The Tricycle wears Prada

The Tricycle is a proud little arts centre, a beacon of quality off-West End theatre and independent cinema alike, and a real treasure that we’re lucky enough to have on our collective doorstep. In recent weeks, I’ve experienced a whole host of cultural delights there, including the films Agora, Four Lions and Clash of the Titans, and the “rock’n'roll Shakespeare” theatre production of Twelfth Night. Fortunately for me, I’ve been able to take advantage of the Tricycle’s many special offers: Monday night films for £5, Thursday and Friday matinees for £4 (including a free cup of tea!), and free theatre for under-26s.

I’m therefore sorry to have to inform you that the Tricycle is now selling its soul to the Devil – you know, that geezer with all the Prada. Yes, I know, it’s hard to believe, but believe you shall as you learn that from next Friday, May 28th, the main feature film on show will be Sex and the City 2: Carrie’s Revenge (working title). Not only this, but from the first showing of said cinematic abomination, the cinema’s prices are being hiked: the Friday matinee is going up to £5.50, and the regular price is going from £8 to a whopping £9.50.

I just hope that this is the Tricycle’s way of saying “serves you right” to those shameless people who will be attending screenings of SATC2, and that order will eventually be restored, both in terms of the cinema’s listings and its prices.

I should probably mention, for those of you who quite like the idea of 146 minutes of torture, that the Tricycle has organised a couple of special evenings in honour of the Dark Lord’s return. The first is a grand gala event that Satan himself, aka Kim Cattrall, shall be attending, on Friday 28th May. The price of £24 includes a complimentary cocktail, the movie itself and a Q+A session with Kim. The second is a Cocktails & Cupcakes night, on Wednesday 2nd June, which presumably does what it says on the tin, with the baking bit taken care of by the elves in the Bake-a-boo kitchens.

If you plan to go on any other night, I suggest you arrange to drink some cocktails beforehand anyway. Well, you wouldn’t want to watch the film sober now, would you?

They think it’s all over… And they’re right, it was, like, a week ago

Almost a week has passed since the results for Hampstead & Kilburn came through. It’s taken about this long for the adrenaline to drain from my body and my internal clock to tick tock its way back into shape after pulling an election all-nighter, but I’ve finally processed what has happened, and as the new coalition Cabinet concludes its first formal meeting, I feel ready to reflect on last week’s events.

One undeniable fact is that our part of North West London offered some of the most exciting battles of anywhere in the country. The new constituency of Brent Central was the only seat contested by two standing MPs: Sarah Teather of the Lib Dems and Labour’s Dawn Butler. It was a close run thing, but it was the former who eventually won on the night – or the following morning, to be precise.

In Hampstead & Kilburn, despite all three major parties telling us that it was a two horse race between one or the other of them, it turned out to be the most exciting three-way election extravaganza of them all. Chances are, of course, that you already know the result, but just in case you’ve been visiting relatives on the planet Zorg – and I hear it’s nice this time of year – it was as follows: After some drama involving errant ballot boxes and an excruciating re-count in the wee hours of Friday morning, the nail-bitingly close result was that Glenda Jackson held her seat, defeating Tory challenger Chris Philp by a mere 42 votes. Ed Fordham ended up coming third, less than 900 votes off the pace which, in general election terms, is pretty darned close. So in the end, the bookies, the pundits – even the bloggers! – got it wrong. Alas! How I wish that I’d put a cheeky fiver on Glenda to win; I’d now be sipping mojitos on a beach in Cancun…

The irony is that whilst Glenda pipped Ed and Chris to the post here in Hampstead & Kilburn, it is these two whose parties now govern our green and pleasant land. (Forgive me, by the way, if that doesn’t seem ironic to you, but I attended the Alanis Morissette school of irony, you see).

So congratulations are in order to Glenda Jackson MP, but I’d like to extend these to all the candidates who stood here – except that BNP woman – for leading such vigorous and passionate campaigns. I’m sure this won’t be the last we hear of such historic figures as Chris, Ed, Tamsin, Bea et al. In politics terms they’re all still young’uns (ish), and I for one look forward to seeing what larks they get up to in the future.

Out with the old, in with the new