Community Corner This year's official Brighton & Hove Pride dance video to support the trans community Five trans drag artists will headline in this year’s official Brighton & Hove Pride dance video. The brainchild of 201 Dance Company’s Brighton-based artistic director Andrea Walker, the video, which last year had one million social media hits, will strongly support the trans community. And Brighton queers and By Brian Butler • 3 min read
Features & Longread 7/7 - 20 years on: a personal memory On 7 July 2005 I was not in my office at the British Medical Association’s HQ in Tavistock Square, London. Instead, as Director of Communications I was attending a meeting at the British Medical Journal’s offices in the same building but further up Upper Woburn Place towards Euston. By Brian Butler • 4 min read
Community Corner “What they do to one of us, they do to all of us” - Rainbow Chorus Summer concert On the anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, Brighton’s Rainbow Chorus gave an emotional, defiant and joyful concert under the title Anthems In Colour. And they had a battle of their own with technical issues. No stage lighting because it had been stolen and a last-minute sound system didn’t By Brian Butler • 2 min read
Culture Review: This Bitter Earth at Soho Theatre First things first: if you are in London June/July to use playwright Harrison David Rivers’ language, you need to get your cute butt down to the Soho Theatre and see This Bitter Earth. Actually, if you are anywhere in the UK or abroad and visiting London, then you need By Brian Butler • 2 min read
Billy Porter. Pic credit - Elliott Franks Culture BILLY PORTER speaks -'To be black and gay in the USA is a death warrant.' The recipient of three Emmys, a Grammy and three Tonys, he is currently making his London directorial debut staging This Bitter Earth by Harrison David Rivers. By Brian Butler • 4 min read
Pic by Mark Senior Culture REVIEW: Titanique - "outrageously gay" There should be a trigger warning for Titanique the musical - it’s outrageously gay and leaves little to the fertile imagination. Co-written by Marla Mindelle, Constantine Rousouli and Tye Blue, and directed by Tye Blue, it’s a sure-fire, 5-star romp with a laugh every few seconds and quick-fire By Brian Butler • 2 min read
Culture REVIEW: Field of Anise @ Ironworks It’s a story of love, of belonging, and a shocking betrayal, made worse by an ending I had not seen coming and which will make you gasp. Not only is this Amir’s debut as a playwright, he also stars and directs – an amazing achievement. By Brian Butler • 2 min read
Culture REVIEW: Glenda & Rita: LIVE @ Brighton Fringe They really are black and white -costume, hair, make-up ; they’re monochrome humans. It’s a brilliant, bizarre & comic By Brian Butler • 2 min read
Culture REVIEW: Resound Voices at Brighton’s Chapel Royal The compact space of Brighton’s Chapel Royal suits the smallest of Brighton’s queer choirs – Resound Voices. The 14 singers, as always with this group, produce beautiful harmonies, and under the direction of Sam Barton they always please, surprise and entertain. Their early summer concert was entitl By Brian Butler • 2 min read
Culture BRIGHTON FRINGE REVIEW: ‘Deadnamed’ Before we’re allowed into the tiny tent that is Rotunda Pip, in Regency Square, Brighton, we’re asked to leave a message on a post-it about the deceased whose funeral we are about to attend. As the lights come up – bright red – a man sits up in the coffin and says hello. This is […] By Brian Butler • 1 min read
Culture BRIGHTON FRINGE REVIEW: ‘Provocateur’ You step down into the basement of Brighton’s Lantern Theatre and you’re in The Mistress’s dungeon – complete with latex, ropes, a strap-on and whips. In a black latex dress and corset, Tish Weinman, aka Letitia Delish greets us with a smile that gives you goosebumps: “my time is expensive; what you By Brian Butler • 2 min read
Culture BRIGHTON FRINGE REVIEW: ‘Second Class Queer’ A speed dating evening in a gay bar in Berlin is the unlikely setting for Kumar Muniandy’s searingly honest examination of queer identity, racism, homophobia, displacement and guilt. Krishna is a Malaysian of Indian heritage, and he is outwardly calm, witty and attractive. But underneath he has a gu By Brian Butler • 1 min read
