Backbeat, Duke of York Theatre

Backbeat is the story of the Beatles, unarguably the most popular band of all time. The show is a cross between historical documentation and retrospective musical compilation, which predominates I still can’t work out. Following Ian Softley’s 1994 film of the same name, the production is rocking the Duke of York’s Theatre in the West End.

The show centres around the ‘Germany years’ in the early 60’s when the Beatles were starting out, an unnoticed Skiffle band. Aside from the brilliant Beatles songs, this show manages to fit in some rock’n’roll classics by other artists; Chuck Berry’s ‘Johnny B Goode’and Isley Brother’s ‘Twist and Shout’ were two of my favourites.

The cast is stellar, a tight knit ensemble of muso-actors, who sing and play and act with equal vigour, I was very impressed. The stand out performance for me comes from Andrew Knott as the sarcastic but loyal John Lennon. Knott is completely committed to the role and is a joy to watch perform on stage. Nick Blood also gives a shudderingly good performance as the dark and distracted Stuart Sutcliffe, he comes across as a suitably tormented artist.

Having watched Ruta Gedmintas in the TV series Lip Service (I had a bit of a girl crush on her), I was delighted to see her strutting her stuff on stage as the femme fatale of the show, Astrid Kirchherr. She certainly has attitude and an instant magnetism, perhaps thanks to her steely good looks and piercing green eyes. Gedmintas is a good actress but her faltering accent led my concentration to stray a frustrating number of times.

The show resembles the format of ‘Million Dollar Quartet’ and ‘Jersey Boys’; giving an insight into a world famous band. For me it was a revelatory history lesson to learn more about a group of musicians who have always intrigued me. Aside from that, it was great fun, and with musicians this good they give the real Beatles a run for their money!

BACKBEAT continues until Saturday 29th March, book here.

Clip Joint Comedy night at The Camden Head pub

Comedy and I don’t usually get on… the pressure to laugh always deters me… however occasionally I do surprise myself by making the effort to go along to a comedy show, and more importantly enjoying it. Clip Joint wasn’t hysterical, but all in all it was a light hearted and amusing night, and for £4 a ticket the evening was, I think, a success.

The friendly Camden Head pub hosts exciting live comedy acts in a dark and cosy upstairs room. Clip Joint is a new act performed by Dougie Anderson and Iain Lee - it is a monthly show with clips of films and TV series that they find funny, talking and explaining the scenario, in the hope that the audience will share their amusement, for whatever reasons. On Friday they also brought along a special guest, Iain Morris creator of ‘The Inbetweeners’ and generally brilliant Comedy writer whose credits also include two episodes of ‘Flight of the Conchords’.

Anderson and Lee are fun guys, and it’s hard not to feel at ease with them. Both TV presenters, you can tell immediately that they are experienced and at ease performing and talking on cue. Despite the slightly strange layout (watching very random clips on a small TV on the stage) the hour long show felt relaxed and everyone in the mismatched audience seemed to enjoy it.

Unfortunately I think it would be impossible to describe the individual clips here, but take my word for it, they were the bizarrest, most incongruous things I’ve ever seen. Audience members are encouraged to bring along their favourite clips to share with the crowd, though our group was terrified and quiet. Eventually one regular confidently strode up to the video machine with a hilarious rendition of the Chicken Duck Monkey song by Mike Phirman. I’ve managed to find it on youtube, so I’ll leave you with this silly happy video now...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8N7-wRWg7FU

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows II

One boy screamed: “We love you Harry” as the credits began to roll as the rest of the auditorium were still recovering from the emotional last two hours of Harry Potter film footage. I grew up with this boy wizard and I cannot deny I feel a strong bond to the magical series. In fact I think I have a 1st edition of the first book somewhere - I remember my mum proudly guessing it would big before anyone else had cottoned on.

But all good things must end, and what an ending this is. More sincere than the other films, Harry, Ron and Hermione (Daniel, Rupert and Emma in the real world) have truly grown up, and there is a great deal more conviction in all three performances here. The direction is superb from David Yates, conjuring up this now familiar fantasy world with a persuasive depth and passion. Here we see Voldemort more frequently than before, and Ralph Fiennes gives a suitably chilling performance as the evil villain. Needless to say the 3D technology is really a massive help for the scare factor.

