A Nineties Christmas...

So technically I was born in 1986, but I spent my more formative years mostly in the nineties and early noughties and my heart is very much in this period. Bring on the paper hats, tacky tinsel, smock dresses and Vicar of Dibley Christmas Special, I say. 

We spent our advent practising for nativity plays with no political correctness issues, blasting out Mariah and East 17 watching Miracle on 34^th Street for the umpteenth time. Our Christmas lists included Sticker books, Polly Pockets and Pogs and, the Puppy in my Pocket Hotel. Tinies Tim and Tears wet themselves- that was enough for us. Later we just wanted the Spice Girls album and a subscription to Shout magazine. As the nineties drew to a close, it was all about skater gear and owning umpteen CDs which invariably got scratched on our favourite songs from overuse. We would record the Christmas Chart religiously with the cassette drive of our Ghetto Blasters, trying our best to cut out the DJs voice and just get the tracks. 

The actual day consisted of crappy stocking presents, board games and watching our parents sing drunkenly to Slade whilst we pilfered Quality Street. We never had any batteries for any gift that needed them, we could never get into the excess of pre-green-consciousness plastic, nineties packaging and we also fell asleep on the sofa. A simpler time.

I've seen many, many wonderful posts by far more prolific bloggers on Christmas and Christmas gifts and I am fully aware that I cannot match these. So instead I will provide a nostalgic look at how to rekindle a little of that nineties spirit and what presents to buy the nineties kids in your life...

FASHION

Nowadays, Christmas jumpers are back in.. and they sort-of-cool and festive. However, style-wise they are more seventies-eighties in era. A nineties christmas jumper looked like this: 

Jumper, ASOS Marketplace, £19.99

In the early nineties our parents loved a patterned waistcoat:

Waistcoat, Etsy, £9.39

Know some kids to kit out? Why not try the nineties staple, the smock dress. (I actually love these still and would buy myself this if in my size.)

Smocked Dress, Etsy, £9.39

ATMOSPHERE 

First, decorations and all hail, the classic paper-chain and paper snowflake. You actually need nothing for these except coloured paper, white paper, scissors and glue (who doesn't have a Pritt Stick hanging around at home?). 

So metallic paper is cooler....

Remember these? Circle of paper, fold in to sixths and cut funny patterns in. You have to know how to handle your scissors to make them this good.

If you can't remember how to do these, there is a guide here - for kids so you should be able to manage.

Here's your playlist:

CD,Amazon, £16.95 or iTunes

And these are a must: (all Amazon or iTunes)

GIFTS

If you know some nineties kids, I'm sure they all like these.. 

Truffle Shuffle t-shirts, all £19.99.

Ladies Playdays T-shirt

Ladies Roald Dahl's The Enormous Crocodile T-shirt

Mens Jurassic Park T-shirt

Mens Bert and Ernie Sesame Street T-shirt

Personalised Converse, £54.00

Whaaaatttt. They are the same converse but full customiseable...

UNO, £2.99 

Ebay

Jellyfish Lamp, £60.00

Because some people still miss their lava lamps and these are way more beautiful... they sell them at Selfridges if you're based in London or in their online store as well.

Nintendo iPod Charger, £22.54

Because.. why not..

Finally- top of my list:

ASOS Backpack, £28.00

Ummm, it's tartan and it totally Cher...

That's all for now. Merry Christmas Kids...

The Pride at Trafalgar Studios, Love and a Casual Tom Daley Reference

Two weeks ago marked a first for me. I went to the theatre alone. Not a huge event some might say and indeed I've never been one of those people who are uncomfortable in my own company. If anything I quite enjoy sitting in a cafe alone with a book or wandering quietly around an art exhibition. However, the theatre, something I love to engage with and debate and which warrants necessary social interaction in the interval where a glass of wine and a cigarette - for the dirty smokers still resolutely among us- is part of the enjoyment, I would always prefer a companion.

However, there was just no getting round this one. The Pride at the Trafalgar Studios was coming to the end of its extended run and I could find no friends able to come with me in the last four days. I'd wanted to see it since it opened, even telling my housemate who promptly took her boyfriend and raved about it. So I stomped there alone on a Wednesday night,  ticket-less and hoping that I was right and a last minute cheap ticket would be available and would warrant my 40 minute journey from work. (Since then I have found out that there is a UK tour starting January 14th - details at the bottom)

I was incredibly lucky, not only was there one £10 ticket left - in a box, restricted vision - but once I entered the theatre I was promptly moved to the second row where some seats were spare.

