BBC Audio has teamed up with Dancing Ledge Productions to unleash Unmade Movies. You can access an archive of unproduced screenplays from globally celebrated writers. They will be available in the form of audiobooks from 10th February 2022.
The history of unmade movies is quite fascinating. It takes a lot of money and luck to make a feature film. Even the great Orson Welles struggled to finance his projects after Citizen Kane. Sometimes he would abandon a shoot and fly off to take quick acting jobs to bankroll his movies, leaving the cast behind. His long struggle to make Don Quixote is every bit as dramatic as the story he was trying to tell. Unmade movies are a rich source of folklore.
Unmade Movies features world premieres of unmade movie screenplays by major 20th Century writers, including Harold Pinter, Arthur Miller, Alfred Hitchcock and Dennis Potter.
The unmade films will be brought to life by A-list actors including Hugh Laurie, Michael Sheen, David Suchet, Tim Pigott-Smith, Meera Syal and Rebecca Front; and are directed by Richard Eyre, Jamie Lloyd, Mark Gatiss, Joanna Hogg and Adrian Noble.
This will be a treasure trove for film buffs. Many of these unmade movies could have become classics. Laurence Bowen, CEO at Dancing Ledge Productions, says: “It’s taken several years to find and secure the rights for these but what a wonderful journey it’s been, bringing to life for the first-time lost treasures from the greatest writers of the 20th century. There are many reasons why screenplays don’t happen – politics, funding, creative differences – and they disappear into cupboards, draws or computer files, never seeing the light of day, but these are absolute gems and can now enter the official canons of their writers.”
Presenting these films – or “films” – in audio format brings them to life without the budget constraints that sank the projects in the first place. To celebrate this release, the Unmade Movies have fresh, new audiobook jackets designed by Stuart Manning (The Blind Man & The Unquenchable Thirst of Dracula) and Paul Hocking (Victory, The Dreaming Child, The Hook, The White Hotel, Mary Queen of Scots)
If you love movies this will be a great gift for 2022. Available from all audiobook retailers.
Britney Spears was placed under an involuntary conservatorship in 2008 after a public breakdown. She lost control over her finances and even her own body. She was unable to drive, seek legal counsel or attend to her own medical needs. After 13 years, she gave explosive testimony in court, declaring “I want my life back.”
She accused her father of conservatorship abuse, and claimed anyone involved in the conservatorship should be in jail. Spears had continued to perform and make millions every year while under the conservatorship.
Meanwhile, the Free Britney movement took fandom to another level, creating a global campaign to secure Britney her freedom.
Jennifer Otter Bickerdike is a rock and roll historian and author. Her latest book takes a serious and sympathetic look at Britney’s life and career. Jennifer argues that it’s time to give Britney the credit she deserves for her triumphs as an artist and an entrepreneur. We spoke to Jennifer about all things Britney, from Blackout to Work Bitch to her ongoing battle for freedom.
Jennifer Otter Bickerdike
“Britney cannot be defined by her conservatorship and mental health issues. Those are small parts of the larger story of Britney, and those are the things the media tends to focus on. They don’t focus on her music or her as a business woman. They don’t focus on her as a survivor and a badass. That’s why it was important for me to write this book.”
Your last book was a biography of Nico. Some would see her as the counter opposite of Britney, but are there similarities? “They’re so similar it’s frightening. The way that the media have tried to tell their stories, pigeonhole them and rip them down. Even though one is a cult icon and the other is one of the biggest pop stars ever.”
Britney was simultaneously attacked for being too sexual, and also for being too prim. “Why is it that it’s Britney that people take it out on? She’s a pop star, not a religious figure or a mentor. It’s important to contextualise the time Britney was brought into the music industry. It was the era of Bill Clinton and the Monica Lewinsky scandal.”
“Sex eduction in schools taught that heterosexuality was the normative way, and best practise in heterosexual relationships was abstinence before marriage. The AIDS crisis reached its crescendo in 1998. Here comes Britney with her Southern Baptist background, seemingly safe and clean. She’s not going to tempt your kids to the dark side like Madonna. She’s not cooing about being ‘like a virgin’, she’s proudly saying she is a virgin. You get this whole sexual panic.”
