Entering the relatively small theatre at the Battersea
Arts Centre and the action has already begun: four men dressed in what looks
like school gym kits play-fight boyishly on stage as the sold-out seats fill up
progressively, leaving most wondering whether the scene is improvised or
choreographed. I applaud the energy levels of the actors on stage – there’s a
good ten minutes of high-energy lifts, dodges and tackles in this interesting
introduction.
Song of Riots is
a play that explores themes of childhood and maturity, using the poetry of
William Blake as a running motif throughout the story. What I did understand: two
teenage boys leave the comfort of their homes and parents to get into the city
and acquire their freedom; one of them is the son of a Polish immigrant. What I
didn’t understand: the other is a prince from a fairy tale. There was a lot of
reference to kings and princes and royalty, but I just didn’t get that the plot
was going to be quite that literal. Nevertheless,
though in places difficult to understand, I enjoyed the performance and the
messages it displayed.
Directors Christopher Siversten and Lucy Maycock made
interesting use of a translucent sheet to separate the backstage area with the frontal
region of upmost audience attention. Attached to a tall scaffold structure, the
sheet gave the actors room to continue the action backstage whilst creating
harmony with what was happening on stage. Nimble actors climbed around the
structure and appeared from the top to add height to the performance, which
made fast-paced scenes unpredictable and engaging.
Behind the translucent sheet Hanna Björck took both a
narrative and musical role by guiding us through the plot with sung Blake poems
and musical interludes, giving Song of
Riots a sense of flow. The musical element to the performance gave it a
semi-mythical feel, which when juxtaposed with the foul-mouthed shouting of Lucasz
(Christopher Finnegan) provided the audience with a contrast between the
sublime and the real.
Prop use was kept to quite a minimum, and a truly
Brechtian style was adopted when characters stripped right down to change their
costume on the side of the stage. Anna Krotoska played a highly convincing role
as Polish mother Magda, a kind woman mistreated by her adolescent son. But my
favourite moment was definitely when the male characters all had a movement
sequence in which they threw cups of powder paint over each other, creating a
cloud of colour that hovered above the action.
Song of Riots
is a play which demonstrates some scenes of true directorial ingenious and
creativity. The plot is somewhat difficult to follow, but the fusion of
physical theatre with lyrical narrative makes it highly original. ★★★☆☆
'I could fly to New York and back every day for seven years and still not leave a carbon footprint as big as if I have a child. Ten thousand tonnes of CO2. That's the weight of the Eiffel Tower. I'd be giving birth to the Eiffel Tower.' http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/
‘Lungs’ is one of those shows where you feel like you
shouldn’t be there. Not because it’s uncomfortable or awkward or off-putting,
but simply because it’s so convincing that you feel like you’re prying into the
lives of two real people, and shouldn’t they be left in privacy?
The plot is humble but poignant, a couple prepare to have
their baby in times when the Earth is under enormous threat from climate change
and their relationship is under enormous threat from spontaneously combusting
due to all the bickering that comes with producing offspring. No unnecessary
frills – a simple and realistic plotline. I usually despise modern plays that
try overly hardly to be ‘modern’ and really just end up making everybody
cringe, but Duncan Macmillan’s script-writing is the complete antithesis to
this. ‘Lungs’’ humour lies in the believability of the writing, as if Macmillan
simply used real conversations and made the transcript into a play – it’s
honestly that convincing.
The show has a cast of just two - Sian Reese-Williams rockets
through her lines with an almost permanently panicky vocal tone, whereas Abdul
Salis represents the calmer half of the couple who attempts to calm the
situation and think in a more logical sense (to absolutely no end). Both actors
were well-rehearsed and bounced off each other through all the complexities of
the script, creating a speedy performance that stopped only for us to
appreciate the more sentimental parts of the plot. There were no props or
lighting changes to fall back on, but it wasn’t difficult to interpret the
scene changes and one moment I particularly enjoyed was when the couple snapped
into a club scene and took on an awkward upright stance when shouting at each
other that they wanted to go home. Sex scenes were kept PG and showed simply
the couple moving together then almost bouncing off an imaginary wall – we aren’t
shown anything but we all know what was implied.
All in all, a highly enjoyable performance by the Paines
Plough theatre company. ‘Lungs’ is on at the Southbank’s Festival of Love until
July 18th at the Roundabout theatre.
Here are some quick old reviews that I wrote back in May and never got round to posting - something I really like, and something I sadly don't.
