It's been a good time to catch up on London cultural life. Best of the shows? Two stand outs: the first is on tour and I imagine the second will be on again soon:
- TheRent revival, with ex-Billy Elliot Layton Williams stealing the show as radical dancing queen Angel. This story of struggling artists in NY's Alphabet City in the late 70s/early 80s at the height of the AIDS crisis was an emotional experience when I saw it 20 years ago, having lived on the fringes of 'bohemian' London at the time. This new, more intimate production is even more intense: in fact, we've booked to see it again when it hits Bromley, hankies at the ready!
- An astonishing solo performance by Mark Lockyer in Living with the Lights On at the Young Vic, an autobiographical piece about his bipolar meltdown. A real tour de force in the writing and acting, as he slipped rapidly into the many characters he encountered at the time.
We also caught a couple of good concerts: at the Wigmore Hall – brilliant Mozart piano sonatas from Francesco Piemontesi (who kept going despite a whistling hearing aid in the audience) and a good old Christmas medley (medieval to modern) from my choir at St John's priory.
Sadly, no panto, non traditional or otherwise, at the Park Theatre this year.