Michael Rowan gets hot under the collar as he invites you to come to the Cabaret at Bernie Dieter’s Little Death Club.

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But suggests that maybe you should leave your maiden aunt (or uncle) behind

 

If Lisa Minnelli wearing a bowler hat and heavy eye liner is your idea of Cabaret, then be prepared to think again, with a stunning show entitled Bernie Dieter’s Little Death Club, running at the Underbelly on the South Bank, London until the 23rd of June.

Transforming a Circus Tent into a sensuous art nouveau performance space is no mean feat, but only the first of many such feats that skilfully creates the kind of show that is more often associated with the Weimar Cabaret of the 1930s in the heart of Berlin.

In the true spirit of cabaret there are several acts: musical, comedic, artistic and downright mind blowing.

MCeed by the talented Bernie Dieter, whose fantastic voice is matched only by her wicked sense of humour, completely sets the scene. Not only that, but she has written all the original songs which she delivers with a fabulously dry wit.

The evening is an exotic mix of eye-liner, feathers and furs, veils and sequins and yes, a degree of partial and full nudity, but always tasteful, never salacious.

There is a frisson of danger, as some of the acts select members of the slightly petrified if enthusiastic audience, to become a part of the show, but it is done with such good nature that no one seems to object.

Miss Myra Dubois, a drag queen who takes no prisoners, plays with her audience, first with some well- timed banter and then to encourage an inspired  sing a- long of an Elaine Paige/Barbara Dickson duet.

 

 

The contortionist gymnast, Beau Sargent, wearing spangled shorts and little else, performed an eye watering athletic and balletic routine that had many gentlemen in the audience sucking in their stomachs.

Later an aerialist, swathed with gossamer wings performed a seamless routine suspended only by her hair as she twirled above our heads. Shedding her wings, she appears naked in a series of breathtakingly beautiful movements, set seamlessly to the music. A special mention here to the house band, ‘Little Death Club,’ a running gag on ‘La Petite Mort’

 

The Mime artist who did so much more than break the fourth wall, had all of us in fits of laughter as he discussed his performance angst.

If you have ever been on a Roller Coaster ride that lasts a couple of minutes, but feels as though the world has just flipped upside down, this could well be the theatre experience for you. With a running time of only an hour there is time to have a meal afterwards and I guarantee there will be plenty to discuss.

Images courtesy of Alistair Veryard Photography

All details:

 

 

Presented by: Underbelly and Dead Man Label
Price: Tickets from £21.50(includes £1.50 in fees per ticket)
Venue Duration: UnderBelly Festival – Southbank.

60 minutes
Advice: This performance contains real flame. Contains adult language, nudity, smoke effects. Recommended for ages 18+.

 

 

http://www.underbellyfestival.com/whats-on/little-death-club

 

The People’s Play Award to find exciting Northern plays and playwrights has returned: by Annie Clarke

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Images: Jules Dash

It is not just The People’s Play Award that has returned, but this year’s winner (chosen from nearly 100 entries) is VOLTEMAND AND CORNELIUS ARE JOYFULLY RETURNED – written by Leeds-born actor and writer Paul Vates.

 

There is a great buzz about this in the Frost Magazine office because we were lucky enough to see our very own Drama Critic’s play in the early  stages of its development  and LOVED it: we were in turn moved, and amused, and left talking, and thinking,  and knew that when completed it would be something special.

 

Of course Paul  Vates knows the business of play writing inside and out, as he is a professional actor, and also a writer who understands that all writing has to be worked and re-worked to achieve something worthwhile. And believe me, this is, and where better to debut Voltemand and Cornelius are Joyfully Returned than the well known and respected People’s Theatre, Tyneside.

 

So, onto the play: the two central characters are minor characters from Hamlet – or are they? And where are they?

This well paced and amusing play explores the nature of reality, the chaos of war, and the impact of conflict on people’s perception of themselves.

 

Previous People’s Play Award winners include Peter Straughan (BAFTA winner, Best Adapted Screenplay for Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy), Alison Carr (Iris, Live Theatre; Fat Alice, Traverse Theatre) and Mike Yeaman whose Lucky Numbers has since been performed in New Zealand, Finland and Estonia

The People’s Theatre Newcastle on Tyne was born in 1911 and Norman Veitch, one of the founders, set the sights high right from the start and the policy ever since has been to seek out plays of quality and interest, which the Tyneside audience might otherwise not get the chance to see.

