Katie Richardson’s Lotta Quizeen is a charming pastiche of several female TV cooking show presenters. Shelf Life features some fun ribald interactive party games but ultimately struggles to keep its energy up. At the Battersea Arts Centre. Read on… Continue reading
Tag Archives: gender
The Bellicose Beauty of Penthesilea at the Space
In a time when social expectations of the female body in public space seem a particularly vexed issue at the forefront of the public imagination, Penthesilea opens vital space for exploring how those expectations might be reimagined. It also begs the question of what we really mean when we say a loved one is so … Continue reading
Camp Hamlet
While wandering around the moors last week I started thinking a lot about performances of nostalgia. But when I got back I realized I already wrote about that last year in this review of ‘Cantina’ and the Fitzrovia Radio Hour, so I’m not going to rehash that for you. However, while I was (re)considering all … Continue reading
Merry Widows and Gay Divorcees: Gender & Power in Marriage Narratives
After reading my friend & colleague Dr Jem Bloomfield’s post on Twelfth Night and “Mapp and Lucia”, which focused on the discomforts caused by sexual tension (or imagined sexual tension) between sets of people in social power relationships of inequality, I had some follow-up thoughts. For Jem, the focus of these two narratives on “the … Continue reading
Così fan tutte: They’re (Operas) All Like That?
I recently had the chance to see the English Touring Opera’s dress rehearsal of Così fan tutte at the Hackney Empire. It’s a very exciting thing to walk into a working theatre for a rehearsal: for me there is a very strong sense of having crept into a secret world of esoteric delights. I haven’t … Continue reading
Meeting the Public
On Tuesday there was a public meeting to discuss some problems in Wapping Woods. There have been instances of mugging and knife crime there lately, so a meeting was called to ‘reassure’ the public. I went, not because I feel unsafe in Wapping, but because I am new to the area and wanted to get … Continue reading
Algo-rhythm
I went to a céilidh recently. In contemporary terminology, a céilidh is a gathering for people wishing to partake in traditional Scottish dancing (or Irish, if spelled céilí). However, I am told by Wikipedia that the term originally referred to any kind of social gathering, not necessarily involving dancing. There’s a parallel in belly dance … Continue reading
Anthropological Anxieties
I’ve been watching Grayson Perry’s series on the English class boundaries around ‘taste’ (titled helpfully ‘In the Best Possible Taste’). His research was ultimately aimed towards creating six large tapestries, but as the techniques he’s using to do the research are largely anthropological in nature it brought home for me again some of the anxieties … Continue reading
Much Ado
It’ll be a week or so before I blog again. My PhD graduation is coming up next week, family and friends are flying in, and there is a lot of celebrating to do! So I will leave you (for a time) with these reflections on my very favorite play. The first time I saw the … Continue reading
A Return to Wodehousian Sensibilities
I entered a writing contest, but alas didn’t win this time. Here’s what I said: In my travels about London I’ve noticed a return to Wodehousian sensibilities in gentlemen’s attire of which I am very much in favour. Do we not pine for that imagined past when all that stood between us and happiness was … Continue reading
Caitiewrites 