Listen to our interview with Jennifer on the Scene Podcast
“As a teenager you want to push your boundaries by being sexy and cute. So Britney brought that rebellion for the girls who were watching, but also a degree of safety for the parents.”
Did Britney have much control over her music when she started? A lot of people accused her of being a pop puppet. “She was a minor when she started. How much control does any minor have over what they’re doing? Besides, how much does any pop star? I don’t think any of us can know how much control she had. One thing Britney infuses into everything she does is Britney. You never hear about her being a diva. She’s very congenial, always very polite. That’s authentically who she is.”
She also became notorious for miming. Some have argued that’s because she was encouraged to sing in an unnatural style. Can she sing? “One of the most important videos I watched doing this research is Britney doing a cover of You Oughta Know by Alanis Morissette.” It’s a rare video of her singing fully live on the Circus Tour. “I still get goosebumps talking about it. Alanis is all about girl power. Britney gets up there and her hair isn’t perfect, you can see the extensions. It’s just her singing, there are no dancers for the opening part. She just belts it out and it’s one of the most moving performances I’ve ever seen. The anger, the vitriol, the hurt – you’re watching it and you’re like ‘Yes, girl!’ This is happening at the beginning of the conservatorship fiasco. It’s a breathtaking performance. That’s her singing voice right there.”
Do you think Blackout is her best album? “Absolutely. There is no other Britney Spears, she is an amazing creator. I can talk about Blackout until the cows come home. Here’s a woman at her lowest mental point. She pulls together this pastiche of crazy producers and writers. She makes this alien, crazy sounding album. It’s a punk rock record to the fullest extent. It’s two fingers up. And Piece Of Me – it’s like she’s saying Piece Of Meat. For her to sing those words at that time is incredible. It’s a genius record.”
“One thing I talk about in the book is Britney’s perfume empire. A bottle of Britney Spears’ perfume is sold every fifteen seconds. Even Trump, Madonna and Lady Gaga have sold cologne. Britney reigns supreme over them all though. We should all aspire to be as strong, as successful and as smart as Britney Spears. That’s my take away from writing the book.”
She was placed under conservatorship in 2008: a 26-year-old multimillionaire performer. Conservatorships are designed for people with degenerative illnesses like dementia. How irregular was that legal process? “Completely irregular. Britney had two kids back to back, she’s going through a divorce and this insane media scrutiny. She’s experiencing horrendous postpartum depression.”
“People immediately think she must be crazy and unable to deal with anything. She’s put into a 51/50 (involuntary hold) not once but twice. It’s absolutely disgusting. They threatened her by denying her access to her kids. I think that’s the only reason she stayed in the conservatorship for so long. She put her children above herself for 13 years. It’s like a real life Handmaid’s Tale but it’s Britney Spears, one of the most famous people in the world. She’s being treated like a slave.”
Curious to think about Motley Crue and Ozzy Osbourne being applauded for acting crazy: biting heads of bats, snorting ants and trashing hotel rooms. And yet Britney has a mental breakdown and loses her freedom.
She continued to perform. References to her bizarre legal arrangement were few and far between. And then came Britney’s Gram, a podcast dedicated to analysing her Instagram. “They receive an anonymous call on their voicemail. They were tipped off that things were not as they should be.” The caller said Britney was being held against her will in a mental health facility. “That was the beginning of the Free Britney movement, although Jordan Miller had coined the phrase in I think 2009.”
“Fandom can really influence people’s lives. Britney had been silenced, one of the most famous people in the world. Totally neutered; her voice taken away from her. And yet she’s performing on stage as if she has power and putting out more perfume. She isn’t living freely though. I think that struck a nerve with a lot of people, and it’s why the Free Britney thing got so much traction.”
“I like to take icons like Nico or Britney and put them in their rightful place. I realised there wasn’t a thoughtful, scholarly book on Britney. I wanted to do it for her and for Britney fans. I wanted her to be taken seriously. It was a feminist protest writing the book in many ways.”
