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  • Clarion – stage review: ‘filthy, dark, hilarious and utterly human’

    Greg Hicks as Morris Honeyspoon in Clarion. Photograph: Simon Annand
    Greg Hicks as Morris Honeyspoon in Clarion. Photograph: Simon Annand

    As Clarion – a deeply satirical look at Britain’s press from former tabloid journalist Mark Jagasia – opens at Dalston’s Arcola Theatre, one can’t help but compare it to the successful run of Great Britain in the West End. Where the former was a showy, colourful, big-budget production, Clarion is filthy, dark, hilarious and utterly human.

    The play is set in the offices of the Clarion, Britain’s worst newspaper. As the paper comes under fire for its questionable content, leaked to a rival from the inside, the barebones staff descend into hysteria. Some of theatre’s A-list take a turn on the stage here, delivering some devilishly crafted performances as typical tabloid journos.

    The first half of the opening act features jarring scene changes as the fade outs slice the action. It lacks subtly – though one feels that’s more about the direction than the script. It improves massively about an hour in, however; what starts out as over-exaggerated stereotyping morphs into a scathing, witty diatribe as the first act picks up tempo and charge.

    It’s probing, laden with expletives and with some cracking one-liners. Clare Higgins as long-standing columnist Verity Stokes carries the whole thing, her fading power driving her betrayal, while her editor Morris Honeyspoon, played with shocking acrimony by a remarkable Greg Hicks, is an old-school tyrant. He relentlessly picks on junior staff and vastly overestimates his own opinions, ignorance welded to self-belief.

    The staging is remarkably evocative of the exact environment the dialogue musters, despite the limited space, and there’s a palpable sense of unease that only intensifies as the story breaks. It seems as though the ‘traitor in our midst’ trope is very revealing of Jagasia’s role as whistle-blower through the very staging of this production. The severity of the attack is mitigated with raucous humour; the state of Britain scene is one of the funniest in the production, rousing rowdy applause from the audience.

    Clarion isn’t dislikeable because it’s a poor production, but because it’s unpleasant to watch – the characters are utterly morally and socially reprehensible, throwing out the question of how deeply we’re manipulated by our own press. Jagasia and Ergen have done a magnificent job in bringing this issue to light; it’s not just satire, it’s a damning reflection of the state of British press and politics. With such an accurate rendering of our reality, it feels wrong to laugh, but as witness to a play of this quality, you won’t be able to help it.

    Clarion is at Arcola Theatre, 24 Ashwin Street, E8 3DL until 16 May.
    arcolatheatre.com

  • Footage of Hackney wanted for Open Cinema project

    OPen Cinema members
    Budding filmmakers: Open Cinema contributors outside the Rose Lipman Building. Photograph: Open School East

    A cinema project is making a public appeal for old photographs, film or footage of Hackney.

    Open Cinema has been running since March and is part of community arts organisation Open School East. Under the tutelage of artist Neil Cummings, local film enthusiasts have been learning how collect, digitalise and edit film, as well as receive training in camera use, audio recording and programming.

    Last month Open Cinema invited the public to bring any footage they have of Hackney to the Rose Lipman Building in a mass sharing event.

    Another session is planned for Saturday 9 May, with all the footage to be used as material for a two-day cinema event in October centred on Hackney.

    Mike Brooks, General Manager of Open School East, says the project is a lot more than a “bog standard archive project about making the past come alive”.

    “It’s speaking more to the present,” he says. “It feels far more issue based. We’ve had footage of the squatting movement in the 1980s and some other really rich and interesting stuff.

    “There are old markets that we never knew existed, things that haven’t changed at all and things that have changed completely. It’s really resonant.”

    Brooks says the public response so far has been good, and that the finished piece will be a form of mass sharing and mass story telling, adding: “The more co-owned it is the better.”

    openschooleast.org

  • Hackney’s newest theatre is up for community building award

    A scene from Turfed at new arts venue Hackney Showroom
    A scene from 2014’s Turfed at Hackney Downs Studios, now Hackney Showroom. Photograph: Hackney Showroom

    Hackney’s newest theatre has been shortlisted to win £50,000 in the Jewson Building Better Communities prize.

    Hackney Showroom, which officially opened in March, is appealing for public votes and is one of 63 UK-wide nominees for the award for community buildings projects.

