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ART & CULTURE COMEDY FILM FOOD & DRINK MUSIC SHOPPING SMALL SCREEN THEATRE

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FREE EVERY MONDAY JANUARY 28 > February 03 2013

NOW NOW NOW

win a 32in smart tv | Denzel Washington | Ed sheeran

presents & Asgard present

RICHARD THOMPSON

Wed 20 Feb I CARDIFF I St David’s Hall Thu 21 Feb I BIRMINGHAM I Symphony Hall Fri 22 Feb I BRIGHTON I Dome Sat 23 Feb I BRISTOL I Colston Hall Sun 24 Feb I CAMBRIDGE I Corn Exchange Mon 25 Feb I LONDON I 02 Shepherd’s Bush Empire Tue 26 Feb I LONDON I Barbican SOLD OUT Thu 28 Feb I EDINBURGH I Usher Hall Fri 1 Mar I LIVERPOOL I Philharmonic Hall Sat 2 Mar I SHEFFIELD I City Hall Sun 3 Mar I GATESHEAD I The Sage Gateshead Mon 4 Mar I LEEDS I Irish Centre EXTRA DATE Wed 6 Mar I NOTTINGHAM I Royal Concert Hall

MARISA MONTE

Verdade Uma Ilusão Sunday 14 April London Hammersmith Apollo

GORAN BREGOVIC

Thu 7 Mar I BEXHILL I De La Warr Pavilion Fri 8 Mar I BASINGSTOKE I Anvil SOLD OUT Sat 9 Mar I ST. ALBANS I Alban Arena EXTRA DATE Sun 10 Mar I SALFORD I The Lowry SOLD OUT

THE ELECTRIC TOUR New album Electric out Mon 11 Feb on Proper

Champagne for Gypsies Saturday 18 May London Royal Festival Hall

serious.org.uk

SWEET HONEY IN THE ROCK

Saturday 23 March London Barbican

SOUL REBELS

Sunday 12 May Norwich Theatre Royal

Full details of all shows can be found at serious.org.uk. Sign up to the Serious e-news for all the latest news and show information serious.org.uk/subscribe

MARIZA

Monday 13 May London Barbican Tuesday 14 May Norwich Theatre Royal

RODRIGUEZ

Searching for Sugarman Saturday 8 June London Hammersmith Apollo

Cover Story

8 Culture on the cheap It’s January. Times are tight. But that doesn’t mean you can’t have fun. We’ve got some insider tips for how to enjoy London’s best culture on a budget

Regulars

4 Scouted Date Night, Places That Change Your Life, Book Now, Last Chance London

COVER PHOTO: philip sowells, future publishing, rex features / THE BIG PICTURE: david batchelor magic hour ©the artist 2012

6 Talent Scout Singin’ in the Rain star Adam Cooper tells us about his favourite London haunts

Sections 16 20 27 29 32 34 38 40 48 55

The Big Picture

London Food & Drink Shopping Art & Culture Comedy Film Small Screen Music Theatre Competitions

David Batchelor’s Magic Hour, part of the Light Show exhibition at The Hayward Gallery – page 29

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Intelligent design

Not interested in design? Think again – it’s integral to how we live our lives, as a new exhibition of iconic objects reveals We might not always acknowledge it, but we’re all design geeks at heart. Who doesn’t admire the usability of Apple products (go on naysayers, admit it), the bagless efficiency of Dyson vacuum cleaners, or the colourful simplicity of the London Tube map? As Design Museum director Deyan Sudjic puts it: “Design is what makes daily life a little better.”

Some of the designs that have had a profound impact on daily life are about to go on display in a new permanent exhibition at the Design Museum in Shad Thames. Extraordinary Stories About Ordinary Things will use hundreds of iconic objects – such as the Anglepoise lamp, the stacking chair, the traffic light and the red London phone box – to emphasise the full extent to which some designs have integrated into the routines of everyday life. The exhibition will offer a sneak peak of what’s in store at the museum’s new South Kensington HQ (due to open in 2015), where greater space will allow for much more of the expansive permanent collection to be on display. Extraordinary Stories About Ordinary Things, Design Museum, from January 30, £10.75 adults, designmuseum.org

God of the desk top Anglepoise lamp

# love

iDaddy Apple iMac designed by Jonathan Ive, 1998-9

Date Night

The one where you scrawl on the walls... VENUE Doodle Bar, Battersea PRICE ££ PERFECT FOR That internet date you’re not sure about One of the first rules of being a grown-up is No Drawing on the Walls. Well, we say rules are meant to be broken and here at Doodle Bar you’re more than welcome to scribble away. Doodle bar is a little bit of East London in a rather difficult-tofind part of Battersea. This bar/ café hybrid is nestled in the middle of TESTBED1, an arts centre. Take an internet date: if you don’t get on, you can always amuse yourself by drawing a

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cock and balls on the walls*. They even have a pingpong table. *Although this will be immediately scrubbed away by keen-eyed staff.

FACT TO ENTERTAIN

If you draw an arrow you’re ambitious, a flower means you’re family-orientated, spider webs mean you feel trapped and a face indicates your mood.

IT’S GOING WELL ...

Stay for dinner: The food and drinks are pretty reasonable.

YOU NEED TO ESCAPE

Draw a massive cock and balls on the wall and await eviction.

03: The Photographer’s

Street scene Traffic light, designed by David Mellor 1966

Suck it up G-Force Cyclonic Vacuum Cleaner designed by James Dyson, 1986

Gallery

The Photographer’s Gallery is one of those little places you’ll kick yourself for not discovering earlier. Located just behind bustling Oxford Circus it is the largest public gallery in London dedicated to photography. Even better, it’s free. The current Camera Obscura and The World In London projects are a must-see, and the location is so

central that you can just pop in between the brandbrowsing during a torturous shopping trip with your other half. Their onsite coffee shop makes a much nicer caffeine pitstop than a tax-avoiding big chain, the food is provided by Lina Stores Italian deli and if the Lavazza coffee isn’t to your taste, they serve wine and beer too.

thephotographersgallery.org.uk Send us your favourite spots of inspiration by email, Twitter or Facebook. You might end up in Scouted.

Sign of the times Road Sign designed by Jock Kinneir & Margaret Calvert, 1964

BOOK

NOW

Cris Dobbins, GARETH STRANKS, The Noun Project

last chance

LONDON

GET IN TOUCH

Kings of Leon The O2, June 12&13 theo2.co.uk

opens March 9, Noel Coward Theatre, michaelgrandagecompany.com

The Silence of the Sea Trafalgar Studios Closes Sat Feb 2

Trojan Women Brockley Jack Studio Theatre Closes Sat Feb 2

Shunt collective: The Architects V22 Workspace Closes Sat Feb 2

Geeked About Art Foyles bookshop Closes Wed Jan 30

Jim Marshall: Rip This Joint: The Rolling Stones 1972 British Museum Experience Closes Sun Feb 3

One Festival The Space Closes Sun Feb 3 Adi Nes: The Village Jewish Museum Closes Sun Feb 3

hello@scoutlondon.com

Peter and Alice

Have you seen Dante? Vitrine Bermondsey St Gallery Closes Sat Feb 2

Bastille

Shepherd’s Bush Empire, March 28&29 seetickets.com

Sundance London The O2, April 25-28 sundance-london.com

BAD MEANING GOOD

BAD MEANING BAD

The Wireless and Hard Rock Calling festivals will take place in the Olympic Park this summer, away from Hyde Park’s complaint-prone residents.

Brick Lane venue and club 93 Feet East is to close after 11 years, following a police raid in December that resulted in the revoking of its licence.

We like this

We don’t like this

The Jess Docker Show Pentameters Theatre Closes Sun Feb 3 The Sherbert Cherry Rose Barons Court Theatre Closes Sun Feb 3

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@ScoutLondon

020 7998 1901 scoutlondon.com Scout London

Adam Cooper Actor and dancer

Ok, sold. Now how about a bite to eat? I like the The Delaunay on the Aldwych. It’s a lovely restaurant

Scout London Cover Stars 0025 Jordon Cheung, 23, Graphic designer, Deptford

What in London inspires you? Within London there is a concentrate of designers. This makes for a great ‘designer community’, where you can meet others, discuss ideas and collaborate. With the accessibility of great designers and studios on your doorstep, it makes it very easy to be inspired.

Where’s your favourite outdoor spot? Waterloo Bridge, looking east towards St Paul’s Cathedral. It’s one of the most beautiful views in the city, with so much history laid out in front of you. What’s a great cultural experience you’ve had recently? I went to the Museum of London, which is great. It’s so fascinating learning about all of London’s history. What’s your favourite London theatre? The Palace, of course! I’ve performed at many theatres, but the Palace is so architecturally beautiful and its history is amazing. Adam stars in Singin’ in the Rain at the Palace Theatre. singinintherain.co.uk

Any London secrets to share? Deptford flea market. If I’m honest, the majority of the stuff there isn’t of much use, but look hard enough and you’ll find some gems.

How important is London in your work? Having such a diverse culture in London has opened me up to new ideas which have inspired my work.

Favourite part of London? Greenwich Park. Whenever I’m struggling with a project, a couple of hours away from my desk spent in the park helps to clear my head.

What’s next for you? Eventually I would like to set up my own studio. See more at: j.mp/jordoncheung

Hey there, are you a talented creative? Fancy decorating the Scout London logo that appears on our cover each week? We welcome London-based artists, designers, illustrators, photographers. Get in touch: talent@scoutlondon.com 6

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Manuel Harlan

Let’s go for a drink – Scout’s buying. Where shall we go? Soho House. It’s quiet, comfy and there are like-minded people there.

with a great atmosphere and excellent food that’s also reasonably priced.

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Adam Cooper started tap dancing when he was five, and took up ballet when he was seven. He’s since gone on to become one of the UK’s most respected and famous dancers. As well as spending eight years with the Royal Ballet, he also originated the role of the Swan in Matthew Bourne’s seminal male-led production of Swan Lake. Remember the end of Billy Elliot, when the grownup Billy leaps magnificently onto the stage in feathery leggings? That was Cooper in Swan Lake. He is currently starring as central character Don Lockwood in the West End production of Singin’ in the Rain.

An Eclipse Theatre Production

By Don Evans

“Joyous... the whole show goes with a tremendous swing, its sharp wit matched with a genuine generosity of spirit”  Daily Telegraph

UNTIL 9 FEBRUARY DIRECTOR DAWN WALTON DESIGNER LIBBY WATSON LIGHTING DESIGNER NATASHA CHIVERS SOUND DESIGN ADRIENNE QUARTLY CAST

JACQUELINE BOATSWAIN, KARL COLLINS, JOCELYN JEE ESIEN, ROCHELLE ROSE, CLIFFORD SAMUEL, REBECCA SCROGGS AND ISAAC SSEBANDEKE

Originally co-produced with Sheffield Theatres | Presented by arrangement with Josef Weinberger Limited

“Walton’s production is pure – sometimes impure – delight”  Guardian “Ingenious… the acting is sharp and the writing sassy”  Evening Standard

BOX OFFICE 020 7328 1000 | W W W.TRICYCLE.CO.UK Tricycle Theatre, 269 Kilburn High Road, London NW6 7JR | Nearest Tube: Kilburn Registered charity no. 276892

Wonderful as it is, London can be a pretty expensive place. So how do you make the most of it without spending your life in the red? Here are all the tips and tricks you need to blag some culture on the cheap

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Cheap seats The Royal Court

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Alan Copson, Robert Harding, Rex Features / GETTY / Ewan Munro / ANDY ROBERTS PHOTOS

Community Tickets each week at £5 and £10 to those who work or live in Lambeth. Over at Sloane Square’s Royal Court, anyone can snap up on-the-day tickets for £10 on Mondays. Or if you’ve got the stamina, buy one of four standing tickets (restricted view) per performance for just 10p – now there’s a bargain. In the West End, the esteemed Donmar Warehouse’s Barclays Front Row scheme offers £10 front row seats for every performance, while the new Trafalgar Transformed season at Trafalgar Studios – kicking off in February with James McAvoy as Macbeth – prices all seats at £15 on Mondays. Over the river, the National Theatre’s long-running Travelex sponsorship makes £12 tickets available across a season of shows. Naturally, these kinds of tickets sell-out fast, so find out when they go on sale and get in there quickly. The less organised (or more spontaneous) among us should head for the tkts booth in Leicester Square, which offers on-theday discount tickets to West End shows. Or consider queuing (sometimes from the early hours) at your chosen theatre’s box office for a limited number of day seats, which can be as little as £10 –

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ith so-called ‘premium’ seats now edging towards £90, it’s not hard to feel priced out of London theatre. But there are ways of seeing top-flight shows without leaving a sizeable dent in your dosh – you just need to know where to look. In your local neighbourhood, for starters. Just because they’re not in the West End doesn’t mean the work at suburban theatres will be any less impressive – though it will be cheaper. Prices at the Lyric Hammersmith, Hampstead Theatre, Islington’s Almeida and the Young Vic in Waterloo, for example, are a reasonable £10-£35. And the marvellous Battersea Arts Centre rarely charges over £20 for some of the most cutting-edge shows in town. The Lyric offers all seats at £12.50 for the first few performances of every show, while its Free First Nights scheme gifts Hammersmith & Fulham residents two free tickets to a show’s first performance. Waterloo’s Old Vic also favours its locals, offering 50

Daily ticket lottery The Book of Mormon

for a top West End show, that’s probably worth getting up early for. The forthcoming musical The Book of Mormon has a nifty variation on day seats: take part in its daily lottery to be in with a chance of securing two tickets to that night’s show for £20 each. A safer bet is the annual Get Into London Theatre promotion, which offers advanced tickets to top shows like Shrek and One Man Two Guvnors from £10-£35. It’s currently running to February 15, but last year returned for the summer months – here’s hoping for a repeat performance in 2013. Caroline Bishop

Discount shows The tkts booth in Leicester Square

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Shopping Getting the best of London’s culture at a snip is one thing. Looking good while you do it is another. So how do you bag a bargain? Anne Look, of fashion blog stylistandthecity.com gives us her top tips. Markets are an obvious tip: don’t just stick to Spitalfields; also check out Deptford, Greenwich and Dover Street. Charity shops and vintage stores should also be regular stops on your

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hough it boasts one of the greatest and most varied eating and drinking cultures on the planet, dining out in London certainly isn’t cheap when compared with the rest of the world. But you don’t need to be a high-flyer to eat high-end; a few tips and tricks should help you to get the good stuff for less. Vouchers are a bit old hat and tend to be the domain of the big chains nowadays, but restaurant booking site and app Toptable.co.uk is a valuable resource for offers and discounts at independents all across town, and an essential visit for any foodie Londoner who is shorter on cash than they are on taste. If you eat out regularly, you could take the next step by becoming a member of a dining club. Type Gourmet Society, Tastecard or Cuisine Card into Google to see the restaurants signed up to each, and the exclusive member deals they offer. We’re a fan of the latter, which gives two-for-one, 50 per cent off and free drinks offers at many local London restaurants as well as the

10 Scout London scoutlondon.com

Off the rack Deptford Market

Saturday schedule if you’re a committed bargain-hunter.

Lunch for less Gordon Ramsay

big central names, all for £30 a year. Many of our city’s most extravagant eateries don’t want to be seen on such sites, but even multi-Michelin-starred establishments struggle to fill up on weekday lunchtimes. As a result, their lunch menus are often incredibly good value. If you’re not stuck behind a desk, you can tuck into impressive meals from Gordon Ramsay, Jason Atherton, Tom Aikens and the like for a fraction of the dinner price. Having lunch at Dinner sounds confusing, but a three-course set lunch menu at this Heston Blumenthal restaurant (rated the ninth best in the world) will set you back just £36, around half the à la carte price.

Michelin-starred Tom’s Kitchen

Whether lunch or dinner, new restaurants are another good bet. Keep an eye on London’s latest openings and check their websites for soft launch offers – there’s often 50 per cent off food for up to a month while the kitchen settles in. Our restaurant listings (p24) are a good place to see what’s new. Ben Norum

Mealtime confusion? Head to Heston Blumenthal’s Dinner for lunch

But what about getting new clothes from high-end labels at marked down prices? Yes, there is a way. This is a city, where, like trendy bars and supperclubs, it’s often an unmarked door that opens to reveal a golden interior of amazing clothing bargains. Unfortunately, with them often come hordes of bargain-hungry fashionistas who are prepared to push, pull and generally get cattier than Anne Hathaway in Batman in order to grab them. Welcome to the world of the sample sale. The stock at these regular events is usually as plentiful as fashion is fast, and goes for a tiny fraction of the rrp. But how do you find out about such mythical happenings? Short of making a new bff in the industry, it’s all about that wonderful friend to us all: the internet. Visit one or more of these sites and you’ll be heading down the right track. Happy shopping! designersales.co.uk designerwarehousesales.com samplesaleslondon.co.uk secretsales.com vintagefashionfairs.com

Ray Tang, Rex Features / Feline_dacat / THECSSDIV / Kenichiro Egami

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GETTY / broadimage + Andre Csillag, rexfeatures

BEST DEA

nless you manage to get yourself a job in the industry – or as a roadie, music journalist or groupie – there’s very little chance of you blagging your way into the big shows for free. But don’t give up. The answer is to try and catch the great bands before they’re big. Virtually all up-and-coming acts – including American chart-toppers-in-waiting – play showcases or industry gigs in small venues in London before breaking into the mainstream, giving you the chance to see them for half the money it’ll cost the next time they’re in town. A number of venues are especially preferred by the music industry for such events. XOYO in Shoreditch recently hosted Beyonce’s little sister, Solange Knowles, and saw early shows from the likes of Jessie J and, barely a year ago, Emeli Sande. The Lexington, near Angel, is

a regular spot used by the biggest national promoters in the country. It regularly hosts intimate shows by breaking and established acts (the likes of Two Door Cinema Club, Foals and The Drums have all passed through), and some great DJs, too. In Brixton, Plan B is a great spot for new electronic and urban acts. And it wasn’t so long ago that a nervous, 16-year-old Adele played her first ever gig at a showcase at Jamm, just up the road. The nearby Windmill also has a constant flow of new bands. Some are better than others, but it’s worth keeping an eye out for the next Florence and The Machine, Plan B, Hot Chip or The Vaccines, all of whom played here in their early years. The Sebright Arms in Bethnal Green is a newer spot regularly used for test-the-water-in frontof-hipsters gigs by national promoters, meaning the gigs there are usually of a higher standard

than your average pub shows. Similar hipster hangouts The Old Blue Last in Shoreditch (alumni include Arctic Monkeys, Lily Allen and Amy Winehouse) and The Macbeth in Hoxton (The XX, Franz Ferdinand and Roots Manuva have all graced the stage) have equally lofty reputations. But how do you know which new acts to risk your minimal cash on? Research, my friend, is the only answer. Get a little black book (or little black bookmarks) of music blogs you rate and trust. Whether you’re into nu-folk or witchstep, Afrobeat or chillwave, there’s a blog for you. Many are poor. Some are outstanding. But if you’re not sure where to start, you could do worse than checking out NME’s Radar blog, The Guardian’s New Band of the Day column or The Hype Machine (hypem.com). From there, dear music explorer, the cheap-gig map is yours to create. James Drury

A family affair Solange Knowles

Brixton beginnings Adele

Star breeding ground The Lexington just before the magic happens

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CUT-PRICE

Shout about the price Chris Coltrane

Funny pub The Colonel Fawcett

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too niche”, puts on an impressive line-up of quality acts at The Black Heart in Camden. For just £6, there’s not much better value for money out there. Ditto Chris Coltrane’s Lolitics, a delightfully friendly and political night, also at The Black Heart, where comedians like Josie Long and the legendary Rob Newman have performed. Unaffected by inflation, Coltrane still somehow manages to keep the entry fee at a mere £3. If you’re really feeling the pinch, head to The Invisible Dot in Kings Cross for The Free Shows, a new fortnightly event that will allow you to check out top acts for absolutely nothing. Surefire star-of-the-future Karl Schultz is behind Rampant Breakdown, an avant-garde

gig full of hilarious and bizarre character comedy, which is also free (The Colonel Fawcett, Kings Cross). And Schultz is also a regular at the Weirdos Comedy Club, which has just taken up a monthly residency at the Leicester Square Theatre. For only £5, expect comedy at its strangest. Finally, keep an ear to the ground for Edinburgh warm-ups and scratch performances of all kind (where comedians try out new material). These are a great way to see some of stand up’s finest performing great work for a fraction of the usual cost. Battersea Arts Centre, Soho Theatre and The Pleasance in Caledonian Road are all good places to spot a comedy star road-testing new gags. Joanna Hawkins

ANDY CRAWFORD, GETTY / IDIL SULKAN / EWAN MUNRO

ive comedy definitely isn’t the most expensive of London’s cultural activities. But the price tags attached to the big stand-up shows have become prohibitively high in the last few years – seeing Eddie Izzard at The O2 in June will set you back around £50 a ticket. Thankfully, this isn’t the case across the whole of the live scene, where there are still plenty of laughs to be had on the cheap. For £5, alternative comedy stalwart Harry Deansway’s club, Shambles, at the Aces and Eights in Tufnell Park, features the cream of well-known performers and rising stars. Themed nights are also increasingly popular and highly affordable. The new Specialist Subject night, “where no joke is

Cheap laughs Big stars like Josie Long still do affordable comedy nights

London Symphony Orchestra Valery Gergiev Maxim Vengerov Les Arts Florissants Los Angeles Philharmonic Gustavo Dudamel Joyce DiDonato Juan Diego Flórez BBC Symphony Orchestra Magdelena Kožená Academy of Ancient Music Murray Perahia Leonidas Kavakos Britten Sinfonia barbican.org.uk Resident Orchestra

Associate Orchestra

Associate Ensembles

International Associates

classical music spring 2013

Amazing orchestras World-class artists One venue

Music, Lyrics and Book by

Lionel Bart An amateur production by with MusicScope and Producedarrangement for the stage by Stage Musicals LtdBroadway of New York.

David Merrick & Donald Albery

29 January - 2 February 2013 An amateur production by arrangement with MusicScope and Stage Musicals Ltd of New York.

Box Office 0844 871 7651* | www.atgtickets.com/richmond THE GREEN, RICHMOND, SURREY TW9 1QJ | *FEE APPLIES

The start of something wonderful Whitechapel’s Genesis cinema

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n spite of the challenges posed by piracy and movie downloading, going to the cinema has rarely been more popular – or expensive. Catching a movie at one of the big Leicester Square cinemas can set you back almost £20, and that’s before you factor in the exorbitant concessions stands. So how do you get to see the hot new releases without burning a blockbuster-sized hole in your pocket? Thankfully, there are countless schemes that keep the costs of movie-going modest, if not unbelievably cheap. Orange Wednesday is old news, but still a winner if you or a friend uses that particular phone network (Orange customers get two-for-one cinema tickets every Wednesday). And there are countless other ways to keep your budget down. For starters, membership schemes at many of the big chains offer great value for money – particularly if you go regularly. Membership to The Picturehouse chain, for example, gets you three

free tickets when you sign up, then £2 off every ticket and 10 per cent off food and drink, all for £35 per year. Bargain. And there are similar schemes at nearly all of the other chains – from smaller independents such as Curzon and Everyman to the big guys like Odeon and Cineworld. It’s also worth remembering that prices are often reduced for weekday daytime screenings (great if you have a day off), and that many cinemas have one ‘cheap day’ each week. Genesis Cinema in Whitechapel, for example, only charges £3.50 on Wednesdays – day and evening, for every movie. But what if you want to add some West End glitz to your moviegoing experience? There’s still a way of doing it without having to pay West End prices, namely by visiting one of the capital’s most cherished cult cinemas. The Prince Charles Cinema sits unassumingly next to all of the other big Leicester Square movie houses but charges a fraction of their costs for its screenings (always less than a tenner, and as little as £2.50 for members).

