Mark Shenton 💙
@ShentonStage
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UK-based theatre critic -- . Now living in West Sussex, not the West End! (though I still regularly visit it!)
Amberley, West Sussex
Joined March 2009
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I’ve just lost my best and longest friend — we met in 1984, his first year at Cambridge (and my third), who died tonight, aged just 56, six months after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He was the kindest and most beautiful person; I’ve spoken to him daily for 39 years.
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Have decided to no longer review shows for which actors are not paid, unless they're in a collaborative, non-hierarchical venture. The only way to stop the exploitation of actors by directors & producers is to only cover those that commit to paying properly (Equity agreement).
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Lessons in living in a homophobic world: I received the following astonishing e-mail from my father -- yes, my FATHER -- yesterday.
I share this not to garner sympathy, but just to say it NEVER GOES AWAY. However, I am strong, and so-called "Christian" hatred will not shame me.
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THIS is what Twitter is for!
This is Bush. It was very windy at the beach today but he remained anchored. 13/10 great work buddy (IG: bushandreagan)
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Farewell to this amazing woman who gave me life — and so much more. She has finally left us. 17.11.1934-21.11.2018
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Saddest theatre picture of the day: the original chandelier in
@PhantomOpera
has left the building! I really hope it’s only temporary and is reinstated at Her Majesty’s Theatre in due course. But this is a bit like the ravens leaving the Tower of London: a really bad omen.
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Someone who voted
#Brexit
apologises live on air on
@mrjamesob
's show -- "What have I done to my country?" -- and James offers him serious compassion.... and tells him where the blame should actually be placed. This is passionate, compassionate broadcasting at its best.
Bill voted leave, but earlier today he called
@mrjamesob
on
@LBC
to say sorry and it's emotional. He says as wrong & he is a
#remainernow
.
James' response is exactly how everyone should react.
It's not people like Bill we should be angry with, it's the politicians who lied!
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Just seen an advance screening of
@mypolicemanfilm
#MyPoliceman
,
@MichaelGrandage
’s achingly beautiful new film about a long-suppressed gay relationship between a Brighton policeman and a museum curator, and the woman who comes between them. I cried and cried!
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Bravo to
@DawnButlerBrent
for telling the truth in the House of Commons about lying
@BorisJohnson
— even if it got her suspended from the house. What a world, where our (so-called) “leader” lies with impunity but the truth teller gets punished!
Breaking:
Courageous Labour MP
@DawnButlerBrent
has just been told to leave the Chamber by Deputy Speaker for raising my film which public have sent to 27 MILLION VIEWS in protest at Prime Ministers rampant lying in Parliament & calling PM a lier
Thank you for your courage Dawn
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Bravo to
#PrinceHarry
for his libel victory against
@DailyMailUK
's
#MailOnSunday
, reported by
@BInvestigates
:
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Just been to (re)visit our new home: we move here two weeks today!
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On this day when Cov-idiot
@realDonaldTrump
has dared to dump on
#AnthonyFauci
, here’s a timely reminder of
@RandyRainbow
’s delicious tribute to Fauci.
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Why GRAHAM NORTON
@grahnort
stepped away from his Agony Aunt column in
@Telegraph
: "I was beginning to feel a bit nauseous... I thought, ‘I cannot be contained within the same pages as this. This is toxic." I know the feeling.
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Just caught
@catsmovie
, & no, it’s not the catastrophe that (most) movie critics seem to have delighted in taking down. Sure, it was always an eccentric stage show; but its joy was its playful silliness & gorgeous tunefulness. Both are still intact here. So are some great cameos.
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The human cost of today's Boeing crash in Tehran in a single picture, in
@nytimes
report of the event.
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Beautiful London moment. Performance can happen anywhere. But while it can’t happen in theatres right now, it’s lovely to grab it wherever we can.
Cycled home from work, came across this over the other side of the canal. London, you are honestly sometimes the best ❤️
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Farewell to legendary British musical theatre choreographer
@Gillian_Lynne
, who has died earlier this evening, aged 92. Her credits include the original productions of CATS and PHANTOM OF THE OPERA.
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This description of
@BorisJohnson
by
@MarinaHyde
has to be the joke of the week: "Johnson looks like... what would happen if you started making Margaret Rutherford out of papier-mache but got bored halfway through."
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AMAZING view of my favourite city today -- under close to 2 ft of snow!
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Spot-on. Winnie-the-Pooh always has the answers......
Piglet: 43 Senators voted to acquit, does that mean trump is innocent?
Pooh: No, Piglet. It means there are at least 43 accomplices.
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The West End’s most missed eaterie: I’d go here all the time! The Stockpot on Old Compton Street. H/t
@MichaelWarbur17
for pics.
