Month: January 2025

London January 2025

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On 10th January 2025, me and my new boyfriend Aaron travelled to London on a much needed few days city break. While there we went to see an amazing West End show ‘Stranger Things: The First Shadow’, we visited one of my favourite places, Camden Town, had fantastic fun at the Paradox Museum, and we also journeyed to the highly anticipated Warner Bros Studio Tour: The Making of Harry Potter, on the outskirts of London. It was an incredible weekend away, mine and Aaron’s first together.

In this blog post, I shall be writing a theatre review of ‘Stranger Things: The First Shadow’, accompanied by a description/ travel blog of our outings! I hope you enjoy!

We left Doncaster late Friday morning, commuting to London on a NLER train, and arrived early afternoon. As we approached King’s Cross station I was feeling quite nervous, which is understandable I suppose.

On arrival into London, we went for a cheeky nandos round the corner from King’s Cross. It was an absolute nightmare carrying our large holdall luggage bags on the underground. They were so heavy and bulky, hurting our shoulders. Me and Aaron have come to the understanding that for our next getaway we are definitely going to purchase some wheeled suitcases, ha 😄

We eventually made it to our hotel, the Holiday Inn, in Kensington High Street. Although the room was quite small, it was sufficient. The hotel was clean, the staff friendly and it was situated in a great location, very central. No complaints whatsoever, and at a rather reasonable price we reserved on Booking.com. We unpacked and chilled a few hours, before embarking to Phoenix Theatre.

I love the underground. I managed to navigate us around quite smoothly, except for a few tiny hiccups. We got off a stop too early for the theatre, so we jumped into a black cab just to make sure we weren’t rushing about.

Stranger Things (SPOILERS ALERT):

‘Stranger Things: The First Shadow’ was absolutely incredible! 😲 A prequel to the highly rated and much adored Netflix sci-fi phenomenon.

Developed from the imaginations of the Duffer Brothers, Matt and Ross Duffer, the Stranger Things stage play is the origin story of Henry Creel, later to be known as the villain Vecna, the overarching antagonist of the Upside Down dominion (Season 4)

Three time Tony award winning director Stephen Daldry collaborated with Sonia Friedman, a well established theatre producer – and writer, Jack Thorne, multi award winning – plus the shows long time writer, Kate Trefry, together they devised a brilliant plot for the play, a direction which excited them all, which was, as aforementioned, the origin story of Henry Creel.

The television series is rich in mythology and character. The little ordinary town of Hawkins, Indiana, where extraordinary mind-blowing events emerge. Top secret experiments, gateways to another dimension (the Upside Down) telepathic and telekinetic superpowers, sinister entities – demogorgons, the Mind Flayer, and of course Vecna, who transpires to be an evolution of Henry Creel, the Hawkins Laboratory original test subject.

Stranger Things has roots very much from the Gothic genre. Of course, many of us have always been fascinated and interested in ‘monsters’, we may have supernatural favourites, werewolves, vampires, etc. We are just so intent on terrifying ourselves! Why is the horror genre as prevalent as as ever today? Films, TV shows.. Because we have a thirst so insatiable for these hellish creatures, our imaginations are haunted 😱😱

The scientific spin on Stranger Things is it’s parallel universe, the Upside Down – a world recognisable to our own, yet so completely twisted, deformed and horrific.

The Duffer Brothers succeed in forging attributes that are widely identifiable in the Gothic tradition, to new audiences, in new, fresh exciting ways, season by season.

Coming back to The First Shadow, set in 1959, the stage production highlights the ‘legacy of trauma in post-war America’, with Henry Creel’s father Victor evidently suffering from post traumatic stress disorder. Tragically, an alcoholic, prone to bizarre outbursts and obviously entirely shell-shocked.

