Think about this...Othello, but with the titular role played by a woman, meaning Othello and Desdemona's relationship is a lesbian one.  That's an eye-catching idea and I was keen to see this production by By Jove Theatre Company.

The programme explained the rationale further - within Shakespeare strong female characters are limited - "Your options generally are limited to becoming a mad mother, spending most of your time crying, being driven mad or turning to suicide." This production aims to not only recast Othello but also to expand other female roles, reframing the story. To do this, director and writer SJ Brady has created new text, weaving this into the original play and re-ordering some parts, setting the story in the modern-day British army.

Mondays can be a bit meh. It's the start of the week and for some reason you feel like your bed has some kind of human capturing magnet attached to its underside. Why. Can't. You. Get. Up? After drudging through the day there's not much more to look forward to than laptop catch up TV in that very same-pillowed prison. Well not this Monday night! I was off to see Alice Through the Looking Glass at St. Paul's Church in Covent Garden. And it was a sunny summer's night too. The Iris Theatre production was back at this holy house and its green gardens for their 6th year. I had never been before and having the chance to wander into this grand old building was a treat in itself.

Because we are greedy for Twitter followers (follow us! @SqueamishBikini) we spend far too much time on our Twitter notifications page, just in case we miss something, y'know? We think it makes us appreciate a good Twitter handle all the more, so when @LadyParts_ started following us we were tickled. Because we can be base like that. But when we found out Lady Parts Theatre was interested in providing, well, more lady parts we were interested. The company is based in Liverpool and specialises creating and promoting more roles for women. The company states that: "Women have stories as rich and varied as the stories of men, the only difference - they are not being heard. This is not about sexism - this is about trying to create an even playing field for all theatre professionals to compete on. We work with both women and men at all stages of the process from writers to actors to stage crew."

Let me begin this review by telling you about my previous visits to the carbuncle of the Brighton seafront, The Brighton Centre - the building so ugly they obscured its name in a 'face lift'. There were the work outings to Holiday on Ice orchestrated by my Dad's employers, a pre-teen outing with my mum and sister to see my favourite band eternal (no capitalisation - any true fan knows that) sadly without Louise Nerding (once they are glammed up and slick girl bands are no longer fun are they?), a spontaneous visit with my sister to see The Corrs (on a school night. A school night my teen sister and I spent looking at the audience and asking "who are all these old people?"), family members' graduations and, as of last night, to seeMiranda Hart. 

The subject of miscarriage is not one to be taken lightly. According to the charity Tommy's while it is hard to ascertain an accurate figure, out 1 in 7 recognised pregnancies end in miscarriage, while the incidence of spontaneous (unrecognised) miscarriage is estimated to be 50% of all pregnancies. Paying homage to the old 'if you don't laugh, you'll cry' writer and actress Emma Deakin has written a play on the subject of miscarriage, Expectations directed by Stella Duffy. Expectations deals with the subjects of miscarriage, unplanned pregnancy, IVF, bodies and gay best friends (yes a bit in the style of a Madonna film with Rupert Everett) that allows for both laughter and tears. 

I'm a sucker for a bad pun, so Tits 'n' Giggles started off on a positive note with me. A night of comedy to raise money for breast cancer awareness - really, what's not to like in that sentence?

Well, when I first heard about CoppaFeel! the charity - the gig was raising money for - last year, I wasn't so sure. I've known people who have had breast cancer, and my day job occasionally involves working with people who have or had cancer, and the advertising campaign I saw didn't sit well with me. It used young women, in what seemed like sexualised poses. Is that really relevant to the average person with breast cancer when the usual age of diagnosis is over 50?

About 5 years ago a friend (a member of the Squeamish team in fact) asked me if I had heard of Tim Minchin, and made me watch his live DVD when I said I only vaguely recognised the name. 'He's amazing, I want to run off with him and have his babies' is a massively approximated, family-friendly version of what she said to me as she pressed play. Halfway through the disc, after making her press pause so that I could stop laughing long enough to catch my breath and wipe the tears off my face, I turned to her to insist that she had to share. We could both run off with him, deal?

What I would like to do here is play it cool. So I am not going to tell you about the development of any sort of massive crush, the compulsive purchase of all of his DVDs, finding other versions of songs on YouTube (“these lyrics reference Australia, but those lyrics reference the UK!”), tracking down a copy of the documentary that charts his early career, or standing outside a theatre for ages waiting to meet him for a quick hug, photo and his signature on my programme.

It was a soggy Sunday night when I agreed to meet my friend Rick in Angel for a pint and instead a packet of crisps, some improv. When I got the The Old Red Lion.  It looked like a good hearty pub. Footie on the flatscreen, fruit machine blinding me with its flashing lights and a box office booth next to the men’s toilet. It was a bit of a David Lynch oddity, with a little smiling man with a clipboard nesting inside. We picked up our tickets and right before we ascended the stairs I asked, “So what’s this all about then Rick?” He replied “We’re going to see Music Box
they perform improvised musicals.” Oh dear, I thought, oh dear.  

I was a bit dubious of the whole musical theatre improv thing, I like songs and, hell, I like theatre too. But I am not a fan of awkward silences and narratives that fall flat on their face before they even get to their feet. I was preparing to cringe; Music Box's primary coloured outfits and beaming smiles were already setting off my ‘Glee’ alarm bells.

It’s 1962, in the dressing rooms of the Producers Studio where Warner Bros’ B movies used to be churned out. Two apparently washed up women apply make-up, telephone outrageous demands and reminisce. Bette Davis and Joan Crawford are over as far as Hollywood is concerned, they haven’t had a hit since the 1950s and having committed the heinous crime of crossing the age of 40, this is their last chance to reclaim their former glory. Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?

Time was when Joan Crawford didn’t even have to get out of bed for an Oscar. Bette Davis was rewarded for her lack of vanity and bitch roles with 2 Oscars and 8 nominations. Unofficially this should be at 9 Academy Award nominations; Bette Davis’ role in Of Human Bondage inspired a campaign to have her included. 

Egusi Soup is a West African Soup which is thickened with ground seeds, there is much local variation within the dish. It is also the name of Janice Okoh’s play and centres around a Nigerian family who are packing for a trip back to Lagos. They are travelling back to Nigeria to attend the first year memorial service of their departed father and husband.

Mr Anyia is gone but certainly not forgotten, Mrs Anyia wears a photo of him on her commemorative t-shirt and his absence is made tangible by an empty leather chair in the corner of the room. No-one is allowed to sit on the chair as it has not “even been up to a year” since he died.