BUSH,
Snoop Dogg
Looking at Snoop Dogg’s 2013 release ‘Doggumentary’ on
Spotify and every song (bar one) hosts the explicit certificate that would have
made me feel truly untameable had I been listening ten years ago. Controversial
lyrics actually aren’t a part of ‘BUSH’ at all, with rap taking a backseat role
to baselines that are truly enjoyable purely for their relaxed, funky sound
that somehow reminds me of smooth 70’s disco. ‘California Roll’ is easily the best hit on the album, with Stevie
Wonder’s influence automatically adding a timeless element to the song, ‘Peaches N Cream’ is more upbeat, but
Snoop’s classic soft vocals chill the song out. The whole album is incredibly
effortless, relaxing and a generally good record for background music. 7/10
English Graffiti, The Vaccines
Back in 2011, my answer to the question ‘What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?’
would have been recklessness and vocal depth, and a whole bunch of songs that I thought I could listen to for a long time, but with the release of this new album I might have to say I don’t quite know. I really want to like 'English Graffiti' – it’s unquestionable that Justin Young has the song-writing capability
to twist simple lyrics into the kind of powerful anthems that made 'Norgaard' and 'Post Break-Up Sex', I’m just not all that sure that
this is really shown off on 'English Graffiti' as much as on the record’s predecessors. But where
lyrical sincerity is compromised, a new territory has been explored by the
band: everything’s more robotic and tracks such as ’20/20’ and ‘Minimal
Affection’ really represent a movement towards pop-rock, which is generally a genre I like. Action-packed and
categorically energetic, English Graffiti is a vibrant wake up for The
Vaccines, but I might find myself returning to their older material for
something with more depth and impact. 5/10
The best photo I could find of the George Wood Theatre that we performed on (this is not our performance!) http://www.christiannamason.com/
This week I
participated in a Theatre and Performance taster course at Goldsmiths' College,
New Cross Gate. I’ve had possibly one of the most beneficial weeks of my life
in terms of helping me improve my performance skills on and off stage, and I
decided just to write a little about what we did on some of the days and what I
learnt over the course of the week. The experience has been something I am
extremely grateful to have taken part in, especially with it being free and so
close to home, and I would recommend it to anyone from London who is
considering taking a drama degree. I apologize if this post is a bit long,
there was nothing I could miss out on!
Even though I was
doing the course with a friend I was slightly anxious before beginning - you
can never really know what to expect in these kind of situations. I pre-empted
that we would have to take part in some of those awkward ‘getting to know each
other’ activities, where you find yourself having a twenty second moment of
panic as the circle approaches your turn and you have to desperately conjure up
some memorable anecdote about your life and tell it to a group of strangers.
It’s in those moments that I just seem forget everything that’s ever happened
to me. Surprisingly, we didn’t have to do any of that. We did play lots of
drama games that tackled the basic boundaries of working with new people – name
learning; breaking the touch barrier; working on improvisation, and that was
helpful for breaking the ice.
The theme of the week
was love, and I have to confess that at first I wasn’t too keen. I thought that
‘love’ is a bit vague and not really juicy enough to produce poignant and
explorative theatrical pieces, but throughout the week I realised it could be
more thought-provoking than I initially expected.
Day two was a Cabaret
course and we learnt so much about what Cabaret/Burlesque is all about, and
focused more on the theatrical side than the dance side. We started by
inventing stories that could go behind the song ‘Every Breath You Take’ (my suggestion
from the day before) and then worked on how we can tell stories composed of
complete lies to an audience. This was quite fun as we each told the group true
and false things and had to do a kind of hot-seating activity to work out if
the person was being honest or lying. Afterwards, we were shown a Cabaret-style
comic performance by a Master’s student who was running the course, and we were
put into groups to create a similar piece of theatre. Everyone was more gelled
as a group so people started stepping out of their comfort zone (apologies for
the cliché), and producing better quality work. My group created a piece behind
Otis Redding‘s ‘Stand By Me’ involving a lonely sweep dancing with his broom
after being the only one who couldn’t find a lover. I actually thought the day
was so effective for boosting my confidence in a group of new people and also
teaching me about a style of drama that I would never have taken an interest in
before.
'Physical theatre is a form of performance in which movement and physicality of the body has a predominant part in the narrative of a piece.'
A physical theatre sequence from Frantic Assembly's Othello at the Lyric Theatre http://www.lyric.co.uk/
On Thursday we had a visitor to the course, the rapper, dancer and hip-hop theatre maker Jonzi D. I honestly had no idea what to expect. I dreaded being asked to create some sort of hip-hop dance based alongside the annoyingly common generalisation that anyone who likes acting also likes dance (completely untrue for me and many others), but the workshop was actually so much fun and gave me so much help in how to devise physical theatre pieces. We picked four words to do with love and created a stylised sequence to demonstrate them in a non-naturalistic manner, for instance one of my group’s words was ‘security’, and we made a human padlock to show this. Jonzi D gave us so much help in tidying up the piece and making it look more professional and perfected, which I always think is super important for creating good physical theatre. His own interpretation of ‘hip-hop theatre’ was funny and simple, a combination of story-telling through characterisation and performance poetry that really made me think – which good theatre always does. I think this day was the most beneficial for creating skills that I can take away from Goldsmiths.