The actor I was most impressed with in the show was Louis Healy who played Henry Creel himself. He portrays a boy very much disturbed, who practises killing small innocent animals and rodents. So desperate to be ‘normal’ by his peers, yet he is more so depicted socially awkward, and some would say a ‘weirdo’, ‘creep’ or ‘freak’. Healy was sensational in his delivery

It was intriguing to see Dr Brenner (Joshua James) influencing the young Creel, inducting him into his scientific experiments. A scared teenager with ‘special abilities’.

An aspect of the performance I really enjoyed was the actors making full use of the space, Creel in distress running down the audience aisles, men in white laboratory suits surrounding us. It made it more atmospheric. Of course, the set and props were absolutely outstanding, as with all West End productions.

I kept glancing at Aaron to see his reaction during the performance and he was beaming with joy, very much impressed as he has never seen a professional production

As a souvenir I bought the programme, a flask and a fridge magnet. Overall, a fantastic experience

After the performance we went and had a lovely Italian and a couple of Strongbow dark fruit ciders in a nearby Irish bar

Me and Aaron decided not to have breakfast included with our hotel as we are both vegetarians, so it seemed a little pointless. £17 a head when you don’t eat an English fry up is a bit of a waste of money! Instead, we found a lovely little ‘Muffin Man’ cafe where we had pancakes with Nutella spread and bananas 🍌 They were delicious. I wore a bib, ha 🤣 A joke present Aaron got me for Christmas 🎄 because I’m such a messy eater!

Paradox Museum:

Our first port of call of the day on Saturday was the ‘Paradox Museum’, a fully interactive optical illusion Museum situated in Knightsbridge, central London, opposite from the famous Harrod’s department store. It was absolutely brilliant!

There was a ‘Paradox Sofa’ which gave the impression the top half of your body had been swallowed up by the sofa. The ‘Camouflage Room’ where you literally blend into the wallpaper wearing an orange/black checked cloak, the ‘Reversed Room’ defying gravity, upside down in the underground (you use your smartphone to rotate the image, lol), the ‘Paradox Tunnel’ affecting your gravitational direction perception, walking straight but the room spinning, the ‘Infinity Well’ (again posing to then rotate on your smartphone). There was allsorts! My favourite was Aaron’s head on a platter and me hovering over him deviously with enormous cutlery! There were rooms with ‘Charlie and the Chocolates Factory’ esque distortions where the room felt like it was shrinking,  or something like from ‘Alice in Wonderland’ where one person looked tiny and the other a huge giant!

It was hilarious because we got stuck in the wall of mirrors, and there’s me trying to navigate through going ‘Oh, it’s only a wall’, ‘Oh no, it’s just a wall’, ‘Aaron, I can’t get out’ 🤣🤣 I purchased a little colouful cube as a souvenir..Such a fab experience

Camden Town:

In the afternoon, we went to one of my favourite places ever, Camden Town. We strolled leisurely around the alternative market, taking photos of all the cool shops, tattoo studios, hippie havens, etc. Aaron bought a customised Harry Styles poster for his sister.

We crossed the beautiful Iron Footbridge over the Regent’s canal. There was a ‘poem busker’ asking for small donations for an original poem, written on their typewriter. The street market was great. I had a Greek halloumi gyro (as I say, I’m vegetarian). We went to a few eccentric shops, including one selling circus equipment, and best of all, CyberDog!

CyberDog sells festival clubwear and rave outfits. It’s immense! Selling futuristic fashion, neon glow in the dark clothing, reflective jackets, body paints, alternative accessories. I bought a punk style spiked collar, ha 🤣 There are live DJ’s playing electronic music, and podium dancers, it’s mint! Absolutely love it 🥰

Late afternoon, we ventured back to the underground station. Luckily, I asked a member of staff directions as we nearly got on the wrong tube! But, as it were, we got to the Visitors Centre in Baker Street well within time to embark on our last London adventure..

Warner Bros Studio Tour: The Making of Harry Potter:

I was so very excited to go to the Warner Bros Tour as I am a huge fan of Harry Potter, having read all the books and watched the films countless times.

