08/05/2014 – Scene Magazine – From the heart of LGBTQ+ Life

PREVIEW: Normal Heights: Brighton Fringe May 8-19

Posted on 08/05/201409/05/2014 by Besi

Raucous brother act from USA honours deceased uncle, while promoting inclusion and laughter.

Normal Heights is the original one-and-a-half-man show that was a five-star audience favorite at the Boulder International Fringe Festival.

Creator/performer Jim Walker and accompanist brother Adam bring the production to UK audiences for 11 shows only – at the Brighton Fringe Festival (between May 8-19) – and London’s Leicester Square Theatre (between May 26-28).

Drawn from the writings of Edward Walker – a gay man forcibly outed in 1950’s San Diego – the 50-minute show combines cabaret, memoir and theater to effect keen cultural satire around sexuality, masculinity and the costs of silence.

Original songs with razor-sharp lyrics reveal California suburbs awash in pool play, foreplay, playboys and word play. The lively and hilarious show explores coming of age (and coming to terms) in the land of don’t ask-don’t tell

A University of Colorado writing instructor & PhD, Jim was inspired to create the piece upon inheriting his late uncle’s journals. He collaborated with Denver Center for the Performing Arts composer Gary Grundei to create the show’s original songs.

At a time when battles rage across U.S. staterooms and courtrooms over LGBT rights, the piece’s focus on sexuality and inclusion could not be more apt.

Jim and his musician brother Adam now tour the show in honor of their deceased uncle – a man of culture and creativity who was himself an actor in 1960’s London. Thus, this UK debut is both homage and a kind of homecoming.

Original songs by Gary Grundei and Jim Walker, directed by Meridith Grundei with musical accompaniment by Adam Walker.

Brighton performances:

What: Normal Heights by Jim Walker

Where: DukeBox Theatre, 3 Waterloo Street, Hove

When: May 8-10 and 12-13 at 8pm

Time: 8pm

Cost: £8 (£6)

Where: Latest Musicbar, 15-17 Manchester Street, Brighton

When: May 17-19

Time: 7pm

Cost: £8 (£7) £10 on the door

To book Brighton performances, CLICK HERE:

Or telephone: 01273 917272

London performances:

What: Normal Heights by Jim Walker

Where: Leicester Square Theatre, 6 Leicester Place, London WC2H 7BX

When: May 26-28

Time: 9.30pm

Cost: £8 (£7)

To book London performance, CLICK HERE:

Or telephone: 08448 733433

For more information about Normal Heights, CLICK HERE:

The Warren: Pop up Venue: Review

Posted on 08/05/201409/05/2014 by Eric Page

The Warren: Main House: Russell Place, East Brighton, BN1 2RG

Pop up Venue & Bar

One of Brighton’s most anticipated Pop-up venues (Winner, Best Venue 2012) plonks itself down in the throbbing staggering heart of Brighton with some of the best theatre, cabaret, comedy & music. The Warren is a pop-up complex of three venues with a gorgeous garden and outdoor bar tucked away in Russell Place, just off West Street, Brighton.

Although very difficult to find first time round, it’s well worth the trawl across a drunken windswept West Street, up the side street behind the church off Russell Place, behind the Brighton Centre, then all the way to the top to this sweet hidden-away refuge from the mauling drunken flesh pots of West Street. Once inside the Warren, there’s a warm cosy bar in a yurt, a surprising garden in the middle and two venues to catch shows.

They run the ‘Fringe Club’ late night and we saw The New York Dollies who were wonderful, chic and naughty, flirty and fun and brought the temperature of the night up into a swinging party mode. Their warm and melodic reinterpretations of punk classics were touch perfect, heavy on the irony and stuffed full of style. Their costumes and slightly witty banter adding to the glossy performance that shone from the stage. A cheeky, chic and charming harmonising trio of filthy taffeta sheen.

Otherplace also runs the long-established theatre Upstairs at Three and Ten in Steine Street, Kemp Town, winner of Best Comedy Venue in the South East.

