East End Review

Author: East End Review

Beirut – gig review: ‘meeting up with an old friend’

Bold as brass… Beirut get their instruments out at St John at Hackney. Photograph: Russell Parton

It’s been four years since Beirut last released an album; in which time I’d more or less forgotten about the group that made Balkan folk cool about a decade ago.

So watching the band at St John at Hackney, a venue tailor-made for expansive harmonies and intricate brass, was like meeting up with an old friend.

Fortunately, to push the analogy further, this old friend hadn’t changed all that much.

Treated to a slew of songs off new album NoNoNo, most had all the oomph and yearning beauty of old, the electric piano-led ‘Perth’ and heavily percussive ‘Gibraltar’ slipping in seamlessly alongside old favourites ‘Nantes’ and ‘Santa Fe’.

Trumpets blared on ‘The Gulag Orkestar’, undiminished after so long in the repertoire, whilst ‘Postcards from Italy’ (the zippy ukulele one) was just the right side of twee.

Three brass players spread across the front of the stage, proving a sight and sound for sore senses when going for it in unison. But then the next moment the trio became sweet harmony singers, offering up vocal parts worthy of Fleet Foxes.

In the middle of it all, of course, was Zach Condon, this enigmatic American who has forged a lasting career through total immersion in Eastern European folk.

Keyboards, ukulele, keyboard and (of course) trumpet, he plays them all, and in his own way, his solos immersed in Balkan scales whilst flat beats act like a marching elephant.

At one point, whilst getting the keyboard ready between songs, Condon tells us, in a rare instance of ‘patter’, that the previous night a cable had come loose mid-song, cutting out the instrument completely. It was hardly the anxiety of a rock ‘n‘ roller, though it was an insight into the perfectionism that every song at least equal to its recorded version.

Later we learned it was the band’s last night in Europe. Could I detect relief in their voices and body language? Perhaps, and there were few other attempts to connect with the audience, save the dutiful expressions of thanks at appropriate times. These, however, were quibbles that paled in the face of such original song-writing and technical virtuosity.

October 14, 2015
Winterville to make welcome return to Victoria Park

Horse-drawn frolics at Winterville. Photograph: Winterville

The seasonal town of Winterville is set to descend upon Victoria Park once more, with this year’s festival promising more attractions and good times than you can shake a multi-coloured candy stick at.

Winterville takes place from 26 November to 23 December, and will see ten acres of Victoria Park transformed into a winter town, centred around a clock tower festooned with festive lights.

Combining Christmas classics with a contemporary twist is a big part of Winterville’s appeal. Amongst a snowstorm of activities and events, pleasure seekers can parade their skating skills on a 600-square-metre ice rink, or enjoy Winterville’s own circus featuring dare devil feats from the world famous Moscow State Circus.

Proving the entertainment isn’t just for grown ups, there’s a chance to experience a reimagined Santa’s Grotto designed by interactive events specialists Bearded Kitten, as well as a Snow White pantomime within the dedicated Kids’ Quarter.

Perhaps the only known Dutch Spiegeltent in East London makes a welcome return, housing comedy, cabaret, theatre, DJ sets, live music and more, and for those in need of liquid refreshment after almost certain stimulatory overload, there’s Winterville’s very own local ‘Bar Humbug’ pub, and (naturally, given this is East London) street food galore in the artisan festive markets.

Organisations and acts from all over East London are included in the programme, such as Backyard Cinema, who will be curating a five-week season of films inside an enchanted forest called ‘The Winter Night Garden’, only accessible via a secret tunnel of trees.

Winterville takes place in Victoria Park from 26 November to 23 December and is free to enter. Ticketed events available include the Ice Rink, Circus, Backyard Cinema and Spiegeltent. To buy tickets and for more information see www.winterville.co.uk.

October 13, 2015
Absent – stage review: ‘a series of questions never made explicit, let alone answered’

Evocative corridors… Absent at Shoreditch Town Hall. Photograph: Jim Stephenson

To call dreamthinkspeak’s Absent ‘theatre’ may be something of a misnomer. Sure, there are actors – namely, the well-drilled hotel staff who greet you at the entrance and guide you to the performance space, somewhat sinisterly controlling its edges with their ever-present surveillance. We also have the cadaverous and fleeting presence of our ‘protagonist’ (based, we are told, on the fascinating Margaret Campbell, the Duchess of Argyll), of whom one catches a surreptitious glimpse through a ‘mirror’ in the first room one comes to.

