Your Sunday morning best-of-Londonist weekly round-up.
Guest Editor
This week’s guest editor is Michaela Coel, whose play, Chewing Gum Dreams, opens in The Shed at the National Theatre tomorrow, Monday 17 March. Written and performed by Michaela, who spent her childhood in Hackney, Chewing Gum Dreams is a one-woman play that recalls those last days of innocence before adulthood from Tracey Gordon, the 67 bus, friendship, sex, UK garage, school, music, teachers, friendship, periods, emergency contraceptive, arse and tits, friendship, raves, tampons, white boys, God, money and friendship to Aaron, Candice, sex and Connor Jones.
The play premiered at the Yard Theatre in Hackney and won the 2012 Alfred Fagon Award. At the National Theatre Michaela has previously appeared in Blurred Lines and Home, which returns to The Shed later this month. Read on for
Michaela's favourite Londonist articles of the week:
- In Photos: Femme Fierce Leake Street Graffiti Takeover: This was an inspiring initiative to celebrate International Women’s Day and raise money for a brilliant cause, Breast Cancer Care. Check out the video this all female street art team created of their record-breaking graffiti takeover.
- Homelessness in London up 3%: Performing in Home last summer, and preparing to do it again this year, has opened my eyes to the housing crisis in London, especially for young people. There is a difference between homelessness and rough sleeping but even people with temporary housing are facing the worst as funding for social housing continues to be cut.
- London Showoff: 10 Speakers Geek Out About London: Growing up in London, and now living and working here, I love finding out little-known facts about the city I live in. These 10 speakers, who all have just 9 minutes to share their London stories, should be great to listen to at east London venue The Proud Archivist.
- London Book and Poetry Events: 13 – 19 March: I love spoken word and poetry events and, if I wasn’t performing that night, I’d be at Niall Sullivan’s open mic night Poetry Unplugged at the Poetry Cafe.
- Where to Go Climbing: The Best Centres in London: Climbing is a brilliant way to improve fitness, and it’s fun too. A little bit of pain and a lot of fun, like any exercise. It’s great to see there are so many centres across London where you can learn the ropes.
London news
- RMT leader Bob Crow died. Tony Benn also passed away.
- Enfield, Kingston & Waltham Forest win 'mini-Holland' money for cycling
- Mail Rail will open as a tourist attraction in 2016
- The Mayor asks for a review of the Thames Barrier
- Tiger cub triplets born at London Zoo
- This year's Serpentine Pavilion looks like a beached jellyfish
- We Will Rock You is to close. What to do with the gold Freddie Mercury?
Must-read articles
- The perils of old London Bridge inc. traitors, poo and collapse
- Fleet: London's most dynamic ditch
- A history of London in five beers
- Where to find German food & booze in London
- Video: secret rooms of St Paul's Cathedral
- Alternative crafting around London
Top reviews
- A visit to Lady Dinah's Cat Emporium
- Photography from the edge of space by Boormon
- Duggard & Daughters: a family-run butcher and larder in Herne Hill
- riverrun: hypnotic poetry at The Shed
- USHERS, the front of house backstage musical
- Tim Key: Single White Slut
- A round up of recent London-set novels
Things to do
- Tomorrow is Paddy's Day! Today is the parade.
- Book ahead for London International Ska Festival in April
- Read some London-inspired short fiction (or write some)
- The British Library's Spring Festival celebrates fashion, film and design
- City of London Sinfonia Natural / Supernatural concerts
- War crimes and activism: Human Rights Watch Film Festival
Thank you to this week's sponsors
- Youth Hostels Association: running a summer watersports camp in Lee Valley
- The Entertainer : offering a year's worth of great London offers
- JUST EAT: want you to vote for your favourite takeaway
- The Shed at the National Theatre: want you to see Chewing Gum Dreams