We did an afternoon children’s show and then a late night show, both were good, the venue is comfy, warm and well presented. The lighting and sound are very good and the whole place has a comfortable and interesting carefully shambolic feel to it. The bar is open late, it slowly fills up with lots of festival in the knows and performers from other shows and the buzz kicks off late. The staff are all cute, keen and helpful too.

They have local craft beer and Sussex ales and good honest food too; the prices are cheaper than around the corner in Babylon by Sea and the clientele a lot les raucous and vulgar too.

The Warren is a great addition to the Fringe scene and one I will be a regular at this month.

For more information on opening times, shows and freebies CLICK HERE:

The Warren

Main House

Russell Place,

Brighton,

BN1 2RG

Alice in Wonderland: Box Tale Soup: Review

Posted on 08/05/201409/05/2014 by Eric Page

Alice in Wonderland

Box Tale Soup

The Warren: Main House: Russell Place, East Brighton, BN1 2RG

May 3

From the sweet opening premise of a huge box enclosing the world of Alice to the engaging a simple projection of Alice into this well thought out and detailed world, this puppet show was a treat. Box Tale Soup’s production of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland whisks audience down the well-known rabbit hole and into the frankly bonkers world of Lewis Carol’s mind. The duo of puppeteers and live action worked very well, keeping the attention of the children and adults in the audience, our little one was entranced from start to finish which is no mean feat for a Sunday afternoon. Alice was fun, and although I found her characterisation rather surreal it don’t think many other folk noticed and to be honest a little girl shrinking down and making metaphysical small talk with Rabbits and Caterpillars is pretty high on the surreal ranking anyway.

Directed by Mark Collier & Robert Soulsby-Smith who bring a fresh interpretation of this familiar tale to the Warren stage and have brought a intimacy of action to Antonia Christopher’s and Noel Byrne, they interact well and slip and slide between scene and characters, puppets and focus with well-practiced ease with plenty of nods to the knowing and some small quiet moments of puppeting joy. They are a slick pair of performers who hide their technical mastery under this charming and seemingly very simple show producing an hour of understated brilliance.

To see more of this brilliant duo, CLICK HERE:

The darker sides of the story were buried and the songs were presented in a amusing way whcih is the usual contempory reading of Alice. I went with my partner and his twin brother and sitting between them while I watched a brilliant musical version of Tweedle Dee/Dum unfold with slick and delicate glee was a highlight. It was a bit wordy on occasion but then a play based on conversational exchange is always going to be that no matter how much effort goes into changes of scene or the rather delightful sound scapeing from Dan Melrose. This compact revision of the story ticked all the right boxes, introduced all the right characters and allowed the story to progress without getting too bogged down in Alice’s thoughts. The sets were wonderful, creative and inspired and Box Tale does this ‘world within a trunk’ thing very very well indeed. A special mention should be made for the utterly divine Red Queen who was simply inspired in voice.

The whole show was charming, engaging and delighted the audience, keeping both the children and adults engaged and interested until the end.

Alice in Wonderland

The Warren: Main House: Russell Place, East Brighton, BN1 2RG

Till June 1

For more information or to book tickets, CLICK HERE:

People with HIV benefit from Rainbow Fund and Pride grant funding

Posted on 08/05/2014 by Besi

Peer Action’s health and wellbeing therapies benefit people living with HIV following a Rainbow Fund and Brighton Pride grant.

Peer Action was established to encourage and empower people living with HIV to value their health and wellbeing while minimising the impact of loneliness and anxiety.

Peer Action is made up of members who are HIV+ or who are affected by HIV. They are expanding with groups formed irrespective of gender, transgender, sexual orientation, race, religion or nationality to create a safe, confidential space for a community led peer support group to meet in a relaxed, informal and social setting.

From the Rainbow Fund grant, provided thanks to last year’s funding from Brighton Pride, the group has been able to offer six community-based therapy events and given 154 separate therapies. In addition the funding has helped to provide 33 ear acupuncture treatments and a further 36 therapy sessions at the Sussex Beacon.

On top of the therapy events Peer Action has been running weekly yoga sessions for the last two years, on average they sign in ten service users which over six months is 240 spaces taken. For many service users this is a good way of improving core strength and thus improving posture along with general relaxation and mindfulness.