But beyond that, it perhaps would be more fitting to label it an installation (the vaguest of generic categorisations feels fitting), comprising of film, models, sound and space. In essence it might rather be best described, at the risk of sounding pompous, as a series of questions which themselves are never made explicit, let alone answered.

One is left to wander the wonderfully evocative corridors of Shoreditch Town Hall, which play the part of the hotel – arguably the lead – currently in the midst of redevelopment by a sinister conglomerate, which we discover through scraps of newspaper left here and there. But is the transition from an age of glamour, albeit an extremely privileged one, to an age of faceless and tawdry profit mongering, a commentary on the Shoreditch just outside the hotel walls? And what are we to make of the juxtaposition of a Manet and pots of Dulux in a utility room?

The real life Duchess of Argyll was a socialite whose private life caused a sensation of Profumo-like proportions, when in 1963 photographs emerged of her naked, save a string of pearls, fellating a ‘headless’ man (rumoured to be Winston Churchill’s son-in-law). In 1978, the then debt-riddled Duchess moved into the Grosvenor House hotel, where she resided for more than ten years. But in the world of the play, this hotel is where she resides now and is even to reside in the future.

Time is one of the many of ambiguities in Absent – ambiguities which point to a tension between how essential yet unreliable the memory can be, and the ephemerality of life in which one can never quite grasp the substance. The effect, complemented wonderfully by the soundscapes (by Lapalux) is consistently discomfiting, but at the same time affecting. The final two rooms (one progresses in a linear way through the rooms of the production) are incredibly moving, and give a real aptness to the production’s title.

On that note, however, if forced to level a criticism, one might argue there is too much space, or rather too much absence. How much of Absent’s value be ascribed to the actual production itself, rather than the audience member’s own imagination? But, then, maybe that’s the point.

Absent is at Shoreditch Town Hall, 380 Old Street, EC1V 9LT until 25 October.

shoreditchtownhall.com

October 12, 2015
East End directors get their shorts on for the London Film Festival

Stark subject matter… Samuel-613

Showing at this year’s London Film Festival are two short works that present very different views of the East End. One is a brutally honest drama about the conflict between traditional Jewish life and that of modern Hackney, while the other is a twee film about dating, posturing as a revelatory social experiment.

Samuel–613

Billy Lumby’s Samuel-613 follows a young Hasidic Jew struggling with the discipline his religion demands. The film opens with Shmilu, played with superb awkward intensity by Theo Barklem-Biggs, driving through Hackney, pulling on a cigarette and turning to leer at a woman walking down the street.

He arrives home with a bag of calf jelly for his granddad and is accosted by his father, who accuses him of purchasing pornography from the newsagents and behaving “like a non-Jew”. Furious, Shmilu stamps upstairs to his room, where he stashes the mag under his mattress and browses the web for potential love interests. The temptations of contemporary London, it seems, are everywhere and they pose a threat to his family’s strict orthodoxy.

Following a fierce dinner-table row – a deft display of elegant attention to detail that might be the film’s most impressive scene – Shmilu exiles himself. He’s quickly immersed in a world far removed from the one he’s fled; his confusion and pressing desires collide and the narrative spirals towards a steep and surreal learning curve. It’s a thoughtful take on a fascinating culture that will be a mystery to many viewers.

Just as impressive as the stark subject matter is the style of the film. The hand-held camerawork is sharp, flicking between crisp digital and grainy analogue shots, and the sounds are gorgeous: the ritual washing of hands, the clink and clang of religious paraphernalia, and the thick, soothing Hebrew chants. The choice of music clearly marks the blunt juxtaposition between Shmilu’s old life and his new one.

To achieve his desired level of authenticity, Lumby conducted meticulous research, which began online and advanced to meetings with ostracised members of the Jewish community. He even went undercover to synagogues and, as controversial as that might sound, it has paid dividends; the film is a seething success.

Samuel-613 is at Curzon Soho/ BFI Southbank on 12/16 October at 20.45/12.45

samuel-613 from Billy Lumby on Vimeo.

