THEGAYUK

Category: Entertainment

  • THEATRE REVIEW | The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time – Sheffield Lyceum & National Tour

    Christopher Boone, a 15-year-old boy, discovers that his neighbour’s dog, Wellington, has been killed by someone (the poor dog having been stabbed with a garden fork), and sets off to find out who the culprit is. ★★★★

    But Christopher has Asperger’s syndrome, which makes his perception and functioning very different to other boys his age and as the truth behind Wellington’s death starts to be revealed, it leads Christopher to embark on a remarkable adventure.

    The show is based on the hugely successful book by Mark Haddon and has been a West End and Broadway hit. Utilising a virtually empty stage, the presentation of the show was intriguing, using screens on the back and sides of the stage, almost framing the show in a cube, reflective of Christopher’s constraints in his functioning. Lights flicker like the firing of neurons in his brain, and black and white projections are used to show both his thought process and to set the scene. The show, like the book, is written from Christopher’s point of view and the presentation effectively places the audience members squarely into the centre of his mind and thoughts. The simplicity of the set is reflective of the way in which Christopher perceives the world and worked very well. There were pieces of carefully choreographed movement throughout, and the scene where Christopher arrives in London and is overwhelmed by the overstimulation of his environment is superbly done. In this show, less certainly is more, and the monochrome set nicely mirrored Christopher’s rather binary thinking.

    But placing the style and presentation to one side, the most impressive aspect of the show was the outstanding performance of Chris Ashby. Ashby’s portrayal of Christopher Boone was stunning – mixing the complexities of the characters personality, his physical traits and a childlike innocence which combined to provide a rounded and believable performance. It was up there with some of the best performances I have ever seen in the theatre. Surely big things must beckon for this young man. The other standout performance was provided by Stuart Laing, as Ed; Christopher’s father. The scenes between them were particularly moving and touching, and showcased two incredibly talented actors.

    The show is beautifully written, with a script which imports large chunks of text from the book to provide a faithful adaptation of the source material and was filled with gentle humour and a myriad of characters that come in and out of Christopher’s life. But the show also has beautifully crafted moments of dramatic tension and emotionally powerful scenes which captivated the audience completely.

    The show has won a slew of awards, including 7 Olivier Awards and 5 Tony Awards, and it is easy to see why. There is a lot of depth to the play, exploring the adult world of interpersonal relationships through a simplistic and innocent perspective. It is one which has stayed in my mind in the days after seeing it.

    The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time is currently playing at Sheffield Lyceum Theatre until Saturday 26th September 2015 (www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk) before continuing on its national tour until 26th November 2015. For further details, visit www.curiousonstage.com/

    By Paul Szabo

  • THEATRE REVIEW | The Sum Of Us

    A father who loves and accepts his gay son is the theme of the new play ‘The Sum of Us.’ ★★★★

    In 1994, a young Russell Crowe played the gay son in the movie version of The Sum of Us which was originally staged as a play in New York City in 1990. Now a new version of the play ‘The Sum of Us,’ which has never played in the UK, has just opened at the Above the Stag Theatre in Vauxhall.

    Harry (Sephen Connery-Brown) is a forty-something widower raising his twenty-something young son Jeff (Tim McFarland), who happens be gay. Harry is not bothered about his son being gay, he actually encourages Jeff to go out and meet other guys, to enjoy life while you can while you are young. And Harry doesn’t mind when Jeff brings other guys over to their home. Jeff is good-looking and athletic with a very positive look on life, but he says there’s a space in his heart that is empty, a space that could be filled by another man. When he meets someone he likes (Greg – played by Rory Hawkins), he’s immediately smitten. But it’s Harry who interrupts the two young men who are on the couch getting to know each other. Harry says a bit too much about Jeff, and their close father and son relationship makes Greg feel insecure about his own relationship with his father. Meanwhile Harry, after being a widower for a number of years, also starts dating – he feels like it’s time to get out there and meet another woman. And he does. Her name is Joyce (Annabel Pemberton), and her and Harry are getting on like wildfire. But when she learns that he has a gay son, she just can’t accept this. Firstly she’s angry that Harry didn’t tell her when they started dating, secondly she just can’t accept gay people at all. Even after Harry proposes to her, she just doesn’t want to see him anymore. So thus we have a father and a son who both yearn to be with someone yet obstacles get in their way. And as Harry tells Jeff, he is the sum of us, the sum of him and his late wife, and the sum of his grandparents and great-grandparents. Actually, we are all the sum of us, and this is the message of the play.