Paul Elgood, Chairman of the Rainbow Fund said: “Peer Action are a good example of the community-based and volunteer-led group making a huge impact in health and wellbeing for local people with HIV. Their work really highlights how well the funding from Brighton Pride has been used in the community.”

Nancy Platts calls for a new rail policy to control rail fares

Posted on 08/05/2014 by Besi

Nancy Platts, Labour’s parliamentary candidate for Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven at the next general election is calling for a new rail policy to improve services and control rail fares.

Nancy Platts, PPC Labour candidate for Kemptown & Peacehaven

Nancy spoke on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme earlier this week following the publication of a letter from over 30 Prospective Parliamentry Candidates in the Observer last weekend calling for a bold policy to improve services and control fares.

She said: “People in Brighton tell me they don’t understand how train companies can walk away with £300m of profits every year whilst they pay around £4,000 for an annual season ticket. I think these profits would be better spent bringing fares down for passengers and we can secure this money by bringing rail franchises back into the public sector as they expire. £70m going back into the system could take 1% off fares for passengers.

“People are already struggling with rising prices and stagnant wages, a policy to reduce rail fares by bringing the railway franchises back into public ownership would help people out who are struggling with the cost of living.

“The East Coast Mainline has shown that a railway run by the public sector can save money for the taxpayer. It has made profits of more than £50m since 2009 and that has been returned to the taxpayer”.

She added: “This policy would fit in perfectly with Labour’s wider offer to reduce the cost of living and put money back in people’s pockets, the freeze on energy bills until 2017, controlling rent increases in the private rented sector and 25 hours free childcare – this would be a welcome addition to that cost of living offer.”

An Opinium/Observer poll on the future of rail shows that more than three times as many people back some form of renationalisation of rail services (55%) with (18%) opposing it.

Hove MP Weatherley helps raise awareness of children’s heart conditions

Posted on 08/05/201408/05/2014 by Sarah Green

Mike Weatherley, the Conservative MP for Hove and Portslade, helps draw attention to the warning signs of possible heart problems in babies.

He is calling on parents to watch out for important warning signs following a reception launching the initiative in Parliament.

Mike is backing Think HEART, a campaign by the Children’s Heart Federation to increase the early diagnosis of children’s heart conditions. Think HEART provides parents with five easy signs to help to spot a heart problem:

H – Heart Rate (Is their heart rate too fast or too slow? A normal rate is between 100 to 160 beats per minute)

E – Energy (Is your baby sleepy, quiet and too tired to feed?)

A – Appearance (Is your baby a pale, waxy, dusky, blue or grey colour?)

R – Respiration (Is your baby breathing too fast or too slow? A normal rate is between 40 to 60 breaths per minute)

T – Temperature (Is your baby cold to touch – particularly their hands and feet?)

Mike is also backing the Children’s Heart Federation’s campaign for all babies to be tested for heart conditions at birth to help save lives. Pulse Oximetry is a quick, painless and cheap test that measures oxygen levels in blood and detects over 90% of life-threatening heart defects in newborns.

Mike said: “Every year, around 5,000 babies are born with Congenital Heart Disease. At present, many of these babies, with potentially lethal but treatable conditions, leave hospital without being diagnosed. I am proud to support the Children’s Heart Federation’s campaign to get all babies tested for heart conditions at birth and I encourage parents across Hove and Portslade to look out for the five Think HEART warning signs.”

For more information and to get involved with the Think HEART campaign, CLICK HERE:

The Lady Boys of Bangkok: Red Hot Kisses: Review

Posted on 08/05/201424/05/2014 by Eric Page

The Ladyboys of Bangkok: Red Hot Kisses.

Sabi Pavillion, Victoria Gardens, Brighton

Brighton Fringe

Wednesday, May 6

The Lady Boys of Bangkok are back in another sizzling and seductive production.

“Get hot under the collar whilst the stars burn up the stage in ‘Red Hot Kisses’ the brand new show for 2014. Setting the stage on fire with a fabulous mix of fun and frolics, this blazing hot production includes 16 of Thailand’s most beautiful and intriguing Lady Boys.”

