Monday 20 May 2013

Mess

Battersea Arts Centre tonight, for a performance of Mess, a play about, by, and starring, someone who had anorexia.

Ah yes, I remember this place. Overground to Clapham Junction, then get confused getting out of it. Anyway, this is the first time I've been there in daylight, so I now have a small working knowledge of the neighbourhood. And I wasn't lost for more than a couple of minutes. Oriented myself by the supermarkets - make for Lidl, then up the hill and hang a right past Asda, then left and you're right. So to speak.

The Arts Centre is in the old town hall, and you enter via a gorgeous, huge marble staircase, which, for shows, has candles in jars placed along the edges. Lovely effect. The room that this play is in, mind, is accessed through the scruffiest hallway I've seen outside of a building site. Fortunately, staff are strategically placed so you don't get lost and have to spend eternity wandering the corridors.

Ah now, this play is absolutely gorgeous. 10/10. Time Out said no-one could fail to find it charming, and they're right. It's also the weirdest production I've seen in an age. But it works. It's funny, it is indeed charming, and quite moving. I wanted to give each of them a hug. Oddly, although the crowd was applauding wildly after, they didn't come back for a second bow. Maybe they're not used to all this fame..

Highly recommended. Runs until 1 June, only 70 mins long. Go on, if you can. Take a punt on this, you won't regret it.

4000 Miles, in The Print Room, Notting Hill, tomorrow. I wasn't going to book this in advance, then saw today that the max number of tickets you could book for tomorrow night's performance had slipped from 7 to 5.. so I am now the proud possessor of an e-ticket.

I see in the review in today's paper that Lana del Rey's show last night wasn't so incredible - fizzled out in the end, it seems. I guess she still has some things to learn about live performances. Think I was better off at the pictures.

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