Fit for a prince The Prince Charles Cinema in Leicester Square

As well as selected new films, which they get around two months after general release, the Prince Charles is known for its awesome double bills, movie marathons, cult screenings and special events. This week, for example, you can go all arthouse with Michael Haneke’s recent Palme d’Or-winner, Amour, or head in the totally opposite direction with a Terminator and

Robocop double bill (a steal at £12 or £7 for members). Also worth a mention is the excellent Roxy Bar and Screen in Borough, where recent releases are revisited in their cozy screening room for around £4 (free to members). Coming up are Looper, Holy Motors and Argo. Dan Frost

Discount sites and apps Websites and apps offering money-off vouchers for a variety of shops, restaurants and entertainment have become increasingly popular – and useful – over the past few years. You might not find the hottest seats or the trendiest restaurants on there, but they’re still well worth a look if you’re on the hunt for thrifty thrills. The following sites are among the biggest and best. Vouchercodes.co.uk Discountvouchers.co.uk Moneysavingexpert.com Groupon.co.uk Vouchercloud.com scoutlondon.com Scout London 15

Murder mystery tour As a new exhibition dedicated to the history of the whodunit opens at the British Library, Zoe Craig dons her deerstalker and investigates the best murder mysteries in the capital Murder in the Library

The British Library’s latest free exhibition celebrates the history of the whodunit. Described as an A to Z of the crime thriller, Murder In The Library puts a magnifying glass up to the development of detective fiction from its beginnings in the 1840s with Edgar Allan Poe, through its golden era between the wars, to present day prize winners from the likes of Patricia Cornwell. Fans of crime fiction (and there are many – more than a third of all fiction published in the English language falls under the genre) can peruse past classics from Arthur Conan Doyle and Wilkie Collins, to quirkier curiosities, such as the 1930s Jigsaw Puzzle Murders and Dennis Wheatley’s murder mystery dossiers with their frankly odd physical clues (such as human hair) helping you “solve” the mystery. Keep an eye out for accompanying events and activities. bl.uk

Dramatic Deaths

London’s Theatreland loves a good murder. From The Woman in Black to The 39 Steps, successful plays have been plotted around dastardly deaths for years. And Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap is the reigning queen of them all. Now in its 60th year it is officially the longest running theatre production of all time. And still audiences flock to St Martin’s Theatre (tickets

£16-£43) to find out who did it, before promising to the cast they’ll never reveal the identity of the killer. themousetrap.co.uk

Sleuthing Around Shoreditch

If you fancy playing detective yourself, check out the events by top mystery plotters A Door In A Wall. Part murder mystery, part treasure hunt, their latest Boxpark-based project A Crime of Fashion (March 16-17) will have you searching Shoreditch’s shops and streets for hidden clues and characters in a quest to catch a celebrated fashion designer’s killer. In teams of three to six sleuths, you’ll collect evidence, solve puzzles and make your accusation. “Winners are those that correctly identify the murderer and get the most of our plot correct,” says principle ADIAW architect Tom Williams. Tickets cost £15 per player, and the game lasts around two hours. adoorinawall.com

whether you want to visit Poirot’s flat from the TV series, or enjoy a Sherlockinspired snack at Simpson’s-in-theStrand, his Detective Tours are the answer. Prices range from £10 per person for a group up to £250 for a tip-top, chauffeur-driven affair. detective-tours.com

Whodunit Hotel

London might not rival Midsomer or Oxford for crime locations per capita, but the city can lay claim to the greatest detective of all time. Step forward Sherlock Holmes. And where better to stalk a killer than at the Sherlock Holmes Hotel? Lord B’staville regularly invites his feuding family, friends and neighbours to a dinner to reveal who’ll inherit all his money. And do you know what? Someone always gets killed. For £63, you can help Holmes solve the case – as well as a three-course dinner, the evening includes Prosecco, professional actors, prizes and a disco. westendevents.co.uk

Suspect A character from A Door In A Wall’s mystery tour

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Super sleuth West End Events’ Sherlock Holmes night

GREGALLANPHOTO.COM

Scene of the Crime

Poirot and Sherlock fans can treat themselves to a luxury London tour with detective fiction expert Antony Richards, who takes people on tours to London sites from literary and TV crime dramas. A Freeman of the City of London, Richards tailors his London detective tours to suit the client. “I’ll always ask what people are interested in, so I can create bespoke tours for fans with specific interests,” says Richards. So,

‘dreamthinkspeak have been quietly reinventing site-specific theatre for some time’ – The Independent

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LIVE TOUR 2013 (WEARING RUBBER AT HIS AGE!)

Julian is looking for love... ...and he’s not leaving town empty handed

ONE NIGHT IN LONDON

2 JUNE

PALACE THEATRE

Shaftesbury Avenue, London

0844 412 4656

★★★★

www.nimaxtheatres.com

“hilarious... vintage Clary”

Out Now!

Whatsonstage

@JulianClary julianclary.co.uk

In association with Mandy Ward Artist Management

mickperrin.com

Photo: Idil Sukan/Draw HQ

Julian Clary dressed by Libidex Latex Clothing at www.libidex.com

ONGOING

On Iris Murdoch: Talk at London School Of Economics, Houghton Street, WC2A 2AE Temple FREE, 6.30pm8pm. Professor Timothy Chappell and Dr Sabina Mary Lovibond discuss the author and philosopher’s work. Zimbabwe Takes Back Its Land: Panel Discussion at London School Of Economics, Houghton Street, WC2A 2AE Temple FREE, 6.30pm-8pm. A panel discussion about the country’s land reform.

Tuesday January 29 The View From The Shard at The Shard, SE1 9SG London Bridge £24.95, child £18.95, under 3s FREE, children must be accompanied by a paying adult, 9am10pm, last adm 8pm, timed admission, every 30 mins, timed admission, every 30 mins. From Feb 1. Enjoy panoramic views across extending almost 40 miles across London. Blackheath Does Broadway: Course at Blackheath Halls, Lee Road, SE3 9RQ Blackheath Jan 14-28, Feb 4, 11, 25, Mar 11, 18, Apr 8-22, 7.30pm-9.30pm, £85, concs £76. Learn to sing and perform Broadway numbers over 12 sessions finishing with a finale performance. Until Apr 22. Changing The World, 1784-1904 at National Army Museum, Royal Hospital Road, Chelsea, SW3 4HT Sloane Square Mon-Sun 10am5.30pm, Dec 15, 10am-5pm, closed Dec 24-26, Jan 1, ongoing, FREE. Installations, films and artefacts exploring the pursuits of the British Army. Until Dec 31.

Monday January 28 Brixton Craft: Bollywood Style: Workshop at Upstairs At The Ritzy, Coldharbour Lane, SW2 1JG Brixton FREE, 7pm. Bollywood-themed craft activities from henna tattoos to jewellery making.

Book Club at Victoria & Albert Museum, Cromwell Road, SW7 2RL South Kensington £8, inc wine, 6.30pm-8pm. Reading group. Modern Magic Lantern Shows: Libby Hall: Talk at Bishopsgate Institute, 230 Bishopsgate, EC2M 4QH Liverpool Street FREE, 7.30pm. Two photographers and a collector of photography share their favourite pictures. Pongathon at Rich Mix, 35-47 Bethnal Green Road, E1 6LA Aldgate East FREE, 5pm-11pm. Ping pong games with visual art and music. Art, Events And Bodies In 1960s Japan Talk By Peter Eckersall at The Japan Foundation, Russell Square House, 10-12 Russell Square, WC1B 5EH Russell Square FREE, adv booking essential, 6.30pm. A discussion on the changing culture of a nation. A Conservative Revolutionary: John Constable And The History Of Art: Lecture at Victoria & Albert Museum, Cromwell Road, SW7 2RL South Kensington FREE, 1pm. With Mark Evans. Selma James: Talk at Housmans Bookshop, 5 Caledonian Road, N1 9DX King’s Cross St Pancras £3, redeemable against purchase, 7pm. The author discusses her book Sex, Race And Class: The Perspective Of Winning.

VICCHI

London Overground No service the following times Saturday: Kilburn High Road to Euston after 20:00. All weekend: Highbury & Islington to Shadwell and Surrey Quays to New Cross. Sunday: Sydenham to Crystal Palace all day Sunday: Kilburn High Road to Euston until 12:00. Sunday: Surrey Quays to Clapham Junction until 09:30. Sunday: Wandsworth Road to Clapham Junction from 09:30. For the latest information visit tfl.gov.uk

Vogue On Fashion: Discussion at Victoria & Albert Museum, Cromwell Road, SW7 2RL South Kensington £9, concs £6, adv booking required, 6.30pm-7.30pm. Panel discussion with images headed by Editor Alexandra Shulman.

Saturday February 2

Thursday January 31

Strictly Come Dancing Live Tour at The O2 Peninsula Way, SE10 0DX North Greenwich £35-£55, 2.30pm & 7.30pm. See the stars of the TV series, including Michael Vaughn (pictured), winner Louis Smith and Denise Van Outen, perform live. Also on Feb 3 at 1.30pm & 6.30pm.

Wednesday January 30

Transport for London travel update

Circle line Service suspended all weekend. District line No service South Kensington to Bromleyby-Bow all weekend. Hammersmith & City line No service King’s Cross St. Pancras to Barking all weekend. Metropolitan Line No service Wembley Park to Northwood and Uxbridge and Baker Street to Aldgate all weekend. Docklands Light Railway No service Canning Town to Beckton all weekend.

Our Londinium 2012: Talk at Museum Of London, 150 London Wall, EC2Y 5HN Barbican FREE, 1pm-2pm. A museum curator and the people behind the Roman gallery’s reinvention discuss the two cities. Tower Twilight Tours (Over 12s) at Tower Of London, Tower Hill, EC3N 4AB Tower Hill £25, mems £22.50, 7pm-8.30pm. Hear tales of murders and hauntings. What Makes A Great Play? at Barbican Centre, Silk Street, EC2Y 8DS Barbican non-members £7, Times +members £5, 7pm. A discussion between the judging panel of the 2013 Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting.

Solar System, Galaxy, Universe at Royal Observatory Greenwich, Greenwich Park, Blackheath Avenue, SE10 8XJ Greenwich £6.50, child/concs £4.50, family £17.50, mems FREE, 12.45pm, 1.45pm, term time only. A planetarium show exploring space and the structure of objects. . Bogan Bingo at The Underdog, 16a Clapham Common South Side, SW4 7AB Clapham Common two games of bingo £5, 8pm. Games to a rock soundtrack. Drawing Day On The South Bank: Workshop at Sir John Soane’s Museum, 13 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, WC2A 3BP Holborn £40, inc refreshments, 10.15am-4pm, doors 10am. Led by James Willis. Life Drawing: Workshop at Primrose Hill Community Centre, 29 Hopkinson’s Place, Fitzroy Road, NW1 8TN Chalk Farm £5, 7pm-9.30pm. Improve your drawing skills and understanding of the human body. Thursday Beginners at Cecil Sharp House, 2 Regents Park Road, NW1 7AY Camden Town £5, concs £4, 7.30pm. Learn the steps of various dances.

Friday February 1 Culture Now: Nicola Tyson: Talk at ICA, 12 Carlton House Terrace, The Mall, SW1Y 5AH Charing Cross £5, mems FREE, 1pm. A discussion with the artist on her newest works. Eerie Evening Tours at Kensington Palace State Apartments, Kensington Gardens, W8 4PX High Street Kensington £25, adv booking essential, 6.45pm-8.15pm. A tour of the State Apartments. The Role Of The Conservation Technician: Talk at Wallace Collection, Hertford House, Manchester Square, W1U 3BN Bond Street FREE, 1pm2pm. Conservation technician Stephen Craig discusses his job.

Egyptian Gods And Goddesses: Talk at British Museum, Great Russell Street, WC1B 3DG Russell Square FREE, 1.15pm. A gallery talk by Egyptologist Carol Andrews. Family Activities: Learning Room Open at The Royal Mews, Buckingham Palace Road, SW1A 1AA Victoria phone for prices, 10am-4pm, last adm 3.15pm. Creative paper-based activities for families. Maeve Dawson, Pub Landlady at Museum Of London Docklands, West India Quay, Hertsmere Road, E14 4AL Canary Wharf FREE, 12.30pm-1pm, 2.30pm-3pm, 3.30pm-4pm. Meet the Victorian Landlady and hear her stories Wedding Accessories: Vintage-Inspired Workshop at Fashion And Textile Museum, 83 Bermondsey Street, SE1 3XF Borough £70, inc materials, 11am-4pm. With textile artist Emma Hasell.

Sunday February 3 DreamWork: Talk at Freud Museum, 20 Maresfield Gardens, NW3 5SX Finchley Road FREE, plus admission £6, OAP £4.50, concs £3, under 12s FREE, 3pm. An artist’s talk with Christie Brown. Seasonal Splendours Of The Winter Garden: Lecture at Chelsea Physic Garden, 66 Royal Hospital Road, SW3 4HS Sloane Square FREE, plus admission £9, child/NUS £6, mems FREE, 11.30am12.30pm, 2.30pm-3.30pm. The garden’s curator Christopher Bailes discusses seasonal plants. Telling Tales at The V&A Museum Of Childhood, Cambridge Heath Road, E2 9PA Bethnal Green FREE, 12noon12.30pm, term time only, children must be accompanied. Storytelling session. What On Earth Is That? at Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, SW7 5BD South Kensington FREE, 12.30pm, 2.30pm. Scientists help identify objects and have a go yourself.

scoutlondon.com Scout London 19

Eat your art out Where great chefs are concerned, food is an artform and our plates and palates are canvases. But the latest trend in restaurants sees art itself taking centre stage

t’s not a completely novel idea. In the 1970s restaurateur Peter Langan displayed bold artworks from emerging artists at his restaurants, including Odin’s in Marylebone, where David Hockney not only had a place on the walls but also in the kitchen, where he worked to top-up his grant. Sketch, which opened in Mayfair in 2003, is perhaps a wackier alternative, featuring interactive artworks and light shows throughout. Until recently, these kinds of restaurants have been the exception rather than the rule. But there has been a noticeable shift among the high-profile openings of the past year. It may be a result of pop-ups and supper clubs propelling the dining experience head-first into the world of performance art, or something to do with restaurants vying to be hip and trendy in a way they never did before. Either way,

20 Scout London scoutlondon.com

art and restaurants have very much become one. Art works are no longer merely being bought for restaurants, but commissioned especially for them; they are not generic but linked intrinsically to the restaurant they are in. Damien Hirst’s formaldehyde Cock & Bull piece for Mark Hix’s Tramshed restaurant is an obvious example, representing the menu’s simple choice between chicken or beef. At Thai street food chain Busaba Eathai, they have gone to the expense of sending top food photographer Jason Lowe to Thailand to capture street scenes which will complement the dishes. At Pollen Street Social, Jason Atherton’s produceled, patriotically British menu is visualised in a painting that creates the shape of the UK out of the ingredients its regions are known for (pictured, right). Both Lima London and Ceviche cover their walls with art

from South America; paintings reminiscent of the subcontinent are on display at Shad Thames Indian restaurant Bengal Clipper; at Meat Liquor, satanic cow-based scrawlings on the wall purvey the rebellious bovine theme; and at Dalston’s Hunter S pub, canvases are switched for taxidermy (be sure to visit the lavatories, too).

At the new Blue Boar Smokehouse in Westminster’s Intercontinental Hotel, its proximity to the home of politics is marked with a series of Parliament-themed artworks. Among them are two intoxicating pieces by Agamaria Pasternak, which together contain the faces of every single MP in Parliament, presented in an overlay which – as in the Commons – allows some to dominate while others are overwhelmed and shown as mere squiggles. The relationship between food and art doesn’t stop there; the line between restaurant and gallery is blurring. Below the restaurant, Tramshed now boasts its own art collection; galleries can also be found at nearby Rivington Grill, Farringdon’s Zetter Townhouse and the South Bank’s OXO Brasserie. Gone are the days when you would call into the gallery’s cafe. It’s now the other way around.

Top Ten arty eateries

Whistler Restaurant, Tate Britain Possibly 1 Rex London’s best wine list SW1P 4RG

Pimlico

Gallery Dining Room Creative and 2 Whitechapel contemporary dishes from Angela Hartnett E1 7QX Whitechapel

Level 7, Tate Modern, British meets Spanish, plus river views SE1 9TG Southwark

Expensive, eccentric, expertly-crafted food 4 Sketch W1S 2XG Oxford Circus

Mess, Saatchi Gallery Simple, stylish and 5 Gallery sophisticated SW3 4LY Sloane Square

Picture Gallery Café Picturesque view and 6 Dulwich pristine high teas SE21 7AD West Dulwich

Tramshed Choose between roast chicken or steak EC2A 3EQ Old Street

South London Gallery Fresh ingredients allowed to 8 No67, shine; freshly baked cakes and breads SE5 8UH Peckham Rye

Café, Design Museum Seasonal British 9 Blueprint cooking, by the water SE1 2YD

London Bridge

Dining Rooms, National Gallery Simple, 10 National sound cooking of top notch produce WC2N 5DN Charing Cross

In Parma Fitzrovia ££ The concept behind In Parma by Food Roots (to give it its full name) is somewhat confusing at first. Food Roots is a new organisation that deals solely with PDO (protected designation of origin) products from artisan producers across Europe, and In Parma is its first venture. With samplings, events and the opportunity to “learn by tasting” at the forefront of its remit, it’s no ordinary Italian restaurant. On arrival we first notice background video footage of these products being made, and are then greeted with a talk about what Food Roots is all about. We feel a bit like we’ve gone back to school and wonder just what we’ve let ourselves in for. But we’re quickly won over by owner Christian Pero’s contagious enthusiasm, and the lecture turns into a chat. Before we know it, he’s recommending his favourite dishes, telling us about his producesourcing travels and taking photos of us drinking the house wine as if we’re family. It’s something he always does when people order the Lambrusco, a unique sparkling red wine from Parma, which is served here in traditional porcelain fojetas that look like small soup bowls. The wine is sweet, viscous and dangerously drinkable. A dish of homemade tortellini stuffed with spinach, ricotta and Parmesan is made according to a recipe from Pero’s grandmother. It’s beautifully simple, thick-cut and dressed only with melted butter and fresh sage. Another

of soft polenta with beef ragu offers a clever contrast between earthy, piquant sauce and creamy-but-bland polenta: comfort food at its best. A zabaglione dessert is glossy to the eye, silken to the palette and refreshingly un-sweet. Biscotti made for dipping are uncharacteristically chewy, but all the more addictive for it. Stripping food back to its roots even further, the biggest chunk of menu space is given over to cured meats and cheeses, available in platters as part of a meal or to accompany a drink. A deliciously umami-rich Culatello di Zibello is similar to a conventional Parma ham but with a more succulent, melting texture and deeper flavour. It is so rich that we are recommended to eat it spread with butter in the classic way for best effect. A cheese selection spans the usuals to the unheard of, but always shows off exquisite examples. A highlight is the Parmigiano flight, comparing 12-month-old, 24-month-old and 36-month-old cheeses, along with a particularly rare style that comes from the Red Cow breed. Holding our own blind taste test, we’re impressed at how they all vary. In-line with the restaurant’s mission statement, our experience certainly feels educational. We just wish that school could have been so enjoyable, not to mention the quality of school dinners. Ben Norum 10 Charlotte Place, W1T 1SH Goodge Street scoutlondon.com Scout London 21

Min Jiang Kensington £££

The Narrow Boat Islington ££

Set atop the Royal Garden Hotel on Kensington High Street, and with panoramic views across the city, Min Jiang is a bit of posh. The woodfired Beijing duck is the main reason to visit. Carved at the table and served in two courses, the first offers pancakes with a mix of fillings, while options for the second course include rice, noodles, lettuce wraps and soup. The crisp, fatty skin, which is served in the traditional manner – with a sugar dip – is a luxurious dish that blows fresh doughnuts out of the water. Dim sum vie to be as impressive, with delicate pastry and interesting fillings such as pumpkin and scallop. It comes with a high price tag for Chinese, but for duck and dim sum fans the raised level of finesse will probably justify it. Ben Norum

Situated right on Regent’s Canal, The Narrow Boat has incredible views onto the water. And, following a major refurbishment, it now has a great new look to boot. Serving up hearty plates of good British grub, it’s the fish cakes – topped with a wonderfully creamy poached egg – that are a stand-out starter. The smoked haddock in them is meaty and flavoursome, with just the right balance of herbs. Portions are very generous and almost an appetite spoiler, but we can always find room for steak. While the cottage pie is a great combination of classic flavours, the non-traditional addition of rosemary is surprising, reminding of the dish’s cousin, shepherd’s pie. Bring an extra stomach because you’ll definitely want to have the sumptuous crumble for dessert. James Drury

2-24 Kensington High Street, W8 4PT High Street Kensington

119 St Peters Street, N1 8PZ

Angel

Roast Borough £££

Opium Soho ££

Set above Borough Market, there are few more foodie settings to be imagined in London. The market has become very much the domain of tourists in latter years, and on our visit to Roast, it seemed the same might be true. But don’t be put off. The selection of simply but expertly-cooked meats and fish – many sourced directly from Borough traders – is too good to be missed out on by us locals. A haggis-lined Scotch duck egg is crisp, meaty and oozey in all the right places, while a rib eye steak is among the most flavour-packed we’ve found in town. Like the market itself, it’s not cheap, but with a buzzing atmosphere, regular live music, views over the market action and St Paul’s in the distance, it’s a class act that provides plenty of bang for your buck. BN

With history in mind, one might find a restaurant named Opium in Chinatown to be somewhat bad taste. As it goes, this is anything but. Like its neighbours, the Experimental Cocktail Club, it is nestled high above the Chinese eateries we know the area for. Owners Dre Masso and Eric Yu have drawn inspiration from 19th century opium dens in their theme. A smoking signature cocktail made with kaffir lime, mandarin, absinthe and rum is a pleasing shock to the system; a toilet that shouts at you is just shocking. A smattering of dim sum make up the single-page food menu, and the scallop, coriander and pea dumplings could rival any on Gerrard Street. The sesame and poppy lobster prawn toast is another must-try. Qin Xie

The Floral Hall, Stoney Street, SE1 1TL 22 Scout London scoutlondon.com

London Bridge

15-16 Gerrard Street, W1D 6JA Leicester Square

CENTRAL

The Shop 75 Chamberlayne Road, NW10 3ND Kensal Rise Bar ££ This cool Kensal hangout serves cocktails, beers and platters alongside a short but sound menu. Drinks come in jam jars and retro milkbottles, and there’s a strong ‘social club’ vibe, but what really makes it stand out is the fact that everything – from the tables you sit at to the chairs you’re sitting on, via the artworks on the walls – is for sale. Pane Vino 323 Kentish Town Road, NW5 2TJ Kentish Town Italian ££ This old-school Southern Italian restaurant is a real locals’ joint. Bread features heavily, topped with cured meats and roasted peppers, and pizzas are a crowd-pleaser. It’s also worth trying dishes such as grilled sea bass coated with semolina and sweet pecorino cheese tartlets for dessert.

EAST

Bilbao Barria Lower Regent Street, SW1 Piccadilly Circus Spanish £££ It’s been announced that Australian chef and winner of 2011’s MasterChef – the Professionals, Ash Mair is to open this restaurant in early spring. Spread across two floors on Lower Regent Street near Trafalgar Square, it will offer Basque-style tapas and pintxos, as well as an open grill on one floor, while the other will be more formal. A hefty Spanish wine list will also feature. Amico Bio 43 New Oxford Street, WC1A 1BH Holborn Italian, vegetarian ££ A spin-off from the original Smithfield restaurant, chef-owner Pasquale Amico is again serving his unique brand of organic, vegetarian, homely Italian dishes. Many ingredients are sourced direct from producers in Italy, and the food is paired with natural, organic wines. Guanabara Parker Street, WC2B 5PW Covent Garden Brazilian ££ To coincide with Rio Carnival, Guanabara will be offering up six days of festivity starting on February 7. There’ll be events including live percussion bands and samba dance parades, but for many the real show will be the accompanying Brazilian food, as well as the venue’s selfclaimed “best Caiprinihas in town”. You’ll have to try them for yourself to see if you agree. Rotunda Kings Place, 90 York Way, N1 9AG King’s Cross St Pancras British ££ Nicky Foley has just been appointed as the new head chef at this waterside restaurant which takes its sourcing and meat butchery very seriously indeed. Formerly head chef at Butler’s Wharf Chop House in Shad Thames, he is equally as passionate about meat, but is making changes as he brings a touch of his Irish roots to the menu and adds a touch of creative flare to hearty, robust dishes.