@Disturbance will be an extravaganza of a night of LGBTQ+ performance and video art at Bermondsey’s Ugly Duck. The event takes place both live and via livestream.
Performances from Anthedemos, Nwakke, Puer Decorum and Kelvin Atmadibrata will be staged and livestreamed alongside video screenings and digital art from Laura Lynes with Billy Leach, Llewellyn Mngun and Jake Wood. This programme is being supported by Arts Council England.
The Ugly Duck organisation is credited with resurrecting unused London spaces as well as supporting underrepresented voices and groups within the arts. Established in October 2012, they have converted a spacious, empty Victorian warehouse in SE1 into a busy creative space which became, and still is, home to countless rising and established artists.
No PAIN! No CHAMPAGNE! A video performance using unusual places as stages – in this instance a gym.
Jake Wood (photographed above – ahem!) deconstructs the obsession many people have with sculpting the perfect physique. We thought he was acting out a scene from The Human Centipede initially. Wood has exhibited at the Folkestone Fringe Triennial and the Herbert Read Gallery in Canterbury. As well, he’s just finished an artist residency in Margate as part of the UCA x CRATE Graduate Award.
Seven artists in total will be displaying work for @Disturbance. Kelvin Atmadibrata is presenting work about adolescent homoerotic fantasies and superpowers, he works between London and Jakarta. Lesbian/Queer musician and performance artist Anthedemos will also be in attendance – Anthedemos creates live music while their alter ego simultaneously does something similar digitally. She has never performed in the UK before but regularly performs across Europe.
The art on display is certainly eclectic. You’ll be able to see some very unique stuff. A film by Llewellyn Mngun Resilience, explores life as an LGBTQI+ activist raised in South Africa’s strict Setswana culture. Be sure to tune in for what sounds like an action packed program by a group of innovative LGBTQI+ artists.
Macy Gray released her first album On How Life Is in 1999. The lead single I Try became one of those smash hit records almost everyone on the planet can sing along to. Very few artists have broken through with quite the same level of impact.
Undone and The Disco Song are Macy’s latest singles, and they’re as good as anything she recorded in her imperial phase. She’s currently recording with R&B/funk collective The California Jet Club. We caught up with Macy to discuss her new tracks, working with Frankie Grande, travel and more.
What’s the inspiration behind the song Undone? “To me it’s so appropriate for everybody’s life; it’s about stripping it down and taking the time to discover who you are. It’s also about what love can do to you, how it can bring you to nothing and make you do things you never thought you’d do.”
The video really brings that to life. It stars Frankie Grande in drag, tearing it up in his inimitable way.
You worked with Ariana Grande before, is that how you came to work with Frankie Grande? “No, I was already following him. All through lockdown he was posting videos of him singing in the bathroom. He would always be topless and he’d have on all this makeup. He’d be doing these Broadway songs – things you do when you think you’re alone, but he’d be doing them on social media. I thought this dude is wild. When we got the idea for the video I decided to call him. He’s very expressive, very epic; he’s a fun guy with huge energy. Frankie is really passionate about everything he does so he was perfect for it.”
Was it his idea to do it in drag? “No, that was my idea. There’s a quick shot of him with tape over his balls – that was his idea! We wanted to go quite full on with some other stuff but he said ‘no, I don’t want to do that.’ He didn’t know how the LGBT+ community would take it.”
Do you feel an affinity with your LGBT+ fans? “I think so because through my music I advertise being yourself, being honest and saying what you feel, no matter what anybody says. And no one embodies that more than the LGBT+ community. To be honest about something that’s still taboo but to still come out and be who you are. Some people live in countries where it’s still illegal. I think that’s where the connection is.”
The Disco Song presents quite a contrast to Undone. “Disco is the best music. It’s a recipe of many styles mixed into one and it puts people on the dance foor. It’s the one genre of music that’s survived. It transformed into dance music. I’ve always loved that style of music and those old Georgio Morodor and Donna Summer records with the big orchestration – it’s the most amazing sound. We wanted some disco on the record and we kept calling it the disco song: that’s where the name came from. We didn’t write the lyrics until the last day we were in the studio.”
