The wreckage from an explosion of class, sex, and history spills from this tense Swedish drama

Ashcroft Theatre, Fairfield Halls
Time from East Croydon    5 minutes 

Miss Julie sees an aristocratic daughter flaunt her social status over two of her servants one night in 1899. When her teasing leads to sex with the valet, the relationships between the characters – and the rules … Read More »

Too many people are sitting at home screaming at the news or getting het up on Twitter. Stand Up For Labour gives people a chance to have a laugh and see for themselves that they are not alone in opposition to the government

In 2010 I was just another comedian performing at all the worst comedy venues in London, working my way from 10 minutes … Read More »

Mark Thomas has made a career out of troublemaking. Now the comedian, activist, and iconoclast is bringing his new show to Croydon, in more ways than one. Tom Black had a chance to chew the fat with the man

Mark Thomas seems to be the man of the hour in an increasingly dissenting age. It was he, after all, who crowd-sourced a policy document … Read More »

Exploring the East End of London on one of my street photography walkabouts I came across graffiti executed to the highest level. I decided this was something I was going to have to capture. I assumed this was something that was located only in the more obvious locations of Bethnal Green Road, Brick Lane, and the Great Eastern Street, but on further exploration of the myriad of back … Read More »

Save the David Lean Cinema Campaign programmer Philip Howard has four more reasons to join the Spread Eagle’s art-house community

Once again, the Save The David Lean Cinema Campaign is pleased to present a film season at the Spread Eagle pub in Katherine Street. Before our March season, I wrote about the principles we follow when putting a season together. To recap, we try to show films … Read More »

Liz Sheppard-Jones waxes lyrical about the good work being done by local entrepreneur John Reeve

In 1986 the Pet Shop Boys gave the world the following lyrics :

‘… just when you least expect it/Just what you least expect’. (‘Love Comes Quickly’, from their album Please).

John Reeve, silver entrepreneur, patron of the visual arts, and founder of the CLICK CLOCK art and photography gallery … Read More »

Croydon’s Breakfast Cat Theatre stages staging a surprisingly timely performance of George Orwell’s 1984. Liz Sheppard-Jones reports, and explains why you should witness the show while you still can

On the day the Daily Mail attempted to lead the nation in a Two Minute Hate against welfare claimants, the powerful and intense opening scenes of Breakfast Cat’s 1984 makes the atmosphere in the … Read More »

How a town in recovery found its voice

In August 2012, on the first anniversary of the riots, CRISP (the Croydon Intercultural Singing Project) launched its quest to find a song for Croydon.

For Catherine Pestano, CRISP’s organiser, the anniversary was a thought-provoking time, as it was for many others in the community. The nation’s attention was elsewhere, over in Stratford … Read More »

Film-lovers are regularly filling the Spread Eagle’s upstairs room. Save the David Lean Cinema Campaign programmer Philip Howard explains why

The Save the David Lean Cinema Campaign pursues two main objectives. Our primary goal is to reopen the David Lean Cinema in the Clocktower complex. In the longer term, this could mean supporting a social enterprise or cinema chain with attractive plans, but in the meantime … Read More »

Get on the money train to the Bush Theatre for the most horrifying and hilarious economics lesson that  Tom Black has ever sat through

The Bush Theatre, Shepherd’s Bush
Time from East Croydon  45 minutes
31st January – 9 March 2013

A trip up to Oxford Circus and 15 minutes on the Central Line puts you five minutes’ walk from the Bush Theatre. This versatile space doubles as a very pleasant … Read More »