Itchy Leeds Home Reviews and recommendations

You know you spend too much time on Facebook when...

Tue, 21 Jun 2011 16:37:10 GMT

We know when it’s time to dislike the social network and start socialising with real people…

You start liking your own status
Itchy loves a good status update, whether it’s a smiley face, what someone ate for dinner or a song lyric aimed at an ex you are sooo over. But there comes a point where giving two thumbs fresh to something you’ve typed with your very own digits teeters in to loser territory. And Itchy doesn’t associate with losers.

Your last check in was in bed, or on the toilet
Itchy sleeps, Itchy goes to the bog, Itchy also has a life and some self-respect... some. Checking in is a cool way of making you easily accessible to a stalker, but pinpointing your every move is something reserved for Russell Brand and the Twitterati. Heck, if Itchy checked in everywhere then Facebook would be face down with techno problems.

You're stalking the person who wrote on your ex's wall
Itchy has a heart, and that heart has been messed with, pushed, pulled and broken just like yours, so we get it when your innocent finger hovers over your ex's profile on a Columbo-style mission. Yet Itchy draws the line at excessive daily peeping on the poor mite who simply typed "LOL" on a status. Itchy advises you click the remove button pronto and head outside to mingle with real people with actual faces, that like, work and everything.

You're posting music videos to show how you feel
Itchy once posted Cheryl Cole’s Fight For This Love, and within minutes people were asking ‘who wants to fight?’ ‘what are you fighting for?’ and ‘don't you think your Cheryl obsession is going a tad too far?’
We get that music expresses how you feel, but tap your toe to it, not your finger on the upload button next to Blue’s Eurovision treat ‘I Can’ to show what a top day you had at work.

You're creating a relationship out of words, pokes and winks
Sounds quite poetic really, but Itchy knows better than to fall for someone who adds you, pokes you, winks at you and puts LOL at the end of every sentence. As in the real world LOL, Itchy bets you would pretty much be arrested LOL for going round poking strangers and giving them a sly old wink LOL. Itchy says the odd poke can be nice but can it really get you through a day as dull as dog poo? No, didn’t think so.

Kelly Holgate

Unlimited Theatre's Money The Game Show

Sun, 14 Apr 2013 14:08:11 GMT

Actively avoiding the financial news pages and wary of audience participation, Itchy nervously attend the final stop of Money The Game Show's UK tour and come out simultaneously laughing and frowning

Given £6,000 to make a show in 2011, Unlimited Theatre's resident writer Clare Duffy came up with Money The Game Show. Since then her budget has stretched to £60,000, resulting in the reworking of original material to include flashing lights. A twenty minute intro in the foyer of The Playhouse splits the audience into two teams and provides a brief introduction about the value of money, the history of the pound and explanations of hedge fund jargon.

Team leaders are introduced as ex-hedge fund managers who now work as entertainers, producing “Money The Game Show”. Itchy is with Team Queenie (Lucy Ellinson) who warms up the crowd getting three volunteers to play “heads or tails” to win pound coins and recruits one team member with a special skill they think opposing team members are unlikely to match.

Seated divided into teams, Itchy has just enough time to soak in Rhys Jarman and Richard Godin's very 80s' design, including rainbow light columns and lit-up pound signs, before Queenie and Casino (Brian Ferguson) start the show, introducing the only other cast member, the security guard and “sh*t kicker” who ensures the money's safe. Wearing blue metallic embossed suits, Queenie and Casino begin by pitting team members' unusual skills against each other for cash.

More audience volunteers liven-up the show and make it organic with a series of metaphorical games devised to illustrate the madness of the financial system, including balloon blowing, a shovel and a bucket. Viewers cheer on their team while placing short bets (values dropping) and long bets (value rising) together. Cheesy game show music and flashing lights accompany tasks with gold notes hidden under seats to ensure full audience engagement. Some audience members are so invested in the games, shoes and scarfs are removed to ensure speedy movement. A TV screen projects images, including bankruptcy graphs and Etch-A-Sketcher style writing, displaying grossly high figures to illustrate debt. Actual pound coins on stage are authenticated by audience members before later being thrown into a brown wheelie bin to highlight the devaluing of the humble pound.

Duffy light-heartedly tackles suicide through tomato ketchup and choice music is used to represent different financial years as the story of Queenie and Casino's burgeoning relationship threads between the games, depicting their situation pre- and post- 2008 financial crisis. The script is lively, explores the language of trade and is heavy on expletives with Queenie and Casino insulting each other both between games and during more serious story segments and monologues.

Through her accessible script, Duffy provides a quick potted-history of the financial crisis and its early beginnings in the US housing market bubble. Through her protagonists she succinctly explains how to pitch to potential investors, using Hollywood films as a clever analogy, focusing on Star Wars. Itchy are forced to contemplate the archaic value of gold and the arbitrary value of money through random but related facts.

Money The Game Show is art addressing the important issues we all try to avoid and does so very accessibly using a direct and occasionally cheeky approach. It playfully puts money in its place as a commodity alone, philosophically contemplating its value and ends comically using physical theatre. Duffy cleverly uses the game show format to demonstrate how a hedge fund works and incorporates both tragic/comic elements to create a thought-provoking piece of theatre, forcing Itchy to contemplate some hard questions: Will the United States Of Europe come into being? Who would lead it? What would happen if bank accounts, cards and on-line services froze? Don't expect any fast answers and remember “money is a game”.