    Describing itself as offering “bold, exciting theatre for ordinary people”, the Hackney Showroom is a 4,000 square-foot former print works at Hackney Downs Studios.

    The venue’s first official production was last month’s Politrix by The Big House, although works by Paines Plough, LIFT and others have been presented in the same space since 2013.

    This large, industrial space has now been renovated, but there’s still work needed to complete the interior.

    Nina Lyndon, who set up the Hackney Showroom with business partner Sam Curtis Lindsay, said: “We are committed to smashing down the barriers that make some cultural activity off limits for many. This project offers bold, exciting theatre for ordinary people. Affordable, informal and with doors wide open.”

    You can vote for the project here:

    hackneyshowroom.com

  • Hackney WickED art festival is cancelled

    Hackney Wicked 620
    Cancelled: Hackney WickED. Photograph: eatingeast via flickr

    Art festival Hackney WickED has announced it will not be going ahead this year due to “ever-increasing” production costs.

    The annual festival, which has been running since 2008, is taking the year off to “re-evaluate and adapt to the changing nature of Hackney Wick”, and will instead be curating a programme of smaller events.

    In a statement, the festival organisers said: “The festival faces ever-increasing production costs that are necessary to manage the event in line with requests from authorities and our own desire to present a safe, professional event.

    “Thousands of pounds have previously been spent on waste disposal, security, street cleaning and the general infrastructure required to manage the 30,000 plus crowds that attend the festival each year.

    “Hackney WickED greatly appreciates the sponsorship and funding received to date. However, the festival still has to rely heavily on in-kind support from suppliers, the management team and a volunteer network – and this is no longer sustainable for an event of this scale.”

    Anna Maloney, one of Hackney WickED’s six directors, told the East End Review earlier this year that “for Hackney Wicked and other local organisations the police and council have made it quite difficult for us to put things on.

    “[This] has actually created the expense because they made us responsible for the security of the whole of Hackney Wick and Fish Island.”

    All is not lost, however, as Hackney WickED now aims to evolve as an organisation by supporting local artists and creating more art events across London and beyond.

    It has also been awarded Arts Council funding to conduct research to measure the value of Hackney WickED to the wider community, which will help map out the way forward.

    Hackney WickED was formed by artists living in Hackney Wick as a “defiant uprising” in the face of the London Olympics.

    Since 2008, it has promoted creativity in Hackney Wick and provided a platform for local artists to showcase their work.

  • East London Painting Prize shortlist announced

    OMG I Love You by East London Painting Prize fainlist Marie Jacotey-Voyatzis
    OMG I Love You by East London Painting Prize fainlist Marie Jacotey-Voyatzis

    A shortlist of 23 artists has been announced for this year’s East London Painting Prize.

    Work by the artists is to go on show at Bow Arts Trust’s new artists’ studios The Rum Factory, a Grade II-listed former rum warehouse in Wapping that used to be part of News International’s printworks.

    The prize winner will announced on 13 May, and will receive £10,000 in cash and a solo exhibition at the Nunnery Gallery in Bow.

    The East London Painting Prize, now in its second year, celebrates the diversity and talent of artists who live or work in East London and is run by Bow Arts Trust and The Legacy List.

    Last year’s winner was Nathan Eastwood, whose winning painting, Nico’s Café, was an Edward Hopper-inspired image of an elderly man eating alone in a greasy spoon café.

    One of the judges Lizzie Neilson, Director of Zabludowicz Collection which supports the prize, said: “We had to be hard-nosed to get to this succinct group but I think there is a strength is showing the best of the best. Seeing these excellent paintings in the flesh was a fantastic experience and left me invigorated, as the breadth of painting practice in the East End of London is just staggering.”

    Rosamond Murdoch, Director of Bow Arts Trust’s Nunnery Gallery, added: “East London is a hotbed of talent and the painters shortlisted for this year’s prize are a distillation of that quality.”