NORTH

Story 201 Tooley Street, SE1 2UE London Bridge British £££ Lined-up to offer food that is, “British, ingredient-led and steeped in history”, Tom Seller’s forthcoming opening is causing much hype among foodies. After his highly-praised Foreword preview pop-up last year, bookings are in-demand and it has now been announced that lines will open on Friday for reservations from March onwards. Visit the website restaurantstory.co.uk or call 0207 183 2117 to book for what is probably 2013’s biggest restaurant opening so far.

WEST Voodoo Ray’s 117 Kingsland High Street, E8 2PB Dalston Kingsland Pizza / bar £ New sister venue of Dalston Superstore just down the road, Voodoo Ray’s offers late night pizzas, tequila cocktails and beers. It’s open until 1am on weeknights and 3am on Fridays and Saturdays. Pizzas aside, the Jägermeister with Dr Pepper ‘cocktail’ is one to try. Vaults at Voltaire 19 New Bridge Street, EC4V 6DB Blackfriars Bar £££ In London’s historic financial district in an old bank vault, the Vaults at Voltaire is set to open on Valentine’s Day and provide somewhere new for City workers to spend their cash. Painted in the colours of “caviar, Champagne and cigars”, the luxury haunt will feature London’s biggest selection of Pommery Champagne, ranging from half bottles through to a nine litre Salmanazar. A Pommery library will be a focal point of the bar and Pommery cocktails will feature, as will a cigar terrace. Bird of Smithfield 26 Smithfield Street, EC1A 9LB Farringdon British £££ Former executive chef at The Ivy, Alan Bird is opening this eponymous restaurant, bar and private dining space opposite Smithfield market next month. It’s set across five floors, including a roof terrace, and will serve British food with a twist, utilising ingredients and styles from countries that Britain had colonised or had historic trade routes with, as well as our native produce. L’Anima Café 1 Snowden Street, EC2A 2DQ Liverpool Street Italian ££ Sitting next door to Francesco Mazzei’s popular Italian restaurant, L’Anima, this less formal café focuses on pizza, pasta and dishes from its Josper Grill to feed City workers without so much time (and possibly money) to spend on lunch.

SOUTH York and Albany Hunting Cabin 127-129 Parkway, NW1 7PS Camden Town British ££ Chase away the January cold at this pop-up hunting lodge at Gordon Ramsay’s York & Albany. It takes inspiration from the historic hunting grounds of nearby Regents Park. As well as mulled wine and hot apple cider, the cabin will also be serving up winter warmers including duck rillette, black pudding scotch eggs and venison sausages. The alcoholic hot chocolate is incredible.

24 Scout London scoutlondon.com

Chipotle 40 Wimbledon Hill, SW19 7PA Wimbledon Mexican £ This latest opening from the American burrito behemoth is the sixth in London, and the first south of the river. When it opens next week, it will boast a large outdoor dining terrace, which will presumably be more popular come spring than now. Alongside burritos and tacos, there are ‘burrito bowls’ available, which are simply burritos minus the tortilla.

Oblix The Shard, 32 London Bridge Street, SE1 London Bridge Grill £££ - ££££ More details have emerged of one of the new restaurants to open at The Shard. Rainer Becker and Arjun Waney, the duo behind both Zuma and Roka, will be opening Oblix on the 32nd floor. Originally thought to be another Zuma, this wholly new concept is inspired by New York grills but with British and European influences. Think roast meats, fresh breads and pizzas. There will also be an interactive sommelier station from which tables can collect and taste wines for their meal. An all-day bar will offer cocktails and a condensed menu.

The Malt House 17 Vanston Place, SW6 1AY Fulham Broadway Gastropub ££ This is the new pub from much-lauded Michelin-starred Hibiscus owner Claude Bosi and his brother, who already own The Fox and Grapes in Wimbledon. Former head chef at Hibiscus, Marcus McGuinness will head up the kitchen when it opens next month and while he describes the offering as ‘modern British pub food’, it’s likely to be a step above your usual boozer grub. Smith’s 170 Shepherd’s Bush Road, W6 7PB Hammersmith Bar ££ This new bar with a glamorous outlook is located under the Brook Green Hotel, where it combines bare brick walls, velvet upholstery, tasseled lampshades and chaise longues for a Paris drinking den feel. An extensive cocktail list of classics and creatives is one of the widest in the area, while a resident DJ is on hand for a clubbier feel after-hours. Barbarella 428 Fulham Road, SW6 1DU Fulham Broadway Bar ££ Renowned Chelsea nightspot Barbarella last year enjoyed a decadent £2m refurb with a view to returning it to its glory days. Part of the package is a 100-seat restaurant offering a nationalityunspecific but vaguely glamorous menu that spans steak tartare, burgers, rotisserie chicken and a selection of pastas. The restaurant is open from Tuesday to Sunday, with the club taking precedence at the weekend.

Scout London Price Guide ££££ Over £19 per main £££ £14-18 ££ £9-13 £ Under £9

EAT IN

Rustic Indian

Vini’s Indian father dreamed of settling in Britain. In the 1970s, he and his wife moved here, and Vini grew up in Birmingham. She developed a passion for cooking traditional Indian food, and now with her husband, Bal, has brought out a range of freshly-made curry sauces as an antidote to the gloopy, artificial versions we see in supermarkets. Available in four varieties including Fiery Mirchi and Jeera, they are all vegetarian, gluten-free and additive-free. £3.99 per pack, available at O’Shea’s in Knightsbridge and at limited Budgens. rusticindian.com

TAKE OUT Benugo With the opening of the sixth café and deli in the group on Covent Garden’s Long Acre, Benugo are becoming a grab ’n’ go force to be reckoned with. Complementing their restaurants such as Bishopsgate Kitchen and Riverfront near the Southbank Centre, these cafés offer pared down dishes, sandwiches and salads for take-away at breakfast or lunch. There’s much made of healthy options, but it’s the cakes and bakes that really tempt. Visit benugocafedeli.com for locations and menus.

scoutlondon.com Scout London 25

comono.co.uk

THE LONDON LATIN MUSIC FESTIVAL ApRIL

uk debut debut

the new band from OjOs de BrujO

beyond flamenco Part of the London flamenco festival

Village underground thursday 21 march doors 8pm

A CURVA DA CINTURA: TOUMANI DIABATÉ, ARNALDO ANTUNES & EDGARD SCANDURRA ALEXANDER ABREU Y HAVANA D’PRIMERA ANA MOURA BUIKA MALA RODRIGUEZ MEXICO Vs. BALKANs BRAss BAND BATTLE: BANDA ESTRELLAS DE SINALOA DE GÉRMAN LIZARRAGA VS. BOBAN & MARKO MARKOVIC ORKESTAR

tickets £15 in advance + booking fee comono.co.uk ticketmaster ticketweb See tickets lenacay.com

Jane Birkin sings serge gainsbourg via japan t sold

tHursday 31 jan 7.30pm Cadogan Hall

Box office 020 7730 4500 www.cadoganhall.com

PINK MARTINI

BARBICAN ELECTRIC BRIxTON UNION ChApEL VILLAGE UNDERGROUND

Monday 29 April

ROYAL ALBERT HALL

comono.co.uk 020 7589 8212

www.LALINEAfESTIVAL.COM ORquEsTA BuENA VIsTA sOcIAL cLuB™ fEATuRINg

ELIAdEs OcHOA OMARA PORTuONdO &

Monday 21 October

ROYAL ALBERT HALL

comono.co.uk 020 7589 8212

Cold comfort

Damn, it’s nippy out there! But don’t just give in to the shivering. Here’s our pick of the best products to help you survive the cold spell

so hot right now

happily ever scarf-ter

it’s a sock-out

Guys and girls alike will be cosier than a gran in a slanket with this microwaveable hot water bottle. Blue tartan Hottie, £13.99 from hotties.co.uk

Is it a scarf? Is it a hoodie? Is it a shawl? It’s all three: a super-soft Sheebie, to be precise, and this season’s most stylish piece of knitwear. Also available for men. Sheebie hooded scarf, £99.99 from sheebie.com

There are thermal socks and then there are Heat Holders - the daddy of all toasty toe technology. You’ll never look at other socks the same way again. Ladies stripe Heat Holders, £7 from heatholders.com

get john it

the power of one

warm hands, warmer heart

Guys, if you don’t already own a pair of long johns, why not? They’re as close to life-changing as clothes get. We like this cool black pair from Uniqlo. Men’s heattech long johns, £12.90 from uniqlo.com/uk

The skin on your face takes a battering in the cold weather. But a few drops of this night-time recovery oil from skin specialists Kiehl’s will have you glowing again by morning. Midnight Recovery Concentrate, £36 from kiehls.co.uk

Embrace the future of hand warmers with one of these nifty electrical pocket devices. They recharge in around 15 minutes, can be turned off and on, and offer around six hours worth of heat. HotRox electronic hand warmer, £29.99 from thehotrox.co.uk

scoutlondon.com Scout London 27

SAVE THE MALE

Suicide is the biggest killer of men under 35 in the UK. Be part of the Campaign Against Living Miserably. thecalmzone.net/stopsuicide thecalmzone

Reg charity no. 1110621

© ARS, NY and DACS, London 2012. Photo: Jens Ziehe / © Anthony McCall, Image courtesy the artist and Sprüth Magers Berlin London. Photo: Blaise Adilon / © Cerith Wyn Evans, Image courtesy White Cube. Photo: Todd-White Art Photography

A light fit Monument, by Jenny Holzer (2008)

Not as it beams You and I Horizontal, by Anthony McCall (2005)

Light up your life Lose yourself in immersive light sculptures and installations at one of this season’s must-see exhibitions

T Serial pillars S=U=P=E=R=S=T=R=U=C=T=U=R=E, by Cerith Wyn Evans (2010)

here’s much more to light than mere illumination. It can be used to disorientate (a strobe, for example), to soothe and relax, and even to unsettle and distress. In fact, extreme light bombardment is sometimes used as a form of torture, which casts the Justin Bieber song She Don’t Like the Lights in a totally different, er, light. From a creative point of view, it has also played a prominent role in art over the past 50 years. Numerous modern artists have employed the power of light – and the manipulation of it – to create

pieces that inspire a variety of emotions, not least disorientation. Many of these artists are now set to take part in a massive new exhibition at the Hayward, which will see both of the South Bank gallery’s two sizeable floors given over to pieces by some of the world’s foremost light artists. Some will be more displaybased, but many will be large-scale sculptures and installations of the heavily immersive persuasion, putting Light Show in the season’s ‘must see and Instagram like mad’ category. Among the highlights will be fluorescent sculptures by light pioneer Dan Flavin, LED signs by Jenny Holzer and a recent work from Olafur Eliasson, who so memorably turned the Turbine Hall into a beguiling sci-fi sunset with 2003’s The Weather Project. So get down to the Hayward some time in the next couple of months, and maybe take one of your friends who claims to “hate art”. Because this one of most populist exhibitions in the capital. And if nothing else, they should find it fairly illuminating (sorry). Light Show, Hayward Gallery, January 30- April 28, £7.50£11, southbankcentre.co.uk scoutlondon.com Scout London 29

The UK premiere of Peter Schaufuss’s acclaimed production of Midnight Express Based on Billy Hayes’s best selling 1977 book

‘Stupefyingly beautiful’ Dance Europe

‘Highly dramatic Another great success’ Dancing Times

9 - 14 April 2013 • London Coliseum 020 7845 9300* • eno.org* midnightexpresstheballet.com

*bkg fee applies

Midnight Express is performed to a specially conceived and mastered sound track Photograph: Svetlana Postoenko

S chaufuss

P E T E R BALLET APS

• PRODUCTION

Central

Alexandra Makhlouf at Fred [London] Limited, 17 Riding House Street, W1W 7DS Great Portland Street FREE, Until Feb 23. Paintings and drawings created as the artist listens to fantasy audio books. Body I Am at Alison Jacques, 16-18 Berners Street, W1T 3LN Piccadilly Circus FREE, Until Feb 16. British Painting: Abstract And Pop at Whitford Fine Art, 6 Duke Street St James’s, SW1Y 6BN Green Park phone for prices, Until Feb 28. British abstract paintings and pop art produced after the Second World War. William S Burroughs: All Out Of Time And Into Space at October Gallery, 24 Old Gloucester Street, WC1N 3AL Holborn FREE, Until Feb 16. Paintings, drawings and a selection of ‘talismanic’ art objects. The Cartoon Museum, 35 Little Russell Street, WC1A 2HH Holborn £5.50, NUS £3, concs £4, mems/under 18s FREE, Until Dec 31. Showcase of British work including artwork on loan from The Beano, The Dandy and Topper. Paul Wenham-Clarke: Westway - A Portrait Of A Community at St Martin-InThe-Fields, Trafalgar Square, WC2N 4JJ Charing Cross FREE, Until Feb 28. A pictorial document of the social and cultural diversity of the people who live beneath the A40 flyover in London. John Davies: Highways at Museum Of London, 150 London Wall, EC2Y 5HN Barbican FREE, Until Jun 16. Photographs of major London thoroughfares. Doctors, Dissection And Resurrection Men at Museum Of London, 150 London Wall, EC2Y 5HN Barbican £9, child/concs £7, Until Apr 14. A major installation charting the 2006 finding by archaeologists, of a burial ground at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel. Oskar Fischinger at Tate Modern, Bankside, Holland Street, SE1 9TG Southwark FREE, Until May 12. Restored film footage of the artist’s 1926 performances. Geeked About Art at Foyles, 113-119 Charing Cross Road, WC2H 0EB Tottenham Court Road FREE, Until Jan 30. Work by up and coming artists, who have contributed to the illustration-led quarterly magazine Geeked. BP British Art Displays: Ian Hamilton Finlay at Tate Britain, Millbank, SW1P 4RG Pimlico FREE, Until Feb 17. Contemporary sculpture and textual works exploring the meanings of words.

Hartnell To Amies: Couture By Royal Appointment at Fashion And Textile Museum, 83 Bermondsey Street, SE1 3XF Borough £7, concs £5, Until Feb 23. London couture fashion by the designers to the Queen. Have You Seen Dante? at Vitrine Bermondsey Street Gallery, First Floor, 183185 Bermondsey Street, SE1 3UN London Bridge FREE, Until Feb 2. A group exhibition exploring the human figure and bodily representations. Thomas Zanon-Larcher: Falling: A Part at The Wapping Project - Bankside, 65a Hopton Street, SE1 9LR Southwark FREE, Until Mar 9. A solo exhibition featuring images of women who lead ordinary lives. Neil Libbert: Photojournalist at National Portrait Gallery, 2 St Martin’s Place, WC2H 0HE Embankment FREE, Until Apr 21. Significant pictures selected from the photographer’s 55-year-long career. Martin McGinn: Volume I at The Piper Gallery, 18 Newman Street, W1T 1PE Tottenham Court Road FREE, Until Feb 8. Works exploring the relationship between art history and contemporary painting. Heather & Ivan Morison: Skirt Of The Black Mouth at Tate Modern, Bankside, Holland Street, SE1 9TG Southwark FREE, Until Sep 30. A site-specific sculptural installation created as part of the Tate Modern Project. Adi Nes: The Village at Jewish Museum, Camden Town, 129-131 Albert Street, NW1 7NB Camden Town FREE, plus admission £7.50, child £3.50, concs £6.50, family £18, under 5s FREE, Until Feb 3. Photographs of meticulously staged pastoral scenes Bettina Rheims: Gender Studies at Hamiltons Gallery, 13 Carlos Place, W1K 2EU Bond Street FREE, Until Mar 1. Photographic prints by the French artist and former model. The Space Between The Stars at Scream, 27-28 Eastcastle Street, W1J 6QX Oxford Circus FREE, Until Feb 16. A group exhibition featuring works by upand-coming local and international artists. Juergen Teller: Woo at ICA, 12 Carlton House Terrace, The Mall, SW1Y 5AH Charing Cross FREE, Until Mar 17. Fashion and commercial photography. Dan Witz: Prisoners 2012-2013 at Lazarides Gallery, 11 Rathbone Place, W1T 1HR Tottenham Court Road FREE, Until Feb 23. Images from the Prisoner and Mosh Pit series.

North Judy Chicago And Louise Bourgeois, Helen Chadwick, Tracey Emin at Ben Uri Gallery, 108a Boundary Road, NW8 0RH Kilburn Park £5, child FREE, concs £4, Until Mar 10. A survey of the American artist and activist, contextualised with work by other foremost European female artists. Film In Space: An Exhibition Of Film And Expanded Cinema Selected By Guy Sherwin at Camden Arts Centre, Arkwright Road, NW3 6DG Finchley Road FREE, Until Feb 24. Experimental films by emerging British artists and film-makers. RAF Photographer Of The Year at Royal Air Force Museum, Grahame Park Way, Hendon, NW9 5LL Colindale FREE, Until Apr 30. Photographs taken by serving personnel.

East Aspen Magazine: 1965-1971 at Whitechapel Gallery, 80-82 Whitechapel High Street, E1 7QX Aldgate East FREE, Until Mar 3. All 10 complete sets of the cult 1960s publication. Gerard Byrne: A State Of Neutral Pleasure at Whitechapel Gallery, 80-82 Whitechapel High Street, E1 7QX Aldgate East FREE, Until Mar 8. A major survey of the Irish artist’s work from 2003 to the present day. Dave Muller: Death Disco at The Approach, 47 Approach Road, E2 9LY Bethnal Green FREE, Until Feb 10. Paintings, drawings and text-based works by the American artist. Passage at The Wapping Project, Hydraulic Power Station, Wapping Wall, E1W 3SG Wapping FREE, Until Mar 10. An immersive installation which combines stills and moving images, realism and installation. The Space Between at The V&A Museum Of Childhood, Cambridge Heath Road, E2 9PA Bethnal Green FREE, Until May 19. Photographs by Tanya Clarke, Peter Gates, Emer Gillespie and Jacqueline McCullough exploring the domestic family environment. Take Another Look at Museum Of London Docklands, West India Quay, Hertsmere Road, E14 4AL Canary Wharf FREE, Until Aug 4. An exploration of the people from the African Diaspora who lived and worked in Britain during the 18th and 19th centuries.

Neville Gabie: The Greatest Distance at Danielle Arnaud Contemporary Art, 123 Kennington Road, SE11 6SF Kennington FREE, Until Feb 10. Videos and photographs exploring attitudes towards the Olympic Games. Adelita Husni: Playing Truant at Gasworks, 155 Vauxhall Street, The Oval, SE11 5RH Vauxhall FREE, Until Feb 3. Drawings, video works, sound art and installations. Sanja Ivekovic: Unknown Heroine at South London Gallery, 65-67 Peckham Road, SE5 8UH Elephant & Castle FREE, Until Feb 24. Collage, film, performance and installation. Jim Marshall: Rip This Joint: The Rolling Stones 1972 at O2 Bubble, Millennium Way, SE10 0PH North Greenwich £12, child £6, concs £8, Until Feb 3. A series of portraits of the British rock band, taken during their 1972 tour.

West

South

An Exhibition Of Scottish Artists at Stafford Gallery, In Association With Wimbledon Fine Art, 41 Church Road, SW19 5DQ Wimbledon FREE, Until Feb 13. An exhibition featuring paintings, sculpture and kinetic art. Pauline Boudry & Renate Lorenz: Toxic Play In Two Acts at South London Gallery, 65-67 Peckham Road, SE5 8UH Elephant & Castle FREE, Until Feb 24. The Berlin-based duo showcases film installations Toxic and Salomania. British Wildlife Photography Awards at Horniman Museum And Gardens, 100 London Road, SE23 3PQ Forest Hill FREE, Until Feb 24. An exhibition of the winning images from the British Wildlife Photography Awards 2011. Firepower - The Royal Artillery Experience at The Royal Artillery Museum, Royal Arsenal, SE18 6ST North Woolwich £5.30, child £2.50, concs £4.60, family £12.50, Until Dec 31. The history of artillery with hands-on activities to enhance the experience.

Gaiety Is The Most Outstanding Feature Of The Soviet Union: New Art From Russia at Saatchi Gallery, Duke Of York’s HQ, King’s Road, SW3 4RY Sloane Square FREE, Until May 5. A large survey featuring contemporary works by 18 artists. Breaking The Ice: Moscow Art, 196080s at Saatchi Gallery, Duke Of York’s HQ, King’s Road, SW3 4RY Sloane Square FREE, Until Feb 24. A group show of works by 20 Russian artists. Light From The Middle East: New Photography at Victoria & Albert Museum, Cromwell Road, SW7 2RL South Kensington FREE, Until Apr 7. More than 90 photographs by 30 artists from 13 countries. Pain Less: The Future Of Relief at Science Museum, Exhibition Road, SW7 2DD South Kensington FREE, Until Nov 8. An exhibition investigating the future of pain relief. Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer Of The Year at Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, SW7 5BD South Kensington £9, concs £4.50, family £24, Art Fund mems £4.50, concs £2.25, under 3s FREE, Until Mar 3. One hundred winning images from the established contemporary wildlife photography competition.

scoutlondon.com Scout London 31

Combining magic and comedy has made Pete Firman a favourite on the stand-up circuit. He chats to Ray Lemothe

hen he first started out on his comedy and magic career, Pete Firman eyed the network of comedy clubs with ambition. Here, he thought, was a steady and regular supply of gigging opportunities that could provide him with enough work to make a living from the passion for magic he had had burning in him since he was eight. He would be able to stop interrupting conversations at corporate events to entertain with his tricks, and instead play to audiences who wanted to be entertained by magic.

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He signed up, and stepped out onto the stage. It didn’t go well. “I quickly realised people don’t pay to go to a comedy club to see a magic show,” he remembers. “So I had to work out a way of making the tricks funny.” It was the birth of a career that has lasted a decade and seen the 32-year-old tour extensively, and appear on numerous TV shows, including Celebrity Mastermind. Now he’s setting out on his biggest tour to date, Hoodwinker, an extended version of his hugely successful 2012 Edinburgh Fringe Festival show.

The show features a wide range of magic – from sleight of hand tricks to big illusions and even mind reading – as well as, of course, plenty of jokes. “All the time I’ve been doing magic, I’ve never been the super serious illusions guy or the Svengali mind reader,” he tells Scout London. “You’ve got to be yourself, and whenever I was doing a trick, I would always be making it a little light-hearted.” His passion for magic started when, like many people, he was given a magic set as a child. “It was a Fisher Price magic set

Peter Firman – Hoodwinker, February 2, Bloomsbury Theatre, thebloomsbury.com

STEVE ULLATHORNE

Comedy magic

– and I started it as a hobby. I got really into it. More than any other hobby I started. Like, when I was 11 I got a guitar and I still can’t play a note. But the magic really stuck. I practised for hours and got good at it.” His skills soon led him to getting a part time magic job in a restaurant in his home town of Middlesborough. “I would go round the tables and interrupt the guests’ conversations with a few tricks, or entertain people who were waiting for their table.” And from there, he went on to perform at corporate events, doing the rounds of tables or mingling with the guests, surprising them with his tricks. But it “didn’t feel right”, he says, and he wanted to do something which was more of a show. And so the comedy clubs beckoned. The perception of magic in the UK has had mixed fortunes. It has occasionally fallen out of favour, due to some of the more cheesy acts. But more recent stars, such as Firman, Derren Brown and new TV hit Dynamo, have inspired a trendy renaissance. “People have always liked magic as entertainment,” says Firman. “If you think about the stream of TV magicians, it’s just the style which changes fashion. From my early memories of the big show stunt magicians like Paul Daniels and David Copperfield through to the more casual, jeans and a T-shirt street magic or the stunts of David Blaine and now mind-readers like Derren Brown. “These are the things that have been on TV, but magic as live entertainment has always been around. Hopefully what I’m doing taps into the popularity of stand-up comedy as well. I’ve been doing it for the last 10 years and making a living so it must be working.” It is indeed. Those early days of dying in the intimidating atmosphere of comedy clubs are well and truly behind him. Firman has won over the club circuit and has plenty more tricks up his sleeve.