Your voice is so distinctive. How did you develop your singing style? “The tone was always there. There’s also alcohol and lots of weed! I still have a vocal coach, Roger Burnely. And of course touring – nothing is better for your voice than touring, if you do it right. You’re practising every day for two hours. It’s like anything else, the more you do it the better you get. As I get older it’s developed more; it’s definitely more seasoned than it used to be. I can control it better than I used to.”
The music industry is notoriously tough. Is it difficult to sustain a music career long-term? “It is because it changes almost everyday. The way we hear music has changed dramatically. There are CD buyers out there but mostly everyone streams. Radio is a lot less important than it was. People have different ways of listening to music. You can program your own radio station and only hear what you want to hear. The styles of music have changed too: hip hop has changed, pop has changed and rock and roll has changed. To survive all that and pop up 20 years later is an accomplishment, I think.”
Were you shocked by the scale of success you had with your first album? “Yes, I was, I wasn’t expecting that. I remember in my first week I sold 8992 records. I was jumping on my bed; I thought I’d made it because I’d never sold records before. I was happy with my 8992 but when it kept going no one was more surprised than me.” The album went on to sell over 10 million copies.
Who are your biggest musical influences of the past and today? “Of the past I’d say the regulars: Aretha Franklin, Prince, Stevie Wonder, Bob Marley, Nina Simone, Billie Holiday and I’m a huge Led Zeppelin fan. I also love Biggie, Jay Z and Kanye West is a big influence. The new ones I wouldn’t say anyone is influencing me to the point that I’m changing my style, but I admire a lot of new artists.”
Do you enjoy touring? “I love performing. Travel is different though, sitting on a plane for fourteen hours to get from one place to the next I don’t enjoy. Especially now we all have to wear masks; but I love performing. I’d go anywhere to perform. I don’t think I’d have seen the world the way I have if it wasn’t for performing. Travel isn’t really in my blood. I never had a great desire to go to Italy, but now that I’ve been there I do.”
“There’s no better education than seeing the world. There’s no better way to learn acceptance and learn to adapt. It’s one of the best things you can do.”
Will you be coming to the UK? “Yes, we’re on our way. We’re doing the Playground Festival in Scotland. Next year we’ll be coming back. We start a worldwide tour in May 2022 and we go straight to the UK where we’ll be playing in a lot of cities.”
Ocean to Ocean is Tori Amos’ sixteenth album and it’s one of her best. Written during lockdown in Cornwall, Amos reflects on isolation, chaos in America, the death of her mother and lost loves. The subject matter may be heavy but the album sounds life affirming. Amos is not wallowing in negativity: she’s fighting her way out of it.
Needless to say, she’s one of the most talented singer-songwriters to emerge in the last three decades. We caught up with Tori to find out more.
This album seems very personal, even by your standards. “We might scare people away by saying that! A lot of the time I travel when I write. Usually there are a lot of influences to draw from, but I was in exile as an American in Cornwall. It’s a wonderful place to be. Still, I couldn’t travel. I had to work with what I had. Lockdown has made us all take stock and think about where we are in our lives, and find out how we put ourselves into a good frequency.”
Swim to New York State is one of the standout tracks on the album. Is it about escaping lockdown? “It can be about whatever you want it to be. I wrote it as a love story. It’s about a guy who left Cornwall and went to New York because his heart was broken. The female character I’m singing was busy with her life, having success, working on her career. Finally, she was able to value what he gave her when they were together. But then she faces the question: is it too late?”
You have a particularly strong connection with your LGBT+ fans. You once said your music is too raw for straight men. “Of course. It’s another kind of subtext that’s going on all the time. I think talking about emotions is welcomed in the LGBT+ community. People don’t start looking the other way and trying to turn the sports channel on. Usually, deep discussions don’t happen at the pub while the footy is on. All kinds of chat is happening but it’s not like ‘let’s really talk about the dark night of the soul.’ Whereas I find people in the LGBT+ community are happy to share their experiences; what they’ve learnt, and what’s shaped them.”
