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Author: Brian Butler

REVIEW: Cinderella Re-mixed – the Brighton Alternative Pantomime

Posted on by Brian Butler

Welcome back to Brighton’s long-standing alternative pantomime, with a fizzing, high-octane, raucous and filthily funny re-imagining of the Cinderella story.

Boasting four top-line drag artists and high-class singing soloists, this show is a joy, going back to basics and the traditional look and feel of the pantomime genre.

We’re in Brightonville, where we the audience are the villagers and we’re called upon numerous times to join in the fun. With a death-defying feat of imaginative casting, the brilliant Jason Sutton (aka Miss Jason) is our teenage virgin Cinders, looking for love.

And he comes along of course in the form of high tenor Jason Lee, though Duke’s Mound may not be the best choice of a courting place. Jason, as the Duke of Sussex, has his trusty companion to rely on – played with camp relish by another great vocalist – Allan Jay.

And of course there are the usual obstacles – the formidably evil Baroness Birdcage (Wain Douglas, aka Kara Van Park), whose moment in the spotlight comes at the Royal Pavilion Ball with a rip-roaring rendtion of When You’re Good To Mama.

There’s more drag royalty as the step-sisters – Sandra and Baroness Mary Golds – get the best of the frocks and constantly interact with somewhat surprised audience members.

Billie Gold is a shimmering, smiling Fairy Gold, pitch perfect in vocals and beautifully eloquent in her rhyming couplets. And Alfie Ordinary is the crowd pleaser as Butters, full of energy, laughs and inclusiveness. Luke Nunn and Rowan Newsome leap and spin as two very agile and delightful dancers, and oh the joy of a live band – Shaz D and Thomas Earl.

Paul Lawrence directs his own script and he and choreographer Joey Bethell fill the small stage with constant movement, clever action, and there’s even a revolve!

Producer Allan Cardew has brought back a much-loved friend and he and the creative team have given us West End production values – no mean feat! And they’ll be back next year with Jack and the Beanstalk – you can even book now.

Cinderella Re-mixed is at Ironworks Studios, Brighton until January 28, tickets HERE.

Cult ’70s queer novel gets stage outing this week

Posted on by Brian Butler

The London premiere of The Faggots And Their Friends Between Revolutions gets its outing at London’s Southbank Centre from January 25 – 28.

Produced by Factory International, and adapted for the stage by composer Philip Venables, it’s billed as a blend of opera, theatre and dance as it explores fables and myths, drawing on the classic 1977 cult novel by Larry Mitchell and Ned Asta. It’s filled with battle re-enactments, all-night raves, lute songs and court dances.

The cast perform double or triple roles with instruments, acting as singers, narrators and dancers to conjure a world on the brink of revolution, and a joyful celebration of a world through a queer lens. Both radical and playful, it’s described as an anarchic bedtime story.

I can unpack the title and the original storyline as follows: we are transported to the declining empire of ruler Ramrod, where those in charge are “the men” – a patriarchal society. The faggots of the title are gay men, who live communally, produce art, have sex and await the next revolution.

Their ‘friends’ include ‘the strong women’ (feminists), ‘the queens” – drag stars, ‘the women who love women’ – lesbians, and ‘the faeries’ – the radicals, and there are also ‘the queer men’, who are gay men who are closeted, or who have been assimilated into the patriarchal society.

Lots of food for thought there, folks. Look out for a review of the show coming soon in Scene. The show is at the Queen Elizabeth Hall: tickets HERE

REVIEW: ‘Afterglow’ – Southwark Playhouse

Posted on by Brian Butler

To quote Woody Allen, quoting poet Emily Dickinson: “the heart wants what the heart wants.” And that’s the dilemna at the centre of S. Asher Gelman’s marvellous play Afterglow, which gets a second production after its original outing at Southwark Playhouse pre-Covid..

Though the concept of polyamory has gained more acceptance, the play still shocks and the audience on the night I saw it, oohed and aahed and had sharp intakes of breath at key revelations.

