Category Archives: culture

Getting Crafty @ City&Guilds

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Another high point on the Greater Kennington cultural calendar takes place this weekend and we’re here to tell you about it. City and Guilds in Kennington Park Road are taking part in London Craft week on Friday and Saturday and it looks as if they are hosting a number of free (and we love free) events and demonstrations. 

Various studios around C&GLAS will be open exhibiting a range of crafts and showing how stuff is made. In the paper studio students and tutors will be on hand to show paper related demonstrations and discuss paper conservation. In the printmaking studio, the head of printmaking will be hosting several (sadly now booked) workshops but others will be on hand giving demonstrations of different kinds of printing such as intaglio. We’ve been in this studio, and it is a fascinating space. Outside, students will be giving demonstrations of wood and stone carving and you can even have a go at carving yourself! Apparently there is a carving competition among students as well. This sounds frighteningly dangerous, but somebody losing a half a finger could be interesting nevertheless. 

The press release enticingly mentions a free talk and tasting event sponsored by Fabal Lager (we’ve never heard of them either) on Saturday afternoon which sounds fun. Indeed, we reached out to City and Guilds to see if they were having a launch event featuring free wine and canapés which might just influence our review. Their response was ‘no’, but we’ve picked up the pieces of our shattered dream and moved on with our lives. 

No ticket is required for this event, just turn up. 

Keith Cunningham at Newport St. Gallery

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The latest offering over at the Newport Street Gallery is the work of little known and exceptionally gifted artist Keith Cunningham, who mysteriously gave up painting just a few years after he started. Cunningham was on the periphery of the London Group of artists who among their number included Frank Auerbach and Leon Kosoff and the Group were intrigued by Cunningham’s powerful, if not at times gruesome and sinister, subject matter. 

At least there’s no queue for the toilet

Cunningham was certainly a man with something to say, but not very interested who heard him, as many of these 70 works accumulated in his studio as opposed to being seen. He used a very dark and tightly controlled palette of colours with think coats of impasto, giving the works that are not under glass a 3D element, with the added drama of huge brushstrokes. In this manner he captures commuters, rabbits, and even squid. 

At the moment there is an epic retrospective of Francis Bacon’s work at the Royal Academy (north of the river if you dare) and in way Cunningham’s depictions of blood crazed dogs, skulls, and angst is an interesting counterpoint to the great man’s work. It’s possibly not a coincidence that they’re being staged at the same time. 

As you move through the well organised exhibit Cunningham’s  work begins to tilt more towards abstraction and huge blocks of colour. The painting below is a still life. However, it rather reminded us of Phil from the accounts team when he fell over outside the Tommyfield pub after downing eight pints of cider at our Christmas party. 

‘Keith Cunningham, the Cloud of Witness’ is on now until 21 August at Newport Street Gallery and is totally free. 

Vito Project at the Cinema Museum

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Under the guise of ‘better late than never’ on this, the last day of LGBTQI+ history month, were here to tell you about some interesting films coming up at our very much loved and very much at risk Cinema Museum in Kennington. And by ‘at risk’ we mean ‘we better start going soon or it’s gonna be a Taco Bell’. 

The Vito Project is an LGBTQ+ Film Club which has a series of Spring screenings exploring queer representation in classic Hollywood flicks. The first of these is the Hitchcock Film ‘Rebecca’ with Laurence Olivier. There’s a conversation afterwards and it allows film buffs and their admirers a chance to discuss the coded queer meaning in the film and other films of the era. And there’s a bar in the cinema. It’s on 20 March and tickets can be purchased here. On 1 May the next Vito film will be ‘Tea and Sympathy’ directed my Vincente Minnelli (tickets here) followed by ‘Compulsion’ with Orson Wells on 31 May (tickets here). This will also involve a bar and lively chit chat afterwards.