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This was where we were 8 years ago today — getting married in Central Park! And we’ve returned there most years since to celebrate again. We can’t this year, for obvious reasons. But we are with each other!
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This is what a socially distanced theatre looks like: at a concert at the State Theater of Hesse in Wiesbaden, Germany, which normally seats 1,000, less than 200 audience members were admitted.
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I’m not saying it was always obvious I would turn out gay, but this childhood picture makes it pretty clear.....!
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Utterly glorious!!!
@RandyRainbow
ushering a new era in the court, not of Camelot, but of Kamala! (
@KamalaHarris
, you so deserve this!)
Kamala! Kamala! She's fin'ly come to save the day.
Kamala! Kamala! Gurl, don't get in her way. 👑🎶🛡
#Kamala
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Genius FB status I’ve just seen: “New Zealand just passed both laws - gay marriage and legalized marijuana. This makes perfect biblical sense because Leviticus 20:13 says:
"If a man lies with another man they should be stoned."
We just hadn't interpreted it correctly before!”
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Those of you who've followed my own personal "journey" as well as theatre life, will know that I've been in a depression since May 31, 2019. On Wednesday, I felt a change of colour. Today, 16 months since when it began, I can say: it has passed.
#ShentonStageMentalHealthDiary
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Happy anniversary to..... me & my hubby (also Mark!) — this happened 7 years ago today in Central Park, New York!
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THEATRE HELPLINE, a free 24-hour phone & email service supporting theatre professionals with any issue affecting their health and wellbeing, has been launched by SOLT & UK Theatre. Call free: 0800 915 4617 or e-m: advice
@theatrehelpline
.org
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The happiest of birthdays to this wonderful woman — my mother, on what we sadly know will be her last.
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This has been a truly extraordinary, healing day. Nothing I have posted on Twitter has had this kind of reaction -- EVER (Over 1.2K replies so far)! It shows just how much genuine love there is in the world. Thank you to every single one of you for your gorgeous words & thoughts.
Lessons in living in a homophobic world: I received the following astonishing e-mail from my father -- yes, my FATHER -- yesterday.
I share this not to garner sympathy, but just to say it NEVER GOES AWAY. However, I am strong, and so-called "Christian" hatred will not shame me.
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Big bravo to
#PrinceHarry
for prioritising his family and wife over the needs of the dysfunctional Royal Firm he was part of because of his birth.... These are incredibly wise and chastening words.
WOW!! 😲.....Harry is definitely a REAL one! I actually cant believe he said it 👏🏾❤️
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#DeniseGough
on preferring to be called an actress, not an actor:
"We fought to be on the stage. We should reclaim that word: I don’t know where it came from, this fucking notion that putting “ess” on the end makes us weak. I would be no less afraid of a lioness than a lion."
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Some of my favourite answers (so far) to this question: what would a Boris Johnson musical be called?
* The Worst Showman
* Seven Sons from Seven Mothers
* We Will Fuck You
* Children of Eton
* Scamalot
* The Book of Moron
* Fiddler with the Truth
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Sonia Purcell on
@BorisJohnson
: “Deep down he probably knows he is not up to the job. Johnson is a damaged and unstable figure. The tragedy is that he sees the office of prime minister as a means of fulfilling his needs rather than those of the country.”
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I am living my depression right now more publicly than I've ever done. Usually, I'm a very good disguiser: no one would know I'm in pain. This time I'm putting it out there. And it's probably the best thing I've ever done, too. I know I'm not alone.
#ShentonStageMentalHealthDiary
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This is just priceless. Highlight of the day!
very much enjoying the Johnsons being told to wait their turn
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Blast from the past: who else remembers the amazing STOCKPOT on Panton Street (with other branches on Old Compton Street and on the King’s Road)?
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I feel so sad for
@CarrieHFletcher
that she felt compelled to explain why she wasn’t available at stage door to meet and greet fans. People buy tickets to the show; not to a personal audience with its star after. She has a life and friends of her own to see, too!
Just as an explanation for anyone who was waiting last night, I had two friends watching the show last night that I haven’t seen in over a year. They had a 2 hour drive ahead of them so I knew if I spent the hour and a bit it usually takes to see everyone at stage door...
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The West End has officially lost its mind. I just looked up ticket prices for
@DoubtfireUK
, now in previews at
@Shaftesbury1911
: tickets this week are up to £159.50 — with the cheapest seats at £50 in the rear upper circle.
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A truly extraordinary story. How
@MattHancock
’s pub landlord neighbour (pictured here together in that pub) and mate segued neatly into providing vials for Covid tests, after sending him a pitch on WhatsApp, despite having had no previous experience of producing medical supplies.
So, so grim. Amazing work from the Guardian. But there will be dozens, if not hundreds, of contracts like this that we will never know about.
