My latest round-up of shows with queer themes or queer performers runs the gamut from Donna Summer to a drag queen becoming the evil child catcher.
Mark Farrelly has a wonderful series of shows, many of them depicting some great gay icons – Derek Jarman and Frankie Howerd to name just two, and he’s bringing his incarnation of writer/performer Quentin Crisp to Eastbourne this weekend.
Quentin Crisp: Naked Hope is a marvellous recreation of the quirky but brilliant writer, and you can catch it at the Grove Theatre on 20 July. As Crisp said: “Ask yourself this: if there were no praise or blame, who would I be?” Tickets HERE
The Sensible Shoes Comedy Tour comes to Brighton’s Komedia on 31 July. It features solo spots and queer collaborations from four legendary lesbian comedians – Lara A King, Clare Summerskill, Hannah Brackenbury and Julie Jepson. Tickets HERE
I’ve found another super bunch of queer shows due on stage at Edinburgh Fringe from the end of July. Bi-Curious George: Queer Planet features dolphin orgies, intersex snails and gay giraffes, all in the mind of drag king Bi-Curious George, as they romp through the animal kingdom. They’re at the Pleasance Dome (10 Dome) from 31 July-26 August.
Crying Shame is a cabaret-cum-wellness journey about loneliness from the queer collective Sweet Beef. We’re in Club Fragilite, where you’ll see washed-up cabaret acts, filthy lipsync and a joyous celebration of queer culture form a bunch of queer clowns. It’s at Pleasance Dome (King Dome) from 31 July-25 August.
Ginger Johnson Blows Off at Pleasance Courtyard (Beyond) from 31 July-24 August gives us the reigning queen of Drag Race UK. They’ve got big hair, a big heart and big laughs, and there are original songs too by Bourgeois & Maurice.
Love’s A Beach is a modern take on celebrity post-reality TV. It follows the first gay winners of television’s biggest reality show and it’s narrated by a chorus of bloggers. It’s on various dates 31 July to 26 August at the Pleasance Courtyard.
Titswingers at Pleasance Courtyard (Beyond) from 31 July-26 August tells the true story of polyamorous queer pirates Anne Bonney and Mary Read, who were the hellcats of the Southern Seas. This new gig musical combines punk rock, stand-up, drag cabaret, sea shanties and bar brawls.
Tickets for all Edinburgh Fringe shows HERE
Alexis Gregory’s stunning solo show FutureQueer re-appears for one night only at the West End’s Crazy Coqs cabaret room on 13 August. It’s a medley of theatre, stand-up, and TEDtalk. It’s 2071 and the whole world is LGBTQ+, but the memories of Donna Summer’s classic gay anthem I Feel Love sound out across the decades with great significance. Tickets HERE
At London’s King’s Head you can catch The Mad Gay King. It’s a queer re-telling of the life and love of one of history’s most scandalous kings. When Richard Hornig, a stable master with a secret arrives at the court of King Ludwig II, the young monarch’s most decadent obsessions are ignited, placing the future of his kingdom, his legacy and his sanity on the edge of a precipice. It runs 3-18 October.
The Little Death – In Search Of My Orgasm, is about what it says on the tin. She’s tried everything and it still hasn’t happened for her. Loneliness lies under the inability of being able to orgasm with a partner. Will she overcome her trauma? It’s a string of stories based on true events. On stage 26-31 August. Tickets for both shows HERE
The Vivienne, actor/singer/comedian and first winner of Drag Race UK in 2019, takes on the iconically evil role of The Childcatcher in the Sherman Brothers magical musical Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, which stops off on its UK tour at Eastbourne’s Congress Theatre from 19-24 November. The Vivienne most recently played the Wicked Witch Of The West in the tour of The Wizard Of Oz. Catch their chilling performance – it’s sure to be memorable. Tickets HERE
Though it seems far off, tickets for the Royal Shakespeare Company sell out months in advance, so get booking now for what will be a stunning production of Christopher Marlowe’s Edward II.
The king is dead; long live the king – and his boyfriend.
When Edward insists on ruling with the man he loves by his side, the Palace refuses and the Establishment conspires to restore the “natural order”, plunging the country into civil war. But better a dead king than a gay king. The play achieved notoriety when a television version in 1970 starring Ian McKellen created TV’s first gay kiss.
This time it’s the turn of double Olivier-winner Daniel Evans, currently co-artistic director at the RSC, to assume the queer crown. Daniel featured in Scene when he was artistic director at Chichester, and I hope to chat to him again soon about playing a gay king. Tickets HERE