THEGAYUK

Day: 20 October 2017

  • Katie Hopkins’ book, Rude, has publish date pushed back

    Katie Hopkins’ book, Rude has had its publishing date pushed back…

    Is Rude in Rude health? Katie’s publisher pushes back the drop date for former Celebrity Big Brother and Apprentice star Katie Hopkins’ book. When we first wrote about the book in June the book was placed at number 31,776  in the Amazon Best seller’s list – from pre-orders alone and had a publish date of 5th October 2017. Publishers, Biteback have now advised that the publish date is now 7th November.

    The book now sits at number #22,535 in Amazon’s best sellers’ list. Hopkins has now embarked on a speaking tour,

    Katie Hopkins, who has in the past said that it was her mission in life to become a “gay icon” has had a number of setbacks this year, including her legal battle with Jack Monroe and her departure from the LBC radio station. She does however still have her column with the MailOnline.

    THEGAYUK.com reached out to Katie’s Publisher for comment who said,

    “On 7th November Biteback will publish Rude a memoir by Katie Hopkins.

    Love her or hate her, Katie Hopkins is impossible to ignore, and this hilarious and revealing new book – part memoir, part handbook for the modern woman – is the same.

    Laughing through the chapters of her life, she shares her disasters, her biggest disappointments and the time she had to ring her super sensible boss to say she was on the front pages of the tabloids having sex in a field.

    From being kicked out of the army for being epileptic, to firing little Lord Sugar; from her first husband leaving her in the maternity ward for the big-boobed secretary, to the reality behind Celebrity Big Brother, she has plenty of surprises to share and lessons she thinks we should learn.

    Readers be warned, however. Katie doesn’t sugar-coat anything, and neither does she hold back, making her as honest in her book as she is in life.

    But this book is an introduction to a quieter Katie too, one people seldom see. She takes us beyond her front door and into the privacy of her home, writing as a mum of three, sharing things even she feels awkward saying.

     

    If you’re a fan and want to read it… you can buy it from Amazon

  • THEATRE REVIEW | Albion, Almeida Theatre, London

    ★★★★★ |  Albion, Almeida Theatre

    Mike Bartlett is riding on a high at the moment after the success of the second season of woman-scorned drama ‘Dr Foster’. As well as the much acclaimed TV drama he’s also a versatile and witty playwright with a string of theatre hits including the stellar “King Charles II” (what Prince Charlie did next), “Game” (the privileged classes shoot chavs for fun) and the epic “Earthquakes in London” (I think you can work that one out for yourself).

    His new play Albion is a sprawling three-hour epic concerning a successful businesswoman who uproots and plonks herself and her family down in a rural idyll with a dream of restoring an historic garden. Audrey is a bit of an uber bitch on one level. Suffering from profound grief following the death of her son in armed combat, she’s prickly and caustic, riding roughshod over her wet second husband and her disaffected daughter. Not to mention her guilt ridden middle class angst about the help, her strained relationship with her lesbian novelist best friend as well as her less than sympathetic views towards the local villagers who soon come to despise her. She’s also a strangely sympathetic character and is painfully real. It’s a tight script with echoes of Chekov (think disaffected people knowingly lurching towards disaster). Watching this feels a bit like settling down with a long but enthralling novel. It’s more than just a story. There’s a heavy layer of allegory and Bartlett turns his razor sharp gaze on to the people of England and their conflicted feelings towards their country.

    It’s a cracking play with multiple layers and is both thought provoking and emotionally involving without being preachy or patronising. The cast are universally strong, none more so than the fantastic Victoria Hamilton who plays Audrey. She’s been all over the TV of late as the put upon neighbour in Doctor Foster, The Queen Mum in Netfilx’s The Crown and the double crossing spy in the BBC2’s The Game. She’s magnetic and more than strong enough to carry this strong central role of a difficult but ultimately likeable woman.

    The stage set is absorbing and convincing. A huge tree dominates a long garden which the audience sit around in a horseshoe shape and it’s hard not to be taken in and feel like you’re out in an English country garden watching the human wild life fight it out.

    This is a rare treat. Go and see it while you can.

    Albion plays at the Almeida Theatre  24th of November 2017

  • COMMENT | Know your gay acronyms: When CBT doesn’t mean CBT

    CBT but not that CBT!

    When working in social housing the company which employed me, diversified and began to take on service users with severe and enduring mental illness.

    The brother of a colleague was a mental health practitioner. He came in to do some training and talk us through the manifestation of conditions so we would know what to expect.