A couple of Runoff fans went to Vito a dew years ago and confirmed that it’s very thought provoking for anyone interested in film.  The Cinema museum is a wonderful Aladdin’s cave of film and film related ephemera and your ticket allows you to pass through some of the corridors that are usually open only by appointment. And the auditorium is a fun mess of mismatched chairs and sofas. And did we mention the bar? 

Some of the screenings are a bit far from now but this is gives you the perfect opportunity to buy that lovely pocket diary we’re always bullying you into getting. Here’s one in sparkly gold

Getting Classy in Vauxhall

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As amazing as it is, only a few weeks ago none of us had heard of Wordle, Duolingo or, god help us all, Partygate. Now they seem to be dominating our lives at the expense of getting out and going things. If you fancy building those brain cells in a different way, we suggest the upcoming ‘Classical Vauxhall’ series of concerts at St. Mark’s Church in Oval. The press release boldly describes it as ‘a four day festival of live music and song, featuring top artists and four centuries of composers’. By that last comment let’s hope it doesn’t entail digging people out of the ground.

Classical Vauxhall returns on 10 – 13 February and is live after a year of streaming. We had friends who went in 2020 and they described it as both amazing and great fun.  Festival Director and the brains behind it Fiachra Garvey is joined by artists Elizabeth Llewellyn, Kangmin Kim, and Leonard Elschenbroich with pianist Alexei Grynyuk. We actually have no idea who any of these people are – But– we have seen some of their work on YouTube and it’s remarkable. Elizabeth Llewellyn and her great voice are here..

The concept behind these five concerts is to put on shows that are varied, lively, and accessible to people who (like us) are not habitues of the Royal Opera House. Each night is set to a theme, from Love and Loss to Brahams and feature a range of artists doing short pieces. We are particularly fascinated by ‘The Royal Opera House is Burning, Late Night Drag’ on 13 February which bills itself as a ‘classical drag opera like no other’ with works from Les Mis and Wicked.  

Tickets are £22.15 so not exactly cheap, but a great way to support local culture and artists who have probably not had much work for the past two years. And imagine the one-upmanship you can have with your friends who sat at home watching a TV show about Katie Price doing her house up. 

Romeo and Juliet at Southwark Playhouse

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We recently made a visit to the soon to be relocated Southwark Playhouse in Elephant and Castle to see a reworking of ‘Romeo and Juliet’. This production is set in Brixton (a popular neighbourhood south of us) in 1981 with a backdrop of Thatcher, The Specials and Madness. If these names mean nothing to you please ask your parents and feel free to read on. 

In this production the Montagues and Capulets become rival council houses. The presence of pop music has the potential to make the production has the cheesy, but it is subtly done and used in the background. The play sticks almost entirely to the original script, but manages to weave into it a fair degree of humour and levity and the odd bit of swearing and slang. One monologue is delivered while a women is folding laundry and asking audience members to help her. And when talking about Juliet, Paris and Romeo have a bad habit of condoms popping out of their pockets. Exceptionally strong characters are Yinka Awani as a Friar Laurence determined to make a wedding happen come what may, and Fiona Skinner as a hilarious Lady Capulet who at the end of the day just wants to have giant piss up for Juliet instead of a wedding.

This production is part of Southwark Playhouse’s ‘Shakespeare for Schools’ project, will enables over 2000 Southwark kids to see the play for free during a series of matinees, but hopefully with the fucks and shits taken out. This year Southwark Playhouse will be moving to the top of Kennington lane, in the giant and strangely named ‘Uncle’ high-rise. While this has been in the works for ages, we’ve been informed that the move is imminent. 

Romeo and Juliet is on now until 5 February and tickets can be booked here. There are six characters playing 13 roles, so it pays to pay attention. This is a very fast paced production and comes in at 1:45 with no interval, so get a large drink to take in from the very fun café.  And to the bosses at Runoff HQ, we too had a large drink but this counts as a business meeting, like it or not 

White Bear Theatre

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With our New Year resolution of daily marathon walks not quiet going to plan, we’ve decided to pursue our second goal – to attend more theatre. Last night we hopped  over to the White Bear Theatre Pub to catch a play called ‘A Final Act of Friendship’ which kicks off a season of exciting new theatre at our little and oft overlooked local playhouse. 

