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| Nick Hornby |
Art
In New York and Paris it’s begrudgingly conceded that London has one of the best young art scenes anywhere, thanks mainly to our strong college system. And as the market for art seems to outstrip every hedge fund going, the possibilities for prodigies to have their work shown (first at end-of-degree shows and then in commercial galleries) as a prelude to building a decent career seem better than ever. Ossian Ward
Nick Hornby, 28, sculptor
Nick Hornby sculpts the impossible, from a life-size slice of a 727 shown at Selfridges to his pink Disney castle currently floating in King’s Cross. ‘Anticipation’ is at the Ultralounge of Selfridges until Sunday and ‘Tell Tale Heart’ is in Camley Street Natural Park.
Tom Price, 35, conceptual designer
A Brixton boy who graduated from the Royal College of Art’s product-design course, he now creates chairs from plumbing pipes, and lampshades from 3D scans of a lightbulb’s emissions. His designs can be seen in ‘Personal Freedom Centre’ at Hales Gallery in October.
Bettina Buck, 34, recycler of raw objects
A German sculptor of everyday materials such as latex and carpet, which become uncanny figures and otherworldly objects. Bettina Buck’s first London show, ‘Flexing Brown’, is at Rokeby until August 31.
Feature continues
Art | Books | Classical & Opera | Comedy | Dance | Design | Film | Food & Drink | Gay | Music | Nightlife | Social Club | Sport | Television | Theatre
Books
Look beyond the big publishing houses to London’s independent imprints, magazines and online journals, and you’ll find a literary scene in rude health. And, in fact, the savvier editors are realising that this is where they’re most likely to unearth the best new literary talent. John O’Connell
James Miller, 32
Miller’s terrifying, genre-bending debut novel ‘Lost Boys’ (Little, Brown) is about a group of boys who, lured by the same strange dream, disappear from a west-London school.
Chris Cleave, 35
Cleave’s first novel, ‘Incendiary’, came out on July 7 2005. Which would have been fine, except that it was about a terrorist attack on London. His second, ‘The Other Hand’ (Sceptre), is out in August and already a favourite with literary bloggers.
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Classical & Opera
Classical music
ambition has to start early. Maybe not as early as in China, where
six-year-old pianists effortlessly churn out Chopin polonaises, but
even here you should have a game plan for your Associated Board exams
by about the same time you’re mastering joined-up writing. London’s
music colleges and its wealth of concert halls still make it a magnet
for young hopefuls. But for each one who makes it as a soloist there
are hundreds who have failed. Here are three of our city’s most
engaging promising survivors. Jonathan Lennie
Gillian Keith, 36, soprano
The
diminuitive soprano with the great voice. Born in Toronto, she has just
made her mainstage debut at the Royal Opera House in ‘Ariadne auf
Naxos’.
Nicholas Collon, 25, conductor
The
principal conductor of the Aurora Orchestra, and a sought-after guest
at international events. He is currently in Austria conducting an opera
at a festival but will be back here to appear at the BBC Proms on Aug 6.
Nicholas Watts, 30, tenor
This
young tenor gave a lovely performance in ‘Acis and Galatea’ at Wilton’s
Music Hall in April and is definitely worth keeping an eye – and ear –
out for in the near future.
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| Left to right: Seann Walsh, Jack Whitehall, Katherine Ryan, Daniel Rigby, Pippa Evans, Sara Pascoe |
Comedy
Comics come to London from all over the world knowing our audiences accept a broader range of comedy than anywhere else. If you can make it here, as Sinatra once sang about some other joint, you can make it anywhere. Tim Arthur
Pippa Evans, 26
Evans was runner-up in this year’s Hackney Empire New Act of the Year contest and a finalist in the Nivea Funny Women Awards. Her psycho-tic yet sexy American singer is a thing of hysterical beauty. Her show, ‘Pippa Evans and Other Lonely People’, is a hot tip for Edinburgh this year.
Sara Pascoe, 27
A runner-up in the Nivea Funny Women Awards, Pascoe is a comic actress and stand-up whose ability to charm an audience sets her apart. A regular with topical sketch show ‘Newsrevue’, she is one of comedy’s next big things.
Daniel Rigby, 25
Winner of the 2007 Laughing Horse New Act of the Year Competition, Rigby’s comedy is delightfully surreal in a ‘Monty Python’, middle-class way. His debut solo show, ‘The Mothwokfantastic’, proved that he has the intelligence and creativity needed to back up his obvious promise.
