. In the spirit of this, here’s my offering for this week:
A book about the sun and some Elbow beer.
I went for a Valentine’s jaunt on the river too this week
thanks to my journalist pal, which was super fun. Free bubbly and chocolates on
board a Thames Clipper, which zoomed us up to Tower Bridge and then back along
to Canary Wharf. It was lovely to see London all lit up at night and stick my
head over the edge of the boat into the wind like a gleeful dog. Very
invigorating. And followed up by a stroll along the river made me realise how
glad I am to be in this city for now. Hooray.
Coming up:
In order of importance, too cool to be chronological: FLEETWOOD
MAC, MO’FOS! September 25th, you cannot come too soon.
However some other pleasing bookings include:
Carmen at the Royal Albert Hall (my mum booked it ok)