What I’ve written is
just a basic summary of some of the activities that show how varied and
valuable my week has been; I’ve been exposed to so many industry professionals
and kind people who were willing to share their own skills in order to improve
the work of aspiring undergraduates. I have made so many friends through
the course, and it’s been the first time that I’ve had a chance to perform with
people that are not only enthusiastic, but all wanted to go into theatre. On
top of this, the technical facilities at the George Wood Theatre were the best
I’ve ever had in a performance – they made the stage and lighting I’ve been
excited to use before look so poor. I am so grateful to Goldsmiths' College,
Danny Braverman and the rest of the team who dedicated their time to this week.
I will remember this opportunity for a very long time.
Since finishing my exams early I have had a little more
valuable spare time than usual, so I thought I would review something a little
different for a change - the Deutsche
Börse photography prize, currently on show at the Photographer’s Gallery, Ramillies
Street. I’ve never studied art or photography and when I go to exhibitions it’s
typically just for fun, so I apologise if I sound like I don’t really know what
I’m talking about – it’s because I don’t.
The Deutsche Börse photography prize is an annual event
which is currently celebrating its eighteenth year. The £30,000 prize has
established the careers of many budding photographers, including last year’s
winner Richard Mosse for his exhibition entitled Enclave. Enclave portrayed
the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where rich and unnatural hues
resemble a war-torn and derelict environment.
The first nomination from this year that captured my
attention was Zanele Mukoki’s black and white portraits of South Africa’s LGBTI
community. The photographs were accompanied with touching and memorable
accounts of mistreatment and abuse, particularly the ‘curative rape’ of black
gay women. To me, the portraits were especially poignant due to their
stripped-back minimalism: nothing fancy has been done with the editing of the images,
and it highlighted how the focus of the project was truly on the stories of the
people captured, and the horrors they had faced.
Zanele Mukoki's Faces and Phases
My favourite entry, however, was Nikolai Bakharev’s work
with Russian bathers in the 80’s/90’s to show public displays of affection,
romance and intimacy in a time when this was forbidden. The images represent
rebellion, but the facial expressions and stances within the shots seem quite enclosed
and uncomfortable, suggesting that rule-breaking was an enormous risk. The
people in the images sit close to bushes, which I find is rather ironic as the
content of the photo portrays rebellion and freedom. It’s almost as if they’ve
last-minute decided to shelter themselves for fear of the consequences of their
actions.
Nikolai Bakharev's exhibition at the 55th Biennale of Art in Venice
Personally, I find looking at photography a very different
experience to enjoying other art exhibitions. When looking at works that have
been painted/sculpted/drawn (etc…) a lot of my appreciation goes towards the
artist’s craft and talent, and perhaps I overlook the motivation and meaning
behind the piece. With photography, the scenes are real and have actually
occurred in order for them to be photographed, so a touching image appears more
memorable and relevant. I really enjoyed this exhibition and am looking forward
to the announcement of the winner!
‘One man’s trash is another man’s treasure’: the overused cliché that rings true in numerous situations, but none more so than when it comes to second-hand shopping. Buying thrift/vintage is an undoubtedly rewarding experience that brings with it an abundance of opportunities to transform a wardrobe from predictable to unique, plus it’s environmentally friendly. Despite this, the perceived experience of second-hand shopping is quite different to the truth about thrift/vintage, and it’s definitely not for everyone.
Many people wrongly conflate thrift and vintage - they aren't the same thing. A typical thrift store isn’t for those who will only accept their clothes in pristine condition: the up side, of course, is that everything is fantastically cheap, but piles of clothes can be dirty and there’s also a lot of charity-shop junk to be rummaged through before you find something good.Vintage stores are much more selective about what they’ll sell. Genuine vintage is at least 35 years old, but I think this rule only applies in the most upmarket boutiques as the majority of places stock a lot of 90's pieces as well. Some items can be overpriced, especially seeing as they generally hold no antique value, but most of the time prices are reasonable and always cheaper than buying first-hand.
Voted 9th best store in London by Time Out, Blitz is the one-stop place for an overall fantastic vintage experience. It’s a Victorian warehouse furnished beautifully into an organized store, with a bigger variety of men’s and women’s stock than most other second-hand shops. On top of this, Blitz sells a great amount of the items that people are actually looking for, so there's never a shortage of 501 jeans. It focuses on the 70’s-90’s, meaning the majority of the clothes are extremely wearable for a younger market – and also decently priced.