Katherine Ryan, 25
Canadian Ryan won the Nivea Funny Women Awards 2008, with her take on bitchy, celebrity-obsessed airheads. She has perfect timing and enough attitude to stop an elephant in its tracks.
Seann Walsh, 22
Brighton-based comic Walsh is this generation’s Dylan Moran, with the looks, gags and charm to become something quite special.
Jack Whitehall, 19
There’s no way this young scamp should be as good as he is. He’s been hugely hyped but has the talent and jokes to back it up. He was the first guest presenter on this year’s ‘Big Brother’s Big Mouth’ and could, given time, emulate the success of its original presenter, Russell Brand.
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| Anaïs Bouts (right) with her dance company, MIKS |
Dance
Dance
is thriving in the UK. Schools, academies and conservatoires like
London Contemporary, Laban and the Royal Ballet are spitting out a
steady stream of young dancers and dance-makers. Many will try to grab
the spotlight at the Resolution! series at The Place; the luckiest
might be showcased in the Royal Opera House’s ‘Firsts’ season. As ever,
true talent transcends trends and gimmicks. Donald Hutera
Anaïs Bouts, 28
A
French-born dancer-choreographer with a desire to subvert audience
expectations in fresh and funny ways. Her company, MIKS, is the
centrepiece of a quirky triple-bill at Laban on October 2.
Marc Brew, 31
An
outstanding member of CandoCo, whose duet ‘Blue on Red’, a hit of
Resolution! 2008, was packed with succulent ambiguities embodied by
performers whose differing physical abilities seemed liberating rather
than restrictive.
See Nadia Adame perform 'Turning the Inside Out' by Marc Brew.
Ash Mukherjee
A
recent Critics’ Circle nominee, Mukherjee was terrific in the 2006 The
Place Prize-winning dance ‘Quick!’. A classically trained Indian dancer
with a keen appreciation of popular culture, he could bring new meaning
to the notion of artistic fusion.
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| Left to right: Tom Higgs, Ken K Chung, Holly Cowan, Mary Katrantzou, Sam Westlake |
Design
Thanks to our fine fleet of design colleges, from the Royal College of Art to Central Saint Martins, London is the first city buyers and magazine editors look to for new talent. With dozens of stellar graduate shows this summer, the standard was higher – and more inspiring – than ever. Maggie Davis
Holly Cowan, 25, handbag designer
A vibrant new force in the world of handbags, Belfast-born Holly Cowan has just graduated with an MA in womenswear from the Royal College of Art. She uses solid moulds to create space-age, ergonomic bags; each one features intricate Perspex detailing (designed by fellow RCA graduate Sarah Angold) giving them a luxurious edge.
Mary Katrantzou, 25, fashion designer
Athens-born Mary Katrantzou has just launched her own label after graduating from Central Saint Martins. Her first collection has won approval from Vogue and secured New Generation sponsorship at London Fashion Week in September. She’s even created a new fabric, a bonded jersey that’s soft yet strong enough to take digital trompe l’oeil prints.
Ken K Chung, 26, illustrator
Chung illustrates a dark, fairytale world of dancing skeletons and demonic birds that, he says, is ‘hard to categorise’. His work is soon to appear in indie comic New Albion, as a T-shirt print for clothing label Illustrated People and as a range of handmade silver rings based on Chung’s characters – a one-eyed monkey god, billows of smoke and a tiny bird: a ‘hungry, horny animal from hell’.
Tom Higgs, 28, product designer
‘It’s a bit like sitting on a branch of a tree,’ explains Tom Higgs of his fibreglass Flex Chair, which garnered much attention at the Royal College of Art’s recent grad show. An inspired mechanism allows the chair to flex for comfort, and at least one major British manufacturer thinks it may have a huge impact on the world of contract seating. Higgs has also created a set of double-ended door wedges – simple and utterly useful, like all the best ideas.
Sam Westlake, 22, photographer
Westlake has just graduated from a fashion photography BA at London College of Fashion, but recently took up portraiture. ‘For me,’ he says, ‘fashion photography didn’t have the same depth as taking pictures of real people.’ His images are hyper-natural – shots of friends with a melancholy, unposed feel. Having assisted a photographer from the age of 17, Westlake says: ‘you can learn more practical skills in a morning assisting than in a whole term at school.’
