Thursday 19 March 2015

Omid Djalili

Last night I was out once again, this time seeing the comedian Omid Djalili at Leicester’s DeMonfort Hall. To summarise, it was a thoroughly entertaining experience.

I appreciated a lot of the cultural gags and it was refreshing to witness a mainstream comic, joke about Paralympians and disability in general (take note BBC). To be fair, Omid managed to cover the entire Equality and Diversity policy within his show, yet managed to remain politically correct throughout. He highlighted many serious topics and beliefs in a jovial manner, meaning you were in hysterics, but actually learning along the way. I was slightly concerned for the lady sitting next to me who seemed to laugh at every syllable Omid uttered, I was honestly afraid she might pass out. It also amused me that Calvin (Guide Dog) decided the aisle wasn’t a safe place to lie and shuffled in between the seats, out of sight just before Omid came on stage.

In the final section of the show, Omid answered questions the audience had submitted. It soon became apparent that I was surrounded by mentally unstable people. The way some people think is truly unbelievable. I’m trying to remember an appropriate question, but other than the ‘can Omid wish me a happy birthday’? There really weren’t any. You had to be there to understand my shock. It was great to see Omid react to them in a humorous way, demonstrating that he can be funny on the spot too.

A ‘funny’ night in all senses of the word!

Tuesday 17 March 2015

Adrian Mole

Last week I had the pleasure of going to see a preview of Sue Townsend’s Adrian Mole the Musical at the Curve Theatre in Leicester. Admittedly, I got tickets for one of the preview shows, as it was a lot cheaper. If I’m being completely honest, I didn’t really understand what the significance of a preview was, but now I do, I’m even more pleased I got tickets. It was the first ever performance for the young actor playing Adrian. There are several Adrian Mole’s since they are child actors. The teenager playing Adrian Mole on Tuesday 10 March was simply brilliant, as were the rest of the cast.

Being an avid reader, I had loved The Secret Diary series growing up. Usually, adaptations of books into films or on to the stage are never as good as the written text. This was not the case for Adrian Mole. It was a giggle a minute. The acting was supreme and the songs had the fun factor. If money would allow, I would definitely go and see it again. It’s definitely going to be a West End hit. Go and see it!

The Script

On 3 March I saw The Script play at Nottingham Arena. I have been a massive fan of their music for years, have all of their albums and was excited to finally see them perform live. Labyrinth was listed as the support act, but for some unknown reason it ended up being Tiny Temper who I thought was great.

Overall, I found the gig to be good and I’m glad I experienced it, although it wasn’t as amazing as I had hoped. They sang all of their hits, which sounded of a high quality, but the show lacked something for me. Maybe, when you wait for something for so long you build up such high expectations in your head or maybe it was the unnecessary vulgarisms used throughout. For a band that has produced a collection of inspirational songs, such as Super Hero and Hall of Fame, it was disappointing to hear such uninspiring language when they interacted with the crowd. Just my opinion.