A trip to the East End Thrift Store will leave you questioning how it is possible for a company to make a profit whilst almost giving away stock. It’s easily the best place for grabbing a huge amount for a very low price; the end of season sales can draw massive queues so you do need to get there early. However, astonishingly low prices mean the store (which is actually just a warehouse down an otherwise-empty side road) gets very messy, during the pound sales you’ll have to rummage through piles of rubbish on your hands and knees to find something good. Personally I think that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make when buying a hoodie for 50p that would otherwise cost about £20, and I'm sure everything is more organized if you go during the week.
Beyond Retro is a convenient vintage stop-off during a day of a shopping on Oxford/Carnaby Street. The store is furnished with funky decorations and some of the workers look like they’ve stepped straight out of the 70’s, which obviously makes the shopping experience all the more enjoyable. My only complaint is that sometimes the small store can feel a little crammed, but at the large store in Brighton this problem is non-existent, and the range of stock is fantastic.
Rokit on Brick Lane
Rokit
Location: Flagship at Covent Garden, other stores in Camden and Brick Lane
Rokit is probably the most well-known vintage chain in London, and it's also the place I’ve bought the most things from purely because the flagship is so convenient to shop at and the collections are always changing. I love Rokit recycled: it’s reworked vintage that would otherwise be unusable, and it’s especially good for formal skirts, velvet tops and faux leather bags that are a bit more unique than what’s available on the high street. However, Rokit is extremely overpriced for tee shirts and sweatshirts – I can’t bear to pay £20 for a basic top with a washed out design on it. Also, the Camden store is too overcrowded to spend any longer than ten minutes in.
Coat - Thrift Store in Chalk Farm
Dungarees - East End Thrift Store
(Thrift shop chalk farm)
I can't remember the name :(
Location: Chalk Farm
Don’t miss: Massive selection of cheap fur coats
I have never thought that Camden market is particularly good for vintage/thrift, but continue walking on the main road in the opposite direction to the station, and on the right hand side you’ll find a small thrift store which you might never know was so near to Camden. I’m going to try and go again soon to find out the name, but this store is fantastic for second-hand stuff that’s in better condition than the East End Thrift Store, and still priced very fairly. The shop owner is incredibly kind and will let you reserve items for up to a month if you leave a small deposit on the day (for a £30 coat, I had to leave a £5 deposit).
The shops I've listed are just my personal choices for second-hand shopping, but there are plenty more places around London that don't have a bad selection of well-priced items. Outside the city, Brighton has a fantastic selection of stores which typically host cheaper price tags than places in the capital, such as Dirty Harry and To Be Worn Again. Personally, I'm not a big fan of the vintage 'departments' in high street stores like Urban Outfitters, since everything is overpriced and the perfection of items make me slightly skeptical as to whether they are genuinely second-hand.
Foo Fighters headlining the main stage on Sunday night www.bbc.co.uk
Foo Fighters, Taylor Swift and Jamie T all
took the stage this weekend at Radio 1’s Big Weekend, a jealousy-inducing event
that also stands as the only time in my life when I’ve had a sudden sense of anger
that I don’t live anywhere near Norwich. The variety in the line-up symbolises
Radio 1 as it was in its heyday: undeniably well-rounded and popular. However, whilst
the successes of Radio 1’s Big Weekend are ominously present in all the photos
and videos, in this same week it’s been published by The Guardian that Radio 1’s
audience has dropped to its lowest level in more than a decade.
One of the worst impacted by the drop is Nick Grimshaw,
presenter of the breakfast show and rumoured future judge on the X Factor, who
achieved only 5.5 million listeners a week during the first three months of
this year. Flicking through some of his shows on iPlayer, it becomes prominent that
his wit and charisma doesn’t compromise his ability to play good, current hits,
but there’s no denying that the focus is on breadth rather than depth (it’s
slightly ‘something for everyone’). Something for everyone sounds great for
boosting listener numbers, but during the morning nobody has a lot of time and
I know I’d rather put Spotify on shuffle than listen to a radio show where I
truly enjoy one in ten songs.
Nick Grimshaw was voted 5th in GQ's '50 best dressed British men' www.telegraph.co.uk
In the past, the only times I’ve tuned into Radio 1 are when I’m overly enthusiastic for a Reading and Leeds announcement and switch on the radio fifteen minutes early – and I never really enjoy what I hear. As I write I’m giving the station a listen, it’s nine pm and Tyler Oakley is the presenter. As much as he is excitable and very current, it’s clear the focus of the show isn’t going to be on the music.
Someone texts in the station: ‘Tyler, I just got my braces off and it feels so weird!’