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| Left to right: Nichola Burley, Fabien Riggall, nonso Anozie, Lol Crawley, Duane Hopkins |
Film
It’s never easy to break through in British cinema. We don’t make many films (and when we do they rarely get distributed). We rely on established talent, and money is never in abundance. That said, we have many fantastic, inspirational, committed and hard-working filmmakers to look up to (Mike Leigh, Ken Loach, Shane Meadows) and every year one or two films come along, short or long, from new directors that confirm all is well. At this year’s Cannes, the British filmmakers in attendance (Duane Hopkins, Thomas Clay, Steve McQueen) each offered leftfield, experimental visions that are grounded in social truth, suggesting that a new generation is playing on our national tradition of film realism while also desiring to take it somewhere else entirely. Dave Calhoun
Nonso Anozie, 29, actor
You may remember this larger-than-life, London-born actor as the gentle osteopath in Mike Leigh’s ‘Happy-Go-Lucky’. This summer, Anozie is playing the hard-nosed, tough-knocks lead in ‘Cass’, the true story of a nutty football hooligan. He will also appear in the autumn as Tank in Guy Ritchie’s ‘RocknRolla’.
Nichola Burley, 22, actor
Burley stole the show in Dominic Savage’s 2005 film ‘Love + Hate’ as a lippy northern teenager in a relationship with a Muslim boy that becomes the stuff of local strife. You’ll currently find her on screens caked in blood opposite Jaime Winstone, as one of three girls whose holiday takes a downward turn in the British thriller ‘Donkey Punch’.
Duane Hopkins, 34, director
Cotswolds-born Hopkins presented ‘Better Things’, his first feature, in Critics’ Week at Cannes this May. It’s an uncompromising vision of drug abuse and alienation in the British countryside that prefers to push the boundaries of sound design and cinematography rather than focusing on the more talky brand of social realism.
Lol Crawley, 33, cinematographer
Crawley’s first credit as a cinematographer was Duane Hopkins’s first short, ‘Field’, in 2001. Since then, Crawley has shot a whole series of shorts, and his first feature, ‘Ballast’, for American first-time director Lance Hammer, went down a storm at this year’s Sundance. He has teamed up again with Hopkins for the feature ‘Better Things’ (see Duane Hopkins, above) and has just completed Scottish director Morag McKinnon’s much-anticipated first film, ‘Rounding Up Donkeys’.
Fabien Riggall, 32, programmer
For the past five years, Riggall’s Future Shorts organisation has been showing hand-picked selections of short films to Londoners and beyond in cinemas, bars and even in the vaults beneath London Bridge. His latest innovation is a spin-off venture, Secret Cinema, for which crowds willingly turn up at unusual venues completely unaware of what they’ll see.
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| Tristan Welch and Maria Elia |
Food & Drink
The hours are still long and the work is hard in catering, so it’s just a matter of hoping the talent will stick around and be recognised before burning out. Still, London is the best place for new talent to break through because it’s such a competitive environment. Standards continue to rise: ten years ago chefs such as Gordon Ramsay looked to New York for inspiration; now, New York looks here. Guy Dimond
Maria Elia, ‘thirtysomething’, chef
Elia has spent a summer working at El Bulli in Spain, but for most of the last decade has been chef at Delfina in Borough. Her next project should be her best yet – ‘bringing vegetarian gourmet food to London’. Elia’s new restaurant, Love Life Stories, opens its doors on Brick Lane in October.
Tristan Welch, 29, chef
After a stint as head chef under Marcus Wareing at Pétrus, Tristan Welch took his talents to the wonderfully revamped Launceston Place where his brilliance has now been given full licence.
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Gay
Even now, crossing over from gay clubs into the maintream takes a lot of determination and staying power. QBoy, for instance, has been getting press since 2004, but has really raised his game this year, performing at the prestigious Purcell Room and educating kids about homophobia. What our gay up-and-comers share is that they’re here, they’re queer and they’re unquestionably talented. Paul Burston
Celine Hispiche, 37, singer
One of the highlights of Marc Almond’s recent shows at Wilton’s Music Hall was his duet with Celine Hispiche singing ‘Masculine Women and Feminine Men’. She’s all girl, our Celine. And quite the little belter.
Michael Twaits, 24, actor-playwright
His first one-man show, ‘Confessions of a Dancewhore’, dealt with gay stereotypes and was developed with the help of Bloolips legend Bette Bourne. Twaits currently has two new shows in development, ‘The One You Love’ and ‘Icons’.
Ben Jamin, 36, DJ
One of the few gay DJs who plays for the two tribes of Shoreditch and Vauxhall, Jamin also caters to both gay and lesbian audiences and makes some terrific mash-ups. A mixmaster in every sense.