We were really lucky to witness ‘Hogwart’s in the Snow’, Christmas 🎄 time in the wizarding world, with various snow features. The huge Christmas tree, even before we entered the main tour was ace… Upon arrival, we had veggie burgers before embarking on the tour.

We were given an ‘activity passport’, in which we were to collect 7 stamps as strolling through the different areas: 1. Gryffindor’s Crest 2. Quidditch 3. Divination 4. Hogwart’s Express 5. Gringott’s Bank 6. Diagon Alley and 7. Hogwart’s Crest

The Great Hall was magnificent and breathtaking, with all it’s suspended candles. We saw the Gryffindor boys dormitory, the enchanted pensieve from Dumbledore’s office, we saw peculiar bottles and jars in the potions section, Hagrid’s hut, the Weasley home, the Divination classroom, artifacts from the Ministry of Magic. We entered the forbidden forest, crept through Gringotts wizarding bank, walked the cobbles of my favourite, Diagon Alley

The Creature Effect Department did amazingly well creating the Basilisk, Buckbeak, Fawkes, etc..

We learnt all about the crucial visual effects throughout all the films – enhancements and created environments, computer generated characters the camera cannot capture – the Chamber of Secrets, Gringotts vault door, the Griffin stairwell to Dumbledore’s office

My favourite of all the Harry Potter films is ‘Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire’ in which three wizarding schools participate in the tri-wizard tournament, so I was overjoyed to see the Yule Ball costumes

I adored seeing the Hogwart’s Express, and taking photographs as though wheeling through Platform 9 and 3/4. I especially liked the exterior sets. The Burrow, and vehicles such as sitting in Hagrid’s bike, and the Ford Anglia (from Chamber of Secrets).

It was brill in Professor Sprout’s herbology greenhouse, pulling up mandrakes, posing at the back of the Knight Bus, wandering through number 4 Privet Drive, discovering the famous cupboard under the stairs. The house displayed two iconic scenes, the mountain of envelopes fluttering in the living room (Philosopher’s Stone) and the scene from Prizoner of Azkaban where Aunt Marge swells up like a balloon!

It was delightful to learn about the makeup and prosthetics. It was very impressive, prosthetic pieces made from foam or silicone, such as for Gringotts goblins. A life size version of Dobby was created. Such models by the Creative designers were known as masquettes, which were then scanned to apply computer generated movements, facial expressions, etc

We were told how the Prop department has accumulated thousands of items, in five giant warehouses, items including: The Time Turner, the Philosopher’s stone, the Golden Snitch, the Deluminator, the Golden Egg etc and of course wands, brooms, and horcruxes. The art, prop, costume and graphic designers all collaborated to develop the wizarding sport of Quidditch. Skull-like death eater masks were constructed from casts of the actors faces. Defence against the dark arts furniture constructed too, such as the Boggart Wardrobe..The treasure in Lestrange’s vault, three months a machine ran just to produce the Hufflepuff cup replication…

It was absolutely outstanding viewing the dragon fire-breathing simulation!

I adored Diagon Alley the most, with Ollivander’s wand shop, Flourish and Blotts, the Leaky Cauldron, Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes and so on. It was truly magical, as was the astonishing and intricately detailed Hogwart’s Castle Model. Every turret, tower and courtyard enhanced digitally, used in all the films

The only thing I was completely disappointed in was the Butterbeer.. it was absolutely disgusting!

I purchased an ‘Official Guide’, a Hedwig Owl teddy which is adorable and a Gryffindor Mascot Wand which was on offer. In hindsight, it might have been worth waiting for the next gift shop at the end of the tour, which had a much larger selection of different wands

We just about made it back to the coach in time. The entire experience was 7 hours long. We embarked from Baker Street at 4pm, and was back there around 11pm. The studio is situated on the outskirts of London you see, Watford area. An unbelievable experience I will never forget, truly magical! 😁😁 A quiet underground journey back to Kensington High Street

The following morning, rather than having to cart our heavy luggage on the underground, we took an uber to King’s Cross station. We had time to enjoy another lovely Italian near King’s Cross before travelling back to Doncaster

