Blush Bar customers like it hard!

We popped along to one of the longest running lesbian bars in London, Blush Bar for their weekly quiz night.

It is quite a trek for us, being from South London, but as an after work trip it is reachable from the City on just one bus (76).

Blush Bar is a very relaxed bar with friendly staff and customers. Siobhan runs the quiz on Wednesdays, which was heavily attended tonight and the bar feeling pretty full, although we all certainly could have cosied up to make more space for additional quizzers.

By Siobhan's own admission, geography isn't her strong point, but that didn't stop her slipping in a couple of questions on the subject. Thankfully spelling is her forte as a couple of teams (ours included) fell for that old chestnut where you can't see a letter that is staring you in the face!

The quiz itself is very fun and unpretentious. At half time you can top up your drinks and freshen up whilst quizmaster provides the odd clue if perhaps you've gone off piste with an answer (but only if you don't talk over her during the quiz!). There was even a more 'highbrow' picture round this time, by popular demand (apparently).

The end result was close with most teams scoring between 44 and 51.

The night was for us very enjoyable, and worth the 3 buses it takes to get home! We're really proud to have such a friendly, clean, well looked after bar and encourage you all to support it by going once in a while. We'll be going back to try their infamous sell-out Sunday lunches. At just £8.50 we're already sold and we hear the homemade desserts are equally as yummy!

Ovalhouse Theatre: Sour Lips

Venue: Ovalhouse Theatre
Dates: Tuesday 29th Jan - Saturday 16th Feb
Price: £8-£14
http://www.ovalhouse.com/whatson

With the start of the Arab Spring in December 2010 a new blogger captured the owrld's attention, Gay Girl In Damascus. Amina Arraf was a young American-Syrian woman whose had returned to Damascus with her family as they wanted to be part of building a new Syria. Her blogs were fiesty and a sweet mix of the universal, cultural specifics and politics. 

The re-enactment of 'practising kissing with your best friend until the right boy came along' went down particularly well and explaining that becoming more religous actually gave her more freedom - a combination of gender segregation and who knows who is doing what to whom in a burkha. 
 

Frankly Gay Girl In Damascus for practically every liberal message you could think of and very savvy with her use of social media to get her messageof equality across whether it be gender, LGBT or the right to live in a democracy. 

Except for one thing. She isn't real. There is no Amina Arraf, no Gay Girl In Damascus but there is Tom in America. A writer who, after yet another rejection slips analyses his writing and discovers he can't dialogue. He decided to start a blog as blogs are essentially a conversation between the blogger, their computer and anyone else who happens to chip in. Having grown up in a liberal household with a far deeper understanding of the Middle East than most he writes about the issues he k nows best and cares deeply about choosing to write in a female voice as he believed that what he wanted to say would sound better from a woman. He didn't expect it to get much attention. It goes stratospheric and he can't get out of the fiction he is created until it all crashes around him.

For all that writer Omar El-Khairy has beautifully described the life and politcs of Amina who does not exist, this is a play about how do know what is real in the digital age. The internet means we can instantly chat to people across the globe. On the positive side blogs often give emotional support, Twitter can help you find that missing cat and both can be a voice for political expression in an oppressive country but how do we know that the person who says they are Gay Girl In Damascus is really that? Essentially Tom has accidentally groomed the worl in the way a paedophile will groom a child.

There is an emsemble cast of five, three of whom are a chorus and play the collective internet voice, Amina's family and friends and the security forces, the leads are Lara Sawalha and Simon Darwen who also doubles up his roles at times. That El-Khairy is a graduate of various young writer schemes including the Royal Court is no surprise. This is an intelligent, thoughtful piece and the cast failed to put a foot wrong which is quite something on a first preview. My one criticism of the piece - one that I make of new writing is that in an attempt to appeal to a young audience too many tricks are squeezed in. 

Between the double up and a complex structure moving backwards and forwards in time I occassionally wondered which character was speaking however you will not have to be taking notes for a review at the same time! This is an incredible intelligent, thought provoking production which deserves a much wider audience than it is likely to receive.

By  Laura Alexander

The Oak Bar - seeking your feedback and input into the bar

Tonight and last night The Oak Bar in Stoke Newington is having open evenings. The idea is that you pop in, have a drink and whilst you're there leave some feedback and what you would want from The Oak Bar.

This is a great opportunity to speak up - imagine if you will a blank canvas - what would you like?

Having myself not been to The Oak Bar for several years because of living West or South East, I have to go out of my way and make an effort to go to The Oak Bar. I haven't really heard of a particular night that grabbed my attention enough to get me there. However when I received the invitation to the open evening I knew this was my moment to travel!