    Above the Stag Theatre really sets the bar high on this one. Their previous shows had names such as ‘Rent Boy: The Musical’ and ‘Bathhouse: The Musical.’ However, they have now produced a play that is serious, heartwarming and very well-acted. The Sum of Us is a story that most gay men may not relate to; who can say that their fathers have whole heartedly accepted their homosexuality. But the play, written by David Stevens, who also wrote the film version and the original play version, successfully combines the son’s and father’s search for love and the close relationship they have with each other. And in the end, the message is that we all want someone to love and someone to love us, no matter whether you are gay or straight.

    Connery-Brown is great as Harry, as is McFarland as Jeff. They have a real rapport as father and son, and even resemble each other a bit. Hawkins and Pemberton are fine as the other halves, who may or may not wind up in the men’s lives. The set, down to the details of the1990’s script, cleverly goes from a living room to a park, in this cute theatre that is nice and cozy with a bar to match.

    The Sum of Us is playing at Above the Stag Theatre until October 4th. Tickets can be bought here:

    http://www.abovethestag.com/shows/

    Buy tickets now – it’s selling out fast!

  • Austin Falls Out With Chloe Jasmine Over Brother Snub

    Austin Armacost has slammed Chloe Jasmine over a perceived snub of his late brother Tyler.

    Reality star Austin Armacost has blown his lid with former X FACTOR star Chloe Jasmine after she refused to be involved with the toast to his late brother, Tyler, because there was alcohol. Austin’s brother died in a car accident at the age of 27. He would have been 30 this year.

    The argument started after Chloe Jasmine rushed into the storage room to take some alcohol for Stevi and Bobby after Big Brother provided drinks for the housemates. As she leaves the room the A-List star tells Sherrie,

    “I am f**king done with her.”

    Austin then bursts in on Stevi, Chloe-Jasmine and Bobby and checks what Chloe-Jasmine has taken. He begins to get angry at Chloe-Jasmine,

    “It’s just ironic that the other day you couldn’t get out of bed because you couldn’t be around alcohol and now you are running to the fridge to grab booze for him.”

    Chloe-Jasmine responds,

    “Yes because I can’t open it, I am addicted to alcohol.’

    However Austin doesn’t accept Chloe-Jasmine’s excuse saying,

    “I am really disappointed because the other night when the whole house came together to make a toast because it was my brother’s birthday you stayed in bed, your reasoning being you couldn’t be around alcohol, and you just came in here to grab cocktails to bring to Stevi.

    “It’s been 19 days that you have been around alcohol…it’s really f**ked up and everyone else agrees on that.”

    “MANIC DEPRESSION”

    Later on Chloe-Jasmine and Austin are alone, she explains why she missed the toast to Austin’s brother,

    “the other day I was feeling horrible all day…I really really wanted to drink and I just wanted to stay in bed and hide under the covers, it’s a bit like being a manic depressive.”

    She blames the fact that there was a lot of open alcohol the other night.

    Austin argues,

    “So why out of 19 nights when the whole house came together you couldn’t be there.”

    She tries to explain,

    “I could have been there but this is a disease that I have, it’s horrible, alcoholism.”

    Austin says,

    “It was my brother’s 30th birthday, the whole house came to make a toast for him and you were the only person who didn’t have enough respect to get out of bed.”

    Chloe-Jasmine begins to cry,

    “It’s really f**king hard.”

    Austin says that he feels disappointed and disrespected.
    CBB continues tonight, Tuesday 15 September at 9pm on Channel 5

  • Fatman Scoop and Gail Porter Become The 3rd and 4th Housemates Evicted

    Last Friday, Jenna and Farrah became the butt of Big Brother’s vote in a fake double eviction. They were bunked up in a secret luxury room and given control of nominations…but all was not as it seemed. Unbeknown to Jenna and Farrah, nominations were flipped and the whole house was playing up to the cameras in a desperate bid for immunity.

    (more…)

  • Gay Club In Coventry Is Set To Reopen The Weekend

    The LGBT community in Coventry is set to welcome back a gay club set to open this weekend.

