East End Review

Author: East End Review

‘It was love soup’: Britten in Brooklyn with Sadie Frost at Wilton’s Music Hall

Sadie Frost is set to play the role of Gypsy. Photograph: Rachell Smith

A dilapidated town house in New York was once home to a diverse community of writers and artists, including exiled composer Benjamin Britten, the writers WH Auden and Carson McCullers, and stripper and burlesque dancer Gypsy Rose Lee.

Britten in Brooklyn, a play by Zoe Lewis, travels back to 1940 to recall the group’s lives together – the parties and affairs – and how their bohemian idyll fell apart once the reality of the Second World War took hold.

Actress and celebrity Sadie Frost is poised to take up the role of Gypsy when the play opens this month at Wilton’s Music Hall.

Speaking to the East End Review, Frost says the play enticed her to take time out from her film production company and burgeoning fashion label.

“The script got sent to me, and I thought it was just so beautifully written,” explains the 51-year-old mother of four, whose previous acting credits include a leading role in Bram Stoker’s Dracula and the iconic music video for Pulp’s Common People.

“There’s such diverse range of characters and you all get them vying for attention and challenging each other in their relationships.

“It’s also very apt because it’s all about the propaganda just before the Second World War, about borders and whether to let people in or look after yourself and your own.”

Frost starred in Zoe Lewis’s one-woman play, Touched … For the Very First Time, back in 2010, but describes this new play as “a very different type of writing”.

“It’s political, historical, farcical, funny, and has so many elements,” she says.

Frost was drawn to the character of Gypsy Rose Lee, a theatrical entertainer whose extraordinary life was made into a film and Stephen Sondheim musical.

“She grew up in a poverty stricken family with her mum and sister, and they were on the road entertaining, going from village to village and trying to make ends meet,” Frost says.

Gypsy was a pioneer of the art of striptease, reciting poetry or whilst peeling off a glove or flinging a ribbon to her howling admirers.

“She had this amazing comedic quality, and didn’t really take her clothes off,” Frost says. “She just alluded to it but in such a funny way that people were really mesmerised.”

In its Victorian heyday, Wilton’s Music Hall was home to hedonists of all stripes, and Frost says the venue’s “old school” authenticity is sure to add to the play.

“It’s this love soup where they’re all living together in this crazy way, talking about Picasso and Dali,” she says.

Frost herself is no stranger to a bohemian style of life. During her “chaotic but positive” childhood in Islington, she and her siblings were forbidden from saying “No” or “Sorry”, and, as a test of character, forced to refer to objects as the most opposite things they could think of.

And during the 1990s Frost was part of the party-loving ‘Primrose Hill’ set, alongside model Kate Moss.

The lives of artists, entertainers and writers have long been characterised as louche hedonists, with their ‘loose morals’ questioned by the socially conservative.

But today’s young artists, with piles of student debt and worries about jobs, seem, anecdotally at least, a more sensible breed.

“I can think of times when I’ve been with a few friends and we’re having a real laugh and it’s all been quite decadent,” Frost recalls.

“But no, now we’re all quite serious and rather grown up and have far too much responsibility.

“So this hedonistic scenario where all these people are living in this crazy way is nice to see though,” she adds as a caveat, “people do fall apart if they live it”.

Britten in Brooklyn
31 August – 17 September
Wilton’s Music Hall
1 Grace’s Alley
E1 8JB

July 25, 2016
Moon landing – Out of Nowhere, PEER gallery

Abstract: Jeremy Moon’s ‘Out of Nowhere’. Photograph: PEER gallery

Paintings by Jeremy Moon are like brightly-coloured UFOs that have somehow found their way to earth.

Although an influential figure in abstract painting and the 1960s London art scene, exhibitions of Moon’s work are a rare occurence.

But now PEER gallery in Hoxton and Large Glass on Caledonian Road are jointly presenting a selection of paintings and drawings by the artist, who died in a motorbike accident in 1973 at the age of 39.

PEER is also showing a large sculpture by young Glasgow-based artist, Neil Clements, who has selected the works for both shows.

Clements’ large and airy sculpture is very reminiscent of a 1960s sculpture by Anthony Caro, but has now been reimagined it as a structure for a slide show, with each digitally produced slide depicting paintings by Moon between 1964 and 1968.