So the Lady Boys are back in town for another fun filled feathery flurry of flouncing, feverish air kissing and general all round delightful dance routines and visually astonishingly entertainment. This is their new show Red Hot Kisses, but to be honest it doesn’t really matter what they call it. It’s a cross between a Las Vegas show and being trapped on a cruise but with the added delight of these highly lithe and attractive lady boys strutting, wiggling and dancing around.

I went along to the Gala night, not just to see the delightful image of our wonderful Lady Mayor being titillated and flirted with by one of the more robust and quixotic ladyboys but also because I know what to expect from them, and they never disappoint.

This is fun, relentless fun, with some smooth dancing and scene changes, amazing showgirl costumes the usual eye poppingly beautiful lady boys and some funny comedy moments all mixed in. The Lady Boys do what they do well, which is dress up, dance around, be a little bit cheeky, tease a touch, somehow keep their modesty and good humor in a packed pavilion tent full of drunken Sussex heterosexuals and smile, smile, smile and smile.

They are lovely and charming and I thought the dance numbers seemed a bit tighter and better choreographed this year. The show may change but the Lady Boys are as delightfully pretty as ever. They do a series of popular pop singers and well known actresses along with some set pieces that are just for fun. Then happily finish off with their famous over the top and sequined fabulousness of the finale.

This might not be the most sophisticated show in town, but it’s certainly got to be one of the most fun, high energy nights out in the festival and there are lot’s of ticket deals around too if you keep your eyes open in the bars and on line.

They are here till the 31^st, working those cute little butts off twice a day, so do them a favour, go down, chill out in the warm, carpeted, comfortable big top – The Sabi Pavilion, grab a bottle of wine or some of the on site Thai food and kick back and let them entertain you. There are some funny naughty but not too vulgar comedy moments in the show too from the wonderful Ole who never fails to give the crowd what they want and must have the most menacing tongue in all Thailand, which my friends loved. I may have been caught rolling my eyes once or twice but that might have been in rapture or delight, or because of the smoke machines, anyway, moving swiftly on….

After a weekend of dripping interactive art, World Premier Opera, pendulums swinging in ruins and ruminations on consumption and art via some weighting scales in an old church it was nice to be free of the bullshit that the festival can generate and just be able to laugh.

I took, as is my festival tradition, some straight male friends who had never seen the Lady Boys before, they were eye popping with their encouragements and the usual questions… and were soon clapping along with everyone else in the room. Even her worshipfulness got into the Ladyboys YMCA action and it’s not everyday you get to write a sentence like that in a review!

For more info or to book tickets see their website here:

Call us now

Day: May 8, 2014

PREVIEW: Normal Heights: Brighton Fringe May 8-19

Raucous brother act from USA honours deceased uncle, while promoting inclusion and laughter.

The Warren: Pop up Venue: Review

Alice in Wonderland: Box Tale Soup: Review

People with HIV benefit from Rainbow Fund and Pride grant funding

Peer Action’s health and wellbeing therapies benefit people living with HIV following a Rainbow Fund and Brighton Pride grant.

Nancy Platts calls for a new rail policy to control rail fares

Nancy Platts, Labour’s parliamentary candidate for Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven at the next general election is calling for a new rail policy to improve services and control rail fares.

Hove MP Weatherley helps raise awareness of children’s heart conditions

Mike Weatherley, the Conservative MP for Hove and Portslade, helps draw attention to the warning signs of possible heart problems in babies.

The Lady Boys of Bangkok: Red Hot Kisses: Review

The Lady Boys of Bangkok are back in another sizzling and seductive production.

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Raucous brother act from USA honours deceased uncle, while promoting inclusion and laughter.

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Peer Action’s health and wellbeing therapies benefit people living with HIV following a Rainbow Fund and Brighton Pride grant.

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Nancy Platts, Labour’s parliamentary candidate for Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven at the next general election is calling for a new rail policy to improve services and control rail fares.

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Mike Weatherley, the Conservative MP for Hove and Portslade, helps draw attention to the warning signs of possible heart problems in babies.

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The Lady Boys of Bangkok are back in another sizzling and seductive production.

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