ONGOING Alexei Sayle at Soho Theatre, 21 Dean Street, W1D 3NE Tottenham Court Road Mon-Sat 7.30pm, no perf Jan 28, Feb 3 & 4, ends Feb 9, Jan 23-31, Feb 1-9 Mon-Wed £15, concs £12.50, Thu-Sat £20, concs £17.50. Alternative stand-up. Until Feb 9. Matt Thomas: The Human Being’s Guide To Not Being A D**k About Religion at Canal Cafe Theatre, Bridge House Pub, Delamere Terrace, W2 6ND Warwick Avenue 7.30pm, £5 & £6.50. Thomas expresses his thoughts and feelings about religion. NewsRevue at Canal Cafe Theatre, Bridge House Pub, Delamere Terrace, W2 6ND Warwick Avenue 9.30pm, £11 & £12.50, concs £9.50 & £11. Comedy inspired by current affairs. The Rubberbandits at Soho Theatre, 21 Dean Street, W1D 3NE Tottenham Court Road 9.30pm, £10-£17.50, concs £12.50-£15. Musical comedy.

Monday January 28 Comedy Bin at The Rhythm Factory, 16-18 Whitechapel Road, E1 1EW Whitechapel 8pm-12midnight, FREE. With Rick Kiesewetter, Jim Lacy, Dangerous T, Russ Gregory, Glen ‘Lenny’ Sherman, Brian Handford, Matt Smith, Ben Anderson, Den Guinee and MC Gwilum Argos. The Good Ship Comedy Club at The Good Ship, 289 Kilburn High Road, NW6 7JR Kilburn 7.30pm, £4. With Loretta Maine and Bobby Mair. New Born Comedy at Leicester Square Theatre, 6 Leicester Place, WC2H 7BX Leicester Square 8.45pm, £8, concs £5. With Ruth Bratt, Pippa Evans, Cariad Lloyd and Lucy Trodd. Soho Comedy Club at The Round Table Pub, 26 St Martin’s Court, WC2N 4AL Leicester Square 8.30pm-11pm, £7, adv £5. New material night with MC David Mulholland.

Tuesday January 29

David Trent: Spontaneous Comedian at Soho Theatre, 21 Dean Street, W1D 3NE Tottenham Court Road Jan 29-31, Feb 1 & 2, 8.45pm, Jan 29 & 30 £10, Jan 31, Feb 1 & 2 £12.50, concs £10. A multimedia show using a computer and a projector. Progressive Women’s Funny Fundraiser at The Comedy Pub, 7 Oxendon Street, SW1Y 4EE Leicester Square 8pm, £10 via http://funnyfundraiser.eventbrite. co.uk. With Bridget Christie, Helen Keen, Catie Wilkins, Amy Howerska, Tamar Broadbent, Ann Domoney, Jessica Fostekew, Lou Sanders, Chris Coltrane, Blod Jones, Kate Smurthwaite and MC Tiernan Douieb. Lewis Schaffer Is Free Until Famous at The Source Below, 11 Lower John Street, W1F 9TY Piccadilly Circus 8pm, FREE. Self-deprecating stand-up. Daniel Simonsen: Champions at Soho Theatre, 21 Dean Street, W1D 3NE Tottenham Court Road.Jan 29-31, Feb 1 & 2, 7.15pm, Jan 29 & 30 £10, Jan 31, Feb 1 & 2 £12.50, concs £10. Debut solo show from the offbeat stand-up.

Suzy Bennett: Dancing On Thin Ice at Leicester Square Theatre, 6 Leicester Place, WC2H 7BX Leicester Square 7pm, £5. Upbeat gags from the 2006 Funny Women Award-winner.

The Best In Stand-Up at Comedy Store, 1a Oxendon Street, SW1Y 4EE Piccadilly Circus 7.30pm, £20. With Hal Cruttenden, Ian Moore, Doc Brown and MC Alun Cochrane.

Friday February 1

Wednesday January 30 99 Club Leicester Square at Storm, 28a Leicester Square, WC2H 7LE Leicester Square 8.30pm-10.30pm, £8, £20 & £25 inc meal. With Holly Walsh, Toby Hadoke and James Acaster. Austentatious: An Improvised Jane Austen Novel at Leicester Square Theatre, 6 Leicester Place, WC2H 7BX Leicester Square 7pm, £12.50, concs £10. Improvised comedy from Cariad Lloyd and Rachel Parris. Comedy Store Players at Comedy Store, 1a Oxendon Street, SW1Y 4EE Piccadilly Circus 8pm, £17, NUS/concs £12. With Josie Lawrence, Lee Simpson, Richard Vranch, Neil Mullarkey, Andy Smart and Suki Webster.

Thursday January 31

Alexander Armstrong at The Hippodrome Casino, 1 Cranbourn Street, WC2H 7AJ Leicester Square Jan 29-31, Feb 1, 8pm, Feb 2, 9pm, £25-£35. Sketch and stand-up.

Monkey Business Comedy Club at The Oxford, 256 Kentish Town Road, NW5 2AA Kentish Town 8pm, £6.50, concs £5. With Miranda Dawe, John Hastings, Danny Hurst, Christian Elderfied, Sarah Mills, Aidan Goatley, Edward Hedges, James Kelly, David Jones, Ben Nolan, Russell Gregory and MC Martin Besserman. Sketchtacular! A Benefit For Kidney Research UK at Pleasance Theatre, Carpenter’s Mews, North Road, N7 9EF Caledonian Road 8pm-10.30pm, £12, concs £10. With The Boy With Tape On His Face, The Beta Males, Clever Peter, Cariad Lloyd, McNeil & Pamphilion and Idiots Of Ants. Isy Suttie: Work In Progress at Comedy Cafe, 66-68 Rivington Street, EC2A 3AY Liverpool Street 8pm, £5. Whimsical musical comedy as the stand-up tries out new material.

99 Club Leicester Square at Storm, 28a Leicester Square, WC2H 7LE Leicester Square 8.30pm-10.30pm, £9, £20 & £25 inc meal. With Holly Walsh, Inder Manocha and Nick Doody. Crack Comedy Club: The Patchwork Club at The Slug And Lettuce, 1 Islington Green, N1 2XH Angel 8pm, adv £4. With Stefano Paolini. David Mills: The Gospel Truth at Royal Vauxhall Tavern, 372 Kennington Lane, SE11 5HY Vauxhall 8pm, £7. Politically incorrect, acid-tongued stand-up and the occasional musical interlude.

Harry Hill: Experiments In Entertainment at Millfield Arts Centre, Silver Street, N18 1PJ Silver Street 8pm, £20, adv £19. Surreal humour. Banana Cabaret at The Bedford, 77 Bedford Hill, SW12 9HD Balham 9pm, £14, concs £11. With Sean Meo, Steve Williams, Nathan Caton and Carly Smallman. Comedy Carnival at Metra, 14 Leicester Square, WC2H 7NG Leicester Square 8pm-10pm, £12. With Josh Howie and MC Pete Jonas. Foster’s Comedy Live at Highlight, Camden Lock, Middle Yard Chalk Farm Road, NW1 8AB Camden Town 8.15pm-10.15pm, £17 & £18. With Roger Monkhouse, Rudi Lickwood, Jonathan Elston and Celia Pacquola. Komedy Show at IndigO2, Peninsula Square, SE10 0DX North Greenwich 7pm, £29-£39. With Tolga Cevik.

Top Secret Comedy Club at The Africa Centre, 38 King Street, WC2E 8JT Covent Garden 8.15pm-10.45pm, £8, NUS £5.

Saturday February 2

James Acaster: Prompt at Soho Theatre, 21 Dean Street, W1D 3NE Tottenham Court Road 9.15pm, Jan 31 £10, Feb 1 & 2 £15, concs £12.50. Stories and anecdotes. Big Night Out at Rumba, 36 Shaftesbury Avenue, W1D 7EP Piccadilly Circus phone for times, £9.99. With Romesh Ranganathan and Phil Dinsdale. Comedy Cabaret at Downstairs At The King’s Head, 2 Crouch End Hill, N8 8AA Finsbury Park 8.30pm, £11, concs £7. With Toby Adams, Andrew Roper, Paul B Edwards, Prince Abdi and Mark Maier. Pete Firman: Hoodwinker at The Bloomsbury Theatre, 15 Gordon Street, WC1H 0AH Euston 8pm, £15, concs £13. Anarchic magical comedy and sleight Jongleurs Comedy Show at The Sports Cafe, 80 Haymarket, SW1Y 4TE Piccadilly Circus 8.30pm, Fri £12, Sat £15. With Sally-Anne Hayward, Cole Parker and Tucker. Jongleurs Comedy Show at Sway, 61-65 Great Queen Street, WC2B 5BZ Holborn 7pm, 8.45pm, phone for prices. With Mike Gunn, Colin Cole, Quincy and Joe Rowntree. Monkey Business Comedy Club at Sir Richard Steele, 97 Haverstock Hill, NW3 4RL Chalk Farm 8.45pm, £12.50, concs £10. With Jarred Christmas, Carly Smallman, Jim Campbell, Thomas Ahbeck and MC Martin Besserman. Piccadilly Comedy Club at The Comedy Pub, 7 Oxendon Street, SW1Y 4EE Leicester Square 8.30pm-11pm, £12.50, adv £10. Top Secret Comedy Club at The Africa Centre, 38 King Street, WC2E 8JT Covent Garden 8.15pm-10.45pm, £10, NUS £5.

Sunday February 3 Comedy Store Players at Comedy Store, 1a Oxendon Street, SW1Y 4EE Piccadilly Circus 7.30pm, £17, NUS/ concs £12. Improvised comedy. Comedy Variety Cabaret at Downstairs At The King’s Head, 2 Crouch End Hill, N8 8AA Finsbury Park 8.30pm, £7, concs £5. With Gareth Richards, Paul B Edwards and Rick Kiessewetter. Doggett & Ephgrave’s Mostly Comedy Club at Leicester Square Theatre, 6 Leicester Place, WC2H 7BX Leicester Square 8.30pm, £10, concs £8. With Phil Kay, Jay Foreman, Luke Benson and Stuart Laws.

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Denzel Washington gives his most stripped-down performance to date as a troubled pilot in Flight. He tells Shereen Low how he relished every moment

light begins with a phone ringing, disturbing a naked man who is fast asleep. Waking up with a jolt, his clothes strewn on a chair, with an equally nude woman beside him, he answers the phone before reaching for the vodka and a line of cocaine. Minutes later, Captain Whip Whitaker is strutting down the runway, head held high in his pressed SouthJet uniform, with a

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bevy of flight attendants flanking him as he walks. Baring his body in its (almost) full glory – beer gut and all – is two-time Oscar winner Denzel Washington, who plays the flawed central character. “Did I have any doubts about letting it all hang out? No, that’s what it’s about,” says the star of Malcolm X, American Gangster and Courage Under Fire. “He’s a slob, he’s letting go.

He doesn’t go to the gym, he’s a womaniser and a drunk.” For his all-important close-up, Washington admits there was no ‘sucking in’. “I wanted my stomach to stick out. So I was breathing out, if anything,” he admits, with a deep and friendly chuckle. The role has put the 58-yearold up for another Academy Award. Having previously won for his roles in 2001’s Training Day and

1989’s Glory, he now faces Daniel Day-Lewis, Bradley Cooper, Hugh Jackman and Joaquin Phoenix in this year’s Best Actor category. “It is what it is,” he says about his rivals. “Daniel is Lincoln so he’s going to be hard to beat. He’s obviously the frontrunner.” This marks Washington’s sixth Oscar nomination, yet he’s quite modest about the nod. “It beats a sharp stick in the eye,” he jokes, adding more seriously: “It’s a great honour. It’s always exciting to be commended, to be accepted and honoured. But I’ve been down this road before so we’ll see what happens.” Directed by Robert Zemeckis and written by John Gatins, who has been nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, Flight

Washington’s flying

Art imitating life Washington (as Captain Whip Whitaker) deals with reporters

high sees Whip’s background under scrutiny after he miraculously crash-lands a plane after a mid-air catastrophe. Despite being hailed as a hero, underneath the ironed uniform and stiff pilot’s cap, the seasoned pilot struggles with his own personal demons, particularly with alcohol and drugs. “I never looked at him as a flawed hero. He’s a good man with problems. We’ve all seen that when certain people have too much to drink and this other side comes out. He has a tremendous ego, and he’s a brilliant pilot, but he has issues,” explains Washington. The actor immediately agreed to the role after reading the script in 2009. “When I read it, it was so good

it was no-brainer. As soon as I finished it, I told my agent, ‘Make a deal’. The role was good, but I hadn’t read anything like that and obviously haven’t played anything like that,” he reveals. Washington didn’t do any research into alcohol or substance addiction because Whip “doesn’t think he has a problem”. And he reveals that there was no real alcohol on set. The whisky was just watered-down tea, while the drugs were actually powdered milk. “I don’t drink on movies. I can’t work like that,” he says. “Years ago, right here in London, I did a movie called For Queen And Country and there was one scene where we were supposed to be drunk. As young actors, we actually had some drinks and we thought we were great, but the director was like, ‘You guys were awful. What’s wrong with you?’ “So that cured me of that. Getting drunk doesn’t work,” he adds, with another laugh. Washington did prepare for the role by doing some training in a flight simulator. “Delta Airlines allowed us to use their flight simulators, which was great, and I wish I could have taken one of those home. It’s what the pilots practise in and was incredibly helpful,” he says. “It gave me a sense of knowing what I’m doing. I may have not been pushing the right button, but I certainly looked like I knew what I was doing.” This bravado waned during the filming of the crash scene, when the plane was turned upside down. “I remember the first time they started rotating it and I started

leaning over. I was like, ‘Woah, turn back’ because you had to figure out how to brace yourself and I started sliding. I thought I was going to fall out!” he recalls. For all its drama, The film has not put the actor off flying. “I’ve been on planes that have been struck by lightning and hit some pretty rough air. You know, the time to really be worrying about flying is when you’re on the ground,” he chuckles. “There’s no point worrying about it when you’re in the air – it’s too late.” Washington – who was born in Mount Vernon, near New York – is the son of a preacher, but the acting bug bit him at university. “I never considered being a preacher. It was suggested to me to be one but it wasn’t a plan of mine,” he admits. Instead, after graduating with a degree in drama and journalism, he started off in theatre and on the small screen, before getting his first Oscar nomination for his

performance as South African antiapartheid political activist Steven Biko in Richard Attenborough’s Cry Freedom in 1987. Since then, he has starred in more than 40 films, playing iconic roles such as Malcolm X in Spike Lee’s biopic and world middleweight champion boxer Rubin ‘Hurricane’ Carter in The Hurricane. “I’m not thinking, ‘I’ve got to make sure they love me’, you know? I don’t worry about that,” he says with a smile. “I just play the part and interpret the role.” In spite of his fame, Washington has remained down-to-earth and steers clear of tabloid attention. “It’s not natural to put a hat on and keep your head down, because you start to miss life,” he says. “You know, if you pray for rain then you’ve got to deal with the mud too. That’s right! Everything’s a trade-off.” Flight opens in cinemas on Friday, February 1

Good man with problems Washington loved playing the flawed Captain Whitaker

scoutlondon.com Scout London 35

new releases

Flight (15) Denzel Washington soars to career highs in Robert Zemeckis’s emotionally-wrought character study of two lost souls wrestling with their addictions. The film opens with a SouthJet flight to Atlanta suffering major mechanical failure in the air, forcing Captain William “Whip” Whitaker (Washington) to crash-land in a field. A subsequent investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) threatens to expose Whip’s alcoholism, so he vows to exorcise his demons, supported by a recovering heroine addict (Kelly Reilly). Underpinned by John Gatins’s intelligent script, Flight is a provocative drama that refuses to cast judgement on Whip for his reckless actions. Rather, we accompany him on a turbulent journey of selfdiscovery, strapping ourselves in for a bumpy ride as Whip prepares to deliver sworn testimony at a public hearing. Damon Smith

Bullet to the Head (15) The explosions and splatter promised by the title of Walter Hill’s action thriller are disappointingly thin on the ground, leaving us wanting much more than Sylvester Stallone delivers as a tattooed hit man, hungry for revenge after his partner (Jon Seda) is fatally injured by a hulking assassin (Jason Momoa). The muscle-bound hero joins forces with an outcast police detective (Sung Kang) to bring down the bad guys in a series of bruising fight sequences that almost get our adrenaline pumping. Based on the graphic novel Du Plomb Dans La Tete, Bullet To The Head is testosterone-fuelled tosh peppered with bone-crunching action sequences. A flimsy script provides Stallone with an array of droll one-liners, which he delivers without a flicker of emotion. DS

Based on the private journals of Margaret Suckley, a distant relative of Franklin D Roosevelt, Roger Michell’s comedy recalls an important meeting on the eve of the second world war between King George VI (Samuel West) and the President (Bill Murray) at the latter’s New York country estate. Feverish media interest in the momentous gathering is glimpsed through the eyes of Margaret (Laura Linney), who develops a close personal bond with Franklin, confiding in us: “He said I helped him forget the whole weight of the world.” Hyde Park On Hudson is let down by Richard Nelson’s muddled script, which brings together these historical figures then fails to milk any genuine emotion from their turmoil. Murray and West are solid but Linney deserves far better. DS

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Hyde Park on Hudson (12A)

Also showing

Brokeback Mountain (15)

Trilogy of the Dead (18)

Ang Lee’s bold, daring and heartbreaking love story, based on a 30page novella by Annie Proulx, is a masterpiece. In a little over two hours, the Taiwanese director achieves cinematic alchemy: gorgeous cinematography, haunting orchestral score, elegant screenplay and jaw-dropping performances led by Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal. They play ranch hands Ennis and Jack, who fall in love in ultramacho 1960s Wyoming but deny their feelings to pursue marriages to unsuspecting brides Alma (Michelle Williams) and Lureen (Anne Hathaway). Brokeback Mountain is a heartrending portrait of an enduring yet impossible love, set at a time when the insinuation of homosexuality could get a man killed. Ennis’s tearful final line – “Jack, I swear...” – is almost too much to bear.

Affectionately known as the Godfather Of Zombies, writer-director George A Romero has been terrorising the big screen since 1968 with his nightmarish visions of shuffling, re-animated corpses. This bloodsoaked triple bill kicks off with Night Of The Living Dead, starring Judith O’Dea and Duane Jones as two of the survivors of an outbreak, who become trapped in a farmhouse surrounded by swarms of fleshcrazed predators. The carnage continues in Dawn Of The Dead, set in an shopping mall, while in Day Of The Dead, a government scientist (Richard Liberty) experiments on the infected in the hope of turning the tide in favour of the human resistance. The triple-bill finishes at 3.15am so be prepared to stumble onto night buses or into taxis in a zombie-like fashion.

Feb 1 & 2, 6pm (screening as a double bill with Life Of Pi), £9.50, concs £8.50, Riverside Studios, Crisp Road, W6 9RL Hammersmith

Feb 1, 9pm, £20, mems £17.50, The Prince Charles Cinema, 7 Leicester Place, WC2H 7BY Leicester Square

Four Weddings and a Disco

Toddler Time

Dust off your dancing shoes for Phyllida Lloyd’s musical Mamma Mia!, which provides the pre-club entertainment at this Valentine’s Special of the Club De Fromage Film Club. From the opening strains of I Have A Dream in dreamy moonlight to the full-cast rendition of Waterloo in glittery catsuits and platform boots, this rollicking romance set to the chart-topping ABBA songbook is 108 minutes of pure, undiluted joy. Following the screening, Australian DJ Bruce Dunny churns out love songs at the ultimate wedding party, replete with confetti, balloons and the tantalising promise of luxury pineapple and cheese on a stick for the first 25 people in the queue.

This week, Picturehouse Cinemas launches a new initiative, which aims to introduce young children to cinema-going in a family-friendly environment. Toddler Time is a 30-minute morning screening of films, which have been carefully chosen to appeal to pre-schoolers and their parents or carers. Fidgeting, cheering and squealing are positively encouraged and to ensure the little ones aren’t afraid of the dark, the lights in the auditorium will be raised to an inviting glow. The volume of the soundtrack will also be reduced to protect delicate hearing. A selection of bite-size Peppa Pig adventures open the season.

Feb 2, 7.30pm, adv £10, The Phoenix, 37 Cavendish Square, W1G 0PP Oxford Circus

Mon or Tue 11am, children and accompanying adults £3. Brixton Ritzy (and selected Picturehouse cinemas across London), Brixton Oval, Coldharbour Lane, SW2 1JG Brixton scoutlondon.com Scout London 37

Spacey’s in the house

Kevin Spacey is a big actor for the small screen, but his role in House of Cards promises to be as compelling as those of his best film and theatre work. He chats to Jeananne Craig

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Francis Underwood is such an interesting, complex character to play. Did you base him on anyone? No. Michael Dobbs created a pretty interesting character in Francis Urquhart, as he was called in the original House Of Cards. We looked at that series and thought it’s delicious and it’s diabolical, so we used it as this launch pad for us to expand and turn the show into something that feels 21st century. Are there any similarities between showbiz and politics? I think you can definitely see the qualities of being a performer, getting your message across, talking to your audience, getting your listener to believe you. That works in the legal profession too.

Tell me about the dynamic between you and Robin – it’s electric on screen. I’ve known Robin for 25 years, we’ve been close friends and we’ve worked with each other before in a film called Hurlyburly. She’s just an awesome Lady Macbeth character. Did you find making a show for Netflix different to making films or a traditional TV show? I guess you have to think of it this way: that camera doesn’t know it’s a TV camera. It’s just a camera. We’re actually not on television. We’re the new television show but it isn’t on television, we’re streaming. So it doesn’t matter what the portal is going to be, how people will see it. I think what’s unique about this is that unlike

Devious couple Spacey and Robin Wright as his wife, in House of Cards

most television shows, unlike most networks, we weren’t asked to do a pilot. We were given an order of 26 ‘chapters’ as we like to call them. So, artistically, what that means is that we know where that’s going. It’s an extraordinary position and kind of luxury for us to be in to have this really. For me it feels like I’m making a really long movie as opposed to something episodic. You’re an honorary Brit now. What is it that you enjoy about the UK? It’s easy to love where you live if you love what you’re doing, and I love what I’m doing here. Moving here a decade ago and dedicating myself to trying to return the Old Vic theatre as a destination for audiences has been a huge challenge and tremendously satisfying. I’ve been very lucky. It’s a great theatre. I just love it. Do you miss the movie world? I don’t pine for anything I’m not doing. I kind of love where I am right now, I don’t wish for greener pastures. This is just perfect. House Of Cards begins on Netflix on February 1

Melinda Sue Gordon / Knight Takes King Prod.

evin Spacey is no stranger to treacherous roles. He won an Oscar for playing arch manipulator Roger ‘Verbal’ Kint in The Usual Suspects and his Richard III at the Old Vic theatre in 2011 was met with massive critical acclaim. He’s the perfect person, therefore, to bring to life Congressman Francis Underwood, the ruthless politician at the centre of new US drama House Of Cards. Encouraged by his equally scheming wife (Robin Wright), and aided by a journalist looking for a scoop (Kate Mara), Underwood will stop at nothing to work his way up the White House ladder. House Of Cards started life as a 1989 novel by Michael Dobbs, set in the British government, and was adapted first for the BBC. This American version is the first TV show to be produced by streaming site Netflix. Penned by The Ides of March writer Beau Willimon, and with acclaimed film director David Fincher (Fight Club, The Social Network) at the helm for the first two episodes, it didn’t take long for Spacey to sign up.