Written by Alexi Kaye Campbell and directed by Jamie Lloyd, the basic premise of the play is two parallel love-stories, two love-triangles if you will, one now and one in 1958. The play explores the changing attitudes to homosexuality and how people love. It uses the same characters as if they had existed now and before and how their lives differed.

From the beginning, the quality of acting was clearly quite extraordinary. That was one of the major gratitudes I took from being able to see this play. From Harry Hadden-Patton's portrayal of the repressed, shamed, married Philip in 1958 and his more relaxed and hurt counterpart is effortless.  With incredible projection, even in his 1958 rages at the more self-accepting Oliver, he loses not one word.

Matt Horne, loved by many on the small screen in Gavin & Stacey, Bad Education and more showed real adaptability in three small roles as a gay escort, lad magazine editor and a doctor trying to "cure homosexuals". He manages to exhibit wonderful comic timing alongside real emotional moments in a performance which made me want to see much more of him in the theatre.

Al Weaver depicts both versions of his character with great emotional range. Oliver's weaknesses including promiscuity and sex addiction and his temper tantrums which seemed to sprout from self-hatred could be a little tiresome if Weaver did not so successfully weave them with the fragility and idealism of his earlier counterpart. His character, of them all, is so well-merged and recognisable in both it's forms as a reaction to the time. Due largely to Weaver's great talent.

Finally, heavenly Hayley Atwell. Already a favourite of mine in such roles as TVs Upstairs Downstairs and films like The Duchess and Brideshead revisited, she comes alive in the theatre. In the 50s she is Sylvia, the vivacious yet disregarded wife of the unhappy Philip, her sadness, awareness, brave spirit and desire to be loved is heart-breaking to see. Her modern doppelganger is as vivacious and witty as she, but with an earthiness that is just so attractive. In both modern and old tales, she is relied upon by these men but never the first priority. In the second it seems she has found love. Though we never meet him. He stage presence throughout brings a light to the production as she personifies the gilded survivor, adapting and adapting to extract the most from life. Always caring about others. A beautiful actress - I love her.

One of the last scenes in the play involves the modern versions of the separated Philip and Oliver alone on a picnic blanket trying to work out their differences,in the midst of Gay Pride as the crowds parade around them. Whilst in the fifties final scene we see a meeting between Sylvia and Oliver as she reveals she is leaving Philip as she wants to be loved and it is just so sad.

With the recent backward movements of Putin's Russia, the play is very relevant. In fact we are pointed towards this at the end as the cast bring on placards reading "To Russia, With Love." Indeed it certainly  illustrates the immense changes that have occurred in the last 50 years.

And what this play is really about is love. About being allowed to love honestly. How rare love is and how treasured it should be and how it has its difficulties, no matter the sex, age, religion, nationality. The ability to love and be loved is what makes us human and whoever we should choose to fall for matters little as the process itself is both elating and difficult and frightening. Yet is a gift, we alone have. Why make it more difficult by judging whom people fall for. It is a minefield for us all.

In the two weeks since I saw this play, the country and the world has reacted outwardly with mostly positive delight to the revelations by teenager diver, Tom Daley that he is dating a man. In his YouTube confession, one of the points he made was that "it shouldn't really matter" and he's right. It was a brave action because of the way he chose to do it, not because of who he chose to date. Love is about the person after-all. The reaction to this event has proved that our country at least has generally become more accepting of that which is not considered "normal".

However, the recent documentary, Out There presented by Stephen Fry, which looked at what it's like to be gay in various places around the world, which range from a non-acceptance of homosexuality to complete abhorrence, it is obvious, we still have a long way to come. We are all responsible for that. We are all responsible for fighting for love.

So have Pride in love, I say to all. None of the rest of it matters.

The Pride was at the Trafalgar Studios until November 23^rd  

A UK tour begins January 14^th - 1^st February visiting Brighton, Manchester and Richmond with Naomi Sheldon taking Hayley Atwell's role as Sylvia. All other actors remain in the same roles.