Moon was one of the first artists in Britain to experiment with shaped canvases, and was known for his non-representational paintings of bright colour and geometrical clarity.

Comedy and seriousness pack this show. The comedy comes from the paintings’ ability to anticipate our encounter with them as the act of viewing unveils layers of lightness and playful intelligence.

The interplay between the depicted and literal form is a significant development in visual language. Out of Nowhere (1965) plays with the perception and optical, our eyes initially reading the circular voids as painted white holes.

In No 3/73 (1973) the shaped canvas leads the eye from the depicted orange strip on the bottom left hand corner to the literal form jutting out into space after crossing a horizontal black band.

Moon would explore all the possibilities of the paintings through a vast outpouring of drawings, only arriving at a pictorial solution when as many possible options converge. This intentional instability creates a tension and an energy pulling in different directions.

“These are paintings that welcome you into their space,” says Neil Clements, artist-curator and PhD Research Student at Glasgow School of Art, adding: “He worked hard to make it look easy.”

Moon famously hated critics, Clements says. One can see how the singularity, simplicity and intuitive nature, the logic and irrationality of the paintings, wilfully resist categories and language.

There’s an extraordinary freshness to the work in Out of Nowhere, which has been specially restored for the occasion.

Moon’s work feels so contemporary because the paintings look to the future, they open up and push into new spaces. By tilting the rigidity of modernist rationalism something very human comes through, like a flower sprouting through the cracks in concrete.

Out of Nowhere
Until 17 September
PEER
97-99 Hoxton Street
N1 6QL

July 25, 2016
Queen Elizabeth Park eateries: Breakfast Club, Mason & Company, and Randy’s Wing Bar – reviews

The Buffalo wings at Randy are highly recommended. Photograph: Joe Woodhouse

Hackney Wick is virtually unrecognisable from its pre-Olympics self. When I moved in to Queen’s Yard almost six years ago, there were few bars and restaurants. Now it is a bustling centre for boozing.

Once upon a time the famously ugly Olympics Media Centre loomed over the disused canal, rendered inaccessible by a razor wire fence. Whilst passing one day I spotted a dead dog in the water and informed some Park officials. “Oh we know,” they responded breezily. “It’s been there for ages!”

But with the London Legacy Development Corporation’s regeneration plans coming to fruition, this stretch of canal has been transformed into highly desirable real estate, with a glut of canal-front restaurants opening. I visited three of them to investigate. On a sunny day, all of these places have outdoor seating in lush greenery, making it a perfect place to linger with a beer.

Out to brunch

The Breakfast Club, which started out in Islington, is like a TGI Fridays for the younger set. It is a cheerful destination that serves American-style breakfasts, heaping piles of nachos and a range of cocktails. At brunch I had the chorizo hash, which was perfectly serviceable, and my friend enjoyed her vegetarian sausage sandwich.

Later, to see what it was like in the evening, two of us attended a boozy bingo night, where a girl dressed as a grandma demanded that the bar staff bring out shot after shot of sours for the players. It was slightly corporate for my tastes but unpretentious fun nonetheless, and a great place to go with a group of friends or colleagues for a knees-up.

The Breakfast Club
29 Easy Bay Lane
E15 2GW

Playing for crafts

When I heard Mason & Company’s premise – craft beer – I was dubious. The Wick already houses three breweries after all. It is, however, worth a visit. From the owner of the Five Points Brewing Company, this is a glossy bare pine venture with industrial motifs.

The beer menu includes rare and limited edition brews from around the world, and whilst some half pints cost as much as £5, the selection is exceptional, with up and coming breweries such as Siren as well as local favourites Beavertown and The Kernel. Heading up the food is former Kerb regular Capish? with items like deep fried spaghetti balls and meat loaf corn dog. The menu seems to be a parody of traditional Italian-American fare and was too rich for my tastes, although would serve as good ballast for extended drinking.

Inside Mason & Company. Photograph: Owen Richards

Over two visits I tried most of the menu: the aforementioned spaghetti balls were forgotten by the server and never made it to my plate, but the steak sandwich stood out, tender and melting and topped with taleggio cheese. And for vegetarians the aubergine parmigiana was a fine option.