In the 1940s they amalgamated with the Film Society, bbegan to host Art Exhibitions and now, beneath their umbrella host music, the Young People’s Theatre and The People’s Play Award.

Way back in 1971 the BBC made a half hour documentary about The People’s Theatre, narrated by a former People’s actor, Alan Browning, a lead in Coronation Street. And quite frankly, it’s high time the BBC returned to Tyneside to see the vibrant success as The People’s Theatre continues to flourish, innovate and entertain.

The world premiere of Voltemand and Cornelius are Joyfully Returned by Paul Vates is to be held in the 90 seated Studio Theatre.

  • INFORMATION –
  • Seating in the Studio Theatre is UNALLOCATED.
  • All tickets are NON-REFUNDABLE.
  • Tickets can be EXCHANGED for another performance subject to availability.
  • CONCESSION PRICE applies to customers who are aged 60+ or under 18, students & unwaged.  
  • Start Time: 7.30pm
  • Tickets: £14.00 Concessions: £11.50

https://www.peoplestheatre.co.uk/whats-on/voltemand-and-cornelius

Annie Clarke’s debut novel Girls on the Home Front will be published by Arrow on 29th May.

Have you seen her by Lisa Hall: review by Natalie Jayne Peeke

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Bonfire night , Anna, Fran and Laurel are enjoying the fireworks. In a heartbeat Laurel is nowhere to be seen. Swallowed up by the crowd .

Laurel’s parents are frantic, before long hours turn into days and still no sign of Laurel . Anna, her nanny is devastated but is hiding a deep dark secret, as is someone else .

As the investigation continues, lies, secrets and deception reveal themselves. Suspects are questioned and houses are searched. Will the police ever find Laurel or unearth the truth behind her disappearance?

I could not put this book down, I just had to read one more chapter. I had to know the truth. I was gripped from beginning to end.

I highly recommend this book to fans of ‘The couple next door’ and similar books

Published 2nd May 2019
Paperback £7.99
Ebook £5.99
Audio download £12.99

Natalie Jayne Peeke: http://www.thebookwormmother.co.uk

You Got This by Bryony Gordon Book Review

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You Got This by Bryony Gordon Book Review

You Got This is a truly fabulous book for teenage girls. Being a teenager is hard, and being a teenage girl even more so. It is a time I would not want to go back to. Especially with all of the toxic message girls get now. The rise of social media has also caused problems. This brilliant book from the amazing Bryony Gordon covers periods, comparisons and has a fantastic chapter letting teenage girls know they are not snowflakes, but are instead brave people who are standing up for equality on the basis of gender and race. I am so sick of the word ‘snowflake’. The generation who calls out racism and sexism anytime they see it are not ‘sensitive’. They are brave and making the world a better place. This book also covers mental health extensively which is to be commended. The mental health of our children is so important and educating them about mental health is essential. I also loved the bit on how girls are taught to compare themselves to others. This book is fun, smart, entertaining and full of everything I wish I had been told when I was a teenager. Absolutely brilliant.

 

I wanted to be a unicorn. I wanted to be a lawyer. I wanted to be an astronaut.

But the thing I really wanted to be more than anything else, was a little less like me.

It was only recently that I realised not wanting to be me was at the heart of every dumb decision I ever made. And so now I am writing this book containing all the life lessons I wish someone had taught me.

A book for the teenage girl in me. And for every teenage girl out there. Because the most powerful thing you can be when you grow up is yourself.

You Got This is available here.

 

The Moment of Lift By Melinda Gates Book Review

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The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World, the moment of lift, Melinda Gates, book reviewThe Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World

Melinda Gates is the perfect example of an extraordinary woman who does not get the credit she deserves because she just happens to be married to a rich, famous man. It would be easy to dismiss her on the basis of privilege, and many people do. But to judge a woman by her husband is sexist. Melinda Gates stands as a giant in her own right. She has done so much for women’s rights and to make the world a better place. Her new book, The Moment of Lift, should be read by every single person in the world. Then the world would be a better place for everyone. Full of blistering facts and, yes, some harrowing tales; The Moment of Lift is a call to action. The book is powerful and puts up the fights for women’s rights. I hear that women have never had it so good a lot, and yet there is still so much to be done. I challenge anyone to read this book and not be inspired. When you read it you want to do something. The book covers so many aspects of gender bias: from FGM, contraception and inequality at home. Even the fact that most women do most of the domestic work is in here, and so it should be. Only recently was childcare and domestic world including by economists when it came fo GDP. Women’s work has been largely invisible and, in many ways, still is. Melinda also writes about herself and her marriage in this book. She is honest and brave. Her voice is in this book and so is her strength. It is powerful stuff. This book is essential reading and gets Frost’s Gold Standard stamp of approval. Only the second thing so far to do so.