Having said that, although not on the 21 route per se, it starts just one bus stop down the road, and the 21 goes pretty far south, we can also get the 141 and change at Monument or London Bridge for a variety of onward routes. I'd suggest if looking to travel to The Oak Bar that you use Google maps to check out the area and what routes are nearby as TFL just isn't intelligent enough to tell you that by walking 30 metres your journey gets easier!

Mondays at The Oak Bar is free pool night, so Katie and I practicing for a few hours didn't break the bank! Drinks are extremely reasonable and there is a happy hour 5-8pm offering a house bottle of wine for £9, 2-4-w cocktails and selected beer for £2.50. Outside Happy Hour you can still grab a bargain with prosecco just £20 a bottle or two for £35! The Oak Bar has a good range of beers and drinks, a pool table and a variety of games.

There is a new website launching soon, a number of new events including a cabaret night and most importantly they're seeking feedback on what other changes would improve the bar.

If you haven't been to The Oak Bar for a while but would consider it in the future, particularly if you live locally, why not take a moment to send them some feedback as to what you would want from your local pub. They're seeking comments on everything from decor to environment, drinks and deals, private hire and more!

I'm looking forward to the refreshed events to see if there is something to suit me that is worth travelling to!!!

Follow The Oak Bar
Oak Bar website: http://oak-bar.co.uk
Oak Bar on Facebook: http://www.fb.com/oakbar
Oak Bar on Twitter: theoakbar_79

Review by Naomi Bennett-Hall

Review: Rosie Wilby at Canal Cafe Theatre

Caught in a Modern Romance

It feels somewhat ironic to be using social media/web 2.0 to write this review, perhaps instead I should be weaving this into a tapestry in homage to pre-mobile methods of communication.

Rosie Wilby’s humour filled, self-depricating ‘Absolute Love’ conveys a serious message at its centre. The power of modern technology that has improved global communication and access beyond even Berners-Lee’s (look him up on your nearest search engine device) wildest imagination, has somewhat stilted the art of one-to-one relationships.

Wilby’s hypothesis – told through a delightful mixed narrative and audience interaction (picture our “hero” clad in sunglasses & a sword and shield, happiness graph drawing, audience sing along and of course Wilby’s guitar) - is that technology is destroying love, and lovers need to heed the warning and go back to relationship basics.

Wilby isn't afraid to share her own experiences to make her point, and get a laugh, which gives the show a real personal touch.

Albeit we saw a work-in-progress version, when finished this will be well worth a view. Very enjoyable and funny. 

By Katie

Book Review - The Lindsay Gordon Series (Val McDermid)

"The Lesbian Anti-Hero; My hero"

I am two thirds through reading this series and had to take a pause and share the wonderful experience reading these books with you.

Starting with Report for Murder (1987) the book which introduces us to our heroine with attitude,  Glaswegian journalist Lindsay Gordon, we are thrown into a series that would have been fairly unusual for its time. Very openly lesbian themed, packed with lesbian characters and unashamedly bringing lesbian culture to the fore (think about how it felt watching those characters discussing all things lesbian in the L Word series).The only thing really missing are gratuitous sex scenes that I imagine would not have been palatable to late 1980s publishers. 

Gordon is instantly shown to us to be the rebellious, cheeky, authority challenging feisty hero we all love to read about. She's the kind of character many readers would fantasise about being, smart, attractive, confident of herself and standing up for her beliefs, incredibly loyal and determined. She's not all bows and bells though. She does things the hard way and her inner journalist instinct comes through at sometimes inappropriate moments. She even cheats on a girlfriend (but that later turns out to be vindicated). Later in the series she is complemented nicely by new girlfriend Sophie, who offers a good balance. 

The Lindsay Gordon series is deliberately not as hard hitting as the Tony Hill/Carol Jordan series. It is not as gritty nor disturbingly psychological. That does mean the books aren't dark in their own right. The muderous storylines have their darksides, and Lindsay herself goes through some traumatic experiences in her quest to solve her cases. However, they also incorporate humour, a lighter touch and fun. The relationship developments and non-murder stories are as interesting as the mysteries. 

What makes these stories particularly readable is that each book is very different from the last, and they take differening direction, both plot wise and geographically. Each novel is adventurous and unpredictable, taking us on an unexpected journey. Ultimately they are thoroughly enjoyable stories that do cover some serious issues, and take on the establishment through the direction of the stories (I won't post any spoliers here).

By Katie