Reviews

TONIGHT’S TV: 1980’S LOO, BBC4 9.00PM

First episode of a new historical reality show that asks if we’ve become complacent with modern shitting. Can a 21st century family handle going to the toilet in the 1980’s? This week Mum Diana objects to the avocado bathroom suite, and Dad Phil finds the bath is full of Rubiks cubes.

THEATRE: WINDOWS 3.1 THE OPERA

First performed in 1992, this modern day revisiting of Windows 3.1 is not so much of a command performance but a command line argument. It is certainly true to say that it’s slow – it takes a long time to start – but after this long, seemingly endless wait, we are treated to a simultaneous performance of two or more tasks. The set, whilst small, is quite charming – a limited colour palette and an almost block-like appearance give it a certain naiveté. The major problem this reviewer found was the slightly baffling and very abrupt end – once the stage was full and everything seemed to have picked up pace, the performers seemed to freeze until a stage hand pulled the plug out at the wall and the theatre was plunged into darkness.

BOOKS: Meet Me In An Alleyway by F. Spencer Pliers

The latest work form the author of “I’m Naked In Your Garden” is less of a book, and more of photocopy of a scrawled note given to a girl in a chemists by an eerie regular customer. The handwriting may be difficult to read at times – and some would argue the doodle of a kitchen knife is very distracting. Nonetheless, I found it the perfect reading material whilst waiting for a bus, or for the time it takes the fizz in a can of cola to die down. They make pop so fizzy these days don’t they? It gives me such terrible wind. I hardly know where to point myself at times.