THEGAYUK

Author: News Desk

  • Book tickets for The Kite Runner at the Playhouse Theatre, London

    Tickets for The Kite Runner are available to buy today.

    Book tickets for The Kite Runner at the Playhouse Theatre, London

     

    What is The Kite Runner all about?

    The Kite Runner is the story of true friendship, and also true betrayal. David Ahmad is Amir, who lives with his wealthy father Baba (Emilio Doorgasingh) in Kabul, Afghanistan. They employ Baba’s long-time servant Ali (Ezra Faroque Khan), along with his son Hassan (Andrei Costin). Both Amir and Hassan lost their mothers, so Amir and Hassan have become close, even though they both come from different classes of society.

    Our review

    ★★★★ The Kite Runner doesn’t need any sort of magic wand or razzle dazzle to tell its story – it’s the story in itself that is strong enough to hold the audience’s attention. We see the beautiful friendship between Hassan and Amir that is eventually shattered and when the story takes it to another direction we feel Amir’s pain and heartbreak and guilt and we hope the characters will eventually find happiness, though deep down we know that’s not going to be the case. Matthew Spangler has successfully adapted the book for the stage (again) while Director Giles Croft works with an excellent acting ensemble with a very minimalist set as he excellently guides his actors to portray the characters very beautifully and emotionally.

    BUY TICKETS

    Watch a clip from The Kite Runner

    More about The Playhouse Theatre

    The theatre was initiated in 1882 by Sefton Parry, a speculative theatre builder, who bought the site hoping it would have to be purchased from him by the South Eastern & Chatham Railway Company, whose terminus was alongside. The Royal Avenue Theatre opened on 11 March 1882 with a revival of Offenbach’s Madam Favart. The prefix Royal was soon dropped from the theatre’s name, but comic operas, burlesques and the like remained the staple fare for several years. For much of this time, Arthur Roberts, a popular star of the music halls, led the company at the Avenue.

    Click here for venue information including maps and directions.

    BUY TICKETS FOR THE KITE RUNNER

    We use Ticketmaster as our official ticketing agent.

  • Book tickets for Lady Day at the Wyndham’s Theatre

    See the sensational Audra McDonald in Lady Day at the Wyndham’s Theatre in London

    Book tickets for Lady Day at the Wyndham’s Theatre

    Book tickets for the hit musical, Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill.

    Order your tickets now for Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill. Ticket prices from £14.50

    What is Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill all about?

    Audra McDonald making her West End Debut in a show where she performs as Billie Holiday in Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill. And while most of us have never actually seen the real Holliday sing live, I can only imagine McDonald is as close as the real thing.

    Our review

    ★★★★ It’s not just that McDonald is acting like Holiday, but McDonald sings like Holiday as well. There’s a reason why McDonald has won 6 Tony Awards, she is one if not the most accomplished stage actress of our time. The likes of Bernadette Peters, Patti LuPone or Elaine Paige don’t hold a candle to McDonald.

    Runtime

    TBC including an interval.

    Buy tickets

    Watch a clip from Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill

    More about the Wyndham’s Theatre

    Wyndham’s Theatre is a West End theatre, one of two opened by the actor/manager Charles Wyndham (the other is the Criterion Theatre). Located on Charing Cross Road in the City of Westminster, it was designed c.1898 by W.G.R. Sprague, the architect of six other London theatres between then and 1916. It was designed to seat 759 patrons on three levels although later refurbishment increased this to four.

    Click here for venue information including maps and directions.

    BOOK TICKETS NOW

    We use Ticketmaster as our official ticketing agent.

  • Steve Grand’s itty bitty swimwear will give you feels

    Oh. My.

    American singer Steve Grand isn’t just famous for his music, but also for his choice of clothing (or apparent lack thereof). This weekend he reminded his fanbase that he can totally pull off lime green – a feat that most could only dream. Within 24 hours the picture had attracted 12,600 likes and over 240 comments… most of which read… “Steve Grand marry me”.

     

    https://www.instagram.com/p/BV8AO0IF_Gq/?taken-by=stevegrandmusic&hl=en

     

    As you can see there really isn’t much to it – but there’s certainly more there than the costume he wore for Broadway Bares last month in which we basically wore a jock strap – which came off. You can see it all here.

  • Channel 4 got a love in for its trans and pan visibility

    Regardless of what you think about Channel 4’s controversial dating show N*ked Attraction, people loved the trans and pan visibility in the last episode.