Mason and Company
25 East Bay Lane
London
E15 2GW

Winging it

My favourite among the new arrivals is Randy’s Wing Bar. It was formed by Richard and Andy, two street food graduates with a family connection to a Norfolk chicken farm.

“They couldn’t give the wings away,” Richard explained, and thus a business idea was born.

Like the previous two restaurants, the menu is predominantly American-inspired, with chicken wings, popcorn shrimp, fries and cocktails. The atmosphere is unpretentious and inviting. We had a taster of wings, which include the classic Buffalo and Kansas styles, as well as Gangnam (Korean style), Bombay and Hanoi (a fish sauce recipe akin to the one from the famous street food outlet Pok Pok). Curiously not the only place in this line-up to serve chicken scratchings, it seems like the perfect local joint for a cocktail and snack, where I might head to unwind with friends after work.

Randy’s Wing Bar
28 East Bay Lane
Here East
The Press Centre
London
E15 2GW

July 25, 2016
Sonya Hurtado: capturing the innocence and cruelty of fairytales

Pigments of the imagination: ‘Red Riding Hood’ by Sonya Hurtado

Tales that are passed down through word of mouth evolve according to the whims and mores of society.

And so fables such as Little Red Riding Hood and Jack and the Beanstalk have over time become sanitised, the safe fantasy world they inhabit taking precedence over the stories’ more macabre elements.

It is this duality that that Hackney-based artist Sonya Hurtado tries to capture in a new exhibition of her work at the Museum of Childhood.

Tales is a series of 12 photographs that re-creates the imaginary world of childhood, drawing inspiration from surrealism, film and graffiti.

Pasturised: ‘Tale of the Milk Lady’ (el cuento de la lechera) by Sonya Hurtado

At first the images seem like paintings. In Red Riding Hood, a girl with a flowing red hood stands aloof in a field, whilst Tale of the Milk Lady sees a river of spilt milk propel forward, smashing a window.

“Behind a fairytales is always a dark message,” Hurtado says. “A lot of these messages were not so hidden but have become camouflaged to be nicer for the kids and not so scary.

“Take Jack and the Beanstalk. In reality Jack goes to the giant’s house and at the ends kills him, so in that story we admire and cheer on someone who is actually quite cruel.”

The unusual appearance of photographs is due to digital manipulation, with the artist playing with shadow, light and colour to convey a borderline sinister atmosphere.

Follow the leader: ‘The Pied Piper’ by Sonya Hurtado

The photographs deal with themes such as how children can struggle to come to terms with complex emotions such as loneliness and fear.

“We can’t always protect our children but we can help them to interpret their experiences in a way that helps them learn step by step to understand themselves and life,” she explains.

Hurtado was born in Spain and moved to London in 1998, where she discovered a love of photography during a course at Hackney Community College.

After graduating in 2013, she began developing an almost painterly technique using digital layering to create atmospheric scenes of childhood angst.

“I try to put myself in the kids’ shoes and imagine an imaginary world. A lot of kids look at the pictures and recognize the story but adults can look at them and see something else.”

Tales: Photography by Sonya Hurtado
Until 8 January 2017
V&A Museum of Childhood, Cambridge Heath Road, E2 9PA

On the lookout: ‘Alice in Wonderland’ by Sonya Hurtado

July 22, 2016
Chriskitch, Hoxton, restaurant review – ‘weird and wonderful delights’

Main attraction: Mushroom broth, vegetable salad, Korean rice and crunchy bean curd skin

You are not always sure of what you are eating in Chriskitch, a new restaurant tucked behind Hoxton Square, but as I learnt, it pays to put your trust in the chef.

Surprising combinations are the order of the day here (BBQ duck ravioli and quinoa popsicle anyone?) all of which inspired by the worldly travels of the restaurant’s chef Chris Honor.

The starter of champagne-poached oyster, truffle oil, caviar and scrambled eggs struck me as something a child would dream up, asked what grown-ups eat.

But there is nothing childish about this starter, which bursts with rich truffle and sea flavours. It is beautifully presented – just like everything else on the menu – in an oyster shell propped up by sorbet, on a bed of ornamental seaweed.

