THEGAYUK

Category: Entertainment

  • Six things we loved about Oranges and Elephants, Hoxton Hall

    ★★★★☆ | Oranges And Elephants

    An all-female musical has opened in London, Oranges and Elephants

    1) The story. Set in Victorian London and there’s a turf war between two all-female rival groups, the Oranges and the Elephants, led by two fierce women and their battle to reign supreme. Plot: Get two sparring gangs, in a Victorian setting, throw in a newbie (a brilliant Sinead Long (Mary)) to the city, a quick lesbian romp, dressed it all up in drag king goodness conclude with an ending even Shakespeare would be proud of and you’re close to why Orange And Elephants is the most exciting musical to open in London in an age.

    2) The lack of men.  This show simply doesn’t need us menfolk. We’re not missed. At all.  So yeah, f*ck the patriarchy. The cast’s observation of masculinity and, well, frail masculinity at that, is superb. A special mention to Rebecca Bainbridge, whose gangster, Ada (Oranges), is frankly beyond scary and you won’t find a more vicious matriarch than Liz Kitchen’s Annie, leader of the Elephants.

    3) A new musical… At last a new musical that isn’t a jukebox musical. All new music and perfectly suited to the piece. It is ballad heavy but there are a few rousing gems from Jo Collins’ score. The entire cast gets involved with playing the instruments and acting without it feeling forced, and there’s also audience participation, expertly carried through by our narrator. Oh, and BTW, it’s funny. Very funny.

    4) Costumes. Some of the best costumery (Sara Perks) we’ve seen in a long time and while we’re at it, a special mention to the set design. Simple but incredibly effective. You won’t look at an A to Z in the same way again… (for those who just asked, what’s an A to Z, think Google Maps but on paper).

    5) Hoxton Hall. This is a double edge sword for us. On one hand, the music-hall design of the rather stunning venue helps transport you back to the Victorian era – but it has, without a doubt the most uncomfortable seating, so bring a cushion.

    6) A nod to the queer community – as there’s even a little bit of lesbian twist, which sticks two fingers up at the traditional boy meets girls blah blah blah. Bravo!

    A little rough around the edges, but a ruby in the Victorian dust.

    Oranges and Elephants runs at Hoxton Hall until 10 February.

  • Blind Date has its first gay episode… ever

    Blind Date is about to air its first-ever gay episode.

    Although this isn’t the first episode featuring an all same-sex line-up – that happened in 2017, it is the first time gay men will take part in the legendary TV show, presented by Paul O’Grady. It’s taken 19 series to get to this point!

    Speaking of the episode, Paul said, “This is another huge milestone for Blind Date and I can’t wait for viewers to see the guys having a blast on screen”.

    Meet 28-year-old Joni, a nightclub host from Newcastle. Joni is titled Mr Gay England 2016 after entering the competition. He uses his title as a platform to help and prevent young suicides in the LGBT community.

    Joni, from Newcastle, is the first gay “chooser” for Blind Date and will have the chance to question three suitors for his blind date.
    Blind Date is hosted by Paul O’Grady, taking over from his late friend, Cilla Black.

    He’ll have the opportunity to question these three lovely lads,

    36-year-old Alex a project manager from Henley On Thames. Alex classes himself as a ‘serial relationshipper’ he would like another relationship but with someone that lasts the distance and he’s hoping Blind Date will find him the one.

    Then there’s Mark. The 29-year-old Case Handler for Airline claims, currently lives in London, but hails from Fife in Scotland.

    Finally, there’s Paul. A 32-year-old Operations Manager from Barbados, living in Birmingham. He describes himself as a ‘full of life’ Barbadian, who loves English men but he just hasn’t got enough of them. He’d like Blind Date to change that and help him find his ‘true love.’

    This episode airs this Saturday at 8 pm on Channel 5.

  • Ann Widdecombe calls same-sex love “disgusting”

    “Don’t be disgusting”

    Ann Widdecombe, who during her time as a Conservative MP, voted against gay rights consistently, called the love between fellow housemates Shane J (Courtney Act) and Andrew Brady “disgusting”.

