It has been my intention for a while to write a story based in the now abandoned Gaiety cinema on City Road in Cardiff. Up until its closure it was renamed 'Spin' and turned into a bowling alley/nighclub affair - here is an excellent webpage giving a history of the buildings and pictures taken in 2011 when the place was well and truly abandoned.
One of the girls from the photographic course I was on late last year tried to gain access to the building as it now is, but found it full of squatters who didn't really want anyone intruding, be it for artistic purposes or not. And this got me thinking...
Why not write a story based around a community ensconced in one such abandoned building, purposely cutting themselves off from the world outside? The idea rattled round my head for a few months and ideas of how to approach it formulated. But it never really made it onto paper. Or even virtual paper.
Then, as the approach I had decided upon would be diaristic, why not publish it as blog entries? After all, Dickens published his work in journals and such. Not that I am claiming to be a Dickens by any stretch of the imagination.
Anyway, nothing ventured and all that... here is a link to The Gaiety.
Saturday, 31 August 2013
Fringe Benefits II - style icons, serenading inmates, intimate late-night encounters... and noodles.
Yes, it's that time again when we take our annual pilgrimage north of the border into the cultural chaos that is the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. And this year's choice of shows was even more eclectic than last's.
For a start the first venue was Edinburgh's Cineworld; not an obvious choice, but it was to see a rather rare event - a nationwide live feed to selected cinemas from the David Bowie exhibition at the V&A. Having failed to even get near visiting this highly acclaimed look at this pop icon's life (booked out until eternity and now finished) this was a chance to get a taste of what we had missed and also witness a superb documentary about this extraordinary performer's life and work.
From there to laughs - the annual favourite 'Shakespeare For Breakfast', whose sub-title this year was 'The Reclaiming of the Shrew', wonderfully grafting the William and Kate story into the bard's comedy. And you gotta get a bit of stand-up in there too, this year in the motherly shape of Jenny Eclair, a comedienne I've been wanting to see live for soooo long. And man was she funny - so much so that at one point I nearly lost consciousness laughing so much - her menopausally obscene rantings striking a chord with many a woman of a similar age in the audience.
Lets not forget the art too, with superb exhibitions of the stylish photographs from Condé Nast (at the City Art Centre) and the wonderfully surreal work of Man Ray (at the Scottish Portrait Gallery). And then to musical theatre in the shape of the brilliant Kiss of the Spider-Woman - The Musical from the Musical Theatre Society, superbly staged and performed. Then to circus - the incredibly surreal but eye-poppingly spectacular show 'Noodles' from Cardiff based troupe extraordinaire NoFit State. I may well be avoiding that particular carbohydrate for some time after witnessing that...
But the highlight for me was the highly intimate two-hander 'between', written by Oskar Brown and directed by Geoffrey Hyland. Performed at 11.30 (that's p.m.) in a tiny space at the Surgeon's Hall off Nicolson Street the play unflinchingly focused on intimate relations between men, be they gay, straight or undecided. It was originally developed as a student production by Brown at the University of Cape Town Drama department and was then re-invented for Fringe productions with the help of multi-award winning director Hyland. Brown performs with fellow South African Nicholas Campbell amongst a sea of blue papers (which by the way were all of Shakespeare's 154 sonnets printed in various sizes) in various states of undress and physical proximity. The effect is sometimes unsettling given the closeness of the actors to the audience; the sense of voyeurism is palpable. But then that is the point, to be exposed to that intimacy no matter how uncomfortable it may be. A brilliant piece of minimal theatre.
And then, of course, there was all that was in between; the inevitable leaflet-strewn struggle down the Royal Mile, stopping for some over-priced tea at Patisserie Valerie (or Val's Cake Shop as we dubbed it), perusing the pissed punters on Grassmarket and meeting up with Barry for several pints at that old gay hang-out The New Town. A wonderful but woefully short visit.
Oh and update on the tram system; they have finished it! But no trams are running on it yet. Not until next year at least.
For a start the first venue was Edinburgh's Cineworld; not an obvious choice, but it was to see a rather rare event - a nationwide live feed to selected cinemas from the David Bowie exhibition at the V&A. Having failed to even get near visiting this highly acclaimed look at this pop icon's life (booked out until eternity and now finished) this was a chance to get a taste of what we had missed and also witness a superb documentary about this extraordinary performer's life and work.
From there to laughs - the annual favourite 'Shakespeare For Breakfast', whose sub-title this year was 'The Reclaiming of the Shrew', wonderfully grafting the William and Kate story into the bard's comedy. And you gotta get a bit of stand-up in there too, this year in the motherly shape of Jenny Eclair, a comedienne I've been wanting to see live for soooo long. And man was she funny - so much so that at one point I nearly lost consciousness laughing so much - her menopausally obscene rantings striking a chord with many a woman of a similar age in the audience.