    I don’t think he was prepared for us knowing absolutely nothing. I had to keep interjecting and explaining some of the jargon he used and asking him to define other terms that were also unknown to me.

    It had been a very tense session as many of my colleagues were unsure if they wanted to remain as support workers to the new user group. This demystifying and understanding of terms, explaining common diagnosis and interventions was invaluable to us.

    Then he started to talk about CBT, and in the corner, his gay brother collapsed into raptures of hysterical laughter. The sort of laughter that is contagious. The others did not know why they were laughing, or what the trigger for it had been. Our trainer was looking completely puzzled by it all.

    I too was guilty of sharing in the laughing, mostly because I was the only one in the room that knew what was funny. Finally, I regained some composure and explained the term CBT had been used as a reference to Cognitive Behaviour Therapy and not Cock and Ball Torture, which is why the gay brother had fallen about laughing.

    In a world of acronyms, it is inevitable there will be a duplication of some. CBT is unfortunate as it stands for 3 that are known to me Compulsory Basic Training to ride a motorbike being the third.

  • THEATRE REVIEW | Venus In Fur, Theatre Royal Haymarket

    ★★★ | Venus In Fur, Theatre Royal Haymarket

    THEATRE REVIEW | Venus In Fur, Theatre Royal Haymarket

    A playwright/director bemoans the lack of female acting talent after a long day auditioning for the female lead in his new play. In walks Vanda, a ditzy and frenetic actress who’s turned up late but is determined that she’s going to audition for the part whether he wants her to or not.

    David Ives 2010 play is a twisting sexual and gender power play and a play within a play. The piece that Vonda is auditioning for is based around the 1870 novella of almost the same name (add an ‘s’ to the ‘fur’) by Leopold Von Sacher-Masoch. The clue is in the name: masochism was named after Sacher-Masoch and his desire to serve and be punished. The two characters read from the play and the roles they play both in reality and fantasy are in a state of constant flux. Thomas is a man who once stated that working in theatre was a great way to get laid but Vanda is more than prepared to take him on.

    It’s a slight play in some ways and is uneven at times with occasional absurd moments Whilst it has timely themes with the current Weinstein scandal, it’s not exactly searing. That doesn’t really matter here, though. It’s an OK play and is an entertaining 90 minutes but there’s an odd phenomena going on. The actress is far greater than the play. Nathalie Dormer (Margaery Tyrell in Game of Thrones) is totally hypnotising. Her co-star, David Oakes (currently on TV in Victoria), is more than adequate and is also easy on the eye but whatever your persuasion, I suspect you’re eyes will be drawn to every move, intonation and expression from the magnificent Nathalie Dormer. It’s sometimes hard to concentrate on anything but her central performance.

    Ignore the flimsiness of the play, although if S and M is your thing or you’ve ever contemplated this as a pastime then all the better. The main pleasure for most is the chance to watch such a virtuoso performance. Well worth seeing.

    Venue In Fur plays at the Theatre Royal Haymarket until 9th December 2018

  • No Hazel-E we won’t forgive you for your dangerous homophobia

    After writing that we should burn in hell, Love & Hip-Hop Hollywood star Hazel-E is asking for forgiveness.

    Hazel E star of the Love & Hip-Hop Hollywood TV show is apparently asking her gay fans to forgive her after saying  “burn in hell just like God said in the bible”!

    She made the comment in a comment on her boyfriend’s already homophobic Instagram post, which proclaimed that he said he hoped all gays would die and go to hell.

    Why did this all come about? Well, some troll apparently accused her boyfriend, Rose Burgundy of being gay and he was not happy about it. Taking to Instagram he wrote, “You really want to know how I feel about gays so bad well here you go I hope all gays die and go to hell…”

    Hazel-E then commented under his post saying, “Burn in hell just like God said in the Bible!”

    TMZ gave the star a platform to explain herself and her remarks.

    In a video, she says that she didn’t think her comment was a good idea and that she relied on the LGBT community for supporting her career. She also said that she didn’t mean the entire community – just that one troll.

    She said, “OMG, my life this hair, this makeup, this glam, my world would like, fall apart without the LGBT community”

    Watch as she asks for forgiveness and then tries to explain her comment away.

    Ermmm… No

     

  • Tanzania arrests 12 for “homosexuality” in Dar es Salaam

    Tanzanian police said Wednesday they had arrested 12 men, including two South Africans and a Ugandan, for presumed homosexuality as part of an ongoing crackdown against gays. “We arrested the criminals at (the hotel) Peacock — they were promoting homosexuality. (more…)