A Final Act of Friendship concerns two young men who have recently graduated from drama school. Caught in an industry where one ethnicity is favoured over another, it explores aspects of white privilege, alienation, communication and a human desire for connection that transcends race. The story is told in a semi autobiographical manner but does not come across as trying to teach a lesson to the audience. The residual story is that we impose many barriers in getting intimate with people, made all the more graphic when getting close to people has been inhibited over the past two years. 

White Bear Theatre is totally independent and not associated with the Young’s owned White Bear Pub downstairs. Your ticket gets you 10% off food, but we can’t really recommend the food there unless you like your dinner cooked by a sous chef named ‘Mike ro Wave’. Having said that, it is fun to have a drink before the show and peruse the Kennington/Oval/Vauxhall paraphernalia festooning the walls. The theatre itself is a very intimate and almost immersive experience. In fact, on a recent outing the naked people getting gouged with shards of glass on stage seemed almost personal. To make people safe they have reduced seating and the venue is very well ventilated.  

A Final Act of Friendship runs tonight (13 January) and through to Saturday and tickets are still available. This is the first of a whole season of other short plays which are an interesting mixture of new writing, horror, politics and comedy. The tickets are £12 (£10 concessions). These are all one acts so if you don’t like what you’ve seen you can just toddle off home and forget it ever happened. 

A Local Victory

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If it was possible we would buy all of our readers a colourful Christmas gift. Unfortunately, we once again failed to get a bonus this year or any other kind of appreciation from Runoff management. Well, unless you count Monday morning when Phil from finance shouted ‘here’s your lot’ and threw a handful of Quality Street into our cubicles before walking away.  What we can give you, therefore, is a present that will enhance our lives in other ways. 

Lambeth County Court has stood proudly near Kennington Cross for almost a century. It’s functional life came to an end in 2017 and its future was very much in doubt. It was tantalizingly shut from public view after that with the exception of  two occasions, which we chronicled in 2019 and earlier this year. During this time the Duchy of Cornwall, who owns the property, cynically applied for the building to be immune from listing with the plan to convert it into……you guessed it……luxury flats, with the added indignity of an extra floor plopped on top. This would of course entail gutting the building and destroying the original, period courtrooms.  

We’ve always had a passion for the Courthouse, but we’ve given our opinion about planning consent before and let’s just say it took the better part of a year to put that toothpaste back in the tube so we weren’t doing that again. However, to the rescue came the 20th Century Society who gave advice (read, pressure) to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport to list the building and after a great deal of exertion the building was granted Grade II status, ensuing that it will remain intact. We’re happy that the Society used some of our images on their website. 

At the moment part of the building is used as studios for artists affiliated with City and Guilds. In our little crystal ball the Courthouse could perhaps become a gallery or studio space for everyone in the community to enjoy in perpetuity. Everyone needs a place to live, but they also need a place to explore. Merry Christmas……

History and Cameras

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Last weekend our newish MP, Florence Eshamoni, opened the spanking new ‘History Hut’ in Kennington Park close to the tennis courts. Formerly a seating area frequented by gentlemen who like to enjoy an outdoor beverage,  the rest stop has been transformed by the installation of eight boards celebrating the vitality and diversity of our area. The boards cover areas from royalty to hangings, cricket to Chartists, and Van Gogh to WW1. If you are an astute reader you’ll be aware that we have written about many of these things before *collective office high five*.  Well worth a pre-Christmas perambulation to work off those extra calories 

The boards also mention a little known but fascinating tattle of trivia taken from the estates around Greater Kennington. The strange railings that you see around many estates are not actually railings at all, but repurposed stretchers from WW2. They were placed in storage by the Civil Defense Corps until the 1960’s in case of a nuclear (!) attack. We wrote about them in 2019. 