 

A debut from Melinda Gates, a timely and necessary call to action for women’s empowerment.

“How can we summon a moment of lift for human beings – and especially for women? Because when you lift up women, you lift up humanity.”

For the last twenty years, Melinda Gates has been on a mission to find solutions for people with the most urgent needs, wherever they live. Throughout this journey, one thing has become increasingly clear to her: If you want to lift a society up, you need to stop keeping women down.

In this moving and compelling book, Melinda shares lessons she’s learned from the inspiring people she’s met during her work and travels around the world. As she writes in the introduction, “That is why I had to write this book – to share the stories of people who have given focus and urgency to my life. I want all of us to see ways we can lift women up where we live.”

Melinda’s unforgettable narrative is backed by startling data as she presents the issues that most need our attention – from child marriage to lack of access to contraceptives to gender inequity in the workplace. And, for the first time, she writes about her personal life and the road to equality in her own marriage. Throughout, she shows how there has never been more opportunity to change the world – and ourselves.

Writing with emotion, candour, and grace, she introduces us to remarkable women and shows the power of connecting with one another.

When we lift others up, they lift us up, too.

The Moment of Lift is available here.

After She’s Gone by Camilla Grebe: review by Penny Deacon

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After She’s Gone is rightly called a Crime Novel but it’s rather more layered than that. Letting the story unfold through the different, sometimes overlapping, viewpoints of three very different characters gives the reader three different ways of understanding the lives of the people who live in a remote small town whose industry has died and whose dwindling population has to deal with the community of Muslim immigrants housed among them. The claustrophobia is increased by the grip of the Swedish winter which makes every movement more difficult and blurs evidence.

The story begins with a ‘cold case’. Ironically appropriate for the time of year. The investigation of a child’s death leads to a re-evaluation of the nature of the town in which everyone seems trapped. The characters of the three narrators also emerge: each has his or her distinctive voice and each is in some way an outsider. How far they separately come to understand or live with that status is tied closely to the revelations of the investigation. The plot twists in ways which at first seem random, and finally reveal the truth with a clarity which the narrators must find his or her own way to accept.

This is gripping reading and first class writing. Camilla Grebe has written a satisfyingly complex crime story with characters who draw the reader into their lives.

Read it.

 

Review by Penny Deacon, author of A Kind of Puritan and A Thankless Child

After She’s Gone by Camilla Grebe published by Zaffre, 21st March 2019. Hardback and eBook £18.99

SISTER SCRIBES: JANE CABLE ON GETTING TO KNOW YOUR PUBLISHER

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Although I signed with Sapere Books last summer it’s taken the relationship a little time to get going. That was perfectly understandable – my first book with them, Another You, wasn’t due out until this June so it was quite a way through their work schedule – but it was still a little frustrating for me.

The frustration was completely unwarranted, but every time I saw a gorgeous new cover appear on the private Facebook group for their authors, I wished it was mine. And waiting for the edit notes was absolute purgatory. Would the book pass muster? How much would they want me to change?

Then, about ten days ago, the first batch of edits arrived from editorial director Amy. And there were no dramas. Absolutely no dramas. Most of what she said made perfect sense and her intentions were clear. I knew exactly what I needed to do and it was a joy to roll my sleeves up and get to work, knowing that the book would be better for it.

The timetable was clear too. The first half of the book would arrive before Easter, the second after. Writer friends were concerned it was tight with the proposed publication date but I’d more or less cleared my diary so I’d have ample time for rewriting. I say more or less, because there was one very important event coming up I wasn’t going to miss. And that was Sapere’s first birthday party.

London is a relatively long trek from Cornwall and I decided to let the train take the strain, arriving in time for lunch with a former colleague. After that I tramped the streets of Kensington and the south west corner of Hyde Park in the name of research for my current wip. As it happened it was a beautiful spring day and although I was a little footsore by the time I stopped for a cuppa it didn’t feel like a chore at all.