The basic premise seems straightforward: it’s possible to love two men at the same time in different ways. Alex (Victor Hugo) and Josh (Peter McPherson) open the play as an apparently happily married couple living in Manhattan and awaiting the birth of their surrogate baby.

Josh is the instigator of the chaos and heartbreak that ensues when he invites male masseur Darius (James Nicholson) to join them for a threesome. What develops, as inevitably as a Greek tragedy, is an uneven playing field of sex, love, affection, dissatisfaction, need and jealousy that unravels the three lives.

There are nude scenes aplenty in this new version directed by the writer himself and based on his own life experiences. But the choreography has now become a major feature of the action and the sex scenes are balletic as well as sensual, without a hint of prurience or inappropriateness.

Yes, there’s plenty of eye candy, but the thought processes in the storyline are far more interesting – honest! Victor Hugo brilliantly portrays Alex’s growing uneasiness with the relationships, and a spiralling sense of inequality and separation from his husband. McPherson is far more visceral, driven by sexual energy, and then unable to cope with the consequences.

There is a mesmerising moment when he sits naked, cross-legged on a table under a shower cascading beautifully lit water on his head and is lost to the reasoning world. Jamie Roderick’s lighting is stunning throughout and Ann Beyesdorfer’s simple but ever-changing set design adds momentum to the spiralling plot.

James Nicholson gives us a delightfully camp and naive Darius who is equally damaged by the fallout and feels that reaching 25 is a major milestone in life.

The ending, when it comes after 90 minutes, is sharp, sudden and thoroughly believable. What I left the theatre wondering was: “what happens in six months or a years’ time?” Sequel please, Mr Gelman.

Aftergow runs at Southwark Playhouse until February 10. Tickets HERE

Photography by The Other Richard

REVIEW: ‘Exhibitionists’ at the new King’s Head Theatre, Islington

Posted on by Brian Butler

First off, it’s  great to welcome a new theatre space in London, with the opening of the King’s Head Theatre, nestling in a shopping centre behind the original iconic pub theatre in Islington: more about it later.

Shaun McKenna and Andrew Van Sickle’s play Exhibitionists is billed by the authors in the programme as a gay comedy of modern manners. It’s no such thing. First, there are no manners in this play – all the characters are violent, angry, damaged and mostly emotionally unattractive.

Second, with its characters running on and off stage through doors, caught with their trousers down, and generally making a mess of life, it is undoubtedly a farce – but not a good one.

We open in a swish San Francisco art gallery, where two couples have been invited to a private viewing, where only two people can be a room at a time. This device is to keep the couples apart from an instant revelation and the end of the plot line.

Conor (Ashley D Gale) is a lawyer for Disney; his boyfriend Mal (Jake Mitchell-Jones) is a film set runner and aspiring movie-maker. When they vacate one of the gallery’s five rooms, on come Rayyan (Rolando Montecalvo), a high-class landscape gardener, and new other half Robbie (Robert Rees), architect to the rich and famous..

All you need to know, and I’m telling it quicker than the opening, tortuous scenes depict it, is: Conor used to be with Robbie, before their violent separation seven years earlier.

Conor hits on Robbie and they sort of elope, finding themselves in a Scandinavian motel in the middle of nowhere with – you may have guessed it – Mal and Rayyan in the next room. Apart from a highly sexy Scandi motel owner Sebastian (Oystein Lode), who complicates matters, that’s it.

There’s a lot of shouting, everybody punches everybody else and they are made to confess their true feelings by talking to a wooden spoon – and I didn’t make that last bit up.

To give it the benefit of the doubt, there’s probably a quick-fired 60-minute play fighting to get out of its 90-minute straitjacket – I hope the writers find it.

Access footnote: The main theatre space is three floors underground, but it’s good that there’s a lift to save the 50-odd stairs. At the moment it’s quite a bare minimalist look in public areas, but I guess they’ll develop the decor over time. The seats were all separate small metal tip-up ones: very uncomfortable and with virtually no leg room – again maybe they’ll get better seating in time.