Offline Dating

Offline Dating, on the other hand, is less impressive. The so-called Youtube sensation is directed by Samuel Abrahams, who encouraged his friend, actor Tom Greaves, to approach women on the streets of Hackney and ask them out, as a kind of antidote to digital dating. A half-pseudo-documentary, it poses as a clever and insightful critique of modern relationships, when it’s more a damning representation of men, promoting a dense and bullish approach to romance.

For about three-and-a-half minutes, we watch Greaves walk up to prospective partners, behave idiotically and get rejected. His demanding of women’s attention in this way is problematic and makes for uncomfortable viewing. As he begins to achieve a meagre, yet mystifying, degree of success – two girls agree to sort-of go out with him, and he receives encouragement from others – the film feels more and more staged, and by the end it bears no relation to reality whatsoever.

Polished to within an inch of its life, Offline Dating looks like a cross between an Aldi and a Nikon advert. The score that runs throughout resembles something by Sigur Ros and couldn’t be more out of place. While there are a few passably funny moments, it’s essentially an irritating, ineffective film that embodies a lot of what is redundant in arty ‘hipster’ culture today.

When the piece finishes and the credits appear, we hear Greaves’s date, who he’s just kissed, ask him: “Are you embarrassed?” He should be.

Offline Dating is at Vue Cinema Islington/ BFI Southbank on 15/17 October, 18.30/20.45

OFFLINE DATING from Samuel Abrahams on Vimeo.

October 9, 2015
Art review – The Poor Door: ‘a mini-Dismaland’

The Poor Door exhibition space at Hackney Downs Studios

Nowhere is the current housing crisis more prevalent than in London.

There has been a 37 per cent increase in London rough sleeping during the past year according to the Department for Communities and Local Government, whilst 22,000 homes stand empty.

With the figures contradicting Mayor of London Boris Johnson’s previous pledge to end rough sleeping by 2012, housing is set to be one of the major campaigning issues for London mayoral hopefuls ahead of next year’s election in May.

This is the backdrop to The Poor Door, an exhibition running for two weeks at the A-Side B-Side gallery in Hackney Downs Studios, named after the growing trend for new developments to create separate entrances for tenants according to their wealth.

Banksy fan Tinsel Edwards found ten other artists to highlight the issue of housing using a variety of perspectives.

It is this multi-disciplinary approach that you notice on entering the exhibition space, with a large mobile installation and a laptop playing a video on opposite sides. In the far corner a well-dressed eccentric man preaches about the importance of rubble.

On the wall, an unused mansion on Billionaire’s Row is depicted by the artist KIN, looking as imposing as it does in reality.

Billionaire’s Row mansion by KIN

Other highlights include a peephole inviting visitors to view a well-constructed shopping mall panorama and, reflecting that London house prices have risen 18.4 per cent in one year, a mock-up of a Foxton’s estate agents banner, subverting their familiar branding with a pound sign.

This intimate setting, tucked away on Amhurst Terrace, showcases the passion and creativity of activist art and it was great to see such a range of ages in attendance.

Short film screenings during the exhibition run include the Focus E15 Mum’s campaign tonight (8 October) at 7.30pm and an artist and curator talk on 10 October at 3pm.

Whether you’re there to learn or be inspired, this mini-Dismaland adds an important voice to a problem that isn’t going away any time soon.

The Poor Door is at A-Side B-Side gallery, Hackney Downs Studios, Amhurst Terrace, London E8 2BT until 11 October.

October 8, 2015
Octagon – stage review: poetry that ‘shivers your timbers…and sizzles your spine’

Octagon (L-R Asan N’Jie, Solomon Israel, Harry Jardine) Photograph: Anna Söderblom

It didn’t take long for Nadia Latif, director of Homegrown, the controversially-cancelled play about young converts to radical Islam, to get back in the directing saddle.
At the Arcola this month Latif has directed Octagon, a new play by US spoken word artist Kristiana Rae Colón.

Referencing a huge range of contemporary issues from the nature of creativity, feminism and sexuality to personal legacy, Octagon depicts a group of would-be slam poets on the road to the national finals at the titular nightclub.

What resonates so strongly in the piece is the fact that it is written by an insider. The lyrics of a seasoned poet lend the text an authenticity that cannot be manufactured.

And the extremely strong cast of eight is up to the challenge. Each poem is delivered with such urgency and relish that it sounds as if the performers had penned the words themselves.