    In last night’s episode after Shane J joked to Ann, “You might not respect our marriage Ann but you have to recognise our love!” Ann snapped back quickly, “don’t be disgusting” before leaving the room.

    Shane J and Andrew have been getting very close during their time in the Celebrity Big Brother house.
    The pair is often seen together in an embrace or horse playing with each other.

    Shane and Andrew have both struck up a bromance while in the Big Brother house. Although Andrew identifies as straight, he and Shane have formed a strong bond. Although their antics have caused many viewers of this year’s series to speculate about the nature of their relationship.

    Last week the pair, while Shane J was dressed as Courtney Act, were spotted entering a toilet, where there are no cameras in which Andrew was heard to say “push it in” and “don’t get fu*king lipstick on me”.

    They aren’t the first guys to strike up a “bromance” on the show. In 2015 Austin Armacost and James Hill struck up a close friendship while on the show. James Hill ultimately won the series, with Austin coming runner-up.

    Despite their closeness and much speculation from viewers, the pair has ruled out that a sexual relationship would ensue, claiming that their relationship is just a close friendship.

  • THEATRE REVIEW | Still Ill, New Diorama Theatre

    THEATRE REVIEW | Still Ill, New Diorama Theatre

    Still Ill | ★★★

    Sophie is a jobbing actress who’s working in a terrible soap opera, playing a surgeon with a brain tumour. She’s making up her income having endless neurological examinations performed on her by trainee doctors. Struck down by a series of strange nervous system symptoms she’s left unable to function and feeling desperate with paralysis, spasms and seizures. Naturally, modern medicine has an answer. Even if there’s not a cure then there’s a name for what’s happening to you and some sort of treatment, isn’t there? But what if every doctor you meet tells you that it’s good news and the tests are negative? The more doctors you see (and there’s a lot of them), the more tests you have and the more time passes your symptoms get worse and there’s still no answer. Is it still ‘good news’ about how normal your test results are? Welcome to the world of Functional Neurological Disorder, a surprisingly common and debilitating condition.

    Still Ill returns to the The New Diorama Theatre near Warren Street after a successful run in 2016. It’s an achingly sad play with touches of comedy but an overall sense of optimism. It’s not as grim as the subject matter makes it sound. The company have carefully researched their subject under expert guidance and come up with a witty piece of theatre about a poorly understood area of medicine (and indeed life).

    The cast of three skilfully play multiple parts and it’s convincing and watchable albeit with the odd off note where it feels like they’re over-egging the pudding. There’s a strange backing track of live music and a sense of physicality to some of the action and it almost works. This is well worth watching not just to gain an understanding of a rarely mentioned illness but to see what appears to be a sane response to a mad world.

     

    Still Ill run at the New Diorama Theatre until the 27th January 2018

  • Just what did Courtney Act and Andrew Brady get up to in BB’s toilet?

    “Push it in”

    Just what exactly happened between Apprentice star Andrew Brady and drag queen Courtney Act? The pair were spotted by Big Brother entering a toilet together – where there are no cameras.

    However, the microphones still work and there was a rather interesting conversation that happened between the two.

    After entering here’s what the pair said to each other:

    Andrew: Shh Shh Shh. Don’t say anything…

    (noises)

    Andrew: Don’t get f*cking lipstick on me. There you go

    Courtney: Where should I put it?

    Andrew: There’s the… Push it in

    (laughter)

    The bromance is strong between these two.

     

    Celebrity Big Brother continues tonight at 10:25 PM

  • FILM REVIEW | The Post

    Brilliantly observed and timely.

    Nutshell: Steven Speilberg’s latest outing with Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks in the starring roles, is probably more important than we think. What with Trump’s constant attacks on the “fake news” media and the fight for women’s equality in the spotlight, The Post, shows how far, we haven’t come since the 70s.