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| Electro duo Kish Mauve v metallers Invasion |
Music
It was in these very pages just a few weeks ago that Jay-Z stated that London is the best city in the world for new music, as ‘it’s the only place in the world where people make music for the right reasons – to make music’. The quality and quantity of new bands on the London scene is as robust as ever, and the majority of bands occupying stage time are making efforts to sound, look and think differently from each other. This makes the average three-band bill a risky affair, of course, but adding so many new elements to the musical gene pool has to be healthy. Eddy Lawrence
Melody Klyman, 32
This avant-garde artist turned musician conjures up an ethereal, haunting pulse-pop which sounds a little bit like Laurie Anderson fronting a reimagined One Dove.
Stricken City
The great new hope for brainy goth-pop, Stricken City blend chart-friendly melodies with leftfield explorations and wittily sardonic lyrics.
Invasion
Retro-futurist metal from a band who describe themselves as ‘like a space diva on acid fronting a young, stoned Metallica playing Sleep songs too fast (and too short)’. Which is accurate.
Wave Machines
Indie-disco scousers whose cowbell- and cheap-synth-toting pop is the sort made by twee, Oxfam-clothed kids (very successfully) trying their hand at white funk… while wearing masks.
Kish Mauve
The husband-and-wife duo behind Kylie’s ‘Two Hearts’ have finally arrived on their own terms, with their self-styled ‘happy-sad’ electropop.
Collapsing Cities
They sound like a Monkees-era version of Pavement and have been wowing audiences with their support slots on the Black Kids tour.
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| Left to right: Zombie Disco Squad's Nathaniel, Hannah Holland, Buster Bennett |
Clubs
From fidget house DJs and dubstep dons to mash-up DJs who see creative possibilities where others see genre barriers, there’s no shortage of new nightlife talent, especially DJ-producer duos, but there’s always a shortage of new places for people to express that talent. Fortunately, the Ten (Temporary Event Notice) licenses enable promoters to open up new spaces. Without that, London could regress to being only commercial (the Ibiza route) or become a shadow of its former creative self, like New York. Dave Swindells
Hannah Holland, 27, batty bass DJ and producer
A brilliant resident DJ at the weekly electro-techno Trailer Trash parties in Hoxton, Hannah Holland also teams up with Mama Shamone and MC Chickaboo to host the ‘batty bass’ mash up of fidget house, baile-funk, techno and filthy basslines at appropriately titled monthly night Bastard Batty Bass, at The Star of Bethnal Green.
Zombie Disco Squad: Lucas, 27, and Nathaniel, 26, baile-funkin’ dirty house producers
There are many DJ duos double-teaming decks throughout London, but Nathaniel and Lucas have got the legs to go all the way. They run their own monthly Get Rude night at Catch, guest DJ at Bastard Batty Bass and flex their baile-funkin’ dirty house on remixes and dancefloors across Europe.
Buster Bennett, 23, promoter and DJ
A promoter, club host and DJ who’s also musical director at Super Super magazine, Buster made his name as one half of the Yr Mum Ya Dad duo with Scottee. He now teams up with promoter and DJ Fonteyn to host the monthly Nuke Them All art rave, with DJ K-Tron to present the mid-weekly mash-up Calling All Tribes at The Ghetto and squeezes in I Scream Sundays at The Macbeth, too.
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| The UnderConstruction performers |
Alternative Nightlife
The rise of music-halls, neo-Weimar cabaret clubs and twisted fetish parties in London has gone hand-in-hand with an expanding audience keen to have a go. We applaud Finger In The Pie Cabaret (monthly Sundays at Madame JoJo’s) and the annual UnderConstruction series (every April at Bistrotheque) for giving new talent the chance to try out material. Simone Baird
Dickie Beau, 29, synthpop producer and performance artist
Beau works the full alternative performance spectrum. At one end is boylesque at Whoopee’s Male Tournament of Tease and the Dalston drag kid circuit; at the other is his synthpop and Judy Garland deconstruction as Alma Mata. Dickie Beau Presents is at the Southbank Centre on Aug 8.
Blanche Dubois, 30, drag queen
The alternative burlesque and drag performances of this self-proclaimed Mexican Spitfire, set to Chopin, say, or Edith Piaf’s ‘La Vie en Rose’, are as surreal as anything you’ll see.
Theo Adams, 18, performance artist
In the guise of The-O, this milky-skinned nightlife apparition is a regular face at star promoter Scottee’s happenings and East End fashion parties. You might not understand his work, but you won’t be able to take your eyes off him.