Images (c) The Trafalgar Studios and Marc Brenner

Where Do You Go to My Lovely... Vintage Home Shopping

A little pop-up vintage shop called Peekabo - the Vintage Emporium has made its way onto Chiswick High Street, near my work. It sells all the fur and sequins, costume jewellery and expensive dresses made for the very small, very thin people of yesteryear. Items I covet and could never afford. However it also sells the most fabulous home and garden items, which are much more reasonably priced.

Since I have owned a house, I have been a very apt to by art and artifacts and eclectic items for decoration and deliciousness. I have an eye for anything old or attention-seeking and my taste is part French Provence Villa and part exposed brick New York Loft Apartment with a little English Country Garden, oh and a smattering of punk thrown in...

Here are my picks from the pop-up...

This was a vintage letter box, something I've always seen in American films and always wanted and it was red. Of course I couldn't have it in Battersea where EVERYTHING gets pilfered if you leave it for half a second, but for my future country cottage and as an indoor piece of furniture prior to that. I think it was about £125.00, I can't remember as I stupidly forgot to write down any prices.

Rule Britannia (1/2). I love a Union Jack and this is a perfect size for a very empty space in my living room. It could equally be footstool or low table or seat.. Again no prices.. but I think around £100.00.

There were two lots of stone garden lions.. mini ones obviously. The top ones are obviously more detailed and were more expensive at £90.00 a pair but the bottom ones were so cute faced and a snip at £80 a pair. #WANT and might actually buy these.

Just a really beautiful phone (£55). Does absolutely nothing that we expect phones to do these days. Probably wouldn't even work. I just thought, how decadent to actually plug a phone into my land line and answer it wearing a black silk robe and drinking whisky-on-the-rocks whilst playing Where Do You Go To (My Lovely) on a record player..... 

Lots and lots of lovely trunks... Various prices

A scary interlude.... Hope you're not reading this before bedtime :)..... Seriously, I hate antique dolls, they are always terrifying. I think it is because an Indian friend of mine at prep school (often Indian dolls have long nails) told me a horrible ghost story about a doll who scratched her owner to death when she stopped playing with her. Nightmares for weeks...

Rule Britannia (2). The throne I want....

Or this shiny silver stool when I feel like sitting lower.....

Yes, I like Tobacco posters...

The day's soft porn and barely a flash of nipple. Aaah the innocence and some wonderful poetry and subtle innuendo to accompany it....

"I'm angling for a special fish
You may join me if you wish
Don't you think this bait is fine
To hook a sinker for my line"

If you want to visit Antique Emporium and pick up one of these darlings, you can find them here until further notice:
Vintage Store · Antique Store
246 Chiswick High Road, W4 1PD London, United Kingdom
07974 761212

Plus if you are in Chiswick and in the mood for antiques, reclaimed or vintage furniture, you must visit The Old Cinema, another gem.
The Old Cinema - http://www.theoldcinema.co.uk/
160 Chiswick High Road
London W4 1PR
020 8995 4166
sales@theoldcinema.co.uk
Open 10am-6pm Monday to Saturday, 12-5pm Sunday

Happy Shopping!

WhatsApp of the Week: 1 - On Women, Men and Sex in Your Twenties

So I have realised for a wannabe-wit, my blog has not been that funny. Mostly serious I think I'm well cultured kind of posts with snippets of philosophical musings and my own brand of wordiness. So I am introducing a regular feature called... WhatsApp of the Week to cheer things up a bit.

It will be interesting/funny/weird conversations I have had with my friends over the previous week. Some times with background, sometimes not. 

Please take it as lightly as it is meant. I like to consider myself slightly above average intelligence and a very open, non-judgemental, in fact quite liberal in most ways type of person. However, the banter you have with your friends on instant messenger is not always thought completely through and I am usually looking for a quick judgement or a cheap laugh. #sorrynotsorry. See, I used to be a language nazi and now I use hashtags and digital phrasing. Whatever. Also, I will keep all the convo in, except names and similar.

This first one is between myself and my theatre-date friend. It all started with an email.

This is a snippet of said article in the Telegraph:

 

And blah blah on it goes..you should know that we are 27- so a little older than this..

Here is the conversation we managed to have over this. I think we made a complicated issue quite light work ;)...

Until next time...