Exhibitionists runs until February 10. Tickets HERE

PREVIEW: From Tits & Teeth landing in Brighton to ‘national trinket’ Julian Clary, Alexis Gregory’s ‘FutureQueer’ and some ‘Really Old Friends’ with Tanya Hyde and drag royalty

Posted on by Brian Butler

There’s lots more varied queer theatre to enjoy in Brighton and London in the coming weeks.

Tits & Teeth present their latest show, Thick & Tight – a combination of drag, dance, satire, mime and lipsync – at Brighton Dome’s Corn Exchange on February 21. Barbara Cartland, Andy Warhol, Grace Jones and Kathak dancers are all represented along with Churchill.

Also at the Dome, Julian Clary appears in A Fistful Of Clary on June 14. He’s billed as “renowned homosexual and national trinket,” in a show which he says has a Western theme from “the man with no name”. Tickets for both shows HERE

Hit play F**king Men, by Tony winner Joe DiPietro, returns to Waterloo East Theatre from April 13 – May 26. It’s a modern re-telling of Schnitzler’s infamous classic La Ronde, and it’s a fascinating, funny and provocative story of sex, love and connection. It follows 10 men through a series of erotic encounters that change their lives. It charts their precarious journeys as gay men as they navigate their conflicting desires for the comfort of monogamy and the thrill of sexual freedom. Tickets HERE

Tanya Hyde stars along with other drag royalty for one night only at Brighton’s Centre Stage bar in a Sondheim tribute show Really Old Friends. It’s a ticketed event on February 26 and also stars Mrs Moore, Dave Lynn and Kara Van Park. Tickets HERE.

Actor, writer and director Alexis Gregory has a new show in the studio space at the new King’s Head Theatre is Islington. FutureQueer is an amalgam of stand-up comedy, DIY queer lecture, pop culture commentary and meditation on disco music as a metaphor for queer survival. It’s 2071 and the whole world is queer – there’s even a statue of George Michael on Hampstead Heath.

Some 47 years earlier Donna Summer recorded queer anthem I Feel Love. Armed with a vintage Donna vinyl, Alexis decides to find out what’s going on. The show runs from February till March 2. Tickets HERE

Priscilla The Party will open at Soho’s Outernet on March 25. Based on the film Priscilla Queen Of the Desert, it’s a celebration of 30 years of glamour and iconic entertainment and is staged by the team behind the stage musical version of the film. It’s described as interactive and immersive and includes dining and partying options. More information HERE

The world premiere of Harry McDonald’s Foam opens at the Finborough Theatre in London on March 21. It’s inspired by the true story of Gay neo-Nazi activist Nicky Crane, spanning 20 years of gay, skinhead and extreme right wing communities in London in the 1970s and ’80s. It’s a tangle of contradictions that is sure to totally engage its audiences. Tickets HERE

Ty Jeffries wows at the Ledward Centre’s Supper Club

Posted on by Brian Butler

Scene magazine founder, the late James Ledward, did not live to see his vision of an LGBTQ+ community hub come to fruition, but he would have been thrilled to see the Ledward Centre, now up and running, venture into cabaret entertainment.

Kicking off its Supper Club was composer/performer Ty Jeffries, who has left his alter ego Miss Hope Springs in cryogenic suspension. Where she was edgy, bordering on paranoid, and definitely damaged goods, Ty is smooth, quietly spoken, sharp and witty.

Following our supper of mushroom stroganoff or vegan korma, followed by apple cake – catering courtesy of local HIV charity Lunch Positive – we settled down in the cosy ground floor cafe space to Ty’s engaging style of entertainment. As he put it: “like the Titanic, I’m famous for going down well.”

