My Week With London, Photos : LOCAL LOVES

It goes without saying that London is one photogenic beast. I'm constantly snapping away, especially in this gorgeous weather. But all these photos end up just sitting on my phone. So, I thought I'd share them with you each Sunday. Here's the first and I hope you enjoy! 

Please let me know what you think in the comments - should I do this every Sunday?

My Week With London. 

Summer started to creep it's way in...

Brilliantly British

Russell Square looking like a total beauty.

The Crypt at St Martin's in the Fields, Trafalgar Square

Street performers by the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden

Seven Dials in Covent Garden, a lovely lunch spot even with black cabs zooming round you

A lovely bar that I'm going to tell you all about in my next post....see you there!

Flowers in St Martin's Courtyard

Flowers in St Martin's Courtyard

Trafalgar Square being all Trafalgar Squarey

Lovely painting on Shelton Street

Ching Court, just off Shelton Street, a little oasis of calm in Covent Garden. Shhhh don't tell everyone though. 

First 99 of the season on Neal Street

A Dirty Dog at the Jamie Oliver pop up diner on Shaftesbury Avenue

Said pop up

Piccadilly Circus. I always feel like Bridget Jones when I look up at these screens. What a film!

Underground inspiration

There were many late night journeys home

I took an Instagram workshop at the Cath Kidston flagship store and this was my best pic! My lovely friend Nikki.

xXx

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Hi gang,

I’m now on Bloglovin so click the title of this post and follow me on there! It’s a great site and the app is brill too. Whether you’re new to this 'following' malarkey or a seasoned blogger I really recommend using it, it’s a fab way to bring all your favourite blogs together and discover new ones.

xXx

p.s. Look how gorgeous London is looking today....

Martin Freeman in Richard III, Trafalgar Transformed West End Season : LOCAL LOVES

My favourite theatre season is back in town! Trafalgar Transformed is back with a bang at Traflagar Studios and I think you should all grab tickets NOW.

THE FIRST SEASON

Back in October I briefly mentioned the Trafalgar Transformed theatre season that took place at Trafalgar Studios – directed and curated by director extraordinaire Jamie Lloyd, the inaugural season kicked off with a particularly bloodthirsty Macbeth starring James McAvoy. It was so bloody that if you were sitting on the front row and wearing dry-clean-only clothes it was suggested you moved seats. Pretty messy stuff. 

  
Macbeth was followed by the brilliantly mad The Hothouse, starring theatre-great Simon Russell Beale and current star of Prey John Simm. The highlight for me though was seeing John Heffernan and Harry Melling live on stage for the first time – they are both so incredibly talented. 

Harry played Dudley Dursley in the Harry Potter films and, I have to admit, I had no idea he was such a talent. Immensely passionate about his craft his aptitude for finding the subtle nuances in an exaggerated character is astounding. Check out what he has to say about playing dangerous characters here about his recent stint in King Lear in New York. 

 And John is a downright comedy genius.  Brilliantly camp with mischief glittering in his eyes, he’s a stage-force to be reckoned with. Check out this interview he did at the end of last year, just before taking on his first London lead role.

The final play in Season One was The Pride. Set in two time periods, the 1950s and the present day, it showed the changing attitudes towards homosexuality. Check out the trailer here. This incredibly moving show was bought to life by Captain America’s Hayley Atwell, Mathew Horne (of Gavin and Stacey fame), National Theatre regular Harry Hadden-Paton and another of my major talent crushes, Al Weaver. Next time Al is in a show I thoroughly recommend grabbing a ticket.

My flatmate and I saw this show twice actually and it was the first time she had made a repeat visit to a play. It was heartbreaking and had a wonderfully strong message.

And why is it called Trafalgar Transformed? Well, they transformed the theatre didn’t they! Check out the snazzy time-lapse video here.

THE NEW SEASON!

Richard III

So, yes, Trafalgar Transformed is back! And it’s opening in July with an absolute corker – Martin Freeman in Richard III. Yep, the Hobbit is gracing the stage, Watson is treading the boards, Tim from The Office is doing the Bard! It’s going to be epic. 

The cast also features a wonderful actor called Phil Cumbus – he was in Romeo and Juliet at Shakespeare’s Globe when I worked there back in the day, and he really is a marvel. I've followed his progress through the theatre world ever since. Come to see Martin, but keep a big eye out for Phil. I'd love to know what actors you guys follow that aren't perhaps in the centre of the limelight so let me know in the comments! 

East is East

 
Next up, in October, the wonderful Jane Horrocks is descending on the Trafalgar Studios in the cult classic East is East. Y’know, Bubbles from Absolutely Fabulous! She was most recently in Sunshine on Leith which is the brilliant musical movie that I mentioned in my post about the Electric Cinema.

Set in 1970s Salford, East is East is Ayub Khan Din's take on British Asian life. Married to an English woman but maintaining strong Muslim values George struggles to keep his children in line and stop them straying from the strict religious path he intends for them. 

The play was made into a film in the late 90s but it started it's life on the stage of course so I'm mega excited to see it back in it's original home. And what's even more exciting is that Ayub, the playwright, is taking on the role of the George, the father. I can't wait to see him onstage at George given that the play is semi-autobiographical. 
 
TICKETS

So there you have it folks, a big ole’ heads up that some excellent theatre is on it’s way. You can buy tickets for both shows here. Or if you want to chance it, all tickets on Mondays are £15 but are not released until the first Monday of each month so put it in your diary and grab a pair.

