Hong Kong City Fringe Festival: Overview
Hong Kong has long been criticized for the lack of an artistic scene – But I can report back that there is a scene it’s alive and kicking.
I’ve just returned from 10 days R&R in Hong Kong, Part of which I spent at the ‘Fringe Club’ ... on Albert Rd. Which hosted its annual cabaret and fringe arts festival called the ‘city festival’ whilst I was in Hong Kong.
Live Review: Brooke Parrott at the Regal Room
The Regal Room is a live music venue on top of a jazzed up pub in Hammersmith. Last night, moments away from a bouncing, spotty horde watching Slipknot in the nearby Apollo I nibbled poshed up fish and chips and took in their weekly acoustic night.
Hold on...Hammersmith. Weirdest place on earth right? That drain hole roundabout, the way the streets lead nowhere, the puddling shadows beneath that famous flyover.
Bird's Review: Spyski
A film, shot in night-vision, shows a bird's-eye-view of a remote Siberian town. Unsavoury genetic experiments are taking place. The scientists' buildings, from far above, look austere and forbidding. The town is cold-hearted, desperate. Clouds drift across the freezing sky.
Except none of this exists. The town is papier-maché, the clouds are cotton wool blobs, lollystick lampposts and Lego men are scanned by a common cam-corder.
Spyski is refreshingly daft, not least in terms of the plot, which runs more or less as follows:
Hussey’s Riot: La Clique / Brett Haylock
In a transformation both spiritual and physical the elite cabaret La Clique have landed in London, bringing variety back to the Hippodrome - a venue synonymous with the West End at its least discerning. Patrick Hussey meets the man behind the action, the fellow brushing the sparks from his shoulders – Brett Haylock.
Interview: Anton Mirto / A2
Performance art duo, A2 have been described as being ‘like a chance meeting of TS Eliot and Agnes Varda’. Since forming in 1999, they have established a dedicated following of fans. Some have been audience, while many others have actually been involved with the personal performances that more than often delve deeply into questions about the human condition. Franck Bordese meets co-Director Anton Mirto in between rehearsals for their next work ‘About Blindness’ that premieres at the Royal Opera House on Friday, 14th November.
“I know I’m a genius, but some people think I’m shit” - Kate Hutchinson Interviews Scottee
“I know I’m a genius, but some people think I’m shit,” says Scottee over a plate of posh chips. “But I love that people hate me, babes.”