You play a new cover version every night on some of your tours. How long does it take you to pick and rehearse those songs? “Sometimes I’ve worked them up on the side and already spent some time with them. But sometimes someone gives me an idea and I work it up at sound check – we then do it live that night for the first time. We do it every day – no one can miss a soundcheck. I think it’s so important. A lot of stuff gets worked in soundcheck.”
You’ve released deluxe versions of your early albums. Will there be a deluxe version of From The Choir Girl Hotel? “Complex answer. It’s more a technical conundrum. It might happen but it won’t happen in the next year.”
Is there a central message on the album you’d like people to pick up on? “I believe the songs are going to take you where you need to go. I don’t want to tell you how to interpret them. I gave you the backstory of Swim to New York State but it might take you to a different place.”
“These songs operate as a sonic potion. I got my cauldron out, you see. I’ve got to get out all of the negative energy about the madness in America – from Trump to the storming of The Capitol. The muck is not where I want to be: I had to write myself out of it. I put the most amazing elixir in the cauldron. You can stand in the songs yourself and go wherever you need to go.”
Which new song are you most excited to play live? “I want to play them all!”
You recorded a Christmas album called Midwinter Graces, not to mention seasonal songs like Winter. Do you enjoy Christmas? “I love Christmas. I like the spirit of it. I like walking around and seeing people smile. It’s heartwarming seeing people smile. I think we could all use a bit of that right now. It’s been intense. There’s been a heaviness. So that’s what I’m looking forward to – seeing the sparkle in people’s eyes.”
You’ve been very prolific since Little Earthquakes came out in 1992. “It comes in cycles, sort of like the seasons do. There are times when I’m researching and taking in; output is low but the input is high. I’m observing and making notes. That’s how you learn about things. Reading a lot and travelling are very important too. Those experiences become part of your ingredients.” They all find their way into Tori’s cauldron.
Your writing is confessional but very poetic. You also draw a lot from mythology. “I guess I grew into that. I realised that mythology was so important as a source. Hugely important; and it’s archetypal. You’re tapping into something that can resonate with people. We all have archetypes – someone might be more of an Athena person than an Aphrodite person. You see that in the choices they make. Sometimes you see a mix of archetypes in a person. You see a splash of Athena and Aphrodite; or different mythic archetypes. I worked with the Greek pantheon on American Doll Posse.”
Do you need a central theme or concept to make an album? “I don’t need a concept but sometimes I need a frame. That way you understand what stories you are telling. What drives these stories, what underscores it? Each album usually has a different goal.”
Cabaret legend Miss Hope Springs is heading to Crazy Coqs in London for a festive special. She returns (she’s always returning) to the West End with the umpteenth reprisal of her ground-breaking 1971 Granada TV special ‘Christmas Agogo!’- an un-aired classic. She’ll be singing her festive songs and chronicling her life, from the glamorous times to the seedy clubs of Pigalle. She’s been around – many times – and she’s back (again).
Miss Hope Springs is an homage to the great ladies of American showbiz from Hollywood’s Golden Age. When we last spoke to her she explained her character’s evolution: “My inspiration for Miss Hope Springs is kinda obvious. It’s the showbiz lady of a certain era. The never made it as opposed to a has-been. Difficult for me to say this now she’s playing the Wigmore Hall. She has sort of made it now. She’s having overnight success after forty-five years.”
Ty Jeffries is the man behind Miss Hope Springs, so to speak. He/She writes all the material, so this is not a lip-synch show. It’s all very much live and the songs are all original.
According to the lady herself she’ll be “leaving behind the comfort of her Dungeness campervan, La Springs rummages under her slightly wilted Christmas tree to unpack a glittering array of ridiculously catchy all-original self-penned festive numbers and regale with scandalous showbiz stories from her Ritz to the pits life. She’ll sprinkle a frosting of vintage Vegas glitz as she takes you on a cocklewarming trip down memory lane. She might even spill the beans on that night she spent with the Engelbert Humperdink impersonator at the Blue Lotus Motel in the Mojave Desert…” What better way to welcome the festive season?