Starter’s orders: champagne poached oyster with truffle and chive scrambled eggs

Other weird and wonderful delights pop up around the starters – cheese popsicles, crisped rye bread… even powdered white truffle on a teaspoon to cleanse the palate.

It is the juicy kale rolls that steal the warm-up show, however, which were much more lively than they sound, bursting with south east Asian flavours of basil seeds and fresh herbs. These complimentary bites are welcome in a menu that veers towards the pricey, with mains averaging at around £19.

And with the mains come flavours of the Middle East: the signature blackened lamb dish is enclosed in succulent aubergine strips, topped with salty feta and with the sweet hint of date chutney.

Moving on to Mediterranean climes is the salmon: crispy skin, succulent and flaking apart underneath. Somehow this dish smacks of the sea even more than expected, perhaps due to deep notes of anchovy. Underneath is bone marrow and a bacon and endive tart – though I’m not sure exactly which part is which. What I can vouch for, though, is its deliciousness.

For dessert we forego the recommended chocolate pudding, opting instead for the picture-pretty crème brûlée. It combines all the great things about a crème brûlée – a rich and smooth vanilla flavour with a crispy top – yet is even more delectable thanks to the fresh fruit flavours of thin candied lemon slices and fresh raspberries.

A poached pear poked through a mysterious round pastry crisp, served with a smear of salted caramel sauce, vanilla cream and ‘activated’ walnuts – which, yes, really did taste nuttier than usual.

At Chriskitch you pay more than your usual Hackney joint, but the menu takes you far beyond this borough.

Chriskitch,
5 Hoxton Market, N1 6HG

At work: chef Chris Honor

July 21, 2016
Aislinn Logan: Lost or Gone EP – ‘all the freshness of a spring morning’

Postmodern folk: singer-songwriter Aislinn Logan

Lost or Gone is the debut EP from Belfast-born local singer-songwriter Aislinn Logan. Logan has been getting her name out since well before the release of this EP in early June, with support slots for singer-songwriters Frank Turner and Ben Marwood, as well as regular airplay on BBC Radio Scotland.

Structurally, Lost or Gone is of definitive folk and singer-songwriter stock – simple chord progressions overlain with more complex melodic hooks. However the actual sound of her music is made far more multifaceted through her use of percussion and electronic noise.

Opening track ‘Wild’ moves from a frothing, ambient intro into lavish piano and wickedly rhythmic drum sequences, with Logan’s voice exuding all the freshness of a spring morning.

‘Iron Wax’ is not as ambitious as its predecessor, simpler and slower, comprising a modest voice and guitar dynamic that renders it much starker in contrast, but places Logan’s vocals at the forefront.

‘Poison’ is a return to the atmospheric instrumentals found on ‘Wild’, with the bass coming through as murky and sweet as a slow jam. Final track ‘Flying Kites’ is another that seems a bit more callow, but it remains richly layered and full-bodied, with little pockets of roughness that sees it gambolling between smooth production and raw bedroom-style recording.

Whilst Lost or Gone finds its roots firmly in folk, Logan has clearly drawn on more electronic influences to craft an intriguing first outing that circumvents the traditional tropes of the genre.

With work beginning on her second EP, it’ll be interesting to see how far she can push this rather postmodern take on popular folk.

https://soundcloud.com/aislinn-logan/sets/lost-or-gone-ep/s-MLLi5

July 20, 2016
Discover a ‘creative labyrinth’ at Hackney WickED DIY Open Studios

A visitor perusing the work of freelance sculptor Wilfrid Wood at Hackney WickED’s open studios. Photograph: Anna Maloney

Hundreds of artists are to throw open the doors of their studios this month for the annual Hackney WickED DIY Open Studios event.

Members of the public are invited to explore the “labyrinth of creative spaces” in what is famously the world’s most densely-populated area of artists during the last weekend of July.

The annual event allows the public to view art in the environment in which it was made as well as providing the chance to meet and talk with local artists.

The launch party on the evening of Friday 29 July explores subversive culture, with an opportunity to get ‘greased up’ at Mick’s Garage in Queen’s Yard, with live art performances from the likes of Strontium 92, Stray Transmission and the London Sound Painting Orchestra.

