is a hit THEATRE REVIEW Terminus Friday, November 27, 2009 metrolife 23 is, theyre no longer in touch. And, as the story spreads to the media, Maddens can only hope Jennifer will return to save his bacon. Lightly amusing, if flabbily plotted, this is a family film through-and-through. Cute kids run around pulling faces, singing either badly (ha ha!) or sweetly (ahhh!) and everyone over-acts like theyre in a panto. AS Its hard to believe that Bodytonics Twisted Pepper club has only been around for a year. In that short space of time, the venue has become one of the unofficial hubs for musical activity in the capital. Its many nights, some of which it holds in tandem with other independent promoters, represent a plurality of styles from dubstep and drumnbass to techno and deep house, while the club has broadened its remit to host live bands and cultural discussions. However, the venue is still very much a club space, something that veteran Detroit DJ/producer Carl Craig (pictured) will remind its faithful this weekend as his epic techno sounds provide the celebratory soundtrack. Richard Brophy Tomorrow, Pogo, Twisted Pepper, Middle Abbey Street D1, 11pm, 20. Just recently, Kasabian frontmen Serge Pizzorno and Tom Meighan could be seen staring out from the cover of the NME above the quote: Oasis have gone. We are the biggest band in Britain now! Its a bold claim but not really unjustified when you consider the success the Leicester lads are enjoying at the moment. A second No.1 album, with West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum, a summer of shows with the Gallagher brothers (pre-split), a Mercury nomination and now a Q Award mean that Kasabian have a right to be bigging themselves up. When we catch up with Meighan during the break between the European and British legs of their tour, hes in an uncharacteristically modest mood. I think West Ryder... did a lot of damage, Meighan says. Weve kind of grown and grown and to be appreciated the way we are now is wonderful. Most bands start to flake around their third record but ours did really well. Did they have any idea, when the album was being created in Pizzornos Leicester bedroom, that it would be such a success? I thought we were doing something special when we were making it, says Meighan. I had a feeling it would catch on. Its just really diverse and it could have taken a nose dive, it could have bombed, but it didnt. Its crazy because its the most messed-up record weve made. I think were getting better and on the next record well try to increase it again. While West Ryder... was started in a bedroom, it was recorded, mostly, a few thousand miles away, in San Francisco. Kasabian decamped there to seek out the services of renowned producer Dan The Automator Nakamura, highly acclaimed for his work with Beck, Gorillaz, DJ Shadow and various hip-hop artists, including Busta Rhymes and Kool Keith. Being out on Americas West Coast clearly suited Meighan. You dont get more psychedelic than Haight- Ashbury, he says, referring to the district of San Francisco synonymous with 1967s so- called Summer Of Love and fledgling hippy scene. He reckons the next album, wherever it is born, will be another step forward. Serge is always writing great, great songs, hes got great ideas, he says. With every record, we want it to be better than the last. Gemma Peplow Tonight, The O2, East Link Bridge, North Wall Quay D1, 7.30pm, 33.60. Tel: 0818 719 300. www.kasabian.co.uk GIG Kasabian V ictoria Hesketh, aka nu-disco glamour puss Little Boots, does a surprising thing when asked how it feels to be compared, over and over, to fellow fem-popsters La Roux and Florence And The Machine. She throws her head back and laughs. In the long run, I think we all benefitted from it, she says. It got everyone talking and it raised all our profiles. Were not in competition. We can all do really well. So I think it probably had a positive effect. Life for Hesketh has been one long rollercoaster, since she placed first in the influential BBC Sound Of poll last January (previous winners include Duffy, Mika and Corinne Bailey Rae). Debut album Hands crashed the UK charts at No.1; The Human Leagues Phil Oakey has sought her out for a collaboration; Lady