In a Forest, Dark and Deep is the latest work from American playwright Neil LaBute. Fortunate enough to snaffle a day seat ticket on the morning of the performance I found myself on the front row of the stalls last night, a perfect spot in the Vaudeville Theatre which must house one of the lowest stages in London’s West End.

Set on a dark and stormy night, the play starts with Bobby (Matthew Fox) making his way to a log cabin which is owned by his sister Betty (Olivia Williams) under the impression he is there to help her clear out the contents – the psychological thriller that follows is a tale of sibling rivalry, laced with dark comedy.

The audience look into an impressive set designed to show the inside of the remote cabin, a two-level and sizable space. Lightning and thunder add to the realism of the overhead storm as they accompany the evening’s proceedings, as does the water running down the huge windows that arch up high to the roof of the set.

A running time of one hundred minutes with no interval, nor set changes makes the performances of the two actors crucial in keeping the audience engaged – something which both managed to achieve in a display that’s captivating and believable.

Williams’ Betty is intriguing and enticing, evidently more educated than her sibling her career path has seen her work through the college system as she finds herself a college lecturer. It is not alluded as to what Fox’s Bobby does for a living, although his dress and general demeanour suggest he is more than likely a blue-collar worker.

Without wanting to spoil the story, the two on stage work extremely well together; the script, despite the conclusion proving a little bit foreseeable, is believable and the lines given to both are natural, strong and occasionally dark-humoured. There are profanities at times, but not without reason and they do add to the realism of the piece.

It’s an absorbing tale that the audience are told; invited into Betty’s home and given the opportunity to discover and understand a relationship between siblings as they find out more about one another; probing questions, honest answers and discoveries that are perhaps more revealing than expected.

There was an hour of questions and answers with the director and stars after the final curtain fell which by all accounts was very well received and the actors duly appeared after proceedings outside the stage door to a clutch of autograph hunters. Whilst Matthew Fox appeared a little agitated, perhaps understandably as this is his first West End run, Olivia Williams was extremely engaging; comfortably chatting to the gathered crowd, signing various memorabilia and posing for photos.

In a Forest, Dark and Deep will receive it’s World Premiere production on 14 March 2011, and will run for a limited season up to and including 4 June 2011 at the Vaudeville Theatre, London. A video trailer, tickets and further information are available from the play’s official website, http://www.inaforestdarkanddeep.com.

Another 24-hour strike on London’s Tube network is underway and, despite TfL’s Strike Information page letting people know what best to do to handle the situation, it’s brought with it another day of disruption in the capital.

Whilst the strikes don’t directly affect those of us that choose to cycle to work every day, they do lead to the roads filling up with drivers not used to London roads and cyclists that have dusted off the bikes that have laid unloved in the back of a cupboard for months.

It’s particularly noticeable at the junctions in the capital, a swarm of hi-viz vests and more expensive cycling attire finding themselves bunched together at red lights before streaming off in long, strung-out peletons; the natural order quickly restored as the regulars on the road, familiar with London traffic’s nuances and quirks make their way around and in front of the less sure fair-weather cyclists and ‘only bike on a strike day’ commuters.

Cycling, once you’re used to it, really is a great way of commuting in London and it’s only by staying above ground that you truly appreciate how all the pieces of the city fit together. With Mayor Boris Johnson keen to get more of London on their bikes today’s events may sound like an ideal scenario and in some ways it is, despite a small number of ’wet behind the ears’ cyclists frustrating drivers with their lack of basic bike handling skills and general road manners.

It is only a small number though and, with practice, I’m confident that they will gain confidence and get better at reading the road and situations that affect both themselves and others upon it. It’s days like today where they’ve decided to give the bike a try that they will get this practice.

With today’s walkout taking the strike tally up to three since September and neither the Unions nor those in power seemingly willing to negotiate to a satisfactory conclusion, it’s perhaps ironic that a walk-out which is supposed to show those in control how important the underground network is to London is often the sort of day that shows Londoners how much easier it is to get about their lives without using the Tube than they thought…

Everybody has them. Those moments as you scan through the listings of upcoming events and something catches your eye. Not necessarily a listing for an artist you’ve actively followed for years, not even necesssarily an artist whose genre you would ever have as one of your favourites, but a listing that you spot and think ‘you know…that’ll be a gig to go to, one that’ll be talked about’.

The news that Elton John was to open BBC Radio 2′s Electric Proms in 2010 was one of those, and an opportunity I couldn’t miss.

Whilst I’ve seen and heard a fair number of the BBC’s Electric Proms events thanks to their excellent coverage across the airwaves and the web, this was the first time I had attended their flagship venue (my previous flirtation with the event was back in October 2007 where I saw a superb come-back performance from Edwyn Collins in Dingwalls, a much more intimate set-up just down the road).

Sir Elton took to the stage in rather conservative dress than he is (perhaps unfairly now) renowned for, although his tailored jacket did have a diamante-style rocket spread across the back; well, didn’t expect him to attend the opening of the Proms with nothing a bit special did you?!

He opened with some classics from his early days; renditions of Burn Down the Mission and Ballad of a Well Known Gun were pounded out with aplomb before an excellent rendition of Tiny Dancer, accompanied by a massive glitter ball that had descended from the auditorium’s high ceiling.

Spirits were high amongst the capacity crowd, many re-living their youth; even the below-par vocal performance from the first guest singer of the evening, Plan B, on I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues didn’t dampen the mood as Sir Elton accompanied in the way only he can on the piano. Unfortunately, that was as good as it got.

Sir Elton’s friend Leon Russell was introduced and made his way to the stage with the help of an electric wheelchair before performing a few of his hits. Whilst he was accompanied by the much-hyped female artist Rumer for This Masquerade, he performed the rest solo, Sir Elton opting to take a breather.

After a couple of numbers from him it was time for the duo to announce they have just completed a new album, The Union. Boy did they want us to know it…

Nervous shuffles and confused looks to partners greeted Sir Elton’s comment that ‘this is the hard part of the evening for you lot’ and ‘we’re gonna play our new album’. Surely he didn’t mean the whole album?! Sadly, he did.

Whilst there were a couple of songs that stood out (Monkey Suit probably the best received) the performance was a struggle to listen to in all honesty. The crowd on the main floor noticeably thinned out as they migrated to the bars; with them expecting an evening of Elton John classics, their disappointment can’t really be criticised.

After struggling through all fourteen tracks from the new album, Sir Elton brought the crowd back to their senses with a cracking performance of Your Song. Not that it was too hard, but the crowd’s mood was lifted further with other classics including Sad Songs and a decent version of The Bitch is Back.

And so onto the encore. A last chance to get the crowd back onside and send them home with nothing but praise for the evening…

The duo opted to repeat one of their new tracks. It wasn’t the finale that an already disappointed audience needed to lift their moods and several made their feelings known; a smattering of boos filtering up from the back of the room as Sir Elton made his way from the stage.

It’s fair to say the night held its own as a good gig, but disappointingly it wasn’t anything like the Elton John gig that both the ticket wording alluded to and those in attendance anticipated.

Walking back to Chalk Farm tube you couldn’t help but notice the mumblings amongst those that were also making their trips home and think ‘you know…perhaps that gig won’t be talked about in quite the way they wanted it to be…’