Puppet grinder cabaret

I’ve been to the Little Angel Theatre in Islington a couple of times over the last year, but both times for the launch of a book of poetry rather than theatre. It’s a lovely little venue, and the photos on the walls of past productions have made me want to visit to see some actual puppetry. But as it’s geared towards children, and I have neither children of my own nor any I could ‘borrow’, I haven’t actually managed it.

But at the last launch (Mike Bartholomew-Biggs’s brilliant Tradesman’s Exit) I saw an ad for an evening of ‘adult’ puppetry: Puppet Grinder Cabaret. It looked brilliant. Reviews were read (all very good) and tickets quickly booked.

So last Sunday, Malin and I headed down, unsure what to expect but hoping for the best. It was a brilliant evening: anarchic, rather low-fi, patchy in places but mostly very good and very funny. I wish I’d kept my programme so I could give you a full run-down but sadly, in a fit of trying not to hoard too much, it’s already gone in the bin. That’ll teach me.

Our compere for the evening was stand-up comic Dave Gibson, who was responsible for the great atmosphere and vibe (without him, I wonder if the evening might have been a bit flat). He set the tone – excited, funny, a bit rude – and got the audience warmed up nicely.

I now can’t remember the full programme, which included animation as well as live acts, but highlights for me were Clementine the living fashion doll, a shadow/paper cut-out animation of ‘Suck a thumb’ and the final live act, the Lost Circus, which was totally brilliant but quite hard to describe: basically a collection of found objects (feather duster, ski glove, etc) doing cabaret/circus tricks, all under the direction of a sock-puppet ringmaster. Very odd and very funny. The daredevil ski glove being shot from a cannon is my abiding memory of the night – just brilliant. So brilliant in fact that I can’t remember the other live acts that I enjoyed. I may well come back and add more details if I remember them…

Anyway the Puppet grinder cabaret is now on at Edinburgh, so if you’re up there, check them out – lots of very silly fun.

December+January+February

So much for catching up… and of course with a backlog I never get around to what I’m actually enjoying currently, because I have to clear my plate first. No more! Enough!

For completion’s sake, and then it’s done, here are two months worth of highlights:

December saw the consumption of Wes Anderson’s The Darjeeling Limited, Kenneth Branagh’s The Magic Flute, Disney’s Enchanted, the Lee Miller and craft exhibitions at the V&A, an inspiring talk by Jeremy Begbie at the LICC, comedy from Mark Thomas, dinners at Abeno and Canteen, the Barbican’s Jack and the Beanstalk and the Criterion’s 39 Steps, and Christmas atmosphere at Dennis Severs’ House.

January was much quieter, with a new purchase of an old Rufus Wainright album, Rufus Wainright (brilliant); a visit to the new gem gallery at the Natural History Museum (a little disappointing, with too many exhibits ‘temporarily removed’); the Age of Enchantment exhibition at the Dulwich Picture gallery (beautiful); and my first visit of the year to Kew Gardens.

I might as well clear February out of the way too, while I’m at it: two stunning films – both of which have recently won Oscars – No Country for Old Men and There Will be Blood; a jaunt to Barcelona, and to go with it George Orwell’s Fighting in Spain (a very poorly edited – unacceptable from Penguin – extract from Homage to Catalonia); a surprisingly arresting read in Anita Diamant’s The Red Tent; a second visit to Kew; and last night, a spoken word performance from the ever-compelling Saul Williams. Absolutely thrilling.

Here’s to fairer blogging weather in 2008! The poetry project has got off to a good start; I’ll have to see if I can replicate my dedication here…