    A gay club in Coventry called Rainbows is set to relaunch this weekend after closing for extensive refurbishment. The club in Short Street will be open from midday on Friday until 4pm to give customers a chance to see the new look before fully opening this weekend.

    The club first opened in May 1997.

    Speaking to the Coventry Telegraph Manager Gary Joines said:

    “Rainbows has been closed for some essential building work.

    “As a result, we now have a brand new upstairs bar area, and cloakroom. The downstairs bar area has been redecorated giving it a brighter, more modern feel.

    “We’ve also done some work to the stair case and toilets giving them a new look.

    “The whole venue looks lighter, brighter and fresher – giving it a whole new lease of life!”

  • Cilla Black One Of The Faves To Be Christmas Number 1 2015

    Oh dear… This may be the most depressing or exciting thing you read today, but Christmas is just 100 days away.

    (more…)

  • PROBLEM AUNTY | I Sat On Something And Ended Up In A&E

    The vilest Agony Aunt returns and this time a fan is deeply unhappy with the advice she gave, which resulted in him having to visit accident and emergency.

    Dear Aunty,

    Last month you told a guy to sit on as many objects as possible to get into the porn industry. This has to be the worst advice ever given. I’ve been sat in A&E because of a stupid experiment trying to insert something that shouldn’t go there, and I think telling people they should try this is wrong.

    Pete, Location not supplied.

    Dear Pete,

    I had to respond as it’s not often I receive negative feedback for my words of wisdom. Quite clearly thrusting anything backstage is to be done with an air of reasonable judgment. After all, if you think shoving a cactus up your bum is a bad idea, then it probably is. Though you never specified what you managed to get stuck up there, I’m guessing it was something either, rather large, fragile or hot. So for those readers, like Pete here, who need a little leading

    in life, here’s Aunty’s top list of what NOT to clap your Guppy mouth around.

    1) Lightbulbs – This is not a bright idea.

    2) Your own head – Unless using a snorkel.

    3) Elton John’s piano –

    This won’t get you fingered! Now stop being so idiotic and wasting our valuable NHS resources or mine.

  • FILM REVIEW | Pasolini, Controversial film about the late Gay Italian Film Director

    Director Abel Ferrera brings us the few days in the life of gay Italian film director Pier Paolo Pasolini in his new film simply titled ‘Pasolini.’ ★★★★

    Ferrera, who last year gave us the gripping, scandalous, controversial and excellent film Welcome to New York (which was inspired by the case of Dominique Strauss-Khan (DSK), the former chairman of the IMF), presents us a film where Ferrara imagines and then reconstructs the last days in the life of Pasolini.

    Pasolini was an extremely controversial film director. His films combined themes of religion and sex, his own personal views on topics such as abortion, displaying in your face bacchanals that left little to the imagination. His last film – titled Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom – depicted children subjected to violence, sexual depravity, and horrific murder – making Pasolini an extremely hated, or genius, figure. In Pasolini, Willem Dafoe doesn’t so much imitate or play Pasolini in the film, but he inhabits the actions and thoughts of him. And Ferrara, in putting this film together, spoke to Pasolini’s relatives and friends to gather the memories and thoughts of a man who would wind up being killed by a rent boy at the age of 53 in Italy.

    Pasolini is not so much an actual biography of the last days of Pasolini’s life, it’s more of a combination of the actual events that took place coupled with scenes from an unmade Pasolini film, a film that he was actually working on when he died. So we have Ferrara inhabiting the shoes of Pasolini and bringing to life scenes from the film that Pasolini never made – Porno-Teo-Kolossai – coupled with the events from the last days of his life which included meetings to discuss his new film, in his home with his mom and assistant and various friends, and to finally, his pickup of a male rent boy that would result in his death. It’s a very realistic film. Ferrara uses the actual locations of the real life events and also uses Pasolini’s personal objects and clothes in the film. This, coupled with Dafoe’s performance, gives us a documentary style production that is rich in it’s storytelling. Dafoe gives a fantastic performance inhabiting Pasolini’s world, right down to the language (some of this film is in Italian, and not every part of it has subtitles), to the glasses that he wears, to the clothing, to the way he carries himself. Like Gerard Depardieu who perfectly inhabited the role of DSK, Dafoe convincingly inhabits the role here. Even down to the final scene in the film, where Pasolini has sex with the rent boy and ends up being badly beaten, and run over by his own car. It’s a brutal death for a man who didn’t deserve to die that way. His murder on a beach on the outskirts of Rome on November 2, 1972 is still an open case despite the conviction of the rentboy that he picked up that night. It would be bit more fascinating if a filmmaker can make a film about Pasolini’s life – that would be a much more well-deserved tribute.

