Lady Boys of Bangkok @ Castle Park

Yesterday, I started the week off right with the Lady Boys of Bangkok. The best therapy to recharge your batteries with a spectacular cabaret show of dance, music, choreography... and great sense of humour! The Lady Boys are a honourable part of the rich cultural heritage of Thailand and for the 17th time, the Thailand's best-known export has come back to Bristol!

This year, the brand new show called Beauties and the Beats does not disappoint. An almost 2-hour show featuring from Grease to The Sound of Music, from Rihanna to Cindy Lauper, from jazz to disco music… everything is accepted and welcome in a brilliant shinny show full of flamboyant costumes. The audience, who is peacefully sitting around round tables, enjoy their drinks and food with their friends until some of them are randomly picked up to be part of the show! Just get on the stage and be ready to be seduced by one of the 16 lady boys! 

You have until next Saturday, 25^th April, to get your tickets (starting from £19.50; students £14.50) and enjoy one of the shows! Shows are at 18:30 and 20:30 at The Sabai Pavilion at Castle Park, which also features authentic Thai food (around £6-7) and a pair of licensed bars, so you won’t even need to worry about cooking the dinner that day! Highly recommended!

Website: http://www.ladyboysofbangkok.co.uk/

Copyright of pictures: Lady Boys of Bangkok

Peter and the Wolf @ Tobacco Factory

I remember the timbre of oboe thanks to Peter and the Wolf. Sergei Prokofiev had the excellent idea to educate children to identify properly instruments such as oboe, clarinet, flute and bassoon by identifying them with the duck, cat, bird and Peter's grandfather in the story. He intended to cultivate the musical tastes in children from the first years of school and yet, it is an excellent piece of music for grown-ups. Now, every time I listen to the sound of the oboe, I see a duck. And every time I listen to the sound of the clarinet, I see a cat... It is that powerful what Prokofiev has done in me.

When I saw that there will be a live performance of storytelling about Peter and the Wolf and other "wild" musical tales, I got very excited. Storyteller Martin Maudsley will be performing a brand-new show that translates the enduring brilliance of Prokofiev's masterpiece into a thrilling interaction between classical music and spoken word storytelling. Even though the instruments will be different to the original ones, I am sure it will be a very beautifully performed imagery show called Little Wolf Gang. Eddy Jay will be playing the accordion, David Adams the bassoon and Fiona Barrow the violin.

Little Wolf Gang will be performed at the Tobacco Factory Theatre from 29th-31st January at 7.30pm (plus the 2.30pm matinee session on Saturday). Tickets are £9 (£7 concessions) and can be bought online on here.  

And if you don't want to go or tickets are sold out, you can always listen to Prokofiev's original version:

MORE INFORMATION

Tobacco Factory Website:
http://www.tobaccofactorytheatres.com/shows/detail/peter_and_the_wolf_and_other_wild_musical_tales/

A little bit of fashion, beauty... and loads of christmas decoration

I went to the Christmas Press Show today. House of Fraser in Cabot Circus invited me and many other fashion and design bloggers to their annual Christmas Press Show today. It took place at Zest Bistro and it was "by invitation only" event (it feels so cool to say it!).

The show was already ready by the time I got there, sharp 6pm. Some of the guests were there but most were not there yet. I had been offered a mulled wine and I went to browse through stands.

Beauty stands were at the very end.  I got my nail polished by a young lady at the Nails Inc stand, who also gave me some advise; I also got a fully revitalising massage in both hands by the very nice girl at the Molton Brown stand (who I hope gets to read this post), and I got the chance to smell Opium by Yves Saint Laurent, which I haven't heard of even though I consider myself a "fraganceaholic".

After the beauty section, I woman showed me around the decoration area.

Since I was a little girl, I have always enjoyed setting up the Christmas decoration at home. The earlier, the better. However, mom didn't allow me to set the Christmas decorations earlier than December, "They are just gathering dust, there!", she used to say. And she was probably right.

House of Fraser exhibited four themed Christmas trees in the show, very different styles, and very different colours. I liked the art-deco style tree in brown and golden colours!

Most of the bloggers actually write about fashion in their blogs, so you will probably get more detailed and specialized review in their blogs.

I was expecting more fashion! There were three evening dresses for very different occasions. Either the black or the cream dress could be used in a fancy dinner while the purple dress maybe not. However, if I had to buy one of the three, I would have bought the purple one. I don't have parties fancy enough to wear the other two! 

What did I get in my goody bad?

• 113g Seville orange marmalade by Mrs Bridgets
• 30ml Amber cocoon liquid hand wash by Molton Brown
• 30ml Patchouli & Saffron body wash by Molton Brown
• 4ml Cream colour nail polish by Nails Inc
• A nail file by Nails Inc
• Spicebomb fragance sample by Viktor & Rolf
• Beige rose foundation sample by Yves Saint Laurent
• Personal invitation for a "complimentary facial makeover" lesson at Yves Saint Laurent

LINKS

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House of Fraser: http://www.houseoffraser.co.uk/

Cabot Circus: http://www.cabotcircus.com/

Nails Inc: http://www.nailsinc.com/

Molton Brown: http://www.moltonbrown.co.uk/

Zest Bistro: http://www.cabotcircus.com/shops/zest-bistro