queer fringe Fringe! -queer film and arts fest celebrates 15 Fringe! -queer film and arts fest celebrates 15 years - offering a loud story of joy, solidarity and radical imagination. Here are just a few items that caught my eye. By Brian Butler • 2 min read
Edward Bluemel as William Shakespeare Culture Was Shakespeare queer ? William Shakespeare’s sexuality, the homoerotic relationship between a talk show host and a composer, and the closeted world of Hollywood’s gay actors all feature on the London stage this month and next. Scholars and LGBTQ+ commentators are undecided about whether our greatest playwright William Shakespeare was gay or By Brian Butler • 2 min read
Sandi Goodwin Sandi Goodwin: The art of making art Queer musical theatre genius Stephen Sondheim said: “the art of making art is putting it together, bit by bit.” And Sandi Goodwin has certainly done that, in a varied life which has encompassed being an aspiring dancer and actor, then HIV nurse and activist, theatre producer, and now an abstract By Brian Butler • 5 min read
Culture Actually Fabulous - 20th anniversary concert from Actually Gay Men's Chorus For their 20th anniversary concert, Actually Gay Men’s Chorus in Brighton chose Actually Fabulous as the title of the show. No modesty and none needed. It’s an ever-surprising choral group under the meticulous and energetic musical direction of Samuel Cousins and with Simon Gray’s immaculate accompaniment, and By Brian Butler • 3 min read
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