Crazy Coqs is part of Brasserie Zédel. It’s a fabulous Belle Epoch style cabaret room. It’s the top cabaret venue in England. It’s an ideal setting for an artist like Miss Hope Springs. It’s very much a destination venue.
If you like world weary humour, post-war bohemia and cabaret then this is a show you won’t want to miss. Miss Hope Springs approaches the archetype of the fading diva with respect, wit and a lot of pizazz. Remember, she is big, it’s the pictures that got small: even though she was never in any of them.
PALAVER! is a new development programme and arts festival. It presents queer-positive performances and workshops to kids aged 3-8 and family audiences. The program was created by Adam Carver – AKA Fatt Butcher – and it takes place at Cambridge Junction at the end of October.
Populist narratives have become more hostile to LGBT+ people in recent years, especially in regards to gender identity. PALAVER! seeks to redress the balance, presenting LGBT+ people in a more positive light. The performers include Vijay Patel, Harry Clayton-Wright, Yshee Black, Emma Frankland, Katy Baird.
“Labs include producer support, production and development resources, and test performance opportunities. Each lab will be followed by additional development time, culminating in the creation of 5 performance extracts ready for development into full-scale productions.”
“AUDIENCES: offering a public programme of queer positive children & family performance work at Cambridge Junction, building an audience development model for queer-positive family programming.”
“Audiences can join us at three Sunday morning PALAVER PARTIES, bringing together disco, drag, dress-up, games, and scratch performances of work created on development labs suitable for children aged 3-8 (and their grown-ups too) on 12th September, 3rd and 17th October.”
The main event will be PALAVER FESTIVAL on Thursday 28th October. Expect a whole day of family friendly performances. There will be six new performance pieces – all developed throughout the project.
“PALAVER is conceived and delivered by midlands based queer company Fatt Projects’s (lead by Artistic Director Adam Carver), PALAVER is supported by Cambridge Junction through their Vision Mixer’s programme, Marlborough Productions, and Arts Council, England.”
The events will include costume making, a disco, storytelling and music. The festival will be hosted by Drag Race UK’s Ginny Lemon.
Here’s the lineup:
From 10am: Fun activities across the building
11am-12pm: Performances from Yshee Black & Harry Clayton-Wright
1-2pm: Performances from Vijay Patel, Emma Frankland & Katy Baird
3-5pm : Palaver Party featuring Ginny Lemon & Symoné
Ashley Stroud is an up and coming cabaret singer. She’s been hailed as a “modern day Josephine Baker”. She came to prominence as a vocalist for Postmodern Jukebox (PMJ). Her jazzy interpretation of Iggy Azalea’s hit Fancy got a huge 7.2million views. Collectively, PMJ has over 40 million views on Youtube.
You’re going to be hearing a lot more from Ashely in the coming years. We spoke to Ashley as she prepares for her new cabaret show in London.
Tell us about your musical background. “I’m originally from Chicago. I grew up singing in church but I was trained by Dr Lena McLin. She’s a legend in Chicago. Almost any vocal powerhouse you can name can be traced back to her. She ran a hard class and she took no BS from any of us. It was such a beautiful space. She’s a musical library. I was ten years old singing Sunday Love by Etta James and she took me seriously. Everything she taught me has never left my body. That church training is really good.”
How did your professional career begin? “I moved to New York on a whim – I was working in a seafood restaurant in Atlanta at the time. I’d just started auditioning and the first job I got was for a show called Sleep No More. The musical director of that show happened to be Scott Bradlee.” He’s the founder of Postmodern Jukebox.
“I was a waitress, a dance instructor, a cleaner, a nanny – anything that paid my bills. But when PMJ went viral I couldn’t go back.”
Were you surprised by the success of PMJ? “When I joined it wasn’t what it is now. I was on the first tour and I don’t think any of us had any clue what was coming. We were just playing around. I never thought this would start a professional career for me. When we went viral we really went viral. We were everywhere and it was jarring. I’d show up at my dance classes and the kids would be like ‘Miss Ashley, what’s going on?’”