I had such a wonderful time. This last year has been so tough losing mum to early onset alzheimers disease 😢 It was lovely to get away for a few days, just what I needed, a fantastic little getaway 😊

Sources:

  • Stranger Things: The First Shadow official programme
  • Warner Bros Studio Tour London: The Making of Harry Potter official guide

Websites:

paradoxmuseumlondon.com [Accessed 26th January 2025]

visitlondon.com [Accessed 26th January 2025]

wbstudiotour.co.uk [Accessed 26th January 2025]

© 2025 Lauren Parr / https://unicornpostbox.com

‘Henrietta the Highland Cow’ progression photos

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My latest UnicornPostbox blog post is progression photos of an amateur Highland Cow pub painting… hope you enjoy! 😄😄

We started off outlining a circle for the cow’s head on the canvas, and another oval shape within to outline its snout. The horns and neck were next, with then a dark line to distinguish the cow’s body from the background. The entire background was painted dark, with initially only navy stripes. Afterwards, white brushstrokes lightened it. As the acrylic paint was still wet underneath, the white strokes blended to make nice shades of soft blues and some almost greens. The cow was then painted entirely brown. Lighter shades of brown and bright orange started to create swaying strokes for the cow’s furry hair. The snout was then painted completely a dark pink, the snout itself then formed with various black lines. Shades of pink and gold shimmer continued to build up the cow’s beautiful hair, with a sort of emo fringe, lol 😆 For the one visible eye, it was made more feminine with gorgeous lashes, and outlined with white paint to, as many of my paintings, make it ‘pop’. More shading was added and I gave her a little sort of goatie chin 😄😄 Here is the finished result:

The very first pub painting I did was a Highland Cow. Henrietta looks different however, she has more brown tones, and the other does not have a background. I think she is rather cute to be honest 🥰

I never claim to be a professional artist, I am only amateur. However I very much enjoy going to pub painting with my friend Denise 💕 I am very much looking forward to the next one as it is ‘paint your pal’, nothing we have ever done before, painting each other. We have decided to go all abstract, haha! 😄

Last weekend I went to London with my boyfriend Aaron, so please keep a look out for a future travel/theatre blog I am planning on writing soon. I am also on with another diamond art 💎 🎨

Thank you as ever for reading/viewing. Many thanks,  Lauren xx

© 2025 Lauren Parr / https://unicornpostbox.com

Four Christmas panto reviews 2024/2025

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This year, I have had the privilege to see five different Christmas pantomimes. Jack and the Beanstalk twice at Cast Doncaster, two amateur productions of Cinderella, and Alice in Wonderland.

The magic of pantomime – charming princes, a bit of banter, slap-stick comedy, running jokes, musical singalongs, wonderful costumes, bright and cheerful encounters, happy endings and living happily ever afters, what is not to love?

Jack and the Beanstalk:

I went on Tuesday 3rd December to see Jack and the Beanstalk with my grandma, and again with my close friend Robyn on Saturday 21st December. It was fantastic! Written by Neil Hurst and directed by Tess Seddon.

The ‘baddie’ this year was the sensational Robyn McIntyre as Countess Freshcreep. Such a sinister character with a very high pitched wail of a voice and a cruel cackle. My other favourite character was Silly Billy, played by Harry Gascoigne. I can remember him from last year’s panto. He was so energetic and had such an uplifting stage presence, encouraging the kids in the audience to shout ‘Don’t be silly, Billy’.

Ben Eagle as the Dame was brilliant too. He admitted in an interview that “the joy of playing a dame is that you get to flirt with the men!” Because his demeanor is so typically butch and blokey, it was very comical seeing him frolic around the stage in drag. It just works. He had plentiful ridiculous costume changes such as becoming a burger, a baked bean, a jelly bean and a runner bean!

Daisy the cow was so cute and “udderly over the moon” to be in this year’s production.