    In a Naked Attraction first, trans and pansexual dating hopefuls were added to the naked panel. The show’s second season premiere featured self-identified pansexual Lizzy who came out after one year of university and says she is open to all genders saying, “I’m attracted to everyone”.

    Speaking about being transgender, presenter Anna Richardson said,

    “Transgender people identify with a different sex to the one they were assigned at birth. To bring their body in line with how they identify some take hormones to promote physical changes within their bodies.

    “Of the estimated half a million transgender people in the UK, only a third have gender confirmation surgery where their sexual organs are altered”.

    Lizzy had six of naked people to choose from including two trans people.

    Naturally, the good people of Twitter had a lot to say about the programme, but the representation of trans people was generally appreciated, with some pointing out that trans representation on mainstream television was poor and that Naked Attraction’s approach deserved kudos.

    https://twitter.com/imjustboujee/status/880542426246426624?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thegayuk.com%2Fchannel-4s-naked-attraction-had-trans-and-pan-dating-hopefuls-and-people-loved-it%2F

    https://twitter.com/ChrisChetal73/status/880562849940217856?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thegayuk.com%2Fchannel-4s-naked-attraction-had-trans-and-pan-dating-hopefuls-and-people-loved-it%2F

    https://twitter.com/W4352/status/880543549514805251?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thegayuk.com%2Fchannel-4s-naked-attraction-had-trans-and-pan-dating-hopefuls-and-people-loved-it%2F

  • Germany votes to allow same-sex marriages

    German same-sex couples are one step closer to being able to legally get married.

    Although gay couples can have civil partnerships at the moment, the law does not permit same-sex marriages.

    MPs in Germany voted overwhelmingly to legalise gay marriage on the last day of June. Nearly four hundred MPs voted in favour of allowing same-sex marriage. The votes were split: 393 members of parliament voted in favour of the bill, with 296 voting against and 4 abstentions.

    Up until now same-sex couples in Germany were only able to get a civil partnership.

    Legal code in Germany will now be changed to read “Marriage is entered into for life by two people of different or the same sex.”

    Germany’s Chancellor, Angela Merkel was on of the MPs who voted against the law – having all set out her thoughts that marriage should only be between a man and a woman. During a YouTube interview she said, ” “For me, personally, marriage is a man and a woman living together. That is my concept, but I support civil partnerships.”

  • Channel 4’s Naked Attraction had trans and pan dating hopefuls and people loved it!

    Channel 4’s controversial dating show Naked Attraction had naked trans and pansexual people strip off and people loved the inclusivity.

     

    In a Naked Attraction first, trans and pansexual dating hopefuls were added to the naked panel. The show’s second season premiere featured self-identified pansexual Lizzy who came out after one year of university and says she is open to all genders saying, “I’m attracted to everyone”.

    Speaking about being transgender, presenter Anna Richardson said,

    “Transgender people identify with a different sex to the one they were assigned at birth. To bring their body in line with how they identify some take hormones to promote physical changes within their bodies.

    “Of the estimated half a million transgender people in the UK, only a third have gender confirmation surgery where their sexual organs are altered”.

    Lizzy had six of naked people to choose from including two trans people.

    Naturally, the good people of Twitter had a lot to say about the programme, but the representation of trans people was generally appreciated, with some pointing out that trans representation on mainstream television was poor and that Naked Attraction’s approach deserved kudos.

     

    https://twitter.com/imjustboujee/status/880542426246426624

    https://twitter.com/ChrisChetal73/status/880562849940217856

    https://twitter.com/W4352/status/880543549514805251

     

    Watch the entire episode on All4.

  • YouTube video for pride flooded with hateful comments

    A video released by YouTube to celebrate pride has been flooded with hateful messages.

    There’ still so much to do!

    The video which was released two days ago by YouTube Spolight has received over 200,000 thumbs down, whilst likes have not yet topped 160,000. Tens of thousands of people have commented on the video with many of them giving it a poor review.

    Many people have also complained that the video’s dislike feature is malfunctioning with some alleging their dislike being deleted.

    The video features segments from Tyler Oakley and RuPaul and Mykki Blanco.

    Here are a sample of the Top 8 comments on the video.

     

     

     

  • What are the bisexual myths that drive you mad?

    We’re asking our readers which are the most annoying and totally outrageous bisexual myths that you want to dispell…

     

     

    Use the form below to let us know the totally and utterly annoying bisexual myths that need to be dispelled. We’ll publish your answers in a forthcoming article, so watch out for it!

     

  • Aberdeenshire man gets unpaid work punishment after homophobic police fight

    A man has been punished with 50 hours of unpaid work after a fight with police.

