ROBIN EDWARDS

London

Ruby Wax – I’m not as well as I thought I was

To say Ruby Wax has had a tough time of it would be an understatement. Half way during a six month long sabbatical to find herself, she had a nervous breakdown and ended up in a mental health clinic. This semi-autobiographical stage play based on that experience opens with the distinctive tapping sound of Ruby receiving rTMS therapy to treat her depression. This was slightly triggering for me as I have also had this therapy a few years ago and the sound instantly hit me and put me back there, This is a one women play that Ruby has toured around the country and this was the opening night of her London run. As such there was quite a few of Ruby friend’s and well-known faces in the audience, just in front of me was the comedian Mark Watson.

After the show Ruby Wax came back on to the stage and did a Q&A with the audience. A microphone was passed round and there was some really interesting questions. Towards the end I also got to ask a question and ended up asking several follow up questions and getting into quite a deep conversion with her. Was super interesting, afterwards a girl came up to me to talk to me about rTMS which she had also had treatment for. She has been too nervous to ask a question so she thanked me for asking what she had also wanted to ask and we discussed our mutual positive experience with the treatment.

I also got to meet Ruby at the stage door and chat and have a selfie with her. Randomly this was not the night I saw her, but the following day after as I was passing to have dinner at the Ivy. She remembered me and my question and she was very friendly and lovely. Ruby was running a free group mindfulness event a few days later at the theatre as part of her Frazzled Cafe scheme that I really wanted to got to, sadly because of work I couldn’t make it, but I really want to give it a go at some point.

 

Florence Italy

On Saturday morning after a delightful few days in Pisa I went to meet my friend Andrew in Florence. The train was a breeze – direct, on time and took only a hour. I arrived just after lunch and in time to meet another mutual friend, Mark, who was flying back to London that day. Also joining us for the weekend was Andrew’s doctor friend, Yasmin. Andrew had booked the hotel, The Social Hub, which while slightly out of the centre of Florence, was close to the train station and had the big bonus of an amazing rooftop pool overlooking the magnificent Florentine skyline.

Rooftop pool Florence

As soon as we had checked in we all headed straight to the pool, we then very quickly got on the drinks. The bar was shockingly out of Aperol, so instead of our usual spritzes we went for a similar local Aperol alternative called Select, which was actually equally as lovely and dangerously easy to drink, and we got very merry by the pool enjoying them. I almost feel a bit sorry for the other people at the pool as we were extremely excitable and possibly a little loud as we caught up with each other after not seeing each other in years. It was a lovely afternoon, but we may have slightly overindulged. I had booked a special restaurant that evening to celebrate our first night and we were pretty refreshed by the time we got to dinner and very so by the time dinner had ended! We had a couple of post dinner drinks afterwards, but we were knackered by that point, so we got an Uber back to the hotel and crashed. Yasmin stayed with us to til the end of the weekend, before she has to return to the UK and sadly back to work. We spent a bit of time sightseeing around Florence, but mainly we relaxing by the pool til Tuesday when we got the train down to Naples. 

Italy

Pisa Italy

I was going to Italy meet my uni friend Andrew who lives in Australia now, but who was visiting Europe for the summer and who I’d not seen for over six years in Thailand. I was meant to be meeting him in Florence, but direct flights were really hard to find, I think maybe because it’s quite a small airport. Anyway Pisa is less than an hour away by train and did have flights, including availability on points in business class which was a surprise. Finally using some of my much accrued Avios I booked a reward flight for a few days before meeting Andrew and spend two nights exploring Pisa. I’d never been before to Pisa, though randomly I had passed through on a train many years ago and briefly saw the famous tower from the window.

After a pleasant start to my holiday and a hour or so in the BA Galleries Lounge at Heathrow, I arrived on time in Pisa early evening and booked a cheap, but unremarkable hotel via Booking.com. Pisa is very walkable and the main sites are all together in the Piazza del Miracoli, a walled 22 acre compound in the very centre of the city. This is where you will find the Pisa Cathedral, the leaning tower (officially the cathedral’s campanile or bell tower) and the baptistery. You have to pay to go up the tower and inside the baptistery, but the cathedral is free to go in, you just need to a timed ticket from the clearly signed posted office near the entrance to the compound. If it is busy (which i imagine it will be) I recommend doing this as soon as you get there and then admiring the view while waiting for your Cathedral entrance time. I resisted the temptation to do one of those silly holding up the tower pictures that many other people were taking, but i did take this quick selfie.