Joe Parker played a great Jack Trott, very expressive on stage, however I felt that his singing voice was not as professional as some of the others in my opinion, he kind of shouted a bit, which was a shame

Born and bred Sheffield lass Becca Lee-Isaacs was amazing as Jill, as was Misha Malcolm as Mother Nature, both had a very soothing, kind presence… I would say, actually, that all the other ensemble were marvellous too, the dancers and tap dancers in the junior ensemble

Something which really struck me this year was how wonderful the stage/props were. The way the Beanstalk grew from the well, towering upwards and spiralling sideways, was a truly magical sight. And the giant! WOW! I have never seen anything like it. He was ginormous, completely dominating the stage. I don’t know how they did it, making him animated.

It was funny how the goose laid a golden egg, water being sprayed into the audience with water pistols, cream pies in faces. It was hilarious hearing Silly Billy and Dame Trott attempting, and succeeding, an elaborate tongue twister, and Countess Fleshcreep’s cockroaches (esemble) creeping around behind the cast “They’re behind you!” Audience participation and children getting up on stage at the end of the show, personalising their own version of E.I.E.I.O. “Which side can sing the loudest?”

Very festive, and very fabulous 👌

Cinderella (Little Theatre):

Although Cinderella at Doncaster Little Theatre was only an amateur production, it was still rather pleasant. I went on Thursday 12th December with my friends Matty, Lynne, Joanne, Robyn, Chris and my boyfriend Aaron.

Cinderella, played by Kayleigh Harding was very elegant and demure, Buttons (Josh Dunphy) convincingly madly in love with her. The two young lads Benjamin Harding and Cole Blakely playing the Prince and Dandini were refreshing and vibrant and interchanged their roles perfectly.

Fairy G aka fairy godmother (Rhiannon Clark) played her part quite well, as did Baron Hardup (Malcolm Coy), and the Baroness (Chris Bolus), all contributing to an enjoyable pantomime experience.

The true stars of the show were however, in my opinion, Grizelda and Gertrude (Phil Towe and Alan Clark), the ugly sisters! They were highly amusing picking on a poor man in the audience, and kept teasing him! I think it’s fun for us in the audience when the cast members improvise – it adds another element to the performance, makes it more personable. Always good, a bit of banter.

As I say, a much smaller production but still good festive fun, with all the usual pantomime shenanigans…

“Oh, yes it was!”

“Oh, no it wasn’t!”

“Oh, yes it was!”

Alice in Wonderland:

My favourite pantomime to see this year was the Hatfield Woodhouse Phoenix Theatre Group production of Alice in Wonderland. I went on Thursday 2nd January with my best friend Robyn and her mum and dad, and my other best friend, Lou. I was anticipating this would be a good one, as I immensely enjoyed their Wizard of Oz last year.

They did rather well converting a classic children’s story into a pantomime for all ages (although it must be said, Carrol’s creation has been interpreted by many as adult themed).

The director of this year’s pantomime (Tina Bradbury) insisted to find a script, however challenging as it may be, not so traditional, but rather a funny, interesting and unusual one – surpassing expectations while keeping the panto magic alive.  She made a few tweaks, to up the entertainment and keep everyone laughing, however, all of Carrol’s characters we know and love made appearances. Such as, Tweedledum and Tweedledee, the White Rabbit, the Queen of Hearts, the Cheshire Cat, Mad Hatter and the March Hare, Caterpillar etc

In this production, Wonderland is in grave danger. A wicked man, the Knave of Spades (Neil Scanlon) is hell bent on taking control of all Wonderland, and all the world! The Wizard of Muddleup Wood (Ian Weeks) can save this awful fate by means of a magical golden heart

In a world where the White Rabbit’s (Andy Green) large pocket watch can interrupt and alter time, Tweedledum and Tweedledee (Kev Bluck and Chris Bradbury) are hypnotised, the Queen of Hearts (Sue Lane) summons her strict Sargent (Ann Littlefield) to “off with their heads”, her subdued husband (Steve Mullen – King of Hearts) silently obeying her every command, where a lazy Caterpillar (Helen Bluck) smokes pipes and a bunch of high hippies wander in the woods trying to find Glastonbury, a Cheshire Cat (Kate Green) saunters mischievously, and Mad Hatter (Helen Green) and March Hare (Becky Bluck) host very very very very happy unbirthdays!

