Angry Alan image courtesy of The Other Richard

Francesca Moody Productions and Popcorn Group in association with Aspen Fringe Festival and SEARED present: Angry Alan at the Soho Theatre, 21 Dean Street, London W1D 3NE

Tuesday 5th – Saturday 30th March 2019, 7pm

Following a smash-hit sell-out run at the Edinburgh Festival, Penelope Skinner’s Fringe-First award winning play Angry Alan now transfers to Soho Theatre.  This darkly comic play about masculinity in crisis is written and directed by multi-award-winning playwright Penelope Skinner (The Village Bike, Royal Court Theatre; Linda, Royal Court and Manhattan Theatre Club) and co-created and performed by Donald Sage Mackay (True West, Vaudeville Theatre; Deep State, Fox TV; Linda, Manhattan Theatre Club).

Looking out over the country, this country, where I was born and raised, I wonder what’s going to become of us. Because this can’t be the future, can it? Everyone just… changing the rules?

Roger thinks the world’s gone mad.  He hates his job, his ex-wife torments him and to top it all, his girlfriend just discovered feminism.  Roger’s about to lose his shit.  Until he discovers Angry Alan: online activist and ‘voice of reason’…

In 2016, in the wake of Trump’s election, Penelope Skinner was inspired to write a play about the anger which is dominating today’s political landscape.  In doing so she stumbled across the Men’s Right’s Movement and, along with American actor Donald Sage Mackay, began creating Angry Alan, a story about Roger, an ordinary American man being radicalised online by an extremist movement. Angry Alan explores how any extreme political viewpoint can take root in someone’s consciousness if they are vulnerable to it and how those who propagate such views may not be all that they seem.

Mackay is superb, and Skinner (who also directs) keeps it both simple and observant. She doesn’t seem to judge Roger at all – just to make us see more clearly the dangers of the kind of warped self-realisation he is encouraged by online forums to feel. It is a fierce, clear warning of what is going on, and it is utterly terrifying (What’s On Stage).

Angry Alan is a ruthlessly funny, timely and powerful play by one of the UK’s most significant feminist playwrights.

Penelope Skinner and Donald Sage Mackay comment, We were delighted with the response to Angry Alan in Edinburgh and are so pleased to be coming to the Soho Theatre. Soho feels like the perfect home for this piece. And in this fraught and polarised political climate, we are grateful for the opportunity to keep telling this story.

Performance Dates Tuesday 5th – Saturday 30th March 2019

Location  Soho Theatre, 21 Dean Street, London W1D 3NE

Box Office Tickets are available from www.sohotheatre.com or 020 7478 0100 priced from £11 – £26.

As we approach the end of the year, there’s some fabulous news to usher in 2019: The Avex Classic’s first concert of 2019 welcomes  renowned Japanese horn player Nobuaki Fukukawa – Principal Horn of the NHK Symphony Orchestra – who will be joined by Eriko Takezawa on piano.

Fukukawa’s programme explores his artistic spirit and integrity, highlighting artists who he has had the pleasure of working with or those with deep connections to the musical culture of the UK. Fukukawa feels audiences become too used to hearing the works by Schumann and Beethoven and, through this concert, he will introduce horn pieces that showcase the instrument’s charm and beauty.

Nobuaki Fukukawa comments, ‘Horn does not really get the chance to be performed solo, like violin and piano, and so most of its repertoire is not well known. However, horn is a very sonorous instrument, sometimes sounding just like a human voice, and I hope that the audience will get to experience its colourful expressiveness through the pieces I have prepared for this concert.’

Fukukawa was the winner of the 77th Music Competition of Japan Horn Division in 2008 and in 2015, he joined the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra as the principal horn player at the age of twenty.  His incredible musicality transports audiences to another world with pieces by globally-acclaimed Dai Fujikura, British composer York Bowen and additional contemporary composers.

Avex Recital Series 2019: Nobuaki Fukukawa Wigmore Hall, 36 Wigmore Street, London W1U 2BP Saturday 5th January 2018, 1pm

Fukukawa will be joined by Eriko Takezawa on piano.

The second concert in the Avex Recital Series 2019 will be acclaimed soprano Sara Kobayashi on Saturday 2nd March will include Mai by Kunihiko Hashimoto.

Box Office Tickets are available priced from £18 (£12 concession) from https://wigmore-hall.org.uk/.  Ticket bookings are subject to a £2 booking fee.

Twitter @wigmore_hall, @AvexRecitals, @daifujikura

Milly Adams latest series is The Waterway Girls pub by Arrow

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In the 1800s Robert Fortune risked his life smuggling tea plants from China to India, because demand for this restricted Chinese beverage was bordering on hysteria.

Fine tea is as prized as a fine wine, and can cost much more – for good reason.