Looper (15)

Available on DVD, Blu-ray and iTunes

Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is an assassin or ‘looper’, who guns down hooded targets that have been sent back in time by his mob bosses in 2044 Kansas. Like all loopers, Joe knows his life expectancy is finite and one day he will “close the loop” by gunning down his future self. Looper is an ingeniously plotted thriller that exploits the gaping plot holes afforded by time travel. It’s all meticulously planned and stylishly executed. Damon Smith

Paranorman (PG)

Available on DVD, Blu-ray and iTunes

Resident Evil: Retribution

(15)

Available on DVD, Blu-ray and iTunes

Alice (Milla Jovovich) continues her battle against the shadowy Umbrella Corporation in the fifth installment of the horror franchise. Written and directed by Paul WS Anderson, Resident Evil: Retribution is a cacophony of digital effects and slow-motion slaughter. The gravity-defying fight sequences seem to be recycling choreography from earlier films and the dialogue is excruciating. DS

In this intelligent, visually stunning and hilarious animation, Norman has to fight off ghosts and zombies to save his town from a centuriesold curse. The colourful romp might be aimed at families but parents and teenagers will laugh loudest at the sly visual gags. Young children might be slightly unnerved by severed limbs scuttling around of their own accord, but the violence is cartoonish and scares are gentle. DS

Continuum Season One (12) Available on DVD and Blu-ray box set

A time-travelling heroine turns back the clock more than 50 years to pursue a band of terrorists in 2012 in this entertaining if somewhat formulaic Canadian sci-fi drama, which broadcast on the Syfy channel. Rachel Nichols anchors the show with an engaging performance as gutsy City Protective Services (CPS) officer Kiera Cameron, who comes from 2077 to join the present day Vancouver Police Deprtment and hunt down eight ruthless terrorists. DS

Lovestruck

FREE Available from the iTunes app store

Dating website Lovestruck has developed an app to allow members to browse through and message fellow singles by phone. It also alerts you when a ‘Lovestrucker’ who fits your bill is in close proximity, making it easy to organise impromptu dates while out and about. The app is free to test the water, but if you want to message people you need to pay. Ray Lamothe

Don’t miss your chance to win with Scout London has teamed-up with Netflix, the world’s leading Internet subscription service for enjoying films and TV shows, to give one lucky reader the chance to win a one year subscription and a 32in Samsung Full HD LED TV with Freeview and built in Netflix so you can instantly watch hours of great entertainment.

Simply answer the following question: House of Cards will be available on Netflix exclusively from February 1. Who plays the lead role of Frank Underwood? A) Kevin Spacey B) Kevin Smith C) Kevin Bacon

To enter text SCOUT FLIX and your answer to 88010 Texts cost £1*, also enter at scoutlondon.com/netflix * see Terms & Conditions on p55

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Sheeranâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s other stage

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Aspiring actor Ed Sheeran says he learned a lot from musical theatre

Ed Sheeran’s album + has sold more than 2m copies around the world, but he hasn’t forgotten what helped him in the early stages, as he tells Andy Welch

PA Archive, Press Association Images

d Sheeran’s story is an endearingly old-fashioned one. To the casual observer, the 21-year-old’s ‘journey’ from bedroom obscurity to 100,000 first-week sales of his debut album ‘+’ was something of an overnight sensation. In reality, Sheeran started seriously planning his rise to stardom when he was just 16. Having first picked up a guitar when he was 10 or 11, by the age of 16 Sheeran had released his first EP, the Orange Room. He followed this with four more self-released EPs, two albums (2006’s Ed Sheeran and Want Some? in 2007) and, in 2008, a move to London to concentrate on playing live shows. He performed 312 shows in 2009, and the rest is history. This year might see him win his first Grammy (his song The A Team is up for Best Song) and he’s currently on an extensive tour which is taking him across America. However, he hasn’t forgotten his roots and, when the Youth Music Theatre (YMT) invited him to be an ambassador, he didn’t hesitate for a moment. The organisation was founded in 2003 and offers training and development for up to 1,000 11- to 21-year-olds each year. It aims to offer talented young people a bridge between school or local music theatre and formal training at drama school.

Were you involved in youth music theatre when you were younger? Yes, I did it for one summer when I was 16. What attracted you to it? I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do. I’d done quite a lot of acting at school, more acting than I had music. It seemed like an opportunity to choose which I was more serious about. And when did you decide? After I’d been in the play, actually. I was in a production of Frankenstein, and afterwards, I just thought to myself that it was time to get serious about music. What did you think when you were asked to be a patron? I was asked about two months ago, and I didn’t need to think about saying yes. I probably don’t know a great deal about theatre, but it’s always important to help inspire young kids if you can. When I was involved myself, I found that even more important than the actual acting was the relationships that I formed. YMT brings out people’s talents, and confidence, and if you’re an artistic person you might not end up going to university. One of the main things of uni is meeting people and getting confidence, so here’s a chance to do help with that.

Is that the best thing about YMT? I’d say it’s even more important than the theatre part. I made great friends when I joined, and I still keep in touch with them. I learned a lot, it’s really important. What advice would you give to someone going to an audition? Don’t put too much pressure on yourself. It’s not the end of the world if you don’t get the part. Plus, you can try again. And let’s be honest: being tense isn’t going to help deliver the best audition. You’re touring the US at the moment. What have you got planned for the rest of the year? We’re touring till September, so going right through. And you’ve got Rizzle Kicks supporting you in the states? Yes, they’re great. They’re coming back out on the road with us in a couple of weeks. I love touring with them. Are you having much time to write your second album? I’ve done a fair bit. I’ve written 26 songs for the next album. It’ll be released in early 2014, at the earliest. I want to have a couple of months off at the end of the year at least. This tour is so long.

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THIS W EEK

Greg Wilson

February 2, Under The Bridge, £6-£20

Set in the buttresses of Stamford Bridge stadium, venue Under The Bridge aims to build-up West London’s clubbing reputation with the launch of a new night, Ritual. Set up by the team behind

Tempo Tantrum and The Music League, their manifesto is to champion the best in electronic music. And they’re off to strong start. Widely regarded as one of the most important figures on the

UK dance scene, house and disco supremo Greg Wilson will headline the launch. He’s joined by Maxxi Soundsystem and the ever-reliable Horse Meat Disco. With a line-up this strong, it could be that the

age of West London clubbing has finally arrived. Stamford Bridge, Fulham Road, SW6 1HS Fulham Broadway

The View

January 31, Jamm, £12

Trey Songz

January 30-February 1, Hammersmith Apollo, £30-£50

Dundee’s The View have had the Same Jeans on for four albums now, the most recent, Cheeky For A Reason, being possibly the best. The Scottish rock quartet will be swapping the high-jinx of their usual shows for this special acoustic set. It’ll be a rare chance 42 Scout London scoutlondon.com

to hear singer/guitarist Kyle Falconer and guitarist Pete Reilly performing their hits from their back catalogue in an unusually stripped-back fashion. Brixton Road, SW9 6LH Brixton

Virginia R&B wünderkind Trey Songz will be supported by London’s own Sway at these back-to-back dates. Tremaine “Trey” Aldon Neverson, once described by the late founder of Atlantic Records, Ahmet Ertegun, as “among the most promising R&B artists we have had on Atlantic since we started the company 60 years ago” has a strong association

with the capital, having recently been involved with the Damilola Taylor Trust. Expect to hear all the hits from his five studio albums, with the emphasis on last year’s well-received Chapter V, which is très good. Ahem. 45 Queen Caroline Street W6 9QH Hammersmith

Scout Stereo

January 28, Royal Festival Hall, £15-£25

I’m With Stupid) and now firmly established as one of America’s foremost singer-songwriters, Aimee Mann is returning to these shores for an intimate gig at the Southbank Centre. Her latest

studio album, Charmer, includes a duet with The Shins’ James Mercer and is among her best to date. Belvedere Road, SE1 8XX Waterloo

Also this week:

Damn Vandals

Sheryl Nields / MARcus Maschwitz

February 2, Nambucca, £5 Damn Vandals are a ‘proper’ rock’n’roll band at a time when there are very few around. An antidote to the many insipid guitar bands currently doing the rounds in the hope that people would forget The Strokes ever happened, Damn Vandals’ debut album Done for Desire is a wonderfully tub-

Palma Violets Step up for the Cool Cats

Press play on this and just try to stay still. We dare you.

Rock’s making a comeback and these guys are at the head of the charge.

Aimee Mann

Lead singer of legendary 80s Boston band ’Til Tuesday (check out the seminal Voices Carry), muse of Squeeze’s Glenn Tilbrook and Chris Difford in the 90s (have a listen to 1995’s underrated

DrumTalk Strata

thumping example of the best of the genre. And the London four-piece make just as much of an impression with energetic live shows. Catch them here before they’re absolutely huge. Holloway Road, N7 6LB Upper Holloway

Alina Orlova Jan 31, Hoxton Square Bar And Kitchen, £20 Artifacts, My Tiger My Timing, I/M/M/I/G/R/A/N/T/S Jan 29, 93 Feet East, FREE Billy Liar, X-Ray Cat, Tim Loud, Quiet Marauder Jan 29, The Wheelbarrow, FREE Carlos Nunez And Philip Pickett & Musicians Of The Globe Feb 1, Southbank Centre, £15-£30, concs £7.50-£15 Enter Shikari Jan 28, 100 Club, FREE, tickets only available from converse.co.uk/conversegigs Leon Ware Feb 1, Islington Town Hall, £25 Michel Legrand Jan 28-Jan 30, Ronnie Scott’s, £35-£50 N.O.R.E, Billy Danze Feb 3, XOYO, adv £20 NME Awards Shows 2013: Metz Feb 1 & Feb 2, Birthdays, £9.60 Shh Festival Feb 2, Heath Street Baptist Church, £10

Maria McKee Show me Heaven

Lucy Pearl Don’t Mess with my Man

The kind of belting testament d’amour that makes you want to grab the air in anguished solidarity.

Noughties RnB of the finest order. Reform now!

Richard Hawley Don’t Stare at the Sun Trademark excellence from one of the most beautiful voices in pop.

Listen to our playlist: j.mp/scout0025

Spin Doctors Jan 30, O2 Academy Islington, £17.50 The History Of Apple Pie Jan 28, Rough Trade East, FREE with CD purchase The Leo Green Experience Night Feb 2, 100 Club, £15, adv £12.50 The Trans-Siberian March Band Feb 2, Rich Mix, £10 We Are The Ocean Feb 1, KOKO, adv £14 We The Kings Jan 30, The Scala, £15 Westival Music Festival: Mariachi Doritos, Sarah & The Herb, Dani & The Herb, Fires Of London Jan 31, Westow House, £1

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B OOKING AHEA D Albert Hammond Apr 17, Bush Hall, adv £25 Alicia Keys May 30 & May 31, The O2, £39.50 & £45 Alt-J May 16, O2 Academy Brixton, £16 AlunaGeorge Feb 19, XOYO, £11.50 AlunaGeorge Jun 20, Electric Brixton, £14.50 Amon Tobin Mar 8, Hammersmith Apollo, £28.50 & £35 Anastacia Apr 6, O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, £32.50 Angelique Kidjo And Fatoumata Diawara Mar 8, Southbank Centre, £10-£27.50, concs £5-£13.75

Angel Haze May 7, The Scala, adv £12.50 Archive Apr 19, KOKO, £16 Athlete May 10, O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, adv £21.50 Barb Jungr Feb 14, The Vortex Jazz Club, Dalston Culture House, £12 Bastille Mar 28 & Mar 29, O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, adv £13 Beach House Mar 25 & Mar 26, O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, £18 Biffy Clyro, City And Colour Apr 3, The O2, £26.50 & £29.50 Big Country Apr 21, The Forum, £23.50 Black Rebel Motorcycle Club Mar 27, O2 Academy Brixton, £22.50 Black Veil Brides, Chiodos, Tonight Alive, Fearless Vampire Killers Feb 15, O2 Academy Brixton, £17.50 Bloc Party, The Joy Formidable, Old Men Feb 22, Earls Court, adv £29.50 Blondie Jul 7, Roundhouse, £37.50 Brandt Brauer Frick Mar 21, XOYO, adv £12 Brasstronaut Apr 24, The Lexington, adv £7.50 Breed 77 Mar 13, The Garage, £12 Brendan Shine Mar 13, Millfield Arts Centre, £18, adv £17, concs £15, adv concs £14 Brian May And Kerry Ellis May 1, Royal Albert Hall, phone for prices Bring Me The Horizon May 7, KOKO, £16.50 Buzzcocks Apr 6, Electric Brixton, adv £20 C2C: Country to Country Mar 16 & Mar 17, The O2, day ticket £35-£65, weekend ticket £130

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Chvrches Feb 27, ICA, £12 Clannad Mar 20, O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, £32.50 Clare Teal May 9, Cadogan Hall, £15-£27 Cleo Laine Mar 6, Millfield Arts Centre, £26, adv £25 Cosmo Jarvis Feb 20, The Lexington, adv £10 Courtney Pine May 18, The Albany, £18 Crystal Fighters May 23, KOKO, £14 D-A-D Mar 2, O2 Academy Islington, adv £15 Darwin Deez Feb 12, Heaven, £15 Deaf Havana Apr 3 & Apr 4, Union Chapel, adv £15 Death Grips May 2, The Forum, £15 Deftones, Letlive, Three Trapped Tigers Feb 20, O2 Academy Brixton, £28.50 Depeche Mode May 28 & May 29, The O2, £40 & £50 Desertfest 2013: Unida, Pentagram Apr 26-Apr 28, Various Venues, Camden, weekend ticket £85 DevilDriver, Cannibal Corpse Mar 7, The Forum, £20 Disclosure Mar 7, Heaven, £12.50 Dizzy Gillespie Afro-Cuban Experience Feb 8 & Feb 9, Ronnie Scott’s, £25-£45 Dog Is Dead Mar 6, KOKO, adv £11.50 Don Broco Apr 18, KOKO, £12 Dr Feelgood May 11, Half Moon, Putney, £14 Dutch Uncles Feb 14, Hoxton Square Bar And Kitchen, £10 Edwyn Collins Apr 24, Union Chapel, £25 Eels Mar 21, O2 Academy Brixton, £30 Egyptian Hip Hop Mar 4, XOYO, £10 Elvis Costello & The Imposters Jun 4 & Jun 5, Royal Albert Hall, £45 Emeli Sande Apr 8, Hammersmith Apollo, £25-£29.50 Engelbert Humperdinck May 10, Royal Albert Hall, £38.50 Eric Clapton May 17, May 18, May 20, May 21, May 23, Royal Albert Hall, £70 & £85 Example Feb 23, Earls Court, £28.50 Exit Calm Feb 21, The Borderline, £10 FM Mar 23, O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, £18.50 Fairport Convention May 10, The Borderline, £24

Gaz Coombes Apr 25, The Garage, £13.50

Classical Planes Mar 6, Birthdays, phone for prices Fenech Soler May 22, Electric Ballroom, £12 Field Day Festival 2013: Bat For Lashes, Solange, Animal Collective May 25, Victoria Park, £49.50 Finley Quaye, The Mercenaries Feb 28, The Scala, £19.50, adv £12.50 & £15.50 Foals, Efterklang Mar 28, Royal Albert Hall, £10-£25 Foreign Beggars, Task Force, Skinnyman, Dark Circle, Kashmere, Dr. Syntax, Skrein, Disorda, Graziella, Turai Feb 13, The Jazz Cafe, adv £14 Four Tet Feb 28, Heaven, £15.50 Foxygen Feb 4, The Lexington, £7.50 Foy Vance Mar 13, Islington Town Hall, £15 Frank Hamilton May 3, The Borderline, £7.50 Frank Turner And The Sleeping Souls Apr 25, The Forum, £22.50 Fun Apr 12, Hammersmith Apollo, £18.50 Girls Aloud Mar 1-Mar 3, The O2, £42.50£49.50 Green Day, Kaiser Chiefs, All Time Low Jun 1, Emirates Stadium, £45-£65 Hacktivist Feb 12, The Borderline, £8.50 Hadouken! Apr 25, Electric Ballroom, £14.50 A Hawk And A Hacksaw Apr 17, The Lexington, phone for prices Hot Waffle Big Band Feb 18, 100 Club, £11, mems £10 I Am Kloot Feb 19, Barbican Centre, £25 Iamamiwhoami May 30, Electric Brixton, £15 Imagine: Kinetika Bloco Big Band Feb 22, Southbank Centre, FREE JLS Dec 21 & Dec 22, The O2, £25 & £33.50 Jaguar Skills Mar 23, KOKO, £15 Jah Wobble & Bill Sharpe Apr 26, Islington Town Hall, £17.50 & £20 Jake Bugg, Valerie June, Hudson Taylor Feb 27 & Feb 28, O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, £14 James Last: One More Time Apr 26 & Apr 27, Royal Albert Hall, £35-£60 James, Echo And The Bunnymen Apr 19 & Apr 20, O2 Academy Brixton, £38.50 Jamie Lidell Mar 8, Heaven, adv £16 Janet Devlin Apr 6, O2 Academy Islington, £10 Jessie J Oct 29 & Oct 30, The O2, £25 & £33.50 Jessie Ware Mar 13 & Mar 14, O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, £16.50 Joe Satriani Jun 17, O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, £40 Johnny Marr Mar 15, O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, £22.50 Kid Koala Feb 22, The Scala, £15-£19.50, adv £12

Orchestra of the Swan with Tamsin Waley Cohen and Huw Watkins Feb 19, Cadogan Hall, £10-£35 Academy Of St Martin In The Fields Mar 26, Cadogan Hall, £12.50-£39.50 Bernarda Fink/Hugo Wolf Quartett Feb 6, Wigmore Hall, £15-£30 Birgid Steinberger, Robert Holl And Julius Drake Feb 21, Middle Temple Hall, £5-£45 Brussels Philharmonic Mar 8, Cadogan Hall, £18-£39 Castalian Quartet Apr 11, St Peter’s Church, £15, concs £10 Claire Booth, Andrew Radley, Nicholas Mulroy, Joby Burgess, Janey Miller, Andrew MatthewsOwen And John Reid Feb 9, Kings Place, £14.50-£26.50, adv £9.50 Dmitri Ashkenazy, Martin Rummel And Stephen De Pledge Feb 18, St John’s, Smith Square, £9-£18, mems £8.10-£16.20 Il Divo And Katherine Jenkins Apr

Wolfgang Holzmair, Russell Ryan Feb 3, Wigmore Hall, £15-£30 19, The O2, £35-£95 London Haydn Quartet Feb 10, Conway Hall, £9, NUS £4, under 16s FREE Nicky Spence, Nicholas Mulroy, Richard Watkins, Andrew Matthews-Owen And John Reid Feb 8, Kings Place, £14.50-£26.50, adv £9.50 Njabulo Madlala, William Vann, Maya Irgalina Feb 4, Wigmore Hall, £8-£15 Royal Philharmonic Orchestra: The Great Classics Jun 7, Royal Albert Hall, £5-£38 Vienna Piano Trio Mar 7, LSO St Luke’s, £10, concs £9 Wind Orchestra Feb 7, Blackheath Halls, £10, concs £5 Yuka Ishizuka And Ji Liu Feb 28, St John’s, Smith Square, £10, mems £9

Imagine Dragons Apr 11, The Forum, £13 Kings Of Leon Jun 12 & Jun 13, The O2, £57.50 La Linea: The London Latin Music Festival: Alexander Abreu Y Havana D’Primera Apr 12, Electric Brixton, £22 La Linea: The London Latin Music Festival: Ana Moura Apr 20, Barbican Centre, £15-£22 La Linea: The London Latin Music Festival: Brass Band Battle - Mexico Vs Balkans Apr 14, Barbican Centre, £15.50£24 La Linea: The London Latin Music Festival: Buika Apr 18, Union Chapel, £22.50 La Linea: The London Latin Music Festival: A Curva Da Cintura Apr 12, Union Chapel, £22.50 La Linea: The London Latin Music Festival: Mala Rodriguez Apr 18, Village Underground, £18 Laetitia Sadier, Deux Furieuses, Lionface Feb 7, The Water Rats, £6 Laish Feb 8, Gallery Cafe, St Margaret’s House, phone for prices Lana Del Rey May 19 & May 20, Hammersmith Apollo, £28.50 Lawson Mar 1, O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, £15.50 Lee Scratch Perry Feb 9 & Feb 10, The Jazz Cafe, £22.50 Leona Lewis May 8 & May 9, Royal Albert Hall, £35-£65 Leonard Cohen Jun 21, The O2, £25-£75 Lianne La Havas, Rae Morris, George Ezra Mar 11 & Mar 12, O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, £15 Little Feat Feb 8, O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, £30-£32.50 Little Mix Feb 13, Hammersmith Apollo, £19.50-£32.50 Local Natives Feb 14, The Scala, adv £13.50 London International Ska Festival 2013 Mar 28-Mar 31, Various Venues, weekend ticket £99.99 London Jazz Orchestra Feb 17, The Vortex Jazz Club, Dalston Culture House, £8 London Pop Fest 2013 Mar 1, Mar 2, Mar 3, Various Venues, Fri £6, Sat £15, Sun £10, weekend ticket £25 Lordi May 12, The Forum, adv £17.50 Loudon Wainwright III May 3, Southbank Centre, £25-£35, concs £12.50-£17.50 Low Apr 30, Barbican Centre, £17.50£22.50

Major Lazer, Angel Haze May 4, Roundhouse, £17.50 Mark Knopfler May 27-Jun 1, Royal Albert Hall, £37.50-£52.50 Marlena Shaw Mar 26-Mar 30, Ronnie Scott’s, £30-£50 Maroon 5 Jun 23 & Jun 24, The O2, £40 & £45 Matchbox Twenty Apr 16 & Apr 17, Hammersmith Apollo, £29.50 Modestep Feb 14, KOKO, £14 Mumiy Troll May 25, O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, £20 Muse May 25 & May 26, Emirates Stadium, phone for prices My Bloody Valentine Mar 12 & Mar 13, Hammersmith Apollo, adv £25 My First Tooth Feb 21, Bull And Gate, £10, adv £5 NME Awards Shows 2013: Brooke Candy Feb 25, Madame Jojo’s, £9.10 NME Awards Shows 2013: Dinosaur Jr Feb 4, Electric Ballroom, £20.60 NME Awards Shows 2013: Doldrums Feb 20, Corsica Studios, £10.60 NME Awards Shows 2013: Everything Everything Feb 13, Heaven, £15.60 NME Awards Shows 2013: Exclamation Pony Feb 19, Hoxton Square Bar And Kitchen, phone for prices NME Awards Shows 2013: Fiction Feb 25, Electrowerkz, £8.60 NME Awards Shows 2013: Fidlar Feb 25, The Garage, £11.60 NME Awards Shows 2013: Gabriel Bruce Feb 5, Hoxton Square Bar And Kitchen, £9.10 NME Awards Shows 2013: Hurts Feb 7, Heaven, phone for prices NME Awards Shows 2013: Jagwar Ma Feb 26, Birthdays, £8.60 NME Awards Shows 2013: Kate Nash Feb 13, The Sebright Arms, £12.50 NME Awards Shows 2013: Kodaline Feb 14, Dingwalls, adv £10.60 NME Awards Shows 2013: Savages Feb 21, Electric Ballroom, £12.50

Inspiral Carpets Mar 22, KOKO, phone for prices

The Courteeners Mar 16, O2 Academy Brixton, £19.50 NME Awards Shows 2013: The Cribs, And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, Deap Vally, Drenge Feb 22, O2 Academy Brixton, £20.60 NME Awards Shows 2013: Tim Burgess Feb 21, Birthdays, £15.60 NME Awards Shows 2013: Toy, Charlie Boyer And The Voyeurs Feb 12, The Scala, £11.60 NME Awards Shows 2013: Tribes Feb 6, Secret Location, phone for prices NME Awards Shows 2013: Wolf Alice Feb 11, The Waiting Room, £7.60 Nas Mar 19, The O2, £34-£39, w/CD £44.99-£49.99 Ne-Yo, Tulisa Mar 15, The O2, £36 & £40 Neil Young & Crazy Horse Jun 17, The O2, £45-£65 Neon Trees Feb 7, Hoxton Square Bar And Kitchen, adv £12.50 Ocean Colour Scene Feb 25 & Feb 26, Electric Ballroom, £28.50 Of Monsters And Men Mar 5-Mar 7, O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, phone for prices One Direction Feb 22 & Feb 23, Feb 23 & Feb 24, The O2, £25 & £33.50 and Apr 1, Apr 2, Apr 4, Apr 5, Apr 2, The O2, £25 & £33.50 P!nk Apr 24, Apr 25, Apr 27, Apr 28, The O2, £42.50-£55 Paloma Faith Jun 7, The O2, £22.50 & £28.50 Pere Ubu Apr 23, Bush Hall, £20 Pet Shop Boys Jun 18, The O2, £35 Polica Mar 21, O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, adv £13.50 Poltergeist Mar 14, Hoxton Square Bar And Kitchen, £15 Post War Years Feb 25, Cargo, adv £8 Post Zero, The Outfits Feb 16, Hope And Anchor, £6, adv £5 Praed, Stephane Rives, Sharif Sehnaoui, Roger Turner Feb 4, Cafe Oto, £8, adv £7 Preacher Jul 26, Nambucca, £5 Press To Meco, City Lights May 28, The Barfly, Camden, phone for prices Primitive Graven Image Mar 3, The Black Heart, phone for prices Propaganda: The Enemy Feb 22, O2 Academy Islington, £5 Propagandhi, Comeback Kid, Shai Hulud, War On Women Apr 17, Electric Ballroom, £15 Protobaby May 10, Bull And Gate, £6, adv £5 Puppet Kings, We Dig For Fire, Dirty Little Secret Feb 21, Nambucca, £5 Pure Love Feb 14, XOYO, adv £12 Queensryche Apr 15, O2 Academy Islington, adv £50 Quercus Apr 30, LSO St Luke’s, £10-£22