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| Billy Godleman |
Sport
For every 1,000 young London footballers dreaming of Premier League stardom, 999 will never set foot on a top club’s pitch. But sports like rugby and cricket have more accessible pathways from the grassroots, while many sports colleges are setting up basketball and netball academies to feed national development schemes. This is partly how the British Olympic handball squads are being built for 2012: Huw Goodwin was a semi-pro rugby league player who’d never played handball. Now he’s on target for 2012. Andrew Shields
Billy Godleman, 19, cricketer
Born in Camden, Billy Godleman turned out for Middlesex 2nd XI at the age of 14 and made his 1st XI debut two years later – the youngest ever to play first-class English cricket. Now 19, he’s an England opening batsman in the making.
James Tomkins, 19, footballer
The 6'3" centre-back made his Premier League debut for West Ham last season, 11 years after he joined the club at eight. Tomkins netted twice for England Under-19s against Russia in March.
Billy Joe Saunders, 18, boxer
Eighteen-year-old welterweight Billy Joe Saunders lives on a travellers’ camp near Waltham Abbey and was placed in Britain’s development squad for 2012. However, he’s made it to the Olympics four years early after winning bronze at the European qualifying tournament.
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Television
Channel 4 and the BBC continue to champion new writers and performers with gusto. Their digital offshoots in particular have created bold, imaginative shows – ‘Skins’, ‘Pulling’ and ‘Gavin and Stacey’ – and pilot opportunities are increasing. Commissioners are taking chances to snare a young audience that’s happier online. And the internet is a breeding ground that’s cheap and accessible. Not all of it works yet, but the will and talent are there. Gabriel Tate
Danny Lee Wynter, 26, actor
Wynter held his own opposite Maggie Smith and Michael Gambon in the BBC’s recent Stephen Poliakoff diptych (‘Joe’s Palace’ and ‘Capturing Mary’): no mean feat.
Rafe Spall, 24, actor
Spall stepped out of his father Timothy’s shadow in the last year with startling performances in ‘He Kills Coppers’, ‘Rather You Than Me’ and ‘A Room with a View’ (opposite his dad).
Ruth Wilson, 26, actor
Wilson has handled two huge roles, as Jane Eyre and in Poliakoff’s ‘Capturing Mary’, marvellously. She’s also mastered sitcom (‘Suburban Shootout’) and drama-doc (‘The Doctor who Hears Voices’).
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| Tom Hiddleston |
Theatre
In London, nights on the Fringe remain unpredictable – although extremes of temperature, naive pomposity, numerous blackouts and gratuitous full-frontals feature more regularly than we’d like. But nothing beats the excitement of being in a dark and tiny space – above a pub, perhaps, or under railway arches – and seeing a bright new talent emerge for the first time. Jane Edwardes
Tom Hiddleston, 27, actor
One of many actors to be given his first leg-up by theatre company Cheek by Jowl, Tom Hiddleston made his mark at the Barbican in ‘The Changeling’ and ‘Cymbeline’. Later he held his own in a cast that included Chiwetel Ejiofor, Ewan McGregor and Kelly Reilly, as Cassio in ‘Othello’ at the Donmar Warehouse. From September 12 he can be seen in ‘Ivanov’ in the Donmar Season with Kenneth Branagh at the Wyndhams Theatre.
Andrea Riseborough, 24, actor
Along with Andrew Garfield and Matt Smith, Riseborough made her mark in National Connections in 2007. She then specialised in eastern Europeans, first the trashy tart in ‘The Pain and the Itch’ at the Royal Court and the equally strident Pole in ‘A Couple of Poor, Polish-Speaking Romanians’ at the Soho Theatre. On TV, she will be remembered for her flirtatious PM in ‘Thatcher: The Long Walk to Finchley’.
Nadine Marshall, 36, actor
Nadine Marshall effortlessly held the main stage at the Royal Court in Debbie Tucker Green’s one person show, ‘Random’, in which Marshall played all the members of a family caught up in an all-too-topical tragedy.
Bijan Sheibani, 29, director
The Anglo-Iranian director won the James Menzies-Kitchin Award for Young Directors in 2003. Sheibani is currently artistic director of Actors Touring Company and won acclaim with a moving version of ‘The Brothers Size’ at the Young Vic. His production of Bola Agbaje’s ‘Gone too Far!’ is currently being revived in the Royal Court Theatre.
2 comments
Please check out this artist he should have been up there in 1974, why did you not support him then---
Andersonstudio.co.uk
I'm so excited that you mention Ben Jamin; however, he shouldn't be in the gay section. He's probably the best dj and party maker in London. His ability to create and mix mash-ups is legendary.
Just the mere fact that he happens to be gay is a moot point. He deserves some serious cross-over to and acknowledgment from the mainstream. I hope to see him in the big festivals next year.
Ben Jamin rocks!