Camera Club

We really know very little about the Camera Club other than it has been there for years and we know very little about it. It is actually one of the oldest photography clubs in the world, and the site in Bowden Street acts not only as a studio but also an exhibit space for members. Until 25 January the gallery is having its annual Winter Member’s Exhibition and it is totally free. The photos offer a poignant overview of the highs and lows we’ve all faced in 2021. The very friendly staff on hand can even tell you how you can become a member yourself if you are the snappy sort. 

X-Mas Fun in Greater Kennington

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We’re here to tell you about FOUR fun upcoming activities to get you feeling festive and optimistic. The first is the North Lambeth Christmas Fair tomorrow (4 December) from 12 to 6.  Set in the stunning grounds of Lambeth Palace, just the venue itself reason to go, as it is almost never open to common folk like us. We’ve never been to this fair, but the press release states that there will be a raffle and big prize draw. Also expect it to involve festive stalls, games, music, local people selling food and wares, and general revelry. While not exclusively, this event is largely geared towards making kids merry and active. So if you don’t have kids you might want to resort to the bar to keep you sane. And if you have kids you might want to resort to the bar to keep you sane. 

Over in Elephant they have a whole range of interesting and fun events taking place at the new, and slightly surreal, Elephant Park. Tomorrow what is being advertised as an ‘Instagrammable Grotto’ event is taking place, which to us sounds like it involves pics of photoshopped subterranean elves with lip implants but  as it also involves kids, hopefully not. There are also Caribbean steel drummers to keep you happy and the lovely independent shops from the now extinct shopping centre for spontaneous gift ideas. A lot more is going on this month if you glance at the website. 

And if all is merriment wasn’t enough, the artistic commune over at Pullen’s Yards in Walworth will be having a studio Open Day all weekend and a good chance to see what they get up to in their studios and perhaps even pick up a unique and quirky gift, like a fork fashioned into a tiara. Perfect fo r a loved or just for us. It is totally free and fascinating. And our mate at the very local Orbit Beers will be there!

And finally, on Wednesday Nine Elms Arts Ministry launched the first window of its giant Advent Calendar. Local artists, schools and community groups have worked together to create 24 Advent windows with support from Wandsworth Council and other sponsors. Sadly, when one of the boxes open it doesn’t reveal a giant Santa that you can bite the arm off of, but instead are highly decorated windows that reveal lovely, local made things one day at a time. The trek starts in Nine Elms and takes you out of Greater Kennington and into Battersea, so you’ve been warned. The route and all you need to know can be found here.

Lambeth Palace Library

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Located at the very pinnacle of the Runoff catchment area, today finally witnessed the opening of  Lambeth Palace Library. Now you might be thinking ‘say WHAT, a nine storey library has just opened in Greater Kennington’ and you can be forgiven for the oversight. The massive structure has been carved out of just 3% of the archbishop’s garden and lies next to Archbishop’s Park, although it’s easy to miss. The structure is a victory of understatement with ponds and tweedy looking brick crosses. This belies the gravity of a building created as a protector of manuscripts and designed as a fortress against the pesky factors that threaten them such as light, water, and humans. However, it is also a museum so today we checked it out for you. As The Guardian did nearing completion last year.

Treasures of the Library 1 is a petite, pop up exhibition in vitrines on the first floor and includes an early Gutenberg bible, brilliantly illuminated manuscripts, a letter about the madness of King George, a bible used at the Queen’s coronation, and something called the ‘Lambeth Apocalypse’. Which, as it turns out, does not refer to Sunday mornings outside of nightclubs in Vauxhall.  The interactive displays on the ground floor are very fun and give you a chance to explore the archive in more detail, as does their website. 

This is a small exhibit but one that will expand in the new year. The variety of displays is endless, so something for that pocket diary that we’re always nagging you about. It is open rather inconveniently Monday to Friday 9 to 5. But it’s free, so there you go. The reading room is also available if you have a pass and require more research. Or if you are even more nosey than we are.