Urban Fox - Fun for Free in the City

OK - so there may be 'no such thing as a free lunch', but during the school holidays there is certainly plenty of free fun to be had on London's South Bank...

Yep - the oversized astro-turfed armchairs are back! From now until 11th September, The National Theatre's outdoor 'Square' venue offers a varied programme of free performances including theatre, dance, performance art, circus skills and - well - downright silliness (custard pie throwing!)

To give a flavour of what's on offer - Jacques Tati meets Harold Lloyd in the hour-long silent-caper-scape "The Station".

The innovative production, staged by circus-skills veterans Bash Street harnesses a host of 'silent' slapstick tropes (yes - there are gangsters with violin cases, a stolen Mona Lisa, a demure heroine who gets roped to the train tracks, hi-jinx with a pyramid of luggage and a hapless hero suspended from a clock face).

The silent action is knitted together by uber-accordian-player Julian Gaskell, who from behind the thicket of his handlebar moustache supplies live incidental music, steam jets and imaginative sound effects for the whole team.

The deceptively simple set is a slick machine which brilliantly facilitates the cast's physical comedy - culminating in a live train crash!

Once you've finished laughing... cool off in the 'Appearing Rooms' water sculpture outside the Queen Elizabeth Hall and check out the amazing 'Urban Fox' - a giant-sized straw sculpture from rural Cheshire which peers down quizzically towards Tracey Emin from the roof of the South Bank Centre...

Small but deadly - Lautrec at the Courtauld

A summer gem glinting in the London galleries this season is the excellent Toulouse-Lautrec / Jane Avril exhibition at the Courtauld...

This small top-floor show (tip - pack extra oxygen and wear flats, or prepare to join a long queue for the lift!) focuses on the painter's works featuring Moulin Rouge muse, dancer Avril - notorious for her skeletal frame and erratic bird-like movements.

Of Lautrec, Avril said "Without a doubt I owed him the fame I enjoyed from that very first moment his poster of me appeared."

Lautrec's intense, studied and vibrant works absorb the viewer into the skewed, bohemian world of 1890's Paris.

The exhibition includes sketches and studies for some of Lautrec's most famous paintings and poster-works, giving an insight into his creative energy and composition process.

A major highlight is his iconic 'At the Moulin Rouge' group portrait - on special loan from the Art Institute of Chicago - a dynamically composed homage to the major players in his Montmartre circle.

Speaking of Lautrec's unique rapport with his female models, which shines through in these works, Avril commented "They were his friends as well as his models. He in turn had an uplifting effect on them. In his presence they were just women, and he treated them as equals. When he ate with them, often bringing a party of friends, they held their knives and forks daintily, restrained their conversation, had the feeling of being women of some standing. Lautrec's almost womanly intuition and sympathy shone like a light for them."

There is also a portrait of Avril dancing made by her eventual painter husband Maurice Biais. This offers a fascinating contrast in view of this otherwise familiar subject - a rare and somehow strangely inauthentic glimpse of Avril smiling.

Many historical documents accompany the exhibition (including photographs, playbills and letters) which follow Avril from the genesis of her erratic style - discovered whilst incarcerated in a mental hospital, at the bizarrely conceived 'Madwoman's Ball' - through her rise to fame at the Moulin and subsequent London tour.

To read more about the exhibition click here. To read more about the life of Jane Avril click here.

The show runs until 18 September 2011. Entry: £6 (£4.50 concessions) but admission is FREE on Mondays 10am-2pm.

Behind the Scenes at Sheringham

Thank you to all the Gallery clients who joined us on Monday to celebrate the launch of our brand new art space at Sheringham Little Theatre.

Guests first enjoyed drinks in our new Gallery space before taking a VIP backstage tour with theatre Director Debbie Thompson.

Tour highlights included the hi-tech wizardry (and incredibly tidy cables!) of the lighting booth.

This was followed by an actors-eye-view walk through the set to the dressing rooms for a backstage meet-and-greet with rep stars of the theatre's current production 'Last of the Red Hot Lovers'.

We were then treated to a special performance of the play.

A great evening was had by all, so thanks for coming along and making the event such a success!

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