Money The Game Show was on at The West Yorkshire Playhouse between Thursday 11 and Saturday 13 April 2013

Five Bands Itchy's Fallen in Love with this Spring

Sun, 14 Apr 2013 15:11:15 GMT

1. Bastille
We've been a fan of their mix tapes for what feels like years, but Bastille's debut album, Bad Blood, has had us hooked even more than we thought possible. We're humming Pompeii 24/7 and Sleepsong has us tapping things frantically, like a wannabe drummer. If you're already in the Bastille club*, bravo. If not, join it as soon as you can. You won't regret it.

*NB we aren't sure if there actually is a club, we are talking metaphorically. Obv.

2. London Grammar
Ethereal pop trio from, yup, you guessed it, London. We love Metal and Dust, but it's currently in heavy rotation on Radio One, so we've gone for another of their classic tracks, Hey Now, for your listening pleasure. We don't know much about them, but seeing as they don't even have an album out yet but they're getting all this attention, Itchy reckons they're gonna be massive.

3. The 1975
We have no idea what this Manchester-based alt-rock band are saying in Chocolate, but it's mighty catchy nevertheless. In fact, we quite enjoy making up our own soundalike lyrics. We're pretty certain they're singing about petticoats. Hmmm. Have a listen and let us know what you think they're singing in the comments box below...

4. Local Natives
With their second album, Hummingbird, the Natives have captured Itchy's heart once again. It's not hugely different from their debut, Gorilla Manor, but we really don't care. You can never have too much of a good thing, that's what we say. If it ain't broke, don't try to fix it... And all those other cliches. Yes. Here's our favourite from Hummingbird.

5. Haim
Music needs more women. Haim are three twenty-something girls from Los Angeles making some toe-tappingly-good songs. Itchy can't quite describe their sound... we're thinking 90s R&B meets 70s soft-rock with a touch of folky goodness. Have a listen and let us know what you think in the comments box below.

Giraffe, Trinity

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 14:19:14 GMT

It's 7.30 on a windy Tuesday evening several weeks after Trinity first opened, but Giraffe is surprisingly busy for a week night. Itchy wonders whether this is perhaps a reflection of the chain's strong branding, excellent customer service or even indicative that the novelty of the new complex still hasn't worn off. We're about to find out...

A refreshingly fruity not-too-filling Mango Lime Daiquiri (£6.95) slushed with Bacardi superior rum, mango and lime juice arrives. Alongside this, a more boozy tasting Melon Margarita that's subtle on the tequila (£6.35), allows us time to peruse Giraffe's eclectic menu of burgers, grilled meats, pasta and vegetarian dishes.

It's the “Everybody's Favourites” section of the menu that causes Itchy's indecision. Eventually our helpful waiter helps us make a difficult choice and opt for the Hot Thai Duck Stir Fry (£10.95) over the £13.95 leg of lamb with salsa verde and the £10.95 Nacho Mac 'N' Cheese with butternut squash, jack cheese and BBQ jerk chicken.

To keep us busy while awaiting the arrival of our duck and “BBQ Baby Back Rib” (£15.50 for the whole rack) mains, we order a quirkily-named Anti-"Tapas" to share (£11.95) that arrives moments later. Comprised of chorizo, Serrano ham, roasted vegetable caponata, manchego, olives and pickles with garlic focaccia "chips" and marinara sauce, our starter is generous for one while not overly filling for two.

The focaccia is lightly toasted and very subtle on the garlic with a hint of rosemary while the manchego balls are extremely soft and lack the cheese's normal fuller flavour, though tasty nonetheless. Chorizo slices aren't too fatty and the caponata has a slight off-fizz quality to it the more you eat while green olives are fuller in flavour than their black counterparts. As a dish, the Anti-"Tapas" is one of Giraffe's less unique offerings and although satisfying, could do with breadier additions to mop up its saucier components.

It's not long after our wooden platter is cleared that the mains arrive. The stir fry looks impressive, arriving in a large bowl with somewhat difficult to eat crispy noodles piled on top. Mixing shredded barbecue duck with bok choy, crispy shallots, thai basil, mint, snap peas, red pepper and noodles, makes this seem like a healthy option. The addition of chilli jam makes it messy to eat, but not as spicy as described, or earth-shattering.

The whole rack of ribs looks disappointingly small on arrival but is actually pretty filling. Slow-cooked in sweet smoky BBQ sauce, roasted to a glaze with crunchy coleslaw and skin on fries, this is an exceedingly messy eat, requiring multiple wet wipes to retain dignity. The meat is tender and very saucy but subtle in taste, despite a thick syrupy texture, the slaw is not too mayonnaisey, giving it the perfect consistency while the trendy "skin on fries" are considerably more petite than those currently offered on menus across the country.

While settling on desserts, Itchy order Sunshine Coast Iced Teas (£2.95); sipping on ice cold chamomile and green tea infused with mango, lime and fresh mint, we try to pretend the summer has arrived. It's a sweet but refreshing beverage, following another current trend Itchy have spotted by arriving in two handled jam jars.

We pre-empt, our soon-to-be-bloated stomachs by ordering Moroccan mint tea and tuck into a Rocky Road Sundae (£5.95) and Mango sorbet (£3.95). Chocolate and vanilla ice cream, marshmallows and brownies... this sundae is actually less rich than it sounds and evenly mixed. The Mango sorbet is a lighter option with fresh fruit salad and tasty strawberry coulis.

Soaking in the last of Giraffe's funky Latino soundtrack, we re-pour our mint tea three times as is tradition but fail to recreate that authentic taste, perhaps requiring the customary base - gun powder tea. Giraffe may not have everything right but unlike other chains its certainly one Itchy would be happy to revisit with its imaginative menu and outstanding service.

Leo Owen