A touch of local genius

Anyone who has experienced the work of Wanstead composer Simone Spagnolo will not want to miss his new play, Mr Baldocci, which has two performances at the Wanstead Curtain next weekend.

Spagnolo is, in our humble opinion, a proper genius. His 2024 walking opera around St Mary’s graveyard, All Rest, was a deeply moving experience which gave listeners an unforgettable experience of place and history.

At this year’s Fringe he was responsible for bringing an experimental audio experience which merged live music with headphone-based storytelling which left its audience in a trance-like state, not quite knowing what was real or where it was coming from.

Mr Baldocci is a more conventional theatrical experience, but it’s not like anything you will have seen before. It’s set in one man’s living room whose life gradually unravels as he receives a succession of answering machine messages. Wansteadium music critic Austin Allegro, who saw a performance earlier in the year, said: “Spagnolo’s composition, performed by celebrated pianist Gabriele Baldocci, is a jaw-dropping whirl of dozens of composers all mashed together into one compelling narrative. Without having to speak a word, Baldocci’s character communicates his downward spiral through his piano, culminating in at least two unexpected turns.”

You can get tickets from the Wanstead Fringe website below:

Friday

Saturday

Wanstead in print. Actually in the Booker winner.

We generally make a note when Wanstead appears in ads, on TV or films, and in books. Remember Belgique appearing in Robert Galbraith’s Troubled Blood? Or last year’s appearance in Jonathan Coe’s The Proof of My Innocence.

This new appearance trumps that… an appearance of the traffic lights on Aldersbrook Road in the actual winner of the actual Booker Prize. Spotted by longtime Wansteadium reader Martin Talbot.

Good news on waste

Reaching Wanstead has taken a good few years, but food waste bins and collection are finally here as part of a Redbridge-wide rollout. More recycling has to be a good thing, but one consequence may be that it will be impossible to avoid noticing just how much food goes to waste in the first place.

In case you missed the instructions on how to use the bins, they are here.

In short, these items CAN go in the bins:

  • plate scrapings 
  • eggs and eggshells
  • cheese and other dairy foods
  • fruit and vegetables (raw or cooked)
  • bread, pastries, cakes and biscuits
  • meat and bones (raw or cooked)
  • fish and fish bones (raw or cooked)
  • rice, pasta and beans
  • tea bags and coffee grounds 

But not welcome are oils , liquid fat, garden waste, animal bedding, packaging of any kind (though a biodegradable liner is all right), or liquids like milk which could cause spillage.

All the waste is heading towards Dagenham where is going to be used to produce bio-gas for electricity and heat, and a bio-fertiliser. Crucially it captures methane which is 25 times worse than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas.

So food waste collections – bravo.

Cream of Wanstead talent

©2025 Johan Persson

Congratulations to Wanstead’s opera star Lucy Crowe whose run at the Royal Opera House in Mozart’s Magic Flute has won her an amazing set of reviews.

The Guardian said:  “Crowe sparkled from the get-go, her tone warm, her phrasing exquisitely controlled.” The Times said: “Lucy Crowe spins her golden tone effortlessly as Pamina, her aria achingly beautiful.” And Opera Online said she was “a brilliant Pamina,” adding that “while her soprano generally feels glistening and radiant, the range of nuances she brings to it is quite staggering.”

You can also hear Lucy via BBC Sounds which this week described her as “superstar soprano” – her performance in Handel’s Rodelinda is available for the next month here.

And while we’re on the subject of Wanstead talent, here is our fellow resident Jay Perry, star of the West End stage and currently playing Aaron Burr in Hamilton, singing the National Anthem at an NFL game earlier this month.

Bravo all round.