    The film focuses a moment in The Washington Post‘s history where it was published by a woman, Katherine Graham (Meryl Streep). She was and still is, one of the very few women of power in media. Watch Meryl talk about her character in The Post. When we look out at media ownership in the 20-teens, nothing much has changed in the 40 or so years that have passed. She successfully and bravely decided to publish articles about the Pentagon Papers, documents which described successive US Government’s dishonesty about the Vietnam War. The decision would ultimately lead to President Nixon barring The Washington Post from entering the White House ever again, which only hardened their resolve to hold power accountable.

    Running Time: 116 minutes



    Certificate: 12A

    THEGAYUK Factor: It’s all about Meryl in this movie, once again proving that she is one of Hollywood’s most influential players. Streep plays Graham with sturdy fallibility – which is quite an achievement. There are moments of the Iron Lady, mixed with Miranda Priestly, with a mix of fragility.

    Cast: Tom Hanks, Meryl Streep, Sarah Paulson

    Key Players: The dream team of Steven Spielberg working with Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks.

    Budget: Rumoured to be $50,000,000. This is a grower, not a shower. Opened to a limited release in the US late last year, with under $600,000 in receipts. So far it has grossed over $33,000,000 in the US, and with it opening worldwide this week, we expect this film to make a good little profit for the studios.

    Best Bit: When Katherine Graham makes one of the most difficult decision to publish, Meryl’s acting positively seeps from every pore. Plus the end scene, it’s not a spoiler because The Washington Post‘s involvement in “Watergate” is well known, is a brilliant piece of timing and comedy.



    Worst Bit: The way in which “the men in charge” would talk about their female boss, in earshot.

    Little Secret: Having never worked with Speilberg, Meryl Streep was apparently “flabbergasted” that he never rehearses with his actors.


    Further Viewing: All The President’s Men, Frost/Nixon, CitizenFour

    Rating: ★★★★☆

    ORDER The Post on DVD now from Amazon

     

  • REVIEW OF THE 2018 FILM YEAR – Bring on Cher, Abba, Freddie Mercury, Elton, The Stath in swimwear, Jude in lycra and loads of Zac and the Rock.

    Could 2018 be the gayest year in Cinema?

    Hollywood is always after the pink pound, and this year gay bums on cinema seats are more sought after than ever as the world’s top directors and hottest stars line up what will almost certainly be the biggest year ever at the Box Office and certainly the queerest. So what have our favourite studios and studs got lined up for you?

    A quick glance through the release schedules has us salivating. We find our wish lists in full with Channing Tatum in uniform in a musical, Jason Statham spending two hours in his swimwear, Chris Pratt in cowboy kit (again) and new musicals from Elton John and Freddie Mercury; Cher takes over the Mamma Mia sequel, gay films winning at the Oscars, and of course, the unbelievably six-pack Zac Efron’s next movie is even called Beach Bum…  super gay or what?

    Hollywood has long ceased to be inventive falling back on sequels aplenty, blockbusting Superhero films and kids’ movies together with instant recognisable nostalgic brands and this year that is the case more than ever. We are sure you are all gagging for arrival at your multiplex in a few months time of Mary Poppins Returns, The New Top Gun, Predator and even Johnny English all back in 2018 after lengthy breaks.

    Let’s start with the Awards baiting films. The big news is of course that two out and out gay films namely Call Me By Your Name and God’s Own Country are big in nominations across both the Bafta’s and Golden Globes in 2018  which should mean the Oscars follow. Will one of them go one better than Brokeback Mountain and win the top trophy for Film of the Year for us shirtlifters everywhere. What is undeniable is that gay cinema and same-sex love stories are now box office sure things which is all good. Of course, there are plenty of other big trophy grabbers out there such as Three Billboards, Shape Of Water, The Darkest Hour and what every gay man has wanted for Steven Spielberg to get his hands on Meryl Street for the first time in 40 years in The Post (and Tom Hanks for the 6th time!)

    Sequel Time

    Sequels wise the big news is Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom which is vying for biggest film of the year. Also you are getting The Incredibles 2, Mission Impossible 6, Cloverfield 3, Wreck It Ralph 2, 50 Shades Freed, The Girl With The Spiders Web, a new Pacific Rim, Creed 2 with added Dolph Lundgren, The Purge: The Island, Maze Runner 3, Equaliser 2 from Denzel, loads more and of course top of every gay man’s list mid-summer we get Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again. Meryl is out, Cher is in as her mother, and everyone else is back in a story of how Streep’s character (SPOILER ALERT who may be dead in this film) conceived her daughter in a prequel with all the same ABBA songs just in a different order this time.