    The shortlisted artists are:

    Hackney

    Michael Ajerman, Steven Allan, David Caines, Anna Freeman Bentley, Andrew Hladky, Kate Lyddon, Cathy Lomax, Lee Maelzer, Judith Rooze, Mimei Thompson

    Newham

    Peter Donaldson, Marie Jacotey-Voyatzis

    Redbridge

    Luke Rudolf

    Tower Hamlets

    Hannah Brown, Cyrus Shroff, Caroline Walker, Willem Weismann, Emily Wolfe, Vivien Zhang

    Waltham Forest

    Benjamin Doherty, Katrin Maeurich, David Ben White, Josephine Wood

  • Bunsmiths at The Sebright Arms – review: burgers with a barbecue twist

    Bunsmiths
    So much bun: A Bunsmiths barbecue feast

    After a three-year residency at the Hackney pub and music venue the Sebright Arms, now legendary pop-up Lucky Chip has packed up and moved on. With oodles of national press and legions of fans, as well as trendy if not wholly tasteful branding (see, for example, its Breaking Bad menu with “meth hot sauce” and free rock candy for all diners), it helped the Sebright become a destination for hefty late-night burgers.

    Enter Bunsmiths. This new food venture has been developed by Sebright owner Charles Ross. At first glance, it is intended to fill the gap that Lucky Chip left behind: many of the items are identical. However, with plans to expand into a standalone restaurant in the next year, Bunsmiths is also presenting itself as a new contender on the scene. “When do you think we’ll hit peak burger?” my dining companion asked, as we were perusing the menu. It appears no time soon.

    Bunsmiths, however, has a barbecue twist. Ross imported specialist smokers from the United States and as an American transplant in London who often feels bereft of proper soul food, I was heartened to see beef brisket on the menu, as well pulled pork – although I drew the line at a bun that combined the two.

    The bacon cheeseburger and the brisket bun we ordered came accompanied by a tower of serviettes that were quickly used up: meat juice and sauces from both sandwiches ran through the bottom bun, down our wrists, and onto the food tray: this is not first date fare. While the barbecue perhaps didn’t quite reach the dizzying nirvana that it does in the States (my search continues), both sandwiches were ample, greasy and satisfying, appropriate fare for booze-soaked gig goers.

    The sides are also worth a mention: homemade onion rings, fried chicken strips with chipotle mayo, and a crème fraiche coleslaw. There is a salad option but truly, this is not the place for salad. Along with my meal, I had a shot of decent Mezcal and a beer back, and my partner chose from the numerous craft ales on draught. Looking at the busy Thursday evening bar suddenly drain of people as they all headed downstairs for a gig, I was happy to see that despite plans of expansion, the Sebright has retained its unpretentious charm and local atmosphere.

    Bunsmiths at The Sebright Arms
    31-35 Coate Street, E2 9AG
    http://www.sebrightarms.co.uk/

     

  • New East London music: Breathing Space

    Breathing Space
    Facing the music: Breathing Space

    One of the more unusual ensembles doing the rounds in East London is Breathing Space, a five-piece choral group whose site specific performances combine field recordings and soundscapes with contemporary classical elements.

    Describing themselves as a “sound art performance collective”, Breathing Space formed two years ago when four East London-based friends came together to perform at Cody Dock in Canning Town for an art project.

    The performance saw the singers floating on the dock inside a geodesic dome, and since then they have tried to keep their performances site-specific.

    “We respond to each project as it comes along rather than spending lots of time writing lots of different material,” says composer and singer Hannah White.

    A recent performance at Servants Jazz Quarters in Dalston saw four members of the group perform a piece called ‘Worm’, based on clips of speeches by well-known philosophers.

    Sound artist Stephen Shiell, who makes the soundscapes and field recordings that underpin the group’s sound, used the clips to create a soundscape, which served as the basis for the composition.

    “A lot of it we develop through improvisation, so with that piece, by the time we did it we had a structure but were still improvising on the night.

    “We developed the vocals and lyrics using certain quotes from philosophers. The main one was from George Bataille when he talks about pleasure only starting when the worm is inside the fruit, and then there was Marcel Duchamp’s ‘I force myself to contradict myself in avoid conforming to my own taste’.

    “We chose those because they resonated with us and the feelings that we had so I guess that is part of the process.”

    This month, on 23 May, Breathing Space will be returning to Cody Dock, a formerly derelict dock turned bustling ‘creative quarter’ for the lower Lea, to perform a new piece as part of the opening of the Line Sculpture Trail.