January Jones is a song about a woman leaving town to seek who knows what and who knows where. And wanderlust is a common theme in Ty’s songs. Take Me To The Party is very sharp and witty in a Noel Coward style, and though it’s billed as a romantic song, Melt Into You has crazy imagery of drippping butter, dissolving snow and a melting sundae to cover its love theme.

Ty seems happiest when on Miss Hope Springs territory and Pigalle is a prime example- taking us to a ”seedy little night club,” it has jaunty, witty, risqué rhymes that are laugh-out-loud funny.

Ty’s songs can project a rather sad and lonely persona, and Nothing For You is a kind of revenge song for a departed person who he tells us “pissed me off.” It’s bluesy, bitchy, and its humour is through gritted teeth, and yet it’s magically touching. Queen Of Fools is sadly elegiac – another song about someone whose dreams are shattered and who is moving on.

My favourite of the night was the sharp and witty I Want To Sing In A Berlin Cabaret, which sees him sing: “I want to hear I outbowled Sally Bowles.” The song segues into I Love Berlin, where Ty manages to rhyme exotic places – even Hull – in ever-sillier lines.

And there were more goodies to come, a wandering song about Wanda – “I wonder where Wanda’s wandering now?” My fave line in this ditty is “she gave diphtheria to the Mother Superior.”

And finally Carnival, a highly emotional analysis of the art of performing, showing off, and hiding the inner self.

As a first night to help raise funds for further development of the Ledward Centre, it was a terrific hit. Next month, on February 25, the Supper Cub features the magnificent Jennie Castell with her tribute to Dusty Springfield. Tickets HERE

And if you want to catch Ty, he’s at the Crazy Coqs cabaret room in London on March 22 and the prestigious Wigmore Hall on June 7. More information HERE

FILM REVIEW: Maestro

Posted on by Brian Butler

Bradley Cooper, who wrote, co-produced, directed and stars in Maestro, leaves us in no doubt about brilliant composer/conductor Leonard Bernstein’s sexuality.

Although married to wife Felicia for 27 years, and having three children, he is an out and out gay man, who also sleeps with women. From his lifetime working and social relationship with equally closeted composer Aaron Copeland, to his flings with musicians, writers and a trainee conductor, Bernstein is portrayed as a driven, obsessive, almost manic creative genius, full of self-doubt and depression.

Carey Mulligan as the long-suffering Felicia, who sacrifices her acting career to effectively become his slavish carer, emotional crutch and as it used to be called his “beard”, is mesmerising. She telegraphs her inner sadness, suppressed anger at his queer flings, and general unhappiness with everything in life but their children. Her painful smiles and withering looks are a wonderful masterclass in close-up acting.

Director Cooper begins the film with sharp, staccato inter-cutting between scenes which merge from indoors to concert hall to outdoors in a few seconds. After a while this becomes annoying and thankfully the second half of the film abandons it as a technique.

Where it does work is in a magical dance section of the three sailors from Bernstein’s musical On The Town, doing a mystical routine, apparently on a rehearsal stage, and where Bernstein eventually becomes one of the free-flowing dancers.

The other great joy in the movie is the music – often using Bernstein’s own recordings –  everything from the wonderfully joyous finale to Candide, to the energy of West Side Story, the other-wordliness of his Psalms, and the final grandeur of Mahler.

Cooper, ageing disgracefully from young man to 70-year-old, is the spitting image of the chain-smoking maestro of the title, and even in close-up, the prosthetics, including the much publicised false nose, stand up to scrutiny.

In the end it’s a story of a giant ego, hiding insecurity and a loveless life. In a pivotal scene of high tension, and about to leave him, the distraught Felicia tells him: “if you’re not careful, you’re going to die a lonely old queen”.

It’s a telling analysis.

Maestro, which failed to win at the Golden Globes, is on Netflix – it’s a magnificent piece of cinema.

Cinderella Remixed: Brighton’s alternative panto boasts cast made up of cream of Brighton’s queer scene

Posted on by Brian Butler

Writer, director, actor Allan Cardew’s association with Brighton’s alternative pantomime goes back to 1975, and this month for the first time he will be its producer as the panto comes back after a few years’ break.

