Showing posts with label uk. Show all posts
Showing posts with label uk. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
london part 2
becky and i decided to catch the ferry down the river - unfortunately it was a bit of a rainy day (i know, sooo surprising for london)...
under the tower bridge...
got off down near the tate britain to visit the current turner prize exhibition, then caught the special damien hirst decorated boat back to the tate modern. they've just installed the new work in the huge turbine hall, by carsten holler - its a series of covered slides that you can actually ride on! i was actually bouncing up and down like a 7 year old when i walked in and saw this...
and can you imgine the extreme pouting looks on my face when told that there were no more riding slots available that day. i was leaving the next day, so no chance to go back! i begged and pleaded but to no avail, those london gallery people have no mercy BOOOOO!!!!
so we were left to watch all the other people having the time of their life...
holler says in the catalogue essay that one shouldn't assume that to enjoy the work you need to actually ride on the slides. bollocks!!! well maybe not, it was still cool watching the people's expressions as they shot off the bottom. As the catalogue ssays, "For Carsten Höller, the experience of sliding is best summed up in a phrase by the French writer Roger Caillois as a ‘voluptuous panic upon an otherwise lucid mind’".
then walked back up towards soho...
never get sick of the cute squirrels... here's one i staked out - think its just busted me.
and here it is running away from me...
can't decide if this is the best or the worst name for a pub ever...
drinks at the pub (with food but no chef) to farewell becci from london...
x
under the tower bridge...
got off down near the tate britain to visit the current turner prize exhibition, then caught the special damien hirst decorated boat back to the tate modern. they've just installed the new work in the huge turbine hall, by carsten holler - its a series of covered slides that you can actually ride on! i was actually bouncing up and down like a 7 year old when i walked in and saw this...
and can you imgine the extreme pouting looks on my face when told that there were no more riding slots available that day. i was leaving the next day, so no chance to go back! i begged and pleaded but to no avail, those london gallery people have no mercy BOOOOO!!!!
so we were left to watch all the other people having the time of their life...
holler says in the catalogue essay that one shouldn't assume that to enjoy the work you need to actually ride on the slides. bollocks!!! well maybe not, it was still cool watching the people's expressions as they shot off the bottom. As the catalogue ssays, "For Carsten Höller, the experience of sliding is best summed up in a phrase by the French writer Roger Caillois as a ‘voluptuous panic upon an otherwise lucid mind’".
then walked back up towards soho...
never get sick of the cute squirrels... here's one i staked out - think its just busted me.
and here it is running away from me...
can't decide if this is the best or the worst name for a pub ever...
drinks at the pub (with food but no chef) to farewell becci from london...
x
Monday, October 16, 2006
london part 1
and then I hit big ole’ London town...
went to camden town with becci, we were given tickets to be in the audience for taping of a tv show at the mtv studios nearby.
our excitement was dampened somewhat when we realised that it wasn’t a mtv show, but a uktv show – which is the old folks tv station. We were the youngest people there by about 30 years. The show was excrutiating, oh well, you win some…
afterwards wandered towards soho, past the theatre where the queen musical is playing. Hmmm I think I’ll pass on that one.
Then we discovered this brilliant little original 50s café in soho
The menu was a copy of the original 50s one with scribbles and things crossed out all over it.
Dinner was incredibly yummy. I had veal escalope, becci had the cheesiest cannelloni ever, in a really good way. Dessert was steamed treacle pudding.
Went to Brick lane on Sunday for the markets
Apparently if you run an indian restaurant, it helps to have had either prince charles or posh and becks visit for a quick curry.
This glass box was the entrance to an underground club, the ground was absolutely thumping – at about midday on a Sunday.
Every now and then some extremely trashy people would emerge from below and stumble out of the doors. All the people standing around in the pic were trying to get in, but the bouncers would have none of it. The guy on the right spent the whole time bashing on the glass yelling at someone inside trying to convince them to let him in.
Later went to the Frieze Art Fair.
(that’s Jake and Dinos Chapman painting people’s portraits)
Brekkie with Becky, Dan and Jeff – I have been staying with Becky at her wicked flat in Greenwich – have to say a biiiigggg thanks! Also massive thanks to Nora for putting me up at her equally wicked flat in Kentish Town! You ladies rock!
x
went to camden town with becci, we were given tickets to be in the audience for taping of a tv show at the mtv studios nearby.
our excitement was dampened somewhat when we realised that it wasn’t a mtv show, but a uktv show – which is the old folks tv station. We were the youngest people there by about 30 years. The show was excrutiating, oh well, you win some…
afterwards wandered towards soho, past the theatre where the queen musical is playing. Hmmm I think I’ll pass on that one.