Thanks for that! I’m jumping to the conclusion that
whoever texted this is the average age for the removal of braces, so probably
under fourteen. Instantly the demographic of listeners is exposed, and it’s a
bit off-putting. Radio 1 is undoubtedly aimed at a youthful market, but when
the presenter is a Youtuber and the text-ins are somewhat childish, it’s hard
to believe they’re not writing the show solely for thirteen year olds.
Tyler has over 6 million Youtube subscribers
The Guardian’s report gave a suggestion that one cause
for the lapsing listeners is that young people simply spend more time on ‘online
persuits such as Facebook’ than listening to the radio. This stereotype never
fails to get my goat – can we really blame the Internet for every habit of the
youth of today? The archetypal image of adolescence has drifted from rebellion
and boredom to complete social isolation, and this label seems to be provided
as the conclusion for any statistic related to an under eighteen; that is to
say, I don’t believe the downfall of Radio 1 can be blamed on Facebook.
Neither do I think the reduction in popularity can be
blamed on Spotify: listening to your own music is a different experience to listening
to the radio. For me, the lacking appeal lies in the mishmash of songs and the
enormous variety in what we know as ‘popular’ today. It seems a monumental task
to appeal to the masses in a generation that enjoys such an extensive assortment
of genres and artists - perhaps a mixture of styles is successful on a one-off
occasion such as the Big Weekend, but translating this into a 24 hour radio
show is evidently going to be problematic.
For a boisterous rock band’s second album the standard model is for things to be slightly tenderized: inspirations become more artistic and the debut-album-blow is filed down to a product that’s richer and more thoughtful, but lacking the angry punch that comes with the excitement of early recording sessions. Lambeth quartet Palma Violets have done anything but follow this routine. ‘Danger in the Club’ is rough and ready, overflowing with the same hard-hitting sounds that defined ‘180’ back in 2013.
Though it peaked at number 11 in the UK charts, there’s no denying that ‘180’ is not a record where a lot of thought has gone into muse and inspiration. It was inevitably teenage: lyrics focused on youthfulness and not a lot of imagery was created other than depicting a London lifestyle where good guitar music creates a tracklist of permanent drunkenness and freedom for the band. Possibly cliché, but it works. Inspirations evidently sprung from fellow Rough Trade artists, The Libertines and The Strokes. ‘Danger in the Club’ has taken the slurry vocals that created that original sound of euphoria and relaxation and mixed them into a record with more variety and improved substance.
None of the band members are trained singers, according to lead guitarrist Sam, so they resort to a chant of Hare Krishna as a pre-gig vocal warm up. This brazen sound in ‘Gout! Gang! Go!’ packs a gritty punch, and ‘Hollywood (I got it)’ leaks fresh optimism, particularly throughout the recurring backing message “I got it!” A catchy bass riff continuously rumbles under the lively and messy vocals, bringing the album back to Palma’s roots; everything sounds so memorably raucous that it almost mimics spontaneity.
‘Girl You Couldn’t Do Much Better on the Beach’ is another track leaking with exhilaration, but stepping up from the unpolished muckiness of ‘180’. That, equally as much as the title song, give the album the same anthem-quality that was established back in 2012 with the infamous line “I want to be your best friend, I don’t want you to be my girl.” These are the hits which will undeniably demand staggered sing-a-longs where unrehearsed, noisy lyrics sound just as in place on the street as on the stage.
Impulsive one-liners beg to be remembered, but it has to be said that there’s not much metaphorical meaning to 'Danger in the Club'. A deepened complexity is slightly shown in the bluesy sound of ‘Walking Home’, but things are still a bit too repetitive to hit hard. I don’t really see this as a problem, but in the band's rare moments of connection we see something more profound within the rowdy grime of their music. Despite this, 'Danger in the Club' is a powerful comeback for Palma Violets.
Since the release of their 2013 self-titled album, Drenge (Danish for ‘boys’, although according to Google Translate it’s pronounced differently) have channelled their angsty sound into bringing grunge back towards the mainstream. The first album was rhythmic in Dogmeat and carelessly irate in Face Like A Skull; no expenses were spared in composing a tracklist that represents all the different reasons you can feel pissed off. Undertow is less than a sequel, more a maturing stage for Derbyshire duo Eoin and Rory Loveless.
2014 was a fairly quiet year for Drenge, and some of the hype surrounding them was inevitably stolen post-release of Royal Blood’s debut album in August. Although Eoin Loveless told Digital Spy that Royal Blood are 'too poppy' for Drenge, the two duos have indisputably gained much comparison, which naturally has pushed Drenge into the shadows of Royal Blood’s shining success. Whilst Royal Blood have won over radio and even beat One Direction to a Brit Award, Drenge have remained impressing smaller crowds, so it’s unquestionable that the association between the bands is most likely not favoured by the brothers.