    Reboot

    Reboots also abound with Taron Egerton doing a younger sexier Robin Hood, Tom Cruise doing Top Gun: Maverick (wasn’t he the in the first homoerotic flyboy movie), Muscleman Jason Mamoa takes time out from Aquaman to bring back The Crow franchise, The Grinch is here for Christmas again. There are live versions of The Lion King and The Jungle Book (Yes another one) plus Oceans 8 and Halloween cancelling out all its previous sequels. The first Transformers offshoot comes at year’s end with everyone’s favourite Bumblebee and just six months after The Last Jedi the Star Wars universe gives us the story of Hans Solo’s early days and how he found his inner Wookie in ‘Solo’ in its original lucky May release date.

    Superheroes

    Marvel and DC are bringing out all their superheroes during the year. Marvel to celebrate its ten year anniversary gives us Avengers Infinity War (Pt1) with every one of their characters from Iron Man to Thor, via Captain America, Spiderman, Deadpool and all the Guardians of the Galaxy plus many others all in one mega battle movie. We get THREE, count them, X Men films one being a horror; Venom, Aquaman and Black Panther get their debuts and Deadpool, and Ant Man and The Wasp are welcome sequels.

    We are mostly looking forward to Venom as the thought of two hours of Tom Hardy in spandex works for us.

    Our other leading movie star donors to our wank bank will also be keeping our wrists busy. The Rock is fighting giant animals in The Rampage and doing a Die Hard remake in The Skyscraper next to his reboot of Big Trouble In Little China. Channing Tatum is lining up the airborne musical The Wingmen, James Franco fresh from winning endless trophies for The Disaster Artist has possibly eight films out most notably the comedy Zeroville. Leonardo is bringing us the ‘Italian Sherlock Holmes’, Jude Law does the Forbidden Beasts sequel (as the oh so straight Dumbledore from Harry Potter as well as his first superhero in Lycra Captain Marvel. Ryan Reynolds does an X Men film, Gosling is Neil Armstong on the moon, Chris Hemsworth is heading for Star Trek, and Chris Pratt dons his Magnificent Seven chaps to frame his perfect ass in a Billy The Kid Westerner. Tipped as the biggest new film of the year is Jason Statham The Stath with his biggest budget yet in the underwater The Meg where he battles a giant shark and no doubt will have his kit off for most of the movie as per usual.

    At last, we get the Freddie Mercury movie Bohemian Rhapsody which stars Queer as Folk and Game Of Thrones Aiden Gillen and Mike Myers. Elton follows up his Lion King soundtrack with a bunch of new songs for Sherlock Gnomes and Will Ferrell also does a comedy version of the Deerstalker wearing detective. Pixar gives us two movies in the year (very rare) with The Incredibles 2 and outstanding Coco. The superb Peter Rabbit voiced by James Corden goes for the Paddington style money grab, Aardman gives us Early Man but the best family film by far seems to be Wes Anderson’s stop-motion Isle Of Dogs as a boy searching for his lost pup must be a sure-fire winner.

    2018 will be a massive year at the cinema. With over 780 huge releases, that is more than two per day cinema goer’s and gay men looking for the hottest stars will have to be more discerning than ever. We will bring you all the best gay movie reviews on release at THEGAYUK to help you pick the Nick Jonas’ from the Nick Nowles’ and not miss any of that all important film star flesh count.

    So whether you have been waiting for Melissa McCarthy to film with The Muppets, James Cameron to return with Alita, Gerard Butler to flex his muscles in Den Of Thieves, Peter Jackson to leave his Hobbits behind finally and give us Mortal Engines or Steven Spielberg to make what could be the biggest film of his career in the phenomenal Ready Player One this is going to require one hell of a lot of popcorn for the next 365 days.

    Our predictions.