Tell us about your upcoming show in London. “Carte Blanche is a showgirl extravaganza. If you’re a fan of PMJ you’ll love this show. We’ve reimagined some very strong women throughout history. So we’ve married Carmen Jones and Cardi B. We’ve brought Roxy Hart into the now. I think it’s really new, very fresh, I’ve never seen anything like it. Bright colours, lots of mashups and some glamour.”
Carte Blanche
“Neave Harvey is the only one of the showgirls not making her cabaret debut outside the core group. The other two dancers are making their debut. The rest of the cast members are heavy hitters. Cleopantha is in the top 50 burlesque in the world. Zoe Marshall has just finished a run of Pippin at the Sydney Lyric Theatre. These are the girls you want to know! I’m really excited to show people what we can do.”
Are you planning to take this show on the road? “I am! It’s my dream. Coming out of lockdown we need a bit of escapism, a bit of glamour, a bit of fun, and we’re exploring a similar time in history. There were pandemics and economic depression but the follies were born. These glamorous, vaudevillian cabarets came along to give people an escape.”
“I spent my lockdown watching Ziegfeld Girl, Funny Face – I’m a huge Audrey Hepburn fan and I’m a huge Dorothy Dandridge fan. I know Carmen Jones by heart. When you haven’t changed out of one pair of sweatpants in eight days, you want to be a showgirl. I want to be the most glamorous version of myself, even if it only lasts for 90 minutes.”
Alt Cabaret in Sydney. “That show was called Blanc de Blanc Encore. It was my first time in Australia. I had just moved to London and they called me. They knew me from PMJ and asked if I wanted to come to Australia. I was like, um, OK! The run was three months. That show really solidified how much I love cabaret. It’s intimate and anything can happen.”
Will there be an Ashely Stroud album? “Definitely. The ideas have been flowing and I’ve started working with some producers. It’s early days. I definitely want to release something next year that’s fun, dance-y.”
Were you always drawn to jazz? “I grew up loving jazz. At home I heard a lot of R&B, soul and gospel. I don’t know how I found Billie Holiday but when I did that was it. It spoke to me and I fell in love with Sarah Vaughn and Diana Washington. When I got to New York that was the community that first welcomed me: jazz players. I’d go to Fat Cat and I’d go to Smalls all the time. Jazz is always going to be home for me. When I slide into a jazz song it just works.”
“This is my first time speaking publicly as a queer or non-straight woman, so that’s exciting for me. I don’t think I’ve ever had a moment sitting my family down. I’d just say ‘hey mum, I’m going on a date with this girl.’ It’s really exciting for me. I feel confident in myself. I’ve always been in queer spaces. The club I go to most often in London is Heaven. So I know people are wondering! I feel happy to say it even though I’ve never felt the need to sit everyone down and say ‘I am this.’”
“Having grown up in church and hearing what you hear in church, that was an issue. Also feeling like maybe I don’t fit what queer is supposed to look like. I’m married to a man so maybe it’s not what it looks like in terms of dating either. The more artists I see speaking honestly makes me confident to say this is part of my identity but I’m still me. And this part of me fuels a lot of my work.”
Clubbing has always been central to LGBTQ culture. Queer History South/Queer In Brighton launch a regular new Sunday happening on 24 October paying homage to Brighton’s LGBTQ nightlife and the clubs, DJs and hosts who made it happen. The event has been set up by David Sheppeard and Roni Guetta.
The Ironworks is Brighton’s newest performance venue. It opened up for a series of events over what would have been Pride month. If you haven’t been yet the Ironworks should be on your radar.
The inaugural Queer History Club(bing!) event features Paul Kemp renowned for Wild Fruit, Club Shame and Brighton Pride, much loved Brighton performer and persona Boogaloo Stu of Dynamite Boogaloo fame. Also on the bill will be Affy Go Bang of Calabash and Go Bang. These three Brighton nightlife stalwarts will be sharing their experience of your favourite disreputable seaside towns ever changing club scene. The talks will be followed by DJ sets to take you on a journey through nightclubs past with visuals by LadyPat.
Remember Calabash?