Eoin Loveless at Drenge's NME Awards Show at Tufnell Park's Dome http://www.nme.com/
Does Undertow have the capability to reposition Drenge out of Royal Blood’s shadow? The addition of bassist Rob Graham has grown Drenge, immediately evident in lead single We Can Do What We Want, which also packs the most contagious guitar riff on the album - I expect this to be very good live. The Snake also proves the positive influence of Graham on the band, as well as being simple and unique lyrically: ‘the snake he wraps his neck around mine, we kiss like it’s breakfast time’.
Overall, everything’s less abrasive. There are no pessimistically titled songs that ring similar to People In Love Make Me Feel Yuck, but a wider focus on freedom and maturity. The rhythmicity of Drenge has been sustained, but where it previously represented frustration some of the tension has been taken off now, particularly so in Never Awake. The low point of the album comes in Standing in the Cold, where the pace has been stripped back to no end – it doesn’t have the memorability factor to become a slow anthem like Fuckabout.
The Undertow artwork is more colourful, less melancholic than Drenge
A part of me misses the lyrical relatability that came with some of the older music, but a step away from what the band call ‘brattiness’ has provided a growing up point for Drenge. Less rousing; more established and thoughtful, Undertow is the archetype of a second album where the band have the challenging job of balancing their defining sound with musical progression.
My favourite Drenge songs: Gun Crazy, Face Like A Skull, Never Awake For listeners of: Royal Blood, Palma Violets, Drowners
Finishing a period; leaving only one tampon in the box: you
never consider it a forthcoming trauma at the time, but 28 days later finding yourself foraging through stacks of cosmetic bags and purses in search of
a stray tampon or sanitary towel, it becomes a pretty rubbish situation. It’s
a frustrating dilemma as is, without the knowledge that the government
currently implicate a 5% tax on the tampons and pads that they class as ‘luxury
items’.
Personally, I don’t view a tampon as 'inessential but desirable'.
Literally, it is not impossible to
live without sanitary products, but it would be extremely unhygienic, and would
jeopardise a woman’s personal safety. In short: we cannot lead normal lives
without tampons/pads.
Ending tampon tax has been something that’s popped up on
my Twitter feed more frequently in recent weeks: Austin Williams was snapped
wearing a tee-shirt that read ‘tampons should be free’, and the change.org petition launched last May has had widespread popularity amongst
women and men alike. Though the tax was cut from a shocking 17.5% to 5% in
2000, the responsibility to get it down to zero lies in the hands of George
Osborne, chancellor of the exchequer, to convince the European Parliament to
revise their policies on what counts as a ‘luxury item’. Today, the petition was given to 11, Downing Street, and it's had great recognition from the government...we are definitely on our way to ending period tax. For more information on the steps that need to be taken now, read campaigner Laura Coryton's five step plan to ending the tax for good.
To further aggravate myself on the issue, I decided to
work out how much the average menstrual cycle costs a woman in her lifetime.
Take a box of 20 regular absorbency Tampax pearl tampons: £2.99 for a box; you
change them every four hours. If you wake up at seven and go to sleep at eleven
- that works out as four tampons a day, costing 60p. If a period lasts 5 days,
that’s £3 per period; one period a month makes it £36 a year. According to Google, the average woman starts her period at 12 and reaches menopause at 51 (that’s
39 long years…). This means the average woman spends
£1404 on tampons in her lifetime, assuming she doesn't have a particularly heavy flow; never uses more than four a day, and never wears one to bed.
Obviously, there’s the option of purchasing cheaper supermarket
alternatives, but every girl knows that with sanitary
products, you really do pay for what you get. And even so, it’s not just the
price put on the tampons: it’s the morality of taxing them as ‘luxury items’. If
crocodile steaks, edible sugar flowers and helicopters can go tax-free, then we
should not be taxed on the ‘luxury’ of a period. Sign the petition, and change
this for good!
Hyenseoung Kwan as Butterfly and Jeffrey Gwaltney as Pinkerton Photocredits www.londonist.com
Raymond Gubbay’s Madam
Butterfly has returned to London, with an in-the-round interpretation at
the Royal Albert Hall, directed by David Freeman and set by David Roger.
Running for only eighteen days, the show hasn’t been given a large amount of
time or publicity to achieve optimum ticket sales, but for a fairly un-hyped
performance, it certainly was not a disappointment.
The dainty, Japanese water-garden set was authentic and
naturalistic, establishing the picturesque setting instantaneously. The use of
water on stage caught my eye upon entering the theatre, however later proved to
bring some compromises to Freeman’s spatial direction of the play: the array of
bridges and pools left the cast with limited space to make the most of, hence
concentrating most of the action very much centre stage. Had we been in a
studio theatre, this would be of no problem, but when catering to the
5000-capacity Royal Albert Hall, this may have left the upper circle with
restricted viewing of the action.
