Matt Stokes Brings a Unique Take on "Penny Gaff" Culture to Stratford Underground Station

LONDON.- A musical hall extraordinaire, beatbox champ and an operatic soprano; these are just a handful of the colourful collection of local performers who are entertaining visitors at Stratford Underground station, courtesy of a new film and installation by artist Matt Stokes. The film will be on show for nine months at the station and is part of an ongoing series of artworks at the station in the lead up to London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Matt Stokes’ ‘The Stratford Gaff: A Serio-Comic-Operatick-Bombastick Interlude’ is the latest contemporary artwork commissioned by Art on the Underground on the London Underground and belongs to a collection of art projects for the Jubilee line. Around 170,000 journeys are made through Stratford station a day. The project draws heavily on the East End’s rich narrative of popular entertainment. ‘The Stratford Gaff’ is a contemporary take on the Victorian ‘Penny Gaffs’, where, for only a penny

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