Tag: Rob Young

Shopping And F***ing by Mark Ravenhill, Queen’s Theatre, Then Dinner At Mr Kong, 28 February 1998

This play/production had enjoyed rave reviews and lengthy transfers. Unusually for us, more than a year after it first came out, we decided to book it and see what it was like.

We’re not usually shrinking violets as far as “no holds barred” serious theatre is concerned, but we found this play intolerable. Perhaps our emotions were heightened by the recent shock news about Janie’s twin, Phillie, whose radical cancer surgery had taken place a couple of week’s earlier.

My logged verdict:

Ghastly – we walked out at half time.

Charles Spencer was pretty plain about the piece in The Telegraph:

Shopping Spencer TelegraphShopping Spencer Telegraph 03 Oct 1996, Thu The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Paul Taylor in The Independent, similarly:

Shopping Taylor IndependentShopping Taylor Independent 03 Oct 1996, Thu The Independent (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Nicholas de Jongh had warned the world in The Standard but still voted it good:

Shopping de Jongh StandardShopping de Jongh Standard 02 Oct 1996, Wed Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

We should have listened to my friend, Michael Billington:

Shopping Billington 1 of 2Shopping Billington 1 of 2 03 Oct 1996, Thu The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com Shopping Billington 2 of 2Shopping Billington 2 of 2 03 Oct 1996, Thu The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Mercifully, after walking out early, Mr Kong gave us sanctuary more than an hour earlier than our booking.

Borrowed from www.allinlondon.co.uk

At that time, along with Fung Shing, one of our favourite up market eateries in Chinatown, this is yet another fine place that didn’t make it into the 2020s.

Blue Heart: Heart’s Desire & Blue Kettle by Caryl Churchill, Royal Court Downstairs At Duke of York’s Theatre, Followed By Dinner At Nobu, 4 October 1997

Our take on this:

Interesting (weird) evening. Programme missing – only insert sheet.

Actually the programme might turn out to be a play text which might turn up somewhere on my bookshelves.

I wouldn’t mind reading these plays again. This was Caryl Churchill in impenetrable mood.

Gabrielle Blunt, Jacqueline Defferary, Karina Fernandez, Bernard Gallagher, Valerie Lilley, Mary Macleod and Jason Watkins, directed by Max Stafford-Clark.

Paul Taylor in The Independent was impressed:

Blue Heart Taylor IndyBlue Heart Taylor Indy 25 Sep 1997, Thu The Independent (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Nick Curtis from The Standard reviewed it a few week’s earlier in Edinburgh, also finding it good:

Blue Heart Curtis StandardBlue Heart Curtis Standard 22 Aug 1997, Fri Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

We are all agreed them – weird but good.

Dinner At Nobu

Then on to Old Park Lane Nobu for dinner. That place was the latest “in place to dine” back then, so we were keen to try it. Who’d have thought that, 25 years later, the signature black cod in miso dish would be something we can obtain from our local (Japanese) fishmonger and serve at home?

This was a couple of years before the Old Park Lane Nobu became infamous for Boris Becker’s broom cupboard romp and many years before Boris ended up in jail.

In 1997, Nobu had just opened to rave reviews. Here’s Fay Maschler in The Standard:

Nobu Maschler StandardNobu Maschler Standard 25 Feb 1997, Tue Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Helen Fielding in The Independent also waxed lyrical in amusing fashion about Nobu

Nobu Fielding IndyNobu Fielding Indy 09 Mar 1997, Sun The Independent (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

That was a lot of sensory stimulation for one evening – Caryl Churchill followed by Nobu. My guess is that Janie was very keen to try the place but could only get a late evening booking, so it sort of made sense to go after theatre.

To add to the excitement, we did it all again (in terms of theatre followed by dinner out) the very next day:

Look, Europe! by Ghazi Rabihavi, Almeida Theatre, Followed By Dinner At Granita, 5 October 2007