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An awesome and ridiculous film that leaves you thrilled beyond the point of your natural endurance
2012
Theatre
The show has suddenly become quite wonderful, and the galvanising factor is the terrific stage debut of Melanie C
Blood Brothers
Music
The British pop music industry may be eating itself but if Muse are the pick of what it can offer the world in 2010 then British music is in rude health indeed
Muse
I was smitten by both Gilberts enormous luxuriant moustache and the intelligence and nuance of this highly entertaining play
I totally recommend Babbo to anyone who is looking for really good and traditional Italian food
Always been a fan but never seen them live. I was ecstatic to be part of this epic event. WOW!
London,
Fiona Mountford's rating
Reader rating
Dir: Fiona Laird.
Cast: Nigel Harman, Reece Shearsmith, James Dreyfus, Robert Portal, Ben Caplan, Mary Stockley
Description: A group of Cambridge students launch a literary guide, which they hope will carry the group into years of friendship. The years pass and they find it hard to stay true to their ideals. Comic-drama by Simon Gray.
Trains: Tube/BR: London Bridge 
Phone: 0207907 7060
Website: www.menierchocolatefactory.com
Extra info: Food, Pub
Student start-up: Stuart (Robert Portal), Martin (Ben Caplan) and Nick (Reece Shearsmith) pursue the Pursuit beyond the point of reason
Maybe things were different back in 1984. Maybe audiences then believed that the launch of an unashamedly highbrow literary magazine — the subject of this gently wistful Simon Gray drama, amiably revived — was the beginning of something beautiful. To the cynical minds of 2008, it’s merely a question of when, not if, the whole enterprise will go belly-up.
We don’t hold out huge hopes for the youthful idealism of its Cambridge undergraduate founders either. All manner of works — Merrily We Roll Along, Peter’s Friends, The Glittering Prizes — have stressed repeatedly that student dreams take a battering as life intervenes. Through five scenes, ranging from 1968 to 1986, Gray confirms this thesis in a pleasant if unstartling manner. The six collaborators on the eponymous, Granta-esque journal proceed to do much what the brief sketch of them as students suggests they will. Nothing tremendously dramatic happens. There are no particular fallings-out.
Frustratingly, it takes until after the interval for Fiona Laird’s production to settle into itself. Prior to this, Stuart, Marigold, Martin, Humphry, Nick and Peter, whom the cosy set-up suggests we will get to know intimately, remain first drafts of characters rather than final proofs. It’s no help that the actors look too old for their parts until Act Two.
Robert Portal and Ben Caplan do good work in anchoring the central pairing of Stuart and Martin, the men who pursue the Pursuit long past the point of reason. Mary Stockley tries hard but struggles with the fact that Marigold is increasingly defined by the job interviews she attends. Nick and Peter resolutely remain caricatures; Humphry, quietly gay and fiercely self-critical, fares somewhat better and is portrayed with confidence by a sardonic James Dreyfus. It’s a compliment to everyone involved to say they leave us wanting more.
Until 20 July (020 7907 7060; www.menierchocolatefactory.com).
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