The authentic Geisha costumes brought an added sensation
of delicacy and awe to the performance; especially notable during the female
chorus’ first entrance to the stage. From the complicated details in the floral
pattern on the women’s kimonos to their painted-white porcelain faces, the
intricacies of the costumes subsidised where some of the most sincere plot
lines were glossed over.
What lacked about the performance was the suggestion of
Pinkerton’s untrustworthiness throughout the whole of act one. As this was my
first time seeing the show, I had nothing to compare it with at the time, but
from reading other’s responses to the performance it has become evident that some
of the hint loss is due to the smoothing over of some of Puccini’s composing,
which should help us suspend disbelief about Pinkerton. Others have said that
lots of the suggestions have simply been lost in Amanda Holden’s translation.
Despite this, the moment where Butterfly blindfolded her son and took her own
life was poignant and breath-taking; Kwon captured Butterfly’s horror upon
encountering Pinkerton’s American wife incredibly.
The authentic Geisha costumes brought a sensation of
delicacy and awe to the performance; especially notable during the female
chorus’ first entrance to the stage. From the complicated details in the floral
pattern on the women’s kimonos to their painted-white porcelain faces, the
intricacies of the costumes in this performance subsidised where some of the
most sincere plot lines were glossed over.
Overall, although some of the opera’s darker plot themes
were pushed into the background, the performance was enjoyable and there were
some moments indicating a lot of thought has gone into the rehearsal and design
of this show.
Emerging from the upcoming Birmingham B-Town scene with
their EP Toucan Surf in 2012, JAWS
have frequently (and righteously) been named as ‘the ones to watch’. Back in
September, the release of their much-awaited album Be Slowly marked a growing point in their music; they swayed away
from the almost futuristic, whimsical sounds of their older material and
progressed towards something more fast-paced, whilst still keeping their dreamy
sound that was born two years before. Taking the stage at Heaven nightclub on
Wednesday night, it was my third time seeing the band, and bearing in mind I
was initially keener to see Slaves at the NME tour than JAWS, I maintain that
their unique sound and relaxed, 90’s vibe style of music is always worth
catching live.
Turning up on stage to Kanye West was slightly
cringe-inducing, but it set the youthful crowd into a frenzy for the opening
song, Donut, which seemed a
surprising choice seeing as it’s certainly not one of JAWS’ most popular hits.
Still, the lack of abundant significance in the lyrics and the prominent bass
sounds make me think that it could surface as JAWS’ equivalent of 1998.
Frontman Connor Schofield is down to earth; the epitome of relaxation on stage,
and doesn’t make a scene out of anything other than the music. Dressed in a simple
Adidas tee shirt and jeans, it prompts the question of whether he could fit into
the mould of true alternative rock-star status, should JAWS become big.
The set that followed was a varied mixture of old and new
material, including some fresh songs that were recent recordings for the band. BreeZe, as well as a slowed rendition of
Stay In unsurprisingly encouraged
sing-alongs from the crowd, but it was disappointing that there were points
where it seemed people were more intent on shoving each other around than
paying any attention to what was happening on stage, particularly so in Time. Even so, encore Gold provided the highlight of the
night, prompting the overexcited responses from the audience that, sadly, I
felt some of the other songs lacked.
It did seem like the crowd was slightly lacklustre in
comparison to the number of people who came to see JAWS at The Garage in
September, but I assume this was partially down to the gig coinciding with the
NME Awards. Nevertheless, Connor and the rest of the band didn’t let this put
them off and they still produced an effortless performance.
My favourite JAWS songs: Cameron, Gold, Home For listeners of: Swim Deep, Peace, Splashh
Two
years after releasing their first dazy, 90’s feel album, In Love, wistfully
indie rock band Peace have finally unveiled their much-awaited and equally optimistically-titled,
Happy People. NME called it an ‘archetypal second album’, with everything ‘bigger,
broader and more immediate’, and this is only backed up by their swelling
popularity and the increasing demand for a ticket to one of their gigs (their NME Award's Show at Heaven, London sold out in 9 minutes). After having Happy People on repeat since its
release on Monday, it’s not hard to see why Peace are in the running for big
things.
Heaven, London on Monday
Photocredits - www.nme.com
What’s
bigger and better about the album is the number of funky songs dotted with
quirky vocals that follow in the footsteps of Lovesick; it’s clear that
Harrison Koisser has spent more time writing memorable lyrics this time around.