Estella Daniels as the host of the knockout rounds commands the room with an ethereal grace, striking fear into those who dare to cross her whilst gently teasing the audience into whoops and claps when a rhyme deserves it.

As she states at the top of the show, the judges are looking for poetry that “shivers your timbers, halogens your heart and sizzles your spine”, and we are not disappointed.

At its explosive best, Crystal Condie as Jericho delivers ‘Malala writes to Miley Cyrus’ with danger and urgency.

To the Taliban gunmen she says: “I spat I am Malala like acid back in his face” reminding Miley that her “right to gyrate didn’t come free”.

Latif’s direction is clean and specific, echoing the sharp clarity of the text. In one of the final moments, the poets reflect on whether they will go ahead with the national slam final given all that has happened.

What emerges is a scene, written in verse, which feels so fresh and present that it might be entirely improvised. Like great verse writers before her, Colón’s rhymes please the ears, but it is her complex and thoughtful provocations which follow you home.

Just beneath the surface, there are densely riddled arguments around sexuality, race and religion that go fathoms deep, the intricacy of their phrasing inviting you to mouth the words whilst you chew over the ideas a little longer.

For all its verbal dexterity however, the play does lack structural rigour. The narrative thread on which the poetry hangs is weak and the scenes a hotch-potch of different forms from monologue to drama to more abstract scenes.

But for the authenticity of the live experience, Octagon certainly hits the mark.

Octagon is at Arcola Theatre, 24 Ashwin Street, E8 3DL until 17 October.

www.arcolatheatre.com

October 8, 2015
Brenda – stage review: ‘detached from the commonplace’

Curious relationship… Alison O’Donnell and Jack Tarlton in Brenda. Photograph: Nobby Clark

In E.V. Crowe’s new play, coming to The Yard following its debut at HighTide festival, security guard Robert drags his reluctant girlfriend Brenda (Alison O’ Donnell) to their local Community Action Group. He hopes that sharing their story might persuade their neighbours to help the down-on-their-luck couple out.

But while Robert, played by an ashen-faced Jack Tarlton, might be fretting over flats and the future, this isn’t what worries Brenda. She stares at the audience with a hunted look, her feet have left tar-like black prints across the floor and she can’t seem to say her own name. An explanation, of sorts, comes when she tells Robert matter-of-factly she is actually “not a person”.

Sparse dialogue and slow dramatic action mean the roles are challenging but with Caitlin Mcleod’s direction Tarlton and O’Donnell give a convincing portrayal of this curious relationship. Robert is in turn cajoling and gentle as he persuades Brenda into taking the mic – he sings Bowie’s ‘Starman’ to encourage her to loosen up, electrocutes himself repositioning fans to cool her down but then calls her “selfish” when she won’t do as he asks.

Later (the community group has still not arrived) there are fun moments tinged with pathos when Robert humours Brenda by “pretending to be upwardly mobile”. They mime getting a dog, calling it Colin, having friends over and burning the dinner. Brenda goes to put Colin outside and Robert catches eyes with the audience, as he slowly mimes washing up – will she return or is the game over? She does come back, but not for long.

Like Mersault, the existentialist hero of Albert Camus’ L’Etranger, Brenda seems detached from the commonplace. But the audience doesn’t see her reach any kind of affirmation under the glare of the community hall spotlight.

On paper the play says it explores what life would look like ‘free from the challenges of being a person’ – but rather than being liberated, for most of the play Brenda is just a non-person shackled to the banality of everyday human existence. And then she is through the fire exit and gone.

Perhaps Brenda finds her freedom, but we can’t know how that pans out, and a lack of context or backstory means we’re left as indifferent as she is to what becomes of her.

Brenda is at the The Yard, Unit 2a Queen’s Yard, White Post Lane, E9 5EN until 17 October

www.theyardtheatre.co.uk

October 8, 2015
How the Berlin Wall became a catalyst for creativity

Wall politics: Total Demokratie by Ben de Biel

When the Berlin Wall fell, the whole city was reborn. Artists flocked to the capital, creativity flourished, social groups merged and politics shifted radically. Clubs, galleries, squats, studios and workshops quickly sprang up in the many disused buildings. The free space, a sense of jubilation and the prevalence of ecstasy made it just the fertile ground needed for techno and its scene to flourish.

