We saw an inspirational performance by Britain’s Got Talent finalist Flawless at the Peacock Theatre tonight. Chase the Dream was a creative and innovative dance show which was able to be motivational without the usual cheese you get from those shows/films/stories which try to encourage people to chase their dream. Great narrative scenes in the first half following a tramp who is being chased by a gang of hooded youths to a sort of heaven and happy resolution. Oddly in the second half, which was no less creative, the group moved into this rather odd spaceship situation where four of the dancers are engaged in this virtual reality to re-enact various films such as The Mask or The Matrix and a very touching Michael Jackson piece.

Not that Flawless needed to resort to getting the crowd involved (the crowd were plenty involved if the hooting and whistling was anything to go by … yes, ten very fit very hot men on stage – who wouldn’t be hooting and hollering!) but they did have this very special moment of crowd interaction. Walking into the theatre we were presented with these white gloves.

At the designated moment we were all instructed to put the gloves on by this automated voice and then were taught a series of certain moves. The ordinary lights were switched off and UV lights switched on, as were the cameras and suddenly we could see ourselves on a large screen – “dancing” in time to the music. It looked awesome and really did generate a great sense of involvement and buy-in into the show.

The athleticism and sheer acrobatic skills of the dancers were utter brilliance. Those boys sure could move! The soundtrack had us all bopping in our seats and of course I’ve mentioned all the hooting and whistling and hollering – tonight’s show is probably the most engaged crowd I’ve been a part of in a very long time. Congrats to the lads – they sure have caught their dreams.

The Udderbelly is back in town bringing some of the fringe festival atmosphere to Southbank. When we arrived at the Udderbelly it was absolutely heaving – thanks to the vibrant bar area and great weather one supposes! We were here tonight to check out a set from Jimeoin, an Irish Comedian who was pretty big in Australia when I was back there ages ago.

I was struck by how observant he was though I guess as a comedian you need to be. He really notices the small details of how people interact with each other (like the goodbye game – no one wants to be the first to say goodbye, the talking dirty to a girl thing, the “loose” hug from a girl who is angry at you, imitating chickens, pigeons and swans.) His observation on the awkward laughs at comedy shows and the pressure on the person who organised the comedy tickets to have it be funny was particularly apt and relevant!

He used a lot of physical movement and, I don’t know if it was rehearsed that way, but it all seemed really impromptu but still having a flow. He even read us a poem to moving music.

An enjoyable 40 minutes.

After nearly seven years of being in London I finally made it to see a play at Shakespeare’s Globe … joining Dave and his mates, Laney and Ying to see Hamlet.

Walking into The Globe felt so … special. The feeling of an open air-theatre was very cool. We decided to try the authentic experience of getting the standing tickets for £5. My advice if you get these tickets is to get there early so you can guarantee yourself a prime position. Although we weren’t late, we weren’t exactly early and ended up towards the back of the standing area. Which is not a problem … unless, you’re short like us!! And stuck behind tall people!

I had underestimated just how much concentration was required to both pay attention to the play and be standing. I think it was because I had to constantly move around to be able to see what was going on on stage, and we were stood next to these bunch of girls who insisted on standing nearly on top of us even though they had plenty of space on their other wise. Hilariously by the time we got to the interval Laney had been boxed in by the girl in front of her (who had unconsciously kept moving backwards) and the bags of the girls behind her. Literally she was surrounded and boxed in.

The play itself to the end of the first half was surprisingly fast-paced in terms of movement on stage, the energy the actors were displaying and their speech. I’m so unused to hearing Shakespearen English that some parts I couldn’t understand. Not to mention the fact that it was distracting that Joshua McGuire reminded me too much of another actor, whose name kept eluding me, and that was all I could think about! The cast is small and double-up on roles – which, to someone like me who isn’t hugely familiar with Hamlet, was confusing.

Although I enjoyed the atmosphere and the spirit of the evening, come interval my brain had had to much and we left! I’d definitely go again … perhaps to a play I’m more familiar with and perhaps I would opt to try the seats.

I’ve always wanted to go to the Roundhouse to see something so when Circolombia came up it seemed like the perfect show to showcase the benefits of a venue like the Roundhouse. The story of Circolombia Urban is a very touching one and the show’s very essence is interwoven by this story. The performers are from Circo Para Todos (Circus For All) a circus school set up in Colombia for disadvantaged young people, young people who would otherwise be likely to be in a gang or other negative situation. The show is circus but told through the young performers eye – what they saw/see as poverty-stricken youth.

The circus tricks themselves were nothing too unusual or different but when taken together with the atmosphere it made for touching and high impact performance. The soundtrack was pretty awesome – dance, hip hop, reggae and there was live signing throughout as well. It could have done with some polish – but, as Craig pointed out, the rawness of the show gave it an element of danger which made it a little bit more exciting. Every trick we were on the edge of our seats thinking, will they fall, will they finish the trick?!

Some of the acts which I really enjoyed were the skipping ropes, the tightropes (felt a bit for the males in the performance as the male performers bounced up and down on their crotch (yikes), and an almost ballet-type piece. It was all so raw, so sexual almost!

