#soho theatre

[jilllovesmike]

[standupcomedyhistorian]

Good morning, everyone! 🌞

I'm feeling really excited about the theme this month on my website: KATE BERLANT! 💗

I met Kate in person in February after writing about her last year, and she is SO kind and friendly. Just a complete gem!

But not enough people know about her comedic genius!

Maybe you've seen her before but not known her name? She is the Garfield lady in I Think You Should Leave AND the kooky talent agent in The Other Two for starters.

However, she doesn't receive the same accolades as her peers like her frequent collaborator Bo Burnham and Jerrod Carmichael (who were both EPs on her comedy special along with The Bear's Chris Storer).

Seriously, how was Cinnamon in the Wind not nominated for an Emmy?! Complete nonsense.

This month, she is performing her PHENOMENAL one-woman play Kate in London. For any British readers, I urge you to get tickets if you can—it's an incredible immersive experience!

Anyway, here are the upcoming articles on my site about Kate for the month of September:

10 fun facts about Kate Berlant

A Kate Berlant primer (you might think you don't know her, but if you like comedies, TRUST ME...you've seen Kate haha)

Audience interviews for her NYC shows (similar to what I did for Rothaniel)

A Kate Berlant article a day

And just for fun—every Kate sticker or image I had noticed in my 3 times attending the show

I hope you enjoy this month's content (Kate certainly deserves all the praise and recognition), and keep it here for more comedy fun! ✌🏼🐔

[abwwia]

[literarylondonhq]

Pride!

Us at the Theatre! Another quiet night at the Soho Theatre Not! Bloody love this place and their staff! #pride

[highsummonertemptress]

Monét X Change, Life Be Lifein’ Tour in London

[emotionalrecall]

The Arc: A Trilogy of new Jewish Plays

First look at rehearsals for ‘The Arc: A Trilogy of new Jewish Plays’

@sohotheatre

15-26 August!

Cast @NigelPlaner1, @AbbieWeinstock, @DorotheaMyerB, @Grumbletwat, @spinksy, @dan__wolff, #CarolineGruber

Directed by @kaylatmf

Photos: @LexiClarePhotos

[mrpengesblog]

First look at rehearsals for ‘The Arc: A Trilogy of new Jewish Plays’

@sohotheatre

15-26 August!

Cast @NigelPlaner1, @AbbieWeinstock, @DorotheaMyerB, @Grumbletwat, @spinksy, @dan__wolff, #CarolineGruber

Directed by @kaylatmf

Photos: @LexiClarePhotos

[i-only-ever-asked-questions]

Map of Soho Good Omens Season 2 - Part 1 (Location and general map)

Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

Update: Map now identifies Lucky Snake and the coffee shop listed in Aziraphale's clipboard may indeed be Give Me Coffee I think we all have wondered how the GO Soho looks like and where it would be in real London. So using all the screenshots, BTS pictures and videos I could find I did my best to map out where things are. It is not to scale but everything I could see is there. I originally had all the pictures and explanations in this post but soon it became obvious it was going to be too long and impractical so I had to split it in different posts and I hope I got it right. The map has five reference points (circle with two diverging lines); imagine the circle is you, standing in the set, and the lines are your viewpoint if you were taking a picture from there. The left side of Whickber Street (#1 and #2) is in Part 2, the intersecting street (#3 and #4) is in Part 3 and the right half of Whickber Street (#5) is in Part 4.

As to where the bookshop would be in real London. We know that Whickber Street is supposed to be Berwick Street so let's start there. The intersecting street is not obvious from the show. In this post Neil said he imagines the bookshop to be where Gosh! Comics is (Peter Street) while Michael Ralph and Douglas McKinnon probably put it at The Week (on Broadwick Street). Because it is ambiguous and really you can do whatever you want, I just left it as "intersecting street". We know from the book that Crowley takes Wardour Street after the bookshop fire. Wardour is behind Berwick so in our map it would be where the Chinese Buffet Restaurant is, considering they run more or less parallel. On the other side, we have the Windmill Theatre located on Great Windmill Street. From Berwick St. and Peter St. it takes three minutes to walk to the theatre, it is that close! (yes, I know, Crowley was conducting business two blocks from the bookshop while not talking to Aziraphale for 80 years). I have never been in that part of London so I used Google Maps streetview and based only on that, I like the corner of Berwick St. and Broadwick St. better. It has the crooked intersection but the proximity of the theatre matches Peter St. better, so whatever works better for you!