My only qualm is the lack of the usual magical fun: the common room frolics, enchantingly silly sweets and Quidditch matches -the final book is so much more serious and lacks any light-hearted drama. I felt exhausted by the end! Strangely the horrible curses and killings in the film felt less otherworldly in the aftermath of the Norway massacre, more believable. The special efforts are dauntingly realistic especially in the final battle, a real credit to the creative team.

A hilarious final sequence shows the three main protagonists 19 years later, all mature, hair combed and pretending to be real adults! My fellow audience members found this all ridiculously funny, and I have to agree they do look daft. But it is a nice ending, and one that, if needs be, lends itself to a new chapter of the franchise, with the innocent Potter and Weasley kids off to Hogwarts for the first time. After eight films, 10 years and $2 billion in domestic box office takings we are back where we started at Platform 9 ¾ Kings Cross Station, and you have to admit it’s nice to see some defining UK landmarks rather than the usual American scene. It is a stunning finale for these life-changing books.

Tracey Emin: Love Is What You Want, Hayward Gallery

Tracey Emin is the UK's most notorious art rebel. Strangely, after seeing her epic retrospective at Southbank's Hayward Gallery, I was reminded of Lady Gaga, another deeply injured girl who uses her impressive creative outlet to sooth herself and relieve her anger. Both are needy and desperate for appreciation from others, both are aggressively and eccentrically talented.

The exhibition shows a wide range of Emin work from the bold, colourful tapestries to small figurative sketches; from strange films of herself to her most personal often bizarre possessions, artifacts and memories. Entitled ‘Love Is What You Want’, this collection hopes to illustrate the different aspects of Emin’s life, it is an expansive exhibition, that gives a complete biography of this troubled artist.

There is the usual helping of crude creativity on show. Many will remember the dirty dishevelled ‘My Bed’ that Emin submitted for the 1999 Turner Prize show, gaining substantial media interest. Here we are subjected to Emin’s used tampons, and a video explaining, in detail, the physical and emotional turmoil of her abortion. Harrowing for the viewer too, filled with suffering and tragedy, but eventually I felt myself becoming annoyed and bored by these disgusting exhibits, there is less and less meaning to them.

The films are even more self-indulgent, video depictions of Emin’s fantasies. ‘Love is a Strange Thing’ shows Tracey speaking to a drooling dog in a park, he has propositioned her and asked for sex, but she turns him down - a bizarre clip that yet again illustrates her need for power and control. I found the 1995 work ‘Why I never became a dancer’ more interesting. A dizzy film that gives a vivid account of Emin’s childhood in Margate, and her early dancing ambition. She tells us of the boys that laughed at her, these local lads that slept with her then ruined her dream. After seeing the town of Margate, the shabby shops and beach, the film turns to a smiling Tracey who dances manically round the room to Sylvester’s ‘You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)’.

My favourite works are the embroidered rainbow blankets that cover the walls of the first room. On these hangings Emin has stitched statements and thoughts, patterns and text. Some blaspheme and swear while others just show thoughts and realisations. They are angry and chaotic, like much of her work, but also wacky and quite stunning, whether she meant them to be aesthetically pleasing is another point to ponder.

Tracey Emin’s ‘Love Is What You Want’ continues until 29 August, 2011, book here.

Secret Cinema

You may have heard whisperings about Secret Cinema, a special company that host exciting shows focusing on a particular, carefully chosen film, usually old and often forgotten. As a spectator, you are instucted not to utter a word about your experience which is how it maintains its mystery and continuing appeal. Consequently this "review" cannot divulge certain details and will have to act more as an advertisement to encourage you all to get involved in this original and exhilarating idea.

Tickets are priced at £35 (or £25 for students), with limited 3 or 4 week runs - needless to say spaces sell out very fast. You are given cryptic instructions: where to meet and what time and what to wear; this is usually all the clues you are allowed, though for my showing we were also asked to print and complete personal identity forms, our details determined which group (a, b or c) we were in.

We arrived at Leake Street near the Waterloo Tunnels at 12.30 ready for whatever was in store. Told to wear late 1950s and 1960 smart outfits, I came in head to toe vintage Balmain... a striking white and red striped full length suit I bought in a French market last summer. It was fun to take it out for the first time though completely impractical for the dust-ridden underground setting of the performance.

Every season a different film is shown which dramatically alters the surrounding entertainment. From my experience and speaking to others about their trips to Secret Cinema, it seems the layout is not dissimilar for each production... once admitted inside the audience is involved in a drama that takes you into the world of the film you will later watch.

