Crave is a contemporary classic, a ground-breaking work that challenges notions of what makes a play. Four performers embody the competing voices of a mind in torment and ecstasy – a startling quartet of anger, desire, frustration and despair. Directed by Ramin Gray and performed by the same cast, the company takes a fresh look at Crave and introduces the foremost contemporary Russian writer Ivan Viripaev to English-speaking audiences. His play Illusions alongside Crave forms a stunning duo of contemporary plays about love and death.

This flyer is for the performances at the Volcano Theatre in Swansea. Once I have the printed brochure that goes with the tour back in the studio I will get it photographed and put into the portfolio proper.

Practice is a playful and intimate exploration into what we practise when we go to see theatre. Developing its logic from questions of what a person can look like, or how we recognise a body’s form, it explores means of display and physical activity that render people familiar or strange.

Two performers travel through a series of activities and relationships encompassing the quiet, the peculiar and the carefree. As they perform, their bodies are subject to different states of theatrical framing as the material that dresses them is reconstructed into a set that surrounds them.

This shift in theatrical frame signals how modes of representation are at work when we regard the shape of others, allowing corresponding changes in our reading of the performers, their relationship with each other and with those of us watching them.

The Jazz Meet now has a new venue – Floripa – but the design stays roughly the same. The night itself, however, is seeing the move as just one part of an evolution involving more guest bands and DJs. The full details are here, but the second night at the new venue sees The Greg Foat Group playing live ahead of their forthcoming new Jazzman album.

Soulharmonic is actually the name of the event that fills in for the moving Jazz Meet at The Shoreditch. Good luck to all those involved.

And finally, for now, the long-running Fickle Formula has also had a slight change to precedings and now is to be found on a Saturday night at Three Blind Mice. Plus ça change (plus c’est la même chose).

The latest issue of The Victorian magazine – issue 39 – is at the printers and will be out soon. This issue is in fact the twentieth issue Made In Earnest has designed and, even if I say so myself, it is looking good.

The second EP from Mo Kolours is done and in production – the above image is actually the end credit from the trailer video that predates the release and can be seen here. The video shows glimpses of the man at work and is soundtracked by EP cut ‘Temi’, an excursion into hard-as-nails hip-hop with a Mo Kolours twist. While the opening track of ’EP2: Banana Wine’ – ‘Ridda Mountian’ – features on the new Brownswood compilation from Kutmah.

At the moment ongoing work includes; Historic House magazine; The Victorian magazine; three new corporate identities, for Pacitti Company, David Fawcett and Actors Touring Company; the next issue of The Echo for the Association of Sound Designers; a promotional seminar leaflet for Hall McCartney; web banners and buttons for Cecile Park Publishing; posters and flyers for Wah Wah 45s and The Jazz Meet; and the forthcoming release on One-Handed Music by Mo Kolours!

Now, all I have to do is hit the deadlines and everyone will be happy….

I am pleased to announce that I am officially a ‘Spotter’. By that I mean, I have joined the travel website Spotted By Locals as one of their locals for London.

When I started my Made In Earnest City Guides in 2008 with a guide to Helsinki I was asked by a friend how I was going to keep the guide up-to-date and the truth was, I couldn’t. I wasn’t able to visit to cities often enough to keep them useful and I wanted them to be personal so I knew from the start I had a problem. A problem that has meant the City Guides are now not online (although I may put them up just so there is an archive of them). So, I thought about potentially doing a personal City Guide to London, but I ruled that out almost immediately because of the size and the nature of the city. Too big and too changeable. That was when I first contacted Spotted By Locals. I had been a fan of the site and thought it was the perfect solution to my city guide writing problem. And now, some years later, I am part of the team!

I live and work in the east of the city and readily admit that most of my ‘spots’ are going to be in that area. It is an exciting and thriving part of the London, constantly changing and evolving. The spots are, by design, personal, so you can expect design, art and architecture to the fore and the odd mention of jazz, funk and soul, of course. Oh, and coffee and cakes. The pic above is of the excellent Counter Cafe within Stour Space in Hackney Wick, one of my first articles up on the site and an ideal place for both coffee and cake.

As you will be able to see there was no event in January, hence the gap top left of the review. You should also be able to notice that in September the night celebrated it’s tenth year anniversary. Quite a feat when you consider where the night is (Shoreditch) and the changes that have occurred in that area in the last decade. Congratulations to Gian for making it work so well. Long may it continue.

The Manchester Modernist Society, publishers of the modernist magazine, have launched a modernist pop-up shop at 142 Chapel Street, Salford M3 6AF (close to Salford central Station and the Kings Arms for those that know the area) and the shop features artist/designer made products with a modernist flavour – including a small selection of recent The Jazz Meet posters.

The latest poster (shown below) was done after the print deadline and is not for sale at the moment, but you can just see a couple of posters high up on the wall in the pic above. All sales will support the ongoing work of the Manchester Modernist Society and the modernist magazine so if you are in the area please do pop in.