    Gavin Knights, 20, was sentenced at the Aberdeen Sheriff Court to 50 unpaid work after admitting to threatening behaviour towards police on the 13th June. His defence, David Sutherland, said that alcohol had induced “fairly shocking behaviour.”

    During the incident, Mr Gavin uttered threats towards the police, as well as kicked a police van and used homophobic language.

    Mr Knight will also be under supervision for nine months.

     

     

  • Jaguar’s New Wimbledon Hero with Clare Balding and Andy Murray

    A hot sunny day in June saw the launch of Jaguar’s new XF Sportbrake released to the world via the internet and to journalists from the motoring and sports worlds in the Brick Lane area of London.

    Tennis was very much the theme for the launch of Jaguar’s much awaited Sporting estate car that completes the XF range well. And just in time for its official use during Wimbledon in just a few weeks time. For the third time running, Jaguar is this year’s car of choice providing XF Sportbrake, XF, XJ and F-PACE. Try and keep count. Expect to see a lot of luxury with 170 cars on loan.

    Ian Callum, Head of Jaguar Design was there to give a brief over the cars’ new design and importance. Meanwhile, Nick Collins was informing us about the great sale success Jaguar are having at the moment with sales doubling within the last year. There are some exciting times to come from Jaguar. The black cat is on the prowl.

    The lovely Clare Balding started off proceedings introducing the car with the help of the ball boys and girls lifting the covers across a makeshift tennis court. This revealed the stunning looking new car in the only fitting colour, white.

    Britain’s tennis number 1 Andy Murray and boxing champion Anthony Joshua demonstrated the 1700 litre boot with their trophies. Those boxers belts are not small by any stretch of the imagination. And from June 15th to July 2nd, Andy’s trophy will be travelling around the country in the XF Sportbrake. Andy Murray himself said, “Letting go of the trophy will be difficult, but there’s no better vehicle than the Jaguar XF Sportbrake to take it on this UK tour. I’m pleased that people are going to be able to get up close to the trophy when it visits schools and tennis clubs, and hopefully, it might encourage people to pick up a racket this Summer.”

    Proceedings continued with strawberries and cream and a tennis match between the sporting stars and Jimmy Carr and Rob Brydon. To make it fairer it was evenly matched with sports star and comedian pairings. Commentary being done by Clare and Tim Henman.

    Many new and innovative features are to be found on the new XF. Cabin Air Ionisation gives you and your family clean air, Gesture Control lets you operate the panoramic sun blind or open the boot when your arms are full of kit, forget the keyring and swim, surf, cycle or run with an activity key. And to help with the lifestyle the new XF comes with a handy two-tonne towing capacity lets you take the trailer, boat, jet ski or horse box

    THEGAYUK hope to get a first-hand experience of the new XF Sportbrake as and when they become available to the press. The car did pretty much go into production during the launch. so watch this space. Prices start from £34,910.

  • Humberside Fire and Rescue Service unveils colourful new engine in support of LGBT equality

    And that’s how to make a splash…

    Shoppers in Hull were surprised to see the latest addition to Humberside Fire and Rescue Service’s (HFRS) fleet roll into Queen Victoria Square emblazoned in rainbow colours.

    The new fire engine, which will be based at the city’s Calvert Lane is the result of the fire service working closely with LGBT advocates in Hull and is a celebration of Hull being chosen as the first ever host of UK Pride.

    The engine features the slogan, ‘Fire doesn’t discriminate, neither do we’, the engine will be part of the service’s fleet until the end of the year.

    Andy Train, co-chair of the UK Pride Organisers’ Network and Trustee of Pride in Hull, said,

    “We have had a close working relationship with the fire service for many years, but this year we wanted to raise the bar and do something extra special.

    “We hope that the eye-catching engine will get people talking. We know that many people have certain stereotypes in their mind when they think of LGBT people and people also have preconceived ideas about the fire service. We hope that this helps to break down both of those barriers.”

    Hull UK City of Culture 2017 is also coordinating a huge programme of events across the arts to mark the 50th anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality in the UK, under the banner of LGBT 50.

    Chief Fire Officer Dene Sanders was delighted to launch the latest addition to the Service’s fleet, he said,

    “We are really proud as a Service to work with the Pride in Hull team to add this engine to our already colourful fleet. We have moved on significantly as a service in equality and diversity, but there is still a long way to go within organisations such as ours and the wider community we serve. The very fact that we have an engine wrapped like this as we approach the LGBT 50 celebrations shows how much progress has been made. We look forward to a colourful summer showcasing the engine at events in Hull and beyond.”