Cinderella: Remixed, about to go into rehearsal, boasts some of the cream of Brighton’s queer talent, plus a few visitors. Leading the cast as the teenage ingenue virgin is Miss Jason (aka Jason Sutton). He’s joined by drag royalty Kara Van Park as Baroness Birdcage, and Mary Golds and Sandra as the two evil sisters, with Billie Gold as Fairy Gold.

Alfie Ordinary will play Butters, with local singing sensation Jason Lee Howlett as Prince Harry, Scottish singing star Allan Jay as Dandini, and Brighton Academy’s Luke Lunn and Rosen Newsome as ensemble and dancers.

Over a post-Christmas flat white Allan told me about the history of the show. “It began in 1967, under the direction of Tony Stewart. My first appearance was in 1975, when I played the Genie of the Fly Button, and later directed two of them, before Covid hit.”

Allan Cardew

This year the directorial baton has passed to Paul Lawrence Thomas (aka Cosmic), who’s adapted a generic panto text to suit the actual performers he has cast. Allan said: “we’ve got dancers, we’ve got a live band and a new venue – the Ironworks Studios.”

The show has a proud history of fundraising for the LGBTQ+ community and this year’s beneficiary is local HIV charity Sussex Beacon, with a special after-show entertainment on January 25 to raise extra funds.

I asked Allan if the fact the cast is made up of strong, well-known and well-liked soloists might create some tension. He was adamant: “we are stronger because they’re all soloists in their own right. We’ve got some experienced legit panto performers. They will make a terrific ensemble. There’ll be twists and plenty of surprises.”

Allan admits it’s a risky business producing a show in a relatively small venue for a short run, but is hoping if it’s a success that he can mount other productions during the coming year, adding: “we’re trying to raise as much as we can for the Sussex Beacon and so far advance tickets are doing well.”

Cinderella: Remixed runs from January 24-28 at the Ironworks Studios in Brighton. Tickets HERE

Queer Theatre Highlights: from outrageous drag panto to a rollicking queer western and iconic gay code-breaker Alan Turing

Posted on by Brian Butler

There’s plenty of queer theatre to enchant as 2024 starts but first, from the creators of Death Drop, this year’s Drag pantomime is Sleeping Beauty. Princess Aurora is under a spell to sleep for 100 years, or is she just hungover? Will the evil Carabosse be victorious or will the ever-so-horny Prince Charming save the day?

The show stars, among others, drag royalty in the shape of Kitty Scott-Claus, LoUis CYfer, Yshee Black, Kemah Bob, Victoria Scone, Ophelia Love and Kate Butch.

Written by drag legend Miss Moppe and staged by Death Drop’s producer Chris Clegg, it runs at the Harold Pinter Theatre in London’s West End from 28-31 December. Tickets HERE

London’s first-ever all-female circus show by the Revel Puck Circus Company, is The Ruckus: Everyone’s Invited. Expect an iconic drag king, incredible acrobatics, hot pink human-size balloons, all re-telling the myths of London. It features contortionist and drag king Ruby Gaskell, aerialist Zoe Schubert, strong woman Helga Ehrenbrusch, acrobat Lola Latham, Master of the Cyr wheel and hula hoop Laura Hogg and hair hanging and aerial hooping Tara Talland.

The show is at Fellowship Square, Waltham Forest Town Hall, London from now until 1 January. Tickets HERE.

There have been many plays, films and musicals about gay code-breaker Alan Turing, and now there’s another one – Alan Turing: A Musical Biography, being staged at Hammersmith’s Riverside Studios from 8-27 January. With music by Joel Goodman and a book by Joan Greening – and starring Joe Bishop as Turing – it takes us on a journey through Turing’s life from code breaking at Bletchley Park to his scandalous treatment as a gay man at the hands of the authorities. Tickets HERE

The modern gay romantic comedy Exhibitionists has been chosen to open the new King’s Head Theatre in Islington, immediately behind the old iconic venue of the same name. Running from 5 January – 10 February, it’s set in San Francisco’s art world. When ex-partners collide at an exhibition, sparks fly and their new boyfriends are caught in the blast, igniting a series of comic crises and a road trip along the Pacific Coast Highway.