I was overwhelmed by the whole production, and the incredible detail they had gone to, to create such a moving and realistic world. I had no idea what to expect from Secret Cinema which made the event all the more surprising and at times even scary.

I won't tell you what film I saw... can you guess from the photos I took?

Susan Hiller at Tate Britain

Susan Hiller likes to imagine and explore things most of us prefer not to think about. She collects seemingly insignificant materials (like postcards or wallpaper) and uses these to uncover facts about the subconscious and unknown, encouraging the viewer to take part in the process. Her evocative work has understandably had an important influence on younger generations of artists.

This exhibition at Tate Britain is Hiller’s largest show yet. I really appreciated the clear layout of the work. Exhibitions of this nature are often left unattractively to speak for themselves but these experiments are presented so beautifully that a much deeper interpretation is available to the viewer. What first may appear random, on closer examination is fascinating. ‘Dream Mapping’ shows the results of an investigation conducted by Hiller in 1974. She arranged for a group of people to sleep outside in ‘fairy rings’ (circles formed by mushrooms considered to be the entrances to Fairy-land). Each night they were required to note down their dreams in diagrams or text. I am a very erratic sleeper, and I regularly have unforgettable or confusing dreams so to read these results was enthralling.

‘Magic Lantern’ explores the body’s instinctive reaction to colour. A small dark room shows moving bright coloured circles, the headphones play horrific wailing sounds that make you feel like you are going mad. The vocal improvisations are interspersed with snippets of recorded sounds from empty rooms further demonstrating Hiller’s obsession with the paranormal.

‘An Entertainment’ is a projection of screaming Punch and Judy shows and another example of technology overload. The work was devised in 1990 and is a film collage of different shows from all over Britain. Hiller hopes to highlight the forgotten mythologies embedded in theatrical tradition. The synchronised screens blaze at each other - it is easy to get completely lost in the blurred images and loud abstract soundtrack.

I found the final rooms most haunting. ‘Witness’ is a terrifying, surreal installation with hundreds of little speakers hanging down from the ceiling each transmitting one person’s ghost story. They describe encounters with UFO’s, sightings, strange irregularities and other peculiar experiences. We stood in the middle of the shadowy room overwhelmed by the eerie atmosphere, there is a constant chatter of voices all in different languages. The voices gradually calmed to leave just one woman’s solitary voice speaking... it is unexpected and strange and sends a sharp shiver down your spine. I thought the whole idea was ingeniously inventive and affecting.

Continues until 15 May 2011, book here.

Love Story at The Duchess Theatre

Love Story was, for me, an emotional marathon, completely draining and yet enjoyable. This musical play has recently transferred from Chichester Festival Theatre where it made its debut earlier this year. This stage version is inspired by Erich Segal’s best selling novel which was later made into the famous film.

There’s not really much to the storyline, girl and boy meet, fall in love, girl dies... sorry to be blunt. We are told of Jenny’s sad fate at the start of the show and then spend the rest of it painfully waiting for it to happen. There are a few happier moments, for instance when the besotted couple cook pasta and tomato sauce together on stage... singing joyfully as they chop the garlic and onions. What a sensation to smell cooking food in the middle of a stage play.

Before the performance started we were alerted by one of the producers that the electricity supply had been cut off and so the show would have limited lighting. A strange experience it was sitting in the illuminated auditorium watching a play in the same slightly clinical light. Occasionally the bulbs would flicker, almost like the faltering life of the girl on stage. The lack of lighting variation meant the actors had to create atmosphere and tension without any help, and they succeeded admirably.

Howard Goodall’s music is the best thing about this adaptation. The band is visible on stage throughout, and they are a complete pleasure to watch. Goodall’s music is romantic without being sentimental and there are some powerfully lilting melodies, which were, incidentally the culprit of my aching tear ducts.

The acting is mostly convincing, although by the end I did feel myself getting rather irritated by the loved up duo. Emma Williams as Jenny Cavilleri and Michael Xavier who plays Oliver Barrett IV have great chemistry on stage and seem very comfortable together. Both also have very promising voices, like much of the cast. Peter Polycarpou is endearing as Jenny’s father, Phil; it is genuinely moving watching him grieve for his daughter.

Love Story continues until 26 February 2011, book tickets here.