Through the weekend, artists across 20 buildings will be displaying their wares, and there will be immersive live art performances taking place spontaneously across Hackney Wick and Fish Island.

L-R: Artists Megan Broadmeadow, Victoria Myatt, Matthew Faulkner, Jamie Shaw, Bernadette Ehl at Hackney WickED 2013. Photograph: Eleonore de Bonneval

Artists’ studios in Hackney Wick such as those on Wallis Road have come under threat in recent years, so the ethos of the Open Studios event is “let’s enjoy it while we can”.

Hackney WickED director Anna Maloney told the Hackney Citizen last year that “change is the only certain thing, so we want people to come to the area, see the art, check out the boundless talent and enjoy what we have”.

Site maps will be available for collection at Mick’s Garage in Queen’s Yard.

HackneyWickEd Open Studios, 29–31 July

July 20, 2016
Post-war poignancy: a photographic elegy to 1960s East End

London docks, 1964. Photograph: John Claridge

East End is a stylish collection of more than 200 black and white photographs that captures all the grit and poverty of post-war East London and turns it into an elegy for a lost world.

Plaistow-born John Claridge, one of the most prolific photographers of the 1960s, had a typical East End childhood, playing in bombsites, boxing and falling asleep to the sounds and lights of the nearby docks.

Claridge knew he wanted to take photographs after seeing a camera at a funfair and took photos everywhere he went – whether it was the docks with his father or the shops on a Saturday with his mother, developing the photos in their outside toilet. The result is an intimate look at the East End through the eyes of one of its own.

Outside the Anglo Pak Muslim Butchers in 1962. Photograph: John Claridge

The photographs are a glimpse into an East End that is no more. In one picture a horse stands in a field framed by the Truman Brewery in the background, the chimney standing tall in a sky that has no skyscrapers. Others show shops with hand painted signs and broken windows, and a cobbler in his workshop.

The book progresses to show a changing East End. There are building sites and older faces, graffiti on a metal walkway and hollowed out factories, signifying the end of Claridge’s work in the area. As he mentions in the book’s introduction: “My East End was gone…I never expected it to go and then all of a sudden it was gone.”

The photographs rarely show any indication of a specific place such as a street sign – yet it is so distinctly the East End. From misty views of the Thames at dawn to close up portraits of boxers, the location is constantly signposted by the photographer’s familiarity and warmth to his subjects.

East End begins and ends with photographs of London’s docks and wharves, cementing the connection between Claridge’s childhood experiences there and his career: “I used to get up with my dad before he went down the docks…I really wanted to go to sea and see the world, but I did it through people sending me around the world to take photographs.”

East End by John Claridge is published by Spitalfields Life Books. RRP: £25.00. ISBN: 9780957656994

Mr and Mrs Jones, 1968. Photograph: John Claridge

July 19, 2016
That’ll do, pig: Stepney City Farm wins Green Flag Award

Award-winning: Stepney City Farm. Photograph: Stepney City Farm

Stepney City Farm today received a prestigious Green Flag award from environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy.

The scheme, now in its twentieth year, recognises the best parks and green spaces across the country.

The farm was one of the highest-scoring among a record 1,686 recipients.

Commenting on the farm, the judges said: “This community award is well-deserved in all aspects – an amazing example of an operational city farm in the heart of a very mixed urban community. Those who manage and maintain this site should be highly praised and commended.”

Kevin Moore, CEO of Stepney City Farm, said: “We are absolutely delighted to receive a Green Flag Award from Keep Britain Tidy.

“This award recognises and highlights that people in Tower Hamlets are benefitting from a green space of the very highest quality.”

Along with the animals, the farm hosts events for the local community.

On Sunday 31 July from 10-4pm, the farm is running a special event in conjunction with The Spark, a free festival focused on bringing positive change to the UK. “Where Does Our Food Come From?” features a full day of workshops about local food and the politics surrounding it.

A new series of FoodTALKS also kicks off on the day with a discussion on the controversial topic of ‘fast fashion’.

The talk will be led by anti-poverty campaign group MADE, which has teamed up with organisations across the UK to expose poor working conditions and hold big corporations to account.

It was previously scheduled for 28 July but is now included as part of Sunday’s festival.

Attendance is free.