Gaga and Amy Winehouse have declared themselves fans. She must be relieved she lived up to all the hype. Theres been a lot of expectation, hasnt there?. Was I nervous? Yeah, for a while. Musically, however, I never had any sort of jitters. From the start, my vision as to what I want to do has remained clear, she says. She was born outside Blackpool, the faded British seaside town, but isnt sure as to whether its much of an influence. You cant really hear Blackpool in my music, she says. That said, Im sure its in there, somewhere in my make-up. Growing up, I suppose that it shaped me subconsciously. There are huge differences in Blackpool depending on whether it is in or out-of-season. Its a vivid contrast. Maybe thats in my songwriting somewhere, I dont know. Hesketh has wanted to be a singer for as long as she can remember. In 2005, she even auditioned for Pop Idol, only to be turned down in the first round. That made me a lot tougher. I gained from the experience. It was the very first stage so Simon or the rest werent there. Were they unpleasant? Not at all. They said: you were very good, but unfortunately the standard is high. Strangely, Little Boots hasnt captured the public imagination in Ireland to quite the same degree as she has in Britain. While across the channel, her Hands debuted at No.1, here, it failed to make the Top 10. Was she miffed? Actually, I wasnt aware of that. But I do know that the singles have been doing really well in Ireland. Stuck On Repeat did better here than in England. So that was encouraging. Eamon de Paor Tonight, The Academy, 57 Abbey Street Middle D1, 7.30pm, 18.50. Tel: (01) 877 9999. www.littleboots music.co.uk MUSIC INTERVIEW Little Boots AND ANOTHER THING.... Leeroy Thornhill Thornhill, aka the dancing bloke in Prodigy (pictured), left the group in 2000 but hes proved a popular DJ in his own right Tonight, The Wright Venue, South Quarter, Airside, Swords, 10pm, 15 (transport from city-centre available, see website). Tel: (01) 890 0099. www.thewrightvenue.ie Pre-loved Clothing Sale A swap shop for second-hand clothes including stalls from vintage shops, Dirty Fabulous and Perk Up Vintage Today, Tailors Hall, Back Lane D8 (opposite Mother Redcaps), noon to 10pm, 5 (free if you have clothes for resale). Tel: (01) 707 7068 Food & Wine Magazine: Xmas Show From whiskey tasting to wine matching, the magazine hosts masterclasses with chefs including Derry Clarke (pictured) while the emphasis is on ideas for feeding the hungry hordes this Christmas Until Sun, RDS, Ballsbridge D4, today 4pm to 10pm, tomorrow and Sun, times vary, 20. www.foodandwineshow.ie Theatre critics often bewail the fact that so many Irish playwrights have embraced the monologue in recent years and all but neglected traditional means of storytelling. At its worst, the monologue can be indulgent and static but when its done well as is the case with Mark ORowes recently revived three-hander it presents images so vivid and haunting, the experience is almost cinematic. Terminus is a pared-back affair: the actors take to a bare stage with only a single spotlight for illumination and deliver their respective stories in barbed rhyming couplets. Theres a Samaritan worker (Andrea Irvine, pictured) who takes drastic action in a bid to save a girl she scarcely knows from having a back-street abortion; a serial killer/hapless lover (Karl Shiels) who has sold his soul to the devil; and a young woman (Kate Brennan) who, after falling from the top of a crane, is saved from certain death by a worm-riddled demon. It all sounds outlandish but ORowes salty language (part Beckett, part Roddy Doyle) never loses its pep while his themes of love, loss and redemption are neatly realised. All three actors turn in flawless performances and if you dont quite end up with a feeling of sympathy for the devil, you do feel for those hes touched. Daragh Reddin Until Dec 5, Peacock Theatre, 26 Abbey St Lower D1, 20 to 25, 8.15pm. Tel: (01) 878 7222. www.abbeytheatre.ie index.html2.html3.html4.html5.html6.html7.html8.html9.html10.html11.html12.html13.html14.html15.html16.html17.html18.html19.html20.html21.html22.html23.html24.html25.html26.html27.html28.html29.html30.html31.html32.html33.html34.html35.html