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This
@maitlis
intro on
@BBCNewsnight
last night was absolutely spot-on. Embarrassing for the programme to now drop their star presenter from tonight’s show as a result.
Let’s keep retweeting this please if it’s annoyed the loathsome hypocrites who now preside over us.
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Farewell to Bill Kenwright, legendary theatre producer who founded
@BKL_Productions
, and football fan and
@Everton
chairman, who has died, aged 78. I didn’t really know his football life, but his theatrical contribution was immense, especially to regional and touring theatre.
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Eye-witness account from today’s matinee of
@KillerJoePlay
:
#OrlandoBloom
made two unscripted interventions: “I need YOU to put iPad AWAY NOW!” Then again a few mins later: “PUT that fucking IPad away now and I will wait”.
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A great moment of street theatre!
This street Musician was singin along in Berlin when suddenly Jimmy Somerville (the original singer) comes up and joins him singing!
🔊🔊🔊👊🏼😃👍🏼🔊🔊🔊
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Don’t cry for me, Andrew Lloyd Webber….. No one MADE him try to open a new musical in a pandemic. And yet now it’s everyone else’s fault but his own.
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Curtain calls at the exhilarating last night of
@CompanyWestEnd
: ROSALIE CRAIG
@Rosiemae
& PATTI LuPONE
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Big shout-out to the hardest working and most useful Twitter account in theatreland right now:
@WestEndCovers
.
They are giving credit where it is due for keeping theatre alive at this most precarious of times. So I want to give them the same credit that is due!
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@chrisjenko
Yes! I've already told him this: "Thank you for bringing me life. But I now know that there’s more to good parenting than an ejaculation." I will never write or speak another word to him again.
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Happy anniversary…. to me! This was nine years ago today….
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BRAVO to
@MindCharity
for speaking out against
@PiersMorgan
#PiersMorgan
's dismissal of
#Meghan
's experience of suicidal thoughts.
What a creep.
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Looking forward to attending an online launch event tomorrow for the new trailer for the new film version of
@Lin_Manuel
Miranda's 2008 Tony winning musical IN THE HEIGHTS!
Pics: Original
@playbill
cover left; invitation right.
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Inspiring poster for local London bookshop
@kewbookshop
(via
@PaulWaugh
, H/t
@eilidhmac
): THINK BEFORE YOU CLICK!
http://t.co/BdP4Gk7VAt
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London Cast album of HEATHERS, featuring
@CarrieHFletcher
, charts at Number 24 on Official Album Charts — the first London Cast Recording to chart in the Top 40 since, The Girl from the North Country in October 2017.
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With
@HamiltonMusical
on
@disneyplus
, here’s
@RandyRainbow
surveying its Broadway competition in 2016.....
Throwing it back to 2016 when demanding that Angela Lansbury donate all her Tony Awards to Hamilton was as political as I got.
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West End ticket prices for the world premiere of EVITA in 1978 - 42 and a half years ago.....
This is amazing!!!!
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I don’t want to add to the drama of the last few days, seeing my mother off from hospital to home to hospice and now to a world beyond, but I’m now at St Thomas Hospital myself getting my heart checked out... again. (And the nurse on my ward is called Renata: my mother’s name!)
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Just brilliant.
@mrjamesob
on the
@DailyMailUK
’s latest attempts to gaslight their readers, by getting cross with Sue Gray for telling the truth about
@BorisJohnson
’s involvement in illegal Downing Street parties during lockdown.
'It's the flimsiest lump of red meat that I think the Daily Mail have ever thrown into the mix.'
@mrjamesob
exposes the knots the Tories have tied themselves in over their fury at Sue Gray becoming Keir Starmer's chief of staff.
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Taking possession today of our new home in West Sussex (after the removal men brought out stuff down here from London yesterday). More stuff is being delivered from storage tomorrow!
Here’s me outside before walking in for the 1st time — and the view out from inside the window.
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The opposite view to that of the
@DailyMailUK
-- and the correct one: Prince Harry is a national hero.
I don’t know Harry; he might be my cup of tea, he might not. But this here is true.
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Just seen
@GREASEWestEnd
— and happy first of all to report a well-behaved matinee crowd. There was no singalong or drunken disturbances!
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Utterly beautiful. How the artist never leaves the body.
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Bravo to
@CarrieHFletcher
for saying this! Having a twitter account doesn’t entitle people to throw abuse your way. It might make THEM feel temporarily powerful. But when they are rendered powerless by not being able to be heard anymore, they can’t play victim!
Just coz I block negative/abusive people doesn’t mean I want to live in “an echo chamber of praise”. No where does it say I have to sit + suffer through people’s hurtful words. People can say/think what they like about me I’d just rather not be involved in that conversation! 🖤
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Is there a more wonderful sight than a packed theatre? Longing for being a part of one again!