And it is this moment in history that After the Fall depicts. The exhibition features work by photographers, writers and musicians that captures the zeitgeist of Berlin in the early 1990s. Ernesto Leal, the curator, says: “I wanted to bring together all these things that represent Berlin at that time. People were able to experiment with new people, there was new music around, East and West were able to meet. It kicked off the whole regeneration of East Berlin.”

If you’ve ever wondered why Berlin is the epicentre of dance music, this is for you. The exhibition features extracts from Der Klang der Familie (The Sound of Family) an oral and written history from those present in Berlin at that time. Sven von Thülen, one of the authors, says: “Our aim was to let the people who lived the early years of house and techno in Berlin tell the story of the scene’s development rather than us. The many different perspectives and personal – and sometimes contradictory – opinions make for an intimate and close look at what happened back then and why.”

Loveparade 1992. Photograph: Ben de Biel

Von Thülen says the exhibition shows a singular period in history. “Post-Wall Berlin is kind of an historical accident. It shows a city as a temporary autonomous zone. An anarchic time filled with a unique sense of freedom and possibility, which was embraced in a very creative and positive way. And with techno as its prime soundtrack.”

Visitors can study arresting black and white photos of the disruption, building sites and sometimes-bizarre fashion of the time. The photographer, Ben de Biel, studied photography in West Germany between 1989 and 1990 and says his studies of reportage inspired him to document what Berlin was like in the early post-wall years. “When I came first in February 1990 I recognised that Berlin after the fall is a unique time in history and the first people who came from West to East as I did were also artists like me. So my pictures deliberately came from this point of view.

“My studies were about photojournalism and documentary. Traditionally this genre is black and white. But especially by taking pictures of people you realise their characters much better in black and white.”

Leal hopes visitors will draw parallels between East London and Berlin. “There seems to be a connection between the two cities,” he says. “In 1992, there was nothing here in East London. People came to warehouse parties and discovered a new place and new people. I could see the connection between club culture and the resurgence of an area.”

After the Fall is at Red Gallery, 1-3 Rivington Street, EC2A 3DT until 18 October.

redgallerylondon.com

The opening night, which featured live readings by Sven von Thülen, a documentary screening and music, was recorded and can be listened back to via bloop.

Time to go home… Berlin ravers. Photograph: Ziet Machine

October 7, 2015
Va-va zoom! Photomonth is upon us once more

Living in Exile by Matthew Aslett. Part of F8 Collective launch, until 18 October at Hive Dalston

With more than 100 Photomonth exhibitions to take in over October and November, and at least 500 contributing artists, it is understandably difficult to know exactly where to focus one’s gaze.

The state of London today is a common theme among work presented this year. For his satirical series Harrodsburg, Glaswegian Dougie Wallace ventured into West London, where he papped the mega rich out shopping in what he calls a “story of glut, greed and the widening wealth gap”.

Harrodsburg by Dougie Wallace. Until 19 October at theprintspace

Portraits of a different kind line the walls of one East End institution. Seven photographers have snapped the tourists, shoppers, revellers and stressed out office workers who frequent Brick Lane Beigel Bake, with the results on display there this month.

6am by Jonathan Goldberg part of Twentyfour7 exhibition. Until 22 November at Brick Lane Beigel Bake

The future of East London in the face of luxury blocks of flats and rising living costs is of concern to Hackney Wick resident Ansell Cizic. In The Wick and Beyond, he records those artists whose very presence in the East has helped it become an attractive proposition for property developers.

Venice Mob from East End, by Ansell Cizic. The Wick and Beyond until 1 November at Well Hung Gallery

Jerwood Drawing Prize nominee Pete Burke takes a more voyeuristic look at what the future holds. Glimpsing the Future is a series of photographs taken through building site peepholes in Hackney, which he is displaying alongside drawings that act as a route between them.

Dalston Junction by Pete Burke, part of Glimpsing the Future, until 1 November

Not all the exhibitions are about the here and now. Syd Shelton’s photographs of the 1970s Rock Against Racism movement capture an intriguing political period in which musicians and political activists confronted racist ideology on the streets and in parks.