‘Maybe I was not born brave… maybe I was born good looking’ leaks wit,
alongside ‘if you’re not macho, then try to be funny’; some of the lines have
the sharp memorability to create songs as classic as 505. Unfortunately, there’s
nothing as subtly promiscuous and crafty as Wraith, but the down-to-earth
obviousness in the writing makes Happy People unique and undoubtedly quotable.
It’s also clear that Happy People has been written
to play live. The band’s new releases were evidently appreciated by the crowd
at Heaven equally as much as the classics; even the self-conscious Perfect Skin
was belted by Koisser with a high-spirited liveliness that reversed the lacking
confidence of the song. EP Delicious anthem 1998 reminded us all of Peace’s
true musical talent, as they teased the crowd with a rendition of Led Zeppelin’s
‘Since I’ve Been Loving You’, amidst the build up to arguably the most infamous
drop of any of their songs. Slow ballads like California Daze calmed the crowd
enough to appreciate the creative and romantic lyrics: ‘she tastes like
sunlight, and she’s always gonna be there in the back of your mind.’
The climax: Sam Koisser’s groovy baseline in World
Pleasure prompted an electrifying end to a faultless set. Happy People has in
no way been a let-down, setting standards high for fellow Birmingham bands Swim
Deep and JAWS, who certainly will have the success of Peace as a goal.
My favourite Peace songs: 1998, Wraith, Lost on Me For listeners of: Swim Deep, JAWS, Foals
For quite a while I
had been wanting to treat myself to a high-end eye shadow palette which didn’t
just contain every-day, natural colours, but I was pretty reluctant to pay the
hefty price tag most of them came with, especially with it being the run-up to
Christmas. I shopped around a bit, and eventually set my sights on the Urban Decay Vice 3 palette… and I was pretty quick to put it on my list. This isn’t a
makeup blog, but I thought I would share my opinions of the product because it
is something that hasn’t had as much hype as I thought it would, and I really
like this palette!
The aesthetics of
the packaging are a step above any of my other palettes, but its large size
means it is not portable; this wouldn’t be a product I would take out of the
home. However, the small bag it comes in has been really useful for when I don’t fancy the burden of taking a chunky makeup bag out with me. Vice 3 retails for about the £42 mark,
which I don’t think is too bad bearing in mind you do get twenty colours, a
double-ended brush and a makeup bag; the quality is fantastic, you do pay for what you get.
From top to bottom: Revolver Defy Angel Last Sin DTF Downfall Undone Truth
There are two rows
of natural shades but the first row of colours has, so far, been my favourite choice
for everyday-wear. They are all cool-toned matte naturals so they’re pretty
versatile and buildable for a more subtle look or a darker, smoky eye. For me,
the selection of natural shades in the palette is pretty good because I have very
fair, cool-toned skin, but for somebody who tans well (lucky them) and has a
warmer complexion the availability of natural shades might be somewhat limited.
From top to bottom: Bobby Dazzle Reign Lucky Vanity Brokedown Heroine Freeze Dragon
The vivid colours
in the palette are what make it a star-buy. Not one of the shades is tasteless
or unusable, even though the flash of Dragon might seem a bit garish at first
glance, and the palette opens up a variety of opportunities for clever
creations. My favourites are Lucky, which is pretty similar to Half Baked (as
seen in the original Naked palette and Naked 2), and Sonic, a beautiful
cranberry colour which could add a twist to the classic smoky eye.
From top to bottom: Sonic Bondage Alchemy Alien
The look on the left was composed with some more of the vivid colours in the palette: I used Freeze on the outer half of Loyin's eye and through the crease, and Lucky on the inside. I blended the two and highlighted the brow using Bobby Dazzle and finished with a thin layer of my Stargazer Cosmetics Neon Yellow Liquid Eyeliner. I used a fairly translucent primer (No7 Stay Perfect Eye Base) to give an honest representation of the eye shadow, but I think you could achieve a greater pigmentation using a more opaque primer, such as a MAC paint pot.
For the look on the right I used Downfall all over the lid with some DTF in the outer corner and through the crease. I blended the eye shadow quite high above the lid using Undone and finally deepened the crease with some Defy. The eye also has a thin layer of Maybelline Master Precise Eyeliner and Maybelline Great Lash Mascara.
My only complaint is that the fallout of some of the darker
shades is quite bad and they seem to be more crumbly than other Urban Decay eye
shadows I have used in the past, however with a good primer this isn’t really a
problem. I have resorted to using the blending brush I got with my Naked 2
palette to apply the eye shadow; I would have liked to see a denser brush in
this product, as the fluffy end of the brush doesn’t really give you much
control.
Vice 3 is a great
product to purchase if you are looking to splash out on a good quality palette
that offers colours which can be used to create more interesting makeup looks,
especially for evening events. I’m definitely looking forward to using it
throughout the year for special events, as well as the odd daytime look!