Follow Trafalgar Transformed on twitter for the latest news or follow me because I tweet about it a lot! Apologies that this post has been a sort of theatre geek expolosion - it's just really bloody exciting work!

xXx

All the world's a stage, What to see this month - Part IV : LOCAL LOVES

1984

I saw 1984 a few nights ago and I’m still reeling from it. I love a show that almost affects you physically, the fact that theatre can do that to you is why I adore it so much. My head felt so full, if that makes sense. It was such a bombardment of information, ideas and thought that I couldn’t compute it all at once.

Based on the famous George Orwell book, the play was originally staged at the Almeida Theatre in North London as a co-production with Headlong and Nottingham Playhouse. It got rave reviews and the theatre owners of the West End quickly battled for the transfer. It is now selling out the Playhouse and reactions have been amazing.

For those of you who haven’t read the book this is where the ideas of Big Brother and Room 101 come from – a dystopian world where free thought and emotion is banned, and every living person is watched in omnipresent surveillance. Those who go against these laws become 'unpersoned' - they are effectively deleted, any record of them that there ever was is destroyed. But Winston Smith dares to challenge this.

It sounds like an unthinkable hell doesn't it? Well the pure quality of this production makes you not want to miss a single second of that hell. With the slickest of scene changes, smack-you-in-the-face lighting and sound (from Natasha Chivers and Tom Gibbons respectively), and an endlessly astonishing set (by Chloe Lamford) this is a real theatre gem and I encourage all of you to beg, borrow and steal for a ticket.


WHAT: 1984
WHERE: Playhouse Theatre, Northumberland Ave, London WC2N 5DE
TICKETS: ATG Tickets  - for each show 101 tickets are sold for £19.84 - see what they did there??
DATES: On until 19th July 2014. Update! The show has extended to 23rd August - go, go, go!
WHO: Anyone who likes a bit of theatre that makes you think and feel instantly and for a long time afterwards. For George Orwell fans – this is a must.
TUBE: Embankment tube is less than a minute away.

Oh my honey, honey! Manuka Kitchen : LOCAL LOVES

After spotting a little AAGill review Mumma Morrow and I decided to give Manuka Kitchen on the Fulham Road a try. Boy am I glad we did!

I've gone past it a million times and thought nothing of it. It's very low key and unassuming, nestling in amongst the tea shops and salons. But as mum was in town, and she'd read the amazing review, a visit was put in the diary. 

Breakfast is served from 10am and although we didn't book I'd recommend doing so - I think word is going to spread like wildfire. We sat at a sweet little table in the middle of the restaurant, surrounded by families, couples and groups of friends. The atmosphere is lovely.  We ordered tea and coffee and soaked in the morning sun that was streaming through the windows. 

 

 

Tummies grumbling with anticipation we ordered blueberry pancakes and French toast that was served with bacon, banana and spiced honey. Sipping our tea and chatting about my sister's recent engagement to her lovely boyfriend we were happy as two larry's as the chefs prepared the breakfast masterpieces that soon arrived at our table.

The French toast was divine - cooked to perfection and beautifully presented with a brûléed banana still in it's skin on the top. It was utterly dreamy and a lady on the neighbouring table promptly ordered some after spotting mine.

A five minute walk from Fulham Broadway tube this is a definite breakfast hot spot and I'm planning to go for dinner soon - has anyone been? Would love an order recommendation!

xXx

London Strikes Again, All Star Lanes : LOCAL LOVES

Oh gang, I’m sorry. I’ve been gone for yonks! Life just got a bit hectic and I’ve not sat down for long enough to write. I have of course sat down at times, I haven’t been standing for weeks on end, that would be bonkers.

BUT, I’m back and while I was away I continued to photograph all the fun London things I did so have lots to tell you about – hurrah!

Shall we start with bowling? Yes, let’s start with bowling. Hands down the best spot in London Town is All Star Lanes – a 1950s throw back of underground delight. Varnished lanes, scrummy cocktails, classic diner food and retro tunes. What more could you want? Well, you could want Prince Harry to have been there:

I went with some pals of mine to the Bayswater venue, but you can also find them in Brick Lane, Holborn and Westfield Stratford too. Depending on when you go, bowling costs £6.95 to £8.95. They’re open until 11.30pm Monday to Thursday, and midnight on Fridays and Saturdays. The best way to make the most of the night though is to eat there too and they often have deals that combine a meal and a game. The food is classic diner grub and doesn’t break the bank. There’s burgers, hot dogs and macaroni cheese – YUM. 

We kind of went to town with dinner.....

But obviously it's the cocktails we all go for and we couldn't resist 'The Ball' because it comes served IN A BOWLING BALL!

 

And after getting our fill we hit the lanes. Feeling cocky we opted for no bumpers. Pah, we're not kids anymore, we don't need bumpers!! Oh but Abbie, when you've had cocktails you do.... Chaos ensued. It turns out we'd all completely forgotten how to bowl. Even getting the ball to roll smoothly on the lane was proving hard but we persevered and looked pretty dapper as we did so in our bowling shoes.

 

It was very thirsty work so I got another cocktail. To ease the game along and bring out my inner-sportsman you see. I plumped for a Gin & Elderflower Julep Jar - Bombay Sapphire, elderflower, mint and apple juice. Much better than lucozade.

And by some weird twist of fate I won! I was mighty chuffed and skipped off into the night waving the score sheet aloft. Cracking stuff. All Star Lanes really is shed loads of nostalgic fun so get yourself booked in.