But don’t take my word for it. Make an appointment with yourself. Turn off your phone, take a special cup, add a sachet of Newby Oriental Sencha green tea and hot water. Sit down, smell and sip.  Clear your mind, swirl the tea slowly around your mouth and enjoy the subtle flavours and smooth warmth. Allow your body to relax and experience pure hedonism.

Why Newby teas? The founder, Nirmal Sethia’s passion for tea started when he was a 14 year old apprentice tea buyer in London. He tells us, ‘A good cup of tea is like a journey to the heavens. It’s there to delight in.’

Newby Teas source the finest, prime season leaves from a variety of tea gardens, and, incredibly, the tea will only bear the Newby name after Mr Sethia himself has tasted and approved it. Perhaps this is why Newby Teas have won so many international awards?

A good tea possesses many health-giving properties – green tea in particular is a great source of anti-oxidants. So forget the chocolate advent calendar, start your New Year resolutions early and treat your mind and body to real pleasure and rejuvenation with a Newby Tea Advent Calendar.

This beautifully-designed advent calendar contains:

Black Teas: Assam, Black Tea & Ginger, Ceylon, Darjeeling, Earl Grey, English Breakfast, Indian Breakfast, Masala Chai, Pride of Africa, Strawberry & Mango

Green Teas: Earl Green, Green Lemon, Green Sencha, Jasmine Blossom, Moroccan Mint, Oriental Sencha

Oolong Teas: Ginseng Oolong, Milk Oolong

Herbal Tisanes: Chamomile, Peppermint, Verbena

Fruit Tisanes: Rooibos Orange, Rosehip & Hibiscus, Summer Berries

Each door has four sachets – a different blend for each day. As part of Newby’s commitment to quality and sustainability, it’s built to last and can be refilled.

The House of Newby 2018 Advent Calendar is available at Ocado, and Selfridges. It is also currently on offer at £46.40 at  The Newby Teas website.

Newby is a member of the Ethical Tea Partnership, committed to improving the lives and environment of tea workers throughout the world and making tea production better, fairer and more environmentally sustainable. It is substantially owned by the N Sethia Foundation, a UK registered charity which has supported medical research, youth activities and disaster relief management.

Dr K Thompson, author of From Both Ends of the Stethoscope: Getting through breast cancer – by a doctor who knows

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01A7DM42Q http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01A7DM42Q

http://faitobooks.co,uk

Bettys Christmases are the Christmases of yesteryear, the magical ones filled with colour and warmth, sparkle and laughter. The plates of freshly baked mince pies to share, the delight as the Christmas cake is brought out, the special treats hidden inside each stocking, and watching the family open a beautifully packaged gift and discovering a truly delicious surprise. It’s all those things, and more, that make Bettys a great Christmas tradition.

Look at the all time standards above, the Christmas pud, the cake, and handmade chocolates. Gorgeous, fabulous.

Believe it or not, I heard a faint, but insistent call one evening, ‘Eat me, eat me.’ So I did. BAD BAD girl, but I had to in order to test it for you – several times, in fact. As I said, Gorgeous, fabulous.

Apart from the standard fare have a thought for the tree: new this year are Bettys Bauble Filled with Chocolates £5.95 | 8cm DIAMETER • 60g |

And the new  Milk Chocolate Christmas Bear 2003958 • £24.95 | 20cm HIGH •With his marzipan hat and scarf and handbrushed coat, this hollow Swiss Grand Cru milk chocolate bear is dressed handsomely for Christmas.

And again, baubles, this time a trio of Baubles Filled with Chocolates 2003959 • £14.95 | 24 X 8 X 8cm | 180g |

But there’s oh, so much more, all created by Betty’s with the experience of 100 years baking behind them.

And the goodies come packed in recyclable sort of paper bubble wrap. And are sublimely delicious or have I said that before???

https://www.bettys.co.uk/christmas

Milly Adams latest series The Waterway Girls is published by Arrow.

Another fabulous gift  from Hape. Attractive and well-made, this Propeller Engine is the perfect size for a toddler – big enough to be fun whilst easy to be held by a small hand.

My experienced young reviewer loved the bright-red colouring and he immediately worked out the neat little control buttons on the top of the engine. He laughed with pleasure as it moved forward with one button, backward with another, and just made funny engine noises with the middle button.  The engine certainly does move – requiring retrieval from under the sofa several times – one of the privileges of being a Grandma.

He was particularly pleased with the magnetic connector on the back of the engine – allowing it to pull numerous carriages from different train-sets in his collection.

I can really recommend this strong little engine – very well-made and the propeller on the front adds a touch of novelty.

If you are looking for a great gift for a youngster, it is available from several stockists, including Amazon, currently on offer at £17.79.

Dr K Thompson, author of From Both Ends of the Stethoscope: Getting through breast cancer – by a doctor who knows

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01A7DM42Q http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01A7DM42Q

http://faitobooks.co,uk

The great thing with Hape toys is great quality and this lovely Crane Lift is no exception.  Around 55cm tall (22 inches in old money) and painted bright yellow, it is striking, and I have personal proof from my own young road-tester that children will run across the room to play with it.