    Called ‘Cody Word Walks’, the piece is an hour-long improvisation using field recordings from around the dock, and poems by Breathing Space’s Melaina Barnes.

    http://cargocollective.com/breathingspace/LUGUS

  • Rotorino – restaurant review: Italian cuisine made with cocky simplicity

    Fish
    Less is more: A simple fish dish

    We’re almost a year late to the party here, but it’s always important to check whether a place has let itself go with age.

    Opened last April, Rotorino, a pedigree restaurant from The Dock Kitchen’s Stevie Parle, was ripe for re-inspection.

    Sparkling with dimly-lit retro booths and cherry wood galore, it’s the kind of place Don Draper might eat, minus all the smoking. But when it comes to the actual food, the muse is more Italian grandma than Mad Men.

    That means southern Italian cooking made with a cocky simplicity, and a staff that get lessons in caring about it very, very much.

    Rotorino has mastered the art of the super-knowledgeable waiter. If it wasn’t so very passé, you might go so far as to call them ‘passionate’.

    Fresh from a wine tasting and on her way to a work-organised visit to a buffalo mozzarella supplier in Naples, our waiter was a study in restaurant ambassadorship.

    From flavour to provenance to ‘Where did you get these enamel plates?’ there wasn’t a question that stumped her.

    “It’s nice that they care. Because in Italy, everyone cares,” points out my companion, our food writer Gillian Riley, describing Roman lorry drivers who would fight to the death in defence of their mothers’ tomato sauce.

    Mad Men decor: Rotorino's chic dining area
    Mad Men decor: Rotorino’s chic dining area

    Settling in with a glass of Valpolicella – or ‘Valpol’ to those in the know – we were seduced by many things, but all of our waiter’s recommendations were, no hyperbole, outstanding.

    We took a chance on oft-maligned brussel sprouts despite Gillian’s aversion, born of a Yorkshire childhood marked by overboiled everything. But this dish managed to single-handedly bring Gillian on-side.

    No chance of soggy green orbs here – these ones are raw, and shaved so fine you hardly notice them among chunks of finocchiona (fennel-cured salami), slivers of pecorino and a sprinkling of hazelnuts, bound by a magical dressing I daren’t try to deconstruct.

    Two shared pasta dishes were exquisite in very different ways, the flavours in each so distinctive it was hard to believe the two plates had come from the same kitchen.

    The mussel casarecce (tight, chewy coils of pasta) was described by Gillian as “the best pasta dish I’ve ever had”. Perfectly al dente coils of pasta with wet strings of salty agretti and fat mussels, it really did taste of the sea – a joy if you’re into that sort of thing.

    In stark contrast, a petite but beautifully rich bowl of pumpkin gnudi, (‘nu-dee’) sat the other side of the incredibly-good-pasta spectrum. Basically ravioli without the casing (or ‘nude’), this flesh-toned set of glorious little globes swimming in a butter sauce, topped with crispy sage, is full of plump softness and indulgently rich. Both are really, really excellent. But every restaurant has its bloopers.

    We went rogue with the last-minute addition of fried artichoke and viola squash from the ‘stove’ section. That was a mistake.

    Ignoring all sense of proportion, a small, badly-cooked artichoke was plopped on an intimidating mass of whipped veg and apparently some farro, all lost in the mix. More than the depths of southern Italy, it evoked an overworked curry, or maybe even refried beans left over from a platter of nachos.

    But this minor car crash was washed away with a homemade rhubarb ‘cello’ (as in limoncello, but without the lemon), and came with a lesson: in this era of hyper-educated restaurant staff, pay attention to what they don’t recommend.

    Choice is the hidden enemy. Just let them order for you.

    Rotorino
    434 Kingsland Road, E8 4AA
    020 7249 9081
    rotorino.com

  • Ways to Walk in London: how to find inspiration on foot

    Park land. Image: Alice Stevenson
    Parkland. Image: Alice Stevenson

    “I’ve grown up always going for walks,” says Alice Stevenson. Having grown up in West London, Stevenson has walked the city for years and is now an East End resident.

    Ways to Walk in London is her first book, and it came as a surprise to Stevenson, who primarily identified herself as an illustrator. It’s a collection of personal journeys across the capital, with the text complemented by her distinctive illustrations.