Then we discovered this brilliant little original 50s café in soho
The menu was a copy of the original 50s one with scribbles and things crossed out all over it.
Dinner was incredibly yummy. I had veal escalope, becci had the cheesiest cannelloni ever, in a really good way. Dessert was steamed treacle pudding.
Went to Brick lane on Sunday for the markets
Apparently if you run an indian restaurant, it helps to have had either prince charles or posh and becks visit for a quick curry.
This glass box was the entrance to an underground club, the ground was absolutely thumping – at about midday on a Sunday.
Every now and then some extremely trashy people would emerge from below and stumble out of the doors. All the people standing around in the pic were trying to get in, but the bouncers would have none of it. The guy on the right spent the whole time bashing on the glass yelling at someone inside trying to convince them to let him in.
Later went to the Frieze Art Fair.
(that’s Jake and Dinos Chapman painting people’s portraits)
Brekkie with Becky, Dan and Jeff – I have been staying with Becky at her wicked flat in Greenwich – have to say a biiiigggg thanks! Also massive thanks to Nora for putting me up at her equally wicked flat in Kentish Town! You ladies rock!
x
Saturday, September 16, 2006
some more random pics from edinburgh...
the Royal Mile in full swing
don't even know what this building is but it looks pretty amazing all lit up at night!
some dodgy person hanging around in a spooky alleyway : )
yummy shepherds pie at the Monster mash (eat your heart out martin parr!)
the first punter for the season at st george's west - we gave her a piece of cake to celebrate!
don't even know what this building is but it looks pretty amazing all lit up at night!
some dodgy person hanging around in a spooky alleyway : )
yummy shepherds pie at the Monster mash (eat your heart out martin parr!)
the first punter for the season at st george's west - we gave her a piece of cake to celebrate!
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
celebrity sitings at st george's west
of course the most important question to be asked about the edinburgh festival - how many celebrities did you see?
1. kylie
yes, that kylie.
she rocked up to good ole st george's west one night for the havana rumba show (cuban music and dancing). she had a bit of a dance around on stage, hung around and chatted to the dancers a bit afterwards, then disappeared into the night. bri (stage manager) told her to get out of the backstage area (until she realised who she was). mike (production manager) wouldn't let her up on stage coz he didn't know who she was at all (he's american). andrew our publicist almost fainted when he saw her, he was on the phone to the newsdesks until at least 3am. our director took this photo and it ended up in loads of newspapers across the UK... bizarre!
http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=631&id=1141762006
2. mandy from hollyoaks
i have absolutely no idea who this chick is but apparently she's famous in the UK for being in a soapie called hollyoaks (sort of like brit neighbours). she came a few days after kylie to the same show - i reckon she was trying to get on the same publicity bandwagon.
3. miranda from sex and the city
my personal favourite. cynthia (her actual name) showed up with her girlfriend looking pretty shoddy actually, greasy blonde hair, daggy clothes. she saw animal farm and congratulated gary the actor afterwards, which is nice. a few days later i saw her standing in the foyer looking really freaked out, turns out she and the gf had come to st george's to see a show that was actually back at the assembly rooms (about a 15 min walk away). she rushed out to the street, waving madly for a taxi, looking super-stressed. couldn't get a taxi at all, gf trying to calm her down loudly in the middle of the (busy) street. eventually tries to steal someone else's taxi but fails miserably. then runs off down the road.
4. sally phillips
from smack the pony (also bridget jones' diary). not really that exciting, but worth a mention.
5. tim brooke taylor
before
after
last but certainly not least, tim came along to see a couple of shows. he's looking decidedly wrinkly now, but still with an undeniable twinkle in the eye. i also met graeme garden at a party i went to one night. he introduced himself as graeme, and it wasn't until about 15 minutes later that i realised who he was. he was really boring, but i think he thought i was too. i went to see the retrospective show he and tim were doing, it was boring too.
some things are better left in the past.