The party was in the West End, in a light and airy room above a characterful pub. Almost at once I met Caoimhe (pictured left), Sapere’s marketing director. Just days after the edit notes arrived we had started emailing about promoting the book but as a former indie author, having a professional on board was new territory for me. There’d been some shuffling around, trying not to tread on toes, but problems have a way of melting away once you’ve met someone face to face. Hopefully I convinced her I’m not a control freak and just want to support everything she’s planning to do for Another You.

I also met Amy (pictured right) for the first time, and Richard, the other third of the Sapere powerhouse. I have to say all three are incredible people, full of energy and good humour, and you can see how well they gel as a team. But a really big pleasure was meeting other Sapere authors – and the shame of it that it was impossible to talk to everyone. Hopefully next time…

I could go on about the party, but I’d like to add a word about the new cover for Another You, which was revealed on Friday. I’d seen it just five days before, when it popped up on my phone on Sunday evening. I clicked it open. There were tears in my eyes. That soldier, walking away head bent, was just so perfect. As was the landscape around him which beautifully reflects part of Studland Bay where the book is set. So many covers disappoint authors but I love this one whole-heartedly, because whoever briefed the designer (that’s you, Amy) clearly knew the book.

Thank you, Sapere. You’re awesome.

 

Miami Cocktail – The Conscious Cocktail Company

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We’re officially in spring and things are heating up this week, so to celebrate the extra long weekend we wanted to introduce a touch of Miami to Britain. Introducing; Miami Cocktail and their selection of the most delicious organic pre-mixed craft cocktails on the market. The foundations of the company are built on using honest ingredients which make up authentic cocktails crafted to perfection, and tasty.

The proof really is in the tasting with three delicious cocktails to choose from; Margarita, Sangria and Blood Orange Mimosa. This has been the most authentic and honest pre-mixed cocktail we’ve tried and trust me…we’ve tried a lot. The packaging, the flavour and the low cal, additive free ingredients are only some of the reasons why you HAVE to try Miami Cocktail. The first thing that sets them apart from many other companies is that not only is the flavour refreshing and heavenly, there is no tacky aftertaste, a far cry from the batch made sticky pre-mixers we have tried. The same points can be awarded for the following day with no nasty hangover, (this came from a number of trustworthy testimonies.) The brand screams chic and this would be a tip top gift to bring to a party, the bottle comes in a beautiful recyclable glass and will look iconic on your table top counter.  

We love the serving suggestions they have offered us; so cheers to a Bank Holiday made better by Miami Cocktail;

Copper Pot Margarita

The quintessential three ingredient organic margarita:

-100% pure organic blue agave wine
– Organic key lime juice
– Organic Valencia orange juice 

12% abv

The Copper Pot Margarita is perfectly balanced and delivers a wonderfully “more-ish margarita” 

Blood Orange Mimosa 

The “Sunday Funday Everyday” organic mimosa. Organic Sicilian blood oranges and tangerine juice. A touch of organic Florida grapefruit juice lightly infused with organic sparkling wine. 

We call our Blood Orange Mimosa “dangerously delicious” as we have yet to leave any in the bottle once it is opened. Admittedly, a good problem to have…until you run out. 

 8.5% abv

Sunset Sangria 

The keeping it real organic sangria. Organic tropical juices of mango, pineapple, lime, and orange, all delicately infused with organic craft red wine. 

8.5% abv

The moment the Sunset Sangria touches your lips, you will be whisked away to the last summer you spent in Spain. While heating it up in winter time, makes for a wonderful alternative to your favourite mulled wine. 

Miami Cocktail have hit the ground running and are already available to buy in Harvey Nichols stores in the UK and online RRP £16.95 per bottle. You can also find them on thedrinkshop.com and amazon.co.uk priced at £14.95 and are hoping to hit the festivals this summer. We couldn’t think of a more perfect place for these sexy little cocktails. 

Miami Cocktail also have a line of Organic Spritz which is set to come out soon featuring two more cocktails, Bellini Spritz and Paloma Spritz. These will be available in 250ml cans and at only 110 cals per can and no added sugar you can definitely indulge in a few Miami Cocktails. #DrinkClean