Latest 7 magazine

You’ve got to hand it to The Blockheads, by mere association to Ian Dury their reputation is secure. And tonight Clever Trevor and What a Waste prove no less.
Close your eyes and Derek Hussey on vocals is the spit of the original Billericay Dickie. And with Chaz Jankel in attendance all’s set for a belter. Only this is not it – they disappoint with too many nondescript numbers from past and present (new album Staring Down the Barrel), too much funk over punk. Support slot from sing-a-long, spoof hillbillies, Leonard & Bubba’s Delicious Goo-Goo Cluster, is memorable for the final number alone ‘Tie Your Pecker to Yer Knee‘.
The Old Market, 11 April
2/5

Jan Goodey

Sadly this soufflé of French farce was served up as a leaden pudding.
From the moment the hick cousin arrives in Paris from Aix the whole confection started to collapse, not that there had been many laughs up to that point. Whoever decided that he should play the part with a thick, and I leave you to decide how I use the word, Welsh accent, should be shot. Bernard was played with an English accent, the air hostesses as airline names suggested, so why Welsh?
Susie Blake‘s natural comic timing struggled to survive as she played the worldly Parisian housekeeper as an East End char, and in the end any subtleties in the translation were lost to shouting and crude antics. Great choreographed curtain call tough that gains my one star. A bitter disappointment.
Theatre Royal, Brighton, 13 April
1/5 Andrew Kay

The media and arts event, The Space, marked the thirtieth anniversary of Alien this month by hosting a talk with its editor Terry Rawlings.
He reminisced about his film career from Watership Down, how Barbara Streisand sang to him in her kitchen prior to giving him Yentl, to his uneasy working relationship with composer Jerry Goldsmith.
The evening was held together by the impressively prepared Lisa Holloway. Her first guest Conor McNicholas revealed how a start in writing horoscopes eventually led him to his current role as the NME editor.
Latest Music Bar, 7 April
4/5 Marie Vagen

Victoria Nangle is a tad overwhelmed by the bountiful amount of shows this Fringe

A number of people have said there’s less comedy at this year’s Fringe than last year. Yah boo sucks to them. Plus it’s not true. There’s loads, and it’s all over the place, in that it’s anywhere and everywhere this year.
Not only are there fantastic flights of fancy at the ever-quality-controlled Upstairs At The Three And Ten – just look at award-winning shows like Pappy’s Fun Club, Josie Long and The Penny Dreadfuls to see what I mean – but there are new venues busting at the seams with wondrous talent. Read the rest of this article »