1. kylie
yes, that kylie.
she rocked up to good ole st george's west one night for the havana rumba show (cuban music and dancing). she had a bit of a dance around on stage, hung around and chatted to the dancers a bit afterwards, then disappeared into the night. bri (stage manager) told her to get out of the backstage area (until she realised who she was). mike (production manager) wouldn't let her up on stage coz he didn't know who she was at all (he's american). andrew our publicist almost fainted when he saw her, he was on the phone to the newsdesks until at least 3am. our director took this photo and it ended up in loads of newspapers across the UK... bizarre!
http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=631&id=1141762006
2. mandy from hollyoaks
i have absolutely no idea who this chick is but apparently she's famous in the UK for being in a soapie called hollyoaks (sort of like brit neighbours). she came a few days after kylie to the same show - i reckon she was trying to get on the same publicity bandwagon.
3. miranda from sex and the city
my personal favourite. cynthia (her actual name) showed up with her girlfriend looking pretty shoddy actually, greasy blonde hair, daggy clothes. she saw animal farm and congratulated gary the actor afterwards, which is nice. a few days later i saw her standing in the foyer looking really freaked out, turns out she and the gf had come to st george's to see a show that was actually back at the assembly rooms (about a 15 min walk away). she rushed out to the street, waving madly for a taxi, looking super-stressed. couldn't get a taxi at all, gf trying to calm her down loudly in the middle of the (busy) street. eventually tries to steal someone else's taxi but fails miserably. then runs off down the road.
4. sally phillips
from smack the pony (also bridget jones' diary). not really that exciting, but worth a mention.
5. tim brooke taylor
before
after
last but certainly not least, tim came along to see a couple of shows. he's looking decidedly wrinkly now, but still with an undeniable twinkle in the eye. i also met graeme garden at a party i went to one night. he introduced himself as graeme, and it wasn't until about 15 minutes later that i realised who he was. he was really boring, but i think he thought i was too. i went to see the retrospective show he and tim were doing, it was boring too.
some things are better left in the past.
Saturday, September 09, 2006
william street
it wasn’t all work in edinburgh (although there was a lot of that)...
william street near st george's west was a pretty regular haunt and it was packed with great little places.
Our local pub was the Teucters – pronounced Tooke-terrs – which I always called the choo-choo coz I couldn't say it right. The barman knew more about whisky than i could ever hope to (although i never seemed to stray from Jamiesons!).
then there was also the Melville across the road, which has a pretty mean pub quiz night on thursdays. it was also the scene of a wild brawl one night (which i unfortunately did not witness) but i am told that there were even women in floral dresses punching each other out - brilliant!
niki's did the best bacon and egg roll for brekkie, woke me up many a morning...
and if we were feeling like being healthy, herbie's did great lunches - especially this yummy couscous and roasted vege salad... yum! also did pretty good coffee, which is bloody hard to come by in edinburgh.
william street near st george's west was a pretty regular haunt and it was packed with great little places.
Our local pub was the Teucters – pronounced Tooke-terrs – which I always called the choo-choo coz I couldn't say it right. The barman knew more about whisky than i could ever hope to (although i never seemed to stray from Jamiesons!).
then there was also the Melville across the road, which has a pretty mean pub quiz night on thursdays. it was also the scene of a wild brawl one night (which i unfortunately did not witness) but i am told that there were even women in floral dresses punching each other out - brilliant!
niki's did the best bacon and egg roll for brekkie, woke me up many a morning...
and if we were feeling like being healthy, herbie's did great lunches - especially this yummy couscous and roasted vege salad... yum! also did pretty good coffee, which is bloody hard to come by in edinburgh.
Friday, September 08, 2006
life on the Fringe
well its all over! my first edinburgh fringe festival has come to a close and i have to say, it could actually send a person quite crazy.
here's the lowdown on how i spent most of my time...
so I worked as the venue manager of Assembly @ St George’s West, which is a satellite venue of Assembly Theatre, one of the biggest Fringe organisations in Edinburgh. here's the view from the front..
St George’s West is actually an operational church which is hired by Assembly for the fringe season and converted into a theatre venue. For the first time we had 2 theatres in our venue – the biggest was The Sanctuary, built into the church itself (the stage is built over the pulpit and the organ!). It seats about 470 people.
this is the stage being built in the Sanctuary during bump-in
here's a couple of shots of during performance
For any of you technical types, the rig in the Sanctuary was hung from 9 points in the ceiling of the church, through the holes made for the lights. Heres the riggers Colin and Harpo after coming down from the ceiling - we went to the pub straight afterwards!! (Colin is also the previous Production manager of St George's - an all-round legend and trouble maker!)
The other space was brand new this year, called Candlish Hall, a 100 seater theatre built from scratch in a completely bare room – complete with raked seating.