R.Ring, Novella, Slushy Guts Mar 8, The Lexington, £13, adv £12 RCM Big Band Feb 28, Royal Albert Hall, £12 Race Horses Mar 12, The Borderline, £8 Rachael Dadd, Branches Arc, Christa VI Mar 6, The Water Rats, £7 Ron Sexsmith Mar 7, Royal Albert Hall, £22.50-£32.50 Sinead O’Connor Feb 15, Royal Albert Hall, £25 and Mar 27, Barbican Centre, £18-£25 Stan Tracey Quintet Feb 9, The Vortex Jazz Club, Dalston Culture House, £15 Teenage Cancer Trust: Kasabian Mar 22, Royal Albert Hall, £25-£75 Teenage Cancer Trust: Noel Gallagher With Damon Albarn & Graham Coxon Mar 23, Royal Albert Hall, £25-£100 Teenage Cancer Trust: Primal Scream Mar 21, Royal Albert Hall, £25-£75 Teenage Cancer Trust: Rizzle Kicks, Labrinth Mar 24, Royal Albert Hall, £25-£50 Teenage Cancer Trust: Ryan Adams, Beth Orton Mar 19, Royal Albert Hall, £25-£75 Teleman Feb 13, The Waiting Room, phone for availability The Airborne Toxic Event Feb 28, KOKO, £16 The Chapman Family Feb 20, Surya, phone for prices The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown, Moulettes Mar 29, The Borderline, £19.50 The Datsuns Feb 15, Dingwalls, adv £10 The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster Apr 12, O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, £15 The Gaslight Anthem Mar 29 & Mar 30, Troxy, £23.50 The Knife May 8, Roundhouse, £27.50 The Pharcyde Feb 7, The Jazz Cafe, adv £18.50 The Selecter, Zion Train, Talisman Mar 23, Islington Town Hall, £19.50 & £24.50 The Specials May 28 & May 29, O2 Academy Brixton, adv £37.50 The Stone Roses Jun 7 & Jun 8, Finsbury Park, £55 The Vaccines May 2, The O2, £27 The Wonder Stuff, Pop Will Eat Itself, Jesus Jones Dec 20, O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, £20 Two Door Cinema Club Apr 27, Alexandra Palace, £20, disabled £10 Wiley, Skepta, JME Apr 20, The Forum, £14.50 ZZ Top Jun 24, Hammersmith Apollo, £45

The Joy Formidable Mar 8, Roundhouse, £15

scoutlondon.com Scout London 45

C LU B B ING Monday January 28 Barfly Presents at The Barfly, Camden, 49 Chalk Farm Road, NW1 8AN Chalk Farm phone for prices, 10pm-late. Motown, pop, hip hop and dance courtesy of DJs 12 Dirty Bullets. Bite at Miabella, 12-13 Greek Street, W1D 4DL Tottenham Court Road £5, NUS/w/flyer £3, 10pm-3am. Resident DJs Lydia, Ian and Marcus spin indie, electro, disco and punk. Jaded at Cable, 33A Bermondsey Street, SE1 2EG London Bridge £12, concs £8, 5am-1pm. DJ Raymundo Rodriguez and guests spin house and techno. Ok_Ma at The Bedroom Bar, 62 Rivington Street, EC2A 3AY Old Street £5, 10pm-3am. DJ Young Lee spins funk, soul, disco, Afrobeat and Latin electronic house, with Jake Telford playing live sax and flute.

Tuesday January 29

Paradox at Egg, 200 York Way, N7 9AX King’s Cross St Pancras adv £8, 11pm-6am. DJs Terry Francis, Julian Perez (pictured), Outart and Cristian Sirica spin house and techno. Glamorous Afterparty at Covert, 65 Albert Embankment, SE1 7TP Vauxhall £7, w/flyer £6, 5am-11am. Deep house and electro courtesy of DJs Kaos Kid, Marlon K and Francko Harris. Pink Tuesdays at Mother Bar, 333 Old Street, EC1V 9LE Old Street FREE, 10pm-3am. Freight Train spin hip hop, R&B, soul, funk and electro.

Wednesday January 30 Beach Bum at Ladybird Bar, 70 Upper Street, N1 0NY Angel FREE, 9pm-2am. DJ Larry Sun plays a mash-up of dance, hip hop, electro and party. Gigolo at The Shadow Lounge, 5-7 Brewer Street, W1F 0RF Leicester Square concs £5, 10pm-3am. Guys with attitude party to house, pop and disco, hosted by international porn stars. Hot Wuk Wednesdays at The Social, 5 Little Portland Street, W1W 7JD Oxford Circus £7, £5 before 10pm, 7pm-1am. Residents play bashment, reggae, dub, dancehall, soca, one-drop reggae, grime and UK funky. Trannyoke at Escape Bar, 10A Brewer Street, W1F 0SU Piccadilly Circus FREE, 9pm-3am. DJ Matt spins pop and dance, with host Lady Lloyd, and karaoke.

Thursday January 31 Chick Habit at Candy Bar, 4 Carlisle Street, W1D 3BJ Tottenham Court Road FREE, 9pm-late. DJs Amy B and CeCe spin pop and classics from the 1990s, plus music by girls in the basement.

46 Scout London scoutlondon.com

Society Presents at Dalston Superstore, 117 Kingsland High Street, E8 2PB Dalston Kingsland FREE, 9pm-2.30am. Robert Owens spins Chicago and acid house with guests Rushmore and Josh Caffe, with resident support. Countrier Than Thou at The Lock Tavern, 35 Chalk Farm Road, NW1 8AJ Camden Town FREE, 8pm-12midnight. Rob Space-Hips Morgan and Bonanza And Son spin country, rock’n’roll and Americana, with live performances from Rattleshack and Oh!Gunquit. Radio at The Roxy, 3-5 Rathbone Place, W1T 1HJ Tottenham Court Road £5, NUS/w/flyer £3, FREE before 9pm, 10pm3am. The Radio DJs play 1980s pop, indie and disco. Ronnkie Pop’s Razzmatazz at Salvador And Amanda, 8 Great Newport Street, WC2H 7JA Leicester Square FREE, 8pm-2am. Tribes, Mystery Jets and Ronnie Joice spin indie, pop and party anthems. Room Service at Miabella, 12-13 Greek Street, W1D 4DL Tottenham Court Road £8, £5 before 12midnight, 10pm-3am. Weekly gay dance party in the company of Kris Di Angelis, Severino, Fat Tony, Steve Pitron, Matt Bogard and Ariel. Sessions at Corsica Studios, 4-5 Elephant Road, SE17 1LB Elephant & Castle £3, 11pm-3am. House, soul and bass courtesy of My Panda Shall Fly, Piri Piri, Tim Hinson and Martha PC. Sound Plate Awards Party at The Basing House, 25 Kingsland Road, E2 8AA Liverpool Street adv £5, 9pm-2am. House, bass and garage courtesy of some of this year’s winners including Black Butter Records DJs, Marcus Nasty And MC Shantie, DJ Pioneer and Glacier.

Friday February 1 Back2back Special at Electric Brixton, 1 Town Hall Parade, Brixton Hill, SW2 1RJ Brixton adv £18.50, early bird £12, 10pm-6am. Drum’n’bass courtesy of Hazard, The Prototypes, Harry Shotta, Shadow Demon Coalition, Ed Rush, Optical, Original Sin, Sub Zero, Majistrate, Logan D, Annix, Inter, Witney, Harry Bizzle, Chunky Bizzle, Dialogue, Turno, Cotsey, Friller, Kronic, Buzzbee, Klip, Outlaw, Lady V Dubz, S.O and Blackley across two rooms, with MCs Eksman, IC3, Script, Sly Bassman, Trigga, Ryme Tyme, Skibadee and Shabba. Basslaced & All Trap Music Present at Secret Location, EC2 adv £10, 10pm-6am. RL Grime, Dismantle, Mele, XXTRAKT, Jikay and DJ Take spin grime, trap and bass music.

Cosmic Gate at The Ministry Of Sound, 103 Gaunt Street, SE1 6DP Elephant & Castle £16, mems £14, 10.30pm-6am. Cosmic Gate, Jochen Miller, Omnia, Lee Osborne, Tall Paul, Graeme Lloyd, Jay Deep, Olivier Garth, Subbass and Innovational Recordings spin trance, dance, techno and house. Ctrl Shift Presents at Relay, 33 Bermondsey Street Tunnel, SE1 3JW London Bridge adv £12 & £14, 10pm6am. DJs Paul Woolford, Arnaud Le Texier, Dan Jury and Andrew Sansom spin dance, house, techno and electro. Deviation at XOYO, 32-37 Cowper Street, EC2A 4AP Old Street adv £12.50, 9pm-3am. Benji B and guests spin garage, house and bass music. Ethnobling at The Bedroom Bar, 62 Rivington Street, EC2A 3AY Old Street £5, 9pm-3am. DJs Bobby Gandolf and Nimble Jack spin dancehall, reggae, Afrobeat, tropical and UK funky. Evolution Of Dub Presents Pull Up at Arch, 15-16 Lendal Terrace, SW4 7UX Clapham North £4, FREE before 10pm, 8pm-3am. Reggae, dub and jungle courtesy of Da Vinci Sound, Ambassador, Disorda, NFinnerty and Japu Selektah. Fabriclive at Fabric, 77A Charterhouse Street, EC1M 6HJ Farringdon inc cd adv £22, adv £17 & £18, NUS £10, fabricfirst £13, 10pm-6am. Sub Focus spins drum’n’bass, dubstep, house and electro with Delta Heavy, Wilkinson, Culture Shock, Mind Vortex, Fabio, DC Breaks, Unknown Error, Ray Rampage, IC3, Fats, 2Shy, Doorly, Culprate, Rene Lavice, Hamilton, June Miller, Woz, Justyce, AD, Kove, Frankee, Chroma, Chords, System and Bassline. Funkyzeit Present: Rekids at Crucifix, 7-9 Crucifix Lane, SE1 3JW London Bridge adv £12 & £15, 11pm6am. DJs Radio Slave, Nikola Gala, Oli Low and Mikail play house and techno records. Gary Powell Presents at The Macbeth, 70 Hoxton Street, N1 6LP Old Street £5, 7pm-late. The Libertines’ drummer spins indie, soul and rock’n’roll. Hip Hop Isn’t Dead at Jamm, 261 Brixton Road, SW9 6LH Brixton £10, adv £8, 8pm-1am. Hip hop courtesy of Akala, English Frank, Black The Ripper, Rodney P and Logic. Holic at Secret Location, E1 adv £10 & £12, early bird £8, 12midnight-6am. DJs Mike Huckaby, Tomoki Tamura, Eightbitrate, Lookleft and Bearight spin deep house, disco and Detroit techno. Inverted Audio & Electronic Explorations Present ‘A Long Way To Fall’ Album Launch at The Waiting Room, 175 Stoke Newington High Street, N16 0LH Stoke Newington phone for prices, 9pm-4am. Ulrich Schnauss performs live in support of his fourth solo album, with support from DJs Chris Marigold, Tidal, Mister Sushi, Antepop and Wack Nicholson playing drum’n’bass and electronica, plus a live performance from Seekae. Kings LGBT Poptastic Rainbow Party at King’s College London Students’ Union (KCLSU), Macadam Building, Surrey Street, WC2R 2NS Temple £4.70, NUS £3.70, 10pm-3am. Resident DJs and guests play pop, dance and student anthems. Love & Liquor Fridays at Love & Liquor, 34 Kilburn High Road, NW6 5UA Kilburn High Road £10, guestlist £7, FREE before 10pm, 8pm-3am. Disco, house

and hip hop courtesy of DJs Krystal Roxx, Mica Fish, Doc Specs, Carly Foxx, Dee Scott and Ricardo Centurion on rotation. Paybak at Paradise By Way Of Kensal Green, 19 Kilburn Lane, W10 4AE Kensal Green £4 after 10pm, 7pm2am. Funk, soul and rare groove courtesy of resident DJs, plus a live performance from Nick Pride And The Pimptones. Platinum Presents at Cargo, 83 Rivington Street, EC2A 3AY Old Street £10, FREE before 10pm, 8pm-late. Deepgroove, Sinuous, Christopher, Deep Trouble and Michael Ferris spin house and techno. Planet Zonk Presents Batukarma at The CLF Arts Cafe, 133 Rye Lane, SE15 4ST Peckham Rye FREE, 10pm-4am. Mambo, bossa nova, batucada, Afro-Cuban, Latin, funk and soul courtesy of Jazzheadchronic and DJ Bump N’ Grind. Playhouse The Masked Ball at Supperclub, 12 Acklam Road, W10 5QZ Westbourne Park adv £15, early bird £10, 10pm-4am. Grant Nelson, Martin Ikin, Audiowhores, Jon Russell, Femi Fem, Ed Smoove, Owen Clarke, Matt James Edd Strong and Mitesh Joshi spin house and disco across two rooms. Propaganda at O2 Academy Islington, N1 Centre, 16 Parkfield Street, N1 0PS Angel £5, 10.30pm-3.30am. DJ Dan and guests spin an eclectic mix of indie, electro, pop, dance and drum’n’bass. Psychedelic Presents at Club 414, 414 Coldharbour Lane, SW9 8LF Brixton £10, 11pm-7am. Carbon spins psychedelic and trance music, with resident support. Purple Inc. at Pulse, 1-4 Invicta Plaza, SE1 9UF Blackfriars £20, adv £15, early bird £10, 10pm-6am. Andrea Oliva, Shlomi Aber, Ibellini and Yvo Zanev spin house and techno. Rated R at The Social, 5 Little Portland Street, W1W 7JD Oxford Circus £5, FREE before 9pm, 7pm-late. DJ Rob Pursey plays hip hop, rap and R&B. Retro Fiva at Walkabout, Temple, Temple Station Temple Place, WC2R 2PH Temple £5 after 9pm, 9pm-1am. DJ Wedgee plays pop music from the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. Rootikal at East Village, 89 Great Eastern Street, EC2A 3HX Old Street £5 & £7, 9pm-3.30am. Reggae and dub courtesy of David Rodigan, Alex Nut and Ross Allen. Shut That Sh*t Down at The Rhythm Factory, 16-18 Whitechapel Road, E1 1EW Whitechapel £12, adv £10, 10pm-6am. DJs Grooverider, Bailey, Doc Scott, Ray Keith, Bryan Gee, Artificial Intelligence, Ezm and Default Disruptor, Templeman, Scainer, Medix, Candon Rush and Subtempo play drum’n’bass and jungle across two rooms, plus MCs Fats, Nu Flo, Agman Gora and Kojo. Sin City at Electric Ballroom, 184 Camden High Street, NW1 8QP Camden Town £7, NUS/mems £5 before 11.30pm, w/flyer £5 before 12midnight, 10.30pm-3.30am. DJs Adam Lightspeed and Sleazy H play alternative rock and metal in the main room, with classic rock and old skool metal in room two. Soundcrash Presents The Grandmaster From Tokyo at The Forum, 9-17 Highgate Road, NW5 1JY Kentish Town £17.50, adv £14.50, 8pm-2pm. Hip hop, trip hop, turntablism and electronica courtesy of DJ Krush, DJ Food and Mr Thing with a live performance from Anchorsong.

Hum+Buzz at Peckham Palais, 1 Rye Lane, SE15 5EW adv £5, 10pm-6am. Bok Bok, Ikonika, Shy One, Morgan Zarate and Optimum spin grime, dubstep and UK funky. This Is Dubstep Album Launch Party at Cable, 33A Bermondsey Street, SE1 2EG London Bridge queue jump £22, £15, adv/NUS/mems £12, early bird £10, 10pm6am. DJs Trolley Snatcha, Coki, True Tiger, Zomboy, Torqux, Madd, Killawatt, Distance and Darkside spin dubstep and drum’n’bass. X Project at Egg, 200 York Way, N7 9AX King’s Cross St Pancras £20, adv £15, mems/NUS £13, 10pm-7am. DJs Todd Terry, Squa, wAFF and Raffa FL spin house and techno records.

Saturday February 2 Audio Sushi at The Dogstar, 389 Coldharbour Lane, SW9 8LQ Brixton £5, FREE before 11pm, 7pm-4am. Jeffrey Disastronaut plays reggae, electro, funk jungle, pop, indie and dubstep. The Big Lebowski Winter Party at Bloomsbury Bowling Lanes, Tavistock Square, WC1H 9EU Russell Square £5, adv £3, 9pm-3am. DJ Diddy Wah and Otis Waby spin Americana, blues, rock’n’roll and country with live performances from Jessie Pie And The Thorn and Itchy Teeth. Boomshaka Reggae 6 at The InSpiral Lounge, 250 Camden High Street, NW1 8QS Camden Town FREE, 9pm1.30am. Fluff and Bushdoctor spin reggae, roots and dub with MC Ishu. Buttoned Down Disco at KOKO, 1a Camden High Street, NW1 7JE Mornington Crescent £10, FREE before 10pm, invite only via website, 9pm3.30am. Indie, electro and pop courtesy of resident DJs Christian Laing and Pete Wheeler in the main room, while DJ Richard Titchener spins funk, disco, hip hop and dub in the Gallery Bar. Dub Hops at The Bedroom Bar, 62 Rivington Street, EC2A 3AY Old Street £7, adv £5, 9pm-3am. Cut La Vis and Wrongtom spin reggae, dub and hip hop. With a live performance from Slick Minded Individuals. Duckie at Royal Vauxhall Tavern, 372 Kennington Lane, SE11 5HY Vauxhall £6, 9pm-2am. Resident DJs spin pop and indie hosted by the inimitable Amy Lamé, plus cabaret performances. East Village 5th Birthday at East Village, 89 Great Eastern Street, EC2A 3HX Old Street £12, £10 before 11.30pm,

adv £5 & £8, 9pm-5am. Quentin Harris, Stuart Patterson and Jimmy P spin house music in the basement, while Dan Beaumont, Phil Asher, Tim Keenoy and Neil Thornton play disco records in the lounge. Fabric at Fabric, 77A Charterhouse Street, EC1M 6HJ Farringdon inc cd adv £24, £20, adv £19, NUS £14, £10 after 4am, 11pm-8am. Techno and house courtesy of Craig Richards, Scuba, Terry Francis, Blawan, Kevin Griffiths, Spencer Parker and Matthew Styles, with live performances from Dense And Pika and Barker And Baumecker. Fake Blood at XOYO, 32-37 Cowper Street, EC2A 4AP Old Street adv £12, 9pm-3am. The DJ, also known as Theo Keating, spins electro, hip hop and big beat in support of his EP All in the Blink, with support from DJ LeBreton and Kolsch. Familia Carnaval at Egg, 200 York Way, N7 9AX King’s Cross St Pancras £20, mems/adv £15, NUS £13, 10pm-11am. Mendo, Madskillz, Jennifer Cardini, Eli Iwasa, Borja Pena, Jay Tempest, JB, Nick Tcherniak, Kath Harding and Marta Del Valle spin house, electro, techno and carnival music. Inverted Audio & Electronic Explorations Present ‘A Long Way To Fall’ Album Launch at The Waiting Room, 175 Stoke Newington High Street, Stoke Newington phone for N16 0LH prices, 9pm-4am. Ulrich Schnauss performs live in support of his fourth solo album, with support from DJs Chris Marigold, Tidal, Mister Sushi, Antepop and Wack Nicholson playing drum’n’bass and electronica. Matinee: Pervert at Fire, Arch, 39-43 Parry Street, corner South Lambeth Road, SW8 1RT Vauxhall early bird £10, 11pm-7am. D’Johnny, Pier Morrocco, Massimo Paramour, Lee Yeomans, Zach Burns and Doug Silva spin house and pop. MC Skibadee’s Last Ever Birthday Bash at The Garage, 20-26 Highbury Corner, N5 1RD Highbury & Islington £13.50, 10.30pm-6am. MC Skibadee, Funstaharry Shotta, Dr Eps, Ruffstuff, Grooverider, Dub Zero, DJ Phantasy, Futureboune, Majistrate, Jaydan, DJ SS, Cotesy, Harry Bizzle, DJ So, Turno, Sensai, Blackley, Whizzbee and Fatal Movez spin drum’n’bass in Arena’s One and Two, with MCs Eksman, IC3, Shabba D, Evil B and Stormin, while Eastman, Probe, El Matadore, Profile, Terry M, Dribz and KMH play ragga, old skool, house and garage in Arena Three. Novus Presents Karton Label Showcase at Cargo, 83 Rivington Street, EC2A 3AY Old Street £15, FREE before 9pm, 8pm-late. Brett Jacobs, Randall M, Scott Kemp, P Jones, Loose Laces, Alex Van Ratingen and Jodie Dillon spin house and electronic dance. Rhythmatic Presents Avotre Label Showcase at Secret Location, E1 adv £10, 11pm-6am. DJs Sante, Rampa, Stathis Lazarides and The Unknown Project Soundsystem mix house and techno. Saturday Sessions at The Ministry Of Sound, 103 Gaunt Street, SE1 6DP Elephant & Castle £18, mems £15, 11pm-7am. Zedd, Zane Lowe, Tom Staar, Sheldon, Tim Cullen, Tobie Allen, Damion Pell, Levi 5 Star, Ash Paine, Elliot Bolton, Tom Constelloe and Aaron Cook spin electro, dance, dubstep and house. Speakerbox at Great Suffolk Street Warehouse, 29 Great Suffolk Street, SE1 0NS Southwark adv £20,

early bird £15, 10pm-6am. Dubstep and drum’n’bass DJ sets courtesy of Chase and Status, Pendulum, MistaJam, Killsonik, DECiBEL and DJ Cable S. Stage Show at Cable, 33A Bermondsey Street, SE1 2EG London Bridge adv £10, 10pm-6am. Garage, house and grime courtesy of DJs Cameo, OG’z, Scrufizzer, Kozzie, Shorty, Lady Leshurr, Merky Ace, Funky Dee, Cameo, JJ, Faze Miyake, Row D & Setra, DJ Richie S, DJ Jonezy, Naughty, Fife, Pedro123, DJ Cava, DJ Rome and MC Kaos across two rooms.

Sunday February 3 The Doctor’s Orders Presents at The Scala, 275 Pentonville Road, N1 9NL King’s Cross St Pancras adv £6, 7pm12midnight. Hip hop tribute night for the late J Dilla featuring DJs Mr Thing, Spin Doctor, Kidkanevil, Kutmah and DJ Lok. Hi-Fi at East Village, 89 Great Eastern Street, EC2A 3HX Old Street £8, £5 before 11pm, ladies FREE, 9pm-2am. DJ Die, DJ Krust, Jumping Jack Frost, Bryan Gee, Chris Interface and Jordan V spin drum’n’bass in the basement, while Dego, Mark Force, Sophie Callis and Marcia Carr play beats and breaks in the lounge, plus MC Moose. Orange at Fire, Arch, 39-43 Parry Street, corner South Lambeth Road, SW8 1RT Vauxhall £12, £10, w/flyer £5 before 1am, 10pm-late. The Oli, Paul Martin and The Sharp Boys spin house in room one, while Gonzola Rivas, David Jiminez and Hi Fi Sean provide minimal techno and tech house in room two.

WetYourSelf! 6th Birthday at Fabric, 77A Charterhouse Street, EC1M 6HJ Farringdon £12, adv/NUS/mems £7, early birds £5, 11pm6am. DJ Hell, who was at the epicentre of the German electroclash movement in the mid 1990s, joins Peter Pixzel, Cormac and Jacob Husley to spin house and techno. Superbowl 2013 at The Social, 5 Little Portland Street, W1W 7JD Oxford Circus adv £8, 8pm-4am. Resident DJs play disco, pop, soul, funk and rock’n’roll, with a showing of the game. Tutti Frutti at Dalston Superstore, 117 Kingsland High Street, E8 2PB Dalston Kingsland FREE, 8.30pm2.30am. Soul, disco and house courtesy of DJ Squeaky.