Leaning tower of Pisa

Afterwards I went to a “in the know” hidden little cafe with an amazing view of the tower inside the Museo Opera del Duomo. Although accessed via the museum, you don’t have to pay for entry if you’re only going to the cafe. Enter the museum and then head up the stairs or lift directly to your left and on the second floor is the Bistrot Dell’Opera, a beautiful covered terrace with stunning views of the tower. It’s not actually that secret so you may need to wait a few minutes for a table, but they do very good coffee, a decent lunch menu and a selection of cakes. It is also license,  so you can enjoy something a bit stronger as well if you wanted.

A short 10-15 minute walk away from the main piazza is Tuttomondo, a mural created by the American artist Keith Haring in 1989. It is located on the rear wall of the Sant’Antonio Abate church. It is the last public mural he produced before his death from AIDS-related complications in 1990.The mural depicts 30 figures painted in Haring’s signature cartoon style with an overarching theme of peace and harmony. It took a week to complete and is one of the few outdoor public works created by Haring that was meant for permanent display.

Tuttomondo
London

Cruel Intentions: the 90’s musical

I was obsessed with the film ‘Cruel Intentions’ when I was a teenager, I thought it was so cool the New York Upper East side, the clothes, the car (a vintage jaguar xk140 roadster) but most of all I was taken by Sebastian Valmont, the character played by Ryan Phillippe. I even ordered a pair of lookalike sunglasses from a then small internet start-up called ‘As Seen on Screen’ several years before they rebranded as simply ASOS and became the internet clothing giant they are today. This was several years before ‘Gossip Girl’ came to our screens so it was my first introduction to the glamorous lifestyle of the Manhattan elite. The film is a modern retelling of the classic French novel ‘Les Liaisons dangereuses’ and the cast is superb with Sarah Michelle Gellar, Reese Witherspoon and Selma Blair among others. It really is a excellent film and one i have watched countless times. It’s currently free to watch on Amazon Prime in the UK and if you haven’t seen it i can highly recommend.

Anyway suffice to say when I first heard they were going to be doing a musical version of the film and was coming to London I knew I had to go. I went with my favourite gay networking group ‘It’s culture innit’. It was at The Other Place Theatre, one of my favourite London theatres, as because it is a newer built venue has brilliant sights lines and no annoying pillars or blind spots blocking the view of the stage. I’ve previously been to see my friend Giles in the Nigel Slater play ‘Toast’ there.

 

Cruel Intention: The 90’s musical

 

‘Cruel Intentions: the 90’s musical’ is a jukebox style musical and included many of the songs used in the film, the soundtrack of which by the way is brilliant and another favourite of mine. The end scene of the movie where they use the Verve song ‘Bittersweet Symphony’ is iconic and one of the best bits of the whole film. They also cleverly slotted it many other late 90s classic pop songs including some Backstreet Boys, N’sync, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera. The introduction of TLC’s ‘No scrubs’ and Natalie Imbruglia’s version of ‘Torn’ were particular favourites. I was interested to see how closely they stuck to the story/ script of the movie and they really did, as someone who can pretty much quote the entire movie verbatim, this was excellent, though i did notice they cut some of the slightly less PC words out. The two main stars Daniel Bravo as Sebastian and Rhianne-Louis McCaulsky as Kathryn were both superbly cast. The whole thing was funny, nostalgia filled and I utterly loved it from start to finish. Amazing film, amazing musical adaptation, brilliant.. It’s only on til the end of May, so grab your tickets while you can. I’m genuinely tempted to go back and see it again.

London

Witness for the Prosecution

I love a good Agatha Christie murder mystery. Witness for the Prosecution has been on at County Hall in London for quite a few years now and I’ve been wanting to see it for ages, so with the ‘Get into London Theatre’ January sale on I couldn’t resist.

The play is staged in what was the main council chamber of the old London County Council, later the Greater London Council, that was famously led by firebrand Ken Livingston and then eventually scrapped by Margaret Thatcher is the 1980s. It is a beautiful Edwardian baroque space and was perfect for the play. As it was built as a former council chamber and not specifically a theatre, it also meant that there was much more leg room that normal and even a little fold out table in front of me, perfect resting spot for a cheeky G&T.

Without giving too much away or any spoilers I can tell you the play revolves around a trial of a young man accused of murder. This being an Agatha Christie there is of course lots of twists and turns in the story. Being a fan I sort of guessed the ending, but nevertheless I thoroughly enjoyed it and would highly recommend.

Witness for the Prosecution
Witness for the Prosecution