Lets not forget the art too, with superb exhibitions of the stylish photographs from Condé Nast (at the City Art Centre) and the wonderfully surreal work of Man Ray (at the Scottish Portrait Gallery). And then to musical theatre in the shape of the brilliant Kiss of the Spider-Woman - The Musical from the Musical Theatre Society, superbly staged and performed. Then to circus - the incredibly surreal but eye-poppingly spectacular show 'Noodles' from Cardiff based troupe extraordinaire NoFit State. I may well be avoiding that particular carbohydrate for some time after witnessing that...
But the highlight for me was the highly intimate two-hander 'between', written by Oskar Brown and directed by Geoffrey Hyland. Performed at 11.30 (that's p.m.) in a tiny space at the Surgeon's Hall off Nicolson Street the play unflinchingly focused on intimate relations between men, be they gay, straight or undecided. It was originally developed as a student production by Brown at the University of Cape Town Drama department and was then re-invented for Fringe productions with the help of multi-award winning director Hyland. Brown performs with fellow South African Nicholas Campbell amongst a sea of blue papers (which by the way were all of Shakespeare's 154 sonnets printed in various sizes) in various states of undress and physical proximity. The effect is sometimes unsettling given the closeness of the actors to the audience; the sense of voyeurism is palpable. But then that is the point, to be exposed to that intimacy no matter how uncomfortable it may be. A brilliant piece of minimal theatre.
And then, of course, there was all that was in between; the inevitable leaflet-strewn struggle down the Royal Mile, stopping for some over-priced tea at Patisserie Valerie (or Val's Cake Shop as we dubbed it), perusing the pissed punters on Grassmarket and meeting up with Barry for several pints at that old gay hang-out The New Town. A wonderful but woefully short visit.
Oh and update on the tram system; they have finished it! But no trams are running on it yet. Not until next year at least.
Saturday, 10 August 2013
The Sharply Dressed Artist
It has been a pleasure to be recently introduced to a very talented - and very well attired - local artist; Mr Christopher Langley. He was suggested as a contact though a mutual friend who knew we had something in common - the appreciation of suit and ties (and smart dress generally).
I met Chris for the first time the Red Dragon Centre's Costa coffee bar during a lunch break. I was wearing a white, short-sleeved shirt and hastily slung on a tie before leaving the car in order to impress. It did not, so he told me later! Oh the tie did, but not the way I had tied it. Before long he was showing me how to master the Windsor knot and such, and the extolling benefits of wearing a tie loosely so not to feel strangled or constrained.
And now I am hooked on the look - this has proven to be the image change that I was searching for. Oh, I had always had a fascination for the suit and tie look, the way it idealises the masculinity of the male body with its emphasis on broad shoulders and tapering waists, with the tie giving the whole ensemble a sense of symmetry. (And there are certain websites that are dedicated to this form of dress, but let's not go there, shall we.) And now I have established the basics, I want to delve further into my other passion... waistcoats!!
Being friends with such an influential individual does have its benefits too... afternoon tea at the Celtic Manor in Newport, dinner at the Liberal Club in London... I could so get used to that.
As I mentioned earlier, Chris is a talented artist and his work can be seen in Cardiff and its surroundings. Just last week he had an open evening of his paintings at the Waterloo Teahouse in Roath, where his colourfully rendered images of the locality brighten the walls of the establishment, reflecting the summer mood. He even created several works of original art on the train back from London, using the Inspire Pro application on my iPad mini. To see these wondrous images appear before my very eyes was indeed a privilege.
And, of course, here is a plug for Chris's website. Let me just state that I am writing and raving about Chris's works of my own accord - he did not ask me to do this! Honest, guv.
I met Chris for the first time the Red Dragon Centre's Costa coffee bar during a lunch break. I was wearing a white, short-sleeved shirt and hastily slung on a tie before leaving the car in order to impress. It did not, so he told me later! Oh the tie did, but not the way I had tied it. Before long he was showing me how to master the Windsor knot and such, and the extolling benefits of wearing a tie loosely so not to feel strangled or constrained.
And now I am hooked on the look - this has proven to be the image change that I was searching for. Oh, I had always had a fascination for the suit and tie look, the way it idealises the masculinity of the male body with its emphasis on broad shoulders and tapering waists, with the tie giving the whole ensemble a sense of symmetry. (And there are certain websites that are dedicated to this form of dress, but let's not go there, shall we.) And now I have established the basics, I want to delve further into my other passion... waistcoats!!
Being friends with such an influential individual does have its benefits too... afternoon tea at the Celtic Manor in Newport, dinner at the Liberal Club in London... I could so get used to that.
As I mentioned earlier, Chris is a talented artist and his work can be seen in Cardiff and its surroundings. Just last week he had an open evening of his paintings at the Waterloo Teahouse in Roath, where his colourfully rendered images of the locality brighten the walls of the establishment, reflecting the summer mood. He even created several works of original art on the train back from London, using the Inspire Pro application on my iPad mini. To see these wondrous images appear before my very eyes was indeed a privilege.
And, of course, here is a plug for Chris's website. Let me just state that I am writing and raving about Chris's works of my own accord - he did not ask me to do this! Honest, guv.
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