It has an accessible operator’s cabin and a crane arm which swings around. Children can load the platform with the (provided) blocks of wood and raise them, lower them or move them along the length of the crane arm, using a pulley and turning knob system.  The road barriers and cones are attractive and allow the child to create an imaginary construction scene.

My grandson absolutely loved it and was soon lifting and lowering all sorts of toys on the wide wooden platform.

If you are wondering what to get your youngster for Christmas, he will adore this toy, However, watch out, he may have to fight off his Dad and uncles too – definitely one for the ‘Big Kids’.

Available at Argos for £34.99 or various other stockists.

By Dr K Thompson, author of From Both Ends of the Stethoscope: Getting through breast cancer – by a doctor who knows

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01A7DM42Q http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01A7DM42Q

http://faitobooks.co,uk

The Frost Magazine team loves the genius of David Hockney’s work; the light, the precision, the empathy so we were not  surprised to hear of the record-breaking David Hockney auction.

‘Pool with Two Figures – ‘It  proves that “real masterpieces do not need gimmicks,” affirms renowned art dealer, Stephen Howes.

The comments from the founder of Thomas Crown Art, the world’s leading art-tech agency, come as the British artist’s Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) sold Thursday for $90.3m in Christie’s Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale in New York City.

This beats the $58.4 million record previously set by Jeff Koons’ Balloon Dog in 2013.

Mr Howes observes: “This is truly one of the most iconic paintings of the 20th century and has justifiably smashed the world record for the most expensive work by a living artist sold at auction.

“This momentous sale further galvanizes the piece’s rightful place as a true masterpiece and further cements Hockney’s place in the highest echelons of art history.”

He goes on to add: “This record-breaking David Hockney auction proves that real masterpieces do not need gimmicks – they stand and deliver on their own merit.

“It flies in the face of that hideous recent pantomime when Banksy’s famous Girl With Balloon ‘self-shredded’ as the hammer came down at auction.

“Bizarrely, that prank has apparently made that piece’s value soar – which, it can be reasonably assumed, Banksy knew would happen.

“That stunt was not about the art at all, it was all about the art of publicity. The whole trick was plainly embarrassing and those involved must be called out for it.”

He goes on to add: “Should David Hockney’s masterpiece have been shredded today, it would have rendered it pretty much worthless  – unlike Girl With Balloon which apparently increased in value.  Why? Because one piece is a work of fine art and the other is a stencilled publicity stunt.”

Mr Howes concludes: “David Hockney’s artistic genius has been signed, sealed and delivered. It is likely that it will be many more years until another living artist beats this record-breaking auction.”

And so say all of us.

As someone who recalls those student parties through a prism of cheap boxed wine, ‘When in Rome,’ the UK’s first premium ‘bag in a box’ wine company certainly have their work cut out, trying to convince me to relinquish my cherished bottle of wine and rethink the concept of wine in a box.

Their eco credentials are certainly impressive; recyclable cardboard rather than glass bottles, economic storage in the fridge, and a smaller carbon footprint than their glass competitors.

Each box contains the equivalent of three bottles which seems more like magic than science to me, given the size of the box.

Whilst I can shamefacedly admit to a misspent youth as a student, my wife rarely drinks alcohol. To open a bottle, I have to commit to drinking it over two sittings, or use up what’s left in cooking. (First world problems I know)

In the box, the wine remains as fresh as when first opened for up to 6 to 8 weeks. I can now have just one glass with supper and no pressure to drink more, ‘so as not to waste it.’

Being sold on the packaging is all very well, but what about the wine itself?

The wine we are here to taste is Grillo from Sicilly and where better to taste it than in a Sicilian Restaurant in the heart of London’s West End, where Enzo Oliveri, the chef and owner of ‘Tasting Sicily, Enzo’s  Kitchen’, created delicious food to show off the versatility of Grillo.

The Grillo Grape more usually associated with Masala wine but here presented to great effect as fresh, crisp and dry, easily cutting through Olive tapenade, Arancini and roasted and salted vegetables.

On the tongue Kumquat, lemon grass, wild flowers that speak of spring and early summer and yet somehow perfect in winter.

I can see this as a great addition to picnics, trips to the beach or boating on the river and those Christmas parties when you don’t know how many guests to expect.

The Grillo retails at £25.99 (one box is the equivalent of 3 bottles)

Whilst enjoying the Grillo it would have been rude not to taste the red, Nero D’Avola, which is the perfect accompaniment to pasta in tomato sauce, so I for one will be looking out for both.

Available at Waitrose, Harvey Nicholls and some independent wine merchants.

When in Rome can be contacted at www.wheninromewine.co.uk

Enzo’s kitchen can be contacted at Info@tastingscicily.returant