I have to be honest the only reason I wanted to see The Children’s Hour was for the celeb factor of Keira Knightley and Elisabeth Moss but actually, despite the almost depressing story-line, I did end up enjoying the play for itself. Oh I also recognised one of the actresses from the television show Skins!

The surprise for me was just how slender and tall Keira was. Of course you see her movies and the pap shots and yes she has a good figure – but its not until you see her live that you appreciate just how slender she is.

The Children’s Hour is set in an all-girls boarding school run by the two characters played by Keira and Elisabeth. One of the girls at the school gets into trouble and runs away from school to her grandmother’s place where, to cover up tells a lie that the two are having an affair. Being the early 1930s this was quite the scandal and of course lives and relationships are ruined.

The play got off to a bit of a slow start and at first I was a bit unsure about Keira’s accent (seemed to modulate all over the place) and acting at first (felt she was over-acting) but soon settled and really hit her stride in the second half. Generally all the other characters were very well acted particularly by Elisabeth Moss, Ellen Ellen Burstyn and the guy who played Keira’s fiancé (sorry – didn’t get his name!)

The theatre was very full even reaching the closing dates (or perhaps because of.) but one suspects that like me many people were in for the star power. The play itself was just okay without being stunning. The lasting impression I have is a feeling of unease from the malevolence portrayed by Bryony Hannah in playing the girl who causes all the trouble. A very strong performance.

The greatest miracle about this performance at Wimbledon Theatre is that no one went flying off the stage or ended up slicing anyone. Translated as Ice Circus what you get is a whole lot of ice skaters taking a turn on a very small ice skating rink on stage plus a mix of dancing, ballroom and circus thrown in. It had a very slow start but once it hit its stride it was magnificent by the end of the first half, and then came back kind of flat in the second half but still had some stand out performances.

In Cirque de Glace – Evolution, as the title suggests, you are taken through the evolution of the world from the big bang, to the eras of the caveman, ice age, fire, the wheel, man on moon, modern times (ice dancers in suits with newspapers.) It seemed to lose this theme about mid-way through the second half … perhaps because they had run out of eras we would recognise and therefore opted for something a bit weirder.

The skill of the skaters and performers on stage was evident. On the minute rink there wasn’t much margin for error and every time someone was swung out or someone went for a double axle jump or equivalent my heart was in my mouth. Would there be a spectacular crash? Thankfully there wasn’t – an in fact I didn’t see any sort of ice skating mistake at all.

Good costumes, good music, nice use of the lighting and for the moment a fairly unique show worth seeing. Apart from the slow parts mentioned above if there was one negative it was that there were some awkward moments when the audience weren’t sure whether it was an appropriate moment to clap and congratulate the performers – sometimes obvious cues help and this is good for the crowd and the performer.

Well, there wasn’t much in this show for D – all the dancing nearly naked gyrating men were really for my benefit. Heh heh. There were a couple of ladies in the show, including a singer, but not as much eye candy for D as the lads were for me. Bale de Rua (literal translation Street Ballet) is a mix of hip hop, African dance, samba and capoeira. The dances are shown through a series of stories from quiet almost sad slave numbers to big large high energy dance scenes. The dancers, all male but one, certainly leave nothing behind and carry it all off with a grin (when appropriate of course).

Many of the men also take a turn on the percussion – which really gave a Carnival feel to the performance. It’s a shame the rest of the soundtrack, save the female singer, was not performed live but on playback.

I wish I could say I enjoyed the show totally but it was a bit weak and dragging in parts. I think it was the lack of direction at times which caused the rhythm to be disrupted as it was caught between the storytelling side and the performance side – with the little narrative in between it was hard to hear the full message. Still, there were some spectacular numbers and the costumes and colour of the whole show really gave it that party flavour which made it overall an enjoyable performance.

One of England’s pre-eminent scientists Stephen Hawking is somewhat of a celebrity. I guess that is no surprise given all the acclaim for his published tomes (including one book which was in the London Sunday Times best-seller lists for nearly 4.5 years! Not to mention all his public appearances. The fact that the man also has a motor neurone disease, which has progresses to the extent that he is almost completely paralysed, makes him a truly intriguing personality.

I had no idea what to expect from tonight’s appearance at the Royal Albert Hall. I was wondering how he would speak, would he take questions, what exactly would he be talking about? When he first appeared on stage he looked so tiny! I mean, the Royal Albert Hall is a huge venue and there he was on the stage all by himself, sitting in his wheel chair which made him look ever smaller!

Expected not to last beyond 23-24, he is now an impressive 69! An emergency tracheotomy to help him with a life-threatening pneumonia over 25 years ago meant he lost his ability to speak – so now he uses an electronic voice synthesizer to communicate. As a result there were long gaps between paragraphs/sentences. It was really strange to hear the entire Hall pretty much in silence as they waited patiently in between the gaps.

Unfortunately the guy next to us wasn’t so interested – he yawning and sleeping, and picking his nose even! Oh boy.

I wouldn’t say it was the most inspirational talk I’ve even been to, but the inspiration was definitely in the man himself. As an added bonus we also each received a copy of The Grand Design – the new book that he was releasing.