    Stevenson sees London not just for its historical importance but for its unique atmosphere too.

    Stevenson says: “Woolwich felt so remote and industrial, with these brutal, abstract structures and when I reached Greenwich it felt different, like a seaside town – maybe it’s because of its maritime history. It was such a contrast.”

    Ways to Walk in London takes us to places such as the Isle of Dogs, Shadwell Basin and Hackney, and to the reflective surfaces of Canary Wharf. “I like how you can have all these different experiences in the same city,” says Stevenson.

    The book doesn’t just focus on the physical side of the city though. Stevenson sees the process of walking as a vital source of artistic inspiration: “Walking makes really good memories,” she says. “When you’re on public transport and it’s busy, you don’t have time to sit back and observe things or think about how something feels. I think walking your life slows down. You start noticing things you wouldn’t physically have time to do otherwise. I find it very inspiring, visually.”

    Stevenson sees a crucial difference between walking alone and walking with friends: “I feel when I walk by myself I become really fixated with details and notice things a lot more, whereas with a friend, you can talk to that person about the walk, which made it easier to work out. When I did walks on my own, it was tough to find out what the walk was about.”

    Part of the book’s success is that the text is filled with keen observations and only the necessary historical details. Stevenson didn’t want the book to be a list of places and historical facts, but a document of her personal wanderings.

    The text is stripped back, and Stevenson says she enjoyed the challenge of working to these limitations: “It forced me to physically edit it and stop it from rambling. I could’ve written hundreds of pages about these walks. For me, I’ve always admired minimal writers, which I think has something to do with being an illustrator, working with limitations.”

    Stevenson’s book is a fetching tribute to walking, and to London. The book shows the city in all its beauty and contradictions and in all its details – the bare oaks of London Fields taking on a new “spectre-like dignity” in the fog. Stevenson’s passion for the city is infectious and the book is a good place to start for anybody thinking of exploring London further on foot.

    Ways to Walk in London: Hidden Places and New Perspectives is published by September Publishing.
    ISBN: 9781910463024 RRP: £12.99

  • Verden – restaurant review: a sign of how far Clapton has come?

    Verden
    Bar interior at Verden, 181 Clarence Road, E5 8EE

    Verden, a wine bar that opened in Lower Clapton last year, has been receiving rave reviews in the national press. Throughout, it is described as a locals’ restaurant, and a sign of how far Clapton has come. One review described it as “good for everyone … locals, especially”, while the Independent lightheartedly claimed its owners are here to educate the East End in a good vintage.

    Yet Verden is far from being a neighbourhood restaurant. It was opened by a duo who worked respectively in PR and at Mayfair’s legendary and astonishingly expensive seafood restaurant Scott’s. When we went to dine early one Sunday evening, we were seated between a group who’d ventured there from Kilburn and were debating how to get home from the depths of Hackney, and a family who bought their young child a £17 main.

    This isn’t to say the food there isn’t exquisite. Verden makes its own charcuterie, changes its mains daily, has a gorgeous cheese selection, and serves around 100 types of wine. Diners sit in an elegant, minimalist interior, with low lighting and a long wooden bar. However, when I asked our server to recommend some charcuterie and wine, he gave us chorizo and an unexciting Vouvray with no further elaboration – two ubiquitous menu items that did little to showcase Verden’s wares.

    Exquisite: A wild mushroom dish
    Exquisite: A wild mushroom dish

    The highlight of the charcuterie was the lardo: glistening cubes of pork fat layered with sea salt and rosemary. Following onto the mains, there should have been three to choose from, but the restaurant had run out of the lemon sole, leaving us as options a lamb neck dish with braised baby gem lettuce (flawlessly prepared but also not revelatory in any way), and a cold burrata with peperonata that, while also faultless, was hardly suitable for a cold and rainy March evening.

    The salted caramel chocolate pot that we finished with was rich, velvety and luxurious, and the wedge of Epoisses cheese had just the right ratio of pungency to creaminess, but we left Verden feeling that something was lacking: standing around the corner from a closed community centre and African takeaway, it lacked the warmth and DIY cheer I associate with Hackney, and as long term locals, we did not feel particularly welcome or at home.

    Verden
    181 Clarence Road, E5 8EE
    verdene5.com