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WORK • Wednesday Routine

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ARTY FROUSHAN • actor • American Psycho
Neighbourhood you live in: Islington
Neighbourhood you work in: Finsbury Park

It’s Wednesday morning. What’s the scene at your workplace?
I’m currently starring as Patrick Bateman in the Almeida’s new musical revival of American Psycho. Right now it’s 1245p but it feels like 6a. Everyone’s filing into the warm-up for our first matinee of the week. Eyes half open. Tracksuits. People absent-mindedly massaging their throats (a musical theatre thing, I’m learning). Millie, who plays a prostitute called Sabrina, leads us through 15 minutes of pilates-adjacent, hip-opening hell, which sets us up for the next 10 hours of psychotic song and dance. We hug or wink good morning to each other while doing nasal sirens up and down our vocal range, like toddlers pretending to be ambulances. We slink back to our respective dressing rooms and put on clothes from the 1980s. Thirty minutes later, I’m hoisted onto the stage in a shower cubicle filled with dry ice, and the show begins.

Any restaurant plans today, tonight, this weekend?
I went to Theo James’ restaurant Lupa in Highbury and was blown away. Best Italian food I’ve had since I was in Rome: tomato carpaccio with salty pangrattato, capers, lemon zest. Steaming fresh pasta. Deep ragù. Crunchy rustic porchetta. I finally ate at The Fat Badger in Notting Hill, where my friend George [Williams] is the head chef. It’s decadent and addictive. The Baring in De Beauvoir is unbelievably good. Next, I want to go to Quo Vadis, where the pie crust is allegedly ridiculous.

What was your last great holiday?
The only major drawback of being a working actor is you can’t plan holidays. You get stolen moments either on a job (e.g., an eerie weekend in Quebec City while filming in Montreal last summer) or between jobs (visiting my brother in Dubai a year ago), but big trips don’t work. My last big holiday was Egypt more than four years ago, but my favourite ones ever have been Ethiopia, Vietnam and Japan.

What’s a recent big-ticket purchase you love?
I’m generally phobic of spending big money but I bought a proper leather jacket from A.M recently.

What store or service do you always recommend?
Hive books. They source books from independent sellers. Same prices as Amazon, less late-capitalist guilt.

Where are you donating your time or money?
When I’m less busy, I volunteer at FoodCycle in Islington and donate generously to local pubs.

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WORK & PLAY LINKS: The great central London office crisis • The Azizification of London housing • Former GlaxoSmithKline HQ in west London to be transformed into housing • Could WFH solve the global fertility crisis? • The little-known school in Haute-Savoie shaping luxury’s future • Why nice fragrances are becoming big business.

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RESTAURANTS • The Nines

Restaurants, Borough Market

FOUND’s 9 favourite restaurants in the neighbourhood. Paid subscribers have access to the complete Nines archive.

• Akara (Stoney St), West Africa meets Brazil via crispy black-eye bean fritters and larger plates, book