Londoner’s Diary
Stephen Fry was looking decidedly low-key in an all black outfit at the press night after-party for The Importance of Being Earnest. The casual observer would never have known that hours earlier, he was on stage in a ruffly green dress with perfectly coiffed hair and giant pearl earrings, as the fearsome Lady Bracknell. After a hit run at the National Theatre, director Max Webster’s revival of Oscar Wilde’s play has moved to the Noël Coward theatre, and has somehow become even camper. It stars Olly Alexander, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Jessica Whitehurst and Kitty Hawthorne. Actors Sir Ian McKellen, Natascha McElhone and Omari Douglas went along to watch.
Meanwhile, comedian Grace Campbell went to a screening of Knife Edge, a documentary about chefs pursuing Michelin stars, presented by Topjaw frontman Jesse Burgess. Over in Mayfair, Matthew McConaughey and his wife Camila Alves were at Curzon for a special screening of The Lost Bus. The film is based on a true story and stars McConaughey as a school bus driver battling to rescue 22 children from a raging wildfire in California, alongside teacher America Ferrera. McConaughey told Radio 4’s Front Row that he didn’t use a stunt driver, even for scenes where he navigated hairpin bends on narrow mountain roads. “I’ve pulled trailers all over north America, so probably that’s why I’m a better school bus driver,” he explained. There were no accidents, though he did knock a couple of wing mirrors off.
The Standard’s Autumn Lunch
New York and London’s restaurant scenes continue to commingle with gusto. The capital’s best Indian restaurants Dishoom and Gymkhana are set to cross the pond, while Italian-American classics like Carbone have landed over here. Such is the success of the special culinary relationship that Manhattan’s Dante has extended its residency at Claridge’s until the end of the year. The restaurant was the venue for the Standard’s Autumn Lunch, hosted by Chief Content Officer Anna van Praagh.
Suggestions were flying across the table for Nicky Haslam’s infamous annual tea towel of things he finds common, while socialite Jack Guinness waxed lyrical about House of Guinness, the TV show based on his ancestors. Guests included designers Harris Reed and Oliver Cheshire, singer Pixie Lott, artists Zandra Rhodes, Mat Collishaw and Polly Morgan, and Soho House’s Anouska Ruane. After a three-course lunch and rounds of cosmojitos (think Sex and The City goes to Cuba), guests went home with Diptyque scented candles. A Wednesday well spent.
