There ain’t nothing like a Dame The work of artist Craig Wylie, who has been shortlisted for this year’s Threadneedle Prize, features in many collections, including a painting of Dame Kelly Holmes at the National Portrait Gallery. see below Out & About People power Tom Adams used slides of inspirational people for his show Still Score. www.tom-adams.co.uk News in brief Genesis free films A SERIES of free films are being shown at Genesis cinema. The Mile End picturehouse is hosting the programme in its Paragon Bar as part of Scalarama, a nationwide celebration of cinema throughout September. Free screenings run on most days from Friday, September 12 until Sunday, September 28. The shows culminate in a daylong event on the Sunday with a BBS Productions showcase that will include seven independent films from America. To reserve your free ticket see www.genesiscinema.event brite.co.uk West End show for East End painter JEWISH heritage in the East End is explored in a new exhibition in the West End. Spirit Recaptured, by Beverley- Jane Stewart, includes a painting titled The Story of the East End. The artist, whose grandparents were immigrants to east London, created the painting after extensive research of the history and culture of the local Jewish community. It features well-known landmarks from the past and present. Spirit Recaptured runs at Trinity House gallery in Mayfair, W1, between 10am and 6pm daily, until September 17. Artist shortlisted A BETHNAL Green based artist has been shortlisted for a nationwide competition for figurative art. Craig Wylie is one of six finalists for The Threadneedle Prize – an annual figurative and representational art contest which has run since 2008. Wylie’s work, called EW (Hood), will now go on display at London’s Mall Galleries this autumn. A £20,000 prize and a solo exhibition for a wider body of work at Mall Galleries next year is on offer for the winning artist. The winner of the The Threadneedle Prize 2014 will be announced on September 23. For more information see www.threadneedleprize.com Fest for those in the know BY JAMES MARTIN A STREET party forms the centrepiece of three days of live music, theatre performances and workshops at this year’s Knowledge Arts Festival. The family-friendly bash is being hosted by Oxford House, the Bethnal Green arts and community centre. On Saturday, September 20 the free party, at the newly opened Pocket Park in Derbyshire Street, runs from 11am until 4pm. Highlights include acrobatic displays from Fulcrum Circus, a live brass band, public art installations and a turn from horticulturalist comedy duo the Green Fingered Gals. Street food will be served from a pop-up café on the day at the site, formerly a neglected dead-end road before it was transformed into a community Tom Adams will be performing at the festival A centenary bike ride from the 130 Views exhibition space by the council earlier in the year. Other draws over the course of the festival include a Friday evening performance of Still Score by Tom Adams. In the show, t he performer traces how people are related to one another through a mix of images, song and comedy. Adams’ life-affirming show starts 7.30pm at Oxford House Theatre and tickets are £10 or £8. Knowledge Arts Festival runs between 5pm and 9pm on Thursday and Friday, September 18 & 19 and between 9am and 5pm on Saturday, September 20. Throughout the month, Oxford House hosts 130 Views at its Oh! Gallery. The exhibition is part of the organisation’s 130th birthday celebrations. To find out more, visit Oxford House’s website at www.oxfordhouse.org.uk/ whats-on or call 7739 9001. ‘If I can walk into a pub with so many memories and now it’s a Ladbrokes, what about someone who’s 50?’ Stepney writer Jonny O’Neill’s debut play, The Royal Duchess Superstore, opens at the Half Moon Theatre in Limehouse this Tuesday, September 9. The play centres on Terry, (played by Mark Wingett, below), an old-fashioned East End geezer who struggles to adapt to life after a 15-year stretch in prison – not least because he finds his local pub has shut down. James Martin spent five minutes with the 28-year-old playwright. How are preparations going for the play? It’s all going well. The cast are lovely people. Karena [Johnson, director] is fantastic. I feel excited now, but it’s nerve-wracking as it’s the first play I’ve had on. Also, the night of my first East- Enders episode will be on during the run. Tell us about the play. It’s about a fella who comes out of prison and expects everything to be the same. Imagine if your whole life revolved around you having a reputation at your pub – like back in the day it used to be. Say you missed 15 years, everything is twice and three times as bad, and you can’t adapt. Where did the idea come from? It was from when I started drinking and the pubs I used to go to shut down. I caught the end of that era. You know, If I can walk down Whitechapel Road as a 28-year-old man and can feel that I’m lost, if I can walk into a pub with so many memories and now it’s a Ladbrokes, what about someone who’s 50? What’s it like if that was your era, and they were your pubs? It’s a local play, but the themes in it run through the country. You mentioned your East- Enders episode [which airs on September 15]. How did you start writing stories for them? Well I don’t actually write the storylines, I’ve just written my first episode – so I have no idea who killed Lucy Beale, unfortunately. I had brilliant support from the BBC writersroom as a result of the play and was lucky enough, timing-wise, to have a successful trial. I’m chuffed to bits with the opportunity to write for such a legendary show. The Royal Duchess Superstore runs at the Half Moon Theatre, E1, from September 9 until 21. Tickets for the 8pm shows (ages 18+) are £14/£12. To book, call 7709 8900. 8 – 14 SEPTEMBER 2014 N E W S F R O M T O WER HAMLETS COUNCIL AND YOUR COMMUNITY 21
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