There is one place missing from the set map though: Brown's World of Carpets! It is nowhere to be found, we simply don't know where it is My very personal headcanon is that it is nothing but a desk inside the furniture store. I find that idea of the guy most worried about storefront looks being the one without a storefront very amusing, but don't mind me, it is just my very silly hc XD Now, we know Aziraphale has a list for the shops he needs to visit. And we know he wrote it in alphabetical order which begs the question: Where is the Dirty Donkey?! Are they not invited? And what about the fabric shop? And Bilton Scaggs? Battye and Palm? The News Agency? Is "Mo Coffee? No Coffee?" supposed to be Give Me Coffee or Give Me Death? Or is there another coffee shop somewhere? @crow-bee23 suggested it could be "Me Coffee" which it is entirely possible, the full name is kind of long. So many questions to ask Mr. Brown.

Anyway, I put pictures and details on the shops in parts 2, 3 and 4. Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

[ktkellart]

Good Omens London Trip 🐍💞🪽

It's my Birthday today and I treated myself to a trip to London last weekend to see my favourite actor Michael Sheen in Nye at the National Theatre. I made the most of my weekend by combining it with a Good Omens filming location self-tour and I'd love to share it with you all. So, are you ready for the tour?

Here we go!

Starting off with Soho, and the inspiration for Whickber Street, where Aziraphale's bookshop, Give Me Coffee or Give Me Death, The Small Back Room, and the Dirty Donkey are located.

It’s Berwick Street and a record shop that is very similar in shape to A.Z Fell & Co. Bonus points for spotting Duck Lane!

Next is Berkeley Square, a short walk from Soho. The first two photos are of the real Berkeley Square gardens in Mayfair, and the last two photos were taken in the filming location of Tavistock Square across the other side of central London near Kings Cross. I’m sitting on their ‘body swap’ bench in the last photo!

As you can see, the benches are turned around facing inwards now but are the other way, facing outwards in Good Omens.

Oh, and I can confirm that there were no nightingales singing in either location 😭

Heading up the road a few minutes from Tavistock Square to The Enterprise pub where I met a fellow fan who kindly took photos of me posing (I bet the staff thought we were off our rockers!). This is where Crowley drowns his sorrows in Talisker Whisky whilst waiting for the world to end after thinking he'd lost Aziraphale. Omg that poor poor demon, he was really just gonna die along with the world.

Also, one of my favourite moments of season 1 is Crolwey's line: "I heard that. It was the wiggle-on..." then shrugs. 😆 So many emotions in such short a time.

Onto the Ritz. The first two photos are of the real Ritz (a stone's throw from Berkeley Square) and the last one is inside Masala Zone in Piccadilly Circus where the ‘Quite extraordinary amounts of alcohol’ and ‘To the World’ scenes were filmed.

I ate in here alone to get the photo and was so lucky with the table I was given! Perfect discreet snap whilst eating my curry! Haha!

Next up is Battersea Park and the Bandstand. It was a bit of a faff to get there, it's an 8-minute walk from the Battersea Power Station underground and we walked the full length of the park to find the Bandstand, but it was so worth it.

Also filmed here was Gabriel and Aziraphale’s run/jog. Poor Angel is soft scene.

The trees were a little leafier with it being mid-May and the park was very busy because the weather was glorious. They also have a beautiful lake here with herons!

The Heaven & Hell staircase escalators are right over the east side of London in Broadgate Tower, Bishopsgate. I got the overground to Liverpool Street station to get there. It is in a private business building so I politely/awkwardly asked the receptionist if I could take a photo and had to explain about the scene from Good Omens… eek! But he kindly let me snap a photo anyway! (Phew)

The Windmill Theatre was three minutes away from my hotel in Piccadilly Circus, so I wandered up the road to take a photo of where Aziraphale ‘performed on the West End stage’ as Fell the Marvelous. And wasn’t he just?

The scenes weren't filmed here but it was fun to find it anyway.

St James’s Park is up next! I sat on their bench and got my friend to take photos of me posing and had fun editing the first photo. Haha! We enjoyed walking through the park, watching the ducks on the lake and had a nosey at Buckingham Palace while we were there.