Queer in Brighton/Queer Heritage South continue to release new episodes of heritage podcast My Queer Museum, where veterans of the LGBTQ scene share objects from their personal archives that they’d showcase in a queer museum. The latest episode features poet Maria Jastrzębska reflecting on her childhood in the Polish girl scouts and a lifetime of feminist organising and activism.
Queer in Brighton/Queer Heritage South recently launched a new LGBTQ community archive. If you have any queer memorabilia you’d like to share with them you can contribute it to the archive.
50% History Talk – 50% Night Club – 100% Queer Heritage Fun
You will need to provide the following to enter:
– proof of double vaccination
– negative lateral flow taken within 24 hours
– proof of immunity due to positive PCR test within last 180 days
Le Gateau Chocolat is one of the UK’s leading drag performers. He’s also an opera singer. Naturally, he doesn’t lip sync for his life. His musical numbers are very much live.
His latest show is his most ambitious yet. Each night, a specially curated operatic song cycle will offer a meditation on where do we go and who do we become when we lose our anchor? LIMINAL is currently on at The King’s Head Theatre.
The cast members include British-Iranian soprano Honey Rouhani. Dan D’Souza made his debut in 2019 at the Paris Philharmonie and the Sala Santa Cecilia singing High Priest in Handel Semele. Italo-Australian tenor Robert Barbaro vocally trained with acclaimed soprano Mirella Freni and has performed around the world. Grace Nyandoro has played Aksinya in Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (Birmingham Opera Company) which won The Royal Philharmonic Society award (2019). CN Lester is a multi-genre musician, author of the critically-acclaimed book Trans Like Me, and curator of arts night Transpose, now entering its fourth edition at the Barbican.
The show brings classic characters from opera into the present day. What would Tosca be up to if she was around today? How about Madame Butterfly? We caught up with Le Gateau in between rehearsals to find out more.
Tell us about your inspiration for the show. “Opera singers usually have no invitation to be themselves. We are always in a role that’s existed for hundreds of years. Sure you can sing opera but who are you when you’re not singing those characters? It’s interesting to find out. After you’ve performed Queen of the Night, when you take the costume off, who are you and can the audience ever find out?”
Le Gateau Chocolat sings live in a deep, operatic voice. Did he have classical training? “I studied law but I had an ability to sing. I continued singing as and when I could at Sussex Musical Theatre Society (SMuTS). I did amateur theatre in Brighton too. That’s how I kept the music alive. After my law degree I was able to work at the Royal Opera House and the Young Vic. Mine is an unusual path to singing opera.”
It paid off though. “I’m thankful I don’t have to be a lawyer and I can do this instead. It’s given me all these opportunities. I originally did LIMINAL at Brighton Festival. It’s the most robust piece of work I’ve made. I wondered what it would be like for opera singers to interpret the piece. It’s their first time playing themselves on stage and my first time as a director.”
What’s your connection with King’s Head Theatre? “It’s my first production there. Heather Ruck is the interim producer. I’ve known her for about eight years. She has tracked my career since I started making shows. Our relationship has stayed quite dynamic. The in-road to the Kings Head was Heather. They are interested in opera. She asked how I’d feel about doing something operatic that explored the conversation we’re having internationally.”
“The show explores isolation, BLM, feminism, domestic violence and mental health. Heather invited me to be more robust in proposing the answers to these questions.”
“How do we employ this art form to tell our story? How do we do that? You may see those classic opera roles around the world, but how do we make the songs unique for the audience? So when people leave having seen the performance it’s not just beautiful music. You’ve gotten to see who these people are. To become an opera singer requires years of dedication and training. This show is about exercising agency and inserting the performers’ own stories into it.”
Can we expect a mix of comedy and drama from the show? “Comedy, satire, drama… it’s all those things. The reality of who we are as humans is so varied. We aren’t just funny or sad or dramatic. We can cycle through all those things, as we have over the last eighteen months. It’s a commentary on what it means to be a human being. It’s always anchored in the reality, the truth of the person, what they’ve been through. That’s how I’ve engaged with all four opera singers. I hope when audiences leave and they hear Madame Butterfly and The Sound of Music, they also hear who is singing behind them.”
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