Cultural Quality Control: a free, weekly ezine featuring the best gigs, theatre,art, clubbing and comedy in London.
Listening Post
'Listening Post' is split into seven separate scenes, each one
displaying uncensored samples of text lifted from live internet
chatrooms. Constantly shifting, this work highlights both the beauty
and the spontaneously sprawling aspects of the internet, and, indeed,
of much of the modern world. read on
Mary Goes First
A festive slice of social satire at the Orange Tree this Christmas sees
a revival of Henry Arthur Jones' social-climbing farce, which is sadly
as fresh and relevant today as it was in 1913. It belongs to a rich
tradition of class-obsessed satires which includes Spoonfed favourites
To The Manor Born and Keeping Up Appearances. Mary Winchello and... read on
Design Cities
A major new show at the Design Museum examining the development of
contemporary design through the contributions of seven important
cities. From the 1851 Great Exhibition in London to Adolf Loos in
Vienna in 1908, the Bauhaus in Dessau in 1928 and Le Corbusier's Paris
of '36. Then on to Charles and Ray Eames in LA in 1949, Milan in 1957
and Tok... read on
Peter Pan
Hmmm. Leslie Grantham returns to panto this Christmas as Captain Hook
in the Beck's celebrity-studded version of Peter Pan. Hopefully
there'll be no repeats of his online finger-sucking exploits behind the
scenes... he could do himself a nasty injury with that hook. (Although
it's alleged he dressed up as the self-same character during the
ori... read on
Turning the Season
Just a bit wacky, or totally brilliant? A bit of both, we think. This
winter The Wapping Project is celebrating the Season, darling: the
Great British countryside, tweeds and twelve-bores, mallards, polo,
debs and racing. And good god, are they going the whole hog! There's a
hundred bird houses filling a tree, an installation of porcelain deer
... read on
The Barbie Stand-Up Show
The Barbie Stand-Up show might sound like a load of dumb blondes mincing in front of a mic but you'd be wrong - this is beautiful girls being funny and often giving shockingly honest insights into to their careers and life in London. Comediennes come from all kinds of backgrounds such as banking, lap-dancing, glamour-modelling and fashion-modelling... read on
Pole Dancing Taster
Team Spoonfed recently decided, we really need a pole in the office. For fitness, and entertainment value. That aside, the team at Polestars are the pros when it comes to pole dancing, burlesque and can can lessons. The pole dancing taster offers you a glimpse of what the world of spinning, twisting and arching of backs is all about. Not only for the... read on
Body Worlds
Gunther von Hagens' 3rd Body Worlds exhibition kicks off its world tour at the O2 Arena, with the usual accompanying gawps, gasps and mild controversy. On display are a whole host of human bodies, stripped of their skin so that you can view the internal organs, and then arranged in a range of poses. read on
The Family Reunion
The centre-piece of the Donmar's T.S.Eliot festival is this extended run for his haunting tale about a young man returning to his ancestral home for his mother's birthday. He confides a dark secret from the outside world to his aunt, only to learn the family is itself haunted by demons. Spooky, poetic and completely gripping, The Family Reunion is among... read on
Complicit
Kevin Spacey assumes his Director's Hat once again at the Old Vic for this brand new, contemporary satire/thriller about a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who suddenly falls foul of the authorities and finds himself facing a dilemma of his own creation, in front of the Supreme Court no less. It's Bush's America and suddenly the truth seeking, liberty... read on
Tesco Disco
Featuring a nocturnal art salon, live performance and truly unique electronic soundscapes, terminal fashionistas TescoDisco aim to make Wednesdays a special sonic and visual experience. With a different theme each month; different curators will showcase works that upholds the night's manifesto: the creator being a true artist; producing works of honesty... read on
Alexis Dubus: A Brief Ruddy History of Swearing
It's big AND it's clever. Fables, facts and funnies about our favourite four-letter friends. This show went down incredibly well at Edinburgh this year and won the 'Three Weeks Editors' Award' for Top 10 Edinburgh Fringe Experiences. read on
Onederland
From Chesney Hawkes to Ini Kamoze, Onederland every Thursday at Trafik celebrates the glorious music of one hit wonders. Expect a smart selection of rare groov oddities, disco classics and obscure indie pop at this switched-on, laid back bar.