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2nd Feb at The Phoenix, W1 Fourweddingsandadisco.com scoutlondon.com Scout London 47

Time to Crowe up Playwright EV Crowe has made a name for herself with provocative works such as Kin (pictured above) and Hero. She chats to Scout about her new play for young people

48 Scout London scoutlondon.com

play, Liar Liar, will be staged at bespoke children’s theatre The Unicorn. Telling the story of 14-year-old Grace, a talented liar whose liberties with the truth have unforeseen consequences, it is aimed at 13- to 16-year-olds, and represents the first time Crowe has ever written for a young audience. Apparently Liar Liar was initially commissioned as a prequel to King Lear. What happened? Well, I wanted my play to feel contemporary. As in, I didn’t want to have actual kings and princesses in it. I wanted young people to be able to connect to it in an every day sense, so that’s how I ended up with this particular story, though it is still inspired by Lear. How so? I was inspired by the line Cordelia says to her father: “I cannot heave my heart into my mouth.” She says it when she’s under pressure to speak publicly about her feelings for her Father, because he wants her to. She doesn’t like having

to betray her sense of emotional honesty or to play a game. Even under pressure, she chooses her sense of self over appeasing her family. My play builds up to that moment of truth, but instead of Cordelia, it’s Grace, who’s been out all night and everyone wants to know where she was. Did you approach writing for young people differently to writing for adults? Were there unforeseen challenges that you hadn’t previously encountered? I think Liar, Liar takes a few creative risks and we’re yet to see how our audience will respond. But there’s

Courting success Playwright EV Crowe

something inspiring and energising about a character who can make stuff up, in the moment, and can take you anywhere through sheer imagination. I think my approach was pretty much the same as it was for an adult play, just with fewer swear words. Based on your work so far, you seem to be quite interested in the lives of children in modern society and their relationship with adults. What draws you to this subject? I don’t know. I remember being eight, very strongly. In lots of ways, I don’t think I’ve changed that much. Maybe it’s because young people have yet to ‘become’ in a sense and it’s that moment of possibility in a person’s life that is exciting to explore. The stakes are high because there is so much ahead, and what happens when we’re young can stay with us for all of our lives – in good ways and not. Liar Liar, Unicorn Theatre, January 31-March 6, £10-£16, unicorntheatre.com

Johan Persson

or the past few years, EV Crowe’s name has been cropping up on a variety of lists: ‘young and talented’, ‘most promising new playwrights’ and the like. And little wonder. Her debut play, Kin, was an incendiary and sometimes shocking piece about life in a girl’s boarding school that attracted a fair amount of attention. And her follow-up, Hero, was a similarly thought-provoking piece that tackled homophobia, identity and envy, through the story of two primary school teachers. Both plays were staged at the Royal Court, whose Young Writers Programme 32-year-old Crowe (full name Emma Jane Crowe) previously attended. She’s one of several graduates of the scheme who are now making waves in British theatre – among the others are Lucy Prebble (Enron, The Effect), Mike Bartlett (Earthquakes in London), Polly Stenham (No Quarter) and Laura Wade (Posh). But now Crowe is moving away from the Court. Her latest

The dynamo returns

Tatyana, one of the most hotly-anticipated dance shows of the year, opens next week at The Barbican. Donald Hutera chats to its celebrated choreographer,

WALTER CARVALHO

razilian dance-maker Deborah Colker is the only artist I’ve encountered for whom members of the audience have shouted “Bravo!” at the end of a post-show talk. Hugely popular in her native country, this small, blonde dynamo is one of the world’s most exciting and respected choreographers, and has built up an equally loyal fan-base in the UK. As well as Colker’s irrepressible energy and enthusiasm, what audiences here and abroad respond to is the sheer inventive reach of her work. One of the things the 52-yearold is most noted for is large-scale thinking. Past shows have found lizard-like dancers scaling a huge coloured wall, or swinging like human carriages on a giant Ferris wheel. In Colker’s latest venture, the two-act production Tatyana, which arrives at The Barbican this week, her brave and sexy ensemble spend the first half moving sinuously under, upon and around a vast, multi-level tree. This raises the question: how is such a highly-stylised set-piece connected to the 19th-century verse novel Eugene Onegin by Alexander Pushkin, from which it is apparently inspired? “In the book Pushkin mentions the four seasons all the time,” explains the Olivier Award-winner, speaking from her company’s headquarters in Rio de Janeiro. “The relationship with nature is really important. Our tree is realistic, but it also represents Tatyana’s house where she meets Onegin for the first time.” The source story’s beating heart is the rapturous love Tatyana, an innocent country girl, feels for Onegin, the selfish, bored dandy who rejects her. Howver, years later the tables are turned.

Pushkin’s writing, with its amatory dreams and aura of doomed romanticism, was an irresistible challenge for Colker, who has never previously created a dance performance based on pre-existing material. Dance dynamo Choreographer Deborah Colker

Deborah Colker

“My most difficult task was to have the accuracy to respect, pursue and embrace everything I find in it,” she says. “It’s about love and life, about being young and growing up by building values from your losses and choices.” Colker’s Russian-Jewish bloodline also came in handy: “I remember when I was little, sitting on my grandpa’s lap, and he used to tell me stories by Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, Chekhov and Pushkin. I remember the feelings in them, all the fears and yearning.” With its fantastic tree (replaced in Act Two by a much starker setting) and richly multifarious score (featuring Rachmaninov, American maverick Moondog and minimalist composer Terry Rlley), Tatyana is both emotive and physically expressive, narrative-based yet dance-dominated. Its contradictory qualities are perhaps best exemplified by the fact that there’s not just one Onegin or Tatyana but four each in Act One, and double that number in a second act that has been described as “pure atmosphere, pure feeling”. “I had to fall in love with each character’s development and discover the dance through their lives,” reveals Colker. “It’s been a great challenge to learn the way to tell a story: what’s important, which feelings need to be danced and not spoken of.” Colker’s feelings about London, however, are plain, and she’s obviously excited about her company’s return to the city. “I’ve always seen London as the birthplace of movements, trends, songs, transformations, movies, theatre, music, literature. Every time I go there it’s as if I’m returning home.” Tatyana, The Barbican, January 31-February 9, £16-£30, barbican.org.uk scoutlondon.com Scout London 49

PREVIE W S

Our Country’s Good St James Theatre January 30-March 9, £35-£50

Everyone loves an underdog – and particularly one with the ingenuity and audacity to rise above their position. Petty criminal Wilhelm Voigt is one such character. When he leaves prison after a 15-year stretch, he finds himself stuck in the bureaucratic hell of early 20th century Berlin, on a desperate quest for identity papers that will enable him to work. But then he stumbles across a military uniform in a fancydress shop. He puts it on and his luck begins to

change – all of a sudden the entire city is ready to obey his commands, and before long he has deposed the mayor and confiscated the treasury. RSC veteran and celebrated stage star Antony Sher (pictured above) will take on this role in Ron Hutchinson’s wickedly funny new version of Carl Zuckmayer’s 1931 play, with direction from former RSC artistic director Adrian Noble. Waterloo nationaltheatre.org.uk

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Tango Fire: Flames of Desire Peacock Theatre, January 30February 24, £15-£42 Suffering Strictly withdrawal symptoms? Still daydreaming about those passionate Saturday evening tangos? Well you can fire-up the burners once again with this new Sadler’s Wells production, which brings one of Argentina’s hottest dance companies back to the UK following sell-out seasons in New York, Barcelona, Hamburg and Cape Town. Five tango world champions are among the 10 magnificent dancers who will take audiences on an incendiary journey through the history of tango – from the dance halls of Buenos Aires to the contemporary flourishes and worldwide popularity of the modern day. WC2A 2HT 50 Scout London scoutlondon.com

Holborn sadlerswells.co.uk

SW1E 5JA Victoria stjamestheatre.co.uk

Midnight Tango Phoenix Theatre January 30-March 2, £20-£90 You wait ages for a tango show and then two come along at once! Returning to the West End before heading out on tour, this Olivier-nominated show sees Strictly stars Flavia Cacace and Vincent Simone setting hearts racing alongside 10 world-class tango dancers and, er, Russell Grant. WC2H 0JP Leicester Square midnighttango.co.uk

Great Expectations Vaudeville Theatre February 1-June 1, £25-£75 In the wake of a national tour, Beckman Unicorn theatre company’s bold adaptation of Dickens’ classic novel finally arrives in the West End next week. It is the first full-length telling of the novel ever to be performed on a West End stage. WC2R 0NH Covent Garden greatexpectationstheplay.com

Brinkhoff/Moegenburg / ROBERT WORKMAN

The Captain of Köpenick Olivier, National Theatre, January 29-April 4, £12-£47

Timberlake Wertenbaker’s much-heralded work about a motley crew of convicts putting on a play in 18th century Australia is revived in wonderful fashion, with direction from Max Stafford-Clark, who directed the original production at the Royal Court in 1988.

The Times Eve Standard Whatsonstage.com A Younger Theatre ‘Vividly performed ... gripping’ Guardian ‘a psychological thriller that grips’ D. Telegraph

Lift Soho Theatre, January 30-February 24, £29.50

‘A sharp, thoughtful evening in the West End’s most modestly priced theatre.’ The Times

We’ve probably all wondered it at some point: that person in the lift next to us; what are they thinking? Might we get along? Could there be the possibility for romance? What would we discover if we were given a window onto their innermost thoughts and desires – and through song, no less? That’s the concept behind this promising new musical from Craig Adams and Ian Watson, which looks at the connections people might make if only they were bold enough to express themselves. Eight strangers are in a lift at Covent Garden Tube station. The lift journey takes just one minute, but one by one the show grants us an elongated look into each of their lives, revealing their thoughts and secrets, and how one simple hello might change their lives forever. W1D 3NE

Tottenham Court Road sohotheatre.com

Darren Bell / Simon Kane

Money, the Game Show Bush Theatre, January 31-March 2, £10-£19.50 Getting your head around the financial crisis isn’t easy. There’s the basic bank-bashing narrative, but what about the specifics of what caused it all? You can learn all of this and more in fun and interactive fashion with Clare Duffy’s new play. Money, the Game Show centres on two hedge fund managers-turned-performance artists who divulge their secrets for how to win (and lose) billions on the international markets. The audience is given £10,000 in real pound coins, and then encouraged to bet in similar ways to traders, thereby gaining insight into the causes of the financial collapse. W12 8LJ

Shepherd’s Bush bushtheatre.co.uk

ONLY TILL 9 FEB

LISTINGS

Old Times booking until Apr 6 2013, The Harold Pinter Theatre, 6 Panton Street, SW1Y 4DN Piccadilly Circus £10-£49.50, £10 front row day seats available at the box office from 10am on day of the performance, Mon-Sat 7.30pm, mats Wed, Sat 3pm (press night Jan 31, 7pm). Harold Pinter’s sexually-charged drama starring Kristin Scott Thomas and Rufus Sewell. The 39 Steps booking until Oct 19, Criterion Theatre, 218-223 Piccadilly, Piccadilly Circus, W1J 0TR Piccadilly Circus £15-£55, Mon-Sat 8pm, mats Wed 3pm, Sat 4pm, extra mat Feb 21, 3pm. John Buchan’s thriller. American Justice booking until Feb 9, Arts Theatre, 6-7 Great Newport Street, WC2H 7JB Covent Garden Mon all tickets £17.50, Tue-Sat £22.50, concs £17.50, Mon-Sat 7.30pm, mat from Jan 19, Sat 4pm. Political thriller set in the US penal system. Billy Elliot - The Musical booking until Dec 21, Victoria Palace, Victoria Street, SW1E 5EA Victoria £19.50-£65, Mon-Sat 7.30pm, mats Thu, Sat 2.30pm. Adaptation of the film about a miner’s son, who dreams of becoming a ballet dancer. The Bodyguard booking until Apr 27, Adelphi Theatre, 409-412 Strand, WC2R 0NS Charing Cross £20£67.50, Nov 6-30, Dec 1-4 previews £20£57.50, Mon-Sat 7.30pm, mats Wed, Sat 3pm. The stage adaptation from director Thea Sharrock, of the early 1990s film which starred Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston A Chorus Line Starts Sat, booking until Jan 25 2014, London Palladium, 8 Argyll Street, W1F 7TF Oxford Circus £19.50-£65, Feb 2-18 previews £10-£55, From Feb 2, Mon-Sat 7.45pm, mats Wed, Sat 3pm, no mat Feb 6 (press night Feb 19, 7pm). Revival of Michael Bennett’s awardwinning musical. Great Expectations Starts Fri, booking until Jun 1, Vaudeville Theatre, 404 Strand, WC2R 0NH Embankment Mon-Thu/ Sat mats £25-£50, Fri & Sat eves £25£55, Feb 1-5 previews £25-£45, Premium Seats £75, From Feb 1, Mon, Wed-Sat 7.30pm, Tue 7pm, mats Wed, Sat 3pm (press night Feb 6, 7pm). Jo Clifford’s adaptation of Charles Dickens’s novel. Jersey Boys booking until Oct 20, Prince Edward Theatre, 28 Old Compton Street, W1D 4HS Tottenham Court Road Tue-Thu £20-£65, Fri-Sun £20-£67.50, Premium Seats Tue-Thu £85, Fri-Sun £95, Tue-Sat 7.30pm, Sun 5pm, mats Tue, Sat 3pm. Musical drama about the career of Frankie Valli And The Four Seasons.

52 Scout London scoutlondon.com

The Judas Kiss booking until Apr 6, The Duke Of York’s, St Martin’s Lane, WC2N 4BG Leicester Square £15£52.50, Premium Seats £65, Mon-Sat 7.30pm, mats Wed, Sat 2.30pm. Rupert Everett plays Oscar Wilde in David Hare’s drama. Les Miserables booking until Oct 26, Queen’s Theatre, 51 Shaftesbury Avenue, W1D 6BA Piccadilly Circus £20-£85, Mon-Sat 7.30pm, mats Wed, Sat 2.30pm. Musical based on Victor Hugo’s novel. Let It Be Starts Fri, booking until Oct 5, Savoy Theatre, Savoy Court, Strand, WC2R 0ET Charing Cross £20-£60, From Feb 1, Mon, Wed-Sat 7.30pm, Sun 7pm, mats Sat & Sun 3pm. Marking 50 years since the release of their first single, The Beatles are celebrated in this musicalnarrative, created by RAIN Productions. The Lion King booking until Jun 30, Lyceum Theatre, 21 Wellington Street, WC2E 7RQ Covent Garden Tue-Thu £25-£62.50, Fri, Sun £27.50-£65, Sat £30-£67.50, Premium Seats £70-£95, Tue-Sat 7.30pm, mats Wed, Sat & Sun 2.30pm, extra mats Feb 21, Apr 4, no perf Apr 14. Musical based on the Disney film about a cub’s journey to pride leader. Mamma Mia! booking until Apr 13, Novello Theatre, 5 Aldwych, WC2B 4LD Covent Garden Mon-Fri £15-£64, Sat £15-£67.50, Mon-Sat 7.45pm, mats Thu, Sat 3pm. Musical comedy based at a family wedding and set to the ABBA songbook. Matilda: The Musical booking until Dec 22, Cambridge Theatre, Earlham Street, WC2H 9HU Covent Garden Tue-Thu under 18s £19-£48.50, Feb 14 2012-Feb 17 £20-£62.50, disabled £31.25, Tue-Thu under 18s £19-£52.50, Tue 7pm, Wed-Sat 7.30pm, mats Wed, Sat 2.30pm, Sun 3pm, extra mat perf Nov 1, 2.30pm. Dennis Kelly and Tim Minchin’s musical adaptation of Roald Dahl’s tale. Monty Python’s Spamalot booking until Apr 13, Playhouse Theatre, Northumberland Avenue, WC2N 5DE Charing Cross £15-£85, Mon-Sat 8pm, mats Wed, Sat 2.30pm. Eric Idle and John Du Prez’s musical comedy featuring Stephen Tompkinson as King Arthur. The Mousetrap booking until Dec 21, St Martin’s Theatre, West Street, Cambridge Circus, WC2H 9NZ Leicester Square £16-£42, Premium Seats £61, Mon-Sat 7.30pm, mats Tue 3pm, Sat 4pm. Agatha Christie’s murder mystery. One Man, Two Guvnors booking until Aug 31, Theatre Royal, Haymarket, 18 Suffolk Street, SW1Y 4HT Piccadilly Circus £15-£55, premium seats £85, concs available, Mon-Sat 7.30pm, mats Wed, Sat 2.30pm. Richard Bean’s comic tale, based on Goldoni’s The Servant Of Two Masters. The Phantom Of The Opera booking until Oct 26, Her Majesty’s Theatre, 57 Haymarket, SW1Y 4QL Piccadilly Circus £22.45-£85, MonSat 7.30pm, mats Thu, Sat 2.30pm. Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Gothic musical about a masked man and his dangerous obsession. Privates On Parade booking until Mar 2, Noel Coward Theatre, 85-88 St Martin’s Lane, WC2N 4AU Leicester Square £10-£57.50, Premium Seats £85, Mon-Sat 7.30pm, mats Wed, Sat 2.30pm, audiodescribed perf Feb 9, 2.30pm, captioned perf Feb 23, 2.30pm. Peter Nichols’s awardwinning comedy set during the Malayan Campaign.

Quartermaine’s Terms booking until Apr 13, Wyndham’s Theatre, Charing Cross Road, WC2H 0DA Leicester Square £25-£58.50, Mon-Sat 7.30pm, mats Thu, Sat 2.30pm. Rowan Atkinson stars as the teacher St John Quartermaine in Simon Gray’s tragicomic play. Richard III booking until Feb 10, Apollo Theatre, 31 Shaftesbury Avenue, W1D 7EZ Piccadilly Circus £25-£55, Jan 30 & 31, Feb 6, 7.30pm, mats Feb 2, 9, 2pm, Feb 10, 3pm. An all-male production of Shakespeare’s history play is led by Mark Rylance as the monstrous Duke of Gloucester. Rock Of Ages booking until Nov 2, Garrick Theatre, 2 Charing Cross Road, WC2H 0HH Charing Cross £25-£65, Mon-Sat 7.45pm, mats Fri & Sat 3pm, transfer from Shaftesbury Theatre. Chris D’Arienzo’s musical celebrating Los Angeles rock culture. The Royal Ballet: Onegin Ends Feb 8, Royal Opera House, 45 Floral Street, WC2E 9DD Covent Garden £4-£93, Jan 30 & 31, Feb 1, 5, 7 & 8, 7.30pm, Feb 2, 7pm, mat Feb 2, 2pm. An adaptation of Pushkin’s novel. Shrek - The Musical booking until Feb 24, Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, Catherine Street, WC2B 5JF Covent Garden £20-£65, Wed & Thu eves family of four £99-£150, additional seats £29.50 (upper circle) & £45 (best available), Premium Seats £95, Mon, Thu-Sat 7.30pm, Wed 7pm, mats Thu, Sat & Sun 3pm. Musical based on the computer-animated film. The Silence Of The Sea booking until Feb 2, Trafalgar Studios, 14 Whitehall, SW1A 2DY Charing Cross £22, MonSat 7.45pm, mats Thu, Sat 3pm. Vercors’s human drama about an old man and his niece at odds with a soldier in their home. Singin’ In The Rain booking until Sep 1, Palace Theatre, 109-113 Shaftesbury Avenue, W1D 5AY Leicester Square £14-£84, £25 day seats available from the box office from 10am on day of the performance, Oct 1-Aug 31, Mon-Sat 7.30pm, mat Oct 1-Aug 31, Wed, Sat 2.30pm. Musical based on the MGM film about the end of silent movies. Stomp booking until Dec 22, Ambassadors Theatre, West Street, WC2H 9ND Leicester Square £20-£49.50, Mon, Thu-Sat 8pm, Sun 6pm, mats Thu, Sat & Sun 3pm, no perf Jul 27, Aug 12. Steve McNicholas and Luke Cresswell’s percussion-based spectacular. Thriller Live booking until Oct 15, Lyric Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue, W1D 7ES Piccadilly Circus £26-£87.50, TueFri, Sun 7.30pm, Sat 8pm, mats Sat 4pm, Sun 3.30pm. A celebration of the music of Michael Jackson. Top Hat - The Musical booking until Apr 27 2014, Aldwych Theatre, 49 Aldwych, WC2B 4DF Covent Garden £20-£65, Mon-Sat 7.30pm, mats Thu, Sat 2.30pm. Irving Berlin’s romantic musical. Twelfth Night booking until Feb 9, Apollo Theatre, 31 Shaftesbury Avenue, W1D 7EZ Piccadilly Circus £25-£55, Jan 29, Feb 1 & 2, 5, 7-9, 7.30pm, mats Jan 30, Feb 6, 2pm, Feb 3, 3pm. Award-winning actor Mark Rylance plays Olivia in an allmale production of Shakespeare’s romantic comedy. Uncle Vanya booking until Feb 16, Vaudeville Theatre, 404 Strand,

WC2R 0NH Embankment £25£53.50, Premium Seats £76, Mon-Sat 7.30pm, mats Thu, Sat 2.30pm. Anton Chekhov’s comic tale on the tribulations of the human condition. Viva Forever! booking until Jun 1, Piccadilly Theatre, 16 Denman Street, W1D 7DY Piccadilly Circus £20£67.50, Mon-Thu, Sat 7.30pm, Fri 5pm & 8.30pm, mats Sat 3pm. Jennifer Saunders’s comedy musical, featuring the songs of the Spice Girls. War Horse booking until Oct 26, New London Theatre, 166 Drury Lane (corner of Parker Street), WC2B 5PW Covent Garden £15-£55, Premium Seats £85, Mon, Wed-Sat 7.30pm, Tue 7pm, mats Thu, Sat 2.30pm. Michael Morpurgo’s story about a farm horse caught up in the horrors of the First World War. We Will Rock You booking until Mar 23, Dominion Theatre, 268-9 Tottenham Court Road, W1T 7AQ Tottenham Court Road Mon-Fri £27.50-£55, Sat £27.50-£60, Mon-Sat 7.30pm, mats Sat 2.30pm, Jan 31, Feb 27, 2.30pm. Futuristic musical. Wicked booking until Apr 27, Apollo Victoria Theatre, 17 Wilton Road, SW1V 1LG Victoria Mon-Fri eves/mats £15£62.50, Sat eves £15-£65, 24 front row day tickets priced £27.50 each released 10am at the box office, maximum two per person, Mon-Sat 7.30pm, mats Wed, Sat 2.30pm, extra mats Feb 16, Jul 26, Oct 25, Dec 27 & 28, 30, Jan 3, Feb 21, 2.30pm, no perf Jul 27, Dec 25, Dec 26-29, 2.30pm & 7.30pm, Dec 30, 2.30pm. Musical charting the early years of the Wicked Witch Of The West. The Woman In Black booking until Dec 14, Fortune Theatre, Russell Street, WC2B 5HH Covent Garden £16.50£45, Premium Seats £55, Tue-Sat 8pm, mats Tue, Thu 3pm, Sat 4pm. Adaptation of Susan Hill’s ghost story.