The show, written by Shaun McKenna, whose credits include Lord of The Rings, Ladies in Lavender and the forthcoming The Forsyte Saga, is co-produced by James Seabright who is also chair of the trustees at the King’s Head, which now boasts 200 and 50-seat spaces. The venue is focussed on creating work with, by and for the LGBTQ+ community. Tickets HERE.

After a successful run at the Royal Shakespeare Company, Cowbois transfers to London’s Royal Court. Cowbois is a rollicking queer western. In a sleepy town in the Wild West, the women drift through their days like tumbleweed, whose  husbands, swept up in the gold rush, have been missing almost a year.

Handsome bandit Jack Cameron swaggers into town, hiding from bounty hunters. What follows is a gender revolution. It runs 11 January – 10 February. LoUis CYfer, in their alter ego L J Parkinson, features in this show too. Tickets HERE

And finally, Afterglow, which had a great run at the Southwark Playhouse, and later globally, returns from 12 January – 10 February. Written and directed by S. Asher Gelman, Afterglow is billed as “the climax is just the beginning” and it stars Peter McPherson, James Nicholson and Victor Hugo.

It’s a raw, funny and sensual exploration of polyamory, commitment and modern love. It’s the story of Josh and Alex, a married couple in an open relationship, who invite Darius to share their bed for the night. Relationships are challenged, and futures are shaken, as all three re-adjust. I saw its original incarnation and gave it five stars for its hot, engrossing drama. Tickets HERE

FILM REVIEW: Eismayer – “a tense, but understated queer romance.”

Posted on by Brian Butler

LGBTQ+ film distributors Peccadillo Pictures have an end-of-year hit on their hands with the release of David Wagner’s debut as a feature film director and his unusually endearing movie Eismayer.

Charles Eismayer (Gerhard Liebmann) is an uptight sergeant major in charge of raw conscript recruits at an Austrian army camp. But he has a deep secret that will turn his life upside down and back again.

Based on real-life events, the film slowly exposes the life-changing dilemma at the centre of the soldier’s life. Outwardly bullying, vicious, racist and homophobic, he is a closet gay, managing the tension between his inner desires and external anger and violence, but managing it badly.

Liebmann, slightly built, seriously balding, has a face that looks like it’s been chiselled out of putty, with deep sunken cheeks and dark, haunted eyes. It’s an engrossing portrayal.

Obsessively watching the young troops drilling on the parade ground, cigarette permanently in mouth, he seems distanced from the world he has dived into.

When the rigorous, unreasonable and unswerving Eismayer comes up against young Bosnian recruit Mario (Luka Dimic), who is out and proud, rebellious, and very very handsome, Eismayer can’t cope and his system of attrition fails.

Couple this with the rapid onset of cancer, and the departure of his somewhat cold and distant wife and loving son, and Wagner has all the ingredients for a tense, but understated queer romance.

Through a number of dramatic confrontations and crises, the two men grow close, and unlikely as the storyline is (remember it’s a true story), the arc of their emotional and physical journey intrigues us and draws us in. Eismayer passionately cares for his young son, making up for the broken relationship he had with his own father. There’s a poignant scene where the young boy confronts Eismayer about his homosexuality, and tells his father: “I like boys more than girls.” It’s a heart-stopping moment.

And Wagner adds one more twist – Mario takes control of Eismayer’s recuperation and strict exercise routine – the free-as-air rebel becomes the gentle dictator, and the bully does what he’s told.

Though you can easily research the true events, I won’t reveal the ending, except to say it is a satisfying completion of the two men’s life journeys.

Eismayer is on digital platforms and Peccadillo POD

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