We had 11 companies performing in the whole venue, with all of them performing almost every day of the 25 day season. The shows were a crazy mix of theatre, music and comedy – including Russian clowns, American super-serious ac-torrrrs, English-hungarian fencers and a Dutch acapella man-band who performed one number in their show wearing skirts made of ties. Yes, it was a mad month.
check out the audiences waiting to come in - they had to queue out on the footpath!
We had a technical crew of about 10, front of house staff of 23 and a box office staff of 5...
here's the busy busy box office
Essentially my job was to make sure that everything was running well at St George’s, particularly the front of house, and to be a general problem-solver, back-slapper and occasional ass-kicker for the whole of the venue, staff and performing companies. It was pretty huge and pretty damn hectic, many loooooong days but lots of fun too. I worked with some great people and made some brilliant friends...
thats mike, lovely production manager and yank (but dont hold that against him) (heehee sorry mike)
On the left, Nora – Front of House Manager - totally gorgeous girl, so funny and completely mad and an actual Edinburgh local (they were rare on assembly staff) with a brialliant accent. Also has a knack at eating any food within reach, and does a mean impression of a yeti. Then Darren, Front of house staffer, an irish boy with the quickest wit this side of the black stump, regularly had me in tears of laughter. Then Andrew, our resident Press Officer and wicked gossip monger. Don’t let his sweet innocent face fool you! He cuts a mean figure on the dance floor and is totally addicted to crisps (or chips in oz language). Then James, classic London geezer, drinking partner and trouble maker, with a permanent seat in the Lane bar, Club bar and of course the Spiegeltent.
this was olivia's mini birthday party in the venue office
So there you have it - Edinburgh was certainly intense, lots of work, but lots of fun too...
L x
here's the lowdown on how i spent most of my time...
so I worked as the venue manager of Assembly @ St George’s West, which is a satellite venue of Assembly Theatre, one of the biggest Fringe organisations in Edinburgh. here's the view from the front..
St George’s West is actually an operational church which is hired by Assembly for the fringe season and converted into a theatre venue. For the first time we had 2 theatres in our venue – the biggest was The Sanctuary, built into the church itself (the stage is built over the pulpit and the organ!). It seats about 470 people.
this is the stage being built in the Sanctuary during bump-in
here's a couple of shots of during performance
For any of you technical types, the rig in the Sanctuary was hung from 9 points in the ceiling of the church, through the holes made for the lights. Heres the riggers Colin and Harpo after coming down from the ceiling - we went to the pub straight afterwards!! (Colin is also the previous Production manager of St George's - an all-round legend and trouble maker!)
The other space was brand new this year, called Candlish Hall, a 100 seater theatre built from scratch in a completely bare room – complete with raked seating.
We had 11 companies performing in the whole venue, with all of them performing almost every day of the 25 day season. The shows were a crazy mix of theatre, music and comedy – including Russian clowns, American super-serious ac-torrrrs, English-hungarian fencers and a Dutch acapella man-band who performed one number in their show wearing skirts made of ties. Yes, it was a mad month.
check out the audiences waiting to come in - they had to queue out on the footpath!
We had a technical crew of about 10, front of house staff of 23 and a box office staff of 5...
here's the busy busy box office
Essentially my job was to make sure that everything was running well at St George’s, particularly the front of house, and to be a general problem-solver, back-slapper and occasional ass-kicker for the whole of the venue, staff and performing companies. It was pretty huge and pretty damn hectic, many loooooong days but lots of fun too. I worked with some great people and made some brilliant friends...
thats mike, lovely production manager and yank (but dont hold that against him) (heehee sorry mike)
On the left, Nora – Front of House Manager - totally gorgeous girl, so funny and completely mad and an actual Edinburgh local (they were rare on assembly staff) with a brialliant accent. Also has a knack at eating any food within reach, and does a mean impression of a yeti. Then Darren, Front of house staffer, an irish boy with the quickest wit this side of the black stump, regularly had me in tears of laughter. Then Andrew, our resident Press Officer and wicked gossip monger. Don’t let his sweet innocent face fool you! He cuts a mean figure on the dance floor and is totally addicted to crisps (or chips in oz language). Then James, classic London geezer, drinking partner and trouble maker, with a permanent seat in the Lane bar, Club bar and of course the Spiegeltent.
this was olivia's mini birthday party in the venue office
So there you have it - Edinburgh was certainly intense, lots of work, but lots of fun too...
L x
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