Review – God of Carnage with Ralph Fiennes at the Gielgud, London

It will come to no surprise to anyone that neither Whinger has sired any little Whingers.

Sadly, Phil is now almost certainly barren, so the patter of tiny cloven hooves is unlikely to be heard in Kentish Town.

Andrew claims to be a godfather; not the horse’s head in the bed variety (Andrew’s much too squeamish for that – remember he’s the one who wouldn’t go and see Equus as he feared seeing imaginary horses having their imaginary eyes poked out) and he frequently makes offers which people find very easy to refuse.

So could the Whingers possibly relate to God of Carnage, a tale of parenthood?

Warning: “Plot” spoiler ahead.

Review-The Lover & The Collection, Comedy Theatre

Where was Andrew?

There’s been a plethora of Pinter recently with a flurry of revivals, rivaled only by George Bernard Shaw coming up on the inside track. So many in fact, that Andrew’s had enough. Having done The Hothouse, Pinter’s People and The Dumb Waiter last year he threw his arms in the air (as he’s wont to do) and inserted his own Pinteresque pause in the proceedings refusing to see any more. Either that or he was taking heed of the Met office’s warnings to “stay indoors”.

So Phil braved the storms and took himself off to the Comedy Theatre to see the Harold Pinter double-bill The Lover & The Collection.

Review – Dealer’s Choice, Trafalgar Studios

The policy of the West End Whingers this year is to take fewer risks by reading the what the critics have to say and then plodding mindlessly in their wake.

So first off for 2008 was a visit to a Saturday matinee of the much acclaimed Dealer’s Choice at the Trafalgar Studios which seemed to have been been received rather warmly:

“Drama that’s as good as it gets” (Dominic Cavendish)
(Lyn Gardner)
(Nicholas de Jongh)

Would it come up trumps or would the Whingers be dealt their usual lousy theatrical hands?

Re-review – Young Frankenstein revisited

The Whingers don’t normally give shows a second chance.

But chance played a huge part in the Whingers’ last night on Broadway.

Scratching around for something to see amid the detritus caused by Local One, and mulling over several options which weren’t really capturing the Whingers’ (admittedly limited) imaginations, they decided to let fate make the decision for them.

Liverpool

When it comes to the achievements of our nearest and dearest, the West End Whingers are pretty much on the same wavelength of Gore Vidal who famously said: ‘Whenever a friend succeeds, a little something in me dies’.