Tag: Colin Watkeys

Theatre Stories by Ken Campbell, Cottesloe Theatre, Followed By Dinner At Vong, 18 October 1997

I have long been partial to a bit of Ken Campbell. This one man show comprised “more than a bit” of him, I suppose.

Superb fun.

…was my verdict. I think I got more out of it than Daisy did, but she still liked it a lot.

Patrick Marmion liked it in the Standard.

Theatre Stories Marmion StandardTheatre Stories Marmion Standard 20 Oct 1997, Mon Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Paul Taylor in the Independent was very taken with it.

Campbell Taylor IndyCampbell Taylor Indy 20 Oct 1997, Mon The Independent (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Dinner At Vong

Janie’s thing at that time was for us to go to a posh place for after theatre dinner. This time, we went to Vong at The Berkeley Hotel.

Andrew Lloyd Weber wrote up the place for the Telegraph a few month’s earlier:

Vong Lloyd Weber TelegraphVong Lloyd Weber Telegraph 28 Jun 1997, Sat The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Matthew Fort in The Guardian described the place as too chic and achingly glossy in 1996 when it first opened.

Vong Fort GuardianVong Fort Guardian 24 Feb 1996, Sat The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

I remember finding the food very interesting and the price less scary than Nobu.

Violin Time by Ken Campbell, Cottesloe Theatre, 16 January 1996

This evening – a rare visit to The Cottesloe on a Tuesday evening – was the first time I saw Ken Campbell perform.

I was really smitten with this piece – I found it very funny. I think I got more out of it than Janie did, but she was fascinated enough to want to see more of his work after that.

One of the things that attracted us to the piece, apart from the weirdness of the blurb, which promised us – I paraphrase from various book blurbs available:

“Cathar heretics, a mysterious female French book thief and a Vietnamese violinist who does pig impressions”.

It would be difficult to say no to that, especially as we had booked to go to Vietnam a couple of months later.

Janie and I saw an early preview of the show; it didn’t get reviewed until October but we saw a preview in January.

There is a somewhat tepid Independent review of the piece by Robert Hanks available on-line – here.

Michael Coveney in the Observer liked it, perhaps because he got a name drop:

Coveney on Violin TimeCoveney on Violin Time Sun, Oct 6, 1996 – 76 · The Observer (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

Unusually, it doesn’t look as though The Guardian reviewed it.