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Thank XXXX for Funny Business
Thank XXXX for Funny Business brings you four of the London circuit's best comedians on one billing. These people will have you laughing so hard, you''ll think that you've been subjected to the same gas the Joker uses in Batman.
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Edward Burtynsky: Australian Minescapes
Edward Burtynsky's highly detailed and razor sharp photography has garnered him an international reputation. His works generally focus on places where human activity interrupts the existence of nature: quarries, industrial refineries and shipyards, for example. This exhibition at Flowers East consists of images of mines in Western Australia: the balance... read on
Kimono Krush
The Duchess of Pork and Al Dente, the 'naked stuntmen' behind Sugarlow, take over at the Royal Vauxhall for a night of well chosen music including '60s girl groups, '70s disco, '80s NY no wave, '90s indie and up-to-date electro. DJ duo Readers Wifes are resident guests and being as it's in the tavern, you can expect all manner of surprise cabaret, guest... read on
Chuckle Club Anniversary Special
Now in its 23rd year, the Chuckle Club is the second oldest comedy club
in London, next to the Comedy Store. Held in the LSE student bar, it
consequently has the cheapest drinks you will find at a comedy club and
it attracts some of the biggest comedians on the circuit too. Eddie
Izzard and Al Murray have appeared in the past and recent billings
in... read on
Man Make Music
After a couple of years throwing parties around London, ManMakeMusic settles down for the winter at The Last Days of Decadence. The night has a reputation for forward-thinking, bass-heavy music and an open-minded attitude to programming, two things carried over to the new residency. Over coming months you'll be able to see a variety of top-class DJs... read on
Sin City
Grab your Jack Daniels wife beater and that bottle of Southern Comfort
and head down to the Phoenix if your feeling a bit of rootin-tootin
country action. Playing some of the best Southern Rock and
country tunes ever to crawl out of Nashville, this is more fun than a
Motorhead convention. read on
Darwin
Charles Darwin's voyage aboard HMS Beagle was one of the most significant journeys undertaken in recent times. It was via the Beaagle that Darwin was able to visit the Galapagos Islands and from there begin to form the basis of what became his theory of evolution. 2009 represents 200 years since Darwin's birth, and that - combined with the Richard Dawkins... read on
Too Much Is Not Enough
Gosh, they're a greedy bunch over at Transition Gallery. Apparently 'Too Much Is Not Enough' - I mean, will they never be satisfied? Probably not. Anyway, 'Too Much Is Not Enough' is the title of their first exhibition of 2009 and features work by five contemporary artists, including Sarah Doyle and Cathy Lomax. It's all about exploring fame, fans and... read on
Hussein Chalayan @ Design Museum
22nd Feb 2009
Hussein Chalayan is one of the major figures in the contemporary
fashion world, his name synonymous with wacky conceptualism,
technological wizardry and unparallel...read on
The Indian Wants the Bronx @ The Young Vic
7th Feb 2009
Two wise-cracking kids pick on a new arrival in New York City in a
short, nasty and brutal period piece from the late-'60s that still
rings true today. Murph a...read on
The Unexpected Items @ Hen and Chickens Theatre
13th Feb 2009
Fresh from a successful tour of America, The Unexpected Items descend
upon the Canal Cafe to present an hour of sketches, monologues and
musical revue. Expect ...read on
Macbeth @ National Theathre, Cottesloe
20th Feb 2009
Carl Heap returns to the National with another child-friendly
adaptation of Shakespeare, this time slimming down the Scottish play to
just over an hour and renderi...read on
Warhammer Club @ Stoke Newington Library
10th Mar 2009
5000 points of Eldar against the dark lords of beyond the universe? The
battle-lines are formed and the only question is: who wants it more? Quake
beneath the mig...read on