     

    Available to buy on AMAZON

    by Tim Baros

  • Austin And James The Bromance Continues With Bedtime Spooning

    The growing bromance between Austin Armacost and James Hill is v v cute to watch…

    Austin Armacost has admitted that he has grown “accustomed” to sharing a bed with fellow housemate and former Apprentice star James Hill and as this picture suggests they’ve been doing a bit of spooning.

    Austin however has on numerous occasions said that he only has eyes for his Yorkshireman husband Jake, to whom he’s been married for five years.

    James has also spoken about being comfortable enough with his sexuality to bond with Austin in the way that he has.

    During their fake, fake eviction ex-porn star Jenna Jameson and Farrah (we’re still not quite sure) decided to put Austin up for eviction, unknowingly saving him from public vote this week. They called him a “firestarter.”

    BB continues Tonight, Saturday 12 September at 10.30pm on Channel 5

  • ALBUM REVIEW: Nerina Pallot: The Sound And The Fury

    After embarking on an incredibly ambitious venture of releasing an EP of tracks every month for all of 2014, Nerina Pallot is back with her new album ‘The Sound And The Fury’ that includes some tracks from last year’s offerings with some eclectic, emotionally charged and compelling new songs. ★★★★

    The album opens with a rough guitar riff weaving into a drum-led anthem that pulsates and emulates our life blood, our world, our religion, our spirituality and suggests karmic retribution on those that deviate. This sets the tone for the record and its thought-provoking arcs on diverse issues in our modern world. If I Had A Girl is the seditious, bluesy and more honest sister to Beyoncé’s If I Were A Boy where Pallot comes up with some inspired lyrics highlighting the contemptible sexism still raging in our world:

    “You gotta be bolder, better, harder faster, don’t take no shit off no lord or master, don’t listen when they say how far you’ve come”

    The Road and its rough and edgy, R&B sound wants us to rely on our own perception of right and wrong and reject the noise of the media and other agendas. This could not have been highlighted better or indeed been more topical with the video for this song being filmed in Calais in the migrant camps.

    Boy On The Bus is a heartbreaking ballad about wanting to leave the city in despair of distressing events and the aching ‘Handle’ has us struggling to deal with our nefarious world and yearning for a reprieve. One such moment of comfort is the gorgeous Blessed which starts of delightfully like a classic Suzanne Vega cut but then weaves into a beautiful mid-tempo ballad with some magnificent harmonies.

    The album closes with the sonic dreamscape and lyrically bittersweet Longest Memory which deals with life, solitude and death and their inextricable links.

    Susan Sontag wrote in the 1960s that “we live under continual threat of two equally fearful, but seemingly opposed, destinies: unremitting banality and inconceivable terror. It is fantasy, served out in large rations by the popular arts, which allows most people to cope with these twin specters”. To me this is certainly still very true today and epitomises this glorious, dark, political and resonant album from Nerina Pallot in the sense that her striking collection of songs guides and assists us through some of the atrocities and various –isms endemic in our society. Brilliant.

    Nerina Pallot – ‘The Sound And The Fury’ – Album Preview

    <div class=”player-unavailable”><h1 class=”message”>An error occurred.</h1><div class=”submessage”><a href=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YhYv26DWqE”>Try watching this video on www.youtube.com</a>, or enable JavaScript if it is disabled in your browser.</div></div>

    by Nick Smith | @peripatenic

    THE SOUND AND THE FURY

    £9.99

  • The X FACTOR Man With Wings, Davide Papasidero, Gets To Bootcamp

    The man who wore glorious white wings to his first audition for the X FACTOR, Davide Papasidero has made it through to the bootcamp stage of the competition.

    Davide, who had entered the Italian X FACTOR three years ago, said “it was hard to be” himself. The flamboyant contestant sang a remixed version of Aretha Franklin’s hit Respect.

     

    The performance didn’t really seem to set Simon Cowell on fire, but the audience and Rita Ora lapped it up.