July 19, 2016
Ragnar Kjartansson, Barbican, review: ‘ethereal and endearingly dorky’

Lounging around: Take Me Here by the Dishwasher: Memorial for a Marriage, an installation by Ragnar Kjartansson at Barbican Art Gallery. Courtesy of the artist, Luhring Augustine New York and i8 gallery Reykjavík. Photograph: Tristan Fewings/Getty Images

Every five years the artist Ragnar Kjartansson stands in a living room and films his mother spitting full into his face.

The four completed editions of this work, Me and My Mother (2000-2015), are featured in a solo exhibition of the acclaimed Icelandic artist at the Barbican where, through side-by-side television screens, you can see artist and mother age in their bizarre interaction.

It’s one of the less obviously spectacular works included here, but one which ably synopsises the levels on which the exhibition operates: humour, film, time and context, story, repetition and framing.

Kjartansson’s work plays with choral forms and polyphony, deploying counterpoints and harmony to create incredibly complex and rich films and performances. On the ground floor the musicians of Take Me Here by the Dishwasher: Memorial for a Marriage (2011) play in live interaction as they lounge on mattresses and couches, accompanied by a vintage film loop of the artist’s parents.

Music is a unifying theme throughout the show, both as the stuff of the installations and referenced and pictured in the paintings and images upstairs and down. The centrepiece of the exhibition is the nine channel video piece The Visitors (2012), curtained away from the live troubadours by the entrance but sharing some of the same spirit and communal feel.

Bath time: pre-installation image of ‘The Visitors’, an installation by Ragnar Kjartansson. Courtesy of the artist, Luhring Augustine, New York and i8 Gallery, Reykjavík. Photograph: Elisabet Davidsdottir

Created at Rokeby Farm in Upstate New York, each of the nine screens of the piece feature a single musician, removed from each other around the house but playing in unison for the hour the filmed performance lasts. On entry it is a gently swaying song, a complete and whole musical piece, but as you stay and move from one screen to the next the directional speakers pull out the individual voices and instruments in an intensely fascinating manner.

It is tiresome to reference Björk and Sigur Rós just because the artist is from Iceland, but there is something that links Kjartansson to these more familiar cultural exports. An odd balance between the ethereal and an endearing dorkiness, a cool that is un-ironic in a manner that might just be totally uncool.

Ragnar Kjartansson exhibition at Barbican Art Gallery. Courtesy of the artist, Luhring Augustine New York and i8 gallery Reykjavik. Photograph: Tristan Fewings/Getty Images

This is best exemplified by my favourite piece in the exhibition, Guilt Trip (2007), where the Icelandic comedian Laddi wanders a ridiculously desolate and beautiful snowy landscape, firing a shotgun into the air and occasionally fumbling to reload it.

It sounds stupid, like an armed Mr Bean, but I found it incomprehensibly poignant and quite moving. The shotgun blast is so loud that once you’ve heard it then it seems incredible that you weren’t aware of it from the moment you entered the gallery.

Like many of the works on display it is hypnotic and strange but immediately relatable and faintly familiar. Visually Kjartansson references movies, television and the culture we consume on a daily basis, but plays with their presentation until they seem bizarrely remote.

On Saturday and Sundays throughout the show’s run, two women straight out of a period drama kiss whilst rowing across the Barbican lake. In the moment it makes sense, but try to explain it and you feel it run away from you.

There is an enormous amount to engage with here, to watch, and experience, and be taken in by. Kjartansson’s work doesn’t take itself overly seriously, but is an important intervention in the galleries it is shown in.

It is incredibly encouraging to see the Barbican continue to engage with performance, and doing it well. Presenting performance art in a sensitive and complimentary manner is often a challenge to galleries and museums (take note, Tate Modern) but here it feels as at home as any other form. Kjartansson, although perhaps an artist unfamiliar to many, is well worth your time.

Ragnar Kjartansson
Until 4 September
Barbican Art Gallery, Silk Street, EC2Y 8DS

Two women kiss whilst rowing across the Barbican lake, an artwork by performance artist Ragnar Kjartansson. Courtesy of the artist, Luhring Augustine New York and i8 gallery Reykjavik. (Photograph: Tristan Fewings/Getty Images)

July 18, 2016