Film
Iris Prize Film Festival kicks off this week in Cardiff
The 18th internationally acclaimed LGBTQ+ Iris Prize Film Festival kicks off this week in Cardiff but you, like me, will have the chance to catch some of its best bits online.
Brian Butler
Theatre
Rehearsed reading of Andrew Kay play ‘John and Thomas’ with Dave Lynn and Allan Cardew to raise funds for new LGBTQ+ drama prize in honour of Jason Sutton aka Miss Jason
It’s several decades since drag performer Dave Lynn first met then amateur actor Allan Cardew at Marilyn’s club behind Brighton station. Since then, they’ve shared the stage in many a gay-themed play and Allan has gone on to be a director and producer – most recently of the alternative panto. And so
Books
The Coast Is Queer, Brighton’s well-established festival of LGBTQ+ writing, returns this year from 10-13 October
The Coast Is Queer, Brighton’s well-established festival of LGBTQ+ writing, returns this year from 10-13 October with conversations, panels, workshops, performance and films, celebrating queer writing. It was the first festival of its kind in the UK, and it’s once again at the Attenborough Centre fo
Theatre
REVIEW: ‘Why Am I So Single?’ at Garrick Theatre
The creators of smash hit musical SIX, Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss, have done it again with their new show for the Gen Z age – Why Am I So Single?. Where SIX was all about girl power, this show delves deep into a specific personal relationship and is said to be semi-autobiographical. It breaks […]
Arts
Multi-award-winning theatre director Andrew Keates to launch Queer Theatre to tell LGBTQ+ stories and nurture queer talent
A year ago, multi-award-winning theatre director Andrew Keates woke up in a shed at the bottom of a garden pumped full of drugs and on the brink of a heart attack after being sexually assaulted by two men.
Arts
REVIEW: Hugh Panaro – ‘Man Without a Mask’ at Crazy Coqs
Broadway star Hugh Panaro has an accolade no-one else will achieve for sure: he played the Phantom more than 2,300 times – a staggering achievement. So this huge voice and matching personality could feel constrained in the intimacy of London’s Crazy Coqs cabaret room. Not a bit of it. From the momen
Arts
Simply Divine: We speak to Jonny Woo ahead of his new show, ‘Antony and Cleopatra: A Dream Of Passion’
If a film is made of the life of Jonny Woo – and it should be – the only person who could play this dancer, drag artist, poet, actor, writer, DJ and night club owner is: Jonny Woo. If he is a diamond of a performer, it’s because all the rough edges have been polished […]
Theatre
Queer theatre round-up: From a gender swapping Cleopatra to Chuck Sweeney as Peggy Lee and a tiny queer bar in Canary Wharf
My latest show round up includes a gender swapping Cleopatra, recreations of Barbra, Liza, and Peggy, and a record-breaking Phantom unmasked. Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss – creators of the phenomenal SIX: The Musical – are sure to make history again with their new musical, Why Am I So Single?, which ra
Theatre
FUTUREQUEER: Alexis Gregory leads us by way of Donna Summer to a 2070s gay ‘utopia’
Theatre maker Alexis Gregory takes us by the hand and joyfully and intelligently leads us by way of Donna Summer to a 2070s gay utopia, that may not be as idyllic as it sounds.
Arts
“Like most little gay boys, making people laugh was an escape.” Danny Beard to bring ‘Straight Expectations’ to Brighton Komedia in September
Drag performer Danny Beard can trace their stage persona back to the outrageous, flamboyant Leigh Bowery, friend of Boy George, who delighted and shocked audiences in Soho and New York in the 1980s. And now they’re bringing their UK touring show Straight Expectations to Brighton’s Komedia in Septemb
LGBTQ Choirs
REVIEW: Brighton Gay Men’s Chorus shine with show to celebrate 10 years of same-sex marriage
Talk about overcoming adversity – Brighton Gay Men’s Chorus (BGMC) not only had to cope with no stage lights at their first outing for their two summer concerts – but also no sound system. As the sun set and the choir started to disappear into the gloom before the high altar at St George’s Kemptown,
Film
FILM REVIEW: QUEEN TUT gets under the skin of the world of queer performers and gay activism
Reem Morsi’s marvellous film Queen Tut has at its heart two struggles, which intermingle to give the movie its dramatic and emotional journey. Drag performer and activist Malibu, played impeccably by trans actress Alexandra Billings, is fighting to save a Toronto LGBTQ+ historic bar and club – Mandy