OFF WEST END

Vincent Simone And Flavia Cacace: Midnight Tango booking until Feb 28 2013, Phoenix Theatre, 110 Charing Cross Road, WC2H 0JP Leicester Square £20-£55, From Jan 30, Mon-Sat 7.30pm, mats Thu, Sat 3pm (press night Feb 5, 7pm). The dance professionals present a showcase of tango routines. Alter Ego Hackney Empire, 291 Mare Street, E8 1EJ Hackney Central £2, Feb 1, 7.30pm. Talent show featuring young performers from Hackney. Around The World In Eighty Days Starts Tue, ends Feb 9, Arcola Theatre, 24 Ashwin Street, E8 3DL Dalston Junction £9,

Simon ANNAND

WEST END

child/concs £7, Jan 29-Feb 9, 1pm. An inhouse production of Jules Verne’s classic tale of Phileas Fogg and his around the world adventures. The Captain Of Kopenick Starts Tue, booking until Apr 4, National Theatre: Olivier, South Bank, SE1 9PX Waterloo Jan 29-31, Feb 1 & 2, 4 previews £12-£30, Feb 5-28, Mar 1-31, Apr 1-4 £12-£47, concs available, Jan 29-31, Feb 1 & 2, 4, 6 & 7, 12-16, Mar 1 & 2, 4-6, 12-14, 21-23, 25, Apr 2-4, 7.30pm, press night Feb 5, 7pm, mats Feb 6, 13, 16, Mar 2, 6, 13, 23, Apr 3, 2pm, Feb 17, Mar 3, 24, 2.30pm. Antony Sher plays the title role in a very funny version, by Ron Hutchinson, of Carl Zuckmayer’s satire. Cocktail Sticks booking until Mar 30, National Theatre: Lyttelton, South Bank, SE1 9PX Waterloo £12-£32, Feb 2, 9, 12 & 13, 18, 20 & 21, 25 & 26, Mar 16, 18, 28, 30, 6pm, mats Feb 10, Mar 10, 17, 3.30pm. An oratorio without music by Alan Bennett, with Alex Jennings and Janet Dale. Companhia De Danca Deborah Colker: Tatyana Starts Thu, booking until Feb 9, Barbican Centre, Silk Street, EC2Y 8DS Barbican £16-£30, From Jan 31, Mon-Sat 7.45pm, mat Feb 9, 3pm (press night Jan 31). An adaptation of the novel Eugene Onegin, set to both traditional and contemporary music. Cross Purpose Ends Feb 2, King’s Head, Islington, 115 Upper Street, N1 1QN Angel £10-£25, Tue-Sat 7.15pm, mats Sun 3pm. French author Albert Camus’s absurd tragedy is translated by Stuart Gilbert. The Effect booking until Feb 23, National Theatre: Cottesloe, South Bank, SE1 9PX Waterloo £12-£32, Nov 6 & 7 previews £12-£23.50, Nov 8-12 previews £12£28.50, phone for availability, Feb 1 & 2, 4-9, 11-16, 18-23, 7.30pm, mats Feb 2, 6, 9, 13, 16, 20, 23, 2.30pm, audio described perf Feb 1, captioned perf Feb 5. Lucy Prebble’s drama looks at sanity, neurology and the limits of medicine. Feast Ends Feb 23, Young Vic, 66 The Cut, SE1 8LZ Waterloo Jan 25-31 previews £10-£19.50, Feb 1-23 £10-£30, Mon-Sat 7.30pm, mats Wed, Sat 2.30pm (press night Feb 1, 7pm, no mat perf Jan 30, Feb 2). A vibrant musical tale about the Yoruba culture which originated in Nigeria. Fluids Ends Feb 2, King’s Head, Islington, 115 Upper Street, N1 1QN Angel £7.50, Feb 2, 3pm. Holly McKinlay’s drama about two contrasting couples. Gruesome Playground Injuries Ends Feb 16, Gate Theatre, 11 Pembridge Road (above the Prince Albert Pub), W11 3HQ Notting Hill Gate £20, concs £15, Jan 22 & 23 previews £10, Mon-Sat 7.30pm, mats Sat 3pm. A passionate, destructive love story takes place over 30 years, in Rajiv Joseph’s drama. I Know How I Feel About Eve Ends Feb 23, Hampstead Theatre, Eton Avenue, NW3 3EU Swiss Cottage £5-£12, Mon-Sat 7.45pm, mats Feb 2, 9, 16, 23, 3.15pm. Lisa Spirling directs Colette Kane’s drama. Julius Caesar Ends Feb 9, Donmar Warehouse, 41 Earlham Street, WC2H 9LX Covent Garden Jan 2831, Feb 1-9 £10-£35, Mon-Sat 7.30pm, mats Thu, Sat 2.30pm. Phyllida Lloyd’s all-female production of Shakespeare’s Roman tragedy.

Kiss Me Kate booking until Mar 2, Old Vic, 103 The Cut, SE1 8NB Waterloo £11-£60, Mon-Sat 7.30pm, mats Wed, Sat 2.30pm. The award-winning, Cole Porter classic musical is directed by Trevor Nunn. LIFT Starts Wed, ends Feb 24, Soho Theatre, 21 Dean Street, W1D 3NE Tottenham Court Road Jan 30 & 31 previews £15, standing £10, Feb 1-24 £29.50, Slips £19.50, Standing £10, concs £22.50, From Jan 30, Tue-Sat 7.30pm, mats Sat & Sun 4pm (press night Feb 1). An original musical set around the Covent Garden tube station lift, featuring music and lyrics by Craig Adams. Mare Rider Ends Feb 16, Arcola Theatre, 24 Ashwin Street, E8 3DL Dalston Junction Jan 22-24 £14, £18, concs £14, mats £16, concs £12, Mon-Sat 8pm, mats Feb 2, 9, 16, 2.30pm, no perf Feb 14. An in-house performance of Leyla Nazli’s drama. Merrily We Roll Along Ends Mar 9, The Menier Chocolate Factory, 53 Southwark Street, SE1 1RU London Bridge £35, Meal Deal £43, concs £27.50, Premium Seats £37.50, Tue-Sat 8pm, mats Sat & Sun 3.30pm. Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s musical, based on the 1934 drama by George S Kaufman and Moss Hart. Metamorphosis Ends Feb 9, Lyric Hammersmith, Lyric Square, King Street, W6 0QL Hammersmith £12.50-£35, Mon-Sat 7.30pm, mat Feb 9, 2.30pm. Franz Kafka’s classic tale, a mix of the absurd and pain. Money: The Game Show Starts Thu, ends Mar 2, The Bush Theatre, 7 Uxbridge Road, W12 8LJ Shepherd’s Bush Jan 31, Feb 1 & 2, 4 & 5 preview £15, concs £10, Feb 6-28, Mar 1 & 2 Mon-Sat eves £19.50, concs £12, Sat mats £15, concs £10, Feb 27 mat £15, concs £10, From Jan 31, Mon-Sat 7.30pm, Feb 6, 7pm, mats Sat

Di And Viv And Rose Ends Feb 23 2013, Hampstead Theatre, Eton Avenue, NW3 3EU Swiss Cottage Mon £22, concs £15, Tue-Sat £29, concs £18, Wed, Sat mats OAP £15, Jan 17-22 previews £22, MonSat 7.30pm, mats Wed 2.30pm, Sat 3pm, captioned perf Feb 5, 7.30pm, audio-described perf Feb 16, 3pm. Amelia Bullmore’s insightful comedy drama, featuring Tamzin Outhwaite, Gina McKee and Anna Maxwell Martin.

2.30pm, preview perf Jan 31, Feb 1 & 2, 4 & 5, captioned eve perf Feb 15, audio described mat perf Feb 16, extra mat Feb 27, no mat perf Feb 2. Satirical performance exploring the origins of the banking crisis.

Strictly Come Dancing: The Live Tour Starts Sat, ends Feb 3, The O2, Peninsula Square, SE10 0DX North Greenwich £36£56, Feb 2, 2.30pm & 7.30pm, Feb 3, 1.30pm & 6.30pm. A stage version of the TV show. My Big Gay Italian Wedding Starts Wed, ends Feb 3, Greenwich Theatre, Crooms Greenwich £15, Hill, SE10 8ES concs £12.50, Jan 30 & 31, Feb 1-3, 8pm. Comedy drama with music which was a massive off-Broadway hit. No Quarter booking until Feb 9, Jerwood Theatre At The Royal Court, Sloane Square, SW1W 8AS Sloane Square Mon £10, Tue-Sat £20, Thu, Sat 3.30pm concs £15, Mon-Sat 7.45pm, mats Thu, Sat 3.30pm. Polly Stenham’s play offers an anarchic twist to the drawing room drama. One Monkey Don’t Stop No Show Ends Feb 9, Tricycle Theatre, 269 Kilburn High Road, NW6 7JR Kilburn £14-£22, concs £10-£20, Jan 16-18 adv £10, MonSat 8pm, mats Sat 4pm, extra mat perf Jan 30, Feb 6, 2pm. Don Evans’s comedy drama about a black, middle-class family in 1970s Philadelphia. People booking until Apr 2, National Theatre: Lyttelton, South Bank, SE1 9PX Waterloo £12-£47, Mon-Fri under 18s £19 & £23.50, other concs available, Feb 1 & 2, 4, 8 & 9, 11-13, 18-21, 25-28, Mar 7-9, 15 & 16, 18-20, 26-28, 30, Apr 1 & 2, 7.45pm, Mar 21, 7pm, mats Feb 2, 9, 13, 20, 27, Mar 9, 27, 30, 2pm, Feb 3, 3pm. Alan Bennett’s drama about the owner of a British stately home contemplating a sale of the house’s contents. Port booking until Mar 24, National Theatre: Lyttelton, South Bank, SE1 9PX Waterloo Jan 22-26 previews £12£28, Jan 28-31, Feb 1-28, Mar 1-24 £12£34, concs available, Jan 22-26, 29-31, Feb 5-7, 14-16, 22 & 23, Mar 1 & 2, 4-6, 11-14, 22 & 23, 7.45pm (Press night Jan 28, 7pm, mats Mar 23, 2pm, Jan 30, Feb 6, 16, Mar 2, 6, 13, 2.15pm, Feb 17, 23, Mar 3, 24, 3pm). A young girl despite everything, looks to the future and for something better, in Simon Stephens’s drama. Salad Days Ends Mar 2, Riverside Studios, Crisp Road, W6 9RL Hammersmith £25, concs £20, Premium Seats £30 &

£35, Cafe Seats £40, Tue-Sat 7.45pm, mats Thu, Sat & Sun 3pm. Julian Slade’s and Dorothy Reynolds’s sunny and romantic musical. Sauce For The Goose Ends Feb 2, Orange Tree Theatre, 1 Clarence Street, TW9 2SA Richmond Jan 2-31, Feb 1 & 2 Mon/ Sat 7.45pm & 3pm £14.50, concs £12.50, Tue-Thu 7.45pm £16.50, concs £14.50, Fri 7.45pm £20, concs £18, Sat 7.45pm £22, phone for availability, Mon-Sat 7.45pm, mats Sat 3pm, Thu 2.30pm, except Jan 31. Georges Feydeau’s farcical play Le Dindon, or The Turkey, translated by Peter Meyer. Tango Fire: Flames Of Desire Starts Wed, ends Feb 24, Peacock Theatre, Portugal Street, WC2A 2HT Holborn £15-£42, From Jan 30, Tue-Sat 7.30pm, mats Sat 2.30pm, Sun 4pm. The history of tango told via a series of dance vignettes. The Turn Of The Screw Ends Mar 16, Almeida Theatre, Almeida Street, N1 1TA Highbury & Islington Jan 18-23 previews £8-£26, concs available, Jan 24-31, Feb 1-28, Mar 1-16 £8-£32, concs available, Mon-Sat 7.30pm, mats Sat 2.30pm, extra mat perf Feb 13, Mar 6, 2.30pm. Henry James’s ghostly novella, adapted by Rebecca Lenkiewicz. Top Story Ends Feb 2, The Old Vic Tunnels, Station Approach Road, SE1 7XB Waterloo Mon £21, Tue-Thu £26, concs £23, Fri & Sat £29, concs £26, Jan 5 preview £16, Mon-Sat 7.45pm. Sebastian Michael’s apocalyptic comedy about a large meteor hurtling towards earth.

FRINGE 35MM: A Musical Exhibition Starts Tue, ends Feb 10, Pleasance Theatre, Carpenter’s Mews, North Road, N7 9EF Caledonian Road £10, From Jan 29, Tue-Sun 7.45pm, press night Jan 31. Several tales told through song and accompanying images are presented in this multi-media show, written by Ryan Scott Oliver. The Act Starts Tue, ends Feb 2, Ovalhouse, 54 Kennington Oval, SE11 5SW Oval £10, concs £6, Jan 29-31, Feb 1 & 2, 8pm. A poignant drama about the secret lives of homosexuals in the 1960s. Aladdin Ends Mar 2, Brick Lane Music Hall, 443 North Woolwich Road, E16 2DA Liverpool Street Feb 1 & 2, 9, 15 & 16, Mar 2 9pm three course dinner & show £39.50, Jan 29 & 30, Feb 6, 12, 14, 20, 22 & 23, 27, Mar 1 2pm afternoon tea & show £27.50, Jan 31, Feb 7 & 8, 13, 21, 26 & 28 2.30pm lunch & show £32.50, Feb 1 & 2, 9, 15 & 16, Mar 2, 9pm, dinner from 7.30pm, mats Jan 29 & 30, Feb 6, 12, 14, 20, 22 & 23, 27, Mar 1, 2pm, served with afternoon tea, Jan 31, Feb 7 & 8, 13, 21, 26, 28, 2.30pm, lunch from 1pm. A very grown-up pantomime show, written by Vincent Hayes. The Architects Ends Feb 2, V22 Workspace, Block F, 100 Clements Road, SE16 4DG Bermondsey Jan 2-31, Feb 1 & 2 Tue-Thu £20, Fri & Sat £25, Sun £10, Tue-Sat 8pm, doors 7pm, Sun 6pm, doors 5pm, mats Sat 3pm, doors 3pm, Sun 1pm, doors 12noon, latter time is final entry point. A promenade show which taps into the mythological tale of the Minotaur to create of modern labyrinth. The Cherry Orchard Starts Wed, ends Feb 17, Theatre Collection, Above The Lord Stanley Pub, 51 Camden Park Road, NW1 9BH Caledonian Road phone for prices, Wed-Sat 7.30pm, Sun 5pm. A production of Chekhov’s play.

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Cirque Du Soleil: Kooza Ends Feb 14, Royal Albert Hall, Kensington Gore, SW7 2AP South Kensington £20£95, concs £22.50-£76.50, under 12s £17.50-£66.50, Premium Seats £85 & £95, Tue-Sat 8pm, Sun 7.30pm, mats Wed, Fri & Sat 3.30pm, Sun 3pm, no perfs Jan 29, Feb 11-13. The Canadian company returns to its circus and clowning roots. The Come Up LOST Theatre, 208 Wandsworth Road, SW8 2JU Stockwell £9, concs £7, Feb 2, 6pm, doors 5pm. Variety show celebrating upand-coming black performers. The Crucible: Network Theatre Company The Network Theatre, 246A Lower Road, SE1 8SJ Waterloo FREE, Jan 29, 7.30pm, doors 7pm. The amateur company presents a staged reading of Arthur Miller’s drama. Don’t You Know Who I Am? Starts Thu, ends Feb 2, Tara Theatre, 356 Garratt Lane, Earlsfield £10, child/ SW18 4ES concs £8, Jan 31-Feb 2, 7.30pm. A comedydrama about the ex-star of a boyband. The Dreamer Examines His Pillow Ends Feb 16, Old Red Lion, 418 St John Street, EC1V 4NJ Angel Tue-Sat £15, concs £12, Sun £7, Tue-Sat 7.30pm, Sun 3pm. A story set in a dingy apartment in the Bronx, exploring how humans deal with emotions beyond their grasp. Episodic Starts Tue, ends Feb 2, The Courtyard, Bowling Green Walk, 40 Pitfield Street, N1 6EU Old Street £10, concs £8, Jan 29-31, Feb 1 & 2, 7.30pm. Multidisciplinary performance in which audience members share personal narratives.

Anjin: The Shogun & The English Samurai Starts Thu, ends Feb 9, Sadler’s Wells, Rosebery Avenue, EC1R 4TN Angel £16-£48, From Jan 31, Mon-Sat 7.30pm, mats Wed, Sat 2.30pm (press night Jan 31). Mike Poulton’s dramatisation of the life of 16th century English maritime pilot who became known as the ‘blue-eyed samurai’. Performed in English and Japanese with surtitles.

Fiesco Ends Feb 23, The New Diorama Theatre, 15-16 Triton Street, NW1 3BF Great Portland Street £15.50, concs £12.50, All three plays in The Faction Rep Season £40, concs £35, Jan 31, Feb 7, 15, 20, 7.30pm, mats Feb 2, 16, 23, 3pm. Freidrich Schiller’s republican tragedy, adapted by Daniel Millar and Mark Leipacher. Five Kinds Of Silence Starts Tue, ends Feb 17, White Bear Theatre, 138 Kennington Park Road, SE11 4DJ Kennington £12, concs £10, From Jan 29, Tue-Sat 7.30pm, Sun 6pm. Chris Loveless directs Shelagh Stevenson’s family drama. Freak/Staunch/Closure Starts Tue, ends Feb 2, Theatre 503, The Latchmere Pub, 503 Battersea Park Road, SW11 3BW Sloane Square £10, concs £8, Jan 29Feb 2, 7.45pm. Three short dramas by writer Anna Jordan.

Fair Em Ends Feb 9, Union Theatre, 204 Union Street, SE1 0LX Waterloo £18, concs £15, Tue-Sat 7.30pm, mats Sun 3pm, extra mat Feb 2, 9, 3pm. Romantic comedy some have argued is part of Shakespeare’s canon.

Boy George’s Taboo Ends Mar 31 2013, Brixton Clubhouse, 467 Brixton Road, SW9 8HH Brixton £10, £25, Meal Deal with top price ticket only £32.50, Oct 31 £20, Tue-Sun 7.30pm, mats Sat & Sun 3pm. Boy George’s romantic musical set during the era of the New Romantics

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Lean Starts Tue, ends Feb 23, Tristan Bates Theatre, The Actors Centre, 1a Tower Street, WC2H 9NP Leicester Square £13, concs £10, From Jan 29, Tue-Sat 7.30pm, mats Sun 3.30pm. A revealing drama of a couple’s battle with anorexia, written by Isley Lynn. Lorca Dreams Starts Tue, ends Feb 1, The Bloomsbury Theatre, 15 Gordon Street, WC1H 0AH Euston £16, child £10, concs £12, NUS/mems £8, Jan 29-31, Feb 1, 7.30pm. Lyrical tribute to the life and work of writer Federico Garcia Lorca. Miss Hope Springs...Sunday Soiree Starts Sun, ends Feb 24, Brasserie Zedel, 20 Sherwood Street, W1F 7ED Piccadilly Circus £12, Sun 7pm. The ex-Las Vegas showgirl sings original songs and recalls showbusiness tales about her ‘career’ in Tinseltown.

Oh What A Lovely War Starts Fri, ends Mar 15, Theatre Royal Stratford East, Gerry Raffles Square, E15 1BN Stratford Feb 4-6 previews £15, Feb 1-3, 7-28, Mar 1-15 Mon-Sat 7.30pm & 2.30pm £12-£22, concs £8-£14.50, Fri-Sun 7.30pm & 3pm £14-£28, concs £9.50-£18.50, From Feb 1, Mon-Sat 7.30pm, mats Sat 2.30pm, Sun 3pm. Satirical musical about world war one, originally adapted by Joan Littlewood, from Charles Chilton’s 1961 radio play. Othello Ends Feb 22, The Bussey Building/ CLF Art Cafe, 133 Rye Lane, SE15 4ST Peckham Rye Mon Theatre For A Fiver Night £5, Tue-Sat £12, concs £10, Mon-Sat 7.30pm, press night Jan 29. The Othello Peckham Theatre’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s tragedy is set in the world of western military security companies. Sally And The Sunflower: Ripstop Theatre (Ages 3-7) Half Moon Young People’s Theatre, 43 White Horse Road, E1 0ND Limehouse £6, Feb 2, 11am & 2pm. Highly visual children’s shadow puppet show. Tales From The Shed (Under 7s) Ends Mar 23, Chickenshed, 290 Chase Side, N14 4PE Cockfosters £5.50, child under 6 months FREE, Fri & Sat 11.30am, Sat 10am, Feb 21, 10am & 11.30am, Feb 22, 10am, no perf Mar 8 & 9. Interactive performances for children. Three Sisters Ends Feb 23, The New Diorama Theatre, 15-16 Triton Street, NW1 3BF Great Portland Street £15.50, concs £12.50, All three plays in The Faction Rep Season £40, concs £35, Feb 1 & 2, 8 & 9, 16, 19, 23, 7.30pm. The Faction presents Ranjit Bolt’s translation of Anton Chekhov’s play. Too Many Penguins?: Mcrobert/Frozen Charlotte (Ages 1-4) Ends Feb 16, Polka Theatre, 240 The Broadway, SW19 1SB South Wimbledon £10, concs £8, Jan 29 & 30, Feb 1 & 2, 5, 7 & 8, 12 & 13, 15, 2.05pm, Jan 29 & 30, Feb 1, 5, 7, 12 & 13, 15 & 16, 10.35am, Jan 29, Feb 7 & 8, 16, 12noon, Feb 2, 12.30pm. Children’s show telling a whimsical tale of friendship. Trojan Women Ends Feb 2, Brockley Jack Studio Theatre, 410 Brockley Road, SE4 2DH Honor Oak Park £13, concs £10, Tue-Sat 7.45pm. Nameless Theatre’s production of Euripides’s play, about people living under the constant shadow of death. Twelfth Night Starts Tue, ends Feb 23, The Lion & Unicorn, 42-44 Gaisford Street, NW5 2ED Kentish Town £12-£17.50, From Jan 29, Tue-Sat 7.30pm, mats Sat 3.30pm. Custom/Practice Theatre presents Shakespeare’s comedy. Umbrage Swain And The Magical Diamond Of Ramtutti Starts Tue, ends Feb 2, Hen & Chickens, 109 St Paul’s Road, N1 2NA Highbury & Islington £8, Jan 29-31, Feb 1 & 2, 7.30pm. James Wren and Alan Freestone’s popular comedy, set during the New Romantic era. When We Are Married Ends Feb 2, Incognito Theatre, Holly Park Road, N11 3HB Arnos Grove £9, mems £8, NUS £5, Jan 28-31, Feb 1 & 2, 8pm, mat Feb 2, 3pm. The Wind In The Willows (Ages 5-11): Polka Theatre Ends Feb 16, Polka Theatre, 240 The Broadway, SW19 1SB South Wimbledon £16, concs £11, Nov 23 & 24 previews £11, Feb 2, 9, 5.30pm, mats Feb 2, 8 & 9, 16, 2pm. Kenneth Grahame’s story of friendship and bravery.

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LISTINGS

Win tickets to Let It Be and a night at The Strand Palace Hotel Relive The Beatles’ meteoric rise from their humble beginnings in Liverpool’s Cavern Club, through the heights of Beatlemania, to their later studio masterpieces with live performances of early tracks including Twist and Shout, She Loves You and Drive My Car, as well as global mega-hits Yesterday, Hey Jude, Come Together and, of course, Let It Be. Experience this multimedia rich electrifying spectacle which takes you back to the magical 60s when all you needed was love, and a little help from your friends! Quite literally dominating the Strand and a perfect backdrop to Covent Garden, the Strand Palace Hotel offers stylish Club and Executive

bedrooms, equipped with state of the art technology. Providing an excellent service with four restaurants and bars, and situated in the heart of the West End with Charing Cross, Covent Garden and Waterloo stations close by, it is the perfect base. Prize is: • Overnight hotel stay at Strand Palace Hotel with breakfast • Two top-price tickets to see Let It Be • Interval drink (one per person) • Souvenir programme

To be in with a chance of winning, just answer the following question:

To enter

The songs of what band are featured in Let It Be?

text SCOUT LETITBE and your answer to 88010 or head to scoutlondon.com/win

A) The Ants B) The Beatles

Texts cost £1*, and count for TWO entries!

C) The Cockroaches

LetItBeLondon.com strandpalacehotel.co.uk

* TERMS & CONDITIONS: Messages cost £1 each + standard network rate. 18+ bill payers only. Send STOP to end. Number may show on bill. A2B 08700460138. Contest closes Sunday Feb 3. Prize valid Mon, Wed, Thu at 7.30pm and Sunday at 3pm & 7pm until 28 March 2013, excluding 17-24 February. Subject to availability, no performances 20-31 January. Overnight is stay is based on a double or twin room on a bed and breakfast basis. All other expenses must be paid by the winner. Interval drink is one per person of either beer, wine or soft drink. There is no cash alternative. Prize is non-transferable and not for re-sale. The promotion is open to residents of the UK except employees of the Promoter, their families, agents or anyone professionally connected with the promotion. Promotion limited to one entry per person. Responsibility is not accepted for entries lost, damaged or delayed as a result of any network, computer hardware or software failure of any kind. Proof of sending will not be accepted as proof of receipt. For full T&Cs for all competitions, visit scoutlondon.com/win

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