    Chris Pratt will have the two biggest films of the year (Avengers/Jurassic) and replace The Rock as the world’s most popular and expensive film star.

    A massive queue of movies will mean that many sure-fire films will just not find their audiences and screen space, and in what should be a superb year for women.

    In other spheres our tips for the flops at this early stage are all female-led as we foresee problems for Jennifer Lawrence’s Red Sparrow, the expensive Wrinkle In Time, the new Tomb Raider and the all-female Oceans 8 which all look average in preview in a Ghostbuster’s reboot way.

    Our Prediction of the top 10 at the world box office for 2018.

    1 Avengers Infinity War

    2 Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdon

    3 The Incredibles 2

    4 Ready Player One

    5 Fantastic Beasts: Crimes Of Grindelwald

    6 The Meg

    7 Mission Impossible 6

    8 Coco

    9 Isle Of Dogs

    10 Solo but watch for Peter Rabbit as a dark horse

  • THEATRE REVIEW | Strangers on a Train, Sheffield Lyceum

    Strangers on a Train | ★★☆☆☆

    During a chance encounter on a whiskey-soaked train journey, two strangers, Guy Haines, a respected architect and Charles Bruno, a drunken playboy, jokingly plot to commit a murder to assist the other in moving on in their lives. Bruno proposes that Haines kill Bruno’s overbearing father, whilst Bruno himself will kill Haines’ adulterous wife. But what starts out as a drunken joke becomes something more sinister, as Bruno keeps up his end of the bargain and expects Haines to do the same.

    Based on the novel by Particia Highsmith, the narrative of the piece starts promisingly enough, with sufficient threads of the story put forward to generate interest, but the early promise simply isn’t sustained, as the play draws itself out into something over long and turgid, leading to an incredibly dry second act which never even begins to gather momentum.

    Feeding into the dryness of the piece are the performances from the cast which were truly terrible across the board. Jack Ashton is suitably dashing and fares best of the bunch with a rather flat portrayal of Haines, but never comes close to depicting a man whose life is in turmoil as a result of the relentless harassment by Bruno, the murder of his wife or his harboured dark secrets. Chris Harper is just plain irritating rather than menacing, with a pantomime-villain portrayal of Bruno, being more akin to an annoying drunken work colleague at the office party than a scheming manipulator and calculating killer; and Helen Anderson’s over the top histrionics as Elsie Bruno were sharply juxtaposed with the stiff, wooden delivery of Hannah Toiton as Haines’ new wife.

    Anthony Banks’ direction is sadly lacking, and manages to produce a play with no drama, no tension, no menace and no pace. The set, comprising of a series of sliding panels, projections and micro-sets looked lavish and generally worked well, which was the saving grace of the production; but sadly a flashy set design is not enough to prevent this thrill-less thriller from coming off the rails.

    Strangers On A Train is currently at Sheffield Lyceum before continuing on its national tour until 31 March 2018; calling in at Glasgow, Birmingham, Manchester, Woking, Richmond, Cambridge, York, Aylesbury and Cardiff.

  • Courtney waxes Andrew’s bum

    Courtney de-fluffs Andrew’s arse…

    And she really goes for it.

    In tonight’s episode of Celebrity Big Brother, Andrew Brady gets his arse waxed by Courtney Act – Take one straight lad, one drag queen, add some wax strips and you’ve got yourself probably the most homoerotic moment of the series.

    First off, Andrew’s jeans are lowered – and he actually presents… We were quite moved…

    Courtney places the strips and presses down hard

    She really gets in there.

    Andrew gets ready for the rip.

    OUCH!

    If you’re wondering what it’s like to get your arse waxed by a perfect stranger, check out this article.

  • India Willoughby is the first evictee from Celebrity Big Brother

    Controversial housemate, India Willoughby is the first housemate to be evicted from Celebrity Big Brother.

    On Tuesday night, Emma Willis entered the Celebrity Big Brother house and surprised the sixteen housemates with live face-to-face nominations. The girls voted in a showdown that left India and Jonny up for the public vote.