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LEAVE A LIGHT ON -- a series of three daily, live-streamed 45 minute concerts from
@thetheatrecafe
-- to launch next Monday March 23. Streaming will be for a small affordable fee which will enable actors to keep working during theatre closures.
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Just seen the ecstatic return of
@ComeFromAwayUK
: from the prolonged roar when it started, to several standing ovations DURING the show, this most heartfelt of musicals — exemplifying the spirit of human kindness in the most extreme situation — is just the show we need back.
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Olivia Colman, winning another award: for Best Oscar speech! Is this another national treasure in the making?
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The most astonishing gaslighting I've ever seen: a
@GOP
representative
@Rep_Clyde
thinks he can re-write history THIS shamelessly..... GOP really are the
#PartyOfTheInsane
.
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I posted this on FaceBook two years ago. I bring it out again tonight for life relief.....
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The ghost town that is currently Broadway. Just seen these pics posted by a friend on FB. Heartbreaking seeing this amazing, vital city so empty.....
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Former Democratic Party senator CLAIRE McCasgill
@clairecmc
on the lessons of
#DonaldTrump
, quoted in
@guardian
.
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Interesting how attack dogs like
@danwootton
only want the
@RoyalFamily
to stay out of politics when it suits them.....
Soaked in a seething hatred for Meghan Markle
@danwootton
’s brain has lost some basic cognitive functions, for example simple recall from four year ago (HT
@PeterHoskinsTV
)
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Former Finnish Foreign Minister tells it like it is. Sometimes others see us much more clearly than we see ourselves.
Reading news about petrol shortages and other supply problems in the UK. Really sad to see what
#Brexit
is doing to a country that used to be great. Brexit is the biggest mistake a modern nation state has inflicted on itself in recent history. Hope to see an end to this mess.
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My husband and I are planning a new life in the countryside. And we’ve found it! A country cottage on the South Downs, so
@ChichesterFT
will be my local instead of
@swkplay
and
@MenChocFactory
!
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Look how gorgeous the refurbed
@TheatreRoyalDL
looks! Via a feature interview in
@timestheatre
today with
@OfficialALW
.
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Lovely to see almost a full page of today’s
@guardian
print edition given over to the West End’s “fairytale power couple” —
@CarrieHFletcher
(from
@ALWCinderella
) &
@OliverOrmson
(from
@frozenlondon
). Online here:
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Lovely to see this public affirmation of his sexuality by
@MrDuncanJames
. See also this interview on
@CultureTrip
:
I posted this pic on my Insta yesterday & couldn’t get over the amazing response, comments and love from people. I didn’t identify as a gay man for many years because of my own issues with coming out, but finally im happy in my skin & this guy next 2 me makes me proud 2 be gay.❤️
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The good news is I got myself out of bed today. That’s hardly news, I know, but in a depression every step taken is something. And then I came to my office. Now I have to try to write something.
#ShentonStageMentalHealthDiary
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My review of THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA
@LITPMusical
for
@Londontheatre
is here (5*):
★★★★★ for
@ReneeFleming
and
@DoveCameron
in The Light in the Piazza at the Southbank Centre
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Yesterday,
@JoeBiden
began the process of unravelling his predecessor's disastrous decisions; but meanwhile here,
@BorisJohnson
is doubling down on erasing protections and rights for the NHS, food, workers and the environment.
Last night Boris Johnson’s Gov’t voted AGAINST amendments to protect our NHS, uphold food standards, protect our environment, maintain workers' rights & block trade deals with countries that commit genocide.
I think the public should know. RT if you do to
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First images of newly restored ALEXANDRA PALACE THEATRE
@Yourallypally
released, re-opening this weekend with free events & Christmas Carnival after being closed to the public for 80 years. (1/2)
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A sane voice in a world of disinformation:
@RandyRainbow
satirises the ridiculous vaccine deniers.
With all the vaccine misinformation out there, I figured it was time for some serious journalism.
#TheTangoVaccine
#NewVideo
#MusicalMonday
💃🏻💉💋
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Gorgeous photo feature in
@guardianstage
of empty theatres in London. Truly heartbreaking for those of us who love these buildings. [And yes, there are lots of other theatres beyond London I miss too]
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So sorry to hear of
@matthaig1
’s troubles that have forced him to pull out of a promotional tour. But also really reassuring that he’s putting his mental health first; his honesty on this thread is also inspiring. I’m learning to do the same. Self-care is self-esteem in action.
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More
#NameAPenceMusical
entries: White Pride and Prejudice; Six Degrees of Segregation; Willy Wonker and the Conversion Factory
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