The Duke of York Statue steps are at the other end of St James's Park and were fun to walk up. I smiled to myself as I thought of the scene where Crowley says ‘Well let's have lunch? Hmm,’ and Aziraphale turns around, as it was the first time I realised that these two were more than just friends.

Heaven’s top floor, the Sky Garden in Fenchurch Street near Monument is a very tall building with a botanical garden on the top floor. You can visit the sky garden for free, but you do need to book in advance so it’s best to plan ahead for this one. The views of London are breathtaking from the 35th floor and the tropical plants are fun.

My last stop for this visit was Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. I booked a tour on the morning I was due to go home. The first tour is 10 am and lasts an hour, so I dashed off as soon as the tour guide was uttering his last words about the gift shop, across London back to Kings Cross to pick up my suitcase from luggage storage and get the 11:48 am train home!

One I missed and could have easily gone to is St Margaret Street where Newton and Shadwell meet, and Shadwell fleeces Newton for a cup of tea with nine sugars and pockets the change. A bit gutted I missed it to be honest – I love Jack Whitehall (I’m back in London with the family in June so I’ll swing by and update then!)

There are also some other locations a little further afield that I might try to visit on a later date, such as Shadwell's and Madam Tracy's flat down Hornsey Road in Islington, Crowley's Flat exterior in Eastfields Avenue, Best Cafe on Garratt Lane where Crowley meets Shadwell, Crystal Palace Dinosaur Park where the ineffable husbands watch Warlock defacing a dinosaur sign and Antonella's Cafe and Bistro where Crowley and Aziraphale are thinking of ideas to track down the antichrist whist Aziraphale eats cake.

Okay, I’m gonna finish up with the man himself. The very kind, very charming, and VERY patient Michael Sheen The reason for my London visit in the first place. Nye was spectacular OBviOUsLy, but he was super generous with his time at stage door for us all. I got a hug and asked him to pass it on to Aziraphale (that angel really needs a hug) and it made him laugh, which made my night!

Check out my reblog for extra locations when I visited London again a month later, and for a hilarious bonus photo of.... Gabriel??!

Here’s the wonderful map I used -

from this website:

[bookholichany]

David Tennant in Don Juan In Soho as D J

Bonus:

The rehearsal

[jilllovesmike]

[my-own-lilypad]

Side note:

Sophie Okonedo played two famous Greek women. She was just brilliant as Shakespeare's Cleopatra @ The National Theatre

Also got the chance to see her as Medea @ Soho Palace summer just gone

Awesome woman

[standupcomedyhistorian]

Hi, everyone!

I had an awesome birthday trip (thanks for inviting me, @nicoleanell!), and I'm now catching up with comedy news.

Also, thanks for everyone's birthday wishes! I'm so thrilled to share my thoughts and hyperfixations with this community. 🥰

First, there is a HUGE new announcement for British Bo Burnham and Kate Berlant fans—Kate is returning to the Soho Theatre next month! 🤯

If you are able to attend this extraordinary show, I urge you to get tickets immediately (they sell out FAST...ask me how I know). It's one of the best plays I have ever seen, and I am currently working on a post about the history of the show while also interviewing fans who had attended the NYC performances.

If you'd like to be interviewed about Kate, please reach out on here or email me at standupcomedyhistorian@gmail.com!

In other comedy news, my girls Garfunkel and Oates made a splash at a Republican senator's campaign announcement call when some clever person blasted "The Loophole."

Here's Riki's Instagram post about it. So hysterical 😭

Keep it here for more comedy fun! ✌🏼

[patrice-bergerons]

Not to be sappy on the main but this successful indefinite leave to remain application email from the Home Office has me so 🥺 because yeah....I have made the UK my home.... 🥺🥺🥺

[f-yeahbendaniels]

My Top Five Favorite Ben Daniels Characters (Literary Works) - Honorable Mentions: 5. Jason/Creon/Aegeus - Medea (2023).

[jazz-downtown]

Helped create one of the largest (if not the largest tbh) Pride flag in the entire city of London this year, and that's a really cool thing that I really did! Worked with a 67 year old gay man and we had a great conversation about the similarities and differences between our generations and being gay