    Since Tuesday, viewers have been voting to save either India or Jonny. Tonight, in the first live eviction of the series, Emma revealed live to the house that India received the fewest votes and would be the first housemate to leave Celebrity Big Brother January 2018.

    After saying goodbye to her fellow housemates, India was greeted to cheers from the crowd.

    Emma asked if India expected to be nominated, “I sensed it in the room actually. The whole three bears episode. Honestly, that was another big mistake. I watch Big Brother every year and I know it’s crucial to get a good bed because obviously sleep is a big issue in there. Paramount in my head, as soon as I got in the house, I wanted a single bed. It was just one of those things; I didn’t see that it was Ann’s bed.”

    Asked if she thought the outcome would have been different if the male housemates were able to nominate, India told Emma, “I don’t think so. I think I peeved them off on the first night that they came in with that question about gender and love. That got their hackles up a little bit. My tactics were all over the place.”

    Emma asked if she went in there to play a game, and India replied, “I was psyched up to mix it a little bit. Maybe have some confrontations; just stir things up, cause a little bit of trouble. But it’s not that sort of house.”

    When asked about Shane J, India told Emma, “Shane in there has been terrific. He’s a great guy, we’ll stay friends after this show.”

    Emma asked India about Ashley and Ginuwine, “I don’t think it is a showmance, honestly. It is genuine that they like each other. The eye contact is consistent.”

    India wants Shane J to win, “for me, he’s the star of the show.”

    Tune into Celebrity Big Brother’s Bit On The Side with Rylan Clark-Neale at 11:05pm on Channel 5. Celebrity Big Brother returns tomorrow night at 10:30pm on Channel 5, or catch it first on 5Star at 9pm. Emma will be back next Friday at 9pm for a live DOUBLE eviction.

  • THEATRE REVIEW | The Nutcracker, St Petersberg Ballet, Sheffield Lyceum

    ★★★☆☆ The Nutcracker | Sheffield Lyceum

    Formed in 1996, the St Petersberg Classic Ballet brings the classic ballet, The Nutcracker, to life with this traditional presentation. The ballet, set to the instantly recognisable score of Tchaikovsky, tells the tale of Clara as she is whisked off to a magical land by a nutcracker prince to celebrate the defeat of the Rat King.

    If you want to extend your Christmas by seeing this traditional festive treat, then this production is very much rooted in the archetypal school of ballet, with tutu’s and tights aplenty; a static set of rather plain backdrops with a virtually non-existent use of props and a dance space which allowed for an impressively performed display of the type of technically competent dancing you would expect from a Russian ballet company.

    As a whole, the company’s performance was enjoyable and well executed. There were some aspects which were handled very well, including the snowflake scene at the conclusion of the first act, with a very full stage of dancers in a flurry of mesmerising rhythmic and tightly controlled waves of movement, an energetic Dimitriy Popov standing out as The Mouse King and a tremendously hypnotic performance by Kana Fujise as the Eastern Dancer, swathed in an almost dreamlike vision of swirling, vivid orange robes.

    There were some creative choices which didn’t sit easily, primarily the addition of four male dancers to the pas de deux between the Prince and Clara, which seemed to detract from the characters relationship; and the very limited set didn’t assist in setting the scene, especially during the second act. The show did lack some of the narrative flair that I have seen in other productions of this ballet, and at times the emotions of the characters did not come across subtly, primarily due to the fixed smiles of the dancers who appeared so focussed on their dancing that the conveyance of the characters personalities seemed to be forgotten.

    Quibbles aside, the show provided a pleasant evening at the theatre. Undemanding, enjoyable, relaxing and easy to watch. There was nothing innovative in this production which brought anything new, dynamic or particularly different to the ballet itself;  but if you are seeking a very traditionally performed, accessible ballet in the classic style, then the St Petersburg Classic Ballet could well be just what you are looking for.

    The company is performing The Nutcracker at Sheffield Lyceum until the 13th January 2017 (see www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk for details) before visiting a number of venues around the country with their trio of ballet’s, The Nutcracker, Giselle and Swan Lake, until the end of February 2018. Visit www.pmbpresentations.com for details.