Helen Green was absolutely marvellous as the Mad Hatter, with all the quirks and idiosyncrasies. The White Rabbit made me really laugh as well, he was so much in character trembling about “I’m late, I’m late, for a very important date!”. The Prince of Diamonds (Grace Stevenson) and Princess Ruby of Hearts (Chloe Allen) did a great job. Alice (Jess Turner) although she admittedly did not shrink or grow in size (which would be pretty much impossible) her performance was most impressive and she had a lovely singing voice.

Her mother in the production was Dame Milly (Matt Allen), who, as all dames do, had an ongoing joke and flirt with the male audience members. Wally the Joker (Ernie Tonge) was a return cast member from last year, playing the joker then too I believe. Every time on stage he would say: “I say, I say,  I say” followed by a corny joke. But it’s a pantomime, what’s not to love?! Cheer the goodies, boo the baddies!

All the cast, and all the chorus, did magnificently well. I particularly liked the Green Haggis, i.e. a little girl dressed as a cheeky haggis monster, scaring those on stage! “It’s behind you!”

The props and staging were again top-notch. My most favourite part was when they turned the lights off and beautiful fluorescent butterflies fluttered around the stage. It was truly visually and aesthetically stunning

Cinderella (Armthorpe Community Centre):

The final pantomine I had the pleasure of seeing this year was Cinderella at Armthorpe Community Centre, on Saturday 4th January for Robyn’s birthday! It was a great privilege as our friend Sandy played the fairy godmother. She was sensational!

This pantomime was pretty traditional, with a few surprises.

The ugly sisters, Gertrude (Emily O’Shea) and Grizelda (Lynne Piper) were uncharacteristically played by two women, not men in drag. They were hilarious. Emily (Gertrude) reminded me very much of Rebel Wilson, both in her looks and mannerisms (I bet she’s heard that one before!). The male victim in this panto was poor Ryan, who was the blunt of all Grizelda’s jokes.

I felt sorry for Rubella Hardup (Kirsty Stewart) as she forgot one of her lines, but picked it back up perfectly. Her husband Baron Hardup (Graham Newton) played another submissive role to a matriarchal domineering wife.

Buttons (Colm O’Conner) was very confident and charismatic, slick and smooth. Whenever anyone went near his childhood teddy, Bob the Bear, the audience members were encouraged to shout “Buttons! Bob the bear is being bothered!” Cinderella (Gemma Christina) played a lovely part, as did Dandini (Courtney Holdridge), but I was absolutely blown away by Chloe White who played Prince Charming. Her voice was outstanding and angelic and she definitely belongs in the West End.

Two characters adapted in were Bodget (Colin Head) and Leggett (Andy Barrington) as two comical demolition workers, knocking plastic hammers on heads instead of nails. Most hilarious however was the pantomime horse, which as we know, is two actors partnered in a single costume to theatrically represent a real horse, front and back! It was so funny seeing them try to get on and off the stage!

I know we are biased, but Sandy was a delight as Fairy G, sophisticated, graceful, so very pretty and sparkly

Something I loved about this pantomime was all the children were invited onto the stage at the end to sing and dance to Music Man “I am the music man, I come from far away, and I can play…” etc. A lovely gesture.

Helen Evans (the director/producer) did a terrific job!

Overall, I have had a wonderful festive time at this year’s pantomimes. The Easter panto at Cast is Pinocchio in April, to which I have already obtained tickets and Peter Pan is on at Doncaster Little Theatre in July…so watch this space!

Thank you as ever for reading/viewing. I much appreciate your support.

Lots of love, Lauren xx

© 2025 Lauren Parr/ https://unicornpostbox.com