Photograph by Syd Shelton, part of Rock Against Racism, until 5 December at Autograph ABP

Global issues come to the fore with Africa’s Last Colony, which remembers conflict in Western Sahara 40 years ago with never before seen images by UK-based photographers , while Kites from Kabul, a series of photographs of kite flying sights around Kabul and Bamiyan, provides an insight into the lives of children living in war-torn Afghanistan. (12)

Quintana Valero, Africa’s Last Colony: 40 Years Not Forgotten, until 28 October at Hundred Years Gallery

Oculi by Andrew Quilty, part of Kites from Kabul, until 3 January at the V&A Museum of Childhood

As usual for Photomonth, there’s a staggering breadth of work on display, with subjects that push boundaries and defy categorisation. Zoo Logic by David O’Shaughnessy looks at captivity through photographs of the environments in which zoo animals are presented to the public, and Piotr Karpinski’s photographs of people doing strange things in morgues and graveyards view life and death with humour and originality.

Cercopithecus Wolfi by David O’Shaughnessy, part of Zoo Logic. Until at Stour Space

Old Woman with Narcissus by Piotr Karpinski, Let’s Talk about Life & Death Darling from 1–30 November at St James the Great Church

Deciding where to go is perhaps the main drawback to Photomonth, but with the standards of exhibitions seemingly ever rising there’s a fair chance that whatever you choose will be a winner.

October 7, 2015
London Fashion Week: East End designers go back to the 80s

Eye-popping palette… Roberta Einer’s SS16 collection

East London designers brought a dash of daring and surprise to London Fashion Week Spring/Summer 16, with eighties nostalgia and experimental knitwear referenced on catwalks and in presentations.

Peter Jensen, based on Shacklewell Lane, referenced sixties and eighties Americana in his SS16 presentation, with pinafores and shirt collars, stitched name badges, polo shirts and jean jackets in primary colours. Monochrome prints on Jensen’s signature twin sets and sweaters were paired with visor-helmets for a futuristic twist.
Also playing with black and white was Phoebe English with her deconstructed collection in silks and taffeta. Shirts looked like they’d been unstitched and put back together; Japanese ties, ruched fabric straps and sashes of fabric were used as simple tech-free fastenings.

Leather stirrups, silk ruched Bardot tops and opaque white tights were brought to life at Claire Barrow’s presentation through her surreal illustrations and dystopian messages. Models wielded musical instruments against a dark backdrop of draped fabric and wore vintage drawn-on jeans, jumpsuits and oversized power suits, reminiscent of a moody eighties band practice. For her twisted vision of Dallas, Barrow used a lot of silk fabrics as her canvas, challenging the feminine ideal and playing with sensuality, heightened by the mixed-sex casting.

Roberta Einer SS16

Faustine Steinmetz was acknowledging her tools and craft for SS16, with garments looking like they’d been pulled off the huge handlooms, which she works on in her East London studio. Denim jackets disintegrated into loose threads at the bottom, curtains of thread made for casualwear motifs on sweaters. For her presentation the French designer had models coming out of the walls, missing limbs, which only enhanced the distorted proportions of the clothes and the surreal element of her collection.

Crash and repair were themes for Christopher Kane’s SS16 collection, and his use of deconstructed fabric and pulled threads reinforced these ideas, turning them into motifs on sweaters and fringing on skirts, this time in primary colours. The collection was unpredictable and varied in its offer, from abstracted wavy cloud silhouettes and rainbow fades, to geometric panelled dresses and block colour shifts interjected with sheer rubberised panels. The designer, whose headquarters are still based in Dalston despite his global success and flagship West London store, brought something new and something old to the collection with unfinished knitwear and his signature fluoro lace. Christopher Kane plastic tags around necks and in hair brought a DIY edge to the collection.

Newcomer Roberta Einer’s eye-popping palette and use of textiles garnered attention at her off-schedule presentation. The recent graduate produced feminine slips and flared skirts in aquamarine and candy pink, incorporating eighties Americana motifs and soviet artwork into her illustrations, which were made out of hand-dyed beads and sequins.
Feminine shapes, whether reimagined or challenged, were evident across the board at fashion week. A vein of eighties nostalgia – bold colours and geometric shapes – was also a reoccurring theme and many designers acknowledged the craftsmanship